I'm in.

you've got my glider- so I'll be whereever you are.

Of course- last weekend the weather forecast indicated a perfect 8kt SE flow at miller all morning. So-I don't trust it at all- certainly not this far in advance. But it SHOULD be flyable at Miller.

Current FHU model predictions, as of 2pm Friday, show it at 8-10kt from the WSW at launch level tomorrow. The direction is rather "down the canyon", but the velocity is low. Hard to tell. After last week's fiasco I'm clueless.

update. I may not be able to make it tomorrow. Family duties.

Not sure what everyone else decided to do. The post I put up last night didn't seem to stick.

however- it looks like there's a brisk SSW wind aloft this morning that may make getting off Miller a bit iffier than usual. So, i'm hoping for glass-off conditions.

The only window I see is possibly at Box between 6pm and 7pm for a glass off. Surface winds at 6pm are at 8mph (12 -13) at lower launch; and 6mph at 7pm (9 at lower launch). Upper levels winds are ok. I'd like to go but have to see what my back feels like by this afternoon.
Anyone else thinking about going?
Gunter

agreed. I think if we meet in the LZ around 4ish, we'll be ready to go at 5ish, and then can wait until the winds lull and smooth enough for us to launch. Heck, even if we wait until 7pm, we'll still get 30 min.

Bring your strobe light.

Sunset 7:13 p.m.
End civil twilight 7:40 p.m.

I'll give it a try. I'll be in the lz around 4pm.
Gunter

Eric Tucker, Eric Smith, Chaz Tompkins (driving) and I got to the Miller southeast launch at around 9:30 or so. It was blowing in lightly, but cycling from all directions.

Eric Tucker was first off in a Falcon at around 10:30. He launched in a right turn but otherwise ok. He got a bit above launch altitude, then headed toward the LZ. He worked a bit of lift over the hill behind the LZ and then landed for an extended sledder.

I was ready right after Eric T. took off, but it was kinda flaky on launch, I unhooked twice for OTB cycles. Finally got a nice one in and had a good launch, hooking a fairly strong thermal over the point and taking it to 9k. I toured Carr and Miller peaks in the ratty, small but fairly strong high-pressure lift, topping out at around 13k.

Meanwhile Eric set up his glider, and got to launch as the OTB cycles were getting longer and the in cycles turned non-existent. Finally he took a zero-wind cycle, had a great launch, and started working the same junk I had found. He got up in pretty short order, and headed out to join me in the valley.

By this time I was passing coppertop school at around 10k, looking for the lift that would get me to the bird sanctuary. I didn't find it and ended up on the ground in a big field a bit east of Moson road 1/4 mile south of Rt. 90. Chaz and Eric T. found me shortly after I got my glider and gear to the main road.

Eric, on the other hand, did find lift and made the bird sanctuary, flew back to see where I was, flew past the bird sanctuary again and headed toward Tombstone. He passed south of Jacque's Ridge, cutting the corner and heading east to intercept Davis Road. He made it 18 miles out Davis past 47 Ranch before landing in a nice field next to a house. The home-owner came out and kept him company as he broke down, and the guy showed us a way to drive into the field so Eric didn't have to hike the wing out. We chatted with him a bit longer and then said goodbye to head home.

A very nice day. It was great of Chaz to come out to drive. My flight was a real confidence-builder, even though I would have like to have done a bit better than 10 miles. Eric's flight was about 41 miles, and he said he thought it was a 100 mile day but he didn't want to go further because we had lost comm (his mike failed as he was approaching Jacque's Ridge, wire problem maybe). Eric Tucker is returning to the sport and re-learning the old moves pretty quickly, I think he'll be going XC before long.

John

nothing nearly as exciting to report from the Box Glass-off team, other than it was a another perfect glass-off day. When we got to the 1st knoll at 5ish, it was still a bit thermally and strong, but after 6:15 or so, there were a number of nice launchable lulls, blowing straight up the WSW launch. Gunter took off first, then the wind mellowed even more, and Mark Williams got off at 6:36, and I spread out my wing, hooked in and was off at 6:40 (obvously eager to get into the sky). Gunter at this point was over the top, Mark was rising nicely and working his way out front. It took me a little while, but I eventually worked my way over the top to join Gunter. Mark headed out and had a safe 25 min soaring flight, while Gunter and I dropped our strobe lights and flew till after sundown. (but landed legally before civil twilight)

Nary a bump in the sky, and plenty of enjoyable lift. Nothing to brag about (other than my near perfect launch)

Oh- Irena. I looked all over the north launch and was unable to find your radio.

Congradulations on your launch Morey and welcome back Gunter, sounds like Box worked as usual.
I just wanted to added to Johns report. The conditions on launch were now where near as strong as last weekends over the back conditions. I did see 14K and sustained 1500 to 1800 fpm rates of climb. Sure was nice to leave the mountain.
Thanks for the help getting my third xc of the season, Chaz and John.