Robin Hamilton writes:

With the fairly consistent 10+mph wind and drying pattern we’ve
had for the last couple of weeks in Central Texas, oh and the getting on for 100
degree heat, it seemed that Cowboy Up XC Wednesday was just too tempting this
week. We actually jumped the gun and both Jeff Bohl and I went flying on Tuesday
also with Mick performing noble duty on retrieve.

Tuesday’s flight

TO 12.30, fairly easy climb-out from Wharton in 200-300fpm lift to base at
~4,300’. The wind was blowing SW at 8-10mph on the ground and lower levels and
slightly stronger 10-12mph and more southerly at height. Out on course was slow
going with typically weak, inconsistent lift. My average climb was around 150fpm
! And I only saw a climb of over 500fpm twice all day.

It was pretty miserable, even if consistently so. There was also a lack of
corresponding sink that one normally gets on a good Central Texas soaring day
which meant that both Jeff and I were on several occasions caught low and then
digging back out again in a big 100fpm… Patience and resilience will get you
miles however – you mostly just have to keep the glider in the air on a windy
day.

We were on a track that was taking us roughly NNE leaving Hwy 6 and
Navasota/College Station west of us and finally crossing I-45 up around
Madisonville. Conditions hadn’t really improved all flight – base went up all of
400’ to 4,700’, lift was the same and if anything the tail wind had reduced.

Meanwhile, as if on a quest, Jeff overcame a couple of “near death” experiences,
finally pushing through the 100 mile distance after around 4.5hrs airborne and
then adding another 15 miles to land up N of Madisonville. Congratulations Jeff!

For my sins (and there are a few..) I stayed flying a bit further and put on
another 20 miles or so, landing further up Hwy 21 past Midway at 5.45pm. The sky
had blued out quickly from the NW in that area and melted the lift line I was
following whilst the clouds deeper to east still looked great. There was
probably at least another hour of soaring in the day that I’d missed.

Many thanks to Saint Mick for sacrificing himself to the cause of retrieve
driving that day. And for quickly remedying the extreme beer deficiency that
sets on a warm day after way too many hours turning in bad lift !

XC Wednesday

A larger gathering of pilots (Mick, Bart, Nate, Mark, Dan and myself) at Wharton
in the morning with good conditions already evident in the endless streets
running horizon to horizon. Looked a lot like early morning Zapata sky.

Despite best intentions to get off by 11 am, we again launched late at around
12. I was with Mick for the first part of the flight and we quickly got under
way under one of the streets, climbing in a brisk 300-400fpm to base at ~3,700’
and moving along noticeably faster than Tuesday with a 14-15 mph tailwind with
similar shift from SW down low to more southerly with height. It certainly
didn’t feel too early with generally well organized lift marked by good clouds.
We did at one point have to dive in low to pick up a thermal at around 1000’ agl
over a couple of tractors working in the fields.

I ran for the next hour fairly fast in these conditions – thermals 300-400fpm,
topping out at 4,000’ and the tailwind allowing reasonable progress of ~50km/h
(30mph). It wasn’t without risk as I’m reminded from the alti trace that I was
down to below 2,000’ on transitions before finding lift twice.

On one of these occasions I was pointing at the large distribution complex S of
Sealy with a big dark, fresh-looking cloud above it. Searched all over the area
but could not find anything good to climb in. I eventually had to leave it at
bumble off downwind low, eventually coming back up in weak broken lift on the S
side of Sealy. Unfortunately, Mick got suckered into the same apparent Thermal
source with cloud before Sealy and eventually landed close by.

It was really at Sealy where the day started to feel a lot like the weak broken
lift of the previous day.

I ran up over the meander loops on the Brazos mostly between 2,500-3,500’, with
weak 150-200fpm lift below each of the clouds along the way. I did get a
shocking 700-800fpm boomer about 5k short of Hempstead that got me questioning
my evolving understanding of the day – “was this great lift around all the time
and I was just skillfully avoiding it ?”

I got more good lift over the old Lawrence Marshall Car dealership site up to
base that was by now closer to 4,500’. Next transition was problematic as I
tried to run below a line of clouds west of Hwy 6 heading to Navasota, basically
got nothing and eventually had to scrape back up from ~ 500’agl over the
swimming pool in someone’s back yard.

It started as a rough 50-100fpm climb and I was joined by some buzzards that
stayed with me as it strengthened and got us back up to 3,500’. Emboldened by
renewed invincibility, I drove east crossing to the next street and was rewarded
with more solid lift and up to a higher base of 5,000’.

I was by now ~130km (80miles) out from Wharton and had been averaging 50km/h
(30mph) for first 2 hours and slowed to 30km/h (18mph) for the previous hour and
the low save. The sky looked better than it had with longer connected streets so
I started to get into cruise mode and managed to up the average speed to ~60km/h
(38mph). Lift was still not as good as I would have preferred but was more
typically 300-400fpm and I was able to cover ground faster due to less sink
between the cores. Cruising altitude range was between 4,500’ and 5,500’ and it
was possible to get a couple of 10-15km glides losing less than 1,000’ whilst
enjoying ~80km/h (50mph) ground speeds.

I crossed I-45 at around 4.30 pm and started heading towards Crockett and beyond
that the wide green Davie Crockett’s Nat Forest (trees, trees and trees and no
hardtops). I was a good hour over the thickest forest and have to report that
the cloud and lift were in no way diminished – all very consistent and usable.

By Jacksonville I realized my flight distance would probably start with a 2 and
realized that I had been in the air for around 6 hrs. Around the same time, the
clouds started melting and the lift softened significantly. My last climb was to
4,500’ and after that the vario did not beep but the air was great and I
stretched the final out to land east of Tyler lake by a road in nil wind.

Very pretty countryside up there – hilly, lakes, forest and very green – Jeff K
country. Final distance – 356km (231miles) from Wharton. The wonderful Cowboy Up
retrieve team (Tiki, Bart, Mick and Daisy) were with me shortly thereafter and
we wound our way back down to Houston, with a couple of margaritas on the way.

Final thoughts –

1. We should be launching earlier. The overrunning conditions that we get early
morning are the same as you see all along the gulf coast and we should be trying
to jump into these streets at 9 or maybe 10 am. It is what happens in Zapata and
they are at least 30 mins earlier than we are on sun time.

2. The conditions are still not typical July in Central Texas – they are much
softer and I don’t know why ? Soil Mosture ? Generally more stable airmass ?
Upshot is you can (obviously) still get some reasonable distance in but you need
to be patient through the slow segments and take advantage of the good areas.

Last thought is really one of gratitude to Cowboy Up and Mick for getting me up
in the air and back home for two great flying days from an awesome flying site.