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Hangola January 28, 2001

There was a possibility for the Pulpit, but by the time I had gotten to Fredricksburg some of the flags were showing SW and the NWS was not giving favorable reports. I bailed for HR and it was fortunate that I did. Paul and Deb went to the Pulpit first, were snowed out of the setup area, and end up with a half hour dig out before continuing on to HR.

I tailed Danny Brotto up HR road at slow peddling speed due to approximately 50 slow peddling bicyclists. At the launch it was coming in stiffly at 10-15 with short strong blasts that raked the rock. Pulling up shortly were Pete Schuman, Mike Balk, Tom McGowan, Mark Fink, Terry Spencer and Kelvin Price. Launches began at High Noon.

Flights were all pointed thoroughly west on a slow crawl forward and a quick trip back. A high haze obscured the sun and produced occasional weak thermals. Careful patience and miserly holds on altitude yielded gains between 1000 and 2000 over, with Tom topping out near 3000 over. We all flew until cold and got an hour or two depending on our underwear.

Others that launched while we were in the air were Craig (?), Mike Chevalier, and Karen Carra. During retrieval Paul and Deb finally showed and we got them off for about 45 minutes of sunset time.

The LZ was 90 cross requiring a deep turn in the downwind corner and a final that ran diagonally across the field.

A surprisingly good day for such unfavorable conditions.

Ed

After spending nearly a century helping Craig Williamson launch, I was finally able to get over to Smithsburgh and had three flights on my new paraglider. The first launch was interesting as a gust hit me from the South just as I pulled the wing up and I went bouncing sideways while trying to run forward. I somehow managed to straighten the wing out and got into the air. The other two launches were uneventful. Marc and Ellis also had a couple of flights and a French guy was there flying his bag wing. Joe Branch, a good hang 2 who goes to Smithsburg in the winter to stay current and doesn't just sit at home because it's too cold to fly high, had a few flights on his hang glider. He'll be all ready to fly in the Spring whereas it's questionable as to whether or not the other, not good, hang 2s will have skills current enough to fly in the strong Spring air.

Marc and Ellis and Karen and I went over to Liberty for a few hours of night skiing afterwads. Marc wins with the 3 Sports in Day Award.

Matthew (saw some interesting, i.e. SCARY, cross-wind launches from the Rock, of Karen and Matthew)

We arrived at the Pulpit at about 1:30 PM . While getting out of the way of some neighbors who live further down the ridge from the Pulpit property, I got my pickup stuck in some deep icy snow. They just slowly drove by and watched without offering to help. We spent about a half hour getting the vehicle out, so we never actually walked up to the ramp. A 2wd would not have gotten into the parking/setup area without tire chains. Deb watched the flags from the road a bit and reported it looked quite strong but straight.

We continued on to High Rock, which a long haul for a day trip out of Pittsburgh, but after all that trouble and not having flown in 2 1/2 months, we were determined to get some flying in... Which we did. It was remarkably good considering the crossing WSW wind which was a bit strong there too until after 4:00 when we launched. It was still strong above 1200 feet over so I got cold pretty quick due to all the fast flying fighting the wind. We both got 45-50 min and 1200-1400 over. Thanks to everyone for the launch help and especially to the friend of Matthew (of Karen and Matthew) who ferried our car to the LZ.

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This page last updated January 30, 2001