SCSA News, Weather, and Training

One of the greatest and most satisfying challenges in soaring is working rotor turbulence and eventually climbing into smooth wave.   Never assume that it can be done, but always consider that it may be possible.

It’s extremely important to stay UPWIND of any newly forming clouds – even those high above or well beneath you.     When they appear, go there fast, note some certain landmark directly below, and keep all forming cloud downwind of you.

The kind of maneuving required to climb in rotor is very different from ordinary thermaling technique.   Only the windward side of a rotor offers lift, and its lee side promises very strong and possibly violent sink.   Fly any full circles relatively slow and wide while facing into the wind, but then much tighter on the lee side to hurry you back around into the wind.   Expect to fly very few circles (maybe only one) before leveling out and penetrating further into the wind as the rotor you’re in drifts away and new ones rise in its place.   You’ll often need to employ hard, diving direction changes, short, steep pull-ups, and exaggerated S-turns into the wind.   Be constantly alert for increases in lift, and turn quickly toward any upward or lateral impulse you feel within the airflow.  Your mantra must be:   INTO THE WIND!

As you climb, when the lift becomes broader and less turbulent extend your penetrations into the wind, widen turns even more on the windward side, and feel for the smooth flow of wave.   Transitions into strong wave can be startlingly abrupt, but also may be gradual or even sporadic.    Even after protracted periods of smooth wave-like lift, you might experience occasional relapses of turbulence.  This almost always means there’s newer, and probably stronger lift directly upwind of – and above -  your position, so speed up and move further upwind immediately.

One day last week, for a few hours midday we saw every category of soarable lift at the same time:  ridge lift, shearline, wave and the season’s best thermals (so far).   Such wonders are only possible at a special place like Crystal.   Then Wednesday it snowed…  The two inches that covered our airport will be gone in a jiffy, but the mountains are newly flocked now from bottom to top.   Schedule is still fairly lite, so give us a call, book yourself online, or just come on out and say howdy!

WEEKEND SOARING FORECAST, FEBRUARY 17 to 20, 2012

The last few weeks we have seen an almost continous series of changing weather patterns arrive and depart in quick succession.

This week the pattern continues as FRIDAY the temps. will increase to above normal as a dry Northeast flow fills into our area from the North (due to our rainy weather system exiting south into Mexico).

SATURDAY we will quickly change back to our typical westerly flow. It looks like quite a good day for wave with wind out of the southwest at high velocity aloft. As Saturday progresses, the wind should start to clock around to the Northwest closing down the wave so don’t dally or you will miss all the fun.

Sunday and Monday we will have clear sunny weather with westerly winds while the coast will remain under clouds with a chance of drizzle.

The National Weather Service is predicting the following local surface conditions for Friday through Monday:

FRIDAY:
Sunny. Temperature: 59 degrees
Wind: Northeast 10 mph.

SATURDAY:
Sunny, Temperature: 71 degrees
Wind: West 15 to 20 mph. Becoming gusty.

SUNDAY
Sunny, Temperature: 53 degrees
Wind: Northwest 10 to 20 mph. Gusty.

MONDAY:
Sunny, Temperature: 58 degrees
Wind: West 10 to 15 mph. Gusty.


email weather comments to robert.settle@gmail.com

WEEKEND SOARING FORECAST, FEBRUARY 10 to 13, 2012

Some interesting conditions this period as several contrasting weather patterns push through.
Friday expect a continuation of above normal temps with gentle offshore north component wind. Should be some thermals around to pick off and some second ridge areas may start working.
Saturday a low pressure weather system quickly pushes across our area bringing with it a welcome return of westerly winds. Although the winds are forecast out of the west, the velocity aloft indicate wave potential.
Sunday and Monday clear high pressure weather quickly builds in again in the wake of the low. Again, look for wave especially Sunday with quite strong winds aloft forecast both days.

>> SATURDAY UPDATE:<<

I flew Friday and Saturday and both days seemed to agree for the most part with my outlook above.  We had a great time!

Friday:
I towed to the work camp and got off at appx. 7,500 feet and used a combination of broken thermals and ridge lift generated by northwesterly breezes of about 15 knots. Fun flight but it did require constant vigorous attention to stay up for about 1 1/2 hours. Attempting to penetrate wind to look for ridge lift at Baden Powel quickly cost me 1,000 feet in heavy sink and was not successful so stayed near Blue Ridge area and work camp.

Saturday:
Very steady westerly breeze all day appx. 10 to 15 knots directly out of the West as the next frontal system approached (made for nice short takeoff roll). Sunny with scattered strato cumulus. My tow to the punchbowl was pretty wild and despite leaving the gear down and putting on 10 degrees of flap both the towplane and I got tossed out of position a lot and eventually had to release at 7,500 over the punchbowl due to a loop of slack. A little lower than I wanted to be but I climbed out in various parcels of lift that felt at times like wave and then rough tight thermals. There was a low scattered cloudbase at 9,500 feet that capped lift for the day. It was quite a dramatic sky with dark storm clouds to the west, the entire area south of the mountains in heavy overcast and our area with dark scattered CU’s and rotor cloud in sunny weather. A dark rain squall with strong gust front attacked the field just as I was tying down my ship. Several pilots dashed in and landed to secure their ships before it hit. It cleared to the east in 30 minutes and we had ships flying in sunny weather for the rest of the day.

Sunday and Monday should be fantastic sunny soaring days with good chance of wave.

The National Weather Service is predicting the following local surface conditions for Friday through Monday:

FRIDAY:
Sunny. Temperature: 71 degrees
Wind: Northwest 5 to 10 mph.

SATURDAY:
Sunny, Temperature: 71 degrees
Wind: West 5 to 10 mph. becoming 10 to 20 later.

SUNDAY
Sunny, Temperature: 59 degrees
Wind: Southwest 10 to 15 mph.

MONDAY:
Sunny, Temperature: 57 degrees
Wind: West 15 to 20 mph. Gusty.

-Robert….

robert.settle@gmail.com