7 March 2021- 20 mile XC Wharton to ~13 miles NW of El Campo

Flight and/or trip reports
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nuclear
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Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2020 12:20 pm

7 March 2021- 20 mile XC Wharton to ~13 miles NW of El Campo

Post by nuclear »

7 March 2021

20 mile XC Wharton to ~13 miles NW of El Campo

The forecast for Sunday had been looking good for days and it delivered. I launched second after Read, around 1300. Tiki dropped me off in a fantastic thermal (thanks Tiki!) that very quickly took me to over 4400 ft. Apparently my timing was lucky and the tows before and after didn't find such nice lift. The day was completely blue over Wharton with some cu's off in the distance towards the coast.

As I topped out in my climb I realized I was totally under-dressed for the temperature at the top of the lift. Oops. This was on my mind as I circled maintaining around 4400 ft and contemplating whether to punt off downwind. While I had brought my bags and had a tracker, I had only loosely discussed with Read the possibility of him picking me up if I went XC. So there I was surrounded by blue sky, with cold hands and an uncertain ride situation. But I was at 4400 ft on top of a very nice thermal and the day was early still. The desire to go quickly won out and I went on glide.

Turns out the sink was also strong and I found myself losing altitude quickly as I passed over the airport heading west. There were some bits of lift starting around the time I passed over the tree line to the west of the airport. Drifting in the light wind and working bits of tight lift I got down around 1700 ft just on the other side of 59. At least I could feel my hands again. This didn't last for long though as I found lots of great lift in this area NE of El Campo over the dry plowed fields. There were several hawks working this same lift and we circled together for awhile, marking lift for each other.

About the time I crossed 71, I decided to try to head more north, towards Columbus. This area didn't seem to have as much lift, maybe due to the flooded rice fields, but just as likely it was more of an issue of me not working what lift there was well due how cold I was. As I start getting low there was this beautiful hay field just ahead and not many good landing options downwind of that. I had a decent landing in this great field.

Apparently not long before I landed Read launched on what turned out to be his longest and best flight of the day. I'm glad the timing worked out that way since he might have been inclined to go get me instead of going for that good late afternoon flight. This gave me plenty of time to leisurely pack up my gear and hike it out the ~1/3 mile to the road. The rest of the afternoon was spent gratefully basking in the warm sun, enjoying the quiet. Not a single car passed on the road in the ~2 hours I was there.

Big thanks to Read for the retrieve, and to Tiki and Mak for helping by breaking down Read's glider while he drove out to get me.
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Matthew McCleskey

Nate
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Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 7:20 pm

Re: 7 March 2021- 20 mile XC Wharton to ~13 miles NW of El Campo

Post by Nate »

I am sssooo jealous!! Sounds like adventure was had.

I'll be a fanboy for the Sena Headset. In that part of the world, cell phones work very good. Just a long button push on the headset and you can beg for retrieve, let your sig other know you will be late, etc.

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