Early morning flight at Whidbey
We got up at first light to fog, but it lifted exactly at sun rise (7:10). Wind was light but got stronger after half an hour. Pete took to the air, made several passes and sank out. 30 min later the white caps and wind from Smith Island had reached Whidbey (W, 20-25 km/h, with gusts to 30). Second and third flight for Pete (playing with speedbar and big ears). For me first some high wind kiting and then a short flight. Of course by that time the wind was too weak and I was in for a hike from the beach as well. We waited for a while but winds never came up again so we moved on to Tiger Mt.
Launch at Tiger Mt near Seattle
Tiger was quite the zoo. The parking lot was packed, cars all along the road too. Local pilots told us that most belong to hikers, phhh. We decided to go for the full deal and pay $17 for the shuttle, which took almost 2 hrs, with vehicle switch and all. Next time hiking is in order (apparently under 1 hrs). Flying was nice, but unfortunately by the time we got to launch, the clouds had covered most of the sky – so it was extended sled rides. As I said, it’s quite the zoo – lots of people on launch, many students, mix of ridge soarers and thermalers, some people top landing into the crowd – looks like they have BFAR every day.
Saturday night we meet up with the Deimos contingent at Baldy. Quite a change of scenery from the green rain coast to dry inland desert. Sunday morning we drove up to Baldy – all was nice and still until the very top ridge below launch where gusts over 35 km/h welcomed us. A couple of Canadians launched (with the help of almost every pilot holding down their wings), but for the rest of us (including the locals) it was too windy.
Pete enjoying the ride up Baldy
Hiding from the wind at Baldy
Everybody moved on to Saddle Mt. Great conditions there and everybody had great flights. New for me were the interesting landing conditions in the desert. After I dropped low on the ridge, I thought I would be on the ground in a couple of minutes, but there were plenty of thermals from the desert below and I kept cruising around for another 10 or 15 minutes, keeping a watchful eye out for dust devils.
Airtime at Saddle Mt
All said and done – a nice weekend. I finally got to fly two sites I had visited a few times in poor conditions (Whidbey and Saddle) and an bonus site (Tiger) thrown in. Maybe a few more visits and we will get to fly Baldy too!
