The SkyBlog

Day three, the forecast was for slightly lighter but more southerly winds swithcing to S.W. higher and later in the day, we decided that we would try one more time to go big up the center of the state but with  a slightly more attainable goal. We chose a new waypoint at the BOK tower(highest point in Florida) which was 130 km from our start.

The cloudstreets early looked amazing all lined up in rows and stretching as far as you can see, then around 11:00 they started to raise and break up a bit but they were still present by 12:00, we started launching at 12:45 with me and Andy again trying to tow up together but just before we started there was a big crash on hwy 80 and the trafic that was backing up started to be diverted thru the housing development where were towing which complicated things to say the least, i was about to tow up first but We saw a helicopter inbound so i waited for several minutes while the chopper circled to find a landing spot, when he touched down i launched and got a 1,100 ft  but had to stay on the line to avoid dropping my line on a passing car and when i did pin off i had to go back and search for the light thermal but i was not able to find it again and was dribbling downwind when the chopper launched again but i was clear of his path and then i landed back at the start, Andy had towed up and found lift and Luis had gotten up and they climbed out together before crossing the triangle of doom.

I had to wait my turn again in the tow line which was only a few minutes but in that time another helicopter flew in to the accident scene, after he had landed Scotty G and Terry B got towed up and Scotty G stuck and Terry B did’nt and i was next up and i pinned off at 750 ft into a light thermal but i just did’nt want to miss it again but my thermal took forever to turn on and get my high meanwhile Scotty G was at base hovering over 4,000 ft. I finally got high just at the south edge of the Triangle of doom and i was chasing after Scotty who had glided N.W. to avoid the the long glide over the center of the triangle. I glided straight to the next cloud but got drilled along the way and had to take 150 fpm lift to get back up with a thick inversion below 2,000 ft. so all my racing tactic was not working as Scotty G was just staying high and going slow but was able to easily hang with me as i took light lift to get back high.

Luis R had landed just north of the triangle and Bubba G was still in the air getting near the south end of lake placid it was now 3:00 and Andy had landed south of Sebring while trying to fight crosswind to stay on courseline but as i got to lake Placid the clouds were much better to the east so i followed and it paid off as i flew over Bubba and Andy with Scotty G on my tail but getting low, i now had to fight crosswind to still have a chance to make the 10 km goal cyl at BOK tower. It was a lucky line i chose as i had clouds forming in blue holes just as i got there.

Once i had the day won i lost my motivation to care about actually making goal and i was mostly just enjoying the flight as i got to my high point at 5,400 agl but soon i was only 40km out and with a 10 k cyl i only had 30 kms to go when i got low by the same spot i landed at the day before but this time i hooked at 300 fpm core at 700 ft agl and it took me to 4,000 i was 20 km form the goal cyl and i went on glide and i flew thru some 200 fpm but did’nt stop as i just had 600fpm and i figuered that in 20 km i’d hit something but NO not a burble all the way to 300 ft where it was about to break off and i burbled a bit but not good enough to climb out so i landed 1.4 kms from the goal cyl as i could see the tower 6 miles away.

So  i finally won a day in my own comp, which should be good enough for a 1,000 point score and will tighten the race between me,Luis and Andy. We had a good spread of pilots across the courseline.

Today the winds are forecast S.W. or even West so we will get to check out some new terrian but as the guys want to fly to the beach we will have to fight around the north edge of lake Okeechobee and that is never an easy task, there could be some rain showers in the afternoon with 30% chance but the front that is approaching is stalling out and might not get here, although they are forecasting north winds on Thursday.

more soon,

David.

WE called a big task again in hopes of having higher cloudbase and stronger lift but there was this little prediction of a SW flow aloft along courseline that we would have to deal with.

I was first off and Andy was right behind me as we tried to get away together, but with a 750 ft tow and Andy gettingonly to 650 ft i knew it would be hard to impossible so i just searched for lift and found a small core that eventually turned on and got me out to base t 3,500 i followed a nice cloud street across the triangle of doom but i had to glide crosswind to stay on course and stay under the better looking clouds, the winds aloft were not helping us make faster time and i soon knew there was no way we would be in goal today.

AS i got up near lake Placid i could hear Luis R and Andy M getting across the triangle of doom and i had to glide thru a big blue hole north of lake Placid and i got down to 500 ft before i hooked in to a core and got back to base at 4,500 and after that i made a few long glides but a blue hole sent me to the dirt at 92 kms and an hour later Andy flew over and Luis radioed he was landing at Sebring but 30 minutes later we heard him again after he had made a low save from 300 ft.

Luis landed at 105 kms and Andy won the day again at 115 kms.

Other piltos got away but chose not to venture across the triangle of doom

despite the higher cloudbase and stronger lift the SW crosswind and two small inversions made it a harder flight, there was much less wind but it was more turbulant then the day before.

Still a steller flight.

Today day 3: task 3 we may try to go big again or we may try for a trianlge flight around the triangle of doom.

More soon,

David.

The winds were predicted 20 knots at 3,000 ft and they were exactly that, we knew the lift would be stronger then the previous day and that cloudbase would be higher, so i decided to send everyone big in an attempt at breaking my 5 year old state record of 92.8 miles. I set the goal at Wallaby ranch flight park 106 miles or 171 km.

At the tow paddock the surface winds were gusting to near 20 and the clouds were looking shredded so most of the pilots were happy to just wait for awhile but around 12:30 i decided to give it a go to show the piltos how good it really was so i got towed up by Steve S on his super smooth histeris brake unit and he pulled me thru good lift at 500 ft agl but i decided to hang on to get higher and at 1,400 ft agl i hit some 1,200 fpm on avg and i pinned off and quickily climbed to base at 3,500 ft. The lift was smooth and the drift was strong but good direction.

I was gliding over the canal when the Luis R got pulled up but he pinned off early and was back on the ground, Terry B was next and he got up but then landed by the canal, Andy M wwas next up and he got away on his first tow, Luis R took and second then third tow before he was able to get away.

I was moving along quickily and as i got north toward lake Placid i was facing some big blue holes and the clouds were shredded up, and so was the lift i had been worbling along at 2,500 ft and went thru an area with broken lift i searched but did’nt find a core i could make sense of and so i headed downwind at 2,300 ft and it was all blue downwind of me and the crosswind glide tothe next cloud did’nt look like a good option so i glided and did’nt hit anything and was on the ground at 50kms out. The sly remained blue for about 45 minutes then began to fill in with better cloud streets and about 15 minutes later i heard Andy on the radio as he was flying over lake Placid.

About 30 minutes later Luis R flew to my east about 2 miles and i cloud see that he was staying higher then what i was able to get and the lift seemed more frequent.

Luis R landed at 130kms out or 80 miles and we chased after Andy M who was under a nice cloudstreet and decided to blow off the goal which would have forced him to glide 30 kms in total blue, instead he went for the state record and landed on hwy 33 N.W. of Wallaby ranch at 180 kms or 115 miles.

So Andy M in now the new Florida state record holder, and now i will have to go back to work breaking his record.

Today day two is looking like a repeat and today we will call a goal at Quest air for a another new state record of 208 kms.

David.

We called the longest task of the Fun comp in hopes of allowing the pilots to drift downwind and go for personal bests. As we arrived to the tow paddock we had nice clouds forming south of us and mostly sunny skies overhead but as the day starts to heat up the winds mix down and we have gusts to 15 in the paddock so some piltos are concerned about penetration, we sent up two pilots who both were nearly parked at altitude so we called them back down as they were expereinced enough to continue going x-c in those winds.

The skies began to form better cu’s overhead but cloudbase looks low and the skies south of us are getting darker, most pilots want to wait and see what happens but several of them started to pack it up, so they agreed to let me give it a go so i suited up and got on a tow line and after about 10 minutes waiting of ra nice lull i pulled up and Steve towed me up with his histerisis brake tow rig which is a very smooth unit. I got to just over 1,000 ft and pinned off into 0’s but i was able to worble in a bug fart for a few kms before i hooked some 100 fpm lift and eventually it turned into the strongest lift of the day at 150fpm up and i topped out at 2,400 ft. i glided north toward the sand plant and i saw a buzzard going on glide to some sunshine and i followed there i found some 540fpm up and i climbed back to 2,000 ft as i drifted a few miles out into the triangle of doom and i was looking at a outlanding with a two mile walk out but i was able to worble in the 50 up which slowly weaned to 0’s but i was just happy to drift without sinking and eventually i had a glide to the N.W. where i was able tyo land in a huge green field with just a .5 mile walk out. the field was very wet and i had to walk around a few swamp areas. I did see a 8 ft gator sunning in a graasy patch.

I was the only pilot to fly as the sky just did not look good and no one else wanted to risk a hike out of the triangle of doom.

We have been getting our tracks downloaded and scores have been coming out but there is some kind of glitch that we have been trying to figure out which has the scores on day two at 6 points to the winner who flew half the course and had several others strewn along the way. We hope to have some valid scores to post today.

But provisional scores show HAdley Robinson winning the Spring Fling due to being the only pilot to make goal during the Spring Fling and Kim Browder as the top female pilot. Nathan Beane won the Triangle of doom survivor award for his several mile walk out from the triangle of doom thru gator and snake infested swamp land. this award will be a perpetual award given each year to the pilot who is willing to glide into the triangle of doom despite the danges. Teh award is a necklace with a large cow bone attached to it so when you land there you have something to defend yourself with.

Today looks to have lighter winds and hopefully less shade, we will try to fly yesterdays task for htose who remain and those who have arrived for the ECPC the only east coast sanctioned USHPA comp and the only PG tow event in the USA see you soon,

David.

Well we finally got a good wind direction that we are used to flying in so we called a task to the north with a 7km exit cyl around the Florida ridge flight park, then a 15 km leg north to the junction of the Hwy29 and Hwy 27 at the north edge of the triangle of doom, before heading to goal in lake Placid straight up Hwy 27.

We did’nt start till after 1:00 as the sky was a milky grey, but once the sky started to clear we could see great cu’s forming north of us about 20 miles and over the next hour they just got closer but they never seememd to be forming directly overhead.

Several pilots stuck on the early tows and those were the pilots that made it out the furthest, Terry B won the day landing north of the first TP part ways to goal, DJ was second.

Around 3:00 the sly became milky again as some high scud overran our posistion but we kept the faith and were still slingin although no pilots had stuck in over an hour, so we decided to tow for another 45 minutes and if no pilot stayed up we would call the day off. Around 4:15 all the pilots had enough towing for the day and they started to pack up, i told them that i needed to fly in order to bring up the overall points for the day instead of getting a DNF for the day. I got ready and Luis A from paragliding Florida towed me to 900 ft at 4:45 and after release i just worbled in 0’s for a while as i drifted downwind toward the trees and over the trees i found a bug fart of 50fpm up and i circled for a few minutes while Adam got towede aloft and when he got off tow he seemed to climb even better then i did, but my thermal was starting to show stronger potential and i was fianlly climbing out at 200 fpm but soon i could see Adam out climbing me so i shifted over under him and found 350 fpm lift which took us to 2,000 ft. Adam is a very new pilot never even thermalling before this event. I out climbed him as he was making odd circles but soon the lift was over and we headed downwind, we were unable to connect with the next thermal as it was getting very late int he day and Adam landed about 6 km the start for his first ever thermal x-c flight.

I was flying my SR8 proto and had an amazing glide out over the triangle of doom as i searched under a bird for lift i decided not to risk a long hike out of hte triangle of doom and turned back gliding south back to a easy retrieve road, i made 9kms form the start.

We should have some task results to post today.

Conditions for next week look steller, and there is plenty of room for more pilots in the ECPC.

See you here,

David

Todays forecast showed weak lift,light northwest winds which is the worst direction for flying here as it takes you out over some no mans land where there is not much or any retrieve options.

We set a task to the S.E. with a TP on Hwy 833 then a goal at Hwy 832, this task will allow pilots to go mostly downwind.

We started to pull pilots up at 12:30 with many pilots waiting to see better conditions but those better conditions seemed to never arrive, Terry B and Lee B both got away around 1:30 and were high heading downwind but they seemed to loose the lift a few miles south and they were both getting low. Lee B landed and had a foreman from Alico corp.(large Agribusiness) stop by and offer him a ride to the gate, they then saw Terry B flying not far away as he was scratching up in a light thermal, but the foreman requested that Terry B land there with them so the foreman could give them both a ride to the gate, Terry reluctantly went down and landed, the foreman had requested Terry land nearby so as not to land on any crop. Lee landed on the road so he did’nt damage any crop. About 30 minutes later they both arrived back at the tow paddock and reported the friendly foreman had given them a ride out. About an hour later as we headed back to give another tow we were stopped by an undercover policeman who took my ID and told us that we were not allowed to land on Alico property and that the next person would be charged with trasspassing.

I informed all the pilots that they could still fly the task but now they would need to fly straight east first over to Hwy 833 before heading south so as to not land on Alico property. Most pilots had already taken several tows and had not found any lift, we were not able to get pilots very high with the light winds and short north tow roads. So many pilots decided to just pack it up but a few pilots were still eager to get some and at 3:30 just 30 minutes before the launch window closed three pilots slowly climbed out with Dj D leading the way nice and high.

DJ ended up over on HWy 833 south of 80 which got him the top honors for the day, Tom M, Matt W, and Les B all made it out on x-c flights but the majority of the pilots were scored for Min distance.

As we closed the launch window and packed our gear to head back to the flight park, we were stopped again by a Florida division of wildlife officer(game warden)/cop who sternly told us to gather in a group so he would not ahve to tell us but only once that the next person who lands on Alico property would be charged with trasspassing and sent to court in front of a judge. I explained to the officer that we had a similar situation a few years ago with the Lykes brothers 40,000 acres property and when it got to court the judge threw out the case because to prove a trasspassing  has occured it requires that it be proven the trasspasser entered the private property intentionally with malice intent, which they could not do since the pilot launched with a different distination in mind. He replied that every case was different. We again told him that we did not intend to land on Alico property and that we would do our best to not land there again.  So two police officers in less then two hours, seems like Alico has a few people in their pockets. The real story is the Foreman who gave them a ride out was very friendly but his boss was very upset that his foremans time was being wated giving us pilots a ride out of his private property instead of working. Neither pilot asked for help or a ride. Does a property owner have the right to demand you land on his property when you are flying overhead?

Task one scores are provisional now with a few issues we are still working on but the winnner for the day got only 150 points and min distance pilots got 78 points just for launching.

Today and tomorrow look better although they are forecasting 50% chance of showers tomorrow.

Next week the ECPC weather is looking about as good as we have seen it here in Florida this year with SE winds everyday. 

David.

After two days of strong winds and heavy downpours finally we got a chance to put our machine madness to the test, with five rigs slingin in two different locations. I have to admit i was very surprised at how smooth our system was working. at one point  we had three pilots on tow at the same time and all three of those pilots stuck in lift and climbed away from the paddock.

In terms of lift it was not a great not even a good day but a mediocre day at best and as the winds picked up what lift was out there got shredded up.

I think we did around 50 tows in 4 hrs and around 20 pilots we able to get away for an x-c flight. Only one pilot made goal Hadley from El Paso, and there were several pilots who were about 15 kms short.

I finally got towed up at 3:40 and was able to climb out in 100 fpm lift after a 1,000 ft tow, i topped out at 2,050 and went on glide downwind to the deck, without hitting a burble, the ground below was mostly covered with water.

Chandler topped out at 5,000 ft agl which was the highest anyone got all day.

Most pilots had a few tows and good flights so it was a nice transistion after two non flying days.

Tomorrow we plan a task to the SE around 45.5 kms which about as far as you can go with out landing in swamp.

More soon,

David.

This morning started with a dazzling light show, the snap crack of close proxemity lightening strikes, and a terrencial downpour that dropped four inches of rain in just two hours.

We were forced out of our tent at 6:30 a.m. with the lightening strikes just too close for comfort, the field was mostly flooded and it was still flooded at sunset today.

We obviously called the task off for today, as the winds were still 25 knots at 3,000 ft. The front had passed us by 12:00 and the sky was clearing. I gave another two hour talk, on a little bit of everything from a good tree landing  to speeds to fly theory.  We took a few hours for lunch and then again at 4:00 we had another GPS class and got all the pilots GPS’s downloaded, and then we set the task for tomorrow since the winds aloft will be taking us straight to goal in South Bay.

We  will have a 52 km task with a 3km entry cyl around the Ridge flight park and then a 2km TP cyl before heading downwind to the second TP at HWY 80n, (400 m cyl) on the way to a 1km goal around South Bay. Launch will open at 11:00 and the start will open at 11:30. Launch will close at 4:00 and goal will close at 6:00.

Winds are expected to be west,10 knots at 3,000 ft.

David.

The winds aloft were predicted to be 25knots at 3,000 ft and at 7:00 a.m. it was starting to show signs of wind and when they towed up the first HG it was easy to see that the forecast was right on, the HG was going backwards on tow.

We decided that it was not going to be good for the Spring Fling pilots to give it a go, so instead we finished our registration meeting and then went right into a 3 hr briefing about all kinds of x-c  knowledge and some weather and soaring theory. After a several hour lunch break pilots gathered back here at the ridge flight park and many had a hour plus kiting session and then we did a mock task with gps Turnpoints so pilots could practice going thru the steps of flying a task.

Around 7:30 we all headed into LA Belle for a nice Mexican dinner and while we were at dinner we got a weather report that heavy rain was falling in Tampa just 100 miles n.w. of our locations and it is headed our way.

Tomorrow looks like 60% chance of rain and winds at 3,000 ft of 25 knots, but after the rain passes it will get better.

More soon,

David.

Tomorrow is the practice day for the Spring Fling and lucky for me the winds look like thaey will be cranking from the s.e. and most pilots will not want to give it a go with the 20 mph gusts that will be associated with the epic conditions that accompany those big days.

So needless to say i’m getting a good nights rest and i’kll be ready for a early departure hopefully with a late finish well past the 100 mile mark.

It looks like we may suffer a couple days a strong conditions although i’ve seen conflicting reports about Monday and Tuesday before it returns to more moderate conditions.

Today we had 5 pg piltos out on x-c flights with DJ cracking the 25 mile mark, It was a good day with Brian M hitting some 1,400 fpm lift to 5,000 ft agl. The HG pilots flew 85 miles to the edge of Tampa.

There will be a pilots meeting tomorrow noght at 6:00 but if i’m not back form my 100 plus flight then it will be abbreviated and the pilots breifing will be again on Sunday morning starting at 8:00 a.m.

This years Spring Fling is now full at 25 pilots.

All pilots remember to bring any GPS download cables that you have for your GPS’s

any questions or problems i can be reached at 505-720-5436

David.