Surfing in May, Riding the GGC Kahuna!

This past weekend gave us some the best May soaring conditions ever in eastern Ontario with blustery north winds on Sunday.
Many pilots had enjoyable thermalling flights including Nick who managed to pull off the first 500km flight in eastern Ontario this season. However something really unusual happened in the Pendleton area on Sunday.
After climbing up to about 6500 ft in a thermal just south of St. Isadore, the things became very smooth, wave soaring smooth. I nosed AT into the wind and was rewarded with a 3 to 4 kt climb to 9700 ft. My measured wind speed jumped from 18 kts. at 6500 ft. to over 40 kts. at 7500 ft and 47 kts. at 9700 ft. Tim Tuck connected with something similar slightly NE of Casselman and climbed to 10,400 ft! Normally wave sets up in the downwash of the Gatineau hills around the Ottawa River when we have strong north winds. Over the years many club pilots have reported climbs to over 10,000 ft. near the river. This was unusual in that both Tim and I were well south of the river but interestingly enough, downwind of the Alfred bog and LaRose forest. My only explanation is that the thermals over the Alfred bog and LaRose forest were so strong as to kick the higher speed upper air mass into a wave pattern. There were definite primary, secondary and tertiary waves (and rotor) with a relatively short wavelength (2 to 4 km).
Both Tim and I pushed up into the Gatineau hills later in the day to see if there was something bigger but the wind (rotor?) was chewing up the thermals that we needed to climb up to the “good air”.
Just goes to show you that there is always something new to discover in your own back yard.
Surf’s up!