11/22/98 - Superbowl , Windslight WSW; JR & Homer spend the weekend in State College, PA with Claire Pagen (Dennis was in Finland) to see Tori Amos. They fly on Sunday with Claire and some of the locals. Everyone takes sleds, but it was more fun than the concert.
11/27/98 - High Pt, WindW 10-15+; everyone soared in the sometimes trashy air. Gains went to around 3250í MSL. JR gets his nose up on launch and does a major wingover in the slot for the excitement of the day. It wasn't a near-death experience, but it increased the adrenalin level . The wind was switchy in the LZ (typical on a W day), but everyone had good landings. Larryboy, John M, JR, & Marvin flew with Marvin's wife, Jennifer, driving. Marvin took the spot money.
11/28/98 - High Pt, WindSSW 5-15; Marvin
takes an early sled followed by JR who ekes out an extended sled.
Conditions improve a little bit, allowing Homer to get about 15
minutes and Larryboy getting the flight of the day at 35 minutes.
He was rewarded for his patience and diligence with a victory in
the spot contest.
12/6/98 - High Pt, WindSW 5-15; a marginally soarable day without significant altitude gains. The sailplanes were out and not doing much better than us. Presnt were John M, Ben, LE, Doug, Christy, JR, Adam & Will. Marvin comes down with a bad case of spot fever and tries to hard. Scratch one downtube.
12/11/98 - Zirks, WindNW 5-10; a very light poosh out day finds only JR flying the friendly skies. Darrel drove as JR's hired mercenary. Gains to about 2500í MSL (1000 over launch). Never quite got high enough to make the HI LZ. Landed near dusk in Charlies LZ.
12/16/98 High Pt, WindW 5-10; Homer, Adam, Marvin, & JR all get a couple+ hours without significant altitude gains. Mainly just boating around low over the ridge. Winds in the LZ were switchy and JR had to pull off a downwind landing at the last second after it switched around while he was on final. Homer couldnít resist taunting him for overshooting the spot by a large margin, however, Homer forgot a basic tenet about flying karma and mojo, in general, i.e. never, ever, taunt a fellow pilot's landing while youíre still in the air. Homer proved why that is after he came up way short and bellied in for a DQ. Adam becomes the first pilot in recent times to overshoot this expansive (at least in terms of length) LZ and kisses the fence at the end of the field. No damage except his ego was bent a little. He was properly abused in the best Mountaineer tradition for his apparent brain lock..
12/27/98 - Fisher Rd, WindS 5-15; a pretty good turnout of Mountaineers on this soarable winter day. Everyone soared for 1-2 hours. Judy, Pete L, Tom, & Mike B cruise 5 miles down the ridge to land in the huge LZs at the end of the ridge. JR, Panties, Homer, Marvin and Adam land in the main LZ with mixed results. Marvin does a mild groundloop followed by a whack. Adam is introduced to the benefit of having a chest-mounted parachute when he pounds/bellies in pretty hard while landing across the fence on the far hillside. No glider/pilot damage, but again we had to abuse him without mercy (you gotta have a thick skin to fly with hillbillies). Mild ego damage, but repairable.