Short but Sweet

The forecast for Saturday was not stellar, but Clover and I headed out to Short Divide to check it out anyway. After plenty of "Basic Life" - we were due for an "Occasional Adventure."

We were greeted by a rain shower from the big cloud hanging out over the mountain, so we hang-napped until it passed. An hour later the cloud moved and the wind picked up enough to prompt me to set up.

Chober was concerned that I would leave her behind alone on launch, so I put her sweater and harness on to quell her fears. After pre-flight we hang-checked, walked out to the top of the slot, waited for the start of a cycle and ran off into the blue.

We instantly hooked a boomer that shot us up to 500 feet over as Clobberhead yelped with excitement (or was it fear?!). That thermal promptly spat us out and tipped us nose down to say goodbye. I was high enough then to normally bench up, but the wind was so Westerly that I knew I needed to be higher today and "drift in the lift" to stay safe. The rest of the flight we were in scratchin-survival mode, at or below launch level, unable to find the ride to the top we were hoping for. We were eventually flushed out to the bailout LZ ridge, where I made one turn before our downwind, cross, and final approach. As I went upright I could tell I was going to nail the uphill sweet-spot, with a very light West wind. I leveled off in ground effect, waited a half-second after the flare cues, dragged my feet to burn just enough momentum to allow me to punch it skyward and plant my feet firmly!

I unhooked Clover and she promptly jumped up on me to lick my face and say "thanks for the flight!"

It was not a particularly memorable flight, but nonetheless some nice, safe airtime with my canine-copilot!

Airtime: 45 Minutes!