On Sunday May
30, 2005, I launched again fairly late, at twenty past
one. Once airborne, I overheard a group of pilots
switching to 123.425, so that they could talk just to
each other. It was a cross-country class that Nelson
Funston was shepherding around a task set "on the
fly", while in the air. There were almost a dozen
pilots participating, either directly or indirectly.
After I climbed up over South Ridge and Badger Plateau, I
headed for Waterville where I was hoping to rendez-vous
with the group. It didn't take long and I noticed two
gaggles milling. It reminded me of the contest days. At
one point there were seven gliders in one gaggle. I
joined one of the gaggles and climbed that thermal half
way up; after that I peeled off and headed in the
direction the group intended to go - to Waterville. Some
pilots high in the gaggle spotted me heading out, low,
and figured that I would be a good target to leach off
of. Indeed, I became a spotter for a group of five
gliders who - even though I flew fast (I thought) -
followed me (due to their altitude advantage) until past
Banks Lake. That was the end of my flying with anyone
else.After Waterville I turned north, where there were nice looking clouds, over the mountains north of Columbia River. They did not have the classic flat bottom shape, however, but I thought cummulus is a cummulus. My objective was to make it to Moses Mountain, a prominent 6,774' treed round mound, visible on clear days from as far away as Mission Ridge (from 100 miles away).
After topping a thermal near Wilbur, departing from almost 10,000', I glided about 15 miles, crossed Columbia and became perplexed at why I just could not connect with any thermal. Maybe the clouds were forming themselves from a layer higher than from the ground, I mused. After seven minutes of searching I gave up, being down to 6,500' already, and abandoned my Moses Mountain quest - at least for this day.
I
headed west, overflew the river just north of the mighty
Grand Coulee Dam, and headed nearer to an airport so that
I would not have to put the glider "in the
dirt" in case I could not find any lift. The sky in
my direction was again totally devoid of any cu's and
there was no sign of any dust devils either. (The
towering cumulus in the photo were very far in the
distance, over the Cascades.)
I started to get concerned but four miles north of the Grand Coulee Dam airport connected with a good thermal, a saving grace. It lifted me back up to 9,000'. I started my cruise and in just two thermals I was half-way between Mansfield and Waterville, never getting below 5,000'. Eventually I arrived over the western end of the Badger ridge, where over the radio towers I climbed to 11,200' .. the highest for this week. I decided to try to head towards Leavenworth, under the clouds building up in front of the brewing thunderstorm.
This is the view towards Leavenworth, just as I started crossing the Columbia River.
In the photo below, taken from the same spot over the Columbia, there is the reason of my concern.
Over Entiat Ridge, I kept an eye on the thunderstorm which develeped over Stehekin.
I got as far west as Leavenworth which is at the bottom of the picture; here I took a panorama of shots; to give a broader view of my reason not to want to linger here much too longer:
I turned my back on the threatening clouds and headed to the plateau east of the Columbia River. At ten to six PM I found my last thermal for this day. After topping it at 10,000' I decided to practice a final glide - this time 28 miles to Quincy Airport, and then another 21 miles home. There was one remaining cloud near Quincy, luring me like a magnet.
Quincy airport. I have never landed there (yet).
This is the view once I turned around at Quincy: I was to head directly into the approaching thunderstorm.
I again turned too soon, because I arrived at Pangborn with plenty of altitude to spare; and had to unnecessarily speed up to lose it: In Quincy I started with 80 kts, 15 miles out I was already at 90 kts, at 13 miles at 110 kts, and from 10 miles at 130 kts.
Here is the blipmap showing from the morning.
Its rosy section pulled the wool over my eyes and lulled me into believing that the northern clouds would be the place to go.
The clouds there just did not work this day as well-behaving ones. They turned into thunderclouds eventually.
One threatened to hit Wenatchee as well, so after I landed I rather disassembled the glider and put it in its trailer, even though I was planning on flying the next day, the Memorial Weekend. There was a squal of wind, but it never rained at Pangborn (did over town) and the storm eventually dissipated over the Mission Ridge.
It was a good day.