TOGA-2017

The Skydog Report

Saturday September 16 Willie towed us into a cumulous filled sky for another day of flying. As it turned out the cummies were not producing a lot of lift although I did get one that took me to base at 4,700 feet but after I left that one it was hard to find another and I landed with 41 minutes airtime. Others were finding conditions weak and they had similar flights. I took a second flight that lasted 25 minutes. Grazi and I decided to try filming one another late in the day and we stayed up for 27 minutes and got some decent video. Martin also took a late flight and had some fun with us. There were nine of us trying to catch the lift today but no long flights that I recall.

Sunday September 17 and the clouds looked good again but my attempts to hang in were short lived. My two flights only lasted 18 and 23 minutes. A very pretty sky with very little lift.

Chasing Grazi Video

The Skydog Report

Saturday September 9 James DeHart towed Grazi, Willie, Martin and Peter into a cumulous filled sky for another day of fun. On my first flight, I was doing quit well until I found a weak spot and no longer could find a climb so landed with 42 minutes. My buddies were doing well so James towed me up again and this time I was able to make base easily and had a great time cruising through the valleys up there. We all landed around six pm and I logged 2 hours and five minutes. For the first time I stayed overnight at TOGA and Martin got a great bonfire going.

Sunday morning dawned sunny and cool like 40 degrees F. Today we will end up with a larger group of pilots and not a cloud to be found but blue skies all day long. Steve Bellerby took off first with Curtis towing us today. We watched as Steve bobbled up and down at around 1,500 feet sometimes getting down to 600 feet and then up to 2,500 feet. Finally after an hour Grazi and I decided to try to get some air along with Tim and others following. This time I was struggling to stay above two grand and finally I sunk out after 38 minutes. Around 4 pm I go again and find better lift up to 3,200 feet and we had a gaggle of eight trying to top out. Things were feeling good when all of a sudden I notice a another glider flying with us and it is Rod Regier in the gaggle and then along came Ken Kinzie way high. Rod and Ken had flown in from SOGA field twenty miles away. We all had a great time trying to top out with them. I think they both had 3 hour flights and Steve flew 3 hours and fifteen minutes. Kenny landed last and the food fest was on with Tim bringing the fresh meats for a fantastic meal. My flight times were 38 minutes and 43 minutes.

Ken and Rod Flew In From SOGA

Landing - Dragonfly and Steve Below

Landing

The Skydog Report

Saturday August 26 my buddies Oded Kalir and James Kolynich from NY came to TOGA to fly with us and Rob Skinner and James Black from Buffalo also joined us. The lift was great again and we had four Atos gliders and six flexies in the air. Oded had the longest fight of 3 hours and 45 minutes and JK landed last at 6:30. The lift was really smooth near the end of the day and floating at 3 grand was easy. I had two flights the first being 2 hours and ten minutes and the second was 1 hour and 11 minutes and my highest was 4,320 feet ato. Oded had got up to over 5 grand. Brian took the first flight of the day and Dan Piche flew later in the day. Willie did 20 tows today and put us into some great lift. Tim had a great flight and fed us lots of fish and deer and bear meat. It was a great feast. Thanks Tim.

Friday August 25 Patrick called me while I was at the lake and said let's go flying so Patrick got or gliders and met me a TOGA around 2 pm. We scrambled to get our gliders together and after Rick Hines was towed up by Willie VanCaulart I got into the air with Patrick right behind me. I worked hard to stay aloft and landed with a 33 minute flight. I took a second tow right away and this time boom into some great lift and I took it up to 5,307 feet. The lift was great and we were up to the clouds at 5,300 feet in no time at all. I logged 1 hour and 27 minutes. Martin came up and we flew together for an hour. Patrick also took two tows and had a total of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Rick Hines also had two flights and landed after all of us.

We Did Not Shoot Any Photos So Only Video This Time