WCPC - Ruch Oregon - Pre-Race Day

Well I decided to drive down after all and attend the competition even though the forecasts weren't looking too good - Scattered thunderstorms forecast for all week - probably lifty air according to Dave Wheeler!

I left Seattle at 7:45am and drove at a leisurely pace of 65mph most of the way stopping just for 30 min at a Denny's to get some grub. 465 miles on the button from Duvall and so I arrived shortly after 3:30pm in the afternoon. The drive was absolutely gorgeous once you got past Olympia.

As I approached South Oregon, you could see the CuNim's exploding over the cascade range probably 10-15000 ft in height. I took a deep breath when I saw these and wondered what it would be like when I got to Woodrat.

The skies were already overdeveloping and arriving at HQ I was met by Rich Hass who had flown earlier in the day. The flying earlier was pretty good it seemed. Most of the comp pilots headed up to Grants Pass and back- around a 36mile return flight as the crow flies. Matt Cone had a great flight up towards the Pass and turned back - a personal best I believe he said. Rich and Dave Wheeler flew triangles around the area and both reported conditions as being good.

I checked in and Rich came and helped me put up the tent at Cantrall Buckley park a few miles down the rd. A lot of the pilots were camping out there. With a new shower block its not too shabby a place for 12 buck a night - Unless of course it starts to rain!

And rain it did. After the mandatory pilots meeting and dinner put on by MPHSports (which was excellent!) Rich and I headed into Jacksonville to get some cash and a beer. After about 40 minutes we stepped outside the restaurant to be met with heavy heavy rain and thunder. Rich drove back slowly as you could hardly see the rd in front and in places little mud slides had started to cross the rd. The dark sky lit up every few minutes with lightning and a couple of dears were started at the side of the rd as Rich put on the brakes. Amazingly, as we approached HQ the rain stopped and by the time I picked up my car and headed a few miles further on, the rds were dry and so was my tent!. Woo Hoo..I had visions of it collpased and in a heap as if it had just came out of the washing machine.

Forecast for all this week are to be similar to pre-race day - thunderstorms in the afternoon. With the rain at night and the heat during the day, it may overdevelop more quickly than on saturday. Will be interesting to see what tasks will be set. It may be they could be shorted than normal so that folks are out of the sky by 3pm. We shall see!