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First Spring Minden Wave 2018

March 9, 2018 looked very promising for a long cross country soaring wave flight. Jim and Alan Coombs decided to give it a try. Reba and I joined the guys to rig the ASH-25 and put the new Clouddancers covers on. 

It was in the 50′sF and a gorgeous spring day. But we could see small lenticular clouds as the front moved closer.

Early the next morning I had some inner ear vertigo and Jim delayed launching until I was better. Thanks to Stewart to run the wing as I was still a bit light headed. Silvio Ricardi from SoaringNV towed straight to excellent lift at only 8,000 feet. The wave near Minden was excellent and it looked promising to the south. 

Last week’s epic snow storm of 6 feet of powder at the local Tahoe ski resorts made the mountains a beautiful backdrop to a blue Sierra sky. Alan sent a lovely photo looking down at Mt Whitney with the wing tip accenting the picture. 

Mono Lake looked deep blue from above. It is interesting that later in the day and a bit lower Mono’s waters looked more green.

The lift tapered off past Lone Pine to the south 

and past Reno to the north. 

The guys flew 2 roundtrips and a side trip into the mountains before sunset beckoned them home. 

There were some really fast segments and overall 170 kph for 1682 km distance - over 1,000 miles at over 100 mph with the lift sensors out of whack. It was a fun flight to start 2018. Now to find and fix the Total Energy leak! When there’s time from Perlan 2 modifications......

https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=6239409

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Sierra Autumn Wave at 200 kph

On November 13, 2017 Jim Payne and Alan Coombs launched just after sunrise from Minden, NV in our venerable (30 year old) ASH 25.  

Stefan from Soaring NV gave his typical great tow to the early wave with Jackie as crew. The guys knew every minute of daylight mattered when there’s only 10 hours of it.  There was a bit too much cloud in the northern Sierra and it was a bit too blue in the southern Sierra. But the forecast was still very promising. 

9.6 hours and 1889 km later they returned to Minden before the early sunset.

Off tow at 7 am they connected with 8.7 knots of lift, so Jackie could go home and drink coffee. The first trip north to almost Susanville only took an hour and set the pace for the day. Alan got great photos with clouds framing Lake Tahoe as they zipped by headed south. 

Mono Lake was also scenic, 

as were the bare slopes of June Lake ski resort. 

It was really dry in the southern part of the flight. They went south of Lone Pine before the speed started to drop off. When they turned at Hiawee reservoir it was an even faster trip back north with a bit of a tail wind component.

The Sage 2 clearance from Joshua at Edwards Air Force Base allowed flight above 20,000 feet or 7,000 meters. Thanks Cindy for arranging it. Oakland took the handoff and had Jim’s flight plan in the system. Mount Whitney from above:

There was more cloud in the north by mid-morning so they turned north of Reno and blasted south again. 1,000 kilometers just after noon was promising, but only 4 hours of daylight left. They went a bit further south in the afternoon and  had the average speed for 8 hours over 200 kph. Blazing fast!

And the following is my favorite of Alan’s photos - Mono Lake late in the day

The last hour the weather got a bit softer and the lift had weakened just a touch. Getting home was important before the early sunset. That’s Minden Tahoe Airport saying welcome home, boys!

So  2,000 km in mid-November was not possible on this fabulous autumn day. The final average speed was 198 kph or 125 mph. As you can see from the final photo the wave wasn’t completely finished at sunset. A good flight to remember! For a link to the flight log go to 

 https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=6171144

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Argentina ‘17 - Glacier Boat Trip

We have been in El Calafate, Argentina for a month with Airbus Perlan Mission II. I have blogged daily on the Perlan Project website all about Perlan 2 and Team Perlan news. Usually we are so busy that it is near midnight before I get that blog posted. You can check out that news at www.perlanproject.org/blogs

On Sunday August 12, 2017 we took the first team day off. Most of the team chose to go on the 3 glacier boat trip from Punta Bandera. The following is from my Perlan blog, but has personal observations inserted as well. This blog also has personal photos.

August 12, 2017 was the first Perlan weather balloon launch from Punta Bandera which is on the west end of Lago Argentino exactly 32 air miles upwind of El Calafate airport. Airbus Perlan Mission II just got permission to launch a weather balloon from Punta Bandera. It's a bit complicated with the B team (Balloon) driving to the west 50 km and the C team (Communication and Computers) driving to the east 20 km. 

But the procedure of launching at daybreak is still working. By the time the balloon floated over El Calafate town it was at 30,000 feet.

Patagonia is breathtakingly beautiful. Lago Argentino is the biggest lake in Patagonia and all of Argentina. It has huge glaciers feeding it with milky turquoise (aqua) waters. We were treated to a beautiful sunrise to herald our day. 

Castle Hill (Cerro Castillo) glowed in the crystal air. 

Puenta Banderas is the port for a 3 glacier boat tour. A bit pricey at $90 but worth every dime.

As we headed up the north arm (Brazo Norte) towards the biggest glacier we rode in reclining seats in the heated upper or lower cabin. Outside it was very windy on the bow of the cataraman due to it's 25 mph speed. The stern was very comfortable. We were very close to Castle Hill. 

Then we went through the narrow opening of Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo). 

As we neared Upsala Glacier there were enormous icebergs that had unique and fantastico shapes due to wind and water erosion. The hole with the rippled outside leading edge was my personal favorite. The clear opening was over 8 feet across. And the sleeping giant next to it was 75 foot long. 

The closer we got to Upsala the more ice there was in the water. Legally we had to stay 6 km away from the wall of the glacier. But that did allow for the panaromic view. 

The boat nets some of the fresh floating ice to use for photo ops and to put in drinks from the bar. Yes, I had to sample the ice, but unfortunately there was no bourbon at the bar. Since I am from Kentucky, I am a bourbon girl. So I settled for Chevas on ice.

Next we headed past Seco (Dry) Glacier. It does not touch the water of the lake.

 Spegazzini Glacier was fabulous. The wall is over 120 meters (400 feet) and this one you can get to within 300 meters. There was a ring of smallish ice in the water which the front of the catamaran sailed right through - but slowly!  

A peak just above the glacier had really sharp jagged rocks at its summit. It looked like a crown of thorns. 

There was a cave in the glacier wall at water level. And small chunks about 1 cubic meter (9 cu feet) fell off. On tomorrow’s blog I will have my spectacular video of a 80 foot piece of ice coming off the wall of Perito Moreno glacier.

 As we lingered near Spegazzini we noticed the high altitude winds had picked up from the north. For best wave soaring we prefer winds from the west. It still made lenticular clouds to entice us (Jim calls them len-teasers.) 

As we started back to our port we hurriedly gathered for a group photo. It was a fabulous day. Thanks to Martin Heltai for some of the people shots. Jackie

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OLC Top Records

This year the OnLine Contest for the first time ever compared all soaring flights. Since the scoring rules changed in 2011 that is the window of comparison. In first place world wide is Jim Payne.

https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/record.html?st=olcp&rt=olc&c=C0&sc=

Jim Payne and Alan Coombs soared just over 3,000 km on April 5, 2015. That flight was blogged here near real time. 

https://soaringblog.tumblr.com/post/115583966313/easter-sunday-wave-and-world-record-claim

The OLC rules only allow six legs to count. Jim had deep undercast clouds to the north of Reno at the end of his sixth leg. So he could not safely continue. When he turned around to return to Minden it was the seventh leg, which does not count for OLC distance. In OLC total the six legs covered 2907 kilometers. 

For the record Jim has several flights over 2,000 but this OLC category only considers the best from each pilot.

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Washington, DC Events

On June 22, 2017 the National Aeronautical Association held its Most Memorable Records ceremony. Of the hundreds of aviation records approved each year just a few are selected as uber special. For 2016 Jim Payne and Miguel Iturmendi flew the fastest ever soaring record in the USA. This blogsite covered the flight real time previously. 

https://soaringblog.tumblr.com/post/141117727128/fastest-ever-us-national-soaring-record-claim

Since we (Jim and Jackie) were flying to DC to accept the award, Airbus decided to leverage our attendance for Airbus Perlan Mission II. So I have blogged on the Perlan website as well. http://perlanproject.org/blog/washington-dc-events

As we are headed to Argentina for Campaign Two, I am only linking to that other blog here. Sorry there’s no time to do it twice. 

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Patagonia Sunset

Patagonia is intense - cold, stark, beautiful, and breath taking in the late winter months. Below are a few photos from west of El Calafate near the Andes.

Below, West end of Lago Argentino with glacier Perito Moreno.

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Perito Moreno Glacier

On the west shore of Lago Argentino is a phenomenal glacier, Perito Moreno. It moves 7 feet per DAY, so there’s frequent calving off the wall into the lake. The wall is over 200 feet high and it stretches back for over 15 miles. After our Perlan chores on a beautiful afternoon, Jim and I decided to drive there for a romantic sunset.

Lots of wind across the lake in front of the glacier. It makes its own micro weather.

We were so fortunate to catch the setting sun’s rays coming through a window high atop the ice wall.

And we saw a block about the size of a car break off the wall.

The glacier actually dams two arms of the lake, and the water is different levels on north compared to south arm. About every 4 years the dam breaks off the leading edge of the glacier and they equalize. It happened last year. Below is south arm.

This small glade was protected from the wind and provided a mirror of the sky.

Then a snow shower blew across the glacier.

Jim contemplates the natural beauty of Argentina, below their flag.

Recent small calvings off the north arm.

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Patagonia from the Air

We have driven to several nearby places known for their iconic Andes Mountains reputation. But nothing beats a view from the air. I had to decline the first offer of a trip in the Aero Club Cessna 182. But I was lucky enough to get another chance to see some of the incredible views from above.

El Calafate sits on the shores of Lago Argentino. It is glacier fed so the waters are a lovely shade of milky turquoise.The vistas were incredible.

It was a calm day so I was lucky enough to catch a few reflections of the snow capped peaks.

The airport is just on the southern edge of the lake. 

And yes there are icebergs in the lake, but on the western end.

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Arriving El Calafate

On August 23 the Perlan Team started arriving in ElCalafate, Argentina. This was the the site of the 6 and 7th season of Perlan 1. More importantly it was the site of the current world record set by Einar Enevoldson and Steve Fossett in 2006. It was 10 years before Perlan 2 returned to  El Calafate.

El Calafate is a new airport with several commuter airlines in the summer months. Only Aerolineas in the winter months.

The Aero Club Lago Argentino has a fabulous hangar on the East end of the airport.

They also have fabulous people who have given a warm welcome to Perlan Project.

The team celebrated finally arriving at our destination of 10 years!

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Argentina 2016

As part of the Airbus Perlan Mission II Team, Jim and I have put in incredible hours of volunteer time for over a year. And arriving in Buenos Aires, Argentina was the start of Campaign One. We have been here on wave scouting trips with Dennis Tito in four previous years. But August 2016 is first time to bring the Perlan 2 pressurized glider to Patagonia wave country. See my blogs about all things Perlan at www.perlanproject.org/blogs

Just weeks before departing for Argentina I had this crazy idea that a press conference in a foreign country in a language that I barely speak (pre-kindergarten level) was a fabulous idea. Actually it was a great idea, but needed the sponsorship of Airbus, the organization of Jeffery Group in Buenos Aires, and the little black book of Tago DePietro for connections of ALL the supporters of Perlan for past four years.

Over 100 private email invitations later, we had an event. The local media was invited to the morning session. Airbus initially planned for 10-12, but 25 answered the RSVP. 

Hotel Brick is a modern hotel in the heart of old Buenos Aires. I was told the local soccer rock stars use it as home base.  Here’s a link to a blog in Spanish of one journalist’s experience. https://desdeelpatioblog.com/2016/08/22/perlan-ii-una-mision-de-alto-vuelo-en-el-calafate-argentina/    And check the Perlan blog for more details. http://www.perlanproject.org/blog/buenos-aires-press-brief-and-reception

We had a fabulous time meeting old friends of Perlan in the afternoon session. And many new supporters attended as well. Team members talked with meteorologists, ham radio enthusiasts, flight simulation programmers, government officials, and of course Argentine glider pilots.

The next day we departed for the southern tip of the Andes in El Calafate, Argentina. Buenos Aires is a big city

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2300 km July Wave in the Sierra

We have been entirely focused on getting the flight testing and mods on the Perlan 2 glider this Spring. It was really tough to work on Perlan while the June 15 golden wave day blew around us in the hangar. C’est la vie!  Perlan finally departed Minden on July 7 (see perlanproject.org/blogs if interested in more great stories and photos!) 

But the wave gods smiled on us on July 9th with extremely rare Sierra summer wave. With the Perlan on its way to Argentina the only reason to go to the hangar was to soar. Minden had good wind profiles BUT also had a possibility of unstable air in the lower levels ruining the wave.

Jim and brother Tom launched in the Arcus at 7:22 am with tiny wisps of possible rotor cu to mark lift. Jim had determined that we would run out of turn points before running out of daylight for summer wave. So we "slept in."

It was light but steady conditions early on. By noon the northern Sierra had wave bar harmonics across northern Nevada.

Those wave bars from satellite are foehn gaps from cockpit. Below is looking north from Minden area 

Below is looking south from Reno area.

Late in the day Jim and Tom headed south not knowing what to expect. The lift was good and they made excellent time of 150 mph (Joshua Approach gave them a clearance to 21,000 feet in R-2508.)  No way could I keep up towing the trailer. Below is a high lenticular cloud near Inyokern at end of the day.

When I asked Jim how strong the lift was late in day in the Owens Valley his response was "I can't tell you since the Arcus was going so fast. 20,000 feet at 110 kts going up about 7 kts." The  final photo below is over Inyokern.  

They landed at Rosamond just after sunset with nav lights.  I had called ahead to arrange landing help. They even made it to a potluck dinner and movie night at our neighbor’s hangar. (Thanks Paul, Greg, Beth, Bill and Doug for doing crew duties.) 

 Jim and Tom racked up 2,308 OLC km with percent circling - 0%. The sacrificial start and finish legs were another 100 km. And I finally rolled in to Rosamond at midnight.

Jackie

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=5200124

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Fastest Ever U.S. National Soaring Record Claim

On March 13, 2016 Jim decided that a short speed wave mission was the right call for the day. We had calm winds in the morning as the front with the wave causing winds sagged southward toward Rosamond. About noon it was time to get ready. We towed Dennis’ Arcus to the runup area at Rosamond Skypark. The pilots used sunscreen plus warm wave clothes for this mission. Jim really likes the Italian wave clothing made by KiloYankeePapa for the Perlan high altitude flights. Miguel is wearing a pair of SkyBoots made in Austria. Jim also uses a BoneHead helmet which is very comfortable on long wave flights. The dark visor helps ease the eyes.

Jim had declared a 300 kilometer Out and Return national record attempt. That would be from Inyokern to Big Pine and return. They picked up their Sage 2 altitude clearance and put on the oxygen masks. Miguel took some great in-flight photos.

The first time north the winds were still a little soft but they checked out the course line. The second time north was fast enough (278kph) to beat the old record, but the weather was improving and there was enough time to do it again.  Miguel thought they could raise the speed 5-10 kph. 

The Sierra “Corridor of the Wind” photo below

Turn point at Big Pine with foehn gap along southbound return course:

Stacked lenticular clouds at finish near Inyokern:

That third trip they flew over 335 km in just over an hour-305 kph! Then it was time to come back to land at Rosamond with flight #110 of over 1,000 km in the soaring log book.

And Jim is all smiles with 305 kph final speed for the 300 km Out and Return US National record claim. This is the fastest soaring record ever claimed for the US. 300 km O&R  is not a world category. The fastest soaring record in the world was 306 kph claimed in Argentina.

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2,050 km Wave Flight

On March 13, 2016 four Perlan pilots launched just after sunrise on a distance wave mission. Jim Payne and Miguel Iturmendi launched first in the Arcus from a wing low position (I don’t run fast any more!). Dennis Tito and Roger Tanner launched right afterwards in the DG-1001M with Stewart Tattersall running the wing..

They connected with lift right away over the Carson Range near the Minden airport and proceeded north. Miguel took some amazing photos.

Coming back south, Lake Tahoe was starting to show the beginnings of the expected storm front. Stewart and I knew we would likely be trailering south for an extended flight.

Jim took the photo below showing Minden’s “Corridor of the Wind.”

Beautiful cap clouds over the Sierra around 4:30 looking west.

At the same time 4:30 looking east over Mono Lake.

The day developed better than hoped for. It is a very narrow weather margin between good wave and great wave. Dennis and Roger flew over 1700 kilometers of which 1650 counted for OLC scoring. It was third best OLC distance flight in the world thus far this season. Jim and Miguel flew for 2,050 km. That is Jim’s 10th flight of 2,000 km or more, and 109th of 1,000 km or more.

Here’s the link to the OLC daily page for March 12:

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/daily.html?sp=2016&c=C0&sc=&rt=olc&st=olc&df=2016-03-12

I don’t have any landing photos because I was hours away when Dennis landed at Inyokern Airport and Jim landed at Rosamond Skypark.

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Pre-Thanksgiving Wave

November 24, 2015. The Minden forecast is for a White Thanksgiving. So the pre-frontal system winds were very good for Sierra Wave, except there’s little possibility to return to Minden at the end of the day with maybe 5 inches of snow forecast. Between the weather, holiday plans, and expected landing in Rosamond at the south end of the Sierra, nobody could make a flight with Jim. So he is solo today in the Arcus. Stewart Tattersall couldn’t make the flight but he showed up like Santa Claus to help launch in brisk south surface winds.

If following the flight real time here is a tracking link:

http://glideport.aero/map?p=GlidePort:472

He already has 300 km at 180 kph, less than 2 hours after launch.

The photo below is looking south from 16,000 feet just north of Minden. Dawn paints the foehn gap so pretty.

A varsity wave day along the Sierra. Jim flew over 2,000 km in 9.5 hours. The way the turnpoints played out he headed north from final turnpoint by Mojave. So instead of landing in Rosamond, he flew to Bishop at sunset. I was waiting for him and we got the Arcus into the trailer by truck light and full moonlight! The Minden area closed for rain and snow around 1:30 but Bishop had 64 degrees. Tonight there are chain laws for snow along all the northern Sierra.

There’s an interesting story about flying today in the Sierra on a wave day while under an ATC clearance.  Jim heard his friend Roger Tanner on the radio at 21,000 feet while Jim was at 19,000 feet when they crossed paths north of Mojave.  Only thing was, Jim was in the glider but Roger was in an F-16.  I think these two Perlan pilots had a blast! 

November 24 Wrap Up---

Early in the day there were no clouds marking lift in the Owens Valley along the Sierra Nevada.

A couple of lennies over Lake Crowley and Bishop.

Clouds developed better as the day progressed. This is from the last trip north looking at Owens Dry Lake

Meanwhile Jackie can’t bring the empty the trailer down the US-395 corridor due to wind restrictions. The better route was still very windy. (The prohibited path down the 395 had chain laws for next three days! Definitely not good for pulling a trailer.)

Finally coming around the corner of Boundary Peak the crew is south of the strong surface winds.  Lennies show in the Owens Valley. Bishop had 64 degrees temps in the late afternoon. At the same time Minden area had 5 inches of snow!

Jim took this selfie with the Bonehead helmet and the Mountain High oxygen mask.

And finally the day is almost done when the computer rolls over to show 2000 km on the LX 9000 optimizer

After 2016 kilometers in just under 10 hours Jim landed at Bishop in the Arcus. We derigged under the full moon but used the truck headlights, too.

Here's a link to the flight on the OLC. Best flight in the world for the new season (thus far). Jim thinks it is his sixth flight of over 2000 kilometers over the years. http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=4793560 Missing the season finale for Dancing With the Stars is going to cost him a very nice dinner!

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September 16 Wave Flight

On the morning of September 16 Jim and Alan Coombs tried another wave mission. The winds were from a good direction, but not consistent through the day. Once they went south it was unlikely they could return to Minden. They launched just after sunrise. Meanwhile, in Inyokern Dennis Tito and Fred LaSor launched around the same time. However they must have had a screaming climb because they were at 20,000 (with a clearance) almost immediately.

The early Minden lift was 9 knots up (900 feet per minute) which was very promising. However, south near Topaz Lake was a weak spot. And that’s how it played out all 12 hours of the flight - hot and cold. There were very few clouds marking wave lift.  The pictures show how blue a dry sky can be. They had a clearance above 18,000 feet, yet Jim and Alan spent a very tough hour at 12,000 feet before contacting wave again. Both Dennis and Jim found strong spots and both struggled independently. There was a segment when Dennis wisely milked his 21,000 feet and Jim fought for every scrap of lift at 12,000 feet. Alan Coombs took most of these fabulous photos.

Lake Tahoe after first climb with tiny alpine lake in front of wingtip.

Lone Pine and Owens Valley

The Sierra

Edwards Air Force Base with Rogers and Rosamond Dry Lakes

Tehachapi at the southern end of the Sierra

Sierra Nevada wisps of rotor

Switchbacks on the Sierra and Owens (almost) Dry Lake

Alan in the Mountain High O2 mask necessary at higher altitudes. Alan also remarked on the contrasts of the pristine beauty of the Sierra and the stark beauty of the Mojave Desert.

But my personal favorite of the flight is the Arcus wingtip while wave flying off Mt Whitney. Can you see the small alpine lake just under the wingtip? That is the tallest mountain in the continental US. (And only 100 miles away is Death Valley at -250 feet!) As Alan pointed out - this was the best way to climb mountains!

They landed at Rosamond after 700 miles (1250 km) and 12 hours of flying. Here’s a link to the OLC flight trace:

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=4748409

There are no landing photos because I was still 1.5 hours from Rosamond when they landed. Rosamond is a great Skypark. Randy Kelly repeated his comment for me at dinner. “Oh there’s a glider landing and look it’s sunset ....It must be JP.” So Leigh, Randy, Roger Tanner and several female 99 pilots assisted in turning and pushing the Arcus to our hangar without the ground handling equipment that I had in the truck. Several folks joined in Jim and Dennis’ celebration of the quasi “End of the 2015 OLC Season” at the Rosamond Airport restaurant. 

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Early Autumn Wave

Although it is still summer in many places we have early autumn wave over the Sierra north and south of Minden. Dennis Tito and Elizabeth Tattersall launched into a beautiful dawn sky (photo above) in the DG 1001. Jim Payne and Roger Tanner followed 3 minutes later (photo below) in the ArcusM. Actually the lennies were fairly ragged (below) and low level winds were from the south. Above 12,000 they reported 40 knots of wind from SW. We hope for improving wave through the day.

Jim and Roger saw spotty rotor clouds sorta marking lift near Honey Dry Lake and sent me this photo:

This rainbow from the Arcus near Susanville:

Looking toward SE from Susanville the northern turn point.

Here is the 9am satellite photo from Reno. At 9:30 am Jim and Roger had 450 km. Jim liked the wind profile up to maybe 45,000 feet. He wishes he had that Perlan to try for altitude today. We hope for first flight of Airbus Perlan 2 next month. Lots of blog photos and action at http://perlanproject.org Please look for blog tab on lower right side of Perlan’s home page.

Although there are high lennies from Bridgeport to Bishop, there is a “bad air space” near Topaz Lake in photo above. 

So Jim and Roger turned back north to try a 500 km triangle. Here’s a near real time link for their flying http://glideport.aero/map?p=GlidePort:472

At 12:45 they are on track for a 500 km triangle speed record. Air has really dried out so the lennies previously mentioned have disappeared in photo below!

No speed triangle today. Several saves on third leg slowed down the over all speed. Fun anyway. 1100 km at 4 pm.

Jim and Roger are out of turn points and headed home. Wave not consistent so a difficult, but fun day. Photo below is looking at Reno to the south. They have about 1250 km thus far and Roger reports he is having fun on his second wave mission.

Please note the Mark IV (or is it V?) version of Bumper’s yaw string!!! The photo below by Elizabeth shows a lenticular cloud atop another cloud above Minden.

Roger was pretty happy to soar over 1,000 miles (1822 km on See You) for the grand total. For OLC which only scores 6 legs the distance was 1328 km with a 530 km embedded triangle.   http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=4724234

And at the end of the day was a stack of lennies piled like flapjacks for a Minden Aviation Round Up feast.

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Summer Solstice Wave June 21

Happy Father’s Day Wave from Minden. There’s medium quality wave this morning from Minden and forecast to improve through the day. Both Dennis and Ron in the DG 1001 and Jim and Alan in the Arcus launched with their lights on 4 minutes apart at 5:15. Our nephew Tom Spratt was part of the early crew team. Beats an aircraft carrier launch that’s his normal duty. 

If watching real time here’s a live tracker link:

http://glideport.aero/map?p=GlidePort:472

Very slow climb to 12,500 feet then improved conditions with stronger winds. We are expecting mostly dry air and blue wave.

Photo below of Stead airport (Reno Air Races in September) 

Photo of Honey Dry Lake.

Wave tapered off at Susanville in the early part of the day. 

Lake Tahoe from the south over Heavenly Ski Area.

There is a fire SE of Minden and the photo of the smoke shows some wave contours with actual lennies above. Staying away from the TFR was no problem. The problem developed later.

At 2pm after 1,000 km the lennies are now showing up. The following neat photo is Pyramid Lake with rising dust on the near shore and lennie above.

Black Rock Desert (the site of Burning Man in September).

The problem with the smoke from the fire south of Minden was that by mid-afternoon the gliders (4) couldn’t get over it 17,500 and none of them could get around it safely. So the later legs of the flight were only to the north. Still 1200 km in wave on Summer Solstice was a treat! Here’s a link to flight summary

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html;jsessionid=96B59A3DAEB96CF7856ABB64AC356031?dsId=4469087

17,500 foot wall of smoke visible to south of Minden Airport after landing:

Here’s a photo from above the smoke the next morning: