38 58 10.92 N,75 52 0.00 W,Highland Aerosports, Ridgely,
Maryland, USA

The weather did not look that promising in the morning. Every
where to our west was cloud covered and there was rain to the northwest in
Pennsylvania. The local forecast didn't have rain in it and the RAP/XCSkies said
great lift, but it also said no cu's and we already had cu's by 10 AM. There was
a layer of cirrus over us that thin but seemed to be connected to all the cloud
cover to the west. The forecasts were not believable.

But the really tricky part was the fact that the winds were forecasted to be 20
knots at 2,000' out of the southeast at 2 PM going to 23 knots at 5 PM out of
the south southeast. We were assured that this would not present a danger.

We called another 80 kilometer zig zag task up the peninsula with a short dogleg
for the sport class.

I was first to tow and found lift at the end of the field. The lift averaged
only 165 fpm but I was soon at cloud base at 3,800'. Larry was second to tow and
was right with me.

We searched around a bit to stay out of the cloud but then climbed back up again
to cloud base in the same wind line. The wind was 16 mph out of the southeast.
We had been watching Mitch, Charlie and Dan below us struggling.

We were three kilometers from the edge of the 10 kilometer start cylinder with
twelve minutes to go. With the strong wind we would have been forced out of the
cylinder before the first start time. We decided to head back up wind as Charlie
and Mitch were already doing so in front of us. In retrospect we should have
just stayed under the cu and drifted to the edge of the start cylinder.

Larry and I headed east of Mitch's line to try to get closer to the course line
and also to get to some good looking clouds in that direction. After a few
minutes we saw Mitch turning from down low (he had always been low) so I went
over to him. Larry stayed east.

Mitch's lift turned out to be a little below zero and I was now above him but
down to 1,800'. Larry's radio was no longer working but I could see him working
a thermal upwind that I wouldn't be able to get to.

After not getting up with Mitch I headed north low to see if there was any lift
in the neighborhood and land if not. The strong winds were a concern, but the
ground was quite shaded as the cirrus thickened up. I went under some ragged
cu's but no luck.

Down to 1,100' and over a tree line I heard the vario go. I made a couple of
turns then something didn't seem right. I looked at the vario and it showed 400
fpm down. The vario I was listening to was Larry's. He was on continuous
transmission. I pulled the plug on the radio.

Down to 600' over a landable area I found lift that averaged 3 fpm for the next
ten kilometers downwind and eventually away from the first turnpoint. Mitch came
in under me when I was at 900' and he was at 600'. We just kept turning from
600' to 1,400' and not getting enough lift to get out of the hole that we were
in.

It was great just drifting along, staying up but not getting up. Finally I spied
a huge soy bean field with no trees up wind and no crops that could be damaged.
The landing was uneventful, smooth, and into the wind. Mitch was in the next
field.

Back at the launch area it had been raining. It started not that long after we
launched. Belinda informed us on the radio and we should have taken this as a
clue to not try to come back against the wind in the start cylinder.

Bruce had three tows and got a late start. Many pilots landed and numerous sport
class pilots didn't want to launch in the rain.

Bruce was able to make it around the first turnpoint and a good distance toward
the second one. Larry made it a short distance around the first turnpoint.

The flight
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Spot here.

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