Wallaby-Feb-2016

Maureen and Alligator

The Skydog Report

Thursday February 11, 2016 and another sunny morning and we are setting up to fly. We get into the air about 1:30 and I do a sledder for 16 minutes and then at three pm. we get in line again and I sled out again while Niki Longshore gets one hour and Patrick gets 37 minutes and George does 30 minutes while I sled out again for a 17 minute flight and then I go again for a 19 minute flight and Mick Robson comes up for a half hour. Patrick got up to 2,700 feet and Niki was up to 3,500 feet ato. We are heading to the Florida Ridge Friday morning.

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Jenn Kelly Video

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Skydog Bob

George Longshore Being Towed

Bob Being Towed

Patrick O'Donnell

Niki Longshore

Paul Harrison Flies the Tug Down to Tow Patrick

Bob Landing

George Landing

The Skydog Report

We have had a few windy days and we have been on bike rides in the area. One of our favourites is the Orange Blossom Trail shown in the photos below.

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Bob and Maureen in Wintergarden Fl.

Wintergarden

The Skydog Report

Wednesday February 17, 2015 and here we go again with some good weather. Forecast shows Wednesday and then the weekend for three days should be great. Wednesday we get into an sky with clouds blown apart but on my first flight Paul drops me in decent lift over the sand pitts and I play in it for tem minutes and then I can no longer find it and I am at 2,600 feet and I head over to the east and across Wallaby Ranch not finding any sustainable lift and when I am finally down to 550 feet I bump into lift off the trees behind launch and I work it up to 2,560 feet and now I feel that maybe I can stay up for a while but NO I am in big sink again and land after 44 minutes. Patrick, Niki and three others take off after me and Patrick lasts for 40 minutes and the others have shorter flights. I get in line right away again and Paul tows me into better lift at 3 pm and I work it for a few minutes staying around 2,400 feet and then I work it over toward the warehouses when I see Mick Robson in the Super Floater and we work together for a few minutes and then I zoom over top of the warehouses and there it is at the south end and it is a good one that I stay with for forty minutes and I work it up to 4,055 feet ato. I take the lift east past Omni and stay over 3 grand but finally when I come back to the warehouses I am down to 2 grand and bounce up and down between 1,700 and 2,200 feet for a bit and finally give up and head back to the Ranch where I stick my one wheel in the mud and take out a downtube. Third flight was a 1 hour and 17 minutes up to 4,055 feet. We are looking forward to Saturday with the good forecast.

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The Line Up - Patrick, Niki and Mark

Patrick - Lift Off

Patrick

Niki Longshore

Bob

Niki

Niki and Paul

The Skydog Report

Saturday February 20, 2016 and another sunny day with winds 8 to 15 mph. Mike Barber and Brian Jackson take off around 1 pm and then the gang gets in gear. By two o'clock Niki is off first and me second and then Rick Bremer comes up. Lift is pretty good and Niki and I work together for a while close to the warehouses and work the east wind up to 4 grand. Soon we are loosing it and heading towards the Ranch when I spot a Raven circling and this one takes me up good over the orange groves and back to the west. Rick Bremer is also there and we play for a while and Niki heads to the east again and gradually gets low while I get up to 5,016 feet ato and Aric Paulson comes in at my level and we play for a while. Aric heads east and I soon follow him while Rick stays over the orange groves. Mick Robson comes up in the Super Floater and gets very high. Niki, Aric and I soon drop out and land while Rick and Mick hang high over the orange groves. My airtime today was 1 hour and 44 minutes. Rick came down with almost four hours and Mick landed last near sunset. It was a real nice day at The Ranch.

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Niki

Aric Paulson

Aric

Aric Landing

Skydog

Brian Jackson

Beth Haskell

Brian Jackson

Malcolm Takes Another Tandem

Jenn and Walt

Jenn

Tandem

Weather Channel Flight

Jenn

Niki

Family

Tandem Student and Laurie Helps

Tandem Student

Dragonfly

Niki

Beth

Tandem

Take Off

Jenn

Beth

Malcolm Jones Takes Weather Channel Gal Up

The Skydog Report

Sunday February 21st is a really good day and there are a large group of tandems in the morning. By noon the sky is looking good and lots of pilots are getting ready to fly. Patrick gets to the launch line early right behind Jenn and I follow. Paul puts us into good lift at 12:30 and I am at 4 grand within eleven minutes. The sky fills with gliders and good lift is almost everywhere. Jenn seems to find the lift easily and I use here as a thermal spotter. Niki along with six other pilots get into a good one to the northeast and we stay close and get to base at over five grand. Rick Bremer and Mick Robson have four hour flights for the second day in a row and Mike Barber flies to Quest. Sunday I only took one tow and had two low saves and my flight time was 2 hours and 34 minutes and topped out at 5,216 feet. A great day for all.

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The Ken Kinzie Report

Quest Air Sunday February 21, 2016
Up to now conditions have been light, typically 1-200 fpm and maxing out at 3-4000'. Today was different with the best conditions so far this year.
Davis set a task counter clockwise around the Green Swamp. Climbs were 4-700 fpm and base was up to 5400. 7 made the attempt and 5 of us made it. I forgot to turn on my Airtribune:( Here is Davis's track showing 4 turn points

https://airtribune.com/davisstraub/tracks__25478 I had a slow start and it was good to join up with Corey near the first turn point as we chased Davis, Larry Bunner and John Simon. I launched at 12:45 and returned at 5:00 pm. Corey and I barely finished as our last thermal topped out around 4400' at 11 miles from Quest. No wind but a lot of zero sink enabled us to make it with 800 to spare! My instruments have gone missing so I am trying to get my track log from my spare 76S Rob Bunner was kind to lend me his older Flytec and Tomorrow Davis plans to set the same task but the opposite direction. Maybe I'll take Mary's advise make up a check list that includes activating Airtribune.

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Maureen Roller Blades on the Van Fleet Trail

Maureen Has a Good Run

The Action Begins

Patrick O'Donnell

Bob

Mick Robson

Niki

Griffin Hochstetter

Lance

Jenn

Walt

Jenn

Scott L.

Towing

Tom Nejame

John Pettinato

Mike Barber

Sandhill Crane at Wallaby Ranch

Griffin Hochstetter

John and Walt

John Being Towed Up

Jenn Landing

The Skydog Report

Monday February 22nd and we have fun again. Tom Nejame gets towed up at 11:30 and goes on a long trip and lands after 4 hours in the air on his Atos VX. Patrick and I get off at 12:30 and Fay Barber puts us both into great lift and mine is over the warehouses while Patrick is towed to the South close to Hyw 4. Our first thermals get us both over 4 grand and after 30 minutes Patrick is on he ground and I get lucky and find lift when I get down to 1,100 feet and I get back up to 5 grand. Niki gets caught to far north and lands close to Sand Hill Road. Rick Bremer and Scott L. come up and join me and we fly together for a while. Today there is strong lift but big sink between the lift and I sink out after 1 hour and 18 minutes and Fay tows me up right away and boom into another good one. Rick Bremer, John Pettinato and Mick Robson are in the air and doing great so I chase them around and really enjoy the strong lift that is more abundant later in the afternoon. My second flight is 1 hour and forty three minutes and topped out at 5,600 feet.

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Lance

Aric and Beth

Lance

Aric and Beth

Damian

Bob

Fay Barber Tows

Jenn Landing

The Line Up

Jenn Kelly

Jenn

Eric and Beth

The Skydog Report

Saturday February 27, 2016 and we have had six days of too much wind But Sunday looks to be good so we hope to fly tomorrow. Maureen and I have been biking and roller-blading a lot. Maureen has travelled 58 miles on her blades so far. We have had sunny days all but for one day last week when it rained. Temperatures have been 65 - 75 degrees with nights dropping down to 40 degrees. Patrick flew home on Thursday.

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Maureen Skating Along The Van Fleet Trail

Maureen Gives A Victory Sign After A Ten Mile Run

The Skydog Report

Sunday February 28, 2016 and here we go again. It has been six days of no flying and we are ready for some lift. Ken Kinzie wrote yesterday and said that the proposed XC flights from Quest on Saturday were cancelled due to not enough lift and too much drift and I am sure that they will be trying again today.

Morning tandems get going by 8 am and we get ready to launch by 1:30 and I get into the air by 1:45 and Fay puts me into a good one just to the south of launch and in nine minutes I am at four grand and climbing to over five grand ten minutes later. The air was pretty bumpy with sharp edges to the blue sky lift. The overnight temperature went down to 40 degrees and by 3 pm it was seventy degrees so a good lapse rate was to be expected. There must have been twenty gliders in the air but I did not often see them from over five grand but after an hour or so I saw the Moyes team close by over the cloverleaf so I followed them for a bit but soon chickened out and headed back to my spot north of the warehouses where there was lots of lift and I took it up to 6,035 feet ato. After a couple of hours I finally saw Rick Bremer and John Pettinato on their Atos gliders and from 5,400 it looked like John was at 2 grand and Rick was at 4 grand and after a half hour Rick caught up to me and got just above for a few turns and then Rick headed south and I never saw him again. Rick landed very close to dark with a 4-1/2 hour flight. Scott L. joined me for a bit and we thermalled up to six grand and then Scott headed south and I lost sight of him. After 3 hours and fifteen minutes I was getting low and went in for a landing, my first time on Oded's Atos skids and WOW !! they work great. Jenn Kelly was up for one hour and seven minutes and took my Gopro for a spin so we should have some good video later. Steve Arndt told in the evening that he and his sailplane buddies did a 120 mile triangle and all but two were successful. Sunday was a great day for most of us and we are hoping for more on Monday.

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Lance

Towing

Jenn

Mike Barber

Jason Williams

Bob

Rick Bremer

Niki

John Pettinato

Scott L.

Mick Robson

Maureen Pushes my Glider Back to Tie Down

The Skydog Report

Monday February 29, 2016 and we have another good flying day. Ten or more pilots are ready to Launch by 1:30 and I am third to take off. Paul drops me off in a good thermal and I take it to four grand in nine minutes and up to five grand in eleven minutes. Jenn is off before me and comes in close and I get some video of her thermalling. I play in the lift over the orange groves for a few minutes and then I decided to head over to the cloverleaf and south half way to the hospital and decided to come back. When I get back over the warehouses I don't find good lift so I scoot over the orange groves again and now I am down to 1,200 feet ato and in search mode. I don't have much luck and finally sink out after 55 minutes after I had topped out at 5,500 feet ato. Wayne and Sandy Bergman our friends from Michigan are here to visit so Maureen and I spend the rest of the day with them. After I have landed I see that there are likely six gliders still high above the Ranch and eventually they all come in to land with exciting stories of how great the air was this last day of February. Rick Bremer did his usual late day landing with over four hours of airtime. Tom Nejame did a 75 mile triangle and came in with a big smile. I had used Oded's skids for the second day in a row and I am very impressed with them as they skid along so nicely.

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Wayne and Sandy Bergman Michigan Pilots

Wayne and Sandy Heading Out

The Skydog Report

Tuesday March 1st. Maureen and I take a day to go to the beach and Bike along the trails near St. Petersburg. Today is the warmest day we have had on this trip and the temp gets up to 83 degrees. Maureen loves to get into the water and we have some fun getting some underwater photos. Later in the afternoon we do a 16 mile bike ride and the scenery is really nice. We finish the day of at sunset on the skyway bridge that goes to Bradenton. The sunset was spectacular. The boys at The Ranch have another great day and Aric flies to Quest and back and Rick Bremer and Mick Robson have four hour flights until sunset.

The Skydog Report

Thursday March 3rd. and we are on the trails again as Maureen completes 89 miles on her roller blades and I bike along with her. The forecast for Friday looks good for flying and Oded is flying in tonight from Rochester NY.

Friday March 4, 2016 and Oded takes two calm air flights in the morning. By noon it is pretty windy again but Niki and I take a tow around 2:30 and the wind it 15 mph at 2 grand so we both have 18 minute flights in bumpy conditions. Saturday promises to be good with winds at 7 mph.

Saturday March 5th 2016 and the morning looks like high cloud cover so Maureen completes her 100 miles on the roller blades and we get back to the ranch by noon. There are a few pilots setting up so I get ready and Oded also gets into gear. Tom Nejame takes off first followed by Griffin and Pete on his Sensor. Next I am off and I get into a good thermal at 2,100 feet and take it up to 4 grand where I fly with Pete for a while and then Tyson Richmond comes up and joins us for his first Hang Gliding flight in over a year. Oded gets up soon and Tommy is trying to get Oded to follow him to the north but that does not work out so they come back and fly locally. When I am in the air for about an hour Niki Longshore joins me and we work together for a bit at 4,500 feet over the warehouses. Niki takes off to the northwest and I take a run over to the cloverleaf at 4 and 27 but the lift is not as strong over there so I come back over the Ranch and boom there it is again and I climb above base 400 feet between the clouds. I have to work to get down below base and then I see Jason Williams near the orange groves and we turn together for a bit. Most of the time I am staying between 4,500 and 5 grand although I briefly got down to 3 grand and then back up again. Scott L. and I got together for a bit and later in my 4 hour and 9 minute flight Oded came in close and we stuck together for a half hour or so. Rick Bremer was zooming all over the sky and I saw three Moyes gliders in the air with me. Mick Robson was up with the sailplane and had a wonderful flight. Greg Linanea had a personal best flight of over three hours and was up to 4,600 feet ato. A few of us were trying to be the last to land and Mick came in first then I landed and next Rick and finally Oded was the last to land at 5:20 pm. checking our instruments later showed that I topped out at 5,144 ato and Oded got up to 5,210 feet. Today was a wonderful day for Hang Gliding and there were lots of happy faces at the end of the day.

Maureen and I are driving home on Monday so we will be packing up Sunday and it looks like it will be windy again for a while.

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