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Hangola January 19 - 25, 2005

Flight Reports

18 degrees!? Damn. It was 75 here. Still blowing offshore. Another good 'snore day. Didn't get there until late as I was boogey boardin in the AM. Heh heh. I have my trail up the mtn pretty much finished.

Ahhhh, how sweet it was! Today there were clouds popping when I got up! It is about dam time I say! There were 2 days with good clouds but one was cancelled while we were in the air (the accident) and the other was called off out of respect and for safety issues to be addressed.

I had a good position early in launch line, winds were strong from the NNW. Course line was south. I got towed near a good one and wasted maybe 2 minutes fishing through 200 fat to a 600 core. That one turned to 8 and took me all the way to base, at about 9,500! How sweet it was. I wasted no time and immediately punched up wind crossing the streets also. I wanted to move hard west to track around the start circle. When the wind is crossing tail to the first turnpoint, you are best to make your way around the outside of the circle while you wait for the start. That way when you eventually do start the task, you can just fly straight downwind to the first turnpoint. With clouds and no other pilots, I was primed for a solo flight. I timed the start perfect. Cloud base, upwind of a street, directly upwind of the first turnpoint, exactly 50k (on the edge of the circle) the moment the clock struck. I plowed straight down wind looking for my next big fattie. Outside the start circle I had hit a couple of 8's so that was my minimum. Flying alone I couldn't take a straight line directly to the turnpoint. Instead I had to zig zag about 15 to 20 degrees to hit where I expected the big climbs. 4 in a row. Bang, bang, bang. Each time I found 400, I threaded around for my 6, to tighten up into my 8-9. When things really cranked the dialed up over 1,000fpm for minutes at a time. Straight to cloudbase for each of em! I had to practice timing my dash out from under the clouds so I wouldn't get whited out. STF had me at 90 to 100 kph in the air, and with the tail I was blowing past traffic on the highway below. 140kph groundspeeds at times.

It wasn't till I made an error going into the second turnpoint that I even say another glider. He was a couple thermals back behind. I picked what looked like a good set of cummies going towards the turnpoint but I picked the wrong ones. They were weakening when I got to them, and drifting across course line. I had to deviate, take a slower climb, then punch upwind for the TP. Bad call. Then I got my first strike of bad luck, no good indicators on courseline. I was down to 5k and not many good choices. That sounds high, but with big lift comes big sink. I took a cross wind to a ragged cloud and got TOTALLY DRILLED! I think I was lucky to get 2 to 1 glide for about 30 seconds. Later, when I finally found a light one, I realized my old track was downwind of a later forming dust devil. DOH! Timing can make such a difference! I failed to look 3 moves ahead and I cornered myself. In the process, 3 guys caught up and passed me. My scraggle came together enough for me to hunt for better and eventually I found my fat sixer. Took that till my final glide said "Go" (it was up to 7.8 by then) so I glided into goal 4th.

Can't help but think how things could have worked if I hadn't made that mistake. That was the key on this flight. You can't make any mistakes with the best guys chasing you down. When you do make mistakes, you better cover your ass well or you will get stomped!!!

I havn't seen the scores but most of the field took the third start. I should do well with bonus points for leaving early and getting to goal early. Most of the main guys flew faster, but those 2 items should work in my favor in the final tally.

Hope you all enjoyed the juice of the posts. Learn from my mistakes and be better XC pilots!

Kev C

Winds finally abated enough to get back into the sky today. Just three or four of us chomping at the bit to get into the air. Lauren was at a horse show. Sky looked good and forecast too so I was curious why Ron Gleason wasn't setting up. Said he didn't think it would be that great. Huh?

I was second to launch and found I was busier than a West Virginia Tooth Fairy trying to hold on while Lisa's tug bucked around the sky. Flew through some solid lift and started up in 200 to 350 but it was choppy and uncomfortable air. Topped that at 3,500 and went in search for more. Dropped to 2,200 before finding marginal lift back to about 2,800 where it went to zero sink. Moved under a darker part of the cloud and caught the ride of my life. My heart skipped a beat as the base tube was nearly ripped from my hands. Think I put my finger prints in the aluminum trying to hold on. The vario shreaked and I went to 4,275 in 5 turns. Got it on a barograph or I wouldn't believe it myself. Think I've flown in lift this strong before (vario was showing around 800 up) but it started more smoothly and grew. This was like flying into a wall of air going up fast! Cloudbase was coming at me quickly so I chose a way out and stuffed the bar before getting too close. Had two huge wire slaps as I blew out the side of the thermal into smoother air.

Now this may be just another flight for guys like Kevin but not for me. I flew around for several minutes just trying to breath again and when I finally started to search for lift, was unable to find any and decked it. Funny, the sky seemed to turn off abruptly after that and no one stayed in the air.

Talked again with Ron later and he said he thought it might be rough. He had seen an inversion and wind shear around 2800 that I had missed. That coupled with a strong lapse rate made for an interesting flight. Guess next time I'll pay more attention to the seasoned comp pilots. Anyway, no harm done and something fun to write in my log book.

Paul

Temperatures rose into the 70s today, and that combined with the promise of light winds lured us to Quest. The wind was stronger than forecast -- maybe 10 with higher gusts and some lulls, too -- but conditions seemed safe enough.

Ron, Paul, and Ray all towed up before I did and found lift under the same cloud. I followed immediately behind, but even with Lisa, my favorite tow-goddess pulling me, I could find nothing. The vario only bleated once, pathetically, on my rapid trip back to the LZ. Paul soon struggled home after nearly decking it a mile away. Ray was not so lucky and landed out. Since the sky was raining pilots I thought I might wait awhile longer and see if conditions would improve.

Ron flew longer in his rigid, and when he landed he agreed with what I had been thinking: it was getting better. I launched again about 3 -- or tried to. I came off the cart smoothly, but at 100 feet, started getting slammed. I tow lots, and I will tell you I have never felt anything like this before. Ginny leapt sideways and would go slack and then violently shudder. Jim hung onto the plane and I hung onto Griffin's basetube, but at 400 feet my pussy-##s weak link broke. Great. Now I had to land in the monster that had just attacked the runway. My glider set me down neatly, but adrenaline was practically spilling out my eyeballs by then.

Paul decided he couldn't wait after my lovely flying demonstration and launched while I repaired my tow line. I followed him up and ... it was PERFECT. I boated along, vario chirping pleasantly, following a street that made interstate 95 look short. We tried to fly upwind, but I had trouble getting where I wanted without losing too much altitude. Winds were perhaps 15 knots at altitude.

But I sure had fun and figured out lots about where to find the best lift under the street. I know lots of it sounds obvious but the sunny side of the clouds worked much better than the dark centers, like off to the side of the street. I flew about an hour 10 minutes, got to over 3900 feet, and landed a bit after Paul when the clouds all suddenly dissipated.

It's Rick's birthday tonight and a band showed up at Quest to help us party -- which apparently will be going on all weekend. I gotta go find my martini glass...

Lauren

So a bunch of us bolted out of hot dry Hay to head to Mt Beauty for the Bogong Cup. Actually, the day we left there were incredible rainstorms. I have to get some of Bog Jonny's pictures. There was a flat bottom Cummie maybe 100 feet off the deck. Literally a gorgeous cummie at ground level.

The sky looked great while we were setting up. CLOUDS! Who doesn't love clouds? The clouds looked great until about 20 minutes before launch open when some high stuff took over the entire sky! Not good. Launches were uneventful and the lift under the cirrus was mellow. A few fatties before the start gate. A bunch of good guys hung back for the second clock and Oleg even hesitated and waited for the third. About 5 minutes into the wait he bolted. Confused, I hung back with Little Jonny and waited for start number three. The sky was looking better, the cirrus was clearing out, and I could see lots more blue and sunshine. The dash to the frist turnpoint was down a gradually diminishing ridge. Jonny and I got a good line and left the ridge for the first turnpoint out in the valley. On our way we passed pilots from the first start retreating back after grabbing the TP. We did the same course line and by my guesses we were at least 15 or 20 minutes faster then those pilots we had seen going the other way. Once back on the ridge the lift wasn't very strong. The north west wind we had been battling was dying down fast, and turning into a west with a touch of south. That was great for the ridge we were on but the courseline called for us to cross the valley into the wind, and fly up the center of a different valley parallel to the new wind direction. Thinking I was relatively high I headed out when my climb got slow. I was at about 5k and that seemed pretty high. Halfway across the main valley I realized how foolish that move was! The valley floor is about 1,600 feet high, and with a headwind... you do the math. I was already in survival mode heading towards the leeward sides of a valley mouth. No triggers there! In a last ditch effort I ran tail between my legs to the south side of the valley. That gets better sun here late in the day and my hope was some fingers might be working. No good love there and I went down in the only cowless field for as far as I could see!

Getting my gear out proved to be quite an adventure! The field below me was packed with upset milk cows. I don't think they like Americans because they wouldn't quit the, I am really irritated with constipation MOOOOOO! The field on the other side had double rows of electric lines and some big ass bulls in it! Luckily an adjacent field led towards a house and a driveway to the road. The adventures never end!

Most of the field landed between 40 and 50k around the 70k course. I thought I understood how the scoring system works but I guess I don't. I got drilled in the day's scores for just a handful of kilometers. Oh well.

Kev C

While I love reading Kevin's reports, they are discouraging in a way. Makes me realize how little I know about something I have tried to learn a lot about.

Finally got another PG lesson. At Little Black -- a 330 foot hill 15 miles or so east of Torrey Pines. This was a crash and burn type lesson. We were all still alive at the end but nursing minor injuries. ps: Ya gotta walk up the hill.

Had several good HG flights at 'snore and Horse. Got 1500 over at Horse Friday. Not bad for a winter day. And some not so good ones. Sled whack at 'snore yesterday.

The 18 up to Marshall/Crestline will probably be closed until Mid Feb.

Sunny and 70s, light winds.

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This page last updated February 2, 2005