Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Day two, another tough one.

Today's task was 163km dog leg north of Forbes. The forecast for today was for low cloud base at 6000'.  Weak lift and strong wind over 20km on the ground.  I put my name in for the early launch but I just didn't think I was going to be able to stay in the start circle for 2hrs.  So instead I went to the back of the line.  Jonny and Craig also waited until late to launch.  This seem to be a good idea as about 40 pilots landed and had to relight.  I towed to about 300' and broke a week link.

After landing, having some water, I got ready to go again.  I managed to hang on the second time but was the roughest tow I've ever had.  I was towed into a great thermal and climbed out to 6100'.  The air was very smooth and I was really enjoying my flight.  My plan was to stay conservative and try and stay as high as possible.  I was turning in light lift and drifting along in the strong wind.  I was alone as most of the field was blown out of the start circle at the first start.  On my second glide I wasn't able to find any lift and was soon landing.  I made 40km of the task and as it turns out the farm I landed at wasn't that easy to find.  My driver had to circle around before they found the road to get to me leaving me waiting for 2hrs.  The wind is forecast to be lower tomorrow so looking forward to better days ahead.

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