4 hours 10/29/17 Cliffside

Three hangs ( Rob Andrews, Rick Weber, myself) and about 20 paras flew Cliffside today. Forecast was inaccurate about the strong east wind, as it was light and smooth all day creating friendly conditions for hangs and paras. A few para students were doing sledders during the morning in calm winds and around 1:30pm few paras and birds showed us it turned on so we all punched off at around 2pm. Pretty soon the sky was filled with 3 hangs and 6-10 bags at the same time. It was quite challenging to get above launch during the first hour especially when the lift bend was narrow with lots of air traffic. Thermal and ridge lifts got a little better around 3:30pm but was still very light. Since the air was super smooth and buoyant , I decided to stay up till sunset. I landed at 6pm and flew for almost 4 hours with max altitude at 1,800ft. (800 ft above launch). I think a few paragliders made it to 2,000 + ft. Thanks to Rick W's friend Danny for being our driver. He is also currently taking hang lessons from John Matylonek at Kiwanda. As for tomorrow(Monday), since I've flown for several hours today I'll pass on the drive up to Saddle Mountain which isn't worthwhile for just a day trip. Cliffside's forecast looks good tomorrow, but it doesn't appear that anyone is interested to head out to Cliffside tomorrow so I'm heading back home tonight.