Hammondsport | Soaringroadtrip

Well it turned out to be a beautiful January day in Hammondsport. Rob, Mark D, and Dave P were rewarded with their first soaring flights of the year. All flew for over an hour. Dave was skyking with about 2000 ft over launch. Karl and Katrin came out to show support. I ended up not flying due to “ technical difficulties “. Hoping for a few more days like today this winter........Chris

6/16/21

Tim L and I flew Hammondsport today. Conditions were a little strong and gusty. Tim was off first, and was immediately 500-600 above launch. I launched next. There was abundant thermals and strong lift. I managed a max altitude of 3400 ft. ATO. I could have climbed higher , but was concerned about the drift and making it back to the LZ. (We didn’t assess the top fields for landings.) Twice I came into land , but hooked thermals over the LZ that took me to 2500 ATO. The third time I had had enough, and landed in rowdy conditions behind the church. Tim had landed earlier having had his fill of the rough air. I believe Leo stopped out , but opted not to fly. It actually turned out to be a great day. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my birthday! Perhaps this will start a new tradition. Chris

7/22/21

Nothing quite as fabulous at Hammondsport yesterday. John and Bill did some parawaiting after noon. Karl arrived after 3pm. I was the last to roll in at 4:30 pm:). Periods of high gust factors delayed flying until about 6pm.

Karl, Bill, and Jim flew. Launching in that order. Karl was top, Bill following, and I was the newbie PG pilot trying to stay in fairly small thermals with some ridge lift. We never got a real wonder. Flights ranged from 38 minutes (me) and Bill and Carl in the 60+ minutes.

Solicited advice to me was to use more weight shift and less brakes, and maintain your 360 including that downwind turn. I also just realized that Bill was watching and following Karl, which is in my next flight plan. Regarding transitioning into PG. This was certainly the most challenging flight for me. First time launching from an actual slot and landing in something less than a football field :). I also just realized that I don't feel that comfortable in my harness and that there are all sorts of adjustments that I can make!

I'm booked for Columbia with Eagle for week 2. I expect to return capable of reasonable cross country flights, even in our area of lots or trees!

Jim Black

8/2/21

It finally all came together (for me anyway) and some awesome flying was had. Everyone had awesome flights. Carl tried the mid-day stuff, and found it quite challenging and had to work to get down. I waited till just before the glass off,and found myself in near mid day conditions, with 800-1000 up, and more lift "everywhere" I worked it hard for about an hour, and when it mellowed out, I came back from the valley (exhausted) and landed.Jim must have had about an hour. Carl got in another 2 hours. Bill stayed on the ridge (until he fell asleep) When I was camping... it was blowing in till after dark. Awesome Day... John O.

8/5/21

Karl and I went to Hammondsport. The sky looked great and there were light thermic cycles up the hill. We hiked up from the LZ, mowed a little and flew sledders. Anybody planning any evening attempts? Jared Y.

8/14/21

Ten to thirty minute flights for:. Bill S, Rob S, Aaron L and Jim B. All ended in a flush cycle. It was soarable for about thirty minutes then nothing for about thirty minutes. This cycle repeated twice or three times. Then at around five pm the megawonder started and lasted well into sunset. Bill, Jim, Matt C, Karl and Katrin flew for 1.5 to over 2 hours. The lift stretched over the entire valley into Hammondsport. Highest altitude was 4000 msl. Dinner at Liberty Pub followed by a camp fire. Katrin P.

There were a few PG flights (extended sledders around 2 o'clcock), then around 3, Aaron, Bill, and I launched expecting sledders and got a few hundred over on both ridges and somewhere around 45 minutes of airtime

When I left to go to dinner in HPort, there were 3 PG's in the air and it looked like the start of a wonder wind. When I came back down Rt 54 2 1/2 hours later, there were 4 PG's parked in the air a few hundred ( maybe ~1000? ) over, so I'm assuming some folks got 2 or 3 hour flights.

6 o'clock would have been an awesome time for students to double or triple their airtime. Rob