ECC: Day Seven: Lessons in Covering

The forecast for the last day of the East Coast Championship was the same as the previous day that was cancelled. However, the cloud cover broke and the forecasted south wind, 90 degrees cross to the runway, was lighter and was just a bit west of south. Unless Paris landed in the start circle I couldn't win the meet but Bubba and I were dueling for second place. Since I use these smaller meets as training camps, I thought it would be a good time to practice sticking with another pilot and then make a break at the last minute to capture the day. I have heard better, more winnning, pilots talk about their techniques but I have never done this before. I guess it was time to learn!
I was the first flex wing pilot to launch. Paris and Bubba were right behind me. I got a slower tow so Bubba and Paris were already climbing by the time I released about a mile away. I came in under them and joined the slow climb. We essentially drifted to the start circle 5 miles away playing around at cloud base which was 2300 feet. We worked a couple weak climbs together and then I made the mistake of leading out towards a line of clouds just upwind of the course line. Paris and Bubba headed to a line of clouds just downwind of course line. Crap. I lost my height advantage cutting across to their line and came in below Paris and at the same height as Bubba. Paris now had enough of a height advantage to use us as markers and keep on top. After another short glide, Bubba and I struggled with a broken weak climb under a cirrus-filled sky. We were wing-tip to wing-tip floating above the trees at 1200 feet. We were drifting slightly off course line, but we couldn't cross a large swath of trees towards goal with our altitude. So we bounced and drifted down wind. Bubba finally gave up and headed downwind. I followed but took a line that cost me about 300 feet. We found some lift on the down wind side of a large field. Bubba had enough extra height to use me as a marker and could therefore extract more precious altitude from the broken little thermal than I could. The climb faded and I was forced to take my 600 feet and float down wind to land in a corn field 10 miles from goal. Bubba had enough extra height to get an extra 3 miles on me to win second place. Paris was the only pilot to make goal.
Although I would have enjoyed beating Bubba, it was still a lot of fun racing with him on the last two days. I discovered that "covering" someone is hard and requires a different set of strategies than simple racing. I also discovered that it is much more fun directly racing against someone as opposed to racing against the clock. The immediate feedback is so cool and at times stressful!