Once we arrived on launch, the picture became perfectly clear. Windsocks and marker flags were flying completely perpendicular to the ground. At the pilot meeting, the task was called, but with a mandatory land time of 3:30. Launch would open early and in such an organized fashion that all 110 pilots would be in the air within 40 minutes. Even stronger winds were forecast later in the day and pilots cautioned that if they felt the conditions were beyond their experience level to either forego launching or, if in the air, land as soon as, and as safely as possible. A very serious discussion took place on high-wind landings.
My strategy for the day was to follow Alex off launch in the first 5-10 minutes of opening and see where he went to find lift. My plan was working perfectly as I pulled up my risers and had a beautiful launch, torpedoing off the mountain top with Alex making his second or third turn. I quickly turned toward his flightpath, which was over the western side of the spine, and he looked to be getting higher with each turn. As I approached him, nearly head-on, I remembered it was a left-hand turn day and we both started a left-hand turn to avoid one another. It was at that moment that I felt the first strong gust of the day blowing me toward him despite my weight shift and left braking action. We passed withing about 30 feet from one another and I heard Alex yell something like "Go away, JD!" After that, I made a wider than normal turn into the headwind to allow some more separation and ensured I cautiously entered the thermal he was flying.
My largest problem so far continued to plague me today. Multi-tasking! I'm getting better with keeping the wing over my head and my bump tolerance is certainly increasing with each flight. I'm also getting much better at hooking thermals the way Alex taught me. That said, however, add to it the need to plan out my flight path well in advance is something with which I continue to struggle.
Today I got flushed. It is that plain and simple. I did about six turns in the brisk west wind and found myself pinned behind a menacing spine of trees with little hope of penetrating forward. After just a couple minutes of flying, I was out for the day. Because of the mandatory land time and high winds, there would also be no relaunching today.
I proceeded to look at the gulch below and a possible landing field. I was not yet much below the ridge but within seconds the rotor began to toss me left and right with more collapses than any of the previous days. It was all I could do to hold a straight course toward the retirement home well down the gulch that had a large field in which I thought I could make on glide. I could see Alex climbing out above and wishing I was with him.
For the next five minutes I slowly penetrated forward, calculating my glide path and beginning to get more and more tense with every deflation. I was really being worked in the rotor. Alex later said that he and another pilot were watching me get lower and lower and almost collided, rubber-necking with each turn in my direction. "Sorry," the other pilot yelled, "I was watching the low guy!"
About 400 meters from the field I heard a beep and turned, hoping to find a thermal to bring me out. I made several turns and soon found myself almost at ridge height again. My spirits brightened and I said to my self, "hey, I'm going to get out of here." But as soon as I widened my turn to get closer to the ridge, the rotor increased and I had to turn back toward the gulch that was sucking me down. Watching Alex's GoPro later that Reaper plunked down on his helmet on launch, you can hear him yelling, "JD, what are you doing? Get out of there and land. No one makes it up from there." He was right, I needed to just concentrate on making the field.
I scouted my glide path and realized there were no landing options if I didn't make the field. Power lines, fences, trees, and poison oak were the only things between me and that field. I was now mashing my speedbar and hoping with everything I had that I wouldn't get whacked in the rotor and really be in serious trouble.
I made the field and pulled off a great landing. Four other pilots were already packing up and seven more were coming in behind me. Pilots in the LZ were calling on the meet frequency that winds were getting very serious in the main LZ, gusting up to 20 mph. I was very happy at that point to be on the ground. Hey, I was getting tired of landing in the main LZ and not disappointed that I landed out on the course. Okay, not really on the course but I looked forward to the 20 minute hike out along a paved road.
Alex had a great day and I don't even want to try to tell his awesome story of the day. He will post that one soon and I never tire of hearing him tell it. When I made it along the road to the LZ, I watched pilot after pilot pulling big ears and spiralling down, so many landing short of the LZ in a higher field because they could not penetrate. Pilots on the ground were running to each one as they landed, pulling down their wings for them so they didn't get dragged on the ground in the gusting wind.
All in all, it was not a very flyable day and only a few expert pilots made goal. The LZ filled up quickly and we headed to HQ to sign in and turn in our GPS. I didn't get very far today but I learned that I must think and plan ahead. Drift is killing me, especially in the strong wind. My plan for tomorrow is to really take the time on launch to figure out where to go, and where not to go, right from the start. I didn't land in a tree, I didn't get hurt, but I also didn't get very far.
After watching Alex's GoPro video later this afternoon, I have to make mention of that early encounter with Alex off of launch. When I thought he yelled, " Go way, JD," he actually yelled, "Get high, JD". What an awesome guy!
2 comments:
Thanks JD, may your thermaling become as good as your writing. Once you get into thermaling our ridge lift might get boring. I thought that would happen to me after Big Island, but no still can't wait to fly.
Keep us updated, great coffee reading, tell Alex to sharpen his pencil too
Sidehill
Thanks for posting so we can all fly Rat Race this year - vicariously at least. Just remember that all those guys skying out and making goal have been flying for a long time, and the only way to be flying for a long time is to fly safe. Maybe the "LowGuy" nickname won't stick :-)
Post a Comment