Out and Return to the Fantasy of Flight
Fantasy of Flight|Larry Bunner|PG|triangle|Wilotree Park
A strong cross wind turns an out and return into a triangle by creating very well defined cloud streets.
After two days of "strong" east winds we decided that the winds were going to be light enough to launch going to the east and to fly south and then back north. This was the morning updated forecast:
Will there be cu's? After two days of high cu's and a similar wind (now with a slight bit of south) you would think so. The NWS and HRRR 3 say there is 20% cloud cover.
NWS:
Today
Sunny, with a high near 79. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Hourly in the afternoon: East surface wind 8 mph, 20% cloud cover.
HRRR 3:
East surface wind at 1 PM: 8 mph, 2000' 10 mph, 4,000' 10 mph
TOL at 1 PM: 6,400'
Updraft Velocity at 1 PM: 640 fpm
CB at 1 PM: 0'
B/S at 1 PM: 8.7
Skew-T says maybe cu's.
TOL at 2 PM: 6,900'
Task:
Seems that the winds are a little too strong for around the Green Swamp (maybe tomorrow) so a cross wind task instead? I'll ask pilots what they want to do.
Quest 3 km
Fantsy 1 km
Quest 400 m
81 km
I was second to launch after Larry Bunner at 12:18 PM. The wind was 15 mph out of the east southeast. The lift started right from the start as we climbed out at 850 fpm. Pinning off in light lift I then headed downwind to get under Larry and climbed to 4,100'.
Larry headed southeast and I followed from below a little to his north side and found 700 fpm under the copious cu's. It was absolutely smooth and I had no idea I was climbing so fast at first. Larry was a kilometer to me south quickly getting smaller.
I climbed to cloud base at 5,000' and followed Larry to one side from a thousand feet over him. I marked the next two thermals and kept an eye on Larry to make sure that he was following. His radio was on the wrong frequency so I couldn't give him any help other than showing him the lift.
I climbed in the fourth thermal up the front face above cloud base and waited for Larry. I really wanted to fly together and get close enough so that we could signal each other visually. Unfortunately Larry got to base and headed south without passing close by so I didn't see him as I flew in and out of the mists. Finally I headed south and saw him circling at my altitude just ahead at the next cu. I was disappointed that he didn't wait for me there like I had waited for him at each of the previous thermals. We wouldn't be flying together after all.
Heading south 8 km past 474/33 I came in under Larry and then moved a bit east in sink while Larry moved a bit west and found 700-800 fpm. I found 500 fpm from 2,600' and climbed to over 5,100' drifting west at 9 mph. I was on my own.
The thermals averaged between 400 and 600 fpm and I climbed to over 5,000' just south of Dean Still. The wind was 5 mph out of the east northeast. The cu's were streeted east to west. The run from Dean Still to Fantasy of Flight looked not too inviting with only a few cus' ahead.
I didn't find any lift on the 9 km glide to just 1 km downwind of Fantasy. There was a cu to the east of Fantasy but lakes between me and it and I was down to 2,100' and headed for the nearest dark cu on the downwind side over land (and houses).
A dark cloud street formed right over Fantasy heading west. I was under it and searching all around finding light lift and finally finding 300 fpm to 5,000' in a 12 mph east southeast wind. I used the cloud street to get upwind and make 7.5 km to the turnpoint and then to the east southeast edge of the cloud street. I wanted to get upwind of the course line after being way down wind of it attempting to get myself back in the game.
I headed north cross wind, cross the sink area between cloud streets toward the next black-looking cloud. I had been finding lift on the south upwind sunny side of the clouds. I searched around and drifted downwind until down to 1,600' I finally found it along with a few buzzards getting back to cloud base at 5,000'. The wind was still 12 mph out of the east southeast, totally cross as we expected.
I headed due north to Dean Still to get under the closest cloud that I thought that I could connect with. I didn't feel that I could make it to the north east to get under the further cloud. I climbed at 200 fpm from 3,400' to 4,300' before I ventured directly upwind over a forested area hoping to make it high enough to feel comfortable when I got to the cloud to the east northeast.
I made it and climbed at over 400 fpm to 5,700'. This extra altitude was a great gift as I was going over areas that were off the main road and where I didn't really want to land. I headed north northeast to cu's 4 km southeast of 474/33. There I found 350 fpm to 5,800'. I wasn't that far from the Seminole Glider Port. It looked like I could make it back to Wilotree Park despite the cross wind.
I found a few light thermals north of Seminole that I hung on to just to make sure that I could make it back with plenty of altitude. The cu's were still looking very dark and I was not having a problem getting under them. It was easy to make it in.
Only Larry and I ventured out today although lots of people flew. Looks like at least two more days of east winds that are light enough for cross wind tasks. I'm sure more pilots will join us.
https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2736583
https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/11.3.2021/17:18
https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US
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5 topics in this article: Fantasy of Flight, Larry Bunner, PG, triangle, Wilotree Park
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