Cloud 9 2010

The Chris Bratsis Report

Cloud 9

Wednesday August 26, 2010

    We had a fantastic run the last few days here at Cloud 9. After a long stretch of mediocre
we finally were blessed with good flying weather. Thursday (8/26) found Mark Dugan of Ann Arbor
and Lisa (Dragon Lady) Colletti hogging the air. Mark said he flew half way to Mason and back
to Cloud 9 when the clouds started to dry up. He said conditions were good and he scored with a
3 hour flight. Friday turned out to be good also. The word must have been out as many of the regulars
must have sneaked, begged or pleaded to get out of work. I just took a vacation day. Any way some
were: Mark (Air Hog) Dugan, Mark (Spandex) Bolt, Floyd Cadwell (sorry Floyd, no nick name),
Pat Winther, Guido, Bernie Spring, Dave Alford, Brian Daimling and...well I can't remember any more.
If I forgot you...I claim anheisers disease. By the way all this of course includes our gracious hosts
Lisa Colletti & Tracy Tillman. The flying commenced around 2:30 and continued until about 4:00.
Most of us had great flights with gains to about 4000 feet or more. My flight was about 1.5 hours
and got up to 3900 ft. Mark Bolt flew some out & backs. Dugan & Floyd streaked around the sky.
Floyd hit the spot on his landing. I spent time with Lisa & Guido. I nearly flew myself into the ground
but lucked out with a low save from about 1000 ft and took this thermal to cloud base at 3900 ft.
What a Blast! Although I need to stop putting myself in the position of having to make a low save
but it is fun none the less. I am finally getting wired into my (new to me) Woody Valley Tenax harness.
It is very comfortable. Sorry I digress! I wish I could remember all the banter and flying fish stories from
all the guys (and gal) at the end of the day, lets just say there were smiles all around.
    Saturday turned out to be a weather induced rest day as conditions were not great. But Scott Maue
of Traverse City, Mark Bolt, Mark Dugan, Lisa Colletti &Brian Daimling all flew. Some of the flights
were about an hour with low cloud base. Better than cutting the grass...which is what I did!
    Sunday was the best day as far as I was concerned. The whole dang bunch of us flew our brains
out with gains of up to 5100 feet and durations up to 4 hours. I personally had 3 hours. It was so
much fun having pilots scattered all over the sky. You could pick a new fly mate at any given cloud.
Lisa elected to play deck boss and tow queen as Tracy got to fly with us in the Alatus sail plane. He
seemed to blaze across the sky and fly with us then scoot off and show us where the good lift was.
Most of the crew stayed high where the thermals were strongest. I learned my lesson and avoided
the "low save syndrome". After flying with Dave(T2C) Alford and Floyd (Atos) Cadwell we all
landed. It was nearly 92 degrees on the ground so flying was a perfect relief from the heat. Breaking our
gliders down was unbearable. Although some barley assisted beverages helped cut through the heat.
As the dog days of August are soon to pass lets hope for more of the same as another season nears
it's end. Days are getting shorter so take em while you can. Use up those spare vacation days and come
out and fly!

Chris

The Chris Bratsis Report

Cloud 9

Wednesday August 18, 2010

We did get to fly last Wednesday. I met Mark Dugan at Cloud 9. Trevor Glidersleeve was there along
with SkyGod Mike Barber and Dragon Lady Lisa also had to show us all up. I arrived a bit later than
everyone else so I was last to launch at about 4:00 pm. It was one of those days for me where I just
couldn't get the hang (pardon the pun) of it. Not to the point of flying myself into the ground but just
having a hard time. Anyway Tracy had let me off in a nice thermal below Lisa and of course I just
fumbled my way around not being able to catch up to her. I saw Trevor to the east nearly at cloud base.
I figured that since I had him as a marker I would head west to the next cloud which seemed like to run
away from me...like I said...one of those days. So I decided to just cut my losses and head back east.
So as I head back, the cloud that Trevor was in had dissipated and Lisa had zoomed off farther east. I arrived
back over Cloud 9 low with Trevor with 800 ft. We found a bubble over the field. I was lucky enough (finally)
to be able to stick with this thermal to cloud base at 3700ft. It took me nearly 45 minutes to top out in this thermal.
This was where I finally caught up with Lisa. We flew around at cloud base for a while until she streaked away again.
Sorry to say Trevor was not lucky enough to stay in the lift and had to land. He had about an hour or so I guess.
As I was climbing I did notice Mike Barber had landed. He was helping Tracy repair the turf roller so he landed
early. I never saw Mark Dugan until he landed not long before me. He had flown mostly to the west and down south
towards Stockbridge. From there he flew east towards Gregory and was able to squeeze out his final glide back
to cloud 9. I had a birds eye view of this and came in to land about 6:15. All in all it turned out to be a fun flight
even though I was having so much trouble at first. My excuse is I am still getting used to this Woody Valley Tenax
harness. With a few more adjustments I should have it just right soon. I had 2 hours & 15 minutes to test it though.

Cloud 9 Margaritowville - August 14, 2010

Although the big party was to happen on Saturday some pilots came in early and found weak conditions throughout the week but Friday the 13th proved to be the best day and many pilots had one hour flights. I did not arrive until Saturday morning and by then the sky was mostly high overcast. Some of us set up and took extended sled runs in the buoyant air. Tracy and Lisa had the place decorated for the event and it was great. Lots of pilots and their spouses and children played games and told many great stories of flights gone by. Most people had colorful costume attire and it was a festive occasion. The food was great and everyone had their fill. In the evening Tracy towed many of us up with the scooter tow system and that was a blast.

Cloud 9 - July 29 - 30, 2010

Thursday the sky looked great with cloud streets building all day so we tried it about two o'clock but failed to stick so we tried again around 4:30 and some of us stayed up. I had to take a third flight to make a one hour flight. Brian flew a twenty mile straight line to Pickeny and his sister's place. Chris Christoprehsen flew two 40 minute flights and got up to 3,500 feet ato.

Friday did not look as good but proved to be much better. I took only one tow and was able to get up to 5,140 feet ato and flew for two hours and three minutes. I chased Mark Bolt around for a while as he took video.

The Chris Bratsis Report

Cloud 9 - July 26, 2010

This past Monday
turned out to be a spectacular day. It seemed like the weekend with all the guys taking
the day off to go flying. Dave Alford with his newly acquired T2C 144 was there,
along with Mark Bolt, Floyd Cadwell, and the three new solo pilots Trevor, Tom
and Greg. Winds were light & variable. Bolt & Alford were first up then Trevor,
Tom & Greg. I was next off then finally Floyd. Every one was doing well for the time being.
Tracy left me off in a thermal which I squandered away trying to zip up stow my gear.
So when I turned back to find lift I only could locate marginal pockets up 3100 ft.
I figured I'd just head up wind to the next logical spot when I spotted all the other
airheads off to the east from where I was and too far for me to get too. As I did not
hit any lift I had to turn back toward the field and slowly sucked my way down to
land after only 35 minutes. Life Sucks! I took another tow immediately and Tracy
gave me a "pity" tow up the rest of the gang and the fun began. Up to cloud base at
5900 ft many times flying with the Floyd and watching Bolt scream around the countryside
practicing for the upcoming Nationals in Big Spring Texas. His T2C is scary fast.
I spent much of my flight with Dave Alford on his new T2C fly off to the east of the field
yoyoing up and down to cloud base and such until Dave finally wore me down and I had to
go land at about 7:00 pm. Dave came in shortly after me with the flight of the day of over
4 hours. I had 2 hours & 55 minutes on my second flight. It was good to get in the air again
after a couple of weeks of crumby weather. Once on the ground I found out Trevor our new
up & coming pilot ventured a bit too far north of the field on the Sonic and had his first "out"
landing. I think he had his longest flight ever of 1 hour 45 minutes. Way to go Trevor. Tom
from Ft Wayne had a nice flight too! Not exactly sure but nearly an hour I'd guess. Greg
also a new solo pilot had a nice flight also not sure how long though.
Anyway thought I'd give you the Cloud 9 Update.

Chris

Cloud 9 - July 1 - 3, 2010

Left London Thursday at 9 am only to find a monster line up at the border crossing so I arrive at Cloud 9 field at 2 pm and Burney, Guido and Pat are setting up so I am not to late. I hurry to set up and we all wait till it looks better and Burney goes first and sticks so we all take a tow. It was a blue sky with wispy clouds and a cloud bank with the edge right over the field. Tracy pulled me into a nice thermal and I stuck with it for about a half hour and I got up to 4,300 feet and then went searching and getting down to 2,200 feet and then things started getting better. The lift started filling in as time went on and I was feeling good staying up over 3,000 and eventually getting up to 4,965 feet above the field. Guido and I thermalled together for fifteen minutes at 4,200 feet and finally Guido found some sink that I avoided and I continued to stay high when I saw a new pilot Trevor on his first soaring flight at about 4,200 feet. What a great feeling that must have been for him. Steve Djokic took of at about 6 pm and had a great soaring flight on his U-2 and we thermalled together for a half hour. For the last hour of my flight the lift was everywhere and abundant. New pilot Tom took a late flight and tried to land at the same time that I was landing at 90 degrees to me making a spot landing impossible.

Friday was not so good but one hour flights were the normal. I had three flights - 50 m - 30 m - and 15minutes and got up to 3,600 feet once with Floyd and Chris.

Memorial Day weekend at Cloud 9 - May 29-30, 2010

The forecast looked great so away I went and arrived at Cloud 9 field at noon Saturday. Katrin and Karl from Rochester NY were there all week and getting their towing certificates. It had been a good week for them with only Thursday and Friday being a bit to windy for learning. By 2 pm there were about ten pilots ready to fly and I watched as a few were starting to stay up in the all blue sky so I got in line and Tracy towed be up to a nice thermal just north of the field and I was able to take it to 5,000 feet and slowly drifted back to the south where I left that one and searched for others never to get that high again. I was having a good time to the south of the field flying around watching as many others joined me in the air. Mark Bolt was at the Chicago meet and Mark Dugan was away visiting family so two of our hottest pilots were missing. Floyd Cadwell had the longest flight of the day with close to four hours on his Atos rigid wing and Chris Bratsis had a wonderful high flight of close to three hours on his WIlls Wing T-2 150. Chris has really tuned into his T-2 and I find that I am usually trying to catch up to him. Lisa Colletti was doing her spectacular high flying for hours on end and at 5 pm she came down to tow Tracy and their students. Most everyone had great flights on Saturday and for me it was a one hour and twenty minute joy ride and when I landed I expected that the fun would soon be over only to watch Floyd fly for another three hours. I guess I should have launched again but instead, I took Flash for a swim and helped with the many tandem flights.

Sunday started with a great forecast for lift and cumulous clouds started forming around 1 pm. I was first off in the south wind and Tracy again towed me to a good one and I was able to get over 5,000 ato again but after 35 minutes I had found a great sink hole and landed. I watched as a few others were staying up so I tried it again and Tracy took me to another good thermal and again I went up to 4,500 feet and played all over the area when I almost lost the lift again and I got down to 400 feet over the landing area and I was ready to land when I found a little beeper to the south of the field and it grew into a whopper all the way up to 5,800 feet so I was on my way again. I saw Lisa about a mile to the south and finally caught up to her and after a few minutes Lisa flew farther of to the southwest and I stayed with the big one. After a bit I was in search mode again and flew to the east where I spotted three gliders circling and finally I caught up to them and noticed that it was Brian and Chris and later Chris told me that Lisa was well above us all. We hung out together for a half hour and then I decided to head back to the Cloud 9 field and when I got there I found a little something to stay up in for about 15 minutes and then landed after watching three others landing. Five minutes later Chris Bratsis came in for a good landing after another long flight. My airtime on Sunday was three hours and 25 minutes and I topped out at just under 6,000 feet ato and Yes, I did hit the spot landing. For me 2010 has been a great year and so far I have not had a bad trip. I've been really lucky and hope that my luck holds on.

Photos Below

First 2010 Weekend at Cloud 9 - May 15-16, 2010

Our first flying weekend at Cloud 9 in Michigan in 2010. The first two weekends in May this year were to windy or raining so we had our first great weekend on May 15-16 and a wonderful weekend it was. Saturday morning dawned with high overcast and about ten of us were not expecting to much in the way of lift. At 1 pm the gang got in line for a try and Brian got off first with his Litespeed and Wow, Brian was thermalling so others quickly got off and had a go at it. Most pilots were lucky enough to get thirty minute flights only to get flushed between the lift. At 4 pm I noticed that two pilots were staying up more easily so I jumped in line and Tracy towed me up to a nice thermal and sure enough there was lift although the sky was mostly overcast. I was lucky enough to stay up for 1 hour and twenty minutes and some others got over two hours.

Saturday evening Tracy and Lisa gave instruction to a couple from Nashville Tennessee. Photo Below.

Sunday morning started with lots of sun and east winds around 12 mph so Chris Christophersen got out to the start point and others followed and Lisa was ready to tow so Chris took the first tow and after doing OK finally sunk out and lots of us were trying to stay up. I got 35 minutes on my first flight and immediately took another and this time the thermals were cooking and the wind had slowed down to about 8 mph so staying up was much easier and about ten of us were having a great time in a cumulus filled sky. We got up to 5,400 feet and Chris Christophersen went downwind to Mason airport 15 miles away. I stayed up two hours and Mark Dugan and Chris Bratsis landed last at about 6:30. Lots of happy faces filled the landing area and the stories were exciting. This was a great weekend for our first flying at Cloud 9, 2010.