King Summary

Lack of internet access and time made blogging during the King Meet difficult. The theme for this years comp was wind. Overall I was disappointed with my performance. King is a humbling place to fly and I was probably due to have my ego put back in place. Here's a summary of the meet

7/14/2008 Day 1
Route 3

Route 3 is called and I feel I am in a good position above King. I reach my highest altitude ever at 15,500'. I decide it is time to head over the back. I see Ben D taking a line north along the ridge to get a head start on the NW wind that will push us off our East course. I decide to follow him and quickly lose 1000'. I don't want to get any lower so I cut my loses and head over the back across the Howe Valley. It is about 16 miles to the next mountain range, the Lemhi's.

I get drilled the whole way across (even with finding a lee-side thermal that gave me an extra 1,500'). I just barely make it to the foothills of the Lemhis, but I am so low I can only make one pass before setting up my landing. I was upset about only making it 15 miles the first day. I broke down my glider and watched my friends climb out over my head.
Lonely Landing 15 miles out. King Mountain in the background.

7/15/2008 Day 2
Route 1

There was a strong southwest wind today and a forecast for overdevelopment. I decided not to fly due to the high surface winds.
We listen to Ben D and Wayne fly north and I start to regret my decision. They are making great progress and the air sounds smooth. Soon though we start to hear the reports from them of virga ahead, clouds above, uncontrollable lift, and a urgent desire to get on the ground. All ends well and the boys get down before the gust fronts reach them.Lower launch setup area

A few of us head to a hotspring located on the edge of the Craters of the Moon National Park.


7/16/2007 Day 3
Route 3

Winds aloft were strong today. At 12,000' I was seeing a steady 25mph flow. I couldn't seem to get much above 12,500' and was not feeling good about heading over the back of King so low in these winds. The SW component meant in addition to the King rotor we would get hit by the rotor off a smaller range to the SE of King. I was waiting for the others to climb up and join me. I got impatient and decided to fly South along the Arco Range, then turn at Arco and jump the range from there. This would keep me out of the rotor. It was a gamble, but I thought if no one could get over the back at King, I could end up with a long flight and a lot of points if I could just make it from Arco back to the Lemhi's.

It was an interesting flight, but was the wrong call. I landed 10 miles out. The other guys went over the back while Ben D went on to have a 110 mile flight to Henry's Lake. I should have waited and made a decision with my team on which path to fly. Lesson learned.


7/17/2008 Day 4
Route 2

A lot of excitment abounded when Route 2 was called for the first time in years. We get preped. Route 2 takes you straight over 3 or 4 mountain ranges. It offers big miles, remote landings, and long retrieves. I fill up my harness with some extra water and supplies to be prepared for a long hike and possible night in the wild. I won't need any of it...
Moore ID, from 12,000'

The winds are strong again and I ridge soar up the face of king and top out around 12,000. The SW winds have brought in the California smoke and it is very difficult to see the weather to the North. What I can see looks solid and possibly overdeveloped. I decide to not fly the route today. Instead I take some photos, enjoy the air, and fly out to a nice big field near the campground and land next to Chris.

Pilots who went far today had stories of flying through snow!


7/18/2008 Day 5
CANCELED due to high wind forecasts

A few of us head up to Mackay for some fishing in the lost river (we found it). I catch a nice sized rainbow trout. The trout then proceeds to catch me and we struggle in the river, each firmly connected to the lure. A trip to the local medical clinic followed to have the hook cut out of my palm. I did however fair much better than the trout who ended up in my belly a few hours later.

Joe Fishing the Big Lost River. We caught 4 (not including my hand) and had a nice meal.

7/19/2008 Day 6
Route 3

Today I finally had a good flight. I flew a lot with Bruce and Joe and others. I crossed 3 mountain ranges and covered 55 miles before it was over. That was enough to give me the longest Rec Class flight for the day.
It was an immensely rewarding flight. It was late in the day and I was saved repeatedly by leeside thermals. Tactics were necessary to cross the valleys. I would let a leeside thermal top out, and then continue to circle in the bouyant air. Others were reporting massive sink in the valleys. I would drift with the wind at about 15 miles per hour until I was close enough to the next range to make a run for it. This approach was slow, but allowed my to avoid the worst of the sink.

Unfortunately I did not have a good landing which put a damper on the flight. Barbed wire and cacti are not my friends...

Standings
Ben Dunn took second place with some stellar flights. The Bobbleheads win the team competition.

Total Flights: 5
Airtime: 7:15