Non-XC Camp Operations for May 23 and 24, 2015

WEATHER
Visibility: Unlimited both days with clouds on the 23rd and fewer on the 24th.
Wind: Fairly light and variable, going from SE to NW to calm.
Altitudes: Other than the XC Camp, 4000 msl.
Time Aloft: Less than an hour.
Max Lift: 6 knots on occasion
Temperature: Mid-eighties
Comment: Relaxing day after the XC pilots launched.
Tow pilot: Jim Rickey and Harold Gallagher

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Most of the two days of non-cross country operations were taken up with a few instructional flights on Saturday, the 23rd. Here are some of the pictures taken with captions explaining what was going on:

Andrew Ouellet's very nice glider and he proved it with his finish today.

Julie Butler's DG100 under assembly for her try at the task.

Rick Eason waiting for his solo flight with Dan Gudgel's instruction.

Morgan, Jan, Martin, and Jennifer watching the launches.

Dan Gudgel showing Rick the end of the rope that apparently slipped its knot.

Rick Eason just after his solo flight. CONGRATULATIONS RICK!!!

Jim Rickey and Cory Pritchard chat about things.

Dan Gudgel showing  Lukas Pritchard how to get in the glider.

OK now he's ready for his first glider ride, but has multiple powered flights with his Dad.

Brian Nash, Jr. and Harold III watching the launches.

Lukas Pritchard aloft flying the glider with Dan Gudgel.

Lukas Dad, Cory Pritchard, photographing the flight.

Julie Butler readying her glider for the cross-country task set by Morgan.

Philip Gerfaud waiting his turn to ride in the Duo with Morgan Hall.

Lukas still aloft with Dan Gudgel in very good lift conditions.

The Orange Crush looks great aloft but is badly in need of fabric and paint.

Julie Butler adding last minute items to her assembly checklist.

Jan Zanutto and Mike Paoli talk about the upcoming task.

Karl Kunz has his truck and trailer all ready in case of a landout which for him is not likely.

Just another view of the activity at Avenal, good for us all.

Brian Sr, already aloft, now provides moral support for his son, Brian Nash, Jr. as Mike Paoli and Harold III standby.

Brian Jr. wasn't all that convinced that this ride is something he really wanted to do.

Harold III is going for his first ride in a couple of months.

The lift was good and we were able to stay aloft as long as he wanted.

Just passing 4000 msl easily and just enjoyed all the easy lift we wanted.

Jennifer Bauman helped out late in the day and planned to stay overnight in her tent.

On the way back to Fresno, the Sierra was creating cumulus one after another along the West Front.

SUNDAY, MAY 24TH, 2015. Non-cross country operations Report.

Yesterday during the day, Morgan Hall had purchased a present for Harold III and presented it to him. It was a thumb drive in the shape of Harold's favorite rock group, KISS. That was completely unexpected but for Harold, a wonderful surprise for all the work he has done around the clubhouse. As a result, Harold wanted to publish a note to all the CCSC members and it follows:

I would like to thank everyone - club members and visitors - for all your kind words, regarding my recent projects. The words of encouragement are greatly appreciated. All these projects I've been doing, came from my very own little brain. There are two main reasons why I have done these projects. First, the projects are my small contribution to the club as a thank you for the couple of gliders rides I was given (thanks Dad!). And the other main reason, to be honest, is a little bit selfish I suppose - I like the feeling of instant gratification. I like handling a project all on my own, and then simply standing back and enjoying what I've accomplished. As some of you may know, I will be relocating to Ohio in the next few weeks, to be near my children. I have at least one more clubhouse project in mind, which I will complete before I leave California. It will either happen this coming weekend, or the weekend after that. Anyway, thanks  again to all of you - I truly appreciate all your wonderful compliments!

Harold III accepting a fun gift from Morgan Hall.

Pilot meeting to review yesterday's results with Jan Zanutto as the lead story teller.

It was quite a day yesterday and took a lot of discussion to get all the good stuff presented.

While the meeting was going on , cu's were forming rapidly over the Temblors.

For the first time in a long time, we had four families come to Avenal, set up a picnic area on the patio, relaxed and enjoyed themselves and flew five demo flights. The families are: Larralde, Avila, Klepper, and Dixon-Nguyen. Wonderful group and we hope they come back someday soon for another picnic and more flight lessons. All who flew were happy, relaxed, and enjoyed the time aloft. It was so much fun having them here as we used to host families back in the early years beginning with the year 2000. Makes everything more enjoyable around the field seeing the adults and young people having fun and excited about doing something none have done before. Thanks to you all for visiting our gliderport.

Mike Klepper and son, Jamie, ready for Jamie's first glider ride.

And here's Jamie at altitude flying the glider as though he already knew how.

Jim Rickey helping Kahai fasten the seat belts for his first glider ride.

Looks like a Post Office lineup but they were all having fun at Avenal today.
Mary Ann Klepper just had to be the one to wave, but not fly, but that's OK.

Kahai at altitude and enjoying both the view and the maneuvers of the glider.

Now it's Daniel Larralde's turn for his first glider flight. During the flight he was calm, cool, and collected. 

Some of the high performance gliders are back from their cross country task.

Jennifer's little 1964 Volvo needs some battery juice from the tow plane hangar.

The tow plane and Morgan's Duo Discus shows the wing difference between the two.

Enlarge this by clicking on it and you should be able to identify each person standing there.

My telephoto lens should now help you see who's there. Mary Ann Klepper, Harold III, Griselda Avila, Jim Rickey, and ? Sorry I couldn't identify the person to the right in the picture. Can anyone?

The "scoring" tent near the launch end so that the families could get to the glider quickly.

Greg Thomas of the DASH project in the Bay area, is a future pilot of the man-powered airplane project.

Greg aloft for an hour practicing his stick and rudder coordination and he did very well.

The end of the soaring day, all gliders have returned and we are headed down after an hour aloft.

Jamie Klepper watching the sky for another glider with Daniel standing by.

Emmanuel's turn to go aloft and once up there, he really enjoyed the flight.

Jamie telling Daniel Larralde how to prepare for the flight that's moments away.

Jim Rickey tightening the seat belts on Daniel for his momentary launch into the wild blue yonder.