Day 2 CD's AAR

Well I’ll be a SOB!

    I really thought I had called a soft ball at the 10:00 pilot briefing.  The atmosphere was drying and the forecast called for 10K cloud bases which is the magic number for the valley crossing.  I also saw an early close for the day so I really wanted to get the tasks open early.  I know we can not weigh what happened yesterday too heavily when deciding what to do today but it was certainly on my mind that I was just too late yesterday. 

The pilots were great.  We launched Mallory Lynch in his ASW 22Bl to sniff at 11:45 and he quickly reported reasonable climbs.  We launched the first 20m ship at 1215 and opened the task at 12:45 just as  the first standard class pilot landed for a relight.  The house thermal had cycled and the standard class was having difficulty so I held up the launch for about 10 minutes. 

I watched as the valley cycled knowing full well a few standard class gliders were high and itching to go but also seeing 3 others in the patter for a relight. I was having flash backs from yesterday except that instead of watching the sky fill with a beautiful convergent cloud streak and threaten OD, I was watching the clouds dry up and the bases of what was left stay relatively low.

After a query of a few contestants that mostly had less than positive news I called the task open with a reduction from 3 hours to 2. 5 hours at 13:40.  

The radio was silent.  A few start announcements but then nothing.  The clouds were disappearing one by one.  I was getting antsy anticipating call for retrieves.  Steve Smith clamed my concerns a bit by pointing out that the no one has landed back since I opened the gate an hour earlier.  This must be a sign. Nothing to do about it but wait, so I answered some emails and tried to catch a nap. Then the phone rang.  It was TX reporting he had landed in a field east of Deer Mountain.    Crap!  TX won the day yesterday.  I thought, here we go.. I just screwed this up!  But no.. the next action was a radio call from EM “10 k out switching to 23.3.”  I thought, really?  Yes really.. Then the same call a call from OF in the standard.  Then one by one, call after call.  I thought… Huh!  Maybe we will be fine.  There were a few folks that reported not getting round but still getting home.  2 engine recoveries. But the majority of the field got around.  

None reported a leisurely flight.  One reported the most difficult an rewarding flight of his racing career. All reported that it was a tough day and happy to be back. The scores are up.

I left the day remembering if you can’t be good, be lucky. Turns out that I threw a hard ball and they knocked it out of the park!

Again I am grateful to be directing this contest with the caliber of pilots present.  Great job by all from the line crew, tow pilots and contest pilots and their crews.

 Thanks for tuning in, See you tomorrow for day 3.

Rex Mayes CD