Rat Race Sprint Task 1–Launch, Squires, Burnt, SugarL, Burnt, Cemetry, Donato - 42Km

Today was the first task in the Sprint race. Weather conditions were looking good with top of lift around 6500 with stronger winds above at 8000 ft in excess of 20mph. The task was called and it was pointed out that it was the longest task the sprint has had. At 42Km this was the type of task I was looking for again, not too long and not too short. Not that I have made goal yet but the longer the task means that more people are spread out and the air is less congested.

The sprint always follows the Race in this event, at least to my memory, and this meant the start was scheduled for 2:15 with 3 start gates to spread out the pilots even more. This was not an issue today as there was plenty of lift around launch. I launched at 2:00pm and quickly got to base which was nice. Still was a little windy but once at base I only had 3 minutes before the race started which was even better! No hanging around in the sky for an hour or so.

A lot of people had drifted back behind launch with the thermal and got to base while I had pushed out to the valley a little and then thermaleld up to base. This meant I was positioned well for entering the 1.5Km start cylinder around Squires and then onto tag the first point which was again Squires with a 0.4Km cylinder.

Prior to the task I had outlined my plan to a few other pilots. Get high at launch, glide to tag first waypoints and back, get high at launch again, transition to Burnt, get high again, push out to Rabies ridge, follow the ridge around to the peak, get high again move out to Sugar L gliding and returning to the ridge again  to rabies then over to Burnt, get high and glide to Donatos.

The plan went pretty darn well today I have to admit. In fact I was leading all the way out to SugarL. Once on Rabies ridge it took a while to find lift. I was flying straight over the ridge get about 100 ft/min up. I got high over the peak and pushed out to SugarL. I arrived there too low for my liking and had to scratch around a while with not that many landing sites that looked good. However, with the West wind I managed to find a screamer that took me back to cloud base. It was quite funny flying back to Rabies ridge with a lot of folks flyng towards me!!! That’s what you get for being in front I guess.

Only mishap I had today was at cloudbase where there was a cloud that did throw my wing about pretty violently as I passed by the side of it. Nice to see the whispies for a change.

I transitioned to Burnt and still could only see one other glider flying with me. When I got to Burnt I noticed a whole bunch flying low below me. I thought where the heck did these folks come from>? Turns out it was the Race pilots on there way back looking for lift at Burnt.

They quickly found it as they saw me hitting a good one and climbing fast. I had a good chuckle to myself looking down on boom 9’s and IP6’s climbing up below me. I  was cranked pretty hard over trying to keep the tight circle that these guys were flying and stay above them but it was not to be. They quickly gained ground on me and I had to give way leaving the lift at around 5200ft.

By now there were about 5 gliders of the Sprint that had caught up with me. I saw Rich Hass and Randy close by as we all now looked for lift. I wasn’t getting that high and when I saw Rich push out again I followed him. We both arrived near Cemetery low and had to look for lift. It was very light. I saw Rich go even lower and I decide to saucer my way to the next ridge.

When I got there there were only weak bubbles and nothing to take me higher. I landed in a nice big field like a butterfly. 1:45min in the air and 32.7Km travelled on task. At last that’s what my Flymaster said.

Turns out that it registered that I had hit Cemetery even though I hadn’t. Going to talk to that with Jug today! I got picked up by Sarge in the bus and headed off to goal to pick up more pilots. I couldn’t believe it when I heard that Rich Hass had once again made a low save and got to goal! Darn it. He came in 3rd so it was a little disheartening to know that I could have been in the top 5 today also.

Never mind, tomorrow is another day!

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!

Rat Race 2013 – Practice Day–22nd June

So here we are again at the Rat Race! This will be my 6th time here and it’s the 3rd time they are having both a Sprint and a Race competition during the week. This year I elected to fly in the Sprint as a lot of the Seattle crew had so much fun flying in the shorter Sprint format last year with EN B and EN C wings and not having to  compete with the XC gods on their hot IP6’s EN D’s. Also thought I would actually compete for a change and see how well I do in the shorter Sprint format. Also set myself a little challenge to actually get to goal this year by having a side bet with Jeff Slotta, John Schnebeck and Ralph Borium. For each km on course distance I get greater than each of them during each task of the comp, they pay me a dollar. Likewise for each Km distance on course they get on me I pay them a dollar. So, If we all make goal nobody pays anybody anything and we square up at the end of the week. If Jeff beats me by  say 10 Km and I beat Ralph and John by 5Km then I’m not out of pocket. So I have an added incentive to fly well this year.

Practice day is really just a way of ensuring that you find any issues with your gear prior to actually starting the real comp and a way to get any nerves out your system. I also used the day to configure the live streaming on launch and I’m glad we did. We had a few buffering issues as we weren't getting the uploaded bandwidth that I had last year so it was good to actually find that out and then configure the equipment appropriately. So now we are set for the live streaming when ever we start the first real task, which looking at the weather may be Thursday, sad to say. To get notified when we start streaming just go to the ustream web site for the Rat Race PG and click follow. We normally start streaming around 11:00am.

The weather on Saturday was great and the number of people here on practice day were in excess of 100. They set a task for the Race and Sprint competitors with the Race starting first. This mean that the Race folks all have to launch before the Sprint competitors get to launch. It seems a bit strange to me as it means that the Sprint competitors are all launching in stronger conditions.

The task for the sprint was a short 15Km around the Valley - Woodrat Start  2km exit – Rabies Peak 2Km – Off-RG 2Km – Woodra 2Km – Longswords goal. I was in line and about the 8th person to get off the hill. It’s a right hand day and not one I like but it didn’t bother me too much.

Iain launching custom Nova Ra, Yip, it’s the Scottish flag

However the air was pretty rowdy over launch..I was following a couple of gliders who were taking really large circles and falling out and in of the thermals which didn’t please me either. I let them go wide and turned a little tighter and soon I was about 800 over launch and above them and now flying with another couple of gliders who were doing the same. On one turn I saw Rich Hass head out to mid launch and thought what a good idea. I’ll go there get up and out. So I left the lift and followed him. Oops what a cardinal sin that was leaving lift. I got into the sink of the thermal and sank at 2.6m/s all the way to mid launch. I then spent the next 30 minutes scratching and not being able to get back up. Meanwhile, Rich had taken the lee side of the hill and managed to get one that took him up and out leaving me the only one to land in the Hunter LZ. Ah well, guess I won’t be doing that again if I want to save some dollars on my bet!

Most folks got up high and made the course easily as once above 7500 they easily glided the course.

Ok..so here’s hoping the weather changes soon and we get a chance to fly. Meanwhile, staying at the vineyard with Dave and Pam Palmer, owners of Fiasco winery has been great and they have a beautiful old property where the woodpeckers, chipmunks and ground squirrels wake you up around 6am every morning. Very cool.

So let’s now just wait for a good day to fly.

Rat Race 2012–June 17-24, Ruch, Oregon

Another year flies by and it’s time for Rat Race again! This year is going to be pretty special. Not only are there going to be two competitions going on in parallel – Rat Race and Rat Race Sprint – but the Rat Race also carries the US National moniker. This means we have a huge field this year and the total number of participants allowed has  already been reached – 175 – split approx. 50/50 between Race and Sprint.

With the change in competition rules, all pilots in the Rat Race will be flying EN C or D gliders, while pilots in the Sprint will be flying EN A, B or C. Of course, with the new 2 line En D wings, I expect to see a lot of the Niviuk IP6 in the air. a whole armada of green and black wings. It’s going to be some sight!

Additionally this year I have been working with the committee for the race to set up full media coverage. This will encompass live video feeds from launch as each task happens, where viewers will feel that they are part of the action! The plan here is to show the setup, interview pilots, seeing the task being set and the actual launches as they happen. Web cams from LZ area will provide views of the launch and pilots with SPOT devices will be shown on a map so you can follow your favorite person or see how they are progressing throughout the race.

All of this will be available via the www.mphsports.com web site which should be available live later today, 12th June. Wineries in the area like Fiasco and the bars/restaurants in Jacksonville will alos be showing the Race as it happens on their large TV Screens. All in all I am hoping this turns out well.

Last year I was at Rat Race only two weeks after my cycle accident and I was hurting. No excuses this year, so hoping to compete rather than fly to the wineries this time around!

I’ll be driving down Friday the 15th and start blogging on the 16th, the practice day. Stay Tuned!

Monarca 2011–Task 4–Cancelled

Today the forecast showed that the winds would be picking up to around 25Km at 12,000ft. At launch it started off a bit like Monday, mild then strong,  but got progressively worse far quicker. A lot of blown launches and collapses in mid air. The clouds were developing very quickly and it was easy to see that this was going to be a hard task.

At 12:25, 5 minutes before the task started they cancelled the race.  I hadn’t launched as I could see the weather deteriorating, so it was a quick ride back to the LZ to see those who were still in the air take only 1 glide from Espina back to the LZ!

The next 2 days looks like being the same weather wise so it may be the end of the comp after only 3 tasks. Fingers crossed the weather system blows through quickly.

Monarca 2011– Task 3 70.2Km

Launch – Piano (5K start)– Divisa – La Pila – Capulin (0.5 enter) – Capulin (6K exit) – Capulin (0.5K enter) – Torre

Ok, I have to admit up front,  I didn’t fly the task today! With all good intentions I got to launch with my wing and went through the usual routine of unpacking, clearing the lines, setting it aside, programming my gps and getting ready to fly. Problem was my touche was still a hurting and the thought of 3 hours in the saddle and a potential hike out put paid to my big ideas of getting off the ground today. I actually did fly today but more of that later.

The task that was called today was indeed a little strange to a lot of folks. Rather than a real route it was more of a task. It started with a 5K start cylinder around the Piano LZ as usual which has been a great way to spread out the field on high pressure days where it takes some time for the inversion to clear. Then it was off to Divisa and La Pila. But then it got strange. They set the next waypoint, Capulin as a 0.5Km enter cylinder, then a 6Km exit cylinder followed by another 0.5Km enter cylinder. This meant that pilots had the choice of flying in any direction they wanted to for 6Km before coming back to the same waypoint. A novel idea indeed.

I watched folks launch today and get high and then move out. It got a little stronger on launch around 12:00 but then dissipated. Folks didn’t seem to have any problems getting over to the mesa where they waited for around an hour until the start of the race.

I got a lift back to town with Oscar and JC and went for lunch to the café where they had internet so I could watch the Seattle’s folks progress via their SPOT updates.

Most didn’t have a problem getting to Divisa but then quite a few got stuck there. Jeff seemed to be flying a funny route indeed. It turned out he had forgotten to clear his route from the previous day and it was taking him to the wrong waypoint. He ended up landing close to where he dirted the day before. With hindsight, he chose to fly into the valley where there were better options to get retrieved.

Gilead, got to La Pila and then got stuck trying to get back up on to the mesa. Preacher and Mer got stuck on the mesa  flying back from La Pila leaving it to Frank and Dave to get to goal today. Congrats to them.

After lunch I went down to the LZ to get a massage and see if it helped my back. Best 50 bucks I spent this week! Pity it doesn’t work on the tailbone though. After the massage I walked back to Alas Des Hombres and got a ride up to La Torre. I wanted to see how sore I would be flying, This turned out to be a great choice as I was treated to some spectacular views of Valle De Bravo and had a great flight right into the middle of the lake. I will try to get a video snippet posted  later.

This gave me a little boost and raised my hopes to fly a task tomorrow. We shall see!

Monarca 2011–Task 2 63 Km

Launch – Piano – Laguna – Quintalia – Iglesi – LaCasa – Iglesi – Torre

Results are posted here http://www.monarcaparaglidingopen.com/files/Task_2_02_01_2011.pdf

A no flying day for me today so little to write about from a personal flying perspective, so I have to report what folks told me.  I am feeling much better after my incident yesterday and I will be flying tomorrow. Really looking forward to it.

So today I first went down to check out my wing was okay. It was stored at Alas des Hombres. All was well. No holes or damage so I was happy. I managed to unpack it and repack so that was good. Walking is fine and sitting is fine but the transition was a little sore early this morning. By afternoon it was much better.

I popped into Alas Des Hombres HQ to have a chat with the folks there. Chifus was having some issues with the scoring application on the computer so I dived in and helped him out. Ended up talking to an English guy in Europe to cobble together a workaround that allowed us to print off the scores and rankings from yesterday which then made it’s way to launch to be posted. My good deed for the day done.

I had breakfast at the café across the street and waited for Doug to come and join me. After that we walked down to the landing area to see how high the water was. That was my first time down there this year and the water level was high. It sure was beautiful.

Headed back up the road to a café where we got internet access and watched the updates on the SPOT application I developed for the Windows phone. It worked a treat!.

Gilead sunk out in a flush cycle from launch, Jeff made it to the first turnpoint and Mer, Dave, Frank and Preacher were all doing good. So I walked back down to the LZ area at the lake to see if they would make goal.

On the way down there I picked up a bottle of Whisky that came with a set of binoculars. I thought that was pretty cool and I could use them to watch from a distance. I sat at the lz and poured myself a shot and pulled out the binoculars. I couldn’t see a damn thing! I was sitting next to JC the launch director and asked him to take a look to see what was wrong. We both laughed our heads off as we discovered that the binoculars were actually a Flask!!! I sure had fun that day passing them around to folks who saw them lying on the table wanting to view the pilots! :-) Even worked well on the Seattle crew too!.

I watched Frank, Dave, Mer and Preacher arrive at goal! Congrats to them. They said the conditions today were much mellower than yesterday but it was a little hard at the beginning getting up high. However once the convergence kicked in it was not a problem. In fact getting down to the LZ was a problem.

From a distance we could all see another reserve toss way up on the mesa and whoever it was was really high. Pilot seemingly was ok.

Doug had walked down to the LZ with his wing and both he and Gilead went up to Torre for a late evening flight which Doug really enjoyed. Doug is set to do that each day instead of going to the Penon.

Well that’s it. Well almost. I forgot about Sparky!. Yes, one of the pilots I know flew into a  live power line  whilst landing today. He was slung shot back when his chest hit the lines while  his wing ended up being draped over the lines. A few sparks and singed lines but all ended up well! Except for the citrus tree that the local farmer was not too happy about!.  One lucky man indeed!

Monarca 2011 Task 1 - 61Km

Launch-Piano Start, Divisa, Saucos, LaCasa, El Torre

What a day!  Cranking winds on launch, crappy launches, misplaced pilots, downwind landing tumbles, trips to hospital, reserve throw and tree landing. Not a good start at all.

Today the thermals were coming through launch really strong. There were a few light cycles but as soon as you took off it was chaos. Comp wings were being bent out of shape, huge surges and minimal penetration and not much gain initially.

The launch window opened at 11:40 and I got in line around 11:45 and by this time it was really long. While we were waiting in line we watched the carnage unfold. Not really good to watch. Jeff had managed to get to the start line  with 6 other people and got off the hill early when conditions were milder.

I got to launch when the thermal cycles were a little lighter than earlier but just off of launch gliders were being thrown around like rag dolls. I brought my wing up turned and launched. A thermal came through and plucked me up and threw me right almost into another glider taking off.Not pretty. I headed out to find some smoother air. Not to be! I also found that I had forgot to turn on my vario but I sure as heck wasn’t taking my hands off the brakes. So I headed out in front a little. The wind was gusty and strong. I was also sinking. By the time I got my vario on and turned around I was at midway between launch and the Piano LZ. I struggled to try and get back up but it was a case of the frog in the well – climb 200 feet sink 300 ft. I eventually had to go and land. I thought I would land in the field beside the road but it was thermic and really windy. I kept getting popped up. I got one pop that took me high enough where I thought I could make the Piano. Bad choice! As I headed out from the foot of the Penon across the road I sunk like a stone. I navigated through some trees saw a small landing area and as I came in to land I dropped about 6-8 feet onto a rock outcrop. I felt my back compress with the impact. Crap, surely not a broken back. I lay there and called for help on the radio. After about 5 minutes I felt a little better and I had full movement of my legs. I struggled to my feet and my back was sure sore. I radioed to let folks I was ok but needed an ambulance to get me to hospital to check out the damage. As it turned out I was very lucky. No broken bones, just muscular strain and inflammation! Phew. I will take tomorrow off flying but hope to be back in the air Wednesday.

Dave Wheeler didn't have much luck today either. He ended up in the Piano area too and had a downwind landing in tall grass with a roll down the hill. Coupled to that, his flight deck got snarled in the grass and disappeared! However, the good news was that some kids found it later and handed it in. Another lucky guy!

Gilead landed at Maguey on the mesa at 1:38pm but it tool retrieval over 6 hours to get to him! He had hiked for many many miles to get out and had been sending constant update messages. A long day for him.

Jeff Smith managed to fly 31K along with Frank and Mer. Preacher managed to almost complete the task flying around 52 Km.

One pilot threw his reserve over Avandro and landed in a tree but was ok.

All in all not a great start to the comp. I believe there were only 7 that got to goal today. Results are not posted yet.

Let’s hope for better weather and conditions tomorrow!

Practice Day –29th January

Woke up to a rather chilly morning in Valle, had a good breakfast at the Hotel, grabbed a taxi and headed up to launch about 15 miles away. Taxi ride $15 for two, not too shabby really. The road up to launch has been re-graded this year and it was a much smoother dirt road ride than any time before. Arriving at launch at 10:15 no one was in the air but the Norwegians had huddled together for their daily chat about what they were planning.

On launch I met up with a few old friends, had a brief chat and then got myself ready. We had been advised it was going to be dusty and it was but not as bad as I had thought.

The sky had high cirrus and I was worried that there night not be that much lift but I was wrong. At around 10:30 a few  folks got into the air and they were soon about 700ft over launch. I got my gear ready and setup in line behind Gilead and Doug.

Jeff had just launched but it was clear he had some issues. He was veering to the right and trying to untangle knotted lines it looked like as we could see a small tip deformation. We watched Jeff unsuccessfully try to get it out and eventually head out to land below.

Gilead, Doug and then myself launched. It felt strange to be in lift again with the wing pressurized and the vario sounding off indicating good lift. It was gusty and windy in places though. I stayed in the gaggle until just under 9000 and headed off to Penon. Flew to the bottom of the wall, no lift headed back to launch and up again and then back to Penon. From there I noticed some folks had headed over the back, others had headed out to Espina and beyond and there were a few folks left in front. I flew around for a while and saw Doug out in front. With no one in the Piano as yet and Doug’s first time landing there I thought I would just go join him. I headed out to join him and we were met with some strong wind, probably around 20mph in places. However we both landed well.

We radioed to see where Jeff was. He had hiked back up the front side to launch! . Doug and I had a beer and headed back to town. Jeff relaunched and flew to Jovan. Gilead landed at Sacamate. Mer and Dave flew to the lake. Dave Norwood however had a great triangle from launch to Pila to Agila and back to launch.

Happy faces all around today!.

Monarca Paragliding Open 2011 Travel Day…28th January

The flight from Seattle was leaving at 8:25am to Houston and then on to Mexico City. I had arrived home the night before after dinner at Matt’s Oyster bar in Redmond where I had my last real American meal for a week – a lovely rainbow trout. And it was fandabbiedozie!!!! Of course this meant getting back home to then pack! Fortunately, I had already looked out all of my paragliding gear and had it in one place. It’s amazing the electronic gear you accumulate over the years – Garmin GPS, SPOT Messenger, Radio, GPS/Integrated Vario, backup vario, GOPro HiDef Cameras (yes 2 this year!), Digital Camera, Rechargeable battery charger, PTT switch, laptop, IPhone (now an ITouch), Windows Phone plus all the needed chargers for all that stuff.

So now I only really had to get the clothes organized.  Glad to say the entire time to pack for the 10 days took a total of 1 hour. So all was good. LeAnn had graciously agreed to take me to the airport so we set the alarms for 5:45 and headed off to sleep at 10:00pm. Got a good night’s sleep at last this week. Work has been busy and a lot going on so I was quite glad to have wrapped it all up before I left.. at least I hope!

In the morning, I packed the car and headed off to the Airport at 6:15 with LeAnn silently tired in the passenger seat as I drove down. Normally not travelling at this time in the morning I was really surprised by the amount of cars on the road this early in the morning. Glad I don’t have to do that on a regular basis. However the HOV lane helps a lot when you have 2 in the car.   I arrived at the airport to find 3 of my 5 travelling colleagues arriving at the same time – Fireman Jeff, Preacher Dave and Hobbit Gilead. Wheelie Bob Dave was already in side and Duct Tape Doug had caught an earlier flight. So we were set. When I checked in I got the option to upgrade to first class on the Houston Mexico city leg for a bargain $79. This was a no brainer. With my paraglider bag I would need to pay for extra luggage but when travelling first class it includes 2 bags, plus you get lots of space, free alcohol and dinner!. Oh yeah. As I write, I am flying over the gulf of Mexico, no oil slicks in sight I am glad to report, and eating a medallion of beef and pork with rice accompanied by lashings of wine!

We had organized a 14 seat bus to pick us all up and take us to Valle upon our arrival so hopefully it will be there!!!

Well, turns out the Van did come but we had a bit of a time finding Doug. He was in a different terminal. When we did pick him up about 1 hour later there was a traffic jam at the airport and we eventaullay arrived at Valle de Bravo 4 hours after we landed. In any event. We are all here now. So tomorrow we should have a flight report.!!!!

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!