Léo Siqueira <leosan_rj> writes:

Last Saturday, South Florida Pilots flying at the Florida Ridge
Flight Park got a glimpse of the upcoming flying season. The Florida Ridge
Flight Park is where two major competitions are going to be held in April-May,
the Rob
Kells Memorial and the Flytec Race and Rally.

Despite a winter that has been unusually cold and windy in South Florida, most
local pilots have been able to perform flights between 1 and 2 hours long
throughout this period. This Saturday was somewhat different with a good thermal
forecast and winds from the N-NE of 10mph. With clear blue skies and good
thermal activity a task was called to attempt a triangle from the Florida Ridge
to Palmdale then to Labelle and back to the Ridge. Two pilots from the local XC
league, David Whittle (WW T2C) and Leo Siqueira (Moyes Litespeed S4) went for
this 45 miles "triangle". The visibility was excellent with views of the Gulf
Coast and the other side of lake Okeechobee. The cold at altitude was definitely
the hardest part of the flight as we are not used to getting so high in early
spring. Both pilots took off around 2:00 to 2:30pm and landing back at the
Florida Ridge at sunset (6:20pm).

The track log and picture illustrate the circumnavigation of a forbidden area in
terms of landing options and retrieve possibilities. There are old tales of
pilots leaving their equipment behind in order to walk out of this "Bermuda
triangle". We punched in an upwind leg towards the north until Palmdale, trying
to keep ourselves as close as possible to US-27. Friendly thermals consistently
took us up to 6300 feet. We then followed downwind towards Labelle, and faced a
crosswind leg back to the Florida Ridge late in the afternoon, making our way
through weak lift, and jumping from field to field in the twilight.

This weekend also saw some great flying Saturday, Sunday and Monday from the
local Florida Ridge club pilots with some great thermal flying and pilots
pushing themselves to fly into wind away from the comfort of the Ridge landing
field. What more could you ask for, blue skies, thermals from 4000 to 6000ft and
plenty of people enjoying the moment.

We are hoping for an excellent flying season to come in the Southern Florida
skies.