Sunday, August 22, 2010

Young Bird Team 2010 Graduates - 100k+ drop

After 5 drops from 42 miles and another 3-4 drops from the breakpoint, they were more than ready to jump up another 22 miles.  I had been waiting for a nice, clear Saturday morning to take them out this far.  Too much for a before work drop - I would have to release at the moment of sunrise to make it to work on time.  Anyway, they beat me home from one hundred kilometers!  (Sounds better than 64 miles, eh?)  I accidentally woke up before 5am and thought "What the heck! Let's go!" (Later I took a 1 hour nap)  I stopped and ate breakfast - dined in (I wanted to wash my hands after boxing 38 birds) - and still had them down there a bit after 7am.  I let them settle a bit and then released them.  They had a slight head wind and made a huge circle, then went east-west twice before heading for the treeline off towards the north.  That treeline in the picture is up on a hill.  It has quite a bit more elevation to it than this picture portrays.  When they hit this treeline, they tracked east to a clearing instead of climbing in elevation to top the trees.  I guess they pretty much headed straight home after that because I did (except for getting gas & donuts) and they beat me home buy quite a bit from what I could tell (no, still haven't hooked up my clock - but I did finally get their electronic bands on them yesterday).  I often beat the flock home from this drop - even with a stop or two.  It was good to see this site upon my arrival.

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