Today’s task was going to be a little difficult for a lot of people and most of all for me. Feeling confident flying yesterday today I crumbled! Launching wasn’t a problem as I have always been confident in that area even in strong winds. However turning right is my big weakness and I will need to get that sorted out pronto if I have any hope of getting off the bottom of the ladder down here. For some mental reason I just don’t feel comfortable in strong lift turning right or with a lot of people in a gaggle. Today the wind had also picked up and it was pretty strong in places low down around the Penon, where I normally find myself.
Anyway, for today’s task the start was a hefty 10Km from launch and that made even the comp pilots leave early and get in line to launch. They have priority order which means the yoyo’s like me have to wait in line. It took me 30minutes to get to the start of launch. I wasn’t too bothered by this other than having to wait fully suited up in the heat for what seemed a long long time!
Getting to the start, the thermals had started to come up the hill quite strong and it still amazes me how really good pilots in the air have some terrible ground handling skills. I think all that Whidbey practice has paid off for me. It was still a high pressure day but the launch gaggle seemed to spread out quite quickly and made a move towards the Penon and the wall as soon as they could. They wanted to get onto the mesa and wait above Espina about 1 Km from the start cylinder. I took off and joined a few gliders in front to get up. I certainly didn’t like the air around launch,. There were thermals coming up but it was also windy and quite rough in places. Having to turn right just made it worse. I headed out to the Penon and beyond as soon as I could. Getting towards the Penon the wind had picked up and it was slow going. I took my first little asymmetric close to the Penon on the inside wing half nearest to the rock which did not make me feel too happy. Other folks had some frontal action going on too so I gave it a wide berth and continued to the wall. That was another struggle. On the radio there was also chatter about 2 pilots who had gone into the trees above the wall on the mesa. That didn’t make me happy at all to hear! I was low down again and didn’t want to struggle climbing up the wall so I headed all the way back to the other side of the Penon. However I went a little too far back as the wind had picked up even more and I was now only making around 7mph progress moving forwards. Another rocking and rolling low down and I had had it. I decided to just go and land out at the Piano,
Having a beer in the Piano and watching the gliders head off was actually quite relaxing. It was also great to see the convergence setting up about an hour later and soon there were clouds developing everywhere. It was really good to see first hand the clouds forming and coming in from different directions and then forming one solid line.
At this point the local transport bus picked us up just as we saw the lead gaggle of pilots fly back to the Wall on their way to Jovan. It would now be a race between the bus and the paragliders to see who made it to the LZ first. It was close but the bus got back about 5 minutes before the leader landed at the LZ.
From the NW Paragliding perspective, I saw Bill Hughes and Meredyth make goal with great performances by Dave Wheeler and Arun. Frank had landed out between LaPila and Aguilera.
Tomorrow is a left hand day and there are supposed to be clouds about so I am looking forward to that. Maybe I might even officially start a task for once!
Results are posted at http://www.monarcaparaglidingopen.com/
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