Flytec - Day 3

Everyone was ready to fly today after watching the wind blow on the first 2 days. There was some initial concern with wind and turbulence this morning but that gave way to the apparent lack of lift. After a 30 minute delay on a late task to begin with, we finally kicked the rigid wings into the air and soon followed. I had a good tow and found a tiny patch of light lift that everyone wanted to share. Flying in the gaggles today, like most blue days, required constant attention. I swear several pilots tried to hit me and many others were tossed into my path (and me into theirs). Flying in large gaggles in weak choppy lift is probably my least favorite part of competition flying. You do better sticking with the gaggle, but it isn't necessarily fun.

There was little time for sightseeing on the trip south to the intersection of Route 27 and 544 and then to the southeast, but I did get a chance to check out all the contrails over the Lakeland airport during the aerobatics shows. (I would have taken a picture if I wasn't so low).

I flew with many friends today, but ended up flying with Kevin and Guga from Brazil as the day was shutting down. We climbed and drifted in a proto-thermal for a long time. Kevin headed downwind to the east while we stayed behind. Since Kevin didn't find anything I decided to drift across the north end of a lake and use my 1800 feet to glide due south on the east side of the lake. I lead out and Guga followed. I hit a strong bubble over a tree-line and thought we might get a climb out. However, it was a "one hit wonder" and I was soon shopping for LZs.

I could flown a little further but I found several fields with hills; in Florida! The fields had 75-100 foot mounds that just didn't look like fun. I turned around and flew back to a nice flat cow pasture and landed in a moderate west wind. Guga landed about a minute later.

A bunch of pilots made goal so my score for the day will be minimal. I should have jumped gaggles during the 2 times I had a shot. I would have gotten further along course line; and maybe into goal. As it was I flew 70k along course and was in the air over 3 hours.