A Day of Poorly Behaving Thermals
After a well-deserved rest day, we are back to writing about the Open and 15 Meter National Championships. First, I would like to make a correction to my story from Sunday’s report. We missed identified the two ladies who looked at the closed runway and provided important information to the CD regarding its conditions. Kathy Lee and Laura Lubon were the actual people involved. Thank you, ladies, for keeping us all safe.
The pilot’s meeting was somewhat subdued since the gravity well was off limits due to school was in session again. The weather brief from Richard Kellerman was again quite humorous. Monday was going to be the worse weather we have flown in since arriving at Hobbs. Cloud bases were expected to be right at 10,000ft later in the day but lower for the start. Again, Richard proclaimed Tuesday was going to be hopeless and he needed a break. Think he was pushing for a rest day?
Grid time didn’t change and we were all out on the ramp by 11:30am expecting a 12pm launch of the first 4 sacrificial lambs, I mean sniffers. Team 98 was the second ship to launch and we thought it was slightly early to take to the air. We had Scott and the Red Baron Pawnee to tow us and we were up in a flash. Pete found a weak thermal that got better passing 8,000ft but it topped out there. After several reports from the lambs, the launching of the fleet was delayed 15 minutes. That was about the amount of time necessary for the sky to find its footing and the fleet was launched. Our ground crew got the entire launch completed in under an hour. For a reward, Chris Carter got all of them Subway sandwiches. Before the launch, there was some trash talk between the two launch lines yelling back and forth about who was the best. After the launch, the volunteers were accessing how to get the cars at the launching end of the runway to the pilot’s trailers. To their surprise, it was very nice of 9B to leave his car running during the launch. The air-conditioning was very much appreciated by the volunteers. Everyone else was not as considerate.
The Open and 15-meter class were sent on the same TAT task. After Start B, Andrews, Seagraves, Tatum, Levingston, and Finish. Radii for the turnpoints were 20km, 20km, 20km, and 5km for a steering point.
Max altitude in the early portion of the launch was less than 9,000ft but this gave way to wave that allowed several ships to climb to over 11,400ft. I saw one of the ships and thought it was a powered aircraft above the clouds, but Pete correctly identified it as a glider. To my defense, we don’t see wave in Florida much. However, we moved towards the start line and found the wave. About half of the pilots got in the wave but not everyone got to 11,400ft. The first leg was a process of dodging clouds and finding a way to get below cloudbase and get. AG spent the first 40km (25mi) cruising above the clouds and not turning at all. The pilots who managed their course and the altitude gained in the wave on the first leg, did very well on the score sheet. The trouble was just starting though. Average cruising bands were between 6,500ft and 8,500ft in the slow areas with the upper altitudes increasing to 10,500ft in the good areas. From Andrews to Seagraves was a very tricky leg where several pilots got very low. Terry Stroud in 7X was one of those who got down to 2,000ft. He thought he was in real trouble until he saw 3 ships significantly below his altitude. Terry saved a number of pilots, hope they bought him a beer. Once past Seagraves and on the way to Tatum, there were two streets that formed. One was right next to a big, black, gnarly storm and the other was slightly up wind. Obviously, the winners chose the dark section while us older more experienced pilots chose the safer route. Now it could have been they got to the street 10 minutes before when it was more benign but we needed some artistic license to make up for our slow speed. Final glide was looking really good until long strings of heavy sink affected everyone around Livingston. Surprisingly, no one landed out.
Once on the ground we received some really good news, Tuesday would be a rest day. Everyone seemed to gather around the 89 and 98 camp. I think it was more a factor of that’s where P7’s beer wagon was. Stories were told and low saves embellished. At sunset the gang scattered to seek out dinner and plans were made for the next day.
In first place for Open Class was Dick Butler with a speed of 132kph (82mph) over a distance 339km (210mi). Second place was Jim Lee and third was Keith Baugh. For 15 Meter Class, Rick Indrebo with a speed of 123kph (76mph) over 312km (194mi) with Gary Ittner only .27kph (.16mph) difference. In third was Jae Walker.
In overall rankings, 15 Meter is Rick Indrebo (4758 points), Gary Ittner (4584 points), and Jae Walker (4582 points). Open Class has Dick Butler (4716 points) in first, Dan Mockler (4580 points) in second and Jim Lee (4397 points). Rick and Dick (sounds like a comedy routine) have flown the most consistent and the scores show it. Tomorrow the weather is expected to have some wrinkles so a shakeup in the overall scores could still occur. We feel there are 4 flying days left to be had and those of us a little further down the score sheet are looking for a moving day. We just don’t know which way we will move. Pete and I had a rough flight where we spent most of the day on the back foot. We had some company as Erik Nelson slipped out of 2nd place in 15 meters but he is only 5 points behind Gary Ittner. Several pilots who did well also found themselves below 2,000ft but were able to climb out successfully. How may times can the leaders frequent these low altitudes, and successfully climb out, in the next 4 days?
This morning, Andy Blackburn (Rules Committee Chairman) had a Rules Input Meeting that 12 pilots and the CD attended. They expressed their thoughts on the FAI hybrid rules that we operated under for national contests the past two years. We also discussed the Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS) rule, finish penalties, combining several classes and handicapping. Many of the inputs will be seen in the upcoming survey that will go out to all pilots on the Pilot Ranking List for their consideration. From your inputs, the Rules committee changes or adds new rules to abide by your wishes. These draft rules will again go out to the pilots for comment before being sent to the Contest Committee Chairman and the SSA Board of Directors for final approval.
Several of the pilots and crews went to Carlsbad to visit the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Everyone had a great time, until a follow-on leg to Milton’s Brewery, found that it was closed on Tuesday. Others went to the movies, Top Gun Maverick of course, or did laundry and took a break from the heat. Around 2pm, the storms and severe weather advisories began. Even now at 8pm the weather is quite unstable and raining. Tonight, a pulled pork dinner was hosted by the Llano Estacado Soaring Society. The local soaring club has many of the SSA staff in their membership.
Well, it is time to close the book on the day. See you tomorrow.
Cheers,
Rich Owen
Team 98 Backseater