Sloping Los Banos Creek Reservoir

My first time slope soaring was this last weekend when my friend Sam invited me over to Los Banos Creek Reservoir. It wasn't too difficult to get the hang of, having flown countless RC planes before, but I was surprised at how "floaty" the gliders felt in the wind - after all, there is a significant upward component of the wind being blown directly up the slope. Flights consisted of figure-8 patterns, turning into the wind and flying more or less parallel to the slope.
The other guys there are the regular Los Banos crew, who all have more or less identical wings that are used for air-to-air combat. Smacking into each other and scoring "kills" when a glider goes down was quite satisfying.
Again, huge thanks to Sam for inviting me and lending me his wing!
---------------MUSIC:------------
Nikolai Kapustin, Concert Rhapsody
theory.caltech....