Rat Race–Task 1–Launch-WoodRat-Rab PK-Woodrat-Cemetry-Donato - Sprint Cancelled

 

Finally after 3 days the bad weather let up for us to get up to launch and wait it out until the clouds cleared. And it did take a while. It was 5PM before the actual launch for the Race was set with 3 start gates as the cloud cover was so low, around 4000ft which is just above launch. Due to the lateness of the day, the Sprint was cancelled and the flyers were given the opportunity of either taking off before the Race started and landing soon after, or wait until the Race closed. I chose to launch after the Race window closed so I could see the race unfold.

It was an ideal day for the live broadcasting as all the wings could easily be seen from launch. Gever and Jug did a great job of covering the event although we did have some connection issues as the tower we transmit to was in cloud the whole day.

It was a real struggle for the Race pilots and none made goal. The furthest out they got was 22Km on course of the 38Km set. As cloud was so low they had to keep out of it and a couple of boom 9’s had some issues trying to stay out. Interesting tactics by a few of the pilots also. Josh Cohn headed left of launch and down the Applegate valley to get to the sunniest part of the valley and eventually slowly but surely climbed to base. Others like Preacher waited on launch right past the start window until the sun had reached most of the valley and initially followed the route taken by Josh. However, en route, he saw folks climbing in the valley and went there instead which went well for him and he got up. Folks saw this and soon we had a gaggle in the middle of the valley. Meanwhile a lot of gliders had already sunk out. Those who managed to make it to the Rabie’s Peak TP  and transitioned to Burnt soon found that there was nothing but sink and a few boom 9’s along with other wings landed in Hunters LZ.

By this time it was now ok for the Sprint pilots to launch and have a free flight. The wind on launch had now basically gone to calm and the sunshine in the valley had disappeared. However, there were a lot of gliders managing to stay up and float around mid launch. I took off and joined them practicing turning right and having fun working the ridge lift. After a time I headed out to Longswords and was surprised by how boaty it was. I played with the speed bar on the way out and easily made Longswords even though I was only ever around 3300ft (launch is 3800). I flew past the winery then turned and went back to Fiasco to land there. I had never landed at Fiasco before but since my host for the week is Dave the owner, I thought it would be fun to land there. I landed right next to the tent but did drop the last 15 ft pretty darn quick, my legs absorbing the shock of landing such that I ended up with my butt on the ground for a short time.

Iain Landing at Fiasco

After that it was off to get LeAnn’s phone fixed at the local AT&T store then back to Jacksonville to join the rest of the Seattle crew celebrating Jeff Slotta’s birthday.

Thursday is looking sunny but windy but we will get to fly, so game on for today!