Drifting Away

The day started off with Kevin blowing a loop and safely coming down under two parachutes. Needless to say everyone was relieved to hear he was ok. Maybe Kevin will write up something on his blog.

It was breezy today. Bobbie parked the tug at 2000 feet which confirmed that the early morning clouds were indeed screaming by from the south. Some pilots openly wondered if the day would be cancelled, but I was hoping we would get a task. I got my wish at the pilots meeting, a 127 mile downwind shot to an airport near Littlefield. It was windy enough that moving the gliders onto and off of the carts was difficult for some. I didn’t have any problem floating my glider onto the cart and then turning it around for a “wind cart” ride to the staging area to the north.

Since the wind was blowing, we knew that launch time was probably close to start time. I moved into the launch line behind Mike and in front of Bubba. I had a scary moment when my upwind wing lifted off the cart just as the tug powered up. I held onto the cart, but the cart started rolling off to the right. I was momentarily stuck to the cart and then managed to lift off. By then the tug was far to the left, so I tried to correct without entering a dangerous lockout. I manage to shot back to the left behind the tug just as the tug was hit with something the sent it skyward. I pushed out with everything I had and finally got in position behind the tug. The rest of the tow was reasonably smooth and uneventful. The air was also pleasant. It was like flying in Florida.

I immediately found a climb after releasing and was soon at cloud base. I could have taken the first start time, but decided to fly back upwind. Several pilots were around for the second start time and several of us did a “fake” start before turning around and flying 6 miles upwind to the airport. Finally a good group formed (Mike, Andreas, Carl, and another pilot) and we took the third start time.

We moved under the moist clouds darting left and right trying to find lifting air while still gliding at 65 mph over the ground. I got behind the two lead gliders only to pass them up on the next climb. I headed northwest on course line, but the others pilots took a more northerly course. After topping out I headed northeast to rejoin the group. I caught Carl but missed the rest. Carl and I continued heading north under a nice line of clouds rarely turning. I kept trying to move west towards the course line, but Carl would continually move away from course line to the east. I thought it would be better to have a partner looking for lift, so I kept close enough to take any climb he found. We had a couple low climb outs, but each climb took us further off course line. I should have ditched Carl and gone west to a nice looking line of clouds as we approached Lubbock. Instead Carl and I plowed into an area with dying clouds. We tried to work some lift at 100 to 200 feet off the deck as we zoomed across the cotton fields. I thought we might actually pull it off, but we were soon turning into the wind and landing together.

It turned out that Carl couldn’t get his GPS to work correctly and didn’t even know where the course line was! Carl said he would have followed me if I made a hard turn to the west. What I interpreted as a desire to go east of the course line was his idea the lift was better on the east side of the clouds. Sigh, I haven't made such a needless mistake in a long time.

It was tough being on the ground with such wonderful looking streets and convergence lines setting up to the west. I pointed out one line to Carl and said that if anyone got into that line, they would have an awesome joy ride. I later found out that Bubba was on that line and flew at least 20 miles along it with almost no turns. Julie and Dave, who landed a few miles north of Big Spring, showed up just as we finished packing the gliders in the middle of the road. Carl join us and we headed back to Big Spring with a brief stop at the Dairy Queen in Lamesa.

I had hoped to do well today and maybe move into the top ten. I can forget that now. Bubba said 6 or 7 pilots made goal and many others were scattered about on the way to goal. I thought I would have done better in this meet but now realize I still have a lot to learn, especially about when to trust my own judgment and when to follow the group. Oh, I forgot to mention in my last entry that Dave’s flight yesterday was his longest flight to date. Congratulations Dave. Today I managed 37 mph for the 77 miles I completed, which is probably my fastest average speed on course so far. (The leaders yesterday were going at 40 mph).