HIGHLIGHTS:
 

1. It was an interesting day, as Morgan pointed out. It appeared to be one of those really good days if it didn't overdevelop. But later, it did, mostly over the mountains, yet still allowed Morgan and Mario to fly long flights, often without circling yet still going up near cloud base. Jack Wiegand introduced himself to Avenal again after a lengthy absence, flying out in his Piper Cherokee 140, N5541F. He had a nice day, in the hammock, punctuated by a flight aloft, then later on in the afternoon, a scramble to get off the runway at Avenal because the heavy rain threatened to make mush out of the normally rock-hard surface.

2. This is what Morgan Hall had to say about soaring today:

"Interesting day.  All sorts of weather to think about and work with.  We didn't complete our intended task which would have taken us to Taft, then Wasco, Visalia and Avenal.  There was a huge blue hole out in the middle of the valley and that was blocking progress to Visalia.  Mario was out front and turned back to the west somewhere near Wasco after turning Taft. I turned Taft and  stuck to the better cloud street for the initial run NW, thinking I'd get a faster route  under better clouds.  Probably didn't end up being the case, but since Mario aborted the task near Wasco it all worked out.

On the way back it was all about dodging the OD and running the cloud streets.  We ended up pretty far out into the valley, climbing at Westgate Farms and then heading NW to Huron. Mario took a final glide in to Avenal from there.  I topped out and turned the airport at Coalinga.  We saw you and Jack go by underneath us near Huron.  I called, but you must have been on a different radio frequency.

That's my longest flight yet.  Still can't quite keep up with Mario, but I'm getting better.

On Line Contest submission and pictures:

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-583544768

FlightToTaft  (photos and video I took during the flight)"

3. Julie Butler, Yutaka Buto, and Bart Klusek all took turns flying today in the 2-33 and the Blanik. Otherwise it was a bit of a slow day in spite of the great soaring conditions. Those who guessed the soaring wouldn't be too good lost out on high altitudes, strong thermals, and great scenery.

4. Ethan Ronat, a pilot for Skywest Airlines, came out to see what sort of things were going on at Avenal. He is an accomplished soaring pilot, glider flight instructor, and tow pilot. On our only flight in the 2-33 he performed exceptionally well, soaring to 7000+ msl from 2400 msl using tight turns and an experienced knowledge of thermaling. He'll be a good addition to our club if he decides to join one day soon. We look forward to that happening.

5. Richard Walker and Joe Anastasio were here today doing some much needed maintenance on the hangar and some investigative work on the failure of the golf cart. Seems Joe found the problem, now we need a part and we'll be back in business towing gliders around the field. Richard is working hard on the hangar getting it ready for our tow plane to reside in.

6. The rain kept threatening all day, moving in close but never really getting as far as the gliderport. Then, nearing 5 pm, the rain started falling, so lightly at first that it seemed no threat at all. But then it kept getting stronger so Jack and I headed in a hurry to get the Cherokee off the runway before we couldn't at all. We did get aloft, but later learned that the rain showing on the windshield of the Cherokee in one of the accompanying photos, stopped soon after and the remainder of the day was quite beautiful.