Kill Devil Hills, October 1, 1903
We reached camp, via Manteo, at noon last Friday, and found everything all right about camp, except that a 90 mile wind last February had lifted our building off its foundation and set it over to the east nearly two feet. We made preparations to begin the erection of the new building on Monday but the conditions for gliding were so fine that we took the machine out and spent the finest day we have ever had in practice. We made about 75 glides, nearly all of more than 20 seconds' duration. The longest was 30 1/5 seconds which beats our former records. We did some practicing at soaring and found it easier than we expected. Once we succeeded in remaining almost in one spot for 26 2/5 seconds and finally landed fifty feet from the starting point. With a little more practice I think we can soar on the north slope of the Big Hill whenever the wind has a velocity of 9 meters or more. The wind on Monday was 11 meters at start and gradually increased to a little over 14 meters and then declined to about 9 meters.
Since Monday we have been working on the new building and hope to have it finished in a few days more. Its inside dimensions are 44' x 16' x 9'.