Flytec Rally (Day 7)

It took a few extra minutes to limber up when I crawled out of the tent on the last day of the Flytec Rally.  Two weeks of flying was starting to show with stiff muscles and harness blisters.  After a leisurely breakfast in the shade with Bill and Patrick I walked over to help with a photo-shoot.  Dustin, Jeff S, Jeff O, and Johnny were going to do some formation flying with Bobby running the helmet cam.  I wound up Rhett as he towed Jeff S and Johnny up at the same time.  I made sure I ran to the outside as Bobby was following right behind them as they rolled (ran) out.

The task for the day was a 87 mile (140 km) out-and-back to a turn point called "Shady" to the northwest just south of Ocala.  Although many pilots worried about the lack of clouds, I was more worried about the sea breeze blowing through.  Clouds started popping as the launch window opened so I jumped in as soon as pilots started drifting to their gliders.

Bobby dropped me in a good climb and I played at base for 30 minutes by myself.  Almost the entire field gathered in a climb to the northwest and we formed the first massive gaggle of the meet.  I didn't like the pseudo-in-control bobbing around so I headed back towards the field to find a saner place to wait.  It didn't take long for the gaggle to also head back so I just had to put up with the chaos until the second start time rolled over.

I knew it was going to be a long day so I wasn't upset to see the gaggle jump ahead without me.  I settled into a comfortable pace with Charlie and Patrick.  We caught the lead gaggle when we skipped a climb south of Leesburg.  After a couple good climbs we glided out into the blue south of Ocala.  Patrick and Charlie hit hard times as I continued pressing on with a smaller and smaller group.  Mike and I rounded the turn point together but Mike missed a climb I found a few miles later.  Kevin joined in for a climb before we started a long glide south.  Kevin had a better line to the east as I tried to stay on or upwind (west) of the course line.  I found a little climb that allowed me enough altitude to join Kevin, Jeff S, Glen, and Zak at Leesburg.  The climbs in the sea breeze were now weak and topping out around 3000 feet (900 m).  I found most of the climbs but the group help everyone get the most of the weak thermals.

I got a jump on the group and headed out towards goal needing another 500 - 600 feet (150 - 180 m).  I decided I didn't want to cross the town of Groveland low in a sea breeze so I back tracked about 1/2 mile (0.8 km) to Zak when he started turning.  I came in too low to get his climb and landed in a pasture alongside a lake.  I was surprised to find the field was lined with sprinkler pipes spaced just far enough apart to allow me to land between them.  It was a bit more drama than I needed.

After some more quality time with cows and a very inquisitive Black Angus bull the land owner showed up.  She was a bit unhappy to see me but was friendly and allowed Bill and Patrick to pull the van up to the gate.  I was 3.7 miles (6 km) short.  Kevin landed about the same distance out as I did, Zak was 1 km short while Jeff and Glen got a climb over my head and made it in.

We had drinks and dinner at Quest Air while the scores were tabulated.  The awards ceremony was informal but fun.  Ollie won the rigid class and Glen narrowly beat Zak for the flex wing class.  All the scores are available online.  The partying lasted well into the night and even included cross dressing.  ;-)

I hit the road around 6:30 the next morning.  The driving was uneventful except for a traffic jam around Fredericksburg Virginia that nixed any plans of driving the entire distance in one day.  I grabbed some sleep north of Baltimore Maryland, took some pictures of the New York City skyline, and was home in time to chat with Jeff B in the air as he was flying from Mount Ascutney to somewhere near the New Hampshire coast line.

I had many good flights during my "spring training" in Florida.  I racked up 26 flights, 70.5 hours of air time, and 922.6 miles.  Now I turn my attention to work and flying the green hills and mountains of New England.

Flights: 1, Time: 5:33, Distance: 83 miles