A Thousand Words Worth

After Sunday's lucky window, surely the forecast of increasing trades on Monday would put a damper on our flying for a few days. Or so we thought. Somehow the wind just never quite ramped up like we were expecting. I met Woody and Steve out there and launched first to scout out the XC possibilities. The sensor was showing a brisk but sweet forty-eight degrees of northeasterly goodness, which made for pretty straightforward valley crossings in both directions, and lift bands that extended way out over the water. I wandered out along the margin of a bay, to complete an irresistible and tasty little cross country confection in easy ridge lift, maxing out at cloud base on each ridge at around 2,300 feet.

Woody and Steve stayed local and didn't stay up that long. I heard Dave a few times on the radio from Makapuu, and he could hear me, but we couldn't quite manage a full conversation. Other than that, it was a pretty lonely day of wandering along the vales and hills! Just me and the gorgeous cloudscapes again. I gazed--and gazed--but little thought, what wealth the show to me had brought.

I look forward to more surprise weekday windows like this, hopefully joined by more jocund company, perhaps some of my fellow slackers and retirees. James and his girlfriend stopped by the LZ later on, just as the radar was showing some squall lines approaching, so they opted to wait for another day. James is our newest transplanted pilot, a cross country enthusiast from Utah, and neither a retiree nor a slacker as far as I know, but hopefully his schedule is flexible!