I finally got a flight in here in the Northeast. A nice place called Brace Mountain, about 1hr from where I'm living, right near the convergence of Massechussets, Connecticut and New York. The west facing launch is ~2400MSL and the landing area 900msl - a patch of green field about the size of Rhode Island. You drive about a half hour from the LZ most of the way up the mountain, then it's an easy 30min hike and 400ft vertical to the launch area- through a lovely forest, by the way.

There were probably 30 pilots out on Sunday- many of whom drove up to 3 hrs from places like Long Island, NYC, Boston and around the Northeast. It was predicted to be a very light, but sunny and warm day. Clouds didn't burn off 'til noonish, and as the first thermals rolled up the face, pilots ventured off for extended sled rides and marginal soaring at 1:30pm. Then, after an hour the wind just died. Many thought it was all over- and one of the local regular pilots tried a forward launch and landed in the bushes below launch. doah! The lull kinda' ended, and 6-8mph occaisionally came in and another pilot launched OK. It was now 3:25 and I was in fear that these few light breezes would be the last of the day, so off I went. After 5 min of scratching just below launch, I climbed to 200 over. As I was the first pilot to get above launch all day, the remaining dozen pilots on launch started scrambling and did the lemming thing. Each and every one came out, danced with me for a while, and plummetted to the LZ in short order, as I played in front of the hill looking for any breeze in the trees below, and joining turkey vultures and a red-tail as they sashayed through the light puffs.

While I wouldn't count my less than 1hr flight as the best in my life, everthing is relative. I was the only pilot with anything much more than an extended sled ride that day. So-I was on top of the world and represented Southern Arizona well.

Oh- I forgot to mention. The high yesterday was in the mid 70's. Puurrrrrrfect.

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