Rest day

Another hot day in Forbes!

Some pilots are getting tired and asking for a rest day. So Attila called a rest day. 143km task down wind. Easy by Forbes standards. The launch opened at 1:00 today and the mandatory start was at 2:40. This helped keep every one from jumping into the launch line so I was able to get into line third. I got towed up by Bobby today and he dragged me to another pilot turning at 700m. I pinned off and joined the crappy climb. The lift wasn’t that good but the tugs kept feeding the thermal we were in and no one was turning the same circle. Their was no real core which had every one searching around for it. It really makes you keep your head up and look where your going. The lift topped out at 1700m. I headed off to the edge of the start circle with 3 other pilots. Someone found a climb 1km from the edge of the start circle. We climbed back up to base and then every one headed in a different direction. The start clock ticked over and I couldn’t decide which way to go. I headed west to some pilots that looked like they were climbing well. I was unable to find the lift and was flying around low trying to find some lift. Finally I found a weak thermal and climbed up just short of cloud base. I headed out on my own as I didn’t want to fly back to the start for a later start time. After the first few thermals I felt like I was starting to climb better. About 50km out I saw a pilot behind me climbing fast. He looked a long way off and I wasn’t that low but we had a huge forest in front of us. I wanted lots of height before I crossed. It turned into a good decision and I climbed quickly to cloud base. I headed across and arrived low on the other side. I was able to find solid lift and worked my way back to base. I saw two gliders fly over my head as I climbed. I was went on glide towards the mountains on course. I thought if I could get their it was on the wind ward side and I could ridge soar if their wasn’t any thermals. I arrived 500’ over the ridge just as a large cloud shadow was hitting the ridge. I hit some strong lift and climbed fast. I was about 50km out and my numbers went positive. I didn’t set my goal elevation and I knew the ground was a lot higher here. I continued to fly cautious as I didn’t want to land short. My numbers got worse every time I went on glide. Cloud base had been at 2700m but I was now hitting a shear layer at 2000m I wanted to have 1000m buffer to cover the high ground and leave myself some margin. I saw another pilot low about 12km out. I turned with him until the lift got weak and headed off to goal. I had 900m over goal and thought I should be able to make it. I pulled on some speed to make sure I would arrive before the pilot below me. I was looking for the goal line. Each day they send out a goalie who sets up a goal line. If there is no goal line we use a 400m goal cylinder. I saw a couple of pilots circling down and pilots scattered all over the ground below me. Finally I spotted a field with a lot of gliders parked in the shade. I arrived over goal with about 2000’ to spare. Three guys came in fast behind me. I got to watch 4 guys whack into the field below me. I didn’t think conditions were that bad. The water next to the field was showing the wind direction. I set up well back and came in fast on a long final approach. As I got low I noticed the field had a big slope to it. I know this tends to cause a wind shadow down low so it’s good to have lots of speed. I put in a perfect landing. It was nice to finally be in goal with the crowd. Attila, Micki and a few others raced into the ground just short of goal.
.