Lake Tahoe water temp?

wrote on 9/1/2020 4:23 PM:
On Tuesday, September 1, 2020 at 10:36:26 AM UTC-7, Eric Greenwell wrote:
jfitch wrote on 9/1/2020 7:56 AM:

Security records were missing at the tail end of the file.
Glider was - and still is - a Ventus b 16.6. There is little apparent damage to the glider, looks like it could have flown the next day if the instruments could be dried out. Many outlandings in fields have resulted in far more damage.

A friend of mine, Rudy Allemann, landed his H310 Libelle in a large cattle
watering pond back in eastern Oregon during a contest in 1980. The fields within
gliding reach were rocky, rough, or covered in sagebrush, all even worse choices.
The pond was only waist deep, so he pulled the glider to the side, putting most of
it was out of the water, then went back to feel around for the missing gear door.
Turns out, a cow pie under water feels like gear door, but he eventually found the
door.

He was found and retrieved by some friends with a 4 wheels drive (actually
needed). The instruments remained dry, so he dried out the glider and flew the
next day.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

Eric,

Thanks for the story. I feel the previous generation must have been superhuman in their endurance. Were Rudy's friends still his friends the next day?

But, maybe not super competent. A cattle pond being the best landing choice might reflect a similar lack of foresight to having lake Tahoe be the best choice.

I don't recall how he got in that predicament, but back then, retrieves during a
contest were a routine thing, what with all tasks being assigned speed tasks,
inferior forecasting tools compared to now, and you actually had to go to the
turnpoint (such as one end of a runway), and take a picture of the photo target
(typically, the other end of the runway). No 5 mile radius "turn area" back then!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1