Day 6 and 7 Report

Well, cross country racing isn't a sport for those who want quick results. Getting good at this is going to take some more time and experience.

The last two days have been riddled with beginners mistakes. Ones that I will definitely learn from, but still frustrating to make.


Day 6


It's been said that it gets especially stable here during the first few days of a heat wave. Yesterday was the first day of about 5 that are forecasted to be over 100 deg F. We gridded in the heat and lanuched to Craggy to the west. I was able to get a reasonable climb, and a decent start, at about 9500ft (500 ft below the top of the start cylinder). The CD changed the task mid-air to a Modified assigned task where pilots choose their path for 3 hrs. I had an ok (ok is relative, I've never been so low, or had such weak thermals to work - but everyone else was in the same boat) run to China, and then decided to come back north to Duzel Rock, hooked Lefko and then decided that I was going to go to R-Ranch since I had tried the day before and wasn't able. A little voice inside my head said that probably wasn't a good idea, but I wanted to see if I could do it and then get out. I got a weak climb to about 7000ft on the back side of Craggy and then decided to run into R-Ranch. It was very still the entire way in, and I was banking that Craggy - the mountain that we climb on every day at the start - would be working and that I could climb out there. I got to Craggy and it was dead. 4kts sink even, and I was forced to head back to Siskiyou. I finished the task but I was once again under time - about 1.5 hrs under time in fact. Once I landed the locals told me that Craggy never works in the afternoon, and when the winds are from the north, the valley gets washed out especially early due to the marine layer blowing in from the Medford OR valley to the north. Grr!

Day 7

The day 7 forcast was also stable, and the CD called a short turn area task. Minimum distance was 66 miles - that short of a distance means that the weather really is iffy. I was 9th to launch and I had a surprisingly ok time getting to Gunsite and into the start cylinder. The lift however was bubbly. Sometimes you'd ride a bubble to the top and sometimes you'd come under people who were going up and there'd be nothing at all. In the start clyinder I left a thermal that really wasn't working all that well, and turned in under DDT (Garrett Willat) and found nothing. At this point my compuer (which is set up conservatively) was telling me that I had marginal glide back to Montague, and I coudln't make it to Siskiyou. So, at this point I had two choices. I could stay in the moutains and hope that I could find some lift, risking landing in a field between Gunsite and Montague, or I could head back into the lower terrain and still have an airport in glide, risking that I might not find lift over the foothills or in the valley. I decided to head out. As I suspected (I really should listen to my gut instinct - it's right more often than I realize) I didn't find any lift, and thought I'd have to land at Montague. I was able to climb enough to get to Siskiyou and decided to land and start over. I got a relight to Craggy (the north wind was blowing) and I didn't find anything - again just sink. At that point my choices were to fling myself and the hills, knowing that if I didn't find anything I'd have to land in a field, or call it a day. I decided to come home. Frustrated I landed and put the glider away. There were 6 landouts and several competitors have dropped out of the contest and gone home.

I know what my mistakes were, I should have given it a little more time in the mountains and tried to find some lift. However, the glider and I are still in one piece, and I'm still in 27th place! No major changes!