GSWK: Day 1

The first day of most competitions are chaotic at best, but the first day of the Green Swamp Sport Klassic went amazingly well.  My mentees were first up and were all ready and in line 10 minutes before the launch opened.  We were on it!  I was really surprised when I, as the last pilot in the group, was climbing through 3000 feet only 14 minutes after launched open.  It was amazing how quickly the five tugs had us up and on our way.

The course was west northwest to an airfield labeled GROSS and then north northwest to the airfield at Inverness.

Thor

Greg and I got low after our first climb.  I was wondering how the mentoring would proceed if two mentors decked it after the first glide!  I made a mental note to be a bit more conservative with my altitude and how much I would spiral down to help struggling pilots.

Greg on our way back up

Things were going well as we pushed around the northwest corner of the Green Swamp.  Jeff and Rich pushed ahead while I stayed with Matt and Thor.

Matt

Although it was fun at first, I watched the sky overdevelop about 2/3 of the way along the first leg and warned the team to slow up and take every climb.  We all tried to stay up, but the area was soon littered with downed pilots.

Looking for lift while pilots land below

Matt was the only one on my team that almost escaped the killing fields, but succumbed just short of the climb that lifted the remaining pilots up and out.

Matt landed next to the airstrip (center), Greg landed across the highway (upper left center), we found a climb along the far tree line (upper left)

I had goal on glide just past the turn point, but teamed up with Ken and Mark and tried to help them into goal.  We bobbed around within reach of the field longer than I preferred, but all three of us eventually made goal.  Mick (another mentor) was the only other pilot in goal.

Ken, Mark, and me

I enjoyed the ride home with Audry at the wheel.

Flights: 1, Duration: 2:59, Distance: 56 km

Practice Day

Decided to loosen up with a short flight before the Green Swamp Sports Klassic which starts tomorrow.

Zhenya, Andre, & Spinner making it happen safely

I mostly had the sky to myself but did have one fun low save along with four or five other pilots.

Flights: 1, Duration: 0:58

Mentor Warm Up

Had fun flying around QuestAir and helping a couple potential mentees in the upcoming Green Swamp Sport Klassic today.  The tow started with a smooth ride out of the field and ended with a nice climb over the Mickey Mouse lakes.

After flying about for awhile, I teamed up with Rich and Sara for a trip around a small triangle to the north.  Rich lead out on a bad line and eventually had to turn around to avoid landing out so close.  Sara followed my line to the northwest where we found a climb at the first turn point over the town of Mascotte.

Sara climbing well

I pushed on towards the second turn point at Grass Roots airfield as I watched a plane pass below us.

Plane passing below us (center)

Grass Roots

As I was heading to Grass Roots, Sara reminded me that our next turn point was Gators, not Grass Roots.  Oops.  Maybe Sara should be the mentor!  I banged a right turn and chased after Sara to the grass airstrip to the east.

I came in lowish and we were both drifting away in the wrong direction.  We worked a couple climbs before we were high enough to venture upwind through the LZ minefield.

We chose a path between two lakes and although Sara did well she just didn't have the glide necessary to get the next climb that would have taken her home.  Using my better glide, I found a climb over a small fire in an orchard and glided back to Quest to complete the triangle.

I played in the evening air before surrendering to gravity.

Flights: 1, Duration: 3:56, Distance: 30 km

Robbed

The local gang at QuestAir declared a practice task to Williston today, so I paid my token fee to join the informal Quest Air Cross Country contest, fired up AirTribune, and slid into the last place in the tow line.

The initial two climbs mirrored our launch order.  Larry on top, then Davis, then Rob, and me at the bottom.  Everyone would leave when Larry left meaning Rob and I were really too low to move on.  I stumbled into a nice 250 fpm climb but, against better judgement, moved on when Davis called a 500 fpm west of my position.  Of course I got there and could find anything workable.  Rob and I bobbed around in broken lift sinking more than climbing.

Rob and I finally took off on course line side-by-side and much too low.  I knew my day was over and pointed out my intended LZ to Rob and then slowed down to let him land first.  He couldn't get his harness unzipped and had to throw in an extra turn to avoid flying into a fence.  Meanwhile I was flying through circling birds and trying to ensure I cleared the fence going into the field.  Although the water around the field showed a northeast wind, I landed in a brisk north wind and mildly smacked my nose into the ground.

Rob's maple leaf glider climbing in our first climb

Larry and Davis high and in front

Slowing up to let Rob land first

Rob still prone turning to avoid fence

Passing over the fence low coming into the field

So much for a nice long XC flight.  However, I enjoyed talking with Rob as we packed up and enjoyed the short ride back with Jeremy.

Some lessons I have to relearn every season.  Sigh.

Flights: 1, Duration: 0:36, Distance: 8.3 km

No Drama

I was nervous getting ready to fly today at Quest Air since I had not aero-towed or thermal-soared my hang glider since early last summer.  It didn't help that the crystal clear blue skies meant the air would feature squirrelly high-pressure thermals and unpredictable landing winds.  I loaded the task Davis designed for the day, although I was certain a drama-free day of safely flying and landing back at the field would be good enough.  I had lots of help getting ready from pilots lingering around such as Michelle and Heather.  Thanks!

The wind was light west (90 cross) when we started queueing up on the north end of the runway.  Larry, Sara, and maybe a couple more launched before it became strong enough and then tailing enough to pause towing.  Johnny said he would take one more advanced pilot if they wanted to "give it a go".  I passed since a moderate tailing crosswind launch didn't fit my plans for a no-drama day!  Davis, who was in line behind me, sized up the situation and said he would go and stepped into the launch box.  Luck was on his side as the wind dropped to almost nothing by the time he was hooked up and Johnny was ready to go.  Less than a minute later the wind returned and I accepted a cart tow from Zhenya to the east runway.

Although other gliders were already there, I was nominated to go first.  Thanks.  Spinner hooked the line to Joel into my tow bridal and I started moving uphill.  I quickly discovered that I didn't have a good grip on the base-bar with my new gloves and I was very rusty!  Joel tolerated the squid on the other end of the line as I slowly remembered what to do and settled down.

The air was a little punchy but not bad.  I quickly found a climb and was with Davis and John later when they took off on course line to the south.  I briefly considered joining them but decided to stick with my no-drama plan.  I slowly became one with the glider again and was easily staying upwind of the field and climbing to the inversion around 5500 feet (1675 meters).  There were several very large flocks of white birds migrating northward that were very picturesque to watch from above.

A little after two hours in the air, my flight computer starting beeping and said the battery levels were critically low.  Seconds later, it quit being a flight computer, quickly saved the track log, and then shutdown.  Great.  I tried to restart it, but it was dead.  (I charged the batteries before leaving home on Thursday so it should have lasted all day.  I found out this evening that one of the rechargeable batteries failed.  I hope a simple replacement fixes the problem.)

I soar at the beach and along mountain ridges without a variometer, but never before in the flats.  I did ok when relatively low, but was nearly clueless when I got high since it is harder to detect angle changes as you get higher.  It was a fun challenge and I thermal-soared for another two hours and reached the inversion layer a couple times before coming in for a much needed bathroom break.  I wrapped up my no-drama flight plan with a nice landing close to where I left the ground earlier.  Jeremy brought a cart out (thanks!) and kept me company as I walked back to the tie-downs.

It wasn't an epic day; no-drama was just fine with me.

I apologize for the lack of pictures.  I turned the camera off as we switched launch positions and forgot to turn it back on once there.

Flights: 1, Duration: 3:58