We go big. The wind forecast was for 13 to 15 knots out of the
northwest at two and four thousand feet. So we decided to go 172 kilometers to
the Bacon County airfield.

The lift was supposed to be moderately good with cu's at 4,000' to 5,000'. The
cu's started early in the morning and they were pretty ragged from the strong
winds. Things seemed pleasant enough on the ground with the wind right down the
runway.

We set a 15 km start cylinder to help pilots deal with the strong winds. We also
put in a sacrifice first start clock at one hour after the opening of the launch
to allow pilots who get blown out of the start cylinder to have a valid start
without jump the gun penalties. It turns out that the first launching pilots use
the first start clock anyway.

The lift was actually pretty good at launch time and I was soon to 4,000' AGL.
Drifting and working the wispies and a bunch of us were soon at 5,000'. It was
not long before about fifteen or twenty of us approached the edge of the start
cylinder and we were just in time for the second clock. The wind was taking us
right down the course line.

There was a long thin lake north south lake ahead that we have to get across. I
raced out not holding back like would have been advisable and then only take a
few turns in 175 fpm before the lake. A couple of pilots were out in front of me
racing to get on the other side of the lake.

Fifteen kilometers after starting and we were down to 2,000' AGL and working 100
fpm. Those who slowed down a little and came in behind us were above us and
climbing better. It took almost half an hour to climb out of this self dug hole
as we drifted past Cordele, while those who were at first just above us got up
and out quickly and given the wind were soon be far down the course line.

Soon I was back down again at 1,900' working 60 fpm. I watched a Rich Cizauskas
below me make a ninety degree turn cross wind to the south and then spotted the
pilot that he saw turning above us. That got us into 160 fpm with a couple of
other pilots.

Finally the lift improved and I wasn't getting so low and I had a couple of
pilots to follow me and get ahead of me if I didn't find the lift at first. I
could hear Bruce Kavanaugh and Larry Bunner on the radio and they were far ahead
and there was no way to catch them.

At 100 kilometers from the start I spotted a pilot climbing over a landfill just
before a large patch of forest. When I got there my climb rate was 300 fpm so
things were continuing to improve. This thermal got us to 5,000' so it was easy
to cross the forested area along the course line,.

Unfortunately the glide after the center of the forest went badly and it wasn't
long before I was in desperate search mode again looking from field to field to
spot anything that might be going up as I was falling at 500 fpm.

At 1,100' AGL I found a little broken nothing that just wasn't working after a
few turns. I was watching the possible landing fields as the wind was whipping
through the trees below. I just didn't want to land in the shadow of any trees.

Losing the lift and falling quickly I headed for the longest field that would
keep me away from the trees upwind in order to have the safest landing. I was
now getting tossed about a bit from the turbulence. There were high tension
power lines next to me running parallel to the wind, and I chose to set up in
the field downwind of the very long one that I would land in making sure that I
was away from the circular irrigation system.

As I headed into the wind on my final approach at 400' I noticed a bird circling
in front of me. I really didn't want to land in all this wind, so I decided to
stay with the bird. The climb was weak and broken, but I was happy to be slowly
getting out of there.

Soon four or five other birds joined in below me and I said to myself, do
whatever these birds do. If they go upwind go with them. If they go over the
forest, do that also. I stuck to that.

For the next fifty minutes I just circled slowly climbing, even as the birds
went away, drifting from forty three kilometers from goal to finally getting to
twenty four kilometers from goal and climbing to 4,400'.

The sky was a lot bluer at a few minutes past 5:00. I'd started at 1:45. There
were a few wispies ahead so I felt that there were chances to stay up ahead. My
6030 said I had goal at 17:1 with 800 feet. I was not so sure about that.

Down to 1,800' 10 km from goal I just drifted in -6 fpm just to get closer to
goal. I did so again at 6 kilometers from goal at 1,600'. Then I finally went on
glide and of course found vast amounts of lift all the rest of the way to goal.
I was late but I was there.

I heard later from Dustin that he had low save after low save and crossed the
lake at 800' in a light thermal and then after a bunch of low saves, landed.
Larry and Bruce were fast although not as fast as the guys who went early.

Christian Ciech won the day again (he has won all the days).

The flight
here.

Live Track here.

Spot
here.

Results
here.

In spite of all the wind the air was very sweet until the last few hundred feet.
It has been great flying in Georgia. The Race of Champions begins today, Friday.