Turbulence

5/22 - Ground school with T, 2.5 hours on aero and ground tow procedures, stalls, spins.

One flight. Variable head/crosswind about 10-15 kts, but I had a real good takeoff. I intended to go to 4000' AGL and try the test sequence, but I pulled off at about 2800 AGL because I kept getting lots of slack - lots of turbulence! I did put up the landing gear - first time. I found a bit of lift and stayed up about 25 minutes. Really got bounced around a lot, tough to have good speed control when thermaling.

On approach, wind was strong right down the runway. Instead of shortening my downwind, I extended it. Fortunately I was high. I used too much spoiler then had to close them up and try to extend my float. I had to avoid a glider in the right front spot. Touched down about 50' short but very smooth and very straight. When I stopped, I had a nice headwind so I "ground flew" for a good 15-20 seconds before letting the wings down.

J suggests I not worry so much about hitting the front of box 1 - I just need to touch down IN box 1 and stop IN box 2. He's right, since my rollouts had been quite long in the beginning before I got good with the break, I've been tending to try to keep all the box length available. I should aim closer.

J suggests M's approach to slack removal: don't yaw, just get dead center and level and let the glider bounce the slack out gently two or three times.

C gave me a cable spool to use for half the autotow cable. I took it to the field to check it out... the right size, but it needs a wooden hub instead of cardboard.