Day four.

Ice cream after flying, it's a tradition

Heather and Christine, hot hot pilots.

Temperature cools slightly. With the heat backing off I’ve been able to sleep better and don’t get worn out so bad on launch. With Paul pushing to make it to a pilots meeting we get to launch earlier and Fiona and Doug win a prize in the daily draw. You have to be on launch to claim your prize. Yesterday they called Fiona, Paul and Christine. One of the California guys yelled stop pulling Canadians their not here. Fiona and I picked a 130km triangle to the SE. If I’m going to gain any ground I need to start scoring some big flights. I got ready right away and slotted into line at 1:30. I got off the hill before 2:00 and got over launch right away. I stayed up in some rough lee side lift while I watched several gliders struggle low in front of launch. After about ten minutes it finally turned on and we were able to get high and cross over to the flats. A paraglider helped me get high on the rim on the other side and I was off. Again I was going slow working lift that was dying out and milking every thermal for all it’s worth. Fiona heard you need to be high before you cross the canyon. I found some lift in a field just before I got to the canyon and got as high as possible. As I headed across the canyon I spotted a jet flying fast below me about 1000’ off the deck. He flashed a light at me letting me know he saw me too. I love watching planes fly by, as long as there not too close. When I got the other side I spotted another glider low climbing up on the cliffs. It looked like Fiona so I stayed above her to wait for her to catch up. Once the glider got to my height I headed out but they didn’t follow. Turned out it wasn’t Fiona. I decided I needed to speed up and tried to push hard to make some time. I skipped the next tow climbs which didn’t seem very strong before I noticed the ground was looking shaded by the high cirrus cloud moving over me. Damn, bad time to be pushing hard. Now low I was trying to hang on to what ever I could find. The drift was huge and pushing me away from my turn point. I soon landed. Turned out the day shut down early and their wasn’t very many good flights any way. I should have done better if I would have been more observant but it was a good learning experience. The flying here is awesome.