January... back in cold Massachusetts. Warm Florida is a fading memory... but El Niño was still keeping weather unseasonably warm. Not anywhere close to 90°F Florida way, but still manageable 45-ish. Pretty good for January in New England.
Yet another storm was pushing winds from the east. 20-30mph winds were forecasted for Friday, January 8th, and lighter winds on Saturday but with a chance of rain. I have never flown in stronger winds, so I decided to take a day off, and try it out.
Natalia and I got to Wellfleet around noon. A few people were already flying. High tide was an hour ago. Four more people were setting up their gliders. 2 behind the dunes, and 2 behind restrooms across the road. I didn't want to be close to the sand, so I started setting up behind the restroom building as well. Since I was farther away, I turned the glider away from the wind. That didn't help too much as the wind was gusting from 25 to 30mph. With Natalia's help I was able to set the glider up though. I also got 2'x2' rubber mats under each wing and a couple of buckets with sand on the hang strap. All of which helped somewhat, but wings got away from me once for a second, and that was enough to put a small hole on the wing tip. Sigh. Nothing structural, but still, my poor bird... That is one of the problems with flying at Wellfleet, no good place to set up, and gliders always gets some beating.
Anyway, I got it all under control. and asked Natalia to help me with the nose wires while I was going to carry the glider the the launch. We walked very slowly and actually managed most of the way there. Then Lee Minardi, who was helping Keith to launch, took over the nose wires, and he also organized another spectator on my wing. That wasn't really necessary as the wind was straight in, but my brain capacity was exhausted trying to keep glider under control in unfamiliar conditions, so I didn't argue.
The one thing I knew from my previous trip to Wellfleet was I wanted to launch from the basebar, and I wanted to be in the middle of the dune. I watched the video of Jeff's launch from that trip several times, trying to figure out what I should do (none of us flew that day after seeing his launch).
I thought, I analyzed it enough, and I could do it right. The wind was straight-in this time, so that was going for me as well.
Standing on launch I encountered a problem. I couldn't feel my glider at all. People on my side wires were pulling it down too much that I couldn't feel what glider was doing. I asked Lee to let go off the nose wires a bit so I could transition to the base bar. That worked fine. The wind wasn't gusting, so I shouted "clear". It was a good call. The glider remained under my control pointing straight in, but I wasn't lifting off. What the heck? I glanced left, and saw the guy on my left wing still pulling the wing down. Eventually, after a few shouts, he understood he needed to let go. And my glider took off, gently lifting me straight up. That was easy!
With winds around 30mph, I had to pull-in some amount trying to stay above the dune and not be blown back. I found that with strong wind, the lift band had extended in front of the dune all the way to the ocean. It was interesting to fly over the water, 300' above the surface.
The flight wasn't as relaxing as my last flight at the Cape in much lighter winds (https://skymax.fomac.net/2014/12/dune-bouncing/). I was cruising around 28mph for the whole time I was flying. That meant I had to pull-in, not a dramatic amount, but after 2 hours of that - I was pretty tired anyway.
Even though I eventually found a way to relax, and still being pulled in (forearms worked great for that), it only worked in smooth air high above the ground. But often times, air was far from laminar, bumpy and rough.
I flown all the way to the south lighthouse, then made a couple of attempts to cross huge gap to the north one. I didn't feel like I had enough altitude to cross it. The day was winding down anyway, clouds moved in, sun was gone, temperatures dropped. I wasn't too cold, but wasn't comfortable either... I turned around, and played with the wind close to the launch instead.
My landing was perfect, if I do say so myself. It took some effort to cut through the lifting air though. The glider just didn't want to land :-)
My camera died 25 minutes into the flight. Probably because of cold temperatures. The non-gopro branded batteries hold less charge, but I tested them at home, and they got 1 hour 10 min with wifi on, so the temperature was the only explanation I got as I charged them the day before. GoPro bacpac is on order. I need longer video running time...
Here are a few photos from the LZ.
After the flight, we all went to a nearby restaurant to get some dinner and talk about flying. Nice ending to a good day of flying in a good company.
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I was thinking to fly the next day as well. The winds were supposed to be much lighter, although, the temperature as low and complete overcast. After 2 hours in the cold air, I wasn't in the mood for more winter flying. I got new experience with higher wind launch, and I was happy the way I handled it, even with my left wing being stuck on launch for a bit. I didn't enjoy the flying as much as I thought I would, though. I'd rather have higher temperatures for beach flying. Higher winds also means more work. The air was too rough and gusty. I think, if I decide to fly again in such conditions, I will do better, as I know what to expect now, but I wait till temperatures are in 50+F range for sure.
...
I was thinking to fly the next day as well. The winds were supposed to be much lighter, although, the temperature as low and complete overcast. After 2 hours in the cold air, I wasn't in the mood for more winter flying. I got new experience with higher wind launch, and I was happy the way I handled it, even with my left wing being stuck on launch for a bit. I didn't enjoy the flying as much as I thought I would, though. I'd rather have higher temperatures for beach flying. Higher winds also means more work. The air was too rough and gusty. I think, if I decide to fly again in such conditions, I will do better, as I know what to expect now, but I wait till temperatures are in 50+F range for sure.
And of course, all that sand in my glider... I don't think I can shake it all out. I tried...
I also tried to patch the holes with transparent gorilla tape. It worked well for a small wing tip rip I got at Ascutney, but the tape needs to be applied when it's warm outside. It just doesn't want to stick to the surface much at all when it's cold.
Total air time 1:58 ... That puts me over my goal of 75 hours, and now I qualify for H4 test. I'll get the testing done some time in May... hopefully. Still gotta work on hitting that spot on landing...
Lee posted video of his flight as well
