BS2015 Task2

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jdevorak
Posts: 273
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:37 am
Location: Kagel LZ

BS2015 Task2

Post by jdevorak »

Monday did not go well but, looking at the result, it didn’t go well for most. My driver didn’t show again after promising she would, I bumbed a ride mainly because Zippy pleaded my case. I am getting ahead of the story. It rained hard the night before. In the morning it was still overcast. The weather man (Larry Bunner) said a corridor would clear to the north about 1pm. A task was called with another briefing at 1pm for a final decision. One o’clock came around and it seemed to be happening, just much slower than expected. We were to meet again at 2 for a final final decision. At 2 they called a start at 4:20 and shortened the route by 40 kilometers. I was 11th to launch. I got to 6k with Davis Straub, Dave Gibson and others. We were on the downwind side of the start cylinder with a 15 mph wind and 45 minutes to the first start clock. I lost the slow climb. I decided it was an untenable position so I headed back toward the tow line hoping to find lift along the way. I didn’t and landed just short of the airstrip in a fenced off area with a locked gate. Dave Gibson landed right behind me. One of the Norwegians came out to help and found that the padlock had been cut and it was just hanging. Praise Rasta. I got back in the tow line and tried again. It was not as good the second time. Six of us were working 150 up 1500 off the deck and drifting like crazy. We all hung on. That’s when I had a brain fart. Last story I told you how I was having trouble gauging my distance to the edge of the cylinder. Zac told me to have a field that gave me distance to start cylinder. If it’s negative I am still in it. If it’s positive I drifted to far. Well now mine was positive and I hadn’t heard the beeps that told me I was good to go. I headed back upwind while the others continued their slow climbs. I was about a thousand over the ground and still outside the cylinder when I noticed I had 10 minutes to the SECOND start clock. I would never make it back for another tow so I just drifted down wind working every little bubble I could find. I never got back up but had a good landing in an easy to reach place. Now looking at results after midnight I see a lot of good pilots got minimum distance with only two at goal. It turns out that the scoring system assigns a big penalty for jumping the start by more than 5 minutes. The pilot gets minimum distance no matter how far they flew. That rule works well for me and I am awarded 13th place. The rule will be debated for the next 2 days.
eat right, exercise, die anyway!
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