Mungyeong Task 1
Today was all about the wind. Intensities were high on launch. Everyone wants to race, but of course nobody wants to see anyone get hurt. There is some conflict on launch as each pilot has his or her own idea of what is safe, and what is not. The preceding day was canceled after conditions became too windy on launch, but not until many pilots had launched, and we had witnessed many tense moments as unfamiliar pilots struggled with the quickly accelerating and high lift generating 2 liners. I felt the meet director and Gin handled things well with constant monitoring and ongoing evaluation of conditions. This is always the most difficult challenge for the organizer.... days like this when the sky looks great for racing but you have difficult conditions along with such a diverse spread of skill level on launch.
As seems to be my MO, and with no launch priority, I was later getting into the launch que, and with many pilots taking multiple attempts to get airborne, it was slow going through the line. My launch was confident and controlled as I've been forced like many R10 pilots to either figure it out or be hurt or left behind on windy days. After a few more scary blown launches the organizers closed launch for awhile, but then opened it again – although by that time, after watching so many struggle and some get banged up a bit, most of those remaining choose to not fly.
Once airborne, with only 20 minutes to the start, I was already behind before the race had even started. This forced some early on serious decision making if I was to have any chance to be competitive for the race. The conditions were very good for racing, but for some reason many pilots were spending much time climbing in lite lift trying to maximize the climb, when there was no need to be that high. I honored my C Pilot audio prompt to leave the 4K exit cylinder, and found myself immediately in a good start position, but much lower than almost all gliders. It looked good to me, however, and I felt no reason for concern as the day was looking great with nice cummies forming downwind, and plenty of altitude to find the next climb.
I flew 90% of the race alone. I was never high with the gaggles, but made the choice to prioritize my position over my altitude. If I'd ever stopped to climb high I would have dropped far behind of the leaders. This wasn't really my initial plan, it was just the reality of where I was at the start. It was fun and fast racing, a bit rough in spots but overall pretty nice. I flew fast, never getting high and put myself in a great position to go for the win. There was nobody in front of me but many less than a kilometer close behind but much higher. The clouds were popping everywhere in front of me and I had plenty of altitude to find one more good core. It looked so good, but being alone, I just didn't find it and instead found a sinky line and got low about 10K from goal. This was the same area where several pilots were busting the 2000m altitude restriction set for the day. I wouldn't say that I was desperately low, but at least half my focus was on a safe landing spot, while the other half was on a last attempt to get away. The last bit of terrain along the river which formed a nice bowl was working nicely and even though I was quite low, it worked and turned into my final climb. The time to get established cost me the lead and I took more altitude than I needed, or so I thought. Yasson was the first to fly over while I was low. He was alone and pushing hard. Pepe and some others were higher and further SW and also passing while Dean was passing above and to my left. I left on a 7:1 with a nice tail wind and 300m over goal.... As soon as I was situated back on glide with the kick down rings to the pullies, I noticed Yasson just getting absolutely drilled on a line right in front of me. Dean was to my left on a line which took him over the last bit of terrain and turned out to be a good decision. Pepe and the others were higher and to the right and in much better position. Really bad luck for Yasson as his drilling took him all the way to the dirt when I believe he was in a good position to win the day. I'm not sure when, but soon after I went on final glide, I backed off the speed and went into the “I just want to make the goal line” mode. I had just enough altitude to angle off to the left and surf the last bit of terrain across a huge bridge and then to goal. I crossed the line, made one S turn to the right, and then landed behind Dean who had won the day.... WAY TOO CLOSE for comfort.
After a few weather days, it was great to see so many pilots fly to goal, and many happy faces all around.
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