38 58 10.92 N,75 52 0.00 W,Highland Aerosports, Ridgely,
Maryland, USA

59 degrees outside at 10 AM. Thick overcast over Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. Stationary front  has moved a bit
to the south east off the coast. Has been there for four days now.

At 10 AM I postpone the pilot meeting until 11 AM for a weather update. Things
look like they could improve relative to the previous three days.

10:30 light rain.

11 AM, reschedule the pilot meeting until 1 PM. Things still might improve.

1 PM, slight improvement. Filtered sunlight has been spotted once, maybe twice.
Still complete cloud cover. Set launch open time at 3 PM.

Task committee calls a 29 km task to the south (assuming a north wind) for both
classes.

3 PM we start launching under almost full overcast with little sun breaks over
us. Cloud base about 1,200'.

I launch at 3:30 PM, towed to 1,400', right at the bottom of the cloud. Circle
in light or no lift for 15 to 20 minutes and then land. Everyone lands but Bruce
and Pete.

Launch again at 4:30 PM. Total cloud cover. Get towed to cloud base at 1,700'.
Release and head southwest toward some sunlit fields. The task is due south.

Glide 5 km to the sunlight and down to 600' find 110 fpm lift (much stronger
than on the first flight) that takes me along with a flock of birds to 1,700'
and cloud base again. I'm seven kilometers out from the launch point and five
kilometers west of the course line.

Just under the wisps I can see sunlit fields three or four kilometers to the
west across a river. This would take me even further away from the course line.
There are small bits and pieces of sunlit fields south toward the goal and I
decide to head for them instead of the brighter looking fields to the west.

No lift along that course line and I land 10.5 kilometers from the start, but
way west of the course. Only three pilots leave the start cylinder. I'm the only
pilot to catch a thermal outside the start cylinder.

https://airtribune.com/ecc2015/results

https://airtribune.com/ecc2015/results/task3/day/class-1

Task results:

No one in the sport class got outside the start cylinder and
therefore the task was worth zero points, while the open class was worth four
points. Three for those who landed inside the start cylinder.

Tomorrow looks good.