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It was super at Whitwell today. Could see for miles since it was so
clear. Sorry VP. I worked up the weather and called a route to go
toward Huntsville down Hiway 72. Had to go to the south into a
strong
head wind past S Pittsburg almost to Scottsboro before turning to
the
west and getting a little help with a quartering tail wind. At base
winds were ESE. On the climbs they were SE.
I launched first and floated around for a while before finding a
little climb. I was way to the North at 100' over the ridge when
everyone bailed off and started skying! I saw a bird with rockets
on and went to him. Heckman was even further N and came in right
under me. We beamed out to base. Bout 5000' over! I got into the
wispy stuff and headed down the ridge toward S. Pittsburg.
I was 3 miles south of launch when James called to say he was a mile
or two behind launch and was thinking of going over the back. We
talked a bit finally James decided to come to me since we'd told
everyone that was gonna be our route and Greg didn't have a radio.
James and I ran hard! Most of our inter thermal were easily 50 to
55 mph! We had to run into the a fairly stout head wind and got
slow a few times looking for decent climbs. We were teased by the
700 fpm first climb out and the next several weren't anything like
it.
We loitered around too much for sure. We had lots of discussion on
which way to go. I was a little worried about changing the route
since we were the only ones on the radio. If we went the wrong way
it would make retrieval a nightmare.
We pushed hard and finally made the turn to the west to follow Hwy
72 West. We made pretty good time with super fast glides when we
were together. We scooted along over Gurley. We were too high to
recognize Keel! Neither James nor I have GPS with maps so we were
just running hard to the West along the Highway. We had a
quartering tail wind push to bout 5 miles short of Huntsville, where
it went almost due South.
James got a little low and a bit behind as we came close to
Huntsville. We separated a bit and James got a bit low trying to
find me. He ended up putting it down in the Northern Suburbs of
Huntsville.
I think it was about 72 miles not counting the 25+ mile dogleg we
ran before turning to the west.
I got to the edge of a fat cloud street that ran South to North and
was very impressive looking. I floated south several thousand feet
under it looking for a solid climb. I hit it about a minute after
James landed! Got to base again and headed due west down Hwy. 72.
Got a couple of weak climbs, then a good one to base again at about
6500' over take off which would make it 8800' msl. I went on a very
long glide! It was that soft buoyant air that we just love to float
along in. I kept flying way above best glide speed since James and
I had run most of the way in the 50s/ Below 40 seemed like I was
gonna stall!
I got down to field to field height and finally landed 100 yards
off Hwy. 72! I flew to Killen AL. I called Jackie to tell her I
almost flew back to Florence AL where we lived before moving to
Lookout.
Eric Donaldson called to say he'd landed near Huntsville after
flying the same route we did! What do you know. Those little
flexies can fly into the wind with a determined pilot behind the
control bar! I am so impressed with Eric and his incredible
development as a pilot. He's an A pilot for TC for sure unless he's
on my team. Then he's still a B ;-P
NOW THE REST OF THE STORY! Greg just went straight over the back
again! He says he couldn't buck the head wind on the route. Greg
said, "It was 15 mph. I couldn't go into that." But he could have
if he'd followed Eric!
Heckman had a heck of a flight. He landed near Nashville for a
flight of bout 85 miles. Very nice, but it was just a straight
downwind run.
I'm typing this up in the cab of my truck with our super driver
Wayne Walker, my stiffie flying buddy James at 10:30 PM. We just
loaded Greg into the back where Sissy is gonna lick him all the way
back to Henson's where we get to drop off Wayne and go back to get
James truck at the Animal Hospital on Hwy 11. Then Greg and I will
go unload the wings at the Shop at LMFP. I'll drop off Greg. I'll
make it home bout 2:30 or 3 AM and have an 8 AM appointment to
make!
This is why I love the Stiffie wings. We can STAY ON COURSE LINE!
Anyway, I love this sport! Looking forward to some great OUT N
BACKS soon. Ollie
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