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

King 2008 - Day 1

Not much time for blogging out here, so this will be short. Scroll down, 2 posts today. No pictures yet

7/14/2008

First day of the comp looked promising. Lift forecast to 17,000' or higher. We have a special window that can be opened here to allow freeflight above the normal 18,000' FAA limit up to 23,000'. The meet organizers opened the window and we were all hopeful.

I climbed up after launch into some strong thermals. I had a problem with my oxygen system and wasn't getting any O2. It took a while to troubleshoot it since I had to reach into a low pocket i could not see. Eventually got it fixed and headed back into the thermals.

I had a strongest thermal I've ever been in with a sustained climb over 1000' per minute for 4 minutes. I topped out at 15,500' and headed over the back of the mountain. Route 3 had been called for the day and it looked good.

I got drilled crossing the next valley. The rotor off of King mountain pounded me with 2000' per minute down air. I just made it to the foothills of the next range, but could not find anything to get me back up and was forced to land after 15 miles. I watched others fly over my head on their way to 40, 50, 75 and 100 mile flights.

I was disapointed with my flight. I picked a bad line crossing the valley. We get 2 throw-away days here, but it's tough to have to use one on such a good day.

King Mountain 2008 - Practice Day

7/13/2008

Arrived in Moore, ID Saturday night and set up camp in the local park. Sunday was a practice day for us and a chance for me to get my mountain wings back. It was good have the day because I have been spoiled by the flatlands flying lately and the smooth air that comes with it.

The practice flight was fairly turbulent. I flew about 18 miles to a local airport. I had a bad landing and broke a downtube. My first one in 4 years. I was frustrated, but got it repaired that night.

Leasons Learned from Chelan

A few key lessons come to my mind from last weeks competition. These aren't new ideas, but things I was reminded of and concepts that were refined in my mind.

1 – If you want to go far you have to go fast.

I learned this the first time at Santa Cruz Flats. After completing 50 miles of the first days triangle, I realized I had taken too long. The Sun was low and the thermals were stopping.
The 3rd day at Chelan, Ben Dunn and I were pushing for an 85 mile triangle. We had completed the second turnpoint at about 65 miles when we started to get boxed in by rapid overdevelopment. We could have made it back if we had been to that turnpoint 30 minutes earlier.

2 – Persistence Pays

Day 4 at Chelan I had my best flight. A 65 mile triangle using Withrow and Sims as turnpoints. The flight started with a flush cycle that almost put me on the deck in the bailout. I had to maintain in turbulent conditions, low over the LZ. I was tempted to bail and start setting up my approach. Eventually something came thru that let me crawl back up. One low saved turned what would have been my worst day at the comp to my best.

3 – Thermals may split up, or shift laterally at an inversion and regroup above it. Don’t assume it is gone just because the lift is stopping.

Most days at Chelan there were one or more inversion between the ground and the top of lift. A thermal would seem to top out, but if you searched, you could usually find the thermal continuing some distance away. Usually this would be a constant direction (upwind or downwind) for an inversion on a given day. If you found the thermal 200’ downwind previously, that was a good place to look on the next one. Pay attention to what altitude you hit inversions. Pay attention to what direction the thermal shifts. Flying with another pilot helps immensely.

The lift will often be broken up at the inversion. Do everything you can to get above it. The lift will often be strong and coherent once it passes the inversion. Getting 50’ higher could be your ticket to much more. Push out in the broken pockets of lift. Try to throw yourself up through it.

Chelan '08, Day 6

7/4/2008

It's all over. Ben Dunn hangs on to his 5 point lead and wins. This is his first victory at a sanctioned comp. Congratulations Ben!


Conditions at launch were very windy today. The pilots who had gotten off the ground were getting mostly ridge lift in turbulent conditions. No one seemed to be getting high and I did not think it looked fun so I opted not to fly. I really would have liked to fly one more day. Since the comp is your best 4 out of 6 days, not flying today and yesterday means I don't get to drop any of my low scoring days.

I finished 14th out of about 30. I think I could have done a bit better. That said, I am very happy with how I flew on the 3rd and 4th days. I've also learned a lot of leasons to improve my skill.

I can't wait to come back next year!

Chelan '08, Day 5

7/03/2008
Day Cancelled

Severe weather forecast for the day. The day is called off. We'll take the day to relax and catch up on posting. Scroll down for more new posts (Day 4).


Hanging by the lake

Chelan '08, Day 4

7/02/2008

2nd for the day!

Today I flew a 65 mile triangle for 1077 points. That was enough to put me in a tie for second place for the day.

I was one of the first off the hill again after watching a few climb out. It was tough. I maintained at launch for a few minutes but soon found myself several hundred below. There is a ridge that blocks the path to the LZ, so I had to start heading that way to be sure I could clear it. I continued to sink out and was starting to get desperate. About 500’ over the LZ I found a really turbulent thermal. It didn’t climb much, but I wasn’t going down. Over the course of the next 30 minutes I gradually fought my way back up. Topped out at 7,500’ and headed across hoping to catch up with Ben and Bruce.

On the flats I found Ben and Bruce and Joe. We were all struggling to get high again. There was wind today and it made progress difficult. We zig zaged forward chasing the few dustdevils we could find.
To the southeast some high clouds were casting a large shadow and looked to be shutting down the thermals and blocking our path. Ben headed south hoping to skirt around the trailing edge of the shadow and Joe followed suit. Bruce and I decided to dart into the shadow and tag the Withrow waypoint. We hit the waypoint, but now were down around 4,000’ (1,000’ off the deck). I circled in zero sink, drifting away from my course. Eventually I climbed back up to 8k. The path to the SE to Farmers still looked dark. To the north I could see some active clouds and dust devils on the way to Mansfield. I radioed to the boys that I was going to head that way and try to make the small triangle.

Getting to Mansfield was fairly easy. Once there I climbed up to 8,000 and started to head back to Chelan. Bruce radioed ahead and said he had been sinking. I looked behind me and could see sunny fields and lift away towards Sims. I decided I would turn around and head that way. I figured I would not complete a triangle, but I could go for open distance.

Dusty on the way to sims

I hit a boomer back at Mansfield and climbed to cloudbase at 10,200’. I hit one more good climb on my way to Sims. Made the turnpoint low and looked at the 25 miles I had to cover to get back. I scratched for a while and eventually dove at a pair of dustdevils. Climbed up with 2 other pilots and pressed on. Progress was slow with the crosswinds. Crossing Mansfield I knew I needed one more climb to get half way back and earn the multiplier. I found the climb and it was enough to get me all the way back.

Arriving back at the gorge. Chelan lake at the top, launch is the mountain on the left

The last 10 miles of the flight I flew around the edge of a good sized building cloud. I flew full vg at 45mph at 8,200’ without losing anything. Crossed the gorge high, took some photos, and tagged the junkyard LZ. Then I flew back over the towers and landed on the grass in the soccer field lz.

Airport LZ

Chelan butte and Soccer Field LZ (small grass field on water front on the righthand side of the river)

I knew I had done a good task for the day. I was pleasantly surprised the next day to find out I had the second best flight for the day. Bruce took first for the day with 5 points more.

Airtime: 4:50

Score: 1077

Breaking down the glider in the Soccer Field LZ

Chelan '08, Day 3

Chelan Lake, Butte, and the Gorge, from 11,000'

7/1/2008

Forecast for today was similar to yesterday. Light winds, chance of thunderstorms. The day seemed to be starting earlier with dust devils on launch by 11:30am. I decided it looked promising and suited up. I was the first off the hill at 12:45pm. Ben soon followed me and we climbed up to 7,000’. Then everything shut down as a shadow passed over the butte. The next pilot off sunk out and we went into survival mode trying to minimize our decent. Back down to 5,000’ and things started to pick up again. Ben and I left the butte to make the crossing before anyone else had even gotten off the hill.

The crossing was easier today and I took a more southerly route this time. Got to the flats with 6,000’. A dusty formed ahead and Ben and I pulled vg and dove like madmen into it. Hitting the lift we would bank up and drop the vg and climb out. Our climbs were between 8 and 9,000’. We would leave light lift and press on to find stronger stuff.

We were feeling good about the day so we skipped the two closer waypoint that can be used for triangles and pressed on to 17/220 waypoint (~34 miles from launch). We had some great climbs. I got up to 11,000’ and reached cloud base. It was exciting to be thermaling wingtip to wingtip with Ben when we were out there all alone way ahead of everyone else.

The triangle we were shooting for is about 80 miles. Since others had struggled to get off the hill I was thinking there was a possibility that Ben and I could tie for 1st place for the day if we could complete the task. It was extremely difficult at times and I had to fight back up several times from low.

But I was determined and hung on. We made the first turnpoint and pressed on. Near the second turnpoint clouds were starting to form faster and we had reports of overdevelopment back at the butte. In hindsight we should have taken a nearby intermediate turnpoint and tried to get as far back towards chelan as possible (if you make 50% of the distance on the last leg of the triangle, you get the triangle multiplier on your score). But I had big plans in my head and pressed again to the farther turnpoint.
Rounding the last turnpoint about 55 miles on course, we are now faced with quickly overdeveloping conditions to the Northwest and Southwest. My gps says I need 8 more miles to make the multiplier. We press on. But now we start to see gustfronts and rain ahead and to both sides. I start to feel like I am flying myself into a corner. The lift is starting to get really good. A bad sign. Sara calls in from up ahead and says winds on the ground are starting to get strong. I make my call and turn around. I dive away from the gust fronts hoping to give myself enough time to land and break down my glider before they hit. It was tough to give up so many points, but it was a great flight. I am sitting here smiling as I type this. Flying so hard and so far with Ben was a blast and a great lesson.

Don't want to fly through this...

Chelan '08, Day 2

6/30/2008

Forecast for the day called for light winds from the east, switching to southwest later in the day. Chance of thunderstorms.

The wind forecast made for some interesting strategizing as pilots debated what direction to head first. Call it right and you may fly with a mix of cross winds and tail winds. Call it wrong and you could be fighting headwinds on your entire course.
I plan to try a medium size triangle. Farmers-Sims-Soccer Field.
I’ve eaten and prepared myself better today and feel excited for the flight to come.

I get off the hill towards the front of the line. Climbing up is difficult at first. Lift is light, and lots of pilots are crowing up the sky. I circle in tight trying to find the cores. I’ve gotten used to banking really tight in a good core and am finding it difficult to fly with many of the people in the air because they are turning too shallow. I turn tight inside a few and climb up above them. After a long slow climb I find myself I the top of the stack at 7,200’.

The lift seems to fade and Gerry radios he is making the crossing. I am 75’ above him and in a great position to follow. I’m feeling great at this point knowing I’ve got a great pilot to show me the way across.
My wing is gliding really well and I get a great glide ratio across the river. Reaching the other side I’m in the same spot as yesterday, but at 5,000’ instead of 4,000’. I see some dust devils on the other side of the power lines. I think I can make them, but decide to turn in some light lift at the edge of the rim. This was the mistake that sealed my fate for the day. The lift was nothing, and now I had lost enough altitude I couldn’t make it to those dusty’s.

Gerry and I work trying to find anything. Eventually Gerry lands and is followed by Joe who left lift to come join us (thinking we knew what we were doing…). It looks dusty and miserable down there. I maintain 200’ off the deck for a few minutes with one faint hope that I might make a climb out. It doesn’t happen and I bring it down about ¼ mile from Gerry and Joe in a less dusty field.

The sky seemed to turn on after we landed. Cumulus clouds dotting the sky. Pilots getting to nearly 14,000’. It was painful to listen on the radio to the reports. We get scored on the best 4 out of 6 days here, so I’ve got to start flying better.

My ankle is holding up nicely. I was worried about my launches since I hadn’t run at a full sprint since hurting myself 5 weeks ago. But I’m able to run strong with no pain.

Chelan '08, Day 1

6/29/2008

The weather looked promising today. Light winds, decent lapse rates, a good day for a triangle.

Around 12:30pm people started to launch. A line formed quickly and though I was only about 10 people from the front, several people potatoed on launch and I had wait a long time. By the time I got in the air Ben had already crossed the gorge to the flats. Bruce was topping out at 7200’ and getting ready to make the crossing.

I searched for a while before finding the core that took me up into the gaggle. I climbed through and around many people, but around 6,800’ it got really crowded. I wanted another 500’ before trying to cross the gorge, but eventually got fed up with the disorganized gaggle and went on glide.
I reached rim on the far side of the gorge low. I needed to get about 2 miles further before I would truly be on the flats and have a chance of finding better lift. Alex joined me and we scratched low on the rim for a long time. It was probably 45 minutes of working zero sink before something let off and gave me enough altitude to make it to the flats.

My plan was to make a small triangle, and maybe expand it if the conditions were good along the way. And they certainly were good. Now that I was across the river and in the flats, the lift was abundant and strong. Topping out at 9,000’ I worked my way toward the first turnpoint. It was cool up high, but it had been hot down along the rim at 3,500’. I was now regretting my poor planning that had resulted in me not eating breakfast this morning. Hunger combined with a bit of heat exhaustion left me light headed and feeling a bit nauseous.

I decided at the first turnpoint that I really wasn’t feeling well and wanted to get on the ground. So I tagged the waypoint and headed back to the soccer field LZ for a short out and return of about 24 miles.

The LZ here is fun to land in. You make a fast approach over the river, and then dive in between some trees to land in a nice, soft, grassy field.

Bruce and Gerry did a ~50 mile triangle. Alex did a decent out and return without a map. Haven’t heard from Ben yet, but he was going for a big one. Doug made it across the gorge and had his longest flight yet on his new T2
Tomorrow I’ll be more prepared. A good breakfast, earlier off the hill.

Gerry landing at the Soccer Field after a good triangle task.