Two Left Feet

I felt like I had “two left feet” today. I was bumping into things while loading the truck this morning, I spilled water at breakfast, and repeatedly missed important climbs that other nearby pilots locked into. Aside from the bad case of “mind fog” the day ended better than I expected. A deck of clouds covered the sun this morning and the NWS was calling for “mostly cloudy with a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms”. Not exactly a forecast to get your blood racing. After stumbling around at the motel, I went to the airport and ended up helping Kevin and Paris launch with tandem passengers. Julie slipped into the rotation for her first flight at Big Spring. Although the air was flat, she had a nice flight that started with her first launch on pavement and ended with a no step “movie star” landing in front of all families waiting on the tandem passengers.

David Glover covered some administrative details at the 9:30 pilots meeting but we were told to come back at 11:00 for the task. I thought it was a joke when I walked into the airport office and saw the task board and a 60 mile triangle task. However Davis assured us that the cloud cover would break and we would have cummies and good climbs. Ok, but many pilots wondered if Davis was already raiding Belinda’s wine collection.

Since the rigid wings were scheduled to start launching at 12:30, everyone left the meeting to grab some food, pack harnesses, and to move gliders outside the hanger. After a 30 minute delay and the gradual appearance of cummies, the rigid wings took to the air followed immediately the flex wings. I was the 4^th or 5^th flex wing pilot to launch and was surprised to find a nice climb to the southeast of the field. I wondered over to a gaggle to the northeast and missed the climb. I saw Dave circling to the north so I joined him for a reasonable climb as we drifted further northeast. After reaching cloud base I thought about heading southwest to some pilots sitting at the start circle. Instead, I plowed back upwind to the airport and arrived below the release height. Finally we headed towards the start circle.

Since we had a late start and since thunderstorms were still in the forecast, I decided to take the first start gate. Things were going reasonably well until the gaggle decided to head southwest instead of northwest along the course line. I didn’t want to go that direction, but also didn’t want to head off by myself. So I backtracked to the group just as their climb was fading. No problem, I just turned around and headed on course. Since the climbs were reasonably good, I flew fast and bypassed some weak climbs. I approached a good looking cloud and got “stepped on”. I was soon low and sniffing around for anything. I got low enough to warn Julie that I might be landing. I finally found a good climb that got me back into the game so I raced off for a climb that I totally missed. I sniffed around as I once again announced that I was low. Dave announced he was in a slow climb over the first turn point. Yikes, Dave had already passed me! I flew over a cotton field and found a reasonable climb that allowed me to glide to within a few miles of the first turn point where I found a 700fpm “boomer” to the top floor.

I easily got the first turn point, passed Dave still climbing at the first turn point, and started on the tough up wind leg. I pushed hard, skipping anything less than 350 fpm. I was passing gliders right and left while still maintaining a comfortable altitude. (My average speed on the directly upwind leg was almost as fast as the first crossing downwind leg.) I lead a group of gliders into a large blue area. Although I was more cautious than before, I was still pushing. I kept looking behind me for signs of a climb I missed. I started getting uncomfortable again when I approached highway 20. I looked back and noticed several gliders turning. I turned around and flew back to their climb but missed it. Crap. Now I was even lower. I pushed on and found some weak chop, but didn’t want to get stuck floating downwind and losing ground. I spotted two gliders in a good climb just outside my glide to the southwest. I hoped that I might get a gift and actually make it there. However, that didn’t happen. I lost some important altitude trying to snag a bubble and then couldn’t cross over a large set of power lines. I circled a few times over a working oil well pump and then had a no step landing in a cotton field under some power lines next to some oil tanks.

Meanwhile Dave was slowly moving on and approaching my position just as a huge dust devil blew through. I was lying on my glider to keep it on the ground as sand “pinged” off the oil tanks and the wind whistled through the power lines. Dave saw the dust devil but was too far away. He eventually landed a mile or so back from me in a small field next to a house. Julie was on top of things and showed up just a few minutes after I finished packing up. Although she suggested we get ice cream first, we picked up Dave instead before heading back to the meet headquarters at the airport.

After talking with several pilots, it seems many pilots got the climb I missed just before I landed only to land a few miles on the other side of the second turn point. It was disappointing to not be at goal with the 6 pilots that made it, but given my awkwardness today, I should be happy I didn’t land inside the start circle!