The Skydog Report

Oded and I fly to Orlando on Saturday March 4th

Sunday March 5, 2017 and we have a sunny, windy day so we get the land sailors going and have a blast racing up and down the driveway. Monday, same thing as Sunday and we are looking forward to Tuesday as the forecast looks possible for flying.

Tuesday March 7, 2017 and the tandems are flying a 8 am so maybe we will get up later. Tom NeJame drops by with his Silent 2 electric sailplane and gets off around noon. Still pretty windy but by one pm it drops off some and Oded and I set up our gliders. I am first off at 2 pm and Fay Barber drops me in a good one and I take it up to 4,800 feet at the 13 minute mark in my flight. I see Oded being towed up and watch him as he works down low and then I lose sight of Oded. I have worked lift over the sand pitts and stay above 4 grand for a half hour or more. I see Mick Robson being towed up and watch as he works his way up to over five grand. I hit a boomer and take it up to just over six grand and it is sucking like crazy saying Bob, I am going to swallow you up so I pull in hard and after five minutes I am down to 5 grand and I was scared in that one so I did not go looking for more and went in for a landing with a flight time of 1 hour and 15 minutes and had been up to 6,167 feet. Oded was waiting for me on the ground and Mick was still up very high and landed later with a three hour flight in his Carbon Dragon. Tommy also had a great flight of over three hours.

Wednesday March 8, 2017 Tandems went well at 8 am and I took a flight on Oded's Atos VQ and the bar pressure is incredibly low. No effort involved to fly this baby. Pete Pilfer joins us after a 3 year hiatus. Oded and I plan to fly to Quest and back but in the air we decided not to try today even though we had the radios ready. Mikey says it looks like an early day so we get ready and Mike takes off at 12:30 with Kip following and then me and Oded and many others. Fay put me into a good one and I took it up to 4,800 feet ato by the 13 minute mark. Oded worked his way up to 4,300 feet and there were lots of sink areas and after 48 minutes I found my way down to a landing. I am in line again quickly and Fay puts me into another good one and I am able to find Scotty and we flew together for a half hour or so and Scotty is real smooth to fly with. Aric and I also shared a thermal for a bit. Scotty and I get up to base at 5,300 feet ato and we go searching up wind for another but don't find it so I head back to the warehouses where I find a bit and last in it for an extra 20 minutes and land with a 1 hour and 6 minute flight. Oded has landed after a one and one half hour flight and is eager to go again so away we go but his last one turns out to be a 20 minute sledder. Mikey Barber shows up late and lands with a 3 hour and 40 minute flight after tagging Quest Air. It was a fun but challenging day and lots of us have a great time in the air.

Thursday March 9, 2017 The tandems are off at 8am on another sunny day with light winds forecast for all day. Oded and I are planning to fly to Quest Air and back. Around 12:30 Oded says let's go Bob but I needed a bite to eat first and by the time I got in line I was number eight and Oded is off first. Oded takes a little trip south to the hospital waiting for me to get up. Paul Harrison puts me into a good thermal and waves me off at 1,400 feet ato. I grab it and center up and I am at 5 grand at the thirteen minute mark. I hang around for ten minutes and Oded shows up below me and we work together and head north along Hyw. 27. I stay a little east of 27 just on the edge of the shadow of a line of clouds and I stay above 5 grand. Oded shades in under me and hits the sweet spot and climbs out and we are off and when I get to Sand Mine Road I don't see Oded anywhere and I am nervous about landing out with the skids. I venture a mile past Sand Mine Road and still not seeing Oded I get worried about flying alone and head back to Wallaby. When I get back I am down to 1,200 feet and I don't find a climb so I land with a 1 hour flight. I call Malcolm for another tow and soon I am up again and climbing up to over five grand again. Wow, what a day with great lift. I take a run south to the hospital on 27 and back getting down to 2 grand but I find lift again over the beautifully fragrant orange groves and take it up to 6,541 feet agl. in front of a cloud. I see Rick up there and Mick too and we trade places for a bit. Scotty was up there too but we did not get close today. Marcelo Brosig and Marcelo Pereira from Brazil were up there too and I saw Leon up real high too. I had what I thought was a good idea and headed upwind west to the next big could and by the time I got there I was down to 4 grand and no lift to be found so I sped back to Wallaby with only 1,200 feet above the Ranch and I was soon on the ground with a fight time of 2 hours and ten minutes. A half hour later Oded comes in for a landing after his flight to Quest and back to Wallaby which lasted 5 hours. Oded was elated as he had been wanting to do this for a couple of years now. Mick and Rick were still up at sunset so they must have had 5 hour flights as well. Davis and the pilots from Quest flew around the Green swamp which must be a 100 mile flight. That was an exceptional day.

Friday March 10, 2017 and another windy day so I spend some time on the Land Sailor racing Mick and Leon. Oded and I pack up our gliders as we are flying home Saturday morning. This has been a great one week trip with Thursday possibly being one of the best days of the year.