Dave Proctor - My only flight since the road trip: Pulpit to High Rock, 09/11/99 Flew to Mount Alto, then hung a right to High Rock. 3:11, max's at 6600' MSL.

Christy Huddle August 15. Doug is in Vermont so I head out to fly High Point with the boys. My XC had received a tiny ding in the leading edge so I ended up borrowing (then buying) Kim's SuperSport. I had a maiden voyage on it (about 1.5 hours), enough to know I need to get that left turn out of it. August 18. Vowed to never again not potato in conditions like this on the Rock. Almost hit the trees in the rowdy north cross when I elected to take a stronger cycle because it seemed more straight in. HA! August 22. Took a short flight (4 miles, 30 minutes) at the Ridgely MD Highland Aerosports flight park. August 28 and 29. Got an hour and a half both days at High Point and thoroughly enjoyed the flying. September 3. Spruce Knob. Took my only flight of the fly-in (which is more than most got), having arrived the Friday before. Found a tiny thermal source on one of the fingers and worked it to the bone. September 11. High Point again. 2.5 hours of bliss, much of which was enjoyed while half the crew was heading over the back and the other half was sinking out. Luckily I was high enough to outlast the sink cycle. Boated forward to Haystack going up in 4-500 fpm the whole way, found 900 down on top of that ridge and all the way back (downwind) to the main ridge. Where did the lift go?? On the way back home that night had some more excitement when the car hit a bookshelf someone had lost in the fast lane. Doug didn't see it in time to avoid it. Put a nice hole in the radiator. In brief, the car made the rest of the trip on the back of AAA tow rig. Not to be confused with the fun kind of towing.

Doug Wakefield - Flew at Ridgely on July 11, and had a nice flight after diving to the other side of the airstrip to find some lift. 45 minutes and 3000 over release. Did some 'flying' for the Fair: a sled on Sunday, July 18, with the wind West at 2. Think we had 5 or 6 hang gliders and two paragliders all launched and down within half an hour. Got 35 minutes and 400 over on Friday the 23, and watched Ed Phillips (?) land on the other side of the train tracks with a train going past. Better than landing *on* the train, which is what it looked like at first. Spent the night in the LZ with Ben and L.E. Got an intentional sled the next day, Saturday the 24. I drove for the paragliders, who flew early and got some good airtime. By 'show time' we were hearing thunder, so I just dove off and spiralled down. Got some decent air at the Pulpit on Sunday, the 25. Launched after Mark G, found some lift opposite the LZ for 0:45, +2200, and then sank out with everyone except Sheila, who stayed up all day. Flew High Rock on July 30, got a sled. Walked back up to the top and it was soarable (but getting dark). Went to Taylor on Saturday, July 31, and got there at 5:00pm on a day with a heat index of over 100. Got 4 flights in for landing practice (need more, and I'll go back), with time out to wait for the cows to clear the field. Arrived at Woodstock the next day, August 1, to find lots of people waiting to see whether it was going to rain or get better. Eventually launched after Sheila and Steve Padget when John McCallister pointed out that it had stayed the same all the time we'd been there. Two and a half minutes later it started to rain. Then stopped. Then started again. Landed after 15 minutes. Got a sled at High Rock on Friday, August 6. Brian H. and Steve K. had launched earlier and soared. Had a little problem with one of the wuffo wire people who kept pulling down on the wire with one hand and showing 'neutral' with the other. Flew again later and had a nice flight, 1:20, +1600. Returned to the Rock on Wednesday, August 18 for a relatively short, easy flight of 0:45, +600. In Vermont for vacation, flew West Rutland (SW, 1100 agl, ramp) on Tuesday, the 24th, with my brother and a surprising number of other pilots for a weekday, getting 1:45, +1600. Flew there again on Saturday, launched second, and got 1:55 +1900 on a beautiful day. Landed because I had to get back for a can't miss dinner. The Mountaineer Flyin was pretty soggy, but I did get a flight on Friday, September 3 - a 10 minute sled from Spruce. Was back at High Rock in a West cross on Friday, the 10th, with Steve K. and a visiting new Hang III who sledded and missed the LZ. I got 0:45, +600, and Steve got a little longer and a little higher. Flew twice the next day at High Point, 0:15, +200, and a little better later with 1:15, +3600 out over the valley to Haystack.

Mike Chevalier - Looking at my log book for the last couple months it's no wonder someone recently called me a towhead. Most of my flying has been at Ridgley. August 22nd I get 7 miles landing east of Denton. The friendly landowner comes out and chats for a while and offers to turn off the "New Zealand" electric fence so I can climb over. Turns out it's charged with 850,000 volts and would really hurt if I should touch it. A fully intact bull is at the other end of the field but pays no attention to me. Sept. 18th, a WNW day, I find no clouds east of the Choptank river which runs N-S through Denton so I top out and head south to the next cloud. Several streets over and I cross the river to get to a cloud that vanishes, I maintain 400 feet over a field for about 10 minutes while some people watch. Dive across the road and land in cut hay, the owners, very friendly again, come out and offer drinks, phone etc. At the Pulpit fly in I don't do well and score 0. Oct 2nd I get my longest flight from Ridgley, 26.7 miles to near Sassafras MD. The first thermal I get at 1400 and work it to 4200...10 miles out.