Saturday
December 5, 1998

 Hi Gang,
 
   We flew at Waterville Airport (really Kings County Airport) on Saturday.
 What a surprisingly nice day. We had 8 flights and all but two were soaring
 flights. But by flying with both seats full, everyone had the delightful
 experience of soaring over the Annapolis Valley.  Waterville, Berwick, and
 Kentville did not seem all that far apart. There are so many fields of
 landable size that one never feels unsafe when in the Valley itself. Even
 up over the Southern Uplands, it is an easy glide down to the Valley. 
 
 It took awhile to set up since we had to wait until at least 5 members
 arrived to assemble ALN and UIL. Meanwhile, we laid out and checked the
 cable. The diesel winch's engine started without a hitch even with the
 freezing temperatures at the time and it operated well the whole day.
 During the day we had Dick, Stewart, Mike, Ralph, Terry, Adrian, George,
 and myself fly. Hope and Allison came by for a visit so we saw a fair
 fraction of our membership during the day.
 
 The first flight at noon started the soaring and there seemed to a 2 hour
 window of good active thermals because by 2 pm they were getting smaller
 and weaker. Typical of the season, the thermals were never large and
 required a fair bank >45 degrees and slow speed to stay in them. My best
 flight was with Mike Lebanc who successfully circled us up to 3000 feet
 over the South Mountain. I got to see some of my favorite local landscape
 from the above (Gaspereau Lake, Aylesford Lake, McGee Lake and the forests
 of the lip of the Southern uplands). The thermals seemed best developed
 south of the airport and the sink more extensive to the north.
 
    Dick had the best flight of 2 hours in UIL, he will have to describe his
 flight. From what he told me, he got to 4000 feet possibly in some wave
 action over the North Mountain and flew nearly to Greenwood. 
 
 Stewart brought his travel van onto the field so we had comfortable
 quarters to talk and sip coffee and tea right next to the flight line while
 waiting for those 20-25 minute flights to finish. We put the birds back in
 there boxes by 5 pm (under cool clear skies) and many of us headed off to
 talk some more over beers and meals at Paddy's in Kentville. 
 
 The gear is still at Waterville, and if we have more good weather, we
 should try to duplicate the activities of this day. I think everyone agreed
 that it was well worth the effort.
 
 Cheers,
 
 Larry

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday
December 13, 1998

Hi Gang,
  Hope you all enjoyed the nice day on Sunday. We had a good crew (Karl,
Dick, Nick, Rodney, Ralph, Stewart and myself) in the Valley to fly and work. 

  We were all hoping for a repeat of last weeks outing. It was a clear blue
day and the winds were light when we began to assemble ALN. But alas the
winds picked up and by the time of the first flight, we had 10-15 kts from
the SW. But this was right up runway 28 and we go good launches over 1700
feet.
   I took an early flight and tried to find a thermal under the developing
CU's to the south of the field. There was lift there but the organization
was bad with the vario showing +2 and -6. At the same time the brisk drift
downwind caused one to give up on that enterprise and head back to downwind
entry point.
   We all had similar experience (even UIL) and I was pessimistic about the
day. However, I jumped into the back seat to fly with Nick and we were
away. We ended up at 1950 feet at the top of launch and had plenty of time
to find a thermal. I was surprised when our first one was reasonable
organized even with a moderate bank angle. As we tighted the turn and
adjusted the centering the lift got better and eventually we found our way
to 2500 feet. We drifted downwind from the field and as we turned around to
head back we could see a line of CU's that stretched to the western horizon
(a cloud street!!). We headed that way and porpoised our way to Berwick
several miles upwind of the airport.
   It felt as if we could go on forever. But alas others were waiting for
the one club glider so we turned back to the airport. The street had
disappeared behind us but we still small pockets of lift here and there.
With the brisk tailwind we left Berick at 1900 feet and was at downwind
entry at 1400 feet.
   Karl in UIL had a good soaring flight at the same time as we were up. At
various times we above and below him. Others later had some soaring also
but the window of good soaring was narrow.
   After Nick and I landed the cloud street thinned and moved farther south
of the field but Dick and Rodney were able to get there for a good soaring
flight.
   We had several vistors flying and attracted the attention of several
casual observers during the day.

   Unfortunately, there was a cable break on the next to last launch which
made it the last flight. The cable separated at the join fixed last week
and the cable drifted over the Michlein fence, making retrieving it more
laborious. UIL has been carted back to Stanley and ALN is scheduled to go
back in a day or so. No more flying in the Valley this year. 

There are efforts going on to see if ALN and the Winch can be moved to
Shearwater for winter flying.

Cheers,

Larry