HIGHLIGHTS:
 

1. Morgan's Report:

"We had a good showing at Avenal yesterday with 9 gliders staged at one point. Mario, Steve, Rich, Bruce, James/Harold in the 2-33, Morgan and Julie in the Duo, Alex and Evgeny (new club member from Russia) in the Blanik and Andy flying the 1-26. It was great to see all of the club gliders off their tie-downs.

Winds were strong out of the north when Julie and I launched around 2:00. If you look at our OLC trace, you'll see the crazy drift we had in the first thermal with winds clocking at about 23mph out of the North. Despite the winds there were thermals in the valley that could be worked. With the wind direction and strength where it was, there was no doubt that the mountains would be supporting ridge lift and I took us up into the mountains. Bruce was already playing in the ridge lift at Black by the time we joined him. A good thermal with 10knot spikes took Julie and I over 6000 and I decided to push NW and see what we could find deep in the mountains, I'd hoped that we might be able to find a little wave on the backside of the San Benito range. No luck, if there was any it wasn't within our reach. The winds were lighter up in the mountains, but by staying over the ridge top we could make good progress and didn't bother turning for the next 6 miles or so. We took a few turns in weak lift as we got to about 25 miles out from Avenal. I used the lookout as a turn point as we just weren't getting very high and all the nice landout options were a long way away and into a headwind. The run back to Black was a bit more exciting with a stretch of sink that put us lower than either of us would have preferred. A good thermal got us back up and with that we dove back into Black for a little ridge running underneath Rich and Steve.

Mario joined us after Steve and Rich headed out to the valley and we chased Mario around for a while trying to capture some decent pictures or video. Ultra wide angle is great, but it makes everyone seem really, really far away. We ended the day with a glide up to Coalinga and then a long final glide back to Avenal landing just about 5:00pm.

I gave Rich and Mario a quick training session on how to use the tractor. I did some more mowing and then we put the tractor away and Mario lit the brush pile at the clubhouse.

Today may not hold quite as high of lift as yesterday, but the winds appear to be lighter. The field is in great shape and the tow plane runway will be closer to mowed if Rich spends some time this morning on it. There is probably still time to get on the schedule if you're inclined. Scott Naumann is working with Dan on his towing checkout today so there are tows available.

Here is some video from yesterday:
Watch

OLC Trace:
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=1129468

2. Morgan is right, is it great to see the lineup of gliders waiting to launch. Starting to get back to the good old days when we had 20-30 club members on a Saturday at Avenal all taking their turns aloft. For everyone, this is really the beginnings of great soaring at Avenal this year. So come on out and go aloft and enjoy the green hills, yellow flowers, and clear blue sky.

3. Evgeny Prudkov soloed today after some instruction from Alex Caldwell. Evgeny has a lot of experience, especially in Russia, so the flights were more to establish for Alex the level of skill Evgeny has amassed. That was enough for Alex to feel comfortable letting him go alone and he did quite well, staying up, and thermaling just south of the field. CONGRATULATIONS, EVGENY!!

4. James Beckman flew twice today, taking much of the tow, and reviewing flight off tow. In addition, we practiced stall recovery and began to emphasize the pattern work in anticipation of his forthcoming solo. James will make an excellent pilot and I am anxious to see him go aloft solo.

5. Dave Johnson arrived in his Decathlon and observed the busy gliderport from the patio and from the launch area. Thanks for your help, Dave.

6. Andy Reistetter flew the 1-26 instead of assembling his sailplane. It is easier, sometimes more fun, and more forgiving. One can really relax in that wonderful little sailplane and enjoy the sights while it rises in thermals.

7. It's likely that some or all of the fiberglass sailplanes will fly again on Sunday since we now have Dave Pilati managing the tow pilot sign-up sheet making sure that tows are available at least on Sunday, and sometimes on Friday and Monday as well.

8. Frank Rheinisch and son, Erik were on hand to take a demo ride for the first time. I guess Frank had done some earlier soaring up at Fremont in the Bay area but that was many moons ago. He really enjoyed the flight with Alex flying the Blanik and we may see more of him and Erik in the future. Erik flew with me and did very well off tow, flying most of the flight and getting us into a few thermals. Erik "could go all the way" and get his license. We look forward to both of them returning to Avenal in the not-too-distant future.