High Point

NNW 5 – 10 mph;  LE, Larry H, and JR get in another mid-week flight.  JR got briefly above the ridge, but was scraped off after about 20 minutes while LE said she got near cloud base, but didn’t mention a specific altitude.  Larry made it to 3600’ at one point.  Both got approx. one hour and everyone landed at the Fairgrounds LZ.

High Point

WNW 5 – 15 mph;  Larryboy, John “Homer” McAllsiter (U2), Gardinator, Greg Beyer (Sport 2), JR, Ben, LE, and Shimmy Shimrock (PG) take a mid-week flight that works out well for everyone.  The day started a little strong which meant the PG pilots had to watch the hangies flying around until conditions mellowed enough for everyone to join in the fun.  Larryboy had the altitude gain of the day to 4700’ and ended up flying down the ridge to Zirks and then out for a landing at Barton’s LZ after an hour.  Greg bailed OTB to land at the Cumberland airport after getting an hour to avoid the complication of landing in the Fairgrounds LZ.  Homer soon followed Greg’s lead and opted for a nice landing at the airport after an hour.  Gardinator and JR were close to getting scraped off the ridge to the main LZ, but found a climb on the West Face with JR then bailing OTB to join Greg and Homer at the airport for 1.5 hours.  Ben, LE, and Shimmy were eventually able to get off the hill in the mellowing conditions with Ben and Le landing at the airport after 45 minutes.  Both Gardinator (two hours) and Shimmy (an hour) landed at the main Fairgrounds LZ.

High Point

NNW 5 – 10 mph;  Pat H, JR, and Johan Ohlson (Icaro Laminar) experience the best Saturday conditions we’ve seen in a few years with strong climbs (500+ fpm) to almost 9000’.  The lack of a driver kept everyone local, but Pat and JR did venture south down the ridge to Zirks and then on to Pinnacle on a tour of the local sites.  After 1.5 hours, JR opted to land at Barton’s LZ while Pat flew back to the Fairgrounds in search of Johan who had not been heard on the radio for a while.  As it turned out, Johan opted to land at the Fairgrounds where his vehicle was parked and Pat chose to join him there, although that required a sacrifice to gods of aluminum.  Meanwhile, Larry H, Pete, and Larryboy Ball (T2) were aerotowing from a site near Columbus, Ohio called Wesmar and they experienced similar outstanding conditions, but actually did something with them.  Pete landed near Mineral Wells, WV for 98.7 miles, Larry Ball flew back to his farm near Coolville, Ohio for approx. 80 miles, and Larry Huffman got away from the airfield and landed after approx. 35 miles.  One other amazing thing about this day is that we had radio contact with Pete and Larry over a straight line distance of probably 175 miles.  Those two-meter handheld radios can really push a signal when everyone is transmitting from 9000’!

High Point

High Pt;  NNW 5 – 10 mph;  Gardinator, JR, LE, Ben Herrick (UP Katana), and Krista Auchenbach (U-Turn Blacklight) arrive at launch to find reasonable conditions on a mostly blue day where the PGs outnumber the HGs for a change.  Everyone got up and soared although LE and Krista ended up getting low at the West Face where LE eventually succumbed to the pull of gravity after 45 minutes.  Krista was able to claw here way back above the ridge where she stayed for the remainder of the flight.  The climb rates started out pretty good (3 – 500 fpm) and folks were getting to 4500’, but as the day progressed, the sky got milkier as cloud cover moved in and conditions began to soften. Everyone landed at the Fairgounds LZ after getting between one and two hours of airtime.

Pinnacle

Pinnacle;  ENE 5 – 8 mph;  Pete, Pat, Larry H, JR, and Mark Gardner (Talon) watch as the light and cross winds show little signs of improvement.  Eventually, Pete leads the lemmings off launch with Gardinator having the most exciting take-off, followed by Pat, Larry, and JR.  Everyone had sleds except for Larry who got about 50’ over launch for about five seconds.

High Point

WNW 5 – 15 mph;  Pete Lehmann (Sport 2), Pat Halfhill (T2), Larry Huffman (U2), JR (Sport 2), and LE Herrick (Ozone Buzz) convene at High Point on a day that showed some promise.  Larry was off first followed by JR and LE.  Everyone got up, but Larry and JR soon found themselves low at the NW Cliffs and had to struggle a bit to survive until finding a decent climb that got both of them away from the ridge.  LE found herself getting low behind the ridge and opted to land on top in front of Carl’s house.  

Larry flew down to Zirks before opting to go OTB towards Ft. Ashby where he ultimately landed after flying for an hour and a half.  JR climbed to almost 7000’ and went OTB towards Levels, WV and South Branch Mtn. He landed behind the Points, WV Post Office for 15 miles and 1:45.  Meanwhile, back at launch Pat and Pete had launched with Pete having the FOD getting to almost 8000’ and landing at Bloomery, WV for 31 miles.  Pat struggled a bit trying to find a good climb off the ridge and ended up going OTB fairly low which put him on the ground in front of Patterson Creek Ridge after about five miles and 45 minutes aloft.