Thoughts of snow and soaring safaris

[Dan Marotta]

What have they got in common? Nothing other than I'm sitting in my living
room watching it snow and dreaming about flying straight out again. I've
flown three soaring safaris where two of us took a glider, car, and trailer
and headed out for adventure. Twice we used 1,000 feet of rope and ground
launched our LS-6a, and once we used a self-launcher, an ASW-24E. It was
more fun than you can imagine.

Here's a writeup of a 6-day safari for anyone with plenty of time for
reading: https://www.ssa.org/myhome.asp?mbr=3759786486&show=blog&id=3051

I can't find anyone locally now who's interested in doing such a thing so
I've made a deal with my wife: I'll fly straight out and she'll follow with
the trailer. Wherever I land, we'll get a room for the night and then, the
next day will be spent hiking, which is her favorite passtime. Then the
long journey home...

[Tony[_5_]]

Dan,

sounds interesting but nothing shows up on your member blog. nice to hear about more people getting interested in free distance flying. I'm hoping to get more attempts in this year than last. Only went straight out twice or maybe 3 times last year. not nearly enough!

your strategy with your wife is a good one. Mike Koerner, who has won many barringer trophies, has a similar arrangement with his family. long flight for dad on one day and the family gets to see all the national parks and attractions on the way home. Luckily for me, Leah is usually happy to find me in a field and so far seems happy with a stop at a Dairy Queen on the return. Of course there aren't a lot of natural wonders, beautiful views, or great hiking trails in the parts of kansas where I usually land.

[Peter von Tresckow]

Tony > wrote:
> Dan,
>
> sounds interesting but nothing shows up on your member blog. nice to hear
> about more people getting interested in free distance flying. I'm hoping
> to get more attempts in this year than last. Only went straight out twice
> or maybe 3 times last year. not nearly enough!
>
> your strategy with your wife is a good one. Mike Koerner, who has won
> many barringer trophies, has a similar arrangement with his family. long
> flight for dad on one day and the family gets to see all the national
> parks and attractions on the way home. Luckily for me, Leah is usually
> happy to find me in a field and so far seems happy with a stop at a Dairy
> Queen on the return. Of course there aren't a lot of natural wonders,
> beautiful views, or great hiking trails in the parts of kansas where I usually land.

I envy you folks that have places to go on good downwind days. Living in
Wisconsin good soaring days generally come with a wind out of the north
west and between Lake Michigan and the Chicago class B the good downwind
day doesn't happen. I am still hoping for the perfect north wind day and
just try to go south. Gotta keep an eye out for that next Summer.

Pete

[Steve Leonard[_2_]]

On Jan 29, 5:26*pm, Peter von Tresckow > wrote:
>
> I envy you folks that have places to go on good downwind days. Living in
> Wisconsin good soaring days generally come with a wind out of the north
> west and between Lake Michigan and the Chicago class B the good downwind
> day doesn't happen. I am still hoping for the perfect north wind day and
> just try to go south. Gotta keep an eye out for that next Summer.
>
> Pete

Watch the weather in the Spring, Pete. Search the Soaring Archives
for "Distance in the Spring" and "Horace Greely Was Wrong." Straight
out isn't always straight out. And downwin dashes aren't always
straight downwind. You can work crosswind to get around airspace
obstructions.

Steve

[Dan Marotta]

Seems you have to be logged on to the SSA website to read the story posted there. If you're interested and can't log on, it was posted several years ago in the Black Forest Soaring Society's newsletter, "Airworthy". Here are links to the two articles:

Part 1: http://soarbfss.org/Airworthy/AirworthyFall2003.pdf (Starts on p. 13)
Part 2: http://soarbfss.org/Airworthy/AirworthySpring2004.pdf (Starts on p.. 16)

I'm not planning to fly down wind. From Moriarty, NM, that would mean into the Texas Panhandle and on into Oklahoma or a bit north into Kansas. The mountains are to the north and run all the way to the Canadian border.

I'm not looking for a record flight, only for a long day of fun!

Dan, 5J

On Tuesday, January 29, 2013 9:18:54 PM UTC-7, Steve Leonard wrote:
> On Jan 29, 5:26*pm, Peter von Tresckow > wrote:
>
> >
>
> > I envy you folks that have places to go on good downwind days. Living in
>
> > Wisconsin good soaring days generally come with a wind out of the north
>
> > west and between Lake Michigan and the Chicago class B the good downwind
>
> > day doesn't happen. I am still hoping for the perfect north wind day and
>
> > just try to go south. Gotta keep an eye out for that next Summer.
>
> >
>
> > Pete
>
>
>
> Watch the weather in the Spring, Pete. Search the Soaring Archives
>
> for "Distance in the Spring" and "Horace Greely Was Wrong." Straight
>
> out isn't always straight out. And downwin dashes aren't always
>
> straight downwind. You can work crosswind to get around airspace
>
> obstructions.
>
>
>
> Steve

[Tony[_5_]]

On Wednesday, January 30, 2013 3:36:42 PM UTC-6, Dan Marotta wrote:
> Seems you have to be logged on to the SSA website to read the story posted there. If you're interested and can't log on, it was posted several years ago in the Black Forest Soaring Society's newsletter, "Airworthy". Here are links to the two articles: Part 1: http://soarbfss.org/Airworthy/AirworthyFall2003.pdf (Starts on p. 13) Part 2: http://soarbfss.org/Airworthy/AirworthySpring2004.pdf (Starts on p. 16) I'm not planning to fly down wind. From Moriarty, NM, that would mean into the Texas Panhandle and on into Oklahoma or a bit north into Kansas. The mountains are to the north and run all the way to the Canadian border. I'm not looking for a record flight, only for a long day of fun! Dan, 5J On Tuesday, January 29, 2013 9:18:54 PM UTC-7, Steve Leonard wrote: > On Jan 29, 5:26*pm, Peter von Tresckow > wrote: > > > > > > I envy you folks that have places to go on good downwind days. Living in > > > Wisconsin good soaring days generally come with a wind out of the north > > > west and between Lake Michigan and the Chicago class B the good downwind > > > day doesn't happen. I am still hoping for the perfect north wind day and > > > just try to go south. Gotta keep an eye out for that next Summer. > > > > > > Pete > > > > Watch the weather in the Spring, Pete. Search the Soaring Archives > > for "Distance in the Spring" and "Horace Greely Was Wrong." Straight > > out isn't always straight out. And downwin dashes aren't always > > straight downwind. You can work crosswind to get around airspace > > obstructions. > > > > Steve

great stories, sounds like a lot of fun.