Almost

The sky was filled with heavy low clouds when I peeked out the window this morning. I wasn’t worried since I saw this last year and the clouds burned usually burned off before mid-morning. The sky was clear by the time we started the pilots meeting at 11. We briefly discussed what happened yesterday with the cancelled flex wing task and then moved into the weather and task description. The task for today was a 76.5 mile straight downwind task to a small airport to the northwest. The lift was forecasted to diminish during the day around Big Spring, but continue into the late afternoon to the northwest. The rigid wings launch was scheduled for 12, just 25 minutes from the end of the meeting!

Dave was powered up and ready to go today. I could have used some of his energy and enthusiasm. I was dragging around just wanting to find a place to take a nap. Carrying the glider down the runway to the north with the wind at my back didn’t help. Luckily Linda offered to drive our harnesses down the fence line to our gliders. Once everything was in place and the times were pushed back another 30 minutes, I settled in for a much needed nap under my glider.

Unlike most days, I decided to let others launch before me. I ended up launching about middle of the field shortly after Dave landed from an early launch. I had another busy tow and was dropped off in a light, but workable, climb with several other pilots. After some bouncing around I finally climbed to cloud base. Soon most of the field was circling around waiting for the start gate to open. I originally planned to take the second start time so I was out losing altitude to avoid going into the cloud when almost everyone else left. After 20 seconds of deliberation, I decided to climb back to base and leave with everyone else. That put me behind the leaders by about 3 minutes, but not a big deal on a 76 mile flight.

Me and everyone else was just cruising under nice clouds and getting predictable lift until we ran off the end of a line of clouds. Oops. I soon found myself 800 feet above the ground. There were several other pilots around and most of us managed to pick ourselves back up and continue on. However, I was now much more careful with my altitude and climbs.

I faded west as I approached Lamesa and was rewarded with a nice climb. I soon synced up with Mike B for a couple climbs and glides until I went out of my way to a cloud that wasn’t working. I continued my glide towards a couple of gliders that were circling over damp looking cotton fields. I hooked up with Bubba as we struggled to stay in the air. I was stuck in that area for a very long time. Everyone that I previously passed now passed me. Dang. Bubba landed after a valiant struggle so I was on my own. I finally squeezed enough out of the area to move on.

The lift was weak and broken, but there was enough to keep moving towards goal. I was finally getting positive numbers on my glide computer. The little climb I was in fizzled when the glide computer showed I had goal by 860 feet. Not a lot of spare altitude, but usually enough. I went on glide for a short distance and then was punished with heavy sink. I could see the airport, the wind sock, the direction the wind sock was pointed, the gliders and even the pilots standing around the gliders. I ran down along a dirt road until I was at power line height and then turned back into the wind for a nice no-step landing just a few feet from the road. I was only 0.5 miles from the goal line. Almost! (Goal was about 1/2 of the way between me and the red building in the picture).

I called Julie to let her know where I was. I got Dave on the phone instead. Dave’s glider was loaded and they were about ready to leave. A short time later a crop duster flew by and dumped something from the sprayer. I was not excited about taking a bath in that stuff so I called Julie to see how far away there were. Dave answered again and said it would be about 30 minutes after they got their ice cream. Maybe I should have landed earlier! I should not have worried about getting sprayed since the pilot just seemed to be flushing the tanks before landing at the airport. After Julie picked me up, we stopped by the airport and gave Greg a ride back to Big Spring.

It was another fun and slightly frustrating day in Texas. I enjoyed the flight and the varying conditions. It just would have been better if I landed ½ mile closer to goal.