Mike Balk - A mountaineer in the flat land is like a fish out of water. But that is what I have been doing lately. At Ridgeley I have flown twice, both times have been with little drift and blue sky. July 11th I flew 30 miles to the south in 3 hours. July 18th I flew 15 miles to the NE in 2 hours. In May and June the only flying I did was to and from Italy. Ask for the pictures!

Dave Proctor - July 2, Lakeview Oregon. Tom, Steve and myself flew Black Cap for about an hour each. Odd to be flying over launch in July, look down and see piles of snow on the mountain.
** July 4, Lakeview Oregon. All three flew Sugar Hill (7100 MSL launch). I got to 9K but didn't go anywhere.
** July 8, Chelan, Wa. Launched off "ants in the pants", worked a light thermal down low over the rocky spine with about 5 other gliders at the same altitude, some of them rigid wings. Very different. Managed to get up to 8K and jumped the Columbia river gorge. Made it to the power lines with plenty of altitude but only found ratty stuff. Then I saw it, my first (and only) wheat devil, in a field right next to the power lines. There was a circle of wheat about 50 ft in diameter just spinning around. Flew right over it and beamed out to 8500. Headed South past Farmer and then turned East, following Rt 2. Got to the coulee about 12 miles west of Coulee City and had to think (I do this periodically). This is a gorge with about a 2-3 mile glide between the last landable field to the West and the first landable (hopefully) field on the other side. Got back up to 8500 and went on glide. Made it easy, got to the other side and saw a glider on the ground next to the road. Turned out to be Steve Kinsley. I hadn't seen him since the power lines. Circled over him for about 15-20 minutes working lift and the inconsiderate bastard never even looked up. Glided East about 8 miles landing in one of the moonscape plowed fields. Launch to landing straight line distance 29.7 miles, about 3 1/4 hours airtime. Cool first flight at Chelan. Tom picked up Steve and pulled up before I had even started breaking down.
** July 9, Chelan Wa. Off Ants again, Tom and I caught a good one and climbed thru the pack. The pimps rush in, but we still manage to stay clean. Top out at around 7500. Not ideal altitude to make the jump. We spread out and hunt some more. We eventually find another core and climb out to 8K. I can see Steve K about 5-700 below us. The pimps take off across the gorge. We take a few extra turns to give them time to get out in front (time for the pimp payback). The three of us go on glide. Steve is awfully low when we get to the other side but does a really low save at 100 ft and climbs out. I head for the power lines, for the spot that has been kicking off dust devils every day. I get high (8900?) and again head South, mainly to get away from the crowds. I fly out past Farmer and get really low. I survive at 3-400 agl over a field that is being plowed for awhile, only gaining a couple of hundred. When it shuts down I go on glide, arriving at the next barren field at 200 agl. I am now about 20 miles out. I survive at 200 for what seems like an eternity (probably only 10 minutes) before seeing a really tiny dust devil. I head for it and work light lift, slowly gaining, eventually finding stronger cores as I get high enough to search. I realize something: 1000 ft is really low when you are sinking, but really high when you are getting up. I work this field to 7500 msl and head back towards Chelan. I want to land at the airport where we are camping. I get down below 1K agl a couple of times but manage to get back up. When I get to the last field before crossing the gorge I realize that it is a long glide, probably 3 miles or so, over a gorge with water at the bottom. I get back to 8500 and go on glide. I make the airport at about 6500 (the airport is 1250) and just boat around killing 5K before landing. A really enjoyable flight. 41.1 miles round trip, 3:15 airtime.
** July 10 & 11. Sleds at Chelan, Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you.
** July 12. We drive to Kamloops arriving early evening and take a sled from Tod Mtn. Interesting. Launch at around 6K msl and hang a right and glide for maybe 5-6 miles down an unlandable valley, popping out into a larger valley with the LZ. Disconcerting to be gliding for miles, 500-1000 ft over the trees, only surviving because the ground is slowly falling away. LZ is at about 3K msl. Short but fun.
** July 13. Deadmans, BC. Launch is about 3K msl. Steve launches first and finds some light stuff out in front and works it really high. I go next and find some weak stuff that shuts down at 200 over. Tom launches and is working some light stuff but not big enough for two of us so I head out into the valley to troll. I hit sink and think that I might be toast when I hit some lift. I work it to 2000 over and head back to the ridge (plateau top is more like it) where Tom has found a nice core. We work it to base, just shy of 11K. One interesting thing about this thermal. It was strong, 500fpm, but would occasionally quit. I would search and reaquire it, but maybe 100-150 ft upwind. This happened several times. There was virtually no drift while climbing. I could look straight down at the dirt road below and it moved very little. But, I would climb maybe 1K or more and it would stop, only to be found upwind. Very strange. We went on glide but the overdeveloping cloud street was heading ENE over tiger country, so we headed more Easterly to where we could actually see a potential LZ or two. Got back to Copper Creek valley and trolled for awhile but found nothing, landed for a whopping 5.24 miles, 1:20 airtime. Tom and then Steve landed shortly after, Steve buzzing a poor pine tree on final. Still fun. Great road trip with good friends.

Christy Huddle - Other than the flying in France and the 2 minute sled on July 18th for the fair show, I've had 4 flights on two different days at Ridgely getting used to the new Tangent. On the last flight (July 11) I landed beside Rt. 404 which was full of slow moving traffic, giving everyone plenty of time to see my perfect landing. At work the next day, one of the women in the office stopped by and said she'd seen a woman pilot who'd had a bad landing. I asked where and she said she was coming back from Delaware. I said, 'that was me and I had a good landing.' And she said, 'no, it didn't look like you and it must have been a bad landing. The pilot was talking on her phone by the side of the road and there were some vehicles stopped.' 'What road were you on?' 'Route 404.' 'It was me. I was probably talking on my radio and the vehicles had probably stopped to watch.' 'Oh.' Small world and now we know how rumors get started.

Mike Chevalier - Lots of flying, mostly towing lately as the dog days have set in. I get 2 more soaring flights at Bill's Hill in June, it's been a record year for that site. I finally knock off a good XC from Ridgley on June 26th, landing north of Dover, Delaware for 26.2 miles. I ran out of land, flying to the marsh at the edge of Delaware bay. The landowners offer me the shadey yard to break down and bring out ice tea. Retreival goes easy, my cell phone ringing only minutes after landing, I give the driver my location, an hour later he arrives. Two weeks later I get another 16 miler to the southeast, flying over Denton and landing along 404. Fred and Raean Permenter show up before I'm finished breaking down. Sunday, July 18th I fly for the first day of the fair but there's hardly anybody there. I fly my old K5 thinking I could land it in a smaller area but realize I'm no longer wired into it and way overshoot the spot. Not an issue since there's not even a row of cars in the LZ. Sunday, July 25th I throw Ellis Kim off the Pulpit for her first mountain flight, everything goes OK. She and others sled, I get 15 minutes. I come in a little low over the corn on a south approach, ease out a little to clear the stuff and whack my Stealth for the first time, taking out a downtube. Oh well.