Cloud 9 2015

Tracy and Lisa - Cloud 9 - 2015

The Chris Bratsis Report

Saturday October 10,2015

Well it was quite uneventful as flying goes. One thermal off of tow and I got up to 3000 ft. big sink all around, found another thermal at 1100 ft, took it back to 1400. Very rowdy & punchy thermal kinda made me a little air sick then landed. Dugan took 2 flights about 1hr 10 minutes his second with Lisa who squeaked out an a tad over an hour. Really nice day, wind was up & down. Tracy took a video of Lisa landing in the wind which was really cool. Maybe he can send it to you. I did not see the video but watched her land. It was like very smooth and slow motion. Dugan had a great landing too in the wind but no video of him. Brian Ridder, Bernie Spring & Mark Shilling were also out, Basically sled rides.

The Chris Bratsis Report

Friday August 21, 2015
Arrived out at Cloud 9 late today. Helped launch Brian D, Trevor, Lisa & Owen as I was setting up. Owen broke a weak link so I went to get him another one. This set my launch back 45 minutes. I launch around 4:20pm, Tracy towed me into a good thermal which took me to base at 5344ft. Trevor came over to me and we topped out here just over C9 field. Trevor, Brian & Lisa were all up for 1.5 to 2 hours. Once we topped out Trevor went west in search of new thermals and I went south west. We both found nothing under some nice clouds. I noticed Lisa & Brian D low and landing. Trevor and I ended up landing shortly there after. I ended with a 40 minute flight. At least it wasn't a sled ride!

Saturday August 17, 2015

Annual Cloud 9/DFSC Summer Bash!
Too many people came out to mention for a great day of flying and a picnic party bash to follow. The flying turned out quite nice, I flew most of the time with Pat Winther Just north of Cloud 9 field in some light lift. As it would turn out the lift throughout the flight was marginal. I left the thermal and headed to the west where I found a 200ft/min bubble which turned on once I climbed higher. I noticed Pat to the north of me and he came over. We climbed together to cloud base about 4300 ft AGL. At this point Mark Dugan and Brian D joined us from places unknown and all 4 of us gaggled up and had more fun. After about 1.5 hours into my flight the lift started to dwindle and we all went separate ways in search of lift. Brian Deimling & I meet up with about 2,500 ft of altitude as we headed back toward C9 field. We were side by side semi racing back. I was surprised the old T2 kept up with Brian's Litespeed RS quite nicely. He pulled the bar in and raced ahead of me but he also lost altitude. He arrived over the field with 1,200 ft and I had 1500 ft because I kept my speed at best glide. Anyway that was a fun way to end the flight. We both landed. I ended up with about a 1 hour & 45 minute flight. The party afterwards was fantabulous with Food and drink and great friends. Many people camped out for Sunday festivities. All and all a great time was had by all.

The Skydog Report

August 17 and 18 2015, Saturday was a blue sky day until around 3 pm when a few cummies started showing up and most of us took a sledder and then our second flights were pretty decent. Mark Dugan, Chris Bratsis and Pat Winther had very good flights up to 4,300 feet ato and Mark lasted for two hours. Most of us had one hour flights and my two were 20 minutes and 57 minutes and I only got up to 3,300 feet ato. Hopefully Chris and Brian will do more comprehensive reports for us. The party after was wonderful with so much great food and lots of deserts.

Sunday was more of the same conditions and I took five tows and my longest flight was 57 minutes along with a 30 minute and three 20 minute ones. Mark Dugan did the best as far as I could see. It was like 90 degrees and we had lots of fun.

Thanks to Chad Van Klompenburg For This First Group Of Photos

Tracy Tows Tom on His Exxtacy

Tracy and Tom

Mark Dugan

Tom Helps Bob on Launch

Lisa Landing

Marty Wagner

Brian Ridder

Lisa Tows

Marty Landing

Marty

Brian Ridder

Chris Bratsis

Pat Winther

Trevor Glidersleeve Helps Lisa Colletti

Brian Ridder Helps Launch

Tandem Take Off

Tracy Tows

Bob, Tom and Tracy

Party Time at Cloud 9

The Chris Bratsis Report

August 6 and 7, 2015
Finally got back in the air Yesterday. It's been nearly a month since I flew last. Tracy & Lisa have been away on vacations the prior 2 weekends and I have been battling with a bout of vertigo for nearly 2 weeks. Also the weather hasn't been cooperating either.
Well, on Thursday I did a drive by at Could 9 on my way home from work on the west side of the state because the weather looked flyable. Once I arrived Jim Dedes and Lisa were getting ready to fly. Winds were light & switchy but mainly ENE. Tracy towed Lisa up to a beautiful Pancake cloud and she stuck like Velcro to it. Then Tracy yanked Jim up under Lisa and they both had too much fun. Lisa topped out at 5080 feet for 1.5 hours and Jim reached 4800 feet for an hour flight. I almost set up but was still not comfortable with my vertigo. Well, That leads us to Friday. I am working in Ann Arbor with a pretty light work day planned. I received a text from Mark Dugan that he was planning on heading out to Cloud 9 around noon. My head was feeling much better so I decided to risk my vertigo and go for it. I took my extra strength Dramamine and headed for the field where Mark & I arrived at the same time. We set up and Dugan launched first around 3 pm. Tracy pulled him to the east to a decent looking cloud. Then he yanked me up to the south around 3:15 pm, way south, to the nearest cloud which turned out to be good luck for me. Bad news for Dugan because his cloud blew apart and there was nothing he could find East or North of the field and had to land. Lucky for me I was able to work light lift up to cloud base and hang south of the field for most of the flight. I did end up over M-52 for a short time. Was battling a high cloud layer that was encroaching over the C9 field shutting down the lift but I was able to stay to the south in the sunny
area fighting to stay up in light lift approximately 100 f/m. If you were patient the lift would turn on around 2500 - 3000 ft and you were safe. Finally there was some sun over the field and I saw Dugan relaunch and Tracy pulled him to the south lift line. I never saw Mark after that because he was flying down near Sandhill Soaring club near Unadilla. We did meet up near the ends of our flights over C9. We were both very low and scratching about 1500 feet. We both battled zero sink up to very light lift. Mark got the best of it and climbed out to over 3000 ft. I could only scotch up to 2500 ft. At this point we had drifted over M-52 west of the field and I felt I had better head back toward C9 field. There was no wind for landing and I flared too late and belly flopped. The really bad thing is I actually hit the spot for once but it didn't count. So I ended up with a 2 hour & 50 minute flight. I topped out at 5003 feet AGL. Mark landed shortly after me. I'm not sure but his second flight lasted about 1 to 1.5 hours. I can hear the voice of our past friend Mark Bolt in my head saying " Be patient, don't squander the light lift". This was his secret to surviving the down cycles of lift. Well, It really paid off for me today as it was very light and challenging all afternoon long.
Saturday was totally cloudy so I met Mark back at C9 and we broke down our gliders. Sunday is looking bad too.

Gregg and Kim Ludwig

The Skydog Report

Sunday July 26, 2015 and I am the slug for the day with two flights and one lasting 30 minutes and the second lasting 35 minutes while others were getting to base at 5,000 feet while I only topped out at 3,500 feet. At least I did a great spot landing on my last flight.

Monday July 27, 2015 I had a good blue day flight of 2 hours and 20 minutes up to 4,606 feet ato. Brian Deimling, Brian Ridder and I towed up in that order and both Brian D. and Brian R. had short flights while I got lucky and found some lift to the southeast of Cloud 9 and I followed it to the northwest staying high and finding a hot spot that seemed to be kicking off constantly. After I was in the air for 55 minutes Brian Deimling took a second tow and found some good lift to the East of take off and he was doing quite well and finally joined me at 3,800 feet ato. We thermalled together for fifteen minutes when Brian decided to take a run to the East where he had encountered his previous good lift and I followed Brian for a minute and saw that he was sinking more as he went east so I turned back to the good spot that I had been using for the first part of my flight and sure enough the lift was still there and I took it back up to over four grand and watched as Brian finally landed after a 45 minute flight. I was able to stay high for another 45 minutes to the west of Cloud 9 and then at 5:30 I landed with a big smile.

The Brian Deimling Report

July 26, 2015

I have had many flights where I've been the first one down. I didn't land because I was tired or cold. I landed because I made poor decisions. I would sit in the lawn chair looking up at the more experience pilots still soaring around for hours. I realized it wasn't luck but skill that kept the good pilots in the air. Better pilots make better decisions. There are those days when you could soar on a picnic table which don't require as much skill, but those days are few and far between. I was quick to realize that I had to spend more time in light conditions if I wanted to extend my flights.

Again this summer we have had above average

rain fall. This has made for some marginal soaring

conditions along with thick cirrus that seem to show up everyday around 2:00 pm. Just the kind of conditions I need to improve my skills. Sunday was one of those days. We had a good turn out with about 8 pilots showing up.

Tracy towed Bob first from the north end of the field just before the wind switch. The rest of us made the trip down to the south end of the field. I was third to launch. We went through a lot of sink on the way up and the high cirrus had encroached over the field causing the nice looking cu's to dissipate. Tracy waved me off just a short distance from one of the few remaining cu's.

I patiently waited under that cloud just maintaining my altitude while other pilots were landing not finding any lift. Finally the cirrus moved back to the south and the sun came back out. After about 10 minutes Jim Dedes came in under me and I started to climb slowly at first then it turned on when I got to 4000' agl. I was averaging 500 and Jim was climbing even faster.

When I got to base which was 4900' I headed west to the next best cloud. Loosing 1200 feet I searched for lift but found none. Looking back at the cloud I left I realized it was by far the best cloud around for 10 miles. Jim was still at base so I headed back. Just as I arrived Jim took off and went east. Not a good sign. Now I'm down to 2000 feet and the cirrus have filtered the sun light.

This time I couldn't hang on long enough and had to land back at the club. Jim followed after me not finding any lift to the east. I was happy to get an 1:12 flight in light conditions. It wasn't the longest flight of the day but at least I wasn't the first one down.

Brian Deimling

Tracy Tillman

Lisa Colletti

Brian Deimling Setting Up

Lisa Colletti Landing

Lisa

Bernie Spring

Pat Winther

Floyd and Marlene Caldwell

Jim Dedes

Ant Man - Marty Wagner's Glider

Brian Ridder

Floyd Cadwell

Brian Deimling Coming Up

Dave Auner

Pat Winther

Flasher

Tracy Tandem

Brian Heading East

The Skydog Report

Friday July 2, 2015 and I arrive at Cloud 9 around 12:30 and the sky is cloud covered. I am surprised as the forecast showed a sunny day. Mark Dugan and Trevor Glidersleeve are both mostly set up so I expect that some clear skies are coming. Well, we wait and finally around two pm. some blue is showing. Jim Dedes has set up and we for a line with Mark getting off first and it looks like Mark is hanging in there so Tracy tows me up close to Mark and we struggle for a bit and Trevor and Jim come up to join us but after 23 minutes we are all on the ground and Jim and I hit the target. The clouds are abundant again and I say to the others, Oh I think in an hour or so we will have sun and lift and sure enough around 4 pm sun is starting to show so we go for it again but this time Jim goes first and I follow and Jim hits a good one right off release and I am chasing him. Trevor is up next and chasing us. Mark Dugan gives up on the day and drives off home. Well the day starts to turn on pretty good and although we don't get over 3,100 feet the lift is almost everywhere so boating is in order and we trade places on top and test different areas of lift always keeping in reach of Cloud 9 field. Finally after six pm. it is getting had to stay up and I land with a flight of 1 hour and 36 minutes and a smile but missed the target by 3 feet.

Saturday July 3, 2015 and it is a blue sky day and we have eight glider pilots enjoying the lift. Tracy takes a tow early to test fly Tom Lyon's new falcon 4 and Tracy skies out for 1-1/2 hours up to 3,500 feet as we watch in awe. After that long we decided to get off and Lisa tows us up and sure enough there is abundant lift getting us up to 4,800 feet. Chris, Trevor, Lisa, Mark, Pat and myself get close in a great thermal and I hope the video is good as we were very close. My flight time was 1 hour and 54 minutes and I tried a second flight around six pm that lasted 23 minutes. There was a field just to the east of Cloud 9 that was being ploughed and it seemed to send of some great lift and we frequently came back to that spot for a lift. We all landed around six pm.

Sunday July 5, 2015 I got up to 4,333 feet ato for a 2 hour and 18 minute flight and Hit The Spot!!!. Chris Bratsis will elaborate.

Chris Bratsis Report
What a great July 4th holiday in the sky! Finally the weather cooperated and let Cloud 9 field dry out enough to get some flying in. Tracy could finally take the floats off of the Dragonfly...
Saturday was supposed to be decent weather but there was a high layer of haze but still let enough sun through to heat the ground. Can't remember the launch order but Skydog (Bob Grant), Lisa Colletti, Mark Dugan, Trevor Gildersleeve, Pat Winther & Myself all launched and stuck to the sky. The haze didn't seem to hinder the thermals too much but it did make for some challenging climbs. I topped out at 4550 ft AGL which was better than I expected. It was mucho fun gaggling with You, Dugan & Lisa mostly. Then you all scattered and left me all alone. So I said poop on you guys and played by myself while I watch you suckers all land. Then I noticed my wife Pat pulling down the driveway arriving for the cookout to be o I figured I'd better land...which I did ever so gracefully with a nice belly flop. Oh well, That's what I get I guess for landing last but I did flop close to the spot...not that that counts! I ended up with 1 hour & 48 minutes. Not bad for flying in the "purple Haze".
Sunday July 5th turned out to be just a bit less hazy and quite a few more pilots showed up. Hope I can remember but Owen McDermott from Ontario arrived, Tom Niblick (T1) Tom Vancil(T2) & Marty were here. Newly soloed pilots Tom Lyons(T3), Dave(?) and Mark(?) Sorry guys on your last names! The new pilots all had flights in the morning and in the evening getting sharpened up for the mid-day air. They are all doing great. I think it was around 2:30pm when the lemming rush began led By Lisa Colletti followed by the 9 of us other slugs. This day was much the same conditions as Saturday but we had some clouds & whispys to play with today, We had another afternoon of multiple glider gaggles and Skydog was on his filming terror strafing runs. I hope his video turns out good as we were pretty close a couple of times.
I have a hard time remembering who I rodeo'd with but was with Skydog, Lisa, Dugan quite a bit and ended the day mostly flying with Pat Winther with his famous "falling Leaf" technique of thermaling. Actually "falling" is a misnomer as his technique gets above me most of the time. Any way somehow everyone let me be the last one down again and I landed just passed the spot and on my feet as opposed to yesterdays belly flop. I topped out at 4,199 AGL with a 2 hour & 41 minute flight. What a great weekend!

Thanks again to Tracy and Lisa for providing such a wonderful flight park for us to enjoy.

July 4, 2015 Video

Photos Below

Friday

Lisa and Jim with Flash

Tom Lyon's New Glider

Lisa's New Litespeed RX

Mark Dugan

Lisa, Jim and Tracy

Tracy, Trevor and Mark

Pat Winther

Mark Dugan Ready For Another Great Day

Bob Grant and Lisa Colletti

Dave Aunter

Flash Chillin

Saturday

Lisa Tows Tracy on Tom Lyon's New Falcon 4

Ready to fly

Tracy Ready for Take Off

Chris Bratsis

Mark Dugan

Trevor and Chris

Jim Dedes

Lift Off

Lisa and Trevor

Pretty Glider

One and One Half Hour Test Flight

Mark and Pat

Lisa

Close Up

Four of Us

Guess Who

Mark and Chris

Sunday

Lisa and Tracy

Tom Lyon Ready To Go

Dave Aunter Landing

Lisa Ready to Tow

Tom Landing

Tom Taking Off

Mark Dugan

Tom Niblick's Exxtacy

Tom's First Take Off on His New Glider

Owen McDermott

The Set Up Area

Dave Auner Under Tow

Mark and Lisa

The Five of Us Working the Lift

Tom Lift Off

Owen McDermott, Pat Winther and Tom Niblick

Tom Lyon

Tom Vancil and Marty Wagner

Tom Lyon

Mark and Chris

Mark Dugan

Pat Winther's U-2

Tom Vancil's Glider

Thursday at SOGA Canada - Patrick O'Donnell Films Skydog

The Skydog Report

Friday June 19, 2015 and another beautiful day at Cloud 9. It had been raining for the past few days but Tracy and Lisa let us try for the dry spots. When I arrived at 1 pm Brian Deimling was working on the tractor and soon started setting up his glider as did I also. We had a special guest, Jamie Shelden, world travelling Hang Glider celebrity and it was great to see her up here for her first time at Cloud 9. Jamie had a brand new Wills Wing T-2-C-136 and was anxious to try it out. Mark Dugan drove in and I knew we were in business because when Mark shows up it is usually good for lift. Bernie Spring and Chris Bratsis also joined us. I was first off and Tracy towed me into good lift and I took it up to 3,200 feet ato and I watched as Mark Dugan and then Jamie Shelden were towed up and next was Brian Deimling. We were trading places for top spot and as I often do, I found a sink hole and landed after 20 minutes while the others floated around. I was back in the air quickly and joining the others and I joined Jamie in a good one and we twirled together for a few minutes and then I decided to join Mark and the others who were thermalling to the south of Cloud 9 and when I looked back to the north where I had left Jamie, she was blasting up in a good one. I tried to stay with Mark and Brian to the south and we had some fun for a while and I sunk out again after 31 minutes so back in the air as soon as possible along with Bernie Spring and we cruised around for another 25 minutes and I watched the others land as I held onto the last bit of lift and landing Last missing the spot all three times this day. I think the longest flight must have been Mark Dugan with one hour and twelve minutes followed by Jamie with over one hour so there were some very happy faces in the landing area.

Saturday June 20, 2015 - a very cloudy morning and I was tempted to break down but I waited until one pm when Mark Dugan showed up and we contemplated breaking down when the sun suddenly appeared which gave us a lift in spirit and just maybe it would be OK to get some airtime before I headed home. Mark was off first today and I followed. Lisa towed us up to 1,700 feet just below base, wow, that was low but Mark was surviving so I joined him and we circled together for a while getting down to a grand and back up to base at 2,000 feet agl a few times. Well, this was fun and a good work out but I landed after 31 minutes and Lisa towed me up again and I tried to chase Mark and finally Mark landed with a one hour flight and I landed shortly after with a 26 minute flight. We both agreed that it was fun and challenging trying to stay up at that low altitude. As we were breaking down the sky fully clouded over and we were happy that we took advantage of the short sunny period that gave us some lift. Tandems were a blast both evenings and Tom Lyon took his first flight in the lower position with Tracy in the upper harness.

Photos Below

Jamie Shelden With Her New Wills Wing T-2-C - 136

Jamie's Glider

Set Up Area

Bernie Spring With His New Litespeed

Jacquelynn Gillie and Tracy

Jamie Shelden

Mark Dugan

Tandem and Tracy

Bernie Spring

Lisa Colletti

Tracy and Calvin

Brian Deimling

Jamie Setting Up

Amanda Lake and Tom Lyon with the Pups Jackson and Flash

Chris Bratsis

Lisa

Brad Lake and Tracy Tillman

Tracy and Jacquelyn

Calvin and Tracy

Brad Lake and Tracy

Amanda and Brad Lake

Amanda, Jackson, Tom and Flash

Tracy and Jacquelyn

Tom and Flash

Brad and Tracy on Approach

Tracy, Brad and Amanda

The Skydog Report

Tuesday June 2, 2015 and Cloud 9 is looking good so away I go. Meeting Tom Niblick and Brian Ridder there at noon. Beautiful sky full of cummies at 10 am but by noon they have moved off to the west and we have blue skies. The three of us are ready to fly and I take off behind Tom at 3 pm. Tom finds some lift to the west of Cloud 9 and took it to 1,900 feet after being down to 1,300 feet. I tried to join Tom when I was down to 700 feet but I only gained 200 feet and landed after 20 minutes. At 4:30 I took a second try and I flew back to the spot that Tom had been in and sure enough there was a stream of lift and I finally took it to 5,020 feet and I was up and down a few times but often around 4 grand and I lasted for 2 hours and 33 minutes. Brian joined me on this flight and got up to around 3 grand and lasted for 30 minutes.

Wednesday Lisa and Bernie joined Tom Brian and myself. I had two flights, one of 37 minutes and a second of 24 minutes. I got up to 4.140 feet ato and Lisa was up to 4,800 feet. Bernie tried out Tashi's Litespeed 3 and decided to buy it so Bernie is off to a good start for 2015. Brian had a 30 minute flight and Tom had two flights doing quite well. Oh yes and Lisa hit the target with a great landing. Tracy did a wonderful job of towing us into the thermals.

Thursday starts out cloudy but around 11 am the sun breaks through and we have large cumulous clouds often covering the sun but Tom and I decided to give it a try so Tom goes first and I am right behind him and Tracy tows me to a good cloud. I search around for a minute or so and get into the core and take it up close to base at 3,700 feet. Tom sinks out quickly and takes a second tow and is soon flying with me near base. My flight lasts 47 minutes and I find sink and Land. Tom lands fifteen minutes later and we pack up and head home.

June 2015 Video Click Here

Photos Below

Bernie Spring Test Flies His New Litespeed 3

Tracy

Bernie Landing

Bernie Spring and Brian Ridder

Jerry Aungst and Tracy

Take Off

Tandem

Bernie

Tom Lyon Ready to Fly

Tandem Landing Approach

Bernie Spring

Jerry Aungst and Tracy

Lisa Tows with a Dragonfly

Flash

Bernie Spring

Tracy and Tom Lyon

Flash Waiting for a Ride on the Four Wheeler

Tom Lyon Tandem with Tracy

Mark

Jerry Aungst Goes Tandem With Tracy

Bob and Flash

Mark

Dave

Flash is Sixteen Now and Slowing Down

Dave on Approach

Mark Landing

Dave

Mark

The Skydog Report

Saturday May 23, 2015 and my first trip to Cloud 9 this year and the day was fantastic. I launched first and landed last and hit the target. My flight was 3 hours and 43 minutes and I topped out at 6,817 feet and Chris Bratsis was just above me and Mark Dugan took our final thermal to 7,500 feet. Eleven solo pilots flew during the day along with many tandems in the evening. It was a blue sky day and no one wanted to go first so I was the wind check pilot. After I was in the air for 30 minutes the others came up quickly. A really nice flying day at Cloud 9. Tracy and Lisa are wonderful people and provide an excellent place for us to fly.

The Chris Bratsis Report

Saturday, May 23rd, 2015
Memorial weekend turned out to be "a" decent flying day here at Cloud 9...as only Saturday was flyable.
The day looked like it was going to be a blue one with no clouds as the humidity & dew points were very low. We had a great turnout with most of the "regulars" present. SkyDog Bob Grant, Mark Dugan, Brian Deimling, Brian Ridder, Trevor Gildersleeve with Holliente', Tom & Marty (aka Lucy & Ethel), Bernie Spring, Owen McDermott, Mark Boska of Nebraska and other tandem students & pilots. I'm sorry if I forgot someone. Of course all of us could have no fun if it weren't for our gracious hosts Tracy Tillman and Lisa Colletti. Huge thanks go out to them for giving us such a great place to fly from.
We all launch potatoed until Bob Grant couldn't stand it anymore and took off first. ...don't tell anyone but we do
this on purpose to get Bob to be the wind dummy!
As usual Bob stuck to the sky like Velcro and the lemming rush began. Wow what a great day as Tracy towed me and EVERYONE else into great thermals. We needed no low saves due to lift, only if you strayed too far and stretched it to get back to the field. Myself, I think I only got under 4000 ft when I was out on glide. After that I seemed to stay around the 5000-6000 ft range. I topped out at 6849 ft. I was flying most of the time with Mark Dugan and Skydog. Mark was able to speck out around 7,500 ft to be top dog and Bob & I were neck and neck. It seemed like all the thermals we were in drifted us over the Toyota test track northeast of the field. At One point Bob, Mark & myself were all in the same thermal with a immature Bald Eagle who went right to the top with us. This was really awesome! I don't think I heard anyone one complaining about their flights at the end of the day. All content pilots! I ended with a 3 hour 10 minute flight as did Mark Dugan. Skydog had 3 hours & 43 minutes and hit the spot...as always. Anyway, another great flying day at Cloud 9, Thanks Tracy & Lisa!

Mike Boska - Take Off

Trevor Glidersleeve

Brian Ridder and Marty

Tom Excited to Fly

Holly

Holly and Pam Chillin

Tracy and Mark

Mark

Mike Boska Landing

Owen McDermott, Brian Deimling and Brian Ridder

Tracy, Gregg and Kim

The Chris Bratsis Report

Opening Weekend May 2 and 3, 2015

Hey Bob! I was able to go out to Cloud 9 Friday after work and do my check out flight with Mark Dugan and Tom Niblick and Lisa. We took off after 6 pm and we were able to catch some late lift. Tom & Dugan had 45 minute flights & I had 40 minutes. Lisa had a sled ride because she said here RX had a right turn and she needed to figure out what the problem was. She thinks that maybe the right & left tip wands were swapped as this was her first set up of the season too. I did not see Duggies & Toms landing as I was the last one to land. Oh, I topped out at around 3400 ft. Tom got higher but not sure how high. He launched earlier as he did not have to do a check out flight since he flew at Wallaby with you. I had a good on my feet landing in no wind but did not hit the spot. Was good to get that first flight season flight done. I am always very nervous at the beginning of the year. On Saturday was the beginning of the year DFSC club meeting where financials were discussed, board member elections and safety protocols were emphasized by Tracy & Lisa. We had a great turnout. About 30 attendees. Then we repacked what seemed like a hundred chutes. I think I can do them in my sleep now! Then we broke for a pizza lunch, and back to packing chutes.
FINALLY we started to saddle up for flying. Dugan first then me, Nibbles, Trevor, Brian Deimling, Brian Ridder & Tom ? (new solo pilot) from last year. I launched and as soon as Tracy in the tug was climbing out we hit a WALL of wind and Tracy shot up and I had to push out so hard to try and keep up that I broke my weak link at about 50 feet. So I had to head back in line and relaunch. As I was waiting, Trevor and Dugan were landing. Then I thought to myself "fudge biscuits", But I launched anyway with a rowdy tow where the line went completely slack at about 1800 feet. I though the weak link was going to beak again but amazingly it didn't. Side note- Dugan broke his weak link at 2000 ft. The air on tow was pretty rough. I was able to find a decent thermal that Tracy nursed me into and got to about 5500 ft in this one north of the field. So I headed back west of the field and caught another thermal at about 4400 ft and climbed with this one to the NE of the field and topped out at 7,706 ft. This is my personal best altitude gain. I just couldn't milk this one to 8000 ft but oh well! Most of us had 1.5 hour flights. Deimling flew to Webberville and back. Nibbles was flying his Exxtacy and was mostly southeast of the field over those sod farms which are mostly black dirt right now. Dugan landed early as he has a bad head congestion and was having trouble with his ears. Anyway I could only witness the landings from above 6,000 ft. but all had good landings I heard. No one hit the spot! You weren't there to show us how! Seemed like at 6 grand there was very buoyant air, below this was a bit rougher and big sink. On glides my sink alarm went off a number of times. Once back above 6K you could just boat around. I was getting a bit cold so I decided to head down. Had a good landing about 100 ft past the spot. 1.5 hour flight. What a great weekend.
Today, Sunday, is too windy, 10-20 MPH!

Lisa Colletti

Photos Below

Two Tugs Ready To Fly

Cloud 9 Set Up

Opening Day 2015 Set Up