Tennessee Tree Toppers

Hey all.  Ya missed it if ya didn't fly Henson's today!  Course people probably
had great fights everywhere since the lapse rate was pretty good. It was super
in the Sequatchie.  Only 5 showed!  Guess people needed to tow or thought SW
wasn't going to be a good direction today. 

At Henson's it was 90 degrees cross most of the time, but the thermals would
turn it in for decent launchable cycles. After all, this is the best launch
ramp in the world, so everyone had good takeoffs.

I went first with a good launch in light 45 degrees cross and turned right to
head straight for the road cut and cliffs that face SW.  I hit a nice climb half
way there and got up.  James Stinnett dove off and headed for the climb.  Kathy
Lee was next, then Steve Lee.  I didn't see Tom Prouhet launch, but am sure he
got to fly.

James and I got up pretty well, but Steve was catching us on the climb with what
looked like a screaming tight core.  We topped out about 3000+' over launch and
jumped  downwind a little to get even higher.  I'd worked up the logistics for a
100Km triangle the night before and posted it on facebook, so that is what I had
in mind.  I'd called Henson's to Sandifers' to Whitwell and back to Henson's for
a little over 64 miles.  This is a tough triangle.

We had a lot of wind drift on the climbs. The 6030 was showing 12 mph to 14 mph
tailwind, but the forecast SkewT had the wind dropping off and more crosswind to
our course at the top of the climbs so it should have less influence on our
progress when we had to come back into the headwind. The forecast proved to be
pretty accurate. 

I thought we'd get 7000' msl or maybe 7500'msl, but it turned out to be great
and we got to 8700+ msl later in the day.  The clouds showed up and streeted in
an interesting way.  The streets lined up SW to NE, but the streets shifted to
the east and broke up as they formed.  Just like the forecast said the lift
would behave!  The air was weird on the trip down to Pikeville.  James got
pretty low near Sandifers and had to claw up, drifting even further to the
northeast.  I got down to 800 over take off a little northeast of the turnpoint
too. This felt pretty scary since it was the lowest of the whole flight for me
and we were about to turn back into the teeth of the wind.  We talked with each
other a lot and helped each other stay in the game. 

When we were groveling around at Pikeville, we saw Steve Lee.  He was high and
had passed us.  I think he made the smarter move of shifting deeper onto the
plateau when the sink/shading got bad.  James and I turned and ran toward the
valley and the sun.  It almost landed us both!  I bet those clouds were still
working on top so Steve was BOOKING!

When James and I found the ticket out at Sandifers, we headed back south for
Henson's.  We got a couple of great lines with lifting air and covered a lot of
ground.  It hadn't been pleasant air for most of the trip so far.  I was getting
a little air sick which never happens to me!  When we got back to Henson's James
found a smooth climb and I felt better, so we decided to push on. The Sequatchie
sky was amazing with high climbs and now smooth air. I was a little bit out in
front so when James whipped it around to explore a climb, I felt it would be
better for me to keep on going. We separated a little at that point. I ran
southwest down the Henson's side of the valley for several miles with a great
line of lift. When the line weakened and sink showed up, I cut across the
valley at about 45 degrees toward the Whitwell LZ. I didn't have the LZ
coordinates, but did have the coordinates for the Whitwell launch so the 6030
was giving me good
feedback to go for it.

Unfortunately, the valley wasn't working and I lost a fair amount crossing in
some sinking air. Heck I was stinking high at the start, so with some careful
speeds to fly and a few turns in a small, but decent climb that soon died, I got
to the Church LZ turnpoint with a couple thousand over take off height, about
4300 msl. James had hung back to get even higher and was coming toward me as I
returned toward Henson's. He went over my head with probably 2000'. I felt I
was OK cause the 6030 said I had Henson's LZ by 300 feet with the little tail
wind push!

All this went sour quickly when I ran into a little sink. Suddenly the 6030
said I was going to arrive 800' below the LZ! Fortunately, I found a little
climb in the middle of the valley that turned on. I stuck with it till the 6030
said I had goal by 2300 feet from 10 miles out. I raced to the Henson's launch
ramp and hollered at who I thought was Ned and at my dogs. I was worried about
James since he didn't catch the bottom of that mid valley thermal and was saying
he might end up short, but hit a good climb and cruised in easily for a pass by
the ramp. We both had nice landings uphill and into the SW wind!

64.5 miles for a 103 kilometer triangle! Flying challenging tasks is so much
fun! Tough, but very satisfying and it saves gas!!! Modern gliders will run
upwind and the Stiffies are good at it! Since James and I came without a
driver, we were very motivated to make it back to the truck.

Steve Lee went long, but I'm not sure how far. It sure was a fine day but I
don't think he broke Dave's Henson record.

HANG GLIDING!!! I LOVE IT!!!
Ollie



 

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