The Oz Report, a near-daily, world wide hang gliding news ezine, with reports on competitions, pilot rankings, political issues, fly-ins, the latest technology, ultralight sailplanes, reader feedback and anything else from within the global HG community worthy of coverage. Hang gliding, paragliding, hang gliders, paragliders, aerotowing, hang glide, paraglide, platform towing, competitions, fly-ins. Hang gliding and paragliding news from around the world, by Davis Straub.

logo
The
 Oz Report
email
?
older newer
April 19, 2017, 9:16:00 pm EST -0400

2017 Quest Air Open »

Lots of winds from the east, plenty of cu's

Quest Air|Quest Air Open 2017|weather

https://airtribune.com/2017-quest-air-open-and-reopen/blog__day_3

The forecast:

2017 Quest Air Open and Re-Open, Wednesday April 19th

National Weather Service forecast:

Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. East wind 5 to 10 mph.

Hourly forecast shows surface winds east 11 mph from noon to 7 PM

NAM forecast:

2 PM
1000 - 1100 fpm lift
6,000' - 7,000' top of lift
5,000' - 6,000' cloudbase
12 mph east wind at top of lift
11 mph east wind at 30'

5 PM
300 - 400 fpm lift (Area of 300 - 400 fpm from the Villages south to Lakeland)
5,000' - 7,000' top of lift
No cu's or 5,000' - 6,000' cloudbase
12 mph east wind at top of lift

RAP forecast:

2 PM
700 - 900 fpm lift
7,000' - 8,000' top of lift
6,000' - 7,000' cloudbase
11 mph east wind at top of lift
9 mph east wind at 30'

5 PM
700 - 800 fpm lift (300 - 400 fpm by Bushnell and from there to the southwest to Spring Hill)
7,000' - 8,000' top of lift
7,000' - 8,000' cloudbase
12 mph east wind at top of lift

Op40 at 2 PM shows cloudbase at 7500' at 46 degrees, with an east wind of 12 mph (Same wind throughout the day).

Given the stronger than the previous day east wind Larry came up with a task zig zagging to the northwest.

Quest, 5km
Panolk, 2km
Gross, 1km
Invrns, 400m
Sierra, 1km
Crystl, 400m
97.9 km

I was the first to launch six minutes after the launch window. I was scheduled to launch third but apparently the first two pilots wanted to wait. After a while I found 270 fpm to 3900'. Larry called that he was going up slowly under the clouds to the south. I joined him but it was going no where.

We headed back toward Sheets field and Larry then found a strong thermal in the blue and we climbed to 4900'. The north edge of the 5 KM start cylinder was over 5 KM away.  We headed in that direction and found weak lift at 3,500' at the edge waiting for the 1:30 PM start window.

I headed out as Larry continued to climb. There were only four of us up at the start. Many pilots were struggling in the wind. The Sport Class launch was closed due to the rough conditions.

In two kilometers I found 240 fpm to 4700' drifting with a 17 mph east southeast wind. The strong wind made the thermals broken and difficult to follow.

Things were not going well for me with the strong wind. I did find 300 fpm on average and then 400 fpm in the next two thermals, the second one to 4,800' but not to cloudbase.

I was down to 1,700' by Bushnell when I found 250 fpm. The climb was slow and the drift was fast. Instead of sticking with it in the broken lift I headed back up wind to another cloud. No luck and I was soon on the ground.

Larry was right above me at 4,800' and in the lead. Soon other pilots came overhead. The lift improved as the day got later and pilots were able to get to 7,000'. Numerous pilots made goal.

The results are slow getting up because of an error I made in setting up the task on Airtribune. Pilots have to send in their track logs manually. Just like the bad old days.

Discuss "2017 Quest Air Open" at the Oz Report forum   link»


  ‹@
contact email list
Wills Wing
Flytec
Social Responsibility
Learn to Fly
Last Seven Issues
Back Issues
Goodies
Store
Cloudsuck
Support Us
Subscribe
Classified ads
Advertise
Forum
Calendar
Site Guide
Resources
Web Services
Facebook Page
Facebook Group
Facebook Community
Facebook Events
Blog
Google Earth
Coverage
Other blogs
Other forums
Mainstream news
Memorials
RSS & OPML
privacy policy
play Pilotle (mobile)
web proxy

How to subscribe to (support) the Oz Report



You can send $20 or more for a yearly subscription / donation. To pay for your subscription with your credit card or PayPal account:



If you'd rather just send a check for $20 or more, please feel free to do so. The mail gets forwarded to me wherever I'm at.

Payable to:

Davis Straub
PMB 1889 PO Box 2430
Pensacola, FL 32513

Thanks for your support by subscribing to the Oz Report.

Oz Report Hang Gliding Discussion group

Want to discuss hang gliding? You can join the Oz Report hang gliding forum. Click Oz Report Hang Gliding Discussion Group.

Subscribing and Unsubscribing to the e-mail version

You are in charge of your e-mail subscription to the Oz Report. If you wish to unsubscribe or subscribe, click: Subscribe.

Credits

Gerry makes the Oz Report portal much smarter. He is a web consultant and a PHP expert. He's the brains behind the Oz Report, so contact him for PHP programming services. David Glover heads up the Oz Report Radio

To view the Oz Report on the web click Oz Report.

If you want to send in an article to be published in the Oz Report, send it to me here.

Davis Straub
Oz Report