A Fine Day Was Had by Some
After a pleasant rest day around the local area, it was time to get back to work. Again, the weather was very unusual for this area. Even the locals said they would not have flown any of the days we called “Contest Days”. Richard Craggy said he would have been playing golf instead of flying. When we asked why he said, since the weather is so good all the time, why would we fly on days like this. And so it went. At the 8:30am Task Advisor’s meeting, many things were discussed. Various plans were made to draft a task we could fly safely. The biggest hurdle was the launch. We could not use Craggy Start release area since you could not get high enough, early enough to start on task. Rex and the advisors came up with a novel approach. We would tow higher and further from the contest airport
and do a kind of remote start. The tow still dropped you in the start circle but much further down track. Most of the self-launchers helped out to relieve pressure on the towplanes. It was not only very efficient, but made the day a little more fun.
Our 2:30hr Turn Area Task today took us from Craggy Start to Callahan, Lefko, China Start, Quartz Valley, Duzel (I love this point!!! It always seems to work), R Ranch and home. When the start gate opened several pilots jumped on the task to try and finish before the end of the day. We started just after 3pm with WS and TX. Someone said there was a little start circle roulette going on but I would not know what that looks like. WS and TX took a more easterly track than us and soon we were almost a 1,000ft higher. We went deep into the turnpoint because we had good air and several markers to help center the thermals. The downwind run to Lefko was very easy. Our speed was up and several cu started to pop. China Start was another good run where we saw a couple of really good climbs. At this point we were seeing more Standard Class and Regional short wingers than the big ships. After turning China Start, we started a really smooth glide into the Quartz Valley turn area. It was so smooth and pleasant I must have taken 20 pictures. When I finally woke up, we did not see a single glider in the turn area and no one on the way out. Usually that means there is no lift there and the only gliders in the area are on the ground. Passing around the midpoint of the area we turned around and headed for Duzel (remember that point?) We found a really nice climb that gave us final glide with a MC 3 home. In hindsight, we should have gone a little further into the circle because it did have good air. We still had not seen many long wingers and maybe I was working on our winners’ speech. Everyone knows how that always works out. I’m not a ClearNav user mainly because our partnership had LX equipment before the ClearNav hit the market. It is pretty user friendly and I have not had any problem doing the simple functions like loading tasks and navigation. However, when it comes to flying a good final glide, I’m
behind the curve. Heading to R Ranch we deviated to the west to run down the spine by Gunsight. The lift was great and we had been on final glider for a while. Everything was looking perfect. I even did some Doug Jacobs math (grab your phone, figure out how far and how fast to avoid being under time). The computer and my phone calculator app said we would be over even if we had a very fast groundspeed. We went to about the midpoint of the turn area and then headed for home. At the finish our speed was very good and the time showed we were over by a couple of minutes. However, when the scores were published, we finished in third place and were 3 minutes under time. This mistake cost us second for the day. It is amazing how much your final glide can improve your task speed made good over a long task. It pays to practice this part of the flight on days when the weather does not allow a cross country flight. Simply run out 25 miles (or what ever the weather will allow) and fly a final glide to 1,500ft above your airport. Not only will you get confidence in your glide computer, your view of the last glide, but also to practice thermalling at low altitude as you climb away for the next final glide run. Look on the score sheet tonight, add 2-3kph to your speed, where did you end up on the score sheet? It is very easy to improve this facet of your flying.
After the ships were put away and the last of the aero retrieves landed, we all took some time to enjoy root beer floats. I’m going to steal this idea from Noelle for the next Seniors. Nothing was more enjoyable than a root beer float at Toomers Corner in Auburn, Alabama during my college years. Of course, the twenty somethings never discovered the joy of that creamy delight. It would just get their iPhones too sticky!
Tonight I had the pleasure to meet a pilot I’ve only followed on the OLC. Kempton Izuno flies some of the longest flights in the US. It isn’t unusual to see him takeoff early in the morning and return just before dark. Every time I review his flights, it is amazing the patience he must have when the weather takes a turn for the worse and you are hundreds of miles from home. I would need a crane to get out of the ship if I flew as many hours in the day as Kemp does! Team 98 is looking forward to the challenge of flying against the Cochrain/Izuno dynamic duo.
Well everyone, time to do some work for the Seminole-Lake Gliderport tonight so I will have to sign off. I hope you enjoy reading these posts as much as I have enjoyed sharing my experiences flying in the mountains for the first time.
Take care and just remember, there are only10 weeks until the beginning of college football.
Cheers,
Rich Owen
Team 98 Back Seater