SCFR2015 Task 7

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

SCFR2015 Task 7

Post by jdevorak »

Task 7 and I am certain it is Saturday because it’s the last day. Awards have been handed out. I didn’t get any (no surprise). What I did get is a better perspective. Flying Kagel is nice and all but there is so much more to flying. It is NOT routine. I head out for places unknown. I don’t know where the next thermal will be. I don’t know how much altitude I need to get there. If I don’t get there I don’t know if there will be places to land along the way. What direction will the wind be coming from? In Arizona there are no wind indicators. You figure it out with your instrument and your drift. If there are places to land, will there be a road for retrieval? If not, am I strong enough to hike my glider out? For example, day 6 I landed in a nice sod farm half way in between to dirt roads. One had some big power lines which would make it easier for my driver to find me. I put my harness on my back and started walking the half mile. Half a kilometer away there was an irrigation canal the truck would not be able to cross. I crossed on boards the truck would not be able to use. No worries, that was part of the adventure and I lived to fly day 7. My neck was sore from the other 6. I didn’t complain and I didn’t think I’ll never do that again. Like Conan the Barbarian said, “That which does not kill you makes you stronger�. Back to day 7: The entry start was a 25k circle around the first turn point. That put the circle about 2k north west of take-off. The hot shots figured out which direction the drift would be and staged up the cylinder to the north. The rest of us didn’t figure out the probable wind and had a course line more upwind. Ten kilometers out the lift was weak and the second gaggle slowed down. I hung with them because the day before having others as additional information allowed me to fly better. I notice the town ahead, Maricopa, was in shade so I was content to just try and out climb them. I didn’t of course because everybody was watching how everybody else was doing. However I wasn’t satisfied with zero sink and so when the shade up ahead broke, I went for it. My thought was that we were wasting valuable day light. My success in the Texas comp has made me bolder. The others followed. My gambled didn’t pay off. Just as I approached the turn point my head wind turned into a tail wind. I glided .2 km from the happy music. At 25 feet I made a 90 degree left turn so I wouldn’t land down wind. After I did I realized that a thermal was popping off and that’s what changed the wind. The pilots behind me used that to climb out, except for Steve Pearson, who landed with me. My gamble didn’t pay off but I’m proud I tried. You can’t win if you don’t try.
The results aren’t final but as of now Jonny Durand won. Pedro Garcia, who visited Sylmar twice in the last month, was second. Kraig Coomber was third. Zac Majors was crowned the national champion for 2015. I finished 31 of 35 pilots. Ken Andrews was 20th. Greg Kendall had bad luck the last day and dropped to 25th overall.
eat right, exercise, die anyway!
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