Florida Ridge: Day Four

The weather finally cooperated today. Haze domes and wispy clouds started appearing about 1 hour before the noon launch window opened. We had a task that took us north northwest to a point west of Lake Placid, then northwest to an intersection and then into the wind back to the airport Avon Park. Most of us took the first start clock and began our journey. The lift was mixed today; some climbs were weak and broken while others were smooth and strong. The wind from the south southeast continued to increase during the day and probably accounted for some of the broken lift late in the task. Almost everyone got slowed up somewhere today. I was very low south of Lake Placid and warned Monica that I might be landing. I found a nasty little thing that slowly turned into something useful, but I lost the lead gaggle in the process. Once I got back into the game, I lost GPS reception and had to circle back after passing the first turn point. I had another slow climb and then things improved. I ran a nice line of haze domes to the second turn point and then turned into the wind. The first half of the last leg was fine, but then the bottom fell out. I got hammered with serious long-lasting sink and was soon struggling to just stay in the air. Once again I radioed to Monica that I was low, drifting from field to field about 15 km west of Avon Park. I did anything to just stay in the air. I was drifting away from the airport, but was slowly climbing. I finally had enough to make a run to the airport. The flight computer said I had goal by 400 feet. I actually believed it this time. About a mile from the airport I got slammed with heavy sink and it became obvious I wasn't going to make it. I did my best to sweet talk my glider towards goal. I end up landing at the end of the runway on the airport, but was 1300 feet short of goal. Crap.

There were more happy people at goal today, including Bo who offered some sound advice on getting the most out of a marginal final glide. I just heard that Linda landed 5 miles short of goal and Mark landed near the first turnpoint.