Sanctuary

It's 9:00am Saturday morning, and I woke up late; my alarm never going off.  My body tired from the 3 hours of flying in turbulent air the afternoon before.  I knew this delay was going to set me back for the days flying.  I got out of bed, started checking my emails, weather reports, and making phone calls to see who was flying and where.

The day looked good for flying Mt. Washington, which is a rare experience due to rapid and often violent weather changes.  This coupled with the prevailing winds being generally the wrong direction.  I spoke with Tom on the phone, he really wanted to go but had personal matters to attend to.  Peter J. and I spoke, and we were deciding between Ascutney or Morningside. 

10:30am, 93 North in Hooksett. Cumulus field over the White Mountains already.

I met Peter around 10:15, loaded up, and we headed North to Morningside.  As we drove up I-93 heading toward Concord, we could see cumulus clouds peppering the White Mountains - it was only 10:30am!  I snapped a photo and sent it to Tom, 1) to show him the conditions, and 2) to turn the screw a bit since he couldn't fly.

Gliders setting up. More followed.

Things were looking good so far.  We arrived at Morningside, and unloaded the gliders amidst a building population of pilots preparing for the days flying.  As we assembled our wings, I noticed some high cirrus setting in over the Connecticut River Valley.  There were still cumulus clouds beneath, and a glider launched from the 450' and skied out.  I figured things must be ok upstairs, so I hurried to finish setup and eat my lunch.

Unknown Pilot prepping for take-off.

I then headed the charge, excitedly taking off into the air first.  Rhett towed me to a nice thermal, and after out climbing him for 3 turns, I thought I should pin off his line at 2200', so he could go get Peter who was up next in the tow pit.  I continued climbing till the thermal topped out, or I lost it.  I then headed North to try and pick up another thermal, but lost quite a bit of altitude on the way.  I found some small thermals and tried to stick them, but to no avail.  I noticed I was low enough to barely make the summit at Morningside.  So I made a run for it to try and sore the hill, since the flags were blowing straight in.  I scooted over the hill, but found nothing to sustain me.

High cirrus blocked thermal activity earlier in the afternoon. Here's a view that looks like feathers on a wing tip.

As I headed south along the small ridge, I found a tiny thermal in front of the 250' and tried to 'crank and bank' in it.  I made a few 360's inside of it, but it slowly slipped from my grasp.  My momentary hopes of low saving it, and climbing back out, were dashed!  Instead, I ended up heading to the runway and landing.  On the ground I noticed a long line of helmets in front of me, and a few tandems down the end of the runway.  It was going to be another 2.5 hours before I launched again.  Ryan then decides to rub it in, that I was on the ground so soon.

Had so much fun getting to cloud base, almost forgot to take out the camera.

Conditions continued to improve.  Radio transmissions with Peter indicated he was hitting 6200', and finding plenty of lift.  Dennis was soaring about, and two pilots from Connecticut were skying out as well.  The pain of being stuck on the ground was becoming thicker and thicker.  Rodger missed a climb on his flight, and joined me back on the ground to wait for a second go of it.  As time passed, Peter started whining over the radio about being cold at cloud base, and that he wanted to come in and land.  Dennis decided to come in and land after an hour or so of soaring around the valley, since no one going XC anywhere.

Clouds Abound

Finally my turn came up.  I jumped in the cart and readied for round 2. Rhett towed me up, and he quickly found a thermal to dump me in.  I pinned off at 2100', and continued to climb all the way to 5500'.  When I reached what I thought was the top of the thermal, I looked down and saw that I was over the exact spot I had released from.  Straight up thermal!  Cool! 

Sunrays and Cloud Fingers.

I flew over to the factories looking for another thermal under the cloud overhead.  Nothing.  I turned back and began to slowly descend toward the earth.  Not again!  As I approached the hill, I hit another thermal over the summit and climbed back up from 3100' to 6200'.  Once I hit the top, I left the thermal and jumped to another cloud to the northeast.  There were cloud streets setting up everywhere.

Mt. Ascutney

I lost 800' on my way to the other cloud but quickly made up for it in a new thermal.  I climbed and climbed reaching 6200' again.  I still had some room to climb, so I rolled the glider slightly to the left, and began to turn in lift.  All of a sudden, my vario pegged to the max, and I heard the wind start to roar like a bear.  Cloud suck!!!  I knew I was in trouble if I went into the cloud, so I continued to bank the glider over into a steep steep bank.  I pulled the bar in, and next thing I knew I was entering a spin - never done one of those before...kinda fun.

Morningside.  Launched from there.

I dropped 100' and recovered out of the spin.  I leveled the wings, pulled the bar in, and shot toward the closest edge of the cloud.  I escaped.  PHEW!  That was close.  I gathered my wits, soaked it in, took a normal breath, then I turned around and went back to try it again.  The first time snuck up on me, second time was fun.

Morningside with specks of gliders.

I reached 6500', my max for the day, and started looking East.  I took a while to make a decision but finally, I began my 5th ever XC (cross country) flight.  I carpooled with Pete, and I knew from past flights with him, that he does not like to chase people all over the Northeast.  So even though the light wind day would allow you to fly anywhere, I chose to go along the route home and make an easy retrieve.

Now approaching Newport Airport @ 2600' MSL and 1500' AGL. Found a small 50fpm thermal here.

I played around under the outskirts of the cloud that tried to suck me in, and realized there was another cloud closer to Claremont.  I tucked everything in, pulled the VG (variable geometry - stiffens the wing increasing Lift over Drag), sucked the bar in to 'best glide' and scooted toward the next cloud.  I didn't find lift but I was still high enough to reach Newport, providing no unforeseen events happened - like sinking air from hell!

Newport Airport & Colt Mountain

I was nervous at this point, and not sure about landing zones, as I couldn't see anything from my vantage point, except for a field or two south of Newport (which I later learned was a golf course).  However, I knew there was an airport somewhere, as I heard other pilots talk of landing there in the past.  So I took it on faith, and headed out.  I found another thermal over Home Depot in East Claremont, and regained some altitude before carrying on.  In hindsight, there was no rush to land, and I could have stayed in that thermal and gone higher, but at 5600' and closer to Newport, I could now see the airport.  I became excited and left prematurely.

Newport

I lost 3000' on my way to the airport, not following the high ground like I should have.  I arrived at some farms on a hill before the airport, and found a small 50fpm thermal to circle in.  I could now see the 'Forbidden Field' - the last stop LZ before crossing Lake Sunapee, or Mt. Sunapee.  I knew I was still too low to reach it, but I kept my hopes up.  John B. had landed there a month back, I wanted to match that.  I climbed to 3100' and told myself if I hit 3500' I would go for Forbidden Field - they have ice cream.

Lake Sunapee

I started to lose my lift and headed toward a knob on the other side of the airport.  I figured that the knob might have a thermal and if not, I can fall over the back and land at the airport on runway 36.  En-route, I found another thermal, this one 200fpm up.  I circled and climbed.  As I ascended, I looked down at my vario and noticed that I was at 4400'.  I then thought to myself [out loud], "it's 6:30pm and I'm on my way to cloud base...again." I then began to laugh heartily and soak in the moment. 

Lake Sunapee & Mt. Sunapee

I definitely had the Forbidden Field now, and I was happy I was going to be able to land, break down, and have an ice cream - knowing that I had flown my furthest flight yet.  I latched onto another thermal over Newport and climbed up to 4800'.  I was now eyeing the lake with predatory ambition..."nope, not tonight, not a good idea", I told myself.  It was my longest cross country distance so far, I was by myself, out of communication, no one knew I was going XC, nevermind what direction, and I was still new at this cross country thing.

Forbidden Field

I flew over the house of my flight instructor from 2001 - Dave a.k.a. - DBDagger, who I had run into at the flight park earlier in the day.  I laughed again, plotting to send him an amusing message when I landed.  As I fell out of my thermal, I decided to head over to Forbidden Field and start getting a birds eye view of this massive landing zone.

Happy Camper

I took more photos, cleared the mind, and soaked in the view of the lake, the sunset, and the mountains, as I slowly descended toward the earth at -200 to -300fpm.  Soon enough, I was setting up to land.  There was a nice high spot close to the ice cream stand, so I set up my approach, and put the glider down with a smooth clean landing.  I unhooked, took a few photos, and called Pete to tell him where I was located.

Ice Cream Stand

Pete said he and Rodger were heading out soon, and would pick me up within the hour.  I broke down my glider and headed across the street to the ice cream stand, appropriately named 'Sanctuary'.  I had a grin ear to ear, and ate my ice cream while reliving the days flight in my head.  What a great adventure!  All that and an ice cream too!  To some, adventures like this, are our sanctuary.

Sanctuary

Total Distance: 13 miles (new personal best)
Total Airtime (2nd flight): 2 hours 22 minutes.