Day 1 I did not do well. I had issues. None of which I resolved in the air. Most of which I resolved between 11pm and midnight. My vario was loosing charge. I would fully charge it and a minute after I turned it on it charge would be down to 75%. I was afraid it wouldn’t last a whole task. Because I was trying to put some more charge in it I was late to the flight line. Issue two: I was back of the launch line. I had a great start. I got up to 8500 and crossed the start cylinder just a couple of minutes past the fourth start gate. The issue was that I was all by myself. There were no lift indicators and I had to make all of my own decisions. It was a triangle task. The first turn point was a landmark I knew. I paralleled the freeway to be within a glide of an accessible landing spot. Well the turn point was not at the landmark and I bisected the angle (off course line to the east). Issue three was that my vario was telling me that I was flying way to fast. I ended up letting my VG off to keep the speed down to what the vario said I should be doing. I landed 15 miles short of the first turn point, next to last.
Issue resolutions. I had previously downloaded a firmware update for the vario. The default setting for the battery type was wrong. I was fully charged but the meter wasn’t seeing the expected voltage. The cure for issue 2 (flying alone) was to get there early and suite up early. Issue 3, I was still using the polar from my single surface glider. Talk about dumb. My goal was to do better than I did at Big Springs. I revised my goal for day 2. Do better than Dietch.
SCFR learning curve
Moderator: Comp Committee
SCFR learning curve
eat right, exercise, die anyway!
Day2 I did much better. What a difference a day makes. I was determined to launch earlier. Unfortunately everybody else had the same plan and I was toward the back of the line based on my next to last base on my SCFR standing. Lift did not turn on as early as Sunday so I still got in with a gaggle that included Greg and Dietch and Mat, a Crestline pilot who works at Wills Wing. My issues from day 1 were resolved but I found some more to take their place. We flew another triangle but it had an extra turn point with a big cylinder so we could catch lift from some big rugged mountains. The gaggle had some good climbs to 9k and long glides with big sink. On the way to the first turn point the gaggle started circling at two thousand AGL. After several minutes Greg came on the radio and asked, “Why are we turning here?� I replied that it was zero sink. It eventually got better and we climbed back up enough to make the still distant turn point. We cruised past it but I never heard the happy music. We got low again before the mountains. As I approached I saw Greg turning low. I knew it was something real and Greg would stick with it. I was happy. I had good chum below me. It was a slow climb and several gliders and an Atos came in with us. We climbed up to about 5k and the weak thermal was drifting the wrong way. I dove at the mountain. The problem with the mountain was if you didn’t find any lift there was no good close place to land. If you did you were on the wrong side of the irrigation canal with no road and no way to cross the canal. My bravery worked to my advantage. Pryciak taught me turn toward the mountain. Several of the other pilots refused to go and ending up landing there in the safe zone. Mat from Chrestline followed me in. I flew along the cliff and found a strong tight one. Mat and I circled up 2,000 over the top. I was ready to head for the 3rd waypoint but I saw Mat going over the back. I took another look at my vario’s direction pointer and it was pointing the way Mat went. Apparently we hadn’t made the second turn point with the big cylinder. I had to go 3k over the back to get the happy music. I followed the pointer to the third turn point. I wasn’t watching my instrument pointer close enough. The numbers starting getting bigger and I flew ¾ mile past the ¼ mile cylinder. That became my day 2 issue. After turn 3 my pointer seemed to point down a paved road to the west and goal. I followed the road into the farm fields with no further lift. Kendall was behind me and he followed the true pointer which went to the north of the farmlands over dryer ground. I landed 20 miles short of goal. Greg landed 12 miles short of goal. What I need to do better is to follow the arrow. That night Greg and Chippy taught me that when the direction is true there, are two little arrows that parallel the big one. That display shows you are correct on your heading.
eat right, exercise, die anyway!
Keep Writing
Keep writing Jay - it is interesting reading. Wish you the best of luck & skill
Day 3 was worse than day 1. I still have an unresolved issue from day 1. Because few pilots have been taking the first start, they pushed it back a half hour to 1:45. Because of the extra time I though I could go check out the task and turn points on Google Earth. There was no way I was going to miss another turn point. The unresolved issue was that I was next to last in the launch line. And it moved really slowly. I think I stood in line an hour. The temperature was over 100. My tow went well and I pined off near a small gaggle with Chippy in it, I tried to zip up and my zipper broke, The gaggle had a slow climb with a lot of drift. The course was into the wind. By the time I hit 3,000 AGL I was on the wrong side of the 5k start cylinder. The climb seemed to slow down even more so I thought I would cross to the course side of the start cylinder. It didn’t work. Jeff stayed with it and eventually got to 7K. I landed back at start deciding I would be better off fixing my zipper instead of taking a re-lite. (a second tow), Especially true because I had a hard time getting my legs out. Having towed up at least I will get minimum distance. In Texas I missed two days. I hoped I would do better here. The day turned out to be very difficult for most. I really need to make a stronger effort get in line earlier.
eat right, exercise, die anyway!
Day 4. An ongoing issue I’ve had was getting to the launch line earlier. Today I had my harness ready to take out there right after the pilot’s briefing. I had my glider set up on the side of the motel that was closest to take off. I did not go back to the room to preview the course. It didn’t help. I still ended up next to last after the higher ranked pilots slipped in front of me. Fortunately it didn’t matter today. Russell got his Dragonfly fixed and we had four tugs today. Everybody got in the air before the first start gate. At about 2,000 AGL I got pulled by a gaggle that contained Kendall and Chippy. I pinned off. We had to about 6,000 MSL when things seemed to fall apart. Everybody seemed to be wondering around so I thought I would go check out a tower a two miles south of the motel that often acts as a trigger spot. It was on course line and I thought that if it worked I could get a jump on the others. It didn’t work and I came limping back well below the stack. Shortly after that I heard Chippy say he had hit 7200 and was going on course. I saw Kendall a mile to the east and circling. I went to join him. We had a medium slow climb all by ourselves. We got to about 6800 when the second start gate arrived. A storm front was developing to our south. The course line was to the south west. We decided to go. We spread out to maximize our chances of finding lift and headed toward some small mountains about 8 miles away. By the time we got there we could see the storm had produced a small (by Arizona standards) gust front. Greg found a climb that started weak and became a steady 400 up. At about 7,000 I could see the dust coming our way and I was getting nervous. I made a run for it heading down the course line. Greg decided to keep climbing feeling it would be safer higher. I got about 4 miles down the road when the meet organizer came on our frequency and said the task was stopped. That means everybody gets scored for the distance they made up until the stop point. I headed back to the north west looking for a place to land that was easily accessible by truck. I got back to the mountain where Greg was still climbing and the dust storm was almost there. I circled down quick and landed in 15 mph with my VG still on. Because of the wind the landing was good. The driver showed up in time to help me finish breaking down and keep me from freaking out. Greg got to 12,700 and flew back to the motel. He stayed in the air until things settled down and then landed. The lesson I learned today was the best race tactic in questionable conditions is to take the first start gate. That way you get the most distance if the task gets stopped. Of coarse there is another train of thought. Stay safe.
eat right, exercise, die anyway!
Day 5 made me feel both good and bad at the same time. I took special preparations to be ready early. I didn’t take advantage of them. Because everybody got towed up 15 mins before the first start clock yesterday. I thought that it wouldn’t matter today. I was last in line again. There was one gaggle with everybody in it. Everybody was in one thermal, more than 30 gliders. The tug pilot waved me off early at the bottom of the stack. I got the pinch off with another couple of pilots (who turned out to be free flyers not in the competition). I flew another hour trying to find another up elevator. I considered landing back at the motel just so I could leave my glider set up. I saw the other gliders land and I thought that if I could just get into the entry start cylinder 4 miles away I could get minimum distance points. I left on task at 4200. I made the start and found a bubble that gave me another 300 feet to play with. I continued on. On the north side of town I was looking for a place to land and found 50 up. I worked it hopping to get to the next empty lot. I eventually turn on and I climbed to 8k drifting over the middle of town. I went on glide for the first turn point 20 miles away. I got within 2.5 miles of it and landed next to a paved road. I felt good about myself until I found out how the field did. The all flew in a big group and were happy despite the hazards. Half the field made goal. I got depressed.
eat right, exercise, die anyway!
Day 6 pulled me out of my despondence. I got to fly some with the big boys. On day 4 I found out for certain it was my radio that was keying up. I have a circuit board for volume control under my shoulder pad that developed a short. Day 6 I flew without radio just so I wouldn’t block the frequency. I asked Greg to give my position reports to the driver. I used all my tricks from yesterday to get ready early and threw in a couple more. I got in the launch line before I suited up. The harness is just draped over the shoulders unzipped for cooling. None of the buckles are clipped. The helmet is off and clipped around the nose wires with gloves and glasses. That way I don’t sweat onto the lenses. I have a wet bandana to help me cool off. I made it to the line in front of Greg and Chippy. The lift turned on more slowly so there were a lot of gliders still around. I keyed off of Larry Bunner, trying to copy his turns. When he took out to catch the first gaggle, I followed. Then there were 30 gliders to watch. The gaggle moved very slowly. The climbs were less than 200 ft/min and everyone seemed timid. Every stop for a climb I worked myself a little higher in the stack. About 5 miles out from the second turn point I came across Kraig near the top of the stack. The climb reduced even more and I saw Kraig pull on some vg and I did likewise. I flew a couple hundred yards off his right wing. The gaggle found a better line off to the north a bit and Kraig turned back. I did too. When the scores came out I noticed that I got 20 lead points for that. I got to the second trun point in good shape. I was by myself but I saw a lot of chum below me. The course turned north and went 10 miles into a valley with no paved roads. I got my best climb of the day over some small mountains boarding the east side of the valley. Most of the others went for bigger mountains further east. I climbed 900 ft/min getting to 12.5k. I didn’t see any reason to be as far off the course line as the others. I left before I topped out because I was getting cold. I also thought that when the day shuts down it turns off quick. I wanted to make as much distance as possible before that happened. The vario said I would hit the turn pint with 7 thousand feet. Getting to that turn point seemed to take forever. When I turned around and looked ten miles south to get to the nearest paved road I got spooked. I followed the dry river bed straight on course line with no lift. I think I was afraid because I was doing close to 50 mph. Latter I found out Greg wasn’t to far behind me. He took a track further east near the small mountains that boardered the valley. He almost made it to goal with one additional climb. The guys who did make goal, got over 15k above the big mountains. The did one glide out the 10 miles and back to the motel. My fear of landing away from a pave road got in the way of me doing better, but I’m still happy I got to fly with the big boys.
eat right, exercise, die anyway!
Day 7. Weather forecast said there would be a strong inversion at 4k until 12:30. A 65 mile out and back was called with a start clock at 2pm. Only Jonathan suited up. About 12:15 we were hit by a couple of tiny gust fronts from the north. Then we got hit by several dust devils from the south. Jonathan's test flight ended with difficulty. There was a micro burst visible in the direction of the called task. About 1:45 Dustin went up in the Dragonfly to check things out. It sill looked questionable so they called to task.
eat right, exercise, die anyway!