The Skydog Report

Sunday November 6, 2016 and a sunny day with light winds forecast to be up to 4 mph. We have Grazi, Erik, Rick, Martin, Steve, Tim, Reiner and myself. I get off first with Willie towing me at 1 pm and I only stay up for 21 minutes. Grazi takes off next and logs 30 minutes. The others get airborne and most log 20 to 30 minute flights. Tim takes a 5 grand high tow and gets a 48 minute flight. I take two more tows the last being towed by Curtis. My second flight was 25 minutes and the last one was 29.5 minutes where I found some lift over the smoke stack close to Hyw, 109. It was a warm 60 degree F. and sunny all day making it a nice day for closing up shop for the season. Hope to see you all next year. Bob

Willie - Tow Pilot

Curtis - Tow Pilot

Erik

Steve

Grazi

Rick

Willie Ready to Tow

Rick Launching

Reiner - Fly-By

Rick On Approach

Grazi

Steve Launching

Erik - Lift Off

Erik After a Great Flight

Erik Films Reiner

Erik Films Another Glider

Willie Cooking Up Some of Tim's Bear

The Skydog Report

Saturday October14, 2016 and her we are in the middle of October up here in the north and a few of us are still trying to get the most out of the season. The pilots today were Grazi, Martin, Tim, Rick, Reiner and today Mark Dowsett and Nick Jones flew with us at TOGA. The forecast had said that winds would be 7 mph tops but as I was setting up the wind was 10 to 15 mph and we hoped that it would subside. Willie VanCaulart was our tug pilot today and Willie took a flight in the Dragonfly around noon and reported that the air was very bumpy and moving fast so we waited. By 2 o'clock the wind had slowed some and Willie encouraged me to try it out and so I gave it a go. The tow was rowdy but acceptable by my standards and when we got up to 800 feet ato Willie frantically waved me off so I thought maybe a mechanical failure but after I landed Willie said that the air was just to rowdy. On that flight after release I could feel lift and sink but I heard no sound from my Flytec 3030 so I finally realized that I had turned the sound off at home and forgot to turn it back up so here I am frantically trying to push the proper button to get the sound up but with my two pairs of gloves I was getting nowhere and after 7 minutes I landed. Now with my gloves off it was easy to fix the problem but to late for that flight. Willie says - Let's wait a half hour and so we did and I was off again and Willie waved me off at 2,400 feet ato in a good thermal 2 miles upwind and I stayed with it for a good while and followed it back behind take off and then went searching upwind and I found some good climbs as I watched others taking to the sky. Reiner was up there with his lite trike and Grazi came up but we never connected close enough for photo ops. After 52 minutes I was on the ground and watching as the others went up and Tim ended up with the longest flight of the day at 59 minutes. My highest altitude was 3,395 feet ato. Rick took two flights, one at 43 minutes and another at 35 minutes. Around 4 pm Martin was eager to have a go at it and I followed him and we had some fun thermalling together for a while and this time I flew for 22 minutes and Martin logged 27 minutes. Mark and Nick had enjoyable flights and I did not hear their airtimes. It was a really nice day but the beautiful cummies were moving right along making it hard to stay close to the field. I know that some of you XC pilots will say "GREAT" so come fly with us and get those high milers in. Check out Grazi Mele on Facebook for Photos of the day. I did shoot some video but not much for other gliders in the frame but a pretty sky with spectacular autumn colours.

Friday October 14, Video

Skydog Leaves The Cart

Palmerston Airport

Landing Approach - Fall Colors

The Skydog Report

Thursday October 6, 2016 and Willie VanCaulart is towing again today. Grazi, Steve, Peter, Tim, Rick, Martin, and myself get ready to fly and the cummies are starting to show at 11 am. Les Tapol also joins in the fun today. Willie tows Tim up first and Tim has a short flight and next Grazi gets up there and Grazi manages to stick for 44 minutes. I am right after Grazi and I join him for a couple of turns as he skies out and I head south and loose the lift and I land with only 16 minutes. I should have stayed with Grazi but somehow I lost sight of him. I take another tow and again only get 17 minutes. Steve has a couple of flights and it looks like he sticks pretty good for a half hour. Les flies his U-2 and has a couple of 30 minute flights. Next Rick takes to the sky and Rick does really well getting up to 4 grand and has a flight of 1 hour and 18 minutes for the flight of the day. Now it looks like things are getting better with les wind so I go again at 4 pm. and Willie tows me east a couple of miles and I get into some good lift. Martin comes up just after me and I am at 3 grand as Martin releases and I watch to see how he is doing. My recent memories are of Martin doing really well so I try to stay with him and it works for a while as Martin finds some good thermals and I keep chasing him but after 15 minutes I get off track and down I go and I see Martin doing well over the truck stop so I speed on over to him and climb up through him. Oh what a feeling. We play together for a few more minutes and finally the lift is dying and Marin takes another run out to the truck stop while I hang back and slowly sink as Martin finds stronger sink and lands just before me with 47 minutes. My flight time was 1 hour and 2 minutes. I think that I saw Steve Benn landing just before Martin. It was another nice day with challenging elusive thermals.

Willie VanCaulart Our Tow Pilot Today

Bob

The Skydog Report

Tuesday October 4, 2016 Maureen and I drive to TOGA field and Grazi and Willie are there to greet us. It was very foggy all the way to TOGA field and as we arrived the sun finally broke though so I did not expect a lot of lift as the heating stated so late. The pilots today were Peter, Troy, Rick, Martin, Grazi, Tim and me. We were ready to fly by one pm and I got off first and hang in there for 27 minutes and sink out. I am writing this on Friday and I can't put the details of the day together but Maureen was with me and she took lots of photos so we will have to see what is there. From my Flytec I can see that I had three tows and the middle one netted me 1 hour and 45 seconds and last flight shows 26 minutes so it must have been a good day with no clouds and warm temperatures and great friends.

Willie VanCaulart - Tugger

Troy

Troy

Grazi Ready To Fly

Willie Tows Rick

Peter

The Hawk Between Us

Grazi Zooming In

Grazi

Peter

Peter

Tim Above The Clods

Troy Towed by Willie

Martin Landing

Grazi Happy After a Great Flight

Rick

The Skydog Report

Sunday September 25, 2016 and Willie VanCaulart is our tow pilot for today and does a great job of getting us up there. Patrick and I get to Palmerston field at 11 am and set up our gliders and the wind is stronger than forecast like 12 mph but we proceed hoping that the wind will slow down some. Grazi, Martin and Tim are hustling around getting things ready. We have a new pilot, Brian Diedenhofen setting up his Falcon III. Willie has replaced his keel on his U-2 and Martin will test fly it today for Willie. Around 1 pm we are all lined up on the runway and Martin asks me to go first as he wants to test fly Brian's Falcon next. Willie tows me up and we go though two good lifting thermals and then another where Willie waves me off. I search for the lift and feel like a dummy not finding anything and I land with a 13 minute sledder. Martin is soon in the air and I'll be darned if he doesn't find some lift that keeps him floating for a half hour. Grazi takes off next and stays up for 42 minutes followed by Patrick with a half hour flight. Tim gets up next and sticks for a half hour and now I am getting anxious to try again so away I go and OK this time I find some lift but within twenty minutes I am down to 500 feet ato and preparing to land when I get a wing lifting. OK, so I turn back into it and sure enough I am staying at 500 to 600 feet for maybe ten minutes as I follow the lift back away from the truck stop. Finally I hit a core and I am turning full circles and going up pretty good like 300 fpm. and now I am finally at two grand so I work my way ahead and WOW, here is a good one and I take it up to 3,316 feet ato and I am getting away from the field a ways so I head upwind again and find smaller cores along the way and all this time I have been watching as others take off and finally land with half hour flights. Finally around four pm. I can't find good lift anymore and I land with 1 hour and 18 minutes and I had topped out at 3,316 feet ato. I would like to thank Grazi who often runs to my assistance and carried my glider back to the setup area. Tim has also many times helped me out and these guys are just wonderful to me. Thanks, Bob

Brian got to fly his Falcon and had a nice flight and later in the day Rob Skinner from Buffalo NY. came in and took a few flights. Troy and Jackie stopped by and Troy decided it was not booming enough and decided not to fly today.

Camera Man and Atos Pilot - Grazi Mele

Willie Tows Brian

Willie Tows Brian Higher Now

Robert Skinner On Approach

The Gang - Tim, Rob, Willie, Grazi, Bob, Brian and Patrick - Photo by Martin MacLeod

My Flytec Vario on Left

My Flytec Track

The Skydog Report

Friday September 16 2016 and James DeHart is ready to tow us at noon. Grazi, Tim, Andy, Steve, Rick, Troy and Peter tried their hardest to stay up but most came down with half hour flights. The best that I could squeak out was a 53 minute flight and a 17 minute flight and only up to 3 grand. OK, about my first flight. James towed me toward the truck stop and just as we approached it there was good lift and then a couple of fields past there again was good lift so I released and stayed with this one as it drifted back over the flight park. I saw a hawk below and turned with it and finally got above 3 grand. I headed upwind and got down to 1,100 feet ato and found another good climb over the truck stop and followed it back over the flight park getting back up to 2,800 feet. From there I searched and found nothing so finally landed around 2:30. Took my sledder at 3:15 and that was it for me. Good fun with great friends and lots of sunshine made for a wonderful day.

Gliders

Bob's T-2-C

Set-up

Bob's T-2-C       Photo by Grazi

The Skydog Report

Labour Day weekend September 3 and 4, 2016

The forecast was for sunny days and light winds all weekend so Maureen and I drove to TOGA field for Saturday and Sunday as our friend Oded Kalir was coming from Brockport New York to fly with us. Saturday we were greeted by Grazi and saw that Martin was taking Lonny up for a tandem flight. Watson as already setting up. Oded drove in shortly after us and we started to set up for the day. The sky was mostly blue with the occasional whispy floating though. I was off first and I released over the truck stop and soon found some good lift that took me up to three grand. Soon there were five gliders in the air and it was good to have others close by to spot the thermals for me as the sky was quite blue. Tim and Oded were close by and we shared some good lift and I eventually got up to 4,150 feet and later Oded showed that he had got 20 feet higher but I won the endurance flight of the day with 4 hours and 13 minutes and Oded had a close second with four hours and nine minutes. Steve Bellerby came up with us and logged three hours and ten minutes. Patrick arrived later and had a nice flight of one hour and ten minutes. Lonny and Peter Chaney had shorter flights. Willie pinned of real low and landed in the scrub brush twisting his ankle. Grazi stuck for forty minutes and at the end of the day Martin joined us for one hour and thirty minutes. In the evening we had a great bon fire and Willie sang and played for us and that was great. Sunday it was harder to stay up until later in the day when a few of the pilots had a good time floating around in the smooth air. I had taken of after Pete Wall at 2:15 and I got into a great thermal just after release and it got me up to 3,500 feet and then I was in search mode and down to 800 feet when I saw Pete in a good one to the north so I cruised over there and worked the lift with Pete who is flying his new Wills Wing U-2. There were lots of pilots coming up and lasting a half hour or so. Patrick took off late and Oded followed him and Patrick stayed high while Oded worked his way up and though Patrick. Lonny also had a nice flight along with Troy and others. My flight time was 1 hour and 36 minutes topping out at 3,966 feet ato while Oded had one hour and twenty nine minutes getting up to 3,750 feet. A great day was had by all and Maureen took lots of photos so check them out below.

Labor Day Video Here

Willie VanCaulart

Towing Tandem

Willie Towing Martin and Lonnie

Patrick O'Donnell

Curtis Tows Willie

Lonnie Gets a Lift

Martin MacLeod - Tow Park Operator

Pete Wall

Lonnie, Tim, Grazi and Mark - Wallflowers

Towing

Oded by Steve Bellerby

Grazi - Lift Off

Oded

Grazi

Armin

Oded - Photo by Steve Bellerby

Grazi Barnstorming

Skydog Bob

Armin

Oded Being Towed

Oded by Steve Bellerby

Oded

Lonnie

Oded by Steve Bellerby

Lonnie

Pete Wall - New Wills Wing T-2-C

Pete

Bob and Grazi by Steve Bellerby

LoriAnne Watches Patrick Lift Off

Oded - New Harness

Oded

Bob, Mark, Oded, Tim and Armin

Grazi

The Skydog Report

Saturday August 26, 2016 my buddies from NY and Florida join me at TOGA field, Palmerston Ontario for some flying. The earlier forecast was for sunny skies and light winds so we were excited. When I arrived at 9:30 it was sunny but we could see a ridge of cloud moving in. I set up quickly to try to catch a sunny flight but by the time we were ready the clouds had moved in overhead. I took of first with Willie towing me and the air was smooth as glass so I did a few wingees for the homebuilt crowd and landed with only 18 minutes. Shane, Lance and Rick Hines took tows after me with similar airtimes. Around 2 pm Don Vermeer was towed and Don found some lift at 900 feet that took him up to 2,200 feet and he played in the lift for 55 minutes while Oded and Jimmy came up and enjoyed the only sunny hour of the day. I took a third flight but the lift had left by then and others tried with short flights. Peter Chaney flew his new Wills Wing U-2-C and it sure is pretty. My last two flights were 21 minutes and 24 minutes. It was a good time with all of my old and new friends.

Hang Glider Set Up Area

Peter Chaney's New Wills Wing U-2

JK And Oded My Buddies From NY

The JK Report

Saturday July 30, 2016

 Invited by my Wallaby flying buddy Oded, I traveled to Ontario Canada with him on Saturday of the holiday weekend
for some towing activity. About three hours from Rochester New York NW of Hamilton are the SOGA and TOGA flight parks.
Arrived at SOGA at the start of their annual competition. As it was significantly windy we decided to tour the Teviotdale Flight Park about 20 minutes away near Palmerston. We met Martin, Grazi, Tim and tug pilot Willie who were very welcoming and helpful.
We were given a tour of the facility by Tim M. and Martin the manager. It was somewhat cloudy but the winds seemed to be abating so we set up our Atos flying machines in the set area by the hangers. It was overcast with some thermal clouds in sight. After being towed to the take off area on launch carts by golf carts we ascend one by one into sky. After a 17 minute sled run, I hook a
weak thermal after the tow and drift a mile or 2 downwind in a constant continuous turn for a 32 minute flight. Oded and Bob had two similar flights. After flying, dinner at the local diner one mile down the road followed by a bon fire, beer and camaraderie with our new Canadian friends. A big thank you to Bob Grant for changing his Kayak day to welcome and fly with us. We found the nice three star King Motel in Palmerston about three miles down the road for $70 US per night. Sunday was mostly cloudy. We towed up to 2.5 K and slowly descended onto the smooth 3000 by 90 foot runways at this private airfield. The view of the flat patchwork quilt of soybean and wheat fields was mesmerizing.
After putting our set up flying machines in the new looking hangers, we surprisingly drank more beer, ate dinner, and came under the spell of the cylinder bon fire. Monday was the best day of all! Clouds early clearing by Noon. We were towed to the take off area and waited for Curtis our tug pilot to fly in. About seven of us flew in the cumulus filled sky. We went upwind almost to the wind mills (Oded), downwind to Palmerston ( all of us) and Harrison 4-5 miles cross wind (Don V.) I hooked one at 400 feet over the hangers in the landing pattern but let Oded the thermal thug take it from 700 feet to cloud base which rose from 4.5 to 5K as the day progressed. Bob had the longest flight of 3 hrs and 40 minutes followed by Oded 3 hrs and 10 minutes and me with 2 hrs and 14 minutes. ( should have stayed in that hanger thermal). We all got towed back to the break down paddock, broke down our gliders and had beers to celebrate our stellar flights. Tim M. then invited us to his home nearby for a pizza dinner. Yup, found my new summer flying home, TOGA. Wallaby of the North. See you there on Labour Day Weekend for their first annual fly in.

JK

The Skydog Report

Saturday July 30, 2016 I drove to SOGA field to meet Oded Kalir and Jimmy Kolynich who were coming from New York and planning to fly for their first time in Canada. They arrived around 1 pm and we chatted with all the pilots attending the SOGA Fun Fly Comp. It was a bit too windy so we drove over to TOGA Field so that they could see what we have available in this area. As it turned out the wind had calmed down some by 3 pm so we set up and Willie towed us up. JK and Oded had two 30 minute flights while I had three flights 28 minutes, 22 minutes and 24 minutes. The wind was strong enough that were getting blown to far from the filled so we all had shorter flights. Tim also flew and had some fun with us.

Sunday was a windy and rainy later but my friends from NY stayed and took a flight each hoping that Monday would be good like the forecast was predicting and as it turned out Monday was a great day with puffy clouds taking us up to over 5 grand. Don, Andy and Grazi joined in the fun and today Willie flew with us as Curtis was our tow pilot. I took of first to check out conditions and I had to search for five minutes but then I was on my way up. Don, JK and Oded flew close with me at base so I am hoping that JK got some good video as my battery was dead. I had the longest flight of the day at 3 hours and 42 minutes and topped out at 5,055 feet ato. Most everyone one was up to base at some point. Three hour flights were the normal for the day and there were lots of smiles in the evening.

Noon Sky

Willie Warms Up The Tug

JK

Don Vermeer

JK Landing

Oded

JK

Grazi

The Skydog Report

Saturday July 10, 2016 Patrick O'Donnell and I drive to TOGA field near Palmerston and cumulous are forming as we arrive at 11 am and three pilots are setting up. We get ready and by 1:30 we are ready to fly and Curtis tows Patrick up first and me next. Patrick gets some lift but lands after 20 minutes and I finally find a good one and take it up to 4,200 feet ato. From there I head upwind and find another thermal that takes be back with the 7 mph wind and on my next attempt to go ahead to more lift I sink out after 45 minutes. Now Patrick is launching again so I get in behind him and we both take our second tows. By the time I get off tow, I see Patrick at cloudbase and at 5,000 feet ato so I head over his way and get into the lift and after about ten minutes we are thermalling together and Reiner with his lite trike is right there with us so we have a good time flying together. After an hour Patrick decides to go upwind and I stay downwind watching Patrick get low and land. I then head upwind and also don't find anything so I land with 1 hour and 10 minutes and my highest was 5,123 feet while Patrick logged 1 hour and 13 minutes and Patrick got up to 5,159 feet. After I landed Erik and Martin took tows and had great flights of over 1 hour and 30 minutes. Grazi also had a nice flight on his Atos VR but I am not sure how long or high. This Sunday was much like last Sunday with nice clouds to show us the way up. Tim was a big help with Launches and organizing.

Set-Up

Curtis

Curtis Tows Rick

Eric Ready to Launch

Dan Piche - New U-2

The Skydog Report

Saturday July 04, 2016 Maureen and I drive to TOGA field near Palmerston and we see some cumulous clouds appearing as we drive into the field at 11 am. There are about eight gliders set up as Nick has been towing new students since eight in the morning. Today we have the pleasure of George Adams from Syracuse NY joining us. Curtis will be our tug pilot today and he flies in with his nice Dakota Hawk tail dragger. By 1 pm there are a few of us ready to fly and Nick Jones takes off first and has a 30 minute flight and then Andy tries and also has a thirty minute flight. I go next and get up to 4,200 feet but I can not find another climb and land with a 27 minute flight. So now we wait for an hour or so and at 3 pm Nick goes up again and immediately climbs out under a beautiful cloud and soon Nick is gone and later we hear that he has landed some sixty miles away near Guelph, Ontario. Curtis tows me up next and after searching for five minutes and down to 2 grand I hit some good lift and take it up to over five grand and from there it is up and down with my highest being 5,170 feet and I land after 1 hour and 10 minutes. George is soon in the air and goes on a triangle coarse landing back at Tim's home near Alma for a three hour flight so George must be very happy with the day. Troy Whitmore had a great flight of 1 hour and 42 minutes and up to 5,700 feet for his first flight of 2016 so Troy was beaming as he landed. Tim and Grazi had their Atos gliders up and had nice flights. Martin had a nice one hour flight near the end of the day taking him up to 5,200 feet. There were lots of other great flights this day and if any of you that were there have a story for me, send it to me. Also please help out with the names. Photos by Maureen below.

The Skydog Report

Saturday June 25, 2016 Maureen and I drive to TOGA field near Palmerston and it is a blue sky day. Willie is our tow pilot and is eager to practice towing us. Martin McCloud goes first at 11:30 and we watch as he climbs out real nice to over four grand. Don Vermeer goes next and also does really well. My turn next and Willie drops me in a good thermal and I take it up to over four grand. Mark Kowalski get's up after me and I am getting low as he lands and takes another tow. I manage to find some lift that gets me up to five grand and Mark is now up there with me. I get low again but find another thermal that takes me to 5,730 feet ato and after 2 hours and 22 minutes I am tired and land. Martin logged 1 hour and 30 minutes and Don had the longest flight of the day doing a triangle for three and one half hours. I think that Mark logged 1-1/2 hours also. Willie did a great job of towing us today and will be a great asset to our group. Maureen took some good photos and I hope to have them on here soon.

Willie Van Caulart - First Big Tow Day

Willie Tows Martin

Willie

Willie Tows Don

Willie With Dragonfly

Mark - Touchdown

The Skydog Report

Monday May 23, 2016 Maureen has a broken arm from a fall off her road bike two week ago but takes the drive with me 2 hours northeast to TOGA field and we find four other pilots setting up when we arrive at 11 am. Martin and Don were clearing a new set area and we started to set up for a blue sky day. Andy Dion took off first and Grazi followed with Grazi staying up for 45 minutes in the blue before noon. Don Vermeer took of next with me following. Curtis dropped me in a good thermal but I did not hear a beep on my 6030 and it turns out that the volume was turned off so I did not realize that I was going up at 400 feet per minute until I looked at my 6030 and saw that I was in great lift. I fumbled with the volume button but with the glove did not have any success and after a few minute I finally got some sound and by now I am at 4,200 feet agl. Now the big beep sounds are sounding really great and I take the lift to over 5 grand as I watch as others are towed skyward. I travel upwind toward Palmerston and downwind toward Arthur Ontario staying above 5 grand all the time and wondering why five other pilots are not getting into the good stuff and they are one or two grand below me. I get up close to 6 grand right over take off and then back down to 5,500 when Don Vermeer comes in two hundred feet below me and we work the lift for a few minutes and then Don speeds away loosing the good lift and I play in it getting up to six grand. After the first hour I am getting a little bored and so I take a run to Palmerston and make it to the Subway getting down to 3 grand and head downwind back to the landing field getting back with one thousand feet and I keep loosing altitude getting down to just below 500 feet and prepare for a landing when at the downwind end of the runway I hit some lift coming from a tractor tilling the filed and this thermal turns on real nice and I take it up to 6,167 feet ato. Now I am feeling like Superman and take a run downwind three miles and then back upwind to Palmerston this time finding lift all the way and now I am trying to get down and I get back to the field with 2 grand and wing it down for a nice landing and a flight of 2 hours and 10 minutes. Willie, Shane, Lonny and Dan had nice flights also. It was a really wonderful blue sky day and Tim cooked up a turkey that he captured early that morning.

Blue Skies

The Skydog Report

Saturday April 30 2016 and my first time flying in Canada in 2016.

TOGA is a real nice small airport with two very nice grass strips. There were eight of us this day and when I arrived the sun was shinning but we could see clouds moving in from the east. We set up and waited for our tug pilot Curtis to arrive at one o'clock. By the time we carted the gliders out to the take off area it was close to two o'clock and I was off first with a ten mph wind. Curtis towed me up to 2,500 feet and I pinned off and went searching for lift and when I finally bumped into some 200 feet per minute lift I was down to 1,800 feet. I worked the lift and it tuned into 600 feet per minute and I took it to 4,175 feet as I worked close to the town of Palmerston. I headed back up wind to the airport and found lift in the same area and took it back up high again. This continued for 45 minutes and then like a switch it tuned off and I landed. During my flight I watched Alex and Willie come up and Willie stuck for a while but landed after about twenty minutes while Andy had two  shorter flights. After I landed others took off but by then the overcast had moved in so they had shorter flights.