Saturday, April 23, 2005

Flytec Meet: Day Eight: Sad News

I didn't post anything last night since I didn't want to leak any news before it was appropriate. Late yesterday afternoon, Chris Mueller crashed while crossing the goal line very low at Quest and later died from his injuries. Needless to say, everyone was quite somber last night and this morning. I flew with Chris yesterday in the start circle where he was looping to help pass the time. We all signed and left brief messages on his custom sail this morning. Ollie and John were close by when Chris crashed and Ollie was the first person with medical training on the site. Ollie was visibly affected by the drama.

The day started out blue. Davis predicted strong lift and plenty of clouds along with convergence and a sea breeze. The rigids launched into a totally blue sky and were barely climbing when the flex wing launch window opened. I jumped into the line about 5 positions back from the front. At that point the launch and start were pushed back 45 minutes. I stayed in line since I wanted to get into the air once the launched opened. By the time I launched, the sky was filled with rapidly growing cummies and I had a robust climb to cloudbase. We played around at cloudbase until the start time. I took the first start time and was in a good position right on the start circle at 7000 feet. I lead the first gate to the left while another glider lead to the right. I found lift after a long glide and instantly had company. Although my shoulder continued to hurt, I promised myself that I would fly more aggressively. (I am naturally a more conservative pilot but that conservative tendancy does not work well in strong conditions.) I quickly grabbed the turnpoint at Route 33 and the turnpike and headed south towards the next turnpoint at Route 33 and Deen Still Road. I kept hitting 600-700 fpm climbs and continued to be with the first 3 or 4 gliders as we passed back by Quest. I missed a good climb that 2 other gliders to my east got, but being high, I kept moving on. That single mistake destroyed my day. I kept on gliding until I was low just north of the second turnpoint. I spent most of the afternoon trying to work up over a dead area. Once I got back up, the seabreeze started pushing in and made the return trip difficult. I wiggled my way to within 6 miles of Quest and finally landed in a field next to a housing development. I wanted to flew aggressively and I did. I also found the "other" side of aggressive and now need to find the happy compromise between aggressive and conservative.

John Heywood was impressive being the second flex wing into goal. Ollie made it back but Mark landed back at Quest and decided not to fly the task. As usual, James pulled up before I had the glider broken down. James is definitely a first-class driver.

I saw black snakes standing up about 5 inclues above their holes in the ground as I walked out of my LZ yesterday. It was stange seeing them stare at me, never flinching as my glider passed over them.

The day was cancelled due to approaching rain and wind. We had the awards ceremony this morning. Paris is once again the U.S. national champion and Oleg won the meet. The rain started shortly after the ceremony and most people packed up and left.

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