The models predicted a dry period around mid-day with reasonably good lift. I want to thank Davis for being typically optimistic and getting us motivated for a possible day of flying. We rigged and got in line as the scattered clouds above were slowly obscured by fuzzy gray cummies below them. I asked Zak about the conditions after he towed someone up and he replied "smmoooooth". That, combined with a few sprinkles was enough to keep my feet on the ground. I watched the sky a bit and noticed the clouds seemed to form an arc with clearer skies to the west. I guessed a trof might be passing by. Davis and Terry launched and hung on for awhile. Terry returned to the field but Davis, assuming he was getting the best part of the day, headed into the sun and landed shortly afterwards.
I tried to find the best compromise between letting the soggy ground heat up in the increasing sunshine and the 3:15 launch close. I didn't want to be stuck in line on the ground when the launch closed so I stepped into and empty line at 2:30. I had an easy and unfortunately smooth tow behind Zak to the southwest. I searched around and found nothing. Oops, maybe I launched too early. I saw someone circling to the northwest but if I went there I might not get back if it didn't pay off. I decided to go for it. I found the weak climb even after the original pilot gave up. I parked in that little smoothie as glider after glider was dropped off above me. Somehow it just didn't seem fair! ;-)
I hooked up with Larry as I got to the top of that climb. We headed out to another climb to the northeast that was much better. I got a brief chance to fly with Brian, Rodger, and several other sports class pilots. Larry and Paris managed a better climb and left 500 feet higher than me. We sampled the air below a few wispy clouds but didn't find much. I finally stopped in a rough patch of air that turned into a climb while Paris and Larry continued on. They got lower and lower until Larry announced he was going to land and Paris made a low dash back to my climb with Greg also joining him.
Behind me I noticed Mark climbing at the same rate I was. I was about to continue along the course when I noticed that Mark was now higher than me and climbing quite quickly. Um. Should I backtrack and get to cloud base or move on? I decided to go back and it was a good move. The cloud over Mark mushroomed into acres of dark grey as everything around it seemed to be going up even though the climb rate wasn't epic. Mark moved on about the same time Paris did much lower. Greg came back to join me as I rode the climb to base.
From there I tried to stay near base, gliding from cloud to cloud. Greg caught up as I stopped in a climb that was too weak to bother with. Meanwhile Paris found a good climb out front that lifted him to base at the same time we arrived. The three of us moved on as I noticed Mark on the ground below. (Mark could have moved into first place with a good run; bummer).
We lined up on a direct line to goal when my flight computer showed us arrived with 10 feet. I was hoping with charitable glide this might be a final glide, but that wasn't the case. In fact we stopped 3 times before running in; including an aromatic climb over some pig barns. Paris arrived about 2 minutes before Greg and I arrived seconds apart. We landed in a soggy corn field and walked our gliders across the road to a grass strip before the next wave of gliders zoomed in.
John was the only pilot brave enough to pull off a cross-wind landing on the narrow grass strip.
Rick, who only lives a few miles away stopped just as his glider arrived at goal.
The sky was getting dark as we hurriedly broke down. The landowner and her daughter stopped by and told us there was a tornado warning posted for the counties north of goal. Good thing we didn't have to fly any further! I sent my harness back with PK and squeezed in with John, Terry, Linda, and Mark for the ride back. (Linda is a great driver; maybe she should give up flying. ;-) I'm running for cover after that statement!)
The daily and cumulative scores are available online.
Flights: 1, Time: 1:30, Distance: 24 miles
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