We fly....

Today the pwc pilots at Pocos got a flight. The task was 55k I think and no pilots made the goal. The winner was 37k.

The attitude around the headquarters this am was just more of the grim faces we've had all week. But after awhile the sky started looking amazing, and the nice cummies that were drifting so strongly with the winds started to slow down.

They had already delayed us until 11:00am so we were way behind the powercurve for getting up the hill, getting a task set, and then getting 130 pilots safely off the hill.

On my way to launch I almost took the path to the south launch which we had used earlier in the week. The main, more groomed launch was apparently where the TV cameras had already set up cause the wind was clearly favoring the less attractive south side.

These decisions pretty much dictated how the day went. The locals said the wind would switch around but it never produced more than the very occasional lite cycle, and spent most of the time blowing over the back...... but was perfect on the other side. I thought about going over but I would have to pack up and it was already so late....

Because i've made this mistake SO many times before, I was trying hard to be proactive and semi aggressive and get in position so that I'd at least have a chance to race with the lead gaggle. Of course another 128 pilots have the same ambition. The launch conditions were major sketchy as the predominant wind was clearly over the back. Every once in awhile a few pilots would get away, while a few others would end up in the thick brush on the steep hillside below launch.

My fatal mistake was to take my glider way down to the end of the launch area and set up there. There was a local pilot set up there earlier and it seemed more favorable with what little wind there was. I wasted all kinds of time here getting the glider and lines all sorted out, while watching the lead gaggle getting to cloudbase while the minutes ticked closer to race start time. About this time the "local" that I'd talked to came up over the rim of the hill from below with a couple of staff people helping him. "it's very difficult to run through the brush when you launch this way" he says. This guy is maybe 30 and looks quite strong. Hmm and now I'm doubting my decision for my one shot at it. I try and get the glider overhead a few times so I can maybe run it off in a safer direction but the non-existant winds which I must have to pull this off are just not happening....

About this time the race begins and I look out to see 2 large gaggles of gliders at cloud base all head on glide.

I was in a very happy place by now in disbelief that I had screwed things up so bad after sitting around all week wishing to race. I even had top 35 or so launch priority and could have just picked the must successful spot on the launch area and waited my turn and would clearly have had a far greater chance of making the start.

I guess I still need to work on this area. I'll get it one of these days. It's both a mental and physical process. You have to believe that you can safely launch yourself in very marginal and challenging conditions, and have the technical skills and physical ability to back it up.

I think I may have gone into self preservation mode early on and it really affected my focus and desire to get launched. I'm thinking I'm not sure I could manage a blown launch where I end up down the hill tangled up in the deep brush when I should have been thinking "no problem I can just set up close to the edge and lean hard into a light cycle backwards over the edge and load the glider and be flying things get ugly...

This is essentialy what I did when I finally did launch about a half hour later after the wind finally came in strong enough to give it a go. When my chance finally came I had to look down the hill and tell myself "you can do it - have confidence!" everyone is waiting on me now and I know I was expected to go NOW. I waited just a bit longer for it to fill in and went for it just leaning my body strongly down the hill and trusting that the glider would load and keep me from the nastiness down below...

Launch turned out very well and again I was impressed with the new Boomerang...
more tomorrow gotta sleep now and prepare to race again!