Clear skies and a big task up to near Grants pass and then over to Nugget by the 15 freeway, then downwind in the flats to Donato.
I had a great start and much to my surprise led the race out of the start circle for the first 5km! Soon overtaken by the Enzo's screaming by at full bar with their 10km/hr speed advantage over my Ozone Delta 2.
The task had an interesting format where we flew to a 2km circle around Rabies Peak, then an 8km circle in any direction, then back to the original 2km circle. Initially I tried to go directly east towards Jacksonville, but hit sink rather than the expected convergence, so I went back to Burnt to get high again. This added some distance so by the time I go back on the task line it felt like I was well behind.
By time time I tagged the furthest turnpoint at Bluie Peak, I'd caught up to some other gliders, and together we worked beautiful climb set us up for the long transition to Pikes peak.
I'd never been over close to the freeway and so didn't know any thermal triggers. A group of us found a weak climb but I drifted away from the main climb towards the flats where I had seen another group of gliders climb out earlier. This turned out to be a a mistake as the flats weren't working as well as I expected, and the route to the next turnpoint at Jacksonville was much longer than the direct route over the forest. I ended up near Jacksonville landing is strong wind in a huge hayfield. A great flight with lots of challenges.
My result was 40th out of 48. It felt like I flew better than that, so I checked the pilots list more closely after the day. I realized that particularly the sport class field was a lot smaller than two years ago, when there were 25 pilots. This year there are only 15 pilots in the sport class.
Results
I had a great start and much to my surprise led the race out of the start circle for the first 5km! Soon overtaken by the Enzo's screaming by at full bar with their 10km/hr speed advantage over my Ozone Delta 2.
The task had an interesting format where we flew to a 2km circle around Rabies Peak, then an 8km circle in any direction, then back to the original 2km circle. Initially I tried to go directly east towards Jacksonville, but hit sink rather than the expected convergence, so I went back to Burnt to get high again. This added some distance so by the time I go back on the task line it felt like I was well behind.
By time time I tagged the furthest turnpoint at Bluie Peak, I'd caught up to some other gliders, and together we worked beautiful climb set us up for the long transition to Pikes peak.
I'd never been over close to the freeway and so didn't know any thermal triggers. A group of us found a weak climb but I drifted away from the main climb towards the flats where I had seen another group of gliders climb out earlier. This turned out to be a a mistake as the flats weren't working as well as I expected, and the route to the next turnpoint at Jacksonville was much longer than the direct route over the forest. I ended up near Jacksonville landing is strong wind in a huge hayfield. A great flight with lots of challenges.
My result was 40th out of 48. It felt like I flew better than that, so I checked the pilots list more closely after the day. I realized that particularly the sport class field was a lot smaller than two years ago, when there were 25 pilots. This year there are only 15 pilots in the sport class.
Results
Race Director Mile Haley and Safety Director Tom Swanson
Thermals will be this big...
Interesting task structure
Race Preparations
The start gaggle over the Burnt turnpoint
On the way to the Start circle
No one in front! I led the race out of the start circle for the first 5km
Click on the Map for tracklog in Leonardo