ASH 26 slope and light DS

Fun flying my 4-meter ASH 26 sailplane that was constructed and built by Friedel Deffner. The glider weighs 5.1Kg (179oz) ready-to-fly as flown at SLoT soaring site near Benicia, California. The wind was light at launch phase of flight however by end of flight the wind had picked up to mid 20mph range. First DS sequence starts at 3:05 mark in video and second entry starts at 6:20.
More info about F. Deffner ASH 26 here:
www.rc-network.de/threads/ash...
www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...

[@sf1203]

RIPPING. That was so good.

[@acrodow0384]

Sweet screamer! You got front and back side of that hill ;) loved those DSing figure eights.

[@Planekrazy1]

Thanks man, this glider tracks as if on rails.

[@acrodow0384]

@@Planekrazy1 Yes! That’s awesome. Of course flying the lines versus watching it fly are two different worlds. Cheers!

[@kirkglundal4289]

Well, evidently it can handle it! Wow! Pretty mean machine there! You make it look easy. I'm finally getting my Toy out on the slope.

[@Planekrazy1]

Thank you Kirk, and I definitely agree with you about performance of this incredible soaring machine. Great news about your Toy, that is still one of my all-time favorites, wish you many hours of enjoyment with it.

[@kirkglundal4289]

Thank you! I look forward to it. Amazing such a heavy ship (ASH26) can fly in light winds. I see you found some lift soon after launch which helps of course. If lift was not found would you have been looking for an immediate landing up the slope? I am more accustomed to floaters but will be practicing w my more heavily wing loaded Toy and my new to me Freestyler5 on the slope.

[@kirkglundal4289]

Now that I look back at your video again on the home screen, I guess the wind at launch was not that light. Must have been blowing at least 5m/s? It's all relative of course. I think the Turkey Vulture is curious about your 'bird'! Look out! LOL

[@Planekrazy1]

@@kirkglundal4289 I lucked out that the ASH 26 found lift down low below lip after a puny hand launch. The conditions were very sketchy and I was quite worried before launch as wind was light and air was cycling. Landing at front side of this slope is a bad idea as there are a lot of big rocks concentrated along the lip. And down the hill rock patches are spread out between grass so that would be another bad idea. Those would have been my options so I lucked out. Of course, that early lift cycled through and i had back below the lip cursing at myself why I didn't land when having the chance to do so earlier... got lucky again and found lift, and this happened 4 more times until and air finally filled in nicely.

[@Planekrazy1]

@@kirkglundal4289 During the launch the wind had cycled below 12mph... i was really afraid to hand throw it but was curious and hopeful that even with its heft it would be able to circle up on weak low thermal bubbles. You are right, no new gliders go unnoticed by the local vultures.

[@JD-sd3qf]

Wow! Epic DS with that big boy! I gotta try mine next time. That looked like so much fun!

[@Planekrazy1]

That was fun and it was a blast watching you tear it up with your 4m Ikura yesterday.