A high pressure, blue, and windy day...not the best conditions, but hey it's a comp so let's see what we can do! The task was to just outside Electric City, via an in-out-in TP at Withrow and Farmer.
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| Today's task. |
Climbs over launch were not that great; we weren't getting much more than 1800m, which is *way* low for crossing to the Rim. But we went for it anyways, and it was amazing to see what happens when you throw enough pilots at a problem ;). We actually climbed out over the canyon.
At the top of the climb a bunch of us decided to go for it, and across the flats we ventured. But it turns out my gaggle was composed primarily of Enzos...and they climbed out while I sunk out in a moon dust field. I should have waited for a group of M6s or P4s instead!
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| Watching pilots struggling just past the Rim. |
As I was packing up it was raining gliders all around me...the wind was picking up and the climbs so close to the rim were too low to effectively get on course. In fact a good portion of the field landed either before the race start, or shortly after, with only a handful still battling the wind as the afternoon progressed. Reports were of climbs that took pilots away from the TP, and by the time they pushed forward and had to start the entire thermalling process over again, they had barely made any progress.
Excitement of the day has to go to Brad. I watched as he and (I think it was) Andy flew into a dust devil at around 300', Brad's Enzo did an incredible loop/inversion as he went over his glider, but he kept the lines taut and rode that dusty out of there! But the "thwack" was very loud from my vantage on the ground ;)
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| This is what happens when you land in ankle-deep Chelan moondust. |
In the end I believe there were 7 pilots in goal, an amazing feat considering the combination of wind and blue thermals today. Congrats folks!
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| We have a very full bus from the Rim! And there were more to pick up! |
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