Pre-Worlds (Day 1)

The weather was good for the first day of the pre-worlds in Big Spring, Texas. After a lengthy introductory pilots meeting this morning we staged our gliders at either the north or south end of the taxiway. The original task was a 73 mile triangle to the northwest, back to the south east, and then back to the airfield. However, just before launch opened it was changed to a straight line course to the northwest.

The launch operation at the south end where I staged was amazingly smooth and calm. Jeff towed me up with his trike and waved me off between two climbs; it is nice having a choice! I reached cloud base and starting killing time by taking pictures before the first start gate would open 45 minutes later. When I got bored taking pictures I joined Glenn V, Mike B, and Bubba over town. Since the task was a straight run to northwest, I thought it would be good to exit the start cylinder upwind of the task line. So I flew around to the east of a large low cloud when everyone else headed northwest. Once on the other side I realized that although it was a good position in theory, there was a nice cloud line right on course line. So I used up a lot of altitude heading back to where I was before and then started heading towards the gang. However their climb was now fading. Mike hung on long enough to get the first start while Bubba and Glenn flew back towards me. We were dancing around with a growing crowd of pilots in marginal lift when the second start gate opened. I was a couple thousand feet below most of the other pilots due to some unsuccessful exploring but decided to head on course and “make up deficit” over the 75 mile trip.

Well my plan had a major flaw; I didn't find the lift I expected outside the start gate until I was low and struggling. I floundered in weak lift as I watched the bulk of the field leave and was still struggling when the pilots from the last start gate flew overhead. I knew I had just blown the day, but still wanted to get to goal. I lost almost 30 minutes in that area before I got back into the race. I made a couple other less costly bad calls that cost me another 10 minutes or so. I finally dribbled into a goal field with more hang gliders than I have ever seen before. (From 10 miles out it was easier to see the mass of parked gliders than the terminal buildings!) I was at least a hour slower than the fastest pilots. I almost hate to look at the scores tomorrow morning!

Although I would have preferred to have flown the course faster and scored better, I did have a fun day of flying. Aside from one or two spots the climbs were quick and the glides reasonable. Of course, there were LZs everywhere and I rarely worried about landing once I got going. I really do need to drag my New England buddies here to sample this kind of flying.