Thursday, March 6, 2014

Back in the Saddle!

Well after 9 months of waiting for my post-surgical hand to become strong enough I decided today was the day to find out if I could still hack it.  For this venture I was flying Alex's backup Aspen 4 since I am currently glider-less ;)

The air felt quite squirrelly and not super-easy to stay up in...I spent a lot of time below Woodside launch in fact!  Some pilots were able to get to 1000+ m but alas I wasn't one of them...I was just happy just to be thermalling and not sinking out!  There seemed to be several shear layers with east, south, and north components, depending on your altitude.  It certainly wasn't classic springtime conditions.  And after landing several other pilots confirmed my observations so I know it wasn't just me being out of practice.

There is a brand-new clearcut at the base of Woodside which means you can scratch to the very bottom of the mountain; it could also be used as a last-resort bailout for those aiming for Riverside but not making it and otherwise having to go into Joe's backyard.  I'd not recommend it just yet but after the loggers leave you could conceivably land on the road, although it probably wouldn't be very pretty.

So it was a short (1 hour) flight but enough for me to determine that yes indeed I can still fly!  I'm glad since it's been so long and I am really looking forward to this season!

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