A check of the sounding held out hope for some weak thermals with cloud bases around 5000ft. Winds were out of the south and light so we elected to takeoff on 13. We started a little later than normal with the first launch at 1330 and that was Steve Davis with Whitt Bonifant. Frank Mitchell was towing. The next launch was Anders Backlund in the Russia followed by Jay Buchanan in a Russia. So far flights were averaging about 20 minutes indicating the lift was lacking and cloud bases were around 3800ft. Jaime launched next in the L-23 with Les Clasen for his second fast kit flight. I launched next in a Russia and had one of my worst takeoffs. A wing dropped unexpectedly and got hung up in the grass which was getting a little tall. I yawed right quite a bit before I could get the wing back up and recover to the correct tow position and continue the flight. Cloud bases were still 3800ft though the AWOS was calling them 3200ft – there might be a little bias in the instrument. During this time, all radio transmission were being accompanied by a high squeal – it was hard to hear anyone – from any radio. Even the power traffic was complaining. While I was up they discovered the L-23 mike in the back seat was stuck open. Once that was fixed, all the noise went away. Mike was next up in a Russia and had the longest flight of the day – 41 minutes in one thermal. Jay and McKain took the L-23 for the hanger flight. So the day didn’t pan out as well as the soaring forecast indicated and was quite humid. I guess summer had to show up sometime.
Bob Craig
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