Low Cloudbase at Hull

Cleanpants here. Went to Hull on July 16 with Karen, Ryan, Justine, and papirtiger, hoping to get a good day trip in. Just before we leave the night before, Kurtis, Jeremy, Bill (an east coast pilot now in the bay area), Andrew, Katie, and Azul (Katie's friend) decide to come as well. Anyway, in the morning, Karen, Jeremy, and Bill take a sled run and all of them do very well. They all came over the LZ very high, especially Karen (though she is very light on her glider).

At noontime, as I'm setting up, Barry, Mike L, and Angela show up, with a glider falling off the back of the truck. Fortunately, only the mylar inserts were damaged, which were going to be replaced anyway.

With conditions looking good, I decide to launch first. I realized that it had been a while since I'd played wind dummy. I used to do it all the time. Anyway, I launched and immediately made my way down the ridge. A combination of light lift and me hanging about 5"-6" higher than usual (and thus changing the feel of the glider) left me sinking out pretty quickly. Anyway, Jeremy was waiting on my report on the conditions so he could launch. I told Ryan that the conditions were mellow enough as I made my way to the house. Once I reached the house, I found choppy lift, but it was enough to get me back up the ridge. I made it back to the hairpin before Jeremy actually launched. Unfortunately, Jeremy didn't soar for very long- it takes time to learn how to thermal. After I landed, he told me that Justine offered him an apple on launch so he would have something to eat while waiting in the LZ.

As for the rest of the day, I did laps up and down the ridge. I made it to launch somewhere between 3-5 times. I reached cloudbase a couple times, and I saw whispies forming beneath me. Mike L tells me that he touched a cloud for the first time- a major goal he had been working towards! Congrats!! I eventually made up over Lower Launch, but I couldn't get any higher because the cloudbase was soooo low (~6500'). I had been hoping to fly over the peak....but that will have to wait until later in the summer.

After about 2.5 hours, I was getting pretty tired, especially since I was hanging higher. I changed my hang height in the hope it would help with my flare authority. Apparently, all year I had been flying so low that my parachute could rest on my base tube if I were to go fully prone. I hadn't even realized it! But I did notice my bad landings. I was actually considering going back to the Pulse, which I landed perfectly. Anyway, hanging higher meant it was harder to control the glider, and it got me tired quicker, so I went to land. I eventually got 2 hrs 50 min out of the flight. Not a bad flight for me- I look forward to the next one!