The drought is over...

Winter is ending, spring is beginning, thermals are returning to Crestline. Ahh...

Today was pretty breezy, but a great lapse rate help the thermals hold their shape in the wind and I got two very fun flights in. The first was on my Falcon 3, the first time I had flown it since "blackhawk down" day. I knocked on the door to the white room above Crestline at 5,700 ft. and slowly worked it back out front.



I had to burn it down after an hour to catch the ride for my next flight on the Sport 2. By then, the wind had picked up even more and pancaked the thermals. They were still there and their tops were higher, as were the clouds. I did two laps to Crestline and Pine, getting cloudbase on the second one at 6,900 ft. I changed to warmer (but harder to grip with) gloves at this point.

It was great to dial in the sport 2 in thermals and do a few runs with the bar stuffed and vg full on.

Having flown the Sport 2 and the Falcon 3 in the same day, the advantages to each are the obvious ones. The Falcon was very easy to thermal... it's so fun to stand that thing on its wing and push out. The Sport 2 was as easy to fly or easier in just about every other way and it was great to have that VG to get me out of the canyons, with those crazy-strong winds aloft.



This flight, getting down plain 'ol took effort... I was hitting lift everywhere... heck, my vario was chirping on my downwind leg... I really had to dive for the deck. I came down because of failing light and numb fingers, but it would have been easy to stay up for hours and hours. The lift was all-you-can-eat and the only strain was from stuffing the bar.