Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Team Challenge (Day 1)

I was drenched with rain as I pulled into my new home for the week at Henson's Gap on Friday evening.  I was greeted by Steve L and other pilots, found a spot were we could plant 6 tents, and started setting up camp.  Allen, Jim, Dan, and Doug showed up a bit later and everyone got tents setup before more rain arrived.


We spent Saturday morning sloshing around playing with waypoints, radios, and the other stuff that always seems attention prior to a competition.  Later Saturday afternoon we drove to Lookout Mountain Flight Park to visit with everyone participating in the Women's Fly-In.  We talked, bought things, ate, drank, and listened to music until late evening.




Sunday was the first day of the 2009 Team Challenge and the weather cooperated.  The forecast looked like a cake-walk ridge-soaring day.  The beginning XC pilots, known as "C" level pilots, would fly 8.3 miles south to a grass strip known as "Dr. Dale's", crossing two small gaps and a set of elevated power lines draped over the ridge.  The intermediate pilots, known as "B" pilots, would fly a bit further to a blue water tower and then return to land at the Henson's Gap LZ.  The more experienced "A" pilots were responsible for helping the "C" and "B" pilots reach their goals and then turn around and fly back to Dr. Dale's field.  The flight from Henson's to Dr. Dale's would be in a slightly crossing headwind.


The wind was blowing in nicely as Mark initiated the day by launching his Ultra Falcon.  As expected he quickly climbed away which, of course, allowed many of the new "C" pilots to breath a little easier.


My team, the "Aerosnauts", decided to launch as a group.  (Don't blame me for the name, its snot my fault.)  Jim launched first, quickly followed by Dan and Erin.  I got held up on launch with a 90-degree cross for several minutes.  The first 3 pilots were already moving down the ridge by the time Allen and I launched.  I floated up and found a nice ride to cloud base but I couldn't help Allen find it.  Meanwhile Jim was doing an excellent job pointing out lift along the ridge for Dan and Erin.  Jim, Dan, and Erin were moving on so I finally left Allen behind when he was joined by several other pilots.  (Alan was doing just fine, but I had hoped we would all fly together near cloud base and simply wanted to help Alan catch up with the rest of the team.)


I caught up with Dan and Erin who were doing very well and continued on to help mark lift further south.  Once they cleared the first gap, I jumped over the second gap to help mark lift but ended up stuck on the ridge myself.  Jim was climbing near the water tower and Allen was cruising along at cloud base looking down on all of us.  Dan and Erin struggled in a difficult weak area for quite some time.  Eri n eventually had to head out into the valley and land out for the first time.  She landed very close to goal, somewhere around a mile short.  Dan gained some altitude and pushed on to the next section of ridge and soon had goal within reach.  (Dan played around on the ridge awhile before going in to land.)



Erin



Dan


Jim was already heading back to launch as Allen and I rounded the water tower.  The return trip was quick and uneventful.  Once I was sure Allen and Jim could easily reach their goal I turned back around to my goal at Dr. Dale's.  (Allen and Jim did land at their goal field but only after Allen dropped his radio somewhere on approach.)  Although I made a couple turns here and there, I essentially rode the ridge back south until I had my goal within reach.  As usual, I encountered unwanted lift on the way across the valley.  I waited until the lift passed by and then spiraled down for a sweet landing.  In summary we  had 4 of 5 pilots in goal, with the 5th just a short distance away from goal.  Erin had her first out-landing, and Allen, Dan, and Jim had their first goal landings. 


After checking in and having a big bowl of hot homemade soup for supper we listened to Mark Stump entertainingly talk about flying for fun.


Flights: 1, Duration: 2:15, Distance: 25.3 miles

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