Club Class Day 2 Report
Contest Day 2 and Rest Day Report
Good evening race fans,
Yesterday was Contest Day 2. Compared to Contest Day 1, Contest Day 2 brought us much more straightforward weather, albeit with relatively low cloudbases (between 10k and 11k ft) and wind-sheared thermals. CD Bif Huss gave us a 2.5 hr Assigned Area Task that consisted of two laps of the same course in the local area around Moriarty. Expecting OD, I started almost immediately after the gate opened with P7 and AZ2. While I had a good run into the first turnpoint cylinder, the deceptively beautiful cloudstreets made most of the rest of my flight a struggle. Maybe one in five clouds were honest, and among the few honest clouds, it was difficult to correlate the thermal locations under the clouds with the cloud features, wind direction, and sun angle. Turns out that most everyone shared the same sentiment. Given the surprisingly nontrivial conditions, I was grateful for an easy and uneventful final glide home.
Gary Ittner continued his indomitable winning streak by winning Contest Day 2 with a handicapped speed of 103 kph. Gary also won Contest Day 1 and both practice days. Gary was followed by Tony Condon in second place and Chris Gough in third. Yours truly somehow managed to pull off fourth!
Bif declared today a rest day due to the possibility of significant OD in the task area. In accordance with Murphy’s Law, the weather turned out to be soarable with higher cloudbases than yesterday (although there was still significant OD north of Moriarty near Santa Fe). C'est la vie.
My Dad and I commemorated the rest day by flying to Los Alamos to visit the Bradbury Science Museum, the Manhattan Project history museum operated by the Los Alamos National Laboratory. For the wayward soaring pilot, the Los Alamos airport offers a wide runway, an air-conditioned airport office, and a courtesy car to drive into town. Just beware of the restricted airspace south of the runway.
Today is also Mitch and Kimmine Hudson’s 10th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, they hosted the entire contest at their hangar for a delicious New Mexican dinner. Mitch and Kimmine, Happy 10th wedding anniversary!
The rumor on the airport is that tomorrow is supposed to bring classical Moriarty soaring with strong thermals and high cloudbases. I’m looking forward to it.
See you at the airport,
Michael Marshall