Epic Thursday

High over Napa Valley with Byron already in glide

As promised, Thursday was by far the best day this season, and one of the best days at Byron that I recall. The soaring conditions ended up even better than expected and everyone who flew had a blast. Bases were as high as 7500-8000 feet over Byron later in the afternoon, and up to 9500 feet further north! It was breezy with NW winds 10-20, similar to last Sunday, but as I wrote in my previous report, sometime the wind is a big factor, sometime not. While we had wind induced lines of  strong sink, the thermals were not shredded, they were strong and fat. Later in the afternoon there were large area of OD which needed to be dodged.

I launched early (11AM) when there were only few cu around with only 4-5K bases, and went first 25 miles SE to the end of the cloud street, then went north across the delta towards Williams. Crossing the delta was a bit challenging, getting down to below 2K near Rio Vista, but got much better by the time I got to Vacaville. Since there was OD near Williams, I continued NW to the north shore of Clear Lake 20 miles east of Ukiah, then back south to Crazy Creek, Mt St Hellena and Napa, and continued pass Byron to between Westely and Modesto, then back to Byron. On my final glide back to Byron, at around 3000 feet over Mt House, I hit very strong lift 10-15knots on the averager under a strong shelf of OD. Since I was coming down to land I sped up, but was still climbing fast even at speeds over 100 knots, so decided to slow down instead and kept climbing straight ahead until I needed to pill off to the side to avoid getting sucked into the cloud. In less then 3 minutes I was back above 6K over Byron, so decided to do a bonus run to fly over my home at San Ramon before landing back at Byron after 7.5 hours!

Total OLC distance was 633km http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2253900

This was my longest flight out of Byron, and to the best of my knowledge the longest flight from Byron ever. It broke Yuliy's record of 620km set couple of years ago. If anyone knows of any longer flights from Byron/Hummingbird in the old days please let me know.

Many thanks to Paul for volunteering to tow mid week, and to Jerry for volunteering to help on the ground. Without those volunteering mid week, we would have missed most of the best days at Byron, since days like Thursday are very rare, and only happen on weekdays. It was great to see that 5 pilots managed to take advantage of the excellent soaring conditions. To those who regret they didn't fly, I can only say this: It is OK to move meetings around, or take the day off to take advantage of a great soaring day.  If you love to soar for hours and miles, the satisfaction you will get is priceless.

Ramy

Terence Wilson soars into the lead

"  For the coveted 2012 Awards for Longest Distance Flight in a 1-26 as well as Longest Duration in a 1-26

see Terence's flight:
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html;jsessionid=61F565C539BB9EDA2629D0B5A7EB9C8B?dsId=2248748

Way to go, Terrence!

But who's gonna step up and take over 1st place?????"
-Larry

Buzz reminds the club that "We have a one of a kind Al cast 1-26 trophy in the club that to me has a unknown history. We engrave the winner of the best flight each year. Would be fun and encourage more use of that special plane."

Terence's 1-26 flight yesterday, Sunday April 1st, no fooling,

"When Ramy sends an email alert of good soaring, it's time to rearrange your schedule and get to the airport. I arrived at Byron a little later than usual and found myself second in line for 972 and SS. Charlie was first up in the 1-26 and soared for about 0.6. I'm pretty sure he cut his flight short to give me a shot. Thank you Charlie, you are a gentleman. The post-frontal winds were moderate out of the north west with blue skies and patches of Cu's over Brushy Peak and the Diablo Range. I had planned to release over Los Vaqueros, but Rick in 16Y recommended going straight to Brushy, which turned out to be a better plan. Thank you Rick. After releasing at about 5000MSL directly under the dark part of a big Cu I circled around looking for the lift core, however, the best I found was about 10-20 seconds @ 2kts. Pretty anemic. After meandering around in zero sink I decided to venture downwind where I was able to connect with stronger thermals over Altamont. Discretion being the better part of valor, I didn't let myself drift much further than 580; if I'd been flying SS I probably would have headed towards the Cu's in the direction of Tracy.

On a couple of occasions I was thermalling under the same cloud as FB. In this situation the difference in turn radius between the two ships is stark. And today my neck is sore from twisting and stretching to keep that other glider in sight. If you have good eyes you should be able to see FB in this short video I shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6c6_jbXy6A

After developing a slight headache (dehydration?) I started a leisurely final glide back to Byron from 580. The 30 pattern was busy enough that I opted to take the 7 knot crosswind and land on runway 5. Why enter the fray when there's a perfectly good runway that nobody is using?

Thanks to everyone for helping out. Special thanks to the cadets for helping me get the glider back to the tie-down."

Terence

__._,_.___

Mang experiences wave and convergence happening in different places at different times in a great flight with Buzz late Saturday

-Had a great flight with Buzz. Launched around 3:30pm and got off tow
at 4,000' over Vaqueros Reservoir after contacting wave. Had some slow
climbs (2-4 knots) near the north east end of the reservoir in front of
a very strange rotor-ish cloud. We tried a few times in front of the
cloud but it was a bit of a mixed bag... a little further upwind (west)
was better. The clouds would form and disappear repeatedly - Buzz's
theory was that "burbles" were coming through every now and then. Likely
there there was also some convergence happening there too.

We climbed to 5,900' but I couldn't quite break 6,000'. With sunset
approaching we followed a line (convergence + wave?) towards Tracy. With
an easy run in 2 kts up we were getting closer to Livermore and some
really interesting clouds. We got to those clouds at about 5,000' but
with sunset closing in and having hit areas of 8-10 kts down we headed
back towards Byron.

Just south of the airport we hit some areas of 8 kts up! Buzz took the
liberty of demonstrating a wing over or two to help us bleed off a
little altitude.

Landing was a little interesting. We'd taken off on 23 but the AWOS was
saying winds at 280 degrees. We were clearly being blown downwind more
along the line of 23 and the ripples on the forebay seemed to agree with
this. Also we could see the clouds rolling over the hills in the line
of 23. So we didn't quite believe the AWOS and Buzz had us keep
listening to it to see if the reported winds would change.

We looked to the windsock but couldn't quite make it out (it was in
shadow now... getting time to land!) Since we had plenty of altitude we
overflew the field to get a better look. Sure enough, the windsock was
pointing more in line with 30. With the turbulence we'd been feeling as
we descended near the airport it seemed like there was some serious wind
shear with the winds up above the hills maybe 90 degrees from those on
the ground.

We landed a little before sunset and Yuliy greeted us with "aren't you a
little early?" The flight was 2 hours and exceeded the battery capacity
of my Mio 400 GPS! That's a personal record for me. Many thanks to
Buzz for the great flight with some really interesting weather and the
FM for sticking it out when it looked like it might be time to close up
shop early.

Buzz treated us to some planet gazing with his neato telescope. Very
cool to see the moons of Venus! Hopefully we can convince him to bring
it up to Truckee when the time is right!

Pics!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mangtronix/sets/72157629558794021/show/

As an astute reader pointed out, it was the moons of Jupiter that we
were looking at. Guess I could use another astronomy lesson ;)

- mang

Buzz writes:'we appeared to have some strong shearing at both the low
levels and upper levels as the frontal system was entering the area.
Sometimes you have to say " lift is where you find it" and stop thinking
too much.

Many many thanks to Sid and Dave for running an efficient operation and
going the extra distance to accommodate Mang late arrival. We all
agreed we were there to fly and made the best of things. Getting Mang
and I in the air after nearly shutting things down around 3 pm and Sid
for staying so late was not unnoticed. Mang and I were determined to
make it appear worth while by having a good flight and to make others
wish they had joined us.'

Saturday looking good, wrote Ramy, and Mang had his first gaggle flight

Friday Feb 17, 8:22PM Ramy wrote: Saturday looks like a nice post frontal day with 4000 feet bases over Byron.
I am planning to fly........  Promptly, Shannon..., followed by Larry..., then Morteza ....wrote: 'me too'........

This was a great day for local soaring and my first day flying with a little gaggle of 4 other gliders circling in the same area.  Launched pretty late in the day with Mr Randazzo and released at 3,500' over the Vaqueros Reservoir.  There were a few little wispy clouds with some 2+ knot climbs underneath them.  Found a few other gliders in the area and circled while being blown downwind toward Vasco Road.

After feeling like we were topping out around there around 3,800' we followed KP(?) south and ended up working an interesting growing cumulus (see Dmitry's pics) with some solid climbing underneath and along the northwest face of it.  It was here that we had 5 gliders (including us) circling around and it was nice to have another pair of eyes in the cockpit for my first gaggle!

We topped out around 4,000' and a had a little flyby from Ramy.  With Peter calling on the CTAF "sunset is in 30 minutes, don't land in the dark" there was general motion back to the field.  With the sun almost setting behind the mountains the pattern was starting to get crowded!

KP was giving regular position reports to the Elevator and it looked like we in 81C would be the first to land, on 23.  We were at about 2,500' and heard a call from Dmitry that he was in the pattern for 30.  A few more calls back and forth and it was clear we were going to be a little close, with Dmitry landing first.  Dmitry ended up landing on 23 and I was on final for 23, quite high.  John called out "81C is making a 360 for traffic separation. On final for 23".  I did a 360 and ended up at a better altitude and giving Dmitry more time to clear the runway.  We landed uneventfully and made the first turnoff.  With my altitude in a similar situation in future I'd probably extend my downwind to give more separation (I had been holding more altitude once we heard Dmitry's calls).

Great day!  Thanks to all for making it happen.  Lots of smiles from everyone after they finally came down :)

---A few pics from Saturday from the ground:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mangtronix/sets/72157629380870367/

  - mang

Dmitri sent his Shots of the day: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3421642226580&set=a.3421641546563.2173019.1435947315&type=3&l=0aa07312f5&theater 

11:30 PM, Saturday, Ramy Yanetz wrote:

It was great to see 5 private ships and 2 Grobs flying today. The day turned out as promised but after a slow start. After calling a good day I was ready to put my glider back in the trailer at 2PM and hide when everyone who launched landed back shortly due to a mix of stratus, high clouds, blue hole and rapid cycling clouds with no lift. But shortly after 2PM the wind suddenly shift from 23 to 30, which resulted in a nice shear line right over the airport extending between mt diablo and Tracy. Good climbs averaging 5 knots to around 5000 feet, with wavelet to 6500 feet or more downwind of mt diablo. 

Tomorrow might still be soarable but drier.

__,_._,___

WELCOME MATTHEW GAST, newest NCSA member!

A few words about myself:
I have wanted to be a pilot since I got my first set of plastic wings
from TWA. Through my career, I've flown as a commercial passenger for
hundreds of thousands of miles, and the airlines have been unable to
beat the love of flying out of me. I took up soaring on the advice of
a friend, who said "if you want to actually learn proper use of the
rudder, start by flying gliders first." I don't have a concrete goal
joining NCSA, except that someday I'd like to combine flying with my
other hobby of photography. It's hard to imagine a taller tripod than
in the wave.

Matthew

Author, 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide (2nd Edition)
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/802dot112/

more Highlights from Saturday, from Mang, witha a great rainbow photo

Mang had his second solo flight Saturday, and  Yuichi Takagi had his first day as NCSA tow pilot:

<Saturday was my second solo flight.  I was all set to go on runway 30 but then checking the AWOS the winds were from 250 and I made the call not to launch.  Our great ground crew (thanks Jerry et al!) pushed 81C and me over to 23 and I was much happier launching off 23.

Yuichi towed me out near the reservoir and it was clear that there was some convective action because every now and then the tow plane would surge up or down almost a full tow plane wingspan.

I released at 4,000' a little south of Vaqueros Reservoir.  I saw a line of clouds on the east of the Altamont Pass and figured that would be the best lift.  But fighting a strong headwind I hit the 3,000' limit I'd set for myself without getting to the clouds and decided to turn back to the airport.

There was lift over the windmills west of the airport under clear skies but it was pretty bumpy and seemed unorganized.  I tried to circle but most of my circles would be half lift and half sink.  I was almost holding 2,900' but couldn't quite stay there.  I would do a few upwind legs as I could see I was being blown east at a pretty good clip (you can see what my circles looked like on OLC http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2195421).

I tried going upwind to see if there was anything different and hit an area of 6-8 knots down.  Hmmm, does that mean it's going up somewhere?  I didn't have a lot of altitude to try penetrating upwind so after some more circling attempts headed back to the airport entering the 45 at a quite comfy 1,500' and bleeding off the extra altitude with airbrakes.

Next time I'd be tempted to tow a little farther/higher to be able to sample the area I thought would be the best lift with some margin to make it back.

Oh and before takeoff Dmitri sagely asked me if I really wanted to take an unsecured water bottle with me. I elected not to and was glad when I hit a bump that would have sent it flying (under the pedals or somewhere equally dumb no doubt).  Would be nice to have a cargo pocket up front in FB.

Here's a rainbow from the ground.  Turned into a great day!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mangtronix/6741071727/in/photostream/lightbox/>

  - mang

Highlights for Saturday January 21st, from Buzz and Boyang

Saturday was a day for rapidly changing conditions and the tail end of a
strong frontal system pushing through the Bay Area. Forecast were for
high winds with possible wave and then there was plenty of instability
with lots of moisture and some rain. The beginning of the day was very
wet with low cloud bases then drying with strong winds. My first flight
was working underneath the clouds with Rachel where we were able to
explore the strongest lift under the darkest areas. Then it was chasing
wisp in later flights to climbing up the upwind side of the clouds at
the end of the day with Boyang in wave to 7k, well above the cloud bases.

The winds were very fickle starting nearly down 30, later swinging to
23. Surface winds were mostly westerly and the upper winds were from
the north. Looking at the wind generators and comparing that with what
the clouds were saying showed there was a 90 degree shear well below the
clouds bases around 4k. This was critical to understand to work the wave.

All and all a pretty good day with a mixed bag of flying conditions,
thermal, convergence, and wave. Several visiting pilots from Montreal
were happy there was good flying conditions.

I was a bit late getting to the banquet, my excuse was being stuck. Not
in traffic but in wave!!!

See the attached pictures to help tell the story. Boyang was in the
front seat getting his first wave experience!! He climbed from 4.5k to
7k flying the upwind side of the clouds as if they were a mountain with
ridge lift

Thanks to Jerry and everyone else for making the day work so well.

Buzz

- Boyang wrote:

<Here's my take on the wave.

I arrived at the airport around noon. It was raining quite heavily in
the fields around Byron, and I was prepared to spend the day picking
Buzz's brains in the clubhouse. However, the rain dried to a drizzle
near the airport, and I saw glider operations in full swing.

The clouds looked promising, and good soaring days are often preceded by
rainy days. We had plenty of rain this past week, so...why aren't the
cross country regulars flying today?

Flying FB, I took off on runway 23 with Buzz in the backseat and asked
for a tow towards the reservoir. A string of clouds stretched from Mount
Diablo to the mountains west of Byron, and we begin investigating west
of the reservoir. At first, we were below the cloud base. By flying
figure eights in front (North) of the clouds, we picked up altitude, and
soon, we were above the cloud base. Clouds were forming, moving, and
disappearing at a steady rate, and that wisp a few figure eights ago
could have changed to nothing or something big. New clouds generally
provided the best lift, but unfortunately, we didn't get high enough to
fly to Mount Diablo.

Also, I saw a glory while looking down at the clouds. It's a beauty.>
Boyang

Chandler Lougee - FIRST SOLO CHRISTMAS EVE

On Christmas Eve, Chandler Lougee decided to have her FIRST SOLO
All her instructors reported that she was ready weeks before.

If you see the pictures of the Santa Lougee family, you will
understand why Chandler chose this date! It took a while to collect all
the appropriate Santa Family Outfits.

Chandler wrote this about her solo:

"I currently have 20.3 hours. As for the solo, you're right, I will
remember that for the rest of my life. It was an amazing feeling,
looking behind me and realizing that there was nobody looking over my
shoulder, telling where and how to fly. And I just started enjoying the
view and having fun flying. It was awesome!!
I will be coming to the annual meeting, I'll see you then"

Larry sent photos of Chandler about to take off on her solo flight, with
a send-off by instructor Larry. Tow Pilot is Paul McDonald.

https://picasaweb.google.com/106307406519655220480/ChandlerSSolo?authkey=Gv1sRgCPiwrqDY1qPAGQ#

Chandler's Parents Lance and Barbara were present of course.
Barbara is a professorial photographer well known to NCSA members -
Attached are three photos of the Event taken by Barbara.

More from Mang about his first solo - Jan 14,2012

It had been a long final stretch to my first glider solo. Having been
a power pilot back in Canada (through the Royal Canadian Air Cadets,
eh) my stick and rudders skills just needed some waking up and of
course it took some work to get used to how much rudder you need
(especially with the Grob 103) with those almost impossibly long wings
stretching out beside you. I reached the point where I was ready to
solo - then it was just a matter of getting the right combination of
pilot, aircraft and environment. Oh and let's not forget that other
factor - paperwork!

I called the Oakland FSDO to make an appointment to get my FAA student
pilot certificate. The woman who answered was quite nice and said
they'd give me a call back to make an appointment. I also learned
that I could transfer my Canadian Private Pilot Aeroplane License to a
full FAA Airplane License. I can explain the requirements as I
understand them but the upshot was that getting an FAA Class 3 medical
was required. So off I went to Dr Denbo in SF (I got a next day
appointment) and got a combined Class 3 Medical / Student Pilot
Certificate. I'd recommend this route if you plan to do hypoxia
training or go power later.

With Student Pilot Certificate in hand I was ready to go! I got out
to the field and I was up next for instruction when the winch stopped
working. Some puttering around and we found a problem or two and it
was no go. Bummer. Next week I came out to the field and I was ready
to go! Except it was an epic wave day and much better for riding wave
than going first solo. I'd be bummed except Larry and I flew a 1.9
hour flight topping out at 14,000 feet!

The next week I was a little slow on the draw and the instruction
lineup filled up. I'd been planning to fly Sunday but it was looking
like another wave day. Saturday was 81C's annual and I wanted to come
out to get a deep peek into the inner workings of our (not always so)
trusty steed. The air Saturday was completely dead. Gosh, it would
great to go solo. While we were putting the wings back on 81C someone
came by and said "the last student didn't show up, anybody want to
fly?" Can you say, YES?!

Up I went with John Randazzo. Since we weren't doing patterns (on
account of that rope trailing behind 16Y) it was a high tow to 3,500'
over Brushy Peak. We boxed the wake and did the standard maneuvers on
the way back. Back we came into the pattern for a simple landing with
windsock completely limp.

We got out of the plane and John said "OK, you want to go fly it?"
Can you say, YES?!

John tied back the straps in the back seat and quickly verified with
me that I'd done rope breaks, etc (indeed I had and I believe every
instructor in the club had said at one point "I think you're ready").
The tow pilot asked me where I wanted to go and I said "let's just do
that again". Keep it simple.

Sitting on the runway doing my pre-flight checks for the third time
the thought was just "OK, here we go!" Up we went! The air was
perfectly smooth (not moving at all) and it was easy to stay behind
the towplane. Near Brushy Peak I got off tow at 3,500'. I headed
back towards the airport and did some basic maneuvers. I did a
straight ahead stall and noted the reduced stall speed with one less
body in the plane. Some steep turns, slips and turning stalls. A 360
or two to enjoy the view! Then back to Byron to get set up for the
pattern. I crossed the Byron highway at about 2,000 feet. Plenty of
time to get ready for the landing. I got a call requesting I take the
second turnoff, closer to the tie-downs since this was the last
flight.

I made my calls to the empty pattern. On the 45 I used some spoilers
to get to pattern altitude. With the windsock still limp I aimed for
the first turnoff. Touchdown with about half spoilers, not a 10/10
but not too far off! Test the brakes. Keep it rolling, watch the
wings and energy. Get a little right of the centerline. Make the
turnoff and..... stop!

I hopped out, a big grin on my face! And there wasn't anyone there!
I'll take it as a vote of confidence that no one was nervously
watching my landing and were instead closing shop at the end of the
day. Ramy came over with a cart and gave me a congratulations. All
in all my first glider solo was "by the numbers" with no surprises.
I'll take that! Can't wait to get up again! Thanks to all the
instructors and the whole club for keeping our operations going!
(photos courtesy Ramy)
- mang

Jan 15,2012, Another Wave Day in Byron - Mang's first solo was yesterday today is his first as FM

Yesterday was another Wave Day in Byron- a West wave. Last week was a
North Wave- Ramy's made a video from his wave flight last Saturday:
http://youtu.be/qDdnfIANUxU?hd=1 It is also on our Web site.

Here is MANG's report of January 15- his first day as Field Manager:

Ramy called for Sunday to be a wave day and he was right! There was
quite the lineup of gliders eagerly waiting for the towplane at the
start of operations. Once we started it was solid tows until everyone
was up. Winds were mostly 210 varying from a relatively mild
11-17knots in lulls all the way to 25 gusting 31 when we decided to
end towing around 15:40. It wasn't an early end to the day though
since people were really staying up and there was an exciting finish
with three gliders all returning for landing at the same time just
before sunset. The CAP cadets had some great flights (with Major Bob)
and all of them got to fly.

The tow rope seems to be holding up OK but it was challenging
operating off 23 since it required someone to be at the turnoff to
coil up the rope after the tow plane would pull off. Luckily we had
some eager cadets with their supervising officers. Jerry cut himself
on the pinky while handling the rope during hookup (he wasn't quite
sure how, might have been on the rope/rings or possibly the tow
plane). I'll be glad when the winch is fixed and we can minimize
handling of the rope.

We had 11 tows and 2 self-launches. That makes 13 different pilots in
the front seat (each flight was a long one!) + instructors that got to
play in the wave

It was my first time as FM and it was a bit challenging with the big
lineup to start the day and the big finish at the end where three
gliders touched down literally within a few minutes of each other. At
one point there were 3 gliders that needed to be cleared off the
runway/taxiways and it was a bit of a scramble. Duh.... if it's a
great lift day there will be a big rush just before sunset. Next time
I'll have more people on hand. Randy the airport guy helped pull EP
out of the grass midfield where we he was guarding his glider against
the wind while we cleared the other two gliders. I chatted with him
while driving him back to his truck and he didn't seem put out by it.

Congrats to Terence who took the 1-26 to 14,000 feet! He rather
politely called down a few times to see if anyone was waiting for it
and we called back "nope, go have fun!"

No new squawks. The large handheld club radio was transmitting weakly
when we tried it. AFAIK there is only one club radio that is working
well and with no radio operational in FB I'd recommend bringing your
own handheld if you have one when flying that ship.
Mang had his FIRST SOLO the day before - see his solo take-off photo

SHANNON wrote about his 300km flight: "As Mang said, today was a nice
west wind wave day. When I launched around noon, there was wave lift
directly over the airport at maybe 2,000'and above.Can't get much better
than that. The most consistent and reliable lift seemed to be over Los
Vaqueros reservoir, and I was able to climb a little over 12,000 feet
there about 3 times.Otherwise, conditions were fairly dynamic and on
several occasions, we'd see wave markers (rotor clouds or high linear
clouds) but not find any usable lift nearby.

I explored as far north as Mt. Diablo and as far south as San
Antonio Valley. The RASP predicted an area of lift around Rel1 and
Rel2, and it did in fact seem to be there, though not much stronger than
anywhere else. Overall, it was a fun day to explore, and I managed a
little over 300km. Click on the link to see Shannon's flight path.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/glidingflightinfo.html?dsId=2192991
We did have a little excitement at the end of the day, with 3 gliders
landing on runway 23 in 25 knot winds (gusting to 31), but with a little
radio communication, we were able to coordinate the use of the runway
and get down safely. I got some help from the airport guy to get the
glider through the grass and onto the taxiway. No worries,
Mang,compared to landing out at a deserted airport and having to push
the glider around solo, it's nice to have any help at all. :-)

RAMY summarizes the day: Indeed we got wave today! Interestingly the
wind at altitude wasn't any stronger than on the ground, as a result the
wave only went to around 14K. The highest we got was 14.6K. Buzz,
Shannon and myself went south to Mt Oso area and I also went north to
Vacaville ridge. Ramy's flight is on OLC. The wave was easily accessible
from a local tow right over the airport.Descending through the rotor and
landing in strong gusty wind was interesting.

Special thanks to John Randazzo for lending me his O2 bottle. Also
thanks to all who helped me with my glider today and with my FM duties
yesterday which was much needed due to to my injured elbow."

This was SHAMIM's first solo day in wave. Shamim wrote
"I had planned to take a high tow and work on turns etc.
At the flight line everyone was heading off to the wave, but
I didn't think I'd know what to do with one if it were
handed to me on a plate... I decided to stick to my plan.

I released at 3k over the airport and found myself in 2 kt up,
perfectly smooth. Then I remembered Dmitry had radioed down that he
was in wave at 3.5 directly over the airport. I guess this wave _was_
being handed to me on a plate!

After that it was just figuring out how far it went and trying to stay
in the strongest bits, around 3kt. I had noticed another glider
further upwind, and it seemed to be climbing faster. I pointed the
nose into the wind and increased speed. And just like all the books
say, first there was lots of sink, then much better lift. And these
bands of lift had rotor clouds under and behind them, just like the
pictures in the books!

All too soon it was time to descend. I found the sink between the lift
bands (again, just like the books) and rode it down with boards out.
There was a large (rotor?) cloud over the pattern entry point that I
stayed well clear of but still found myself climbing with full spoilers.
Lower down it was the roughest air I've flown in, everything below 3k
seemed brutal. Shamim's favorite Glider Books:
" I think it would have to be the Hertenstein one, "Ridge, Wave, &
Convergence Lift".Also the FAA book. I will never forget that flight, it
felt like the books had come to life."

It was 1.7 hours on the clock, 11k highest (8k post-release gain!).
Best of all it felt like a big playground up there to explore. I could
get used to this!"
DMITRY sends his wondrous photo sequence of the day's sky:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60002130@N03/sets/72157628890840529/