Race Day – Task 2..Tree Sticker day

So after yesterdays good flight I was really looking forward to today’s task. The weather started out the same in the morning as the day before with cloud base forecasted for  around 10000 max. – Not that high for this area.  However launch conditions were much stronger today and the wind was strong too. Task was set at 67Km with start at Maguey some 8.7km away from start.

We had another one of those confusing start cylinders as yesterday so I made sure that I set it up correctly this time! On launch this time there were more people wanting to get going early. The thermals were coming up the launch in quite frequent interval but a little squirly. This time I saw John launch at the other end so I knew it was going to be fine this time.

I set up and brought the wing up a couple of times before launching. Yip it sure was strong. Up the 3rd time and I was off!. I got rocketed off the launch area and was up about 250ft before I could get into my harness. Got in then started turning…in less than 2 minutes I was at 9000ft. Wow. What a ride. Sweet. By this time folks had already started heading for the Penon and beyond with some folks low but others making it pretty easy. I was still in lift but decided to head for the Penon and go on from there. Just before the Penon, major sink. Yikes! 1:1 glide ratio and only 10mph. I got to the Penon about 1/2 of the way from the top and started looking for lift with a bunch of others. Nada! Oh come on for crikey sake I kept thinking to myself as I saw the others who had tanked up behind me fly over the Penon or soar past it around the side to get to the Wall. I scratched for ages but it was not to be. I dirted out with a few other pilots who made the same mistake.

I shook my head in shame and got the kids to help me pack up. My race day finished.

 

 

Later that day I got the  reports of a few incidents after talking with John and Arun. John had a good flight and managed to get the first 2waypoints before sinking out. Arun is flying great this week and almost got to Mesada probably a good 40+ Km into the task. Gordon flew great again alos, getting to around 52Km into the task. Meredyth went into trees around the Gordo area where she had sunk out quite a few times in the last few weeks. Haven’t managed to speak to here about that yet  but by all reports she is fine.  Constatntine had to throw his reserve and landed in a tree. He radioed for help and initial report is that his back was hurting a bit. Still to here how that turned out although a helicopter was sent for him but couldn't get to him so they were sending people up to get him. There were a few other incidents along the same lines. The air was trashy in places, and talking with Kirsty Cameron ( top UK women pilot) later that night she said that around Diversia was bad.

Prior to all this bad news I decided to go back up to the Penon and fly in the afternoon. And i am glad I did. The air was super smooth and lift around 200ft/min. It was like a Tiger glass off. Gorgeous to watch the sun strike the Penon, I got around a 1000ft over launch and after boating around for a while headed over the back and landed at the soccer fields at Penitas.  

Lesson learned for the day…Tank up at launch to the max before heading out. Dave Byrne had sent me a text that I only managed to read after I sunk out…”..don’t race.just stay high and follow others for lift.” the words are still ringing in my ears. Today for sure!!!