Chelan XC Open – Getting ready

The Chelan XC Open is being held this year from July 10th through to 15th in Eastern Washington. – see www.chelanxcopen.com It is setting up to be a top class event turning up to fly, probably because the PWC is going to be held there the week after. All of the top US pilots are going to be there.  I decided to go and fly this year  as I had some fun at Rat Race but the decider for me was that  I have never flown the flats! Yes I have been and flown the site many times over the last 4 years but never ventured onto the flats simply because there was no pre-planned retrieval. With 80 or so  gliders in the air I am hoping that I will be able to just get high and follow them to help me mark lift.

The weather is heating up though and the temperatures are going to be in the 90’s so dusties are my biggest concern.! I have viewed across the plains many  a time to witness huge column like snakes spiraling skywards. I am told that you can see them easily so they are easy to avoid and if you are 1500 above them all should be well. I hope they are right!

A couple of the Seattle crowd went early to fly, and just yesterday Mer and Wheeler flew from Chelan to Mattawa – over 70 miles! Phew. A long time in the saddle.

I few at Tiger to try and adjust my speedbar that has always given me trouble. Luckily, Matty was there who flies the same harness as me to point out that I needed to have the speed bar under the seat with the bottom loop protruding beyond the seat. Bugger. I had chopped off the bottom loop because it was to long and didn’t seem to do much! I guess Gin had a reason for that!!!!

Rat Race - Task 7 37km

Woodln – Mt Isabel – Cemeta – Dark Hollow – Donato

Today looked very similar to yesterday’s weather and we arrived on launch to find the same familiar conditions,  although there were more blue spots appearing in the sky and the wind was a little lighter.

The same task was called as the previous day when it was cancelled so there was little to do in terms of programming the gps. The free flyers and wind techs got up and the wind was strong in the vicinity of launch and especially if you got behind launch so the trick today was to stay out front.

Again they gave us enough time to launch and get established today although that wasn't going to be a problem! There was a lot of instability in the air and there definitely was going to be some big air out there.  As the time ticked by, the wind on launch picked up and it was important to pick the right cycle to launch in. It was clear there were a lot of pilots out there with insufficient ground handing skills in higher winds as many gliders were overshooting and taking frontals on launch. I watched on and chuckled to myself thanking the time I spend at Whidbey.

Windy Launch

With 30 minutes before start window opening I was in line and sitting next to Gilead on launch. He was still beat from the long task a couple of days ago and wanted as much rest as possible. Ralph was also waiting a little. About 5 minutes later I decided to go.

I took off and got high pretty quick and moved out across the valley. Today was a 3Km exit cylinder so people would be spread out. Getting near the edge at the start would be ideal. I didn’t think this was going to be a problem but the wind was pretty strong at around 5500 and it was slow going. Thankfully the instability made it easier to get high. The problem now though was staying out the clouds at around 6500. Looking ahead I could see gliders with Big Ears and others spiraling down over Rabies. I took a more conservative route across and kept around 5500. As I got above Rabies gliders heading out to Mt Isabel were sinking and I was on a nice glide path although it was pretty rough in places, especially under the edge of the clouds. I was thinking this was going to be a real easy day. I climbed to over 6k and headed off towards Isabel. Sink!. As I sunk along at 500 ft down I heard a couple of beeps from the vario and then pegged! Wallop!. Some big cloud grabbed my wing from above and took me skywards quickly!. Looking at my vario afterwards I went from 300 ft/min down to 1300/min up in a heartbeat. That was a rush but the wing was holding together well. I put on speed bar and headed for blue sky. Thoughts of Wheeler’s cloud spiral video came to mind for a second.

I got to the edge and continued on. Everything felt smooth the another wallop but this time I was falling. I looked up to see a small rectangular patch of wing left flying above my head about 6ft in length and I had swung out a little in front. This was going to be fun.  Both ends of the wing had folded in completely then bang out they came with the inevitable surge. I jammed the brakes momentarily as the wing flew forward. No problems. For once I didn’t seem to be nervous for some reason. Don’t know why but this comp I have felt pretty comfortable on the wing. Ok now let’s just tag this sucker and move on.

As I worked my way up the ridge it was my turn to sink. The other gliders that had been in front had turned back and were looking for climbs. I pushed on. With the headwind I knew as soon as I tagged it I would be flying fast back. I got to within 250m of the turn point and was too low in my estimation to make it out safely. I decided to turn back and found more lift. In retrospect this was my downfall. I could have tagged it and gotten back. But since it was the last day I wasn’t taking any risks.

My thoughts of flying quickly back dwindled as I lost even more height and wasn’t flying that fast. Oops. That was a miscalculation. I looked at landing options. oh oh. Everything was leeside. Stupid bugger I thought to myself. Only good option was the large field in Forest Gulch but this was directly in the direction of the wind and in a tight valley. However, the top of the hill was quite a ways up and I headed out to land. I didn’t get much turbulence as I head down to land but it was buoyant. I could see a flag lightly blowing on a house below and said to myself phew!. I came into to land and spotted power lines running alongside the field and then across the field as I sunk at 1:1. I spoke to myself saying keep calm Iain everything is fine. I passed over the lines and gave a sigh of relief. I moved forward into the field and came down gently between 2 trees.

My task was over and I had landed safe and the comp was over!!! All was good! I walked to the road and radioed in my position. 3 miles up Forest rd.

39 pilots made goal that day including Jeff Smith for the first time and Gilead for the 2nd. He has way more patience than me! Overall though I was pretty pleased at my performance this week and had a fun time in a comp for probably the first time throughout the week.

I left wanting more! Until the next comp folks Aw Ra Best!

Iain.

Rat Race Task 6 - Cancelled

Today it was looking to be a great day but when we arrived at launch it was pretty windy and just got windier. After a few hours the task was cancelled for the day and we all headed down the hill. So instead of blogging more about an uneventful day, here are 8 inflight pics from task 5 yesterday of a low save I made as I came into land to try and get the van back up to launch. Instead I was treated to a 8 minute ride to 5500 ft. Each picture is 1 minute apart.

Rat Race Task 5 - 49Km

Rabies Start 1K – Rabies – Flyair – Burnt – Squires – Rabies Peak – JVilleLZ – Dark Hollow – Donato

At last the weather was looking to be very good today for a longer task and they set one. Kudos to the task committee as it was a 997 point day – almost perfect! They also heeded the comments from myself and backup from Conrad and Rich Hass and gave us 1hr 20 minutes after the launch window opened to get everybody off launch and time to get established before the race started.

Everybody was getting high at launch for a long time but when I got to launch there was a huge sink cycle in progress. Almost all the pilots were sinking back down to launch level with the exception of a lucky few who had gotten over to Burnt to setup there. I decided to wait a little before launching. Good decision. Soon they were going back up and I launched. I got high pretty quick and decided to head out to Burnt also to set up for the start there. I hit lots of sink on the way over and decided to bail and head back to Woodrat to tank up. I arrived at my arch nemesis mid launch and had to work up from there again before the start to get high. However today I had that sucker nailed! Over the day I had to get climbs from there 4 times and all went really well. I found that you really need to turn tight on the ridge to keep on the lift band before the thermal let’s go near launch. All was good!

The race started and I headed out…Huge sink. I tagged the start cylinder but had to head back to woodrat area to tank up. the mid launch wasn’t quite working yet and I thought I would be better landing out and going for a relaunch. 15 others were of the same thought. I started to spiral down to the Lz to land but about 250 ft over launch i caught a thermal that I cored all the way up to over 6k! Oh baby…what a save! That set me in good steed for the day.

I tagged the Rabies first waypoint and got high and headed out to Flyair and back to Rabies again to tank up. It sure was rough in there in parts and I took a small collapse and at other points was getting tossed around the air like a rag doll. However patience worked and I got high again to transition to Burnt. As I thermaled up in the valley the lead gaggle were already on their way back from Squires. The were racing across the valley in a row and I was in the middle thermaling up. I was not amused when one pilot got object fixated on me and headed right for me. I had to eave the thermal to give me. Bugger him or her! No need for that at all.

It was a strong headwind and I arrived at Burnt ridge reasonably high but looked for lift. I found it got high and headed back to Woodrat to tank up before going to Squires. Arrived at mid launch again and worked it to get high.  So far so good!. Off to Squires and then over to Rabies to work the ridge lift band getting to Rabies peak. All was working well but now it was decision time. Do I get high at Rabies peak and go straight to Jacksonville or go back to Burnt and go from there. I decided to go back to Burnt as there were limited landing spots on the direct route. However, a lot of folks I spoke to later took that route and it worked for them. That saved some valuable time.

I headed back to Woodrat arriving at mid launch again and got high. On the way up I saw Ralph re-launching and he joined me for a short time.I headed off now to  Burnt to tank up and again big sink getting there. Found lift that got me to cloudbase and then headed towards Jacksonville. It was great being up around the clouds and soon the air smoothed out. This was the first time for me flying in this area..and I felt good! I got to Jacksonville not too high and could see quite a few gliders sinking out ahead. I passed over Jeff Speer and managed to get a nice little thermal that took me high. I let out a woo hoo as I started gaining height. I felt that today would be my turn for goal – especially since I had told Leann this flight was dedicated to her for her upcoming birthday. However my joy was short lived as the weak thermal died. I surfed down the valley for a few Kms and landed short of Dark Hollow.

The landing was fun! I picked a nice large yard with a house  that had a flag flying on it. Wind direction was not going to be a problem for setting up. I made my final approach and a thermal kicked off, wind switched and I was now flying very fast downwind. My wing was bucking and I managed to skid in to land only to get a big wedgie from my leg straps that then crushed my bollocks. Ouch!!!! That did hurt. After landing I looked up to see the retrieval van stop to give me a lift. Brilliant. I was tired but felt great I I flew pretty well today.

Looking forward to tomorrow. LeAnn’s birthday and hopefully getting to goal as a present for her!

Rat Race Task 4 37.1Km

Woodlz – Rabies – Rabies Pk – Burnt – Woodrat – Cemeta – Dark H – Donato

Today was a very eventful day for more than a number of people from  happy to frustrating and then to unfortunately tragic. The day was calling for overcast skies and a NNW wind of around  8-10 mph with stronger winds of around 15mph up at 6k. However it started to clear just before 12:00 and the task was called as the free flyers were already getting up. The skies looked to be setting up to be a wonderful day and I was looking forward to the day.

The launch window opened at 1:06 and the start was scheduled for 2:00pm. After a few days of only having just about an hour to get everybody off launch ( 105 pilots ) it is clear that the task committee need to allow more time for all pilots to get established before the race starts, at least 30 minutes in my opinion. I got off 6 minutes before the start and Rich Hass and Conrad both launched after the start!

I launched  in a flush cycle and got drilled back down to the car park before I got a screamer that yanked me up at over 1500ft /minute with a peak of 1700ft/min to over 5500 in a short time. By this time the race had started and other pilots who had established themselves well over Rabies were off and running! I didn’t top out the thermal and in retrospect I know I should have as it cost me later. I headed out to tag the start and got drilled in huge sink. I made the enter start cylinder at 1km radius and then continued on to tag the inner first waypoint at 0.4Km. However I was now low and needed to get back up so headed back towards Woodrat where I tanked slowly back up before heading back out.

As I got high I saw a glider take a collapse above Woodrat and enter a tight downward spiral. Ok, throw I said to myself..more turns…throw dude…more turns THROW for Fxxx sake…tighter faster turns...FXXXing THROW. By this time I was screaming at the top of my voice. I saw him pound into the hill side which was very steep. I was stunned! For this comp we banned all PTT miles and my radio was in my pocket that I could not get to easily as I was getting well worked in the valley. I heard a calm voice report that a pilot had gone down and then the emergency folks set into action. They didn't move off to the emergency frequency for some time so while you were flying you heard everything that was going on, It was unnerving. By this time I was still on course thinking that enough people would be able to help that were already on the ground and there was little I could do. I flew on and tagged Rabies and Rabies Peak and headed back to Woodrat to tank up.

However, I couldn’t get the vision out of my head of what had happened and decided to spiral down to the LZ. I landed and was an emotional wreck. I bundled up my wing and went and packed it up quietly and had a little quiet time on my own.

Jeff Smith was already on the LZ and landed for similar reasons. We met one of the ground rescue staff who asked if we could go up and help out. For sure!. We also found out at this time the pilot seemed to be ok, was talking and in not too bad shape. I was completely amazed and immediately felt relieved. We headed up to the top of the mountain where there were around 20 helpers. Jeff being a fireman immediately started helping out with the Applegate fire rescue team putting ropes and pulleys in place. Soon we were hauling the rope and bringing up the pilot. Many hands made fast work and soon we had him at the top of the hill. We carried him down to the car park where a waiting helicopter whisked him away to hospital. I was talking to him on the way to the copter and he was in good spirits and even making jokes! I wish him a fast and safe recovery.

Some of the frustrating things that happened occurred to Gilead and CJ. They made goal, Cj for the 2nd time this week and 2nd in 8 years!. However, their joy was short lived as they were within the start cylinder when they tagged it. Ouch! That must have hurt for sure hearing that news. However, once again the Seattle crew all did well making goal in fast times. Kudos to Ralph also for making goal at his first competition and he did it in a fast time too on his 1-2 sprint.

Hopefully today there will not be any incidents and we can all get back to having flying day.

Rat Race Task 3 25.8Km

Woodln – WoodlZ -  Burnt – JVilleLZ – Cemeta – Dark Hollow – Donato

Today the pilots meeting would be held at Fiasco Winery courteously of Dave and Pam Palmer. Dave is currently the president of the local club and I met him and his wife 2 years ago and we have become close acquaintances each time I visit. I love his wine, his winery and he is a really friendly person to get to know.

I arrived with my room mate Jeff Smith to find quite a large line already waiting outside. Inside Pam was serving up the food cooked by none other than Rich Hass! Quite funny to see him flipping pancakes behind the counter. We all got pancakes, Gary West smoked Ham, fruit , coffee and  orange juice which  once again was  a great way to start the day!! Thank you Pam and Dave!

The weather was gorgeous sitting outside in the sun at the pilots meeting. However, there was a wind surge forecast for later in the day and a lot of the pilots wanted to get up to launch and get off quickly before it came along. We got to launch and very quickly a task was called that put us all on a downwind glide path after getting to Burnt. I honestly thought this was going to be a relatively easy day however it turned out not to be the case.

I setup and joined the line pretty quick today. In fact I was in line before the launch window even opened. A first for me for quite some time! I decided to get inline behind someone I knew flew well to help me get out and established. I choose Wheelie Bob, or Dave Wheeler better known to others!

The launch window opened and off we went. Tom the launch captain had a well oiled machine today and we all got off the west launch quickly. Ok..how is this going to be today I thought and I found out damn quick. Rock n Roll dude! The wind was already strong and there were large lift and sink bands with gliders wildly circling in elliptical orbits at angles of around 45 degrees. I initially got above launch and then slid off the side of the thermals. Being on the north east side of launch was not fun. I drifted back with the mini gaggle and did not like the lee side position. It wasn’t going up as quick as I liked and I knew I would be fighting a strong headwind and potentially big sink if I went too far back making it difficult to get back over the ridge.Sure enough as soon as I headed back in the direction to cross over the ridge I go big sink. Once passing the ridge.. BOOM..up again. This yo-yo effect continued for quite a while I felt. I decided to push out further down the spine and see if it was any better. Nope! Here I found myself first thermaling with Conrad and Randy and then with Meredyth and Jef Farel as we continued the merry up and down but none of us making much progress to get higher. I looked around and didn't see many people getting really high. I could only count a handful of folks getting to maybe a couple of thousand feet over launch. The wind was picking up. I quickly calculated that this would be a low scoring day and wasn't worth the effort and potentially dangerous situation of flying the route low over Burnt with a strong tailwind. I thought I woudl go and land like many others who had already decided this plan of action,

I headed out in the direction of Fiasco winery assuming I would sink soon and I could turn and go and land in the Lz. However, I found a nice lift line and pushed on into the valley on full speed bar making only 10mph!. I guessed the headwind was probably around 15-20mph! I eventually managed to land at Longswords winery and was a happy man.

it did turn out to be a low scoring day after all, only 296 points. Cliff Curry came in first and again Chris Amonson, Dave Wheeler, Frank and Meredyth making goal. I got 105 points for minimal distance and  flying to the winery so was pretty pleased. All the rest of the field either landed in the Lz or just over the other side of Burnt ridge or near Cemeta around 5-7km from the start.

Tomorrow looks like it will be partly sunny and the wind still strong with 30% chance  of rain, I expect a similar task called as today. So may be another low scoring day. We shall see!

Rat Race 2010 – Task 2 30.2Km

Woodlln – Woodlz – Rabies Peak – Woodrat – Burnt – Cemeta – Dark Hollow

Results are at http://flyxc.org/2010ratrace.html 

Today we arrived on launch to find it socked in!. Yes we were at cloud base before even taking off! :-). I wasn’t too sure if it would clear but lo and behold Rick Ray local pilot and weather man was indeed correct. He had spoken to Hayden Glatte and they both agreed there would be a task called, we would get to 5k and everyone would fly, He was pretty much right on the money. It started clearing around 12:30 and by 1pm we had a task called. Start time was set to 2:40pm. I wanted to get off a little earlier today but seeing a lot of people initially not getting high I wasn't too sure. However I stood in line with around 30+ people behind me and eventually got to take off looking at blue skies and puffy skies with another good flying day ahead. By this time, the gaggle that had been floating not too high above launch had got to around 6K in height (2.2K over launch). Hmm. Had I left it too late? The wind looked to be picking up and there were more botched launches delaying even further the time it was taking to get airborne.

I finally managed to get off and immediately had issues getting into my pod harness. This year either I have grown in height or the harness has shrunk!. I hooked the speed bar with my heal trying to get in and crushed the speed bar full on. Not good! I wriggled into my harness and then used my hands to get the neoprene cover over my legs. I then looked for lift and managed to find a nice little thermal that took me above launch height. It was a right hand turn day but I felt very comfortable. But then the lift disappeared. I was confused. Big sink and I was now loosing height quickly, I got to mid launch and started looking for more lift. Not a great deal. I looked up in envy at the people high above me. Damn. I got below mid launch and then got drilled again. Soon I was about 300 ft over the lZ. Damn again!. I was not going to be beaten!. There was one glider below me scratching who i found out later turned out to be Jeff Farrell from SuperFly. I worked nasty bubbly lift and managed to start gaining height. I could see the glider below following me and soon we had got back up above mid launch. Yabba Dabba Doo I though to myself. Now we are talking. I started flying with another couple of gliders but soon my dreams of getting high evaporated just like the lift. Sink alarm started screaming at me and I lost all the height I had gained in about 30 seconds and was now back about 300 ft over the lZ.

I looked up and could see a massive flush in progress throughout the valley. People were falling from the sky big time. I came into land and found it to be very thermic and the wind pretty strong. I landed and very quickly there were around 40 gliders who had joined me, About 10 minutes later there were over 70 gliders in the lz.

The day was done. 11 gliders managed to make it to goal with the score being posted of only 220 points for the leader. I got 93 for just landing in the LZ!. What a crazy scoring system indeed. I don’t think it is fair but then again was happy that it wasn’t all down to my bad flying to land so quickly.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Rat Race 2010 – Task 1 32.1 Km

WoodLz – Rabies – Burnt – Woodrat – Rabies Peak – Ruch – Purcell

Results are at http://flyxc.org/2010ratrace.html 

Today was forecast to be another high pressure day with some stronger winds up above. However, it turned out to be very similar to yesterday. The  task was called  with a start at 2:00pm and the launch window opening at 1:05. That happened at 12:45 so there was only 20 minutes to get your kit together and launch! Needless to say I was a little slower than the others and by the time I was getting ready to suit up the line was backed up. So as usual I decided to wait and see how things transpired before launching.

Gilead took off pretty quick today compared to yesterday and hooked a thermal soon after launch and within a few minutes was up around 7000 at cloudbase. And there were a few clouds today for a short time. I watched along with Jeff Smith and Ralph as the Seattle crew took to the sky!

I was in line around 1:30 and managed to get launched by 1:47. The main gaggle had setup right above the woodlz start cylinder perfectly place tangential to the next 2 turn points – Rabies and Burnt. I was informed afterwards that they tagged the first three waypoint in less than 10 minutes. In fact this whole task was completed in 40 minutes by Jack Brown flying his Ozone R10.2 wing…pretty sweet to see him launch.

Ok enough about them back to me!. At launch the thermals were coming right up the spine to launch and splitting on each side so you could launch on the West launch or the main launch. It was light though and you had to wait for a cycle. I got off at 1:47 and tried to find lift. It was very very rowdy from launch down to the midpoint launch and it felt like ages before I  started to get properly established in a thermal. Eventually I managed to get up to around 5600 and headed off to the start.

I found the convergence line across to rabies and got there still high which I was happy about. Climbed up to 6600 and headed off to Burnt. Other pilots were still climbing but I decided not to top it out. The Triton has great speed and glide and I took advantage of it as I went on glide from Rabies to Burnt and back to Woodrat area on a glide with about two turns.

However, when I got back to the Woodrat area I was back where I had found it to be really rowdy when I launched and I was not looking forward to it. I saw a Tandem wing thermalling above mid point and went down to join them. And what a great decision that was! We thermalled together in smooth smooth air all the way up to around 5500 ft where I saw Heather flying her Rebel as a free flyer. The three of us got up to around 6500 and I headed off to Woodrat Peak. I tagged that waypoint and just turned and headed back across the valley for Rabies again. By this point I had finally managed to catch up with a lot of the field whom I could see gliding across the valley. I decided to see how fast this little baby of mine could go and crushed the bar as I flew the convergence line. Thoughts of that stupid office depot commercial came to mind as I said WOW!. This flies fast. WOW! This flies really fast. I passed people gliding across as if they were standing still. I got a rush out of that for sure. I certainly get more a kick out of trying to fly efficiently and fast rather than high and slow and I love to see my flight track with a small number of climbs and straight glides rather than spaghetti tracks.

When I got to Rabies I managed to climb to around 6250 again and flew a lift band to Rabies Peak where I turned around and now was at last on a straight line to Ruch and goal. However my glide ratio to goal read 14:1 and my current glide ratio was 12.5 to one. I needed more height but thought what the heck it may be buoyant going across the valley and I had a strong tailwind now. I decided to go for it. I kept to the left of the valley and I thought at one point I had it but 2km short of goal I knew I needed more lift and tried to scratch for a short time. But it was not to be. I glided over other poor unfortunate pilots who had tried to squeak into goal also and finally landed 1.2Km short of goal!! No sooner had I landed than the pick up van stopped by and gave me a beer for trying! I packed my wing up and a nice lady with Conrad in the passenger seat stopped by and took us back to HQ.

Turned out there were 41 pilots who made goal today with another 10-12 landing just short. For me, it was a personal best at Woodrat and I think the points I got today were more than what I got totally for the last comp! I even got a few lead points! A good day! Chris Amonson came in 2nd today with a time of 43 minutes on his Boom 5. Awesome job. Meredyth came 3rd. Very impressive. All in all the Seattle crowd did us all well.  Tomorrow looks like it will be overcast so may be a late start if at all!

Rat Race Practice Day – June 12th 2010

After a 7hr 45min non stop drive down from Redmond on Friday 11th , I arrived at Grants Pass to have a not so hot sizzler grill dinner and then headed to the Holiday Inn Express where I had a very restful night.

I headed off after breakfast to sign in at HQ where I was pretty surprised to see a  large  group of people already in line to sign up. Weather was beautiful with temperatures in the mid 70’s expecting to reach the 80’s by midday and a nice cool breeze blowing through. The mandatory pilots meeting took place which covered the ground rules of the competition and then we headed up to launch.

Today was pretty laid back and they set a short task of 23Km of Launch to LZ (start cylinder), then to Rabies, Burnt, Rabies Peak, Woodrat and Longsword to complete the task. The challenge today was that most gliders were boating about 500-750 ft over launch around the12:30pm mark, with the start scheduled for 1:40 and getting high looked as if it would be  a problem.

Talking about problems, Gilead repro’d the problem I had been having on previous years with the Digifly Cartesio plus. His lost all waypoint before the start and he was not too amused. However, his expectations were that the damn thing probably wouldn't;t work anyway when he got here so he wasn't;t that too perturbed. However, we shall be letting Digifly know they have a serious problem with that unit. Was I bummed too? No, as I had purchased a Flymaster B1 Nav a few weeks back and it worked like a dream during practice. It seems to be a popular unit too now as there were a lot of them being used at this comp and many units being sold during the day. Even Frank and Chris were thinking about getting one to use this week.

So now on launch, I got suited up and stood in line and boy was it a big line! It took me the best part of 45min to get near the start due to the fact that we could only get 2 people off launch at a time from the North launch as the wind was a little squirrely when it did blow or non existent at other times. You could see the nerves of folks on launch…took me back a couple of years when I got here for the first time.

Today however I felt pretty good. I took off and joined the folks trying to get up.I had medium success. It was a right turn day and I am not efficient turning that way. I stayed in the thermal with a few others but one of the pilots was a little erratic flying in and out of the thermal in front of me and turning back in sharp which bugged me a little so I headed off and towards Rabies.  I saw that folks who had taken off earlier were already getting to Longswords and I could see they had a headwind, so a convergence must be setting up somewhere between Launch and Longswords. I thought I would head out that way and see. Sure enough there was a lift band heading towards Rabies. I took that but slid off it and got drilled. Hmm, I turned around and headed back towards the hill on the other side off launch but by now I could see most folks who were in  that vicinity sinking out. Ah well, glad it was a practice day. I landed and headed off to Fiasco Winery where I spent a nice afternoon chatting with Pam and the lassies sipping wine and eating a chees and fruit platter.

A nice way to spend the first day here. Tomorrow the actual comp starts and its a left hand turn day so I will plan to get high and stay high tomorrow. We shall see ow that works out!

Monarca 2010 – Task 5 - 53Km

The weather started out looking very similar to yesterday – gray and overcast with high cirrus.They called a small task and an early race start of 12:40pm. The route was from Launch to start at Espina then to Divisa that had a 2km cylinder around it, back to launch, then Espina and then to the lake.

I decided to launch early and see what would happen. Dave Byrne had sent me a note to just enjoy myself and forget the comp and have a fun flight. That was my intent today. So I took off amongst the first few and circled with a few gliders. However, we started gaining height and quickly the small gaggle grew in size as those below on launch followed suit to take off and join us. Not an enormous gaggle by any means but certainly I now know for sure that I have succumbed to the fact that I hate flying in gaggles and thus through inference competitions are not for me. This will be the last for a while until I feel comfortable flying in groups larger than 15 or so gliders.

I left the gaggle at around 8200 and headed to the Penon again with a few other gliders hoping to be able to soar the rock a little and get to the wall and some decent height before the rest of them caught up to me. At the wall it was soarable and I did my merry little dance of 8 again. Basically we were now flying ridge rules. Some people obeyed some didn’t. With the rock on my right Wheelie Bob was coming towards me about 10 feet below me. He wanted me to give way as I heard him on the radio saying lower glider has right of way. Not for 10 ft  lower you don’t  :-) He wasn’t too amused but I later led him up the wall so he can’t complain!

I headed off from the Penon about 3/4 of the way up and made my way to the wall. I finally figured out how to get up this sucker now. The clouds were still a bit overcast but it did look to be clearing. There was more lift today and I soared up the second spine to the top of the ridge and onto the Mesa. There were only about 15-20 gliders at this point. The rest were seen over launch or scratching the Penon or coming up the wall. It was nice to just have lift and be boating about up there. However, my fun times were short lived. A small gaggle started coming to join me. First there were a few then there were more. I moved out of the thermal I was in and flew out into the valley a little to have a bit more space. More lift and I started to go up. I could see them come to join me. I left again. I think they got the message as they started their own little thermalling circle and I was on my own again.

I was higher than yesterday so decided to see if I could get over to the front wall again of crazy thermal. If all failed I would head back to the Penon and scratch again. There was another 25 minutes before the start of the race. By this time a lot of folks were now on the Mesa and getting higher. In fact as the day went on the weather just got better. However, for me, off I went in my own little route. Folks below must have thought I was mad flying away from lift but I do like to find my own rather than follow some one else’s. Not a good strategy at all for a comp pilot so another reason for me not to be one!

There was one other glider bellow me heading in the same direction obviously with the same thought. He hadn’t managed to get up the wall so I guess as trying some other place. Major sink again as I headed across to the crazy thermal wall. I guessed the wind was splitting at the the rock face and wrapping around and over. It as quite turbulent around there. I could see that this wasn’t going to work so I headed back to the Penon arriving about halfway up . I was surprised by the number of people still scratching at the rock face. I flew a few circuits with them but decided to leave them to their race and I headed out and landed at the Piano.

It was nice down there relaxing in the sun, having a beer and waiting for the pilots to come back from Divisa. And they came back fast. Josh Cohn arrived back over launch 50minutes from the start at Espina and completed the course in 1hr 16min! Good news on the NW front as Mer, Arun, Dave, Frank, Stefan, Chris all made goal. Congrats to them!

Well that’s this years blog folks. I have arranged with my landlord to take me to the airport on Sunday morning. All that is left is to enjoy the rest of my stay. I had intended to fly back on Saturday but there were no flights out of Toluca free. So it looks like some shopping in town tomorrow and the End of Comp party tomorrow night.

Cheers

Iain

Monarca 2010 – Task 4 55.6Km – Nice to Scratch

On the road up to the launch today there were high cirrus clouds and the sun was scare. I expected it would be a long time before we started. I wasn’t feeling too great this morning, not because of my flying, but the trots caught up with me after a week eating here. Not sure if it was a bad beer or a bad sandwich but we will find out tonight as I am testing the beer once more! By the time they called the task it was gray sky everywhere. I couldn’t imagine anybody going far today, never mind making goal. Since it was a right hand day I thought I would launch early and fly around and practice my right hand turns. To help me, I put a couple of liters of water in my right hand side pocket of my harness. That sure did help as when flying straight I had to compensate with a little left brake so it was working.

They opened the launch at 11:20 for the yoyo’s like me and I took off at 11:35 and joined a small gaggle circling in front of launch. Nobody was high at all, probably around 500-750ft over launch. Keeping my head on a swivel stick and focusing on the pilots around you makes you loose sense of how high you have climbed. I thought I was just boating around launch height but in a few minutes I had gained about 750ft and joined the circling gaggle. It split into two after a while and that became a little fun because when you completed a circle you were now facing the folks in the other gaggle. It took me a few seconds to realize the gliders in front were actually coming at me! Just a small movement to the right and we were fine.

I saw a glider get some lift a little further out in the valley and pushed out. I climbed a few circles with him and then I headed off to the Penon leaving launch at about 8200ft. I got to the Penon quite low down and headed for the rock face. With little sun on the face I expected it to be more of a bluff soar like Whidbey and that’s exactly how it turned out. The wind was coming from the South and hitting the rock face almost square on. I flew about a wings length from the rock face. Gentle beeps proceeded to fill my ears and I started my figures of 8 flying in front of the rock. Just like being back at Tiger!. I headed out past the Penon and got a  lot of sink so I headed back and started the merry little figure of 8 dance again. By this time quite a few gliders had also given up getting high at launch and started making their way over. I gave Mer a wave as she passed me by on the inside. I started to climb in the slot that took me quite high up the face. I hate doing full circles near that rock so continued my soaring technique. 

Almost at the top I headed off to the spines that lead up to the wall. Steve and Arun told me they had been getting up on the first spine that takes you to the wall face below the little hut on top of the wall. I had been using the second spine further out on previous days so took their advice. It worked a little but not a great deal so I headed off to my spine. That was working and I started my figures of 8 again. The little gaggle that had joined me at the Penon had continued to soar all the way up to the top and were now circling right around the top of the Penon. That was certainly not for me, no matter how mild the lift.

By now I had reached the top of the wall and was just boating along the top edge. Goal! Well at least my personal goal of getting up over that sucker.I felt pretty good as I did have a few very lows save on the way up. Looking down on most of the field brought a wry smile to my face as for the past few days they have been looking down on me. I looked at my watch. 25 minutes to go before the start. Now what to do. I flew back and forth along the ridge and got a little higher, flying half on to the mesa and half off into the valley. I did this for a few lengths then got bored. Some of the others gliders had crossed across to Crazy Thermal but weren’t getting high. I decided to go the front of the Crazy Thermal wall and ridge soar there. I had done that last year and its was quite fun. So I left the lift I was in while other folks tried to scratch their way up the wall! By this time the sky was even a darker gray. No chance of going anywhere far today so just have some fun and see what happens.

Crossing to the Crazy Thermal wall I got big sink. Bummer. Almost reaching the wall I had to turn away as there were no bail out landing sites. I headed back towards the bottom of the Penon thinking I could scratch my way up again. but it wasn’t to be. On the way back I saw two gliders scratching low below me then they hit each other and reserves were pulled. Both were ok but I thought to myself who wasn’t looking where they were going? That seemed to be needless.

I landed at the field next to the school where I had been quite a few times last year and got the professional wing packer school kids to pack my wing. These little boys are good!

By this time, I counted only 70 wings in the air and the race was just about to start. So half the pilots had already landed. Not bad Iain I thought to myself.

When I arrived back in Valle only 20 pilots were still in the air although everyone was doubting whether anyone would make goal today. In fact it turned out they flew 30Km. Quite a feet considering it was all overcast.

Hopefully the weather will be a little better tomorrow and I get to fly like I did on Monday.