East Coast Championships (Day 3)

After a quick trip to the diner for breakfast, we rigged in the hot, hazy, and humid morning air while listening to tunes on the truck radio.  The forecast was less than stellar; weak short thermals shredded by a strong breeze.  However, everyone was ready to give the day's task try.

Steve and Jim were happy to be flying.

Although some were less excited than others. ;-)

The tug pilots gave us a nice show and I'll post a short video when I get back home.

Johnny dropped be off upwind, but I ran downwind to an existing climb.  About 2/3 of the way there, the gaggle broke up and starting heading directly back towards me.  I looked around to see where they were going but I didn't see anything obvious.  Dang.  I continued on and found a weak climb that collected the pilots in the immediate area.  I slowly climbed to the top with Davis and Larry.  We came back for a short climb just before the start gate opened.

The faster pilots skipped weaker climbs that I stopped for.  I was soon flying over fields littered with gliders.  I watched Dan and Mark sink from my level to the ground.  After struggling to maintain my very meager height, I flew across a tree-lined stream to a climb marked with gliders I had just left behind.  I had a "bar room fight" with that nasty thermal a few hundred feet off the deck.  I managed to eek a 300 fpm (1.5 m/s) climb before bouncing into the gliders above me.  A couple clumsy moves by pilots knocked me out of the climb at 1600 feet (487 m).  I moved on to some bare fields that I hoped would give me a full climb.  I watched Charlie and John land while Jim and Sunny started working a climb slightly upwind from me.  I came in just below them and was weakly climbing, but didn't want to drift over trees without having a solid climb.  I pulled out and flew back upwind to land.  Jim and Sonny used that climb to snag the turn point and glide into goal; the only pilots to complete the course.  I've had a lot of second thoughts about that decision!

I landed in a freshly worked field and could see Charlie in the next field over.  (Charlie is in the middle of the gap in the trees.)

After riding back with Charlie, David, and Jack and downloading flight records, we went to dinner at Harris's Crab House on the bay.  We enjoyed the bounty of the bay, including a lot of crabs.

We ate until we were bloated like a well fed ticks.  We were not sure if Rodger or the meal won the battle!

Flights: 1, Duration: 1:03, Distance: 13.7 miles