Race & Rally Day 5: Full Version

Day 5 called at 109km task to the North to Willis. After my frustrations with weak link breaks and difficult tows yesterday, I was relieved to have a nice easy tow. I was somewhat late on tow, but this worked out just fine as there was a large gaggle to mark the lift for me.
Day 5 Task Board

The day was difficult, especially at first. Climbs were low and irregular. I was in a huge gaggle and we were not getting about 3,000’. The drift was light, but it was on course, so we could maintain in the low climbs while drifting towards to start cylinder. The race started and I stayed with the main gaggle for as long as I could. I figured on a blue day like this, with low climbs, it was good to have friends.
Gaggles Above Quest

The first 20 kilometers seemed to take forever. Somewhere in that section I fell behind the main gaggle. It is amazing with these guys how quickly you can get left behind. Linger in a thermal for a few extra turns and you may never catch back up. I headed North on course line, with gliders scattered here and there, flying with a handful of others most of the time.

After flying over a prison, I was fairly low down to about 1,200’. I flew in to the edge of a forest looking for a climb. Others were down low looking like they would land. I found a climb with Linda Salomone and a Millennium pilot. The forest crossing were difficult with the low top of lift, but we drifted over this first one while slowly climbing.
Flying Over A Prison Always Feels Ironic and Sad

A short distance further we came upon another forest with some tricky landing options before it. Here we struggled. Alex Cuddy caught up with us and blazed on past. Linda and the Millennium went on glide and got a horrible line. I watched them sink and opted to search slightly east of my last climb for some more lift. I hit it and for the first time in the day broke through the inversion, climbing to 4,500’. The crossing was easy now, but I was alone and could not see any other pilots.
From the Horse Race Tracks on Thru the Forest was a Typical Unlandable Area That Needed to be Crossed

As I continued on course I got another big climb to 4,500’. I passed over the Millennium who had landed about 40km from goal. The course line now took me away from the highway. Again there was a unlandable area I needed to get across. I needed about 2,500’ to make it safely to the next field, and I was stuck at 2,000’. I turned West, flying perpendicular to the course line because I saw I could make a shorter crossing a few miles away. Still I struggled, now down to 1,500’.

I had left a nice field on glide and arrived at it about 700’. After unzipping I hit a climb that I thought would take me over the developed areas and into the next set of landable fields. I had previously gotten goal as low as a 25:1 glide and now I felt I might get back up to 4,000+ and have a good chance of making goal. As I drifted over the development, I again got stuck just under 2,000’. I still couldn’t make the jump and when I lost the lift I headed back to my field. This time there was no climb out and I set it down softly about 23km from goal.

It was a long day, and challenging. 54 miles with only getting more than 3,000’ AGL twice. I was surprised to see how many pilots made goal, but still very pleased with my flight. I’ve been working on how to find a feel a “good line” while on glide. I think on this flight I started to see some results. There is a technique that allows some pilots to end up much higher after a glide compared to others. I’m determined to learn it.

Flight Time – 4:20
Distance – 86km