Day 4 Task 4

Today's flight will be one I'll always remember.  My longest flight ever at 7 hours and 18 minutes.  My longest distance at over 100 miles, and my first World Cup task win.

 Probably the best part was sharing in the finish with my Mother over the phone after landing at goal.  Thanks again Mom for always being my supporter and endless source of inspiration and wisdom!

Again, the day looked great from the get go and I think the task committee was thinking a big race from the beginning.  I was hoping that maybe we could talk the organizer into having a really long and fast race downwind across the flat lands to the SE, but eventually the decision was made to call a large triangle of around 165 kilometers.  The start would be at the Butte, and then we would head across the Columbia river to the flat lands for quite a ways.  At the first turn point we would make a left turn towards Bridgeport, and then after Bridgeport another left turn to complete the triangle back down the river to Chelan. 

My energy seemed quite a bit better so I was ready early and in a better frame of mind than the disappointing day before.  The energy around launch was good and we all knew it was going to be a long and challenging day.  There was clearly going to be some wind to deal with so that really had to be factored into the decision making process.

The early part of the race was full on racing, and I ended up out front early on by taking some better lines and a somewhat different route than the rest of the field.  Spent very little time flying with others as pilots seemed to be really spread out all over the flats.  I made the decision to go somewhat downwind on the first leg because the clouds and lift seemed better.  It worked pretty good, but I lost the few pilots that I gaggled up with on the way so was pretty much on my own.  It was seriously slow going into the wind and you really had to be patient, and only stop to turn in the strongest thermal cores.  At the first turn point, several of us came together and again we hooked up in a small group of 4 gliders.  The competition leader, Josh Cohn also joined me there as well.  After the first turn point, it was very difficult going again with the head winds, and decision making became more crucial.  We worked together as a group for awhile, but then I took a line again more to the North, away from the next turn point, because the sky just looked better and it seemed like the right thing to do.  At this time there were just 3 of us together, and Josh had kind of had a sinky line and some bad luck, and I think he felt he needed to head more back to the south and parallel to the river.  The one other lone pilot that was with me just didn't get the various lumps of lift I was getting, and also peeled off 90 degrees away from me towards some dust devils in the distance.

The reason they left was because we had to cross the river ahead, and if you didn't have good altitude, it looked like it could be difficult to keep going after the crossing.  I just stayed with the small thermals and became very patient... eventually it paid off with a good climb and enough altitude to make the crossing.  As far as I know, I was the only pilot to take a line so far to the north of the course.  Across the river, there was a large plateau that was almost black in color with dormant fields and the dusties were just kicking off all over the place.  I knew if I could make it there I would be in good position.  The only pilots I could even see at this point were far in the distance and very low.  By this time I think it was near 6 pm, so only the larger thermal triggers were still working.

My plan worked pretty good, and I even found some additional lift as I made the crossing.  I got to the plateau plenty high, and after searching around for 5 or 10 minutes, I found a nice climb back up to about 7500 or so.  From here I was able to glide straight to the Bridgeport turn point, and continue on to the mesa above the river.  It was then an easy glide to the edge of the Rim, which was baking in the sun and producing good thermals. 

From this point, looking at the clouds and sky in general, for the first time I thought I might actually make it to goal, even being so late in the flying day.  Unfortunately, shortly after thinking I might make it to goal, I also ran out of lift and found myself skirting along below the top of the rim, and having to start picking out landing options.  I was flying across the gradual sloping terrain, a few hundred feet above the ground.... I had a nice field along a dirt road picked out, but didn't give up and found a very small bubble of lift which allowed me to keep my altitude without really climbing or sinking....  This small bubble was drifting up the gradual slope very slowly towards the rim of the canyon.  I knew that if I just stayed with it it would likely build and put me back in the game.  Again I was very patient.  I slowed down the glider as much as I could and just stayed with it.  Pretty soon it released into a very nice climb, and took me back above the rim and to almost 12,000 feet.

From here I could see Chelan some 30 kilometers or so down the Columbia.  Although I was high and in great shape for the moment, the day was winding down, and I could see plenty of texture on the river which meant that even though I finally had a tailwind at the moment, eventually this would turn into a difficult headwind once again.  I worked bits of lift and tried to find the best lines along the rim along the final leg back to Chelan.  There had been some nice big clouds about half way to goal when I left where I was hoping I could get a final climb, but by the time I got there everything had gone away and it was pretty much blue sky the rest of the way.  About 15 kilometers from goal I was pretty sure that there was no way I was gonna make it. I was still at over 6 thousand feet, but  I was starting to descend into the strongish winds flowing through the river gorge, and it just didn't look very promising.  At the head of McNeil Canyon, I started to get big sink so was forced into a final decision of whether to go left and try and surf around the rim of the canyon, or go right and try and get on the river side of the high terrain which formed the west side of the canyon.  If I went along the rim, I was worried I'd run into rotor when I got close to goal, so I chose the other route.  I was down to about 8 mph without speed system engaged, and sinking like a rock. 

Then something totally unexpected happened.... When I finally cleared the last ridge, and had nothing but strong headwind and big sink between me and the goal,  I stopped sinking, and just starting gliding along neither going up or down.  I did this all the way to goal.  I was literally steady at 4000 feet the last 10 kilometers of the race.  It was crazy, but really quite simple what was happening.  The sun was going down... it was after 7 pm, and I had flown into a beautiful glass off condition, with the whole area just releasing slowly rising air from heated ground which had baked all day in the sun.... All this glass off air was just flowing right up the Columbia river canyon and releasing perfectly for me to just float my way into goal.  The winds were still strong, and the going very slow, but I ended up struggling to find a way to get down after crossing the goal line around 7:30pm.  I finally flew into the lee side of the Butte from where we launched, and found some good sink.

It was fun at the goal as I was the first one in, and there was quite a group there to greet me and cheer me on.  6 pilots total ended up making it to the goal field, but I was the only one who got there before the task deadline......

A great race for me, and it was fun to win a very difficult thinking man's day.  Although several times throughout the race, some very strong pilots made other decisions on which way to go, etc... I never let myself get swayed from what I thought was the right decision, and it paid off.  A nice chunk of points made my folly the day before ever so painful, as I could very easily be leading this thing with a nice margin. Have to look ahead now so  I'm over it now (mostly)  and happy to be in 5th place overall......

I did open my trimmers a little more today, and was promptly rewarded with my first full frontal collapse.  Fortunately I was able to clear it without much trouble and continue on my way...  I won't do that again unless I find very smooth air...  I must remember to always honor the limits of my glider....

Thursday we had a day off due to strong winds....  I don't think there was anyone who wanted to go up the hill today anyway.  4 good days of flying (9 days for those of us who were here for the US Nationals) and pilots were ready for a day off.  The weather for Friday and the last day, Saturday, so far looks like we will race, although there will be some wind to contend with......

I'm happy for all the pwc pilots who traveled so far to join us here in Chelan and crush the 2010 PWC weather curse which has been such a strong player this season....  Looks like more flying to come!

Jack