I tried to rally some troops, but there's only a few of us signed off to fly Windy, and it was a Friday. I decided to go check out the hill and fly if it was good. I could hike back up and retrieve my car.
Direction and velocity in the bay area was looking good on my way to the LZ. As I arrived Urs called and said he would come drive me back to my car after flying. Things were looking better. I put up the streamers in the LZ and drove up to launch. It's a long hike up from the parking area to the launch so I went to check the conditions before committing to the dreaded glider carry. Perfect. 15 straight in. It was not as cold as usual, hawks were circling overhead. It was on.
As I walked back to my car to get my gear I called the Ed Levin wind talker. It had gone from NE at 25 to NE at 5 in 40 minutes. Uhh ohh. I better hurry.
Rushing to setup it was still looking good. I hustled my glider up the hill and got it ready. Suited up and stepped out to launch. Dead calm. Crap.
As is so often the case at Windy I found myself wishing I had been there 60 minutes earlier. A no wind launch at Windy is not a endeavour to be taken lightly. But it really is a pain to hike your glider all the way up there and there was no way I was hiking it back down. I waited for a tiny 5mph cycle and launched.
It was a beautiful day. I had certainly missed the best air, but was able to find some small thermals to play in for a while. The LZ is green and freshly mowed. I brought it in for a slighly downwind, but slightly uphill landing. Glad to get in the air on such a nice day!
Looking SE from the air.
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