Santa Cruz Flats - Day 7

I’m a few weeks behind on posting the last day of the Santa Cruz Flats Comp.

Friday’s short flight left my glider with two broken battens and some serious runway rash on the left leading edge. I was dejected to say the least, but cooled myself down and quickly set to work assessing what needed to be done to get the glider airworthy again. The downtube was replaced, the sail scrapes could be smoothed over with tape, but discovering the broken battens made me think getting back in the air for the last day was a long shot.

Fortunately Jeff O’Brien and Dustin Martin got wind of my predicament and quickly devised a workaround scheme. Jeff’s determination to get my glider flying for the last day was impressive, and very much appreciated by me and James (also needed a batten fix). Jeff went into town to get some supplies and then him and Dustin went to work fiberglassing the battens back together. After a few technical snags, the wrap was complete and the battens were left to cure for the night.
Battens patched up and ready to go

Saturday I got out to the launch area early to finalize the glider repairs and check if the battens fit. The tip batten repair was too thick and I could not get it into the sail. I was tempted to cave to my growing anxiety and just call it quits but my dad was eager to get see me back in the air and started sanding down the sides of the fiberglass repair while I finished up the rest.

By the time the batten fit and the glider was ready to go almost everyone had launched and I was last in line. That suited me just fine as my first priority was a safe launch and to make sure that the repaired glider flew ok. Once that was done and my nerves were calmed I would think about the days task (97km triangle). The last task for the week

My tug arrived and I was nervous as hell. I came off the cart clean and quickly knew that the glider was flying perfectly. Whew! Now, what was the task again?

Off the cart. Glider flying well.

At about 3,000’ the tug took me through some lift and I pinned off to climb with a few other gliders. The climb was slow and the race start was approaching. I could here the rest of my team and figured I was going to be about 30 minutes behind when I finally got on course. I knew I would probably be flying alone much of the day, so I just needed to fly my own game.

I left the start cylinder around 7,500’ flying with a couple other gliders. Both Ben and Alex radioed from near the first turnpoint saying that the lift was much better about 6,000’ and that I should try and stay high. I took the advice and flew slowly, climbing in light lift and letting myself drift downwind towards the first turnpoint.

After a climb to 8,500 I had been on glide in heavy sink. I saw pilots climbing slowly a mile to the west, but it was a 90 degree heading change, and would take me downwind off course line. So I pressed on and got low. At 4,500’ I saw an entire field going off in one giant dust devil. I flew to the sure thing and soon found myself radioing my position “10,500’ at turnpoint 1”.
11,000' at turnpoint 1

Turning North to turnpoint 2 I climbed to 11,200’. I had the 34km leg to the next turnpoint on an 11:1 glide and headed out. It was immediately obvious that this leg of the course went directly over a local airport that is a major skydiving hub with constant activity. Some how the task committee and safety committee both missed this and it was a huge hazard to fly through. I opted to fly wide around it to the north to stay safe, despite having to go several miles off course to get around.

The glide to the second turnpoint was long and lift was sparse. I stopped to work what I could but hadn’t had a decent climb since the first part of this leg. A couple miles from the turnpoint I found myself surrounded by gliders at the bottom of a gaggle. This was the lead group heading back after tagging the turnpoint. I pressed on and found myself over Ben Dunn at the second turnpoint. I was down to 3,500’ now and turned back into the headwind hoping for a last minute save. There were a lot of gliders on the ground at this point and I can’t deny that it felt good flying over them. This glide turned out to be my final and I flew straight on courseline into a long clear field landing right next to Ben. It's so civilized to use a strip of grass to pack up your harness on...

The flight put me at 66km and 15^th for the day. I was really pleased with my flying on this flight and the good performance felt especially good coming back from Fridays smack down.

Saturday night was award ceremony and party. Christina and I saw dad off on Sunday morning and then powered through the long drive home. A great week at a fantastic comp.
Dad's plane was happy to see him!