Results:
https://airtribune.com/2015-big-spring-nationals/results

https://airtribune.com/2015-big-spring-nationals/blog__day_7

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/para/flightinfo.html?flightId=328673370

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/8.8.2015/19:06

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1235059

We were faced again with the prospect of a windy (10-15 mph) day with the
constraint that we needed to get back to Big Spring at 9 PM for the awards
dinner. We often have tasks that come back to the airport because the winds are
light in August, but not this year.

The task committee came up with a zig zag task that would give us again a cross
wind component of strong winds.

The winds on launch were about the same as on Friday so there was no drama.
We've had once again a perfectly safe competition with no injuries.

The sky was blue again as has been the case for most days this year in contrast
to all the other years when we regularly get cu's at 1 PM. The wet weather in
Texas since the winter has suppressed the lift and there have been inversions
(which we never had before) every day.

I got off early again and there was lift right at the end of the runway. Pilots
have been asking to be towed straight upwind no matter what the lift and Russell
just kept right on going instead of turning in the lift. That was fine because I
knew where it was.

Pilots were upset earlier when tug pilots would not continue upwind because with
the strong winds it was too easy to get blown back and have to quickly land back
at launch without risking going downwind to find lift.

There was lift back where we originally flew through it and I slowly climbed out
watching Olav Olsen, Larry, and Dangerous Dave (he really is dangerous in
gaggles) thermal up higher than me upwind. I was hoping that my lift would be
good enough to get me back up and not drift me outside the 10 km start cylinder.
I couldn't really hope to get under them by pushing upwind. I was going up at 94
fpm and drifting at 12 mph.

At 6,700' and feeling okay I moved east a little to over a recently built pond
watching the wind lines and found 135 fpm. Now the pilots south of me came
downwind and joined me. We climbed to over 8,400' still three kilometers inside
the start cylinder with 38 minutes to go before the race start gate.

We pushed up wind and did some more twirling to soak up the rest of the minutes.
Other pilots joined us and a few minutes before the start we found 220 fpm and
climbed back up to 8,500' and a good start with about a third of the field all
enjoying themselves in the gaggle.

Cory and I headed out first when the lift got too weak and no one was willing to
lead out. We are all together and it is a race against each other so there is no
advantage in leading. But I got tired of the whole wait for the other guy thing
(one of my many weaknesses).

After a few thermals with ten of us in the lead the lift was weak, often less
than 100 fpm, sometimes a little over 200 fpm on average. Broken and moving
about. James, Robin, Olav Olsen, and another pilot or two got high on the rest
of us and got away. I was hanging with Zippy and Dangerous with a four or five
others following.

It wasn't until we were 27 km north of the start cylinder that we found 500 fpm.
I had lead out three times moving quickly to the newly forming wispies and it
just took awhile to find the best lift.

Zac raced off right after the 500 fpm thermal, which got us to 10,000' and I
took off after him. I could not keep up. One of the keys to Zac's good
performance is the ease and willingness that he has to go very fast on glide
when conditions allow for it.

Again with light lift and a 12-15 mph tail wind we made it quickly to the west
side of the 5km turnpoint at 1T out in the dry areas where the top soil is thin
and they don't/can't grow cotton.

Heading to the northwest just behind Dave and Zac and to their right I found the
lift over the remains of the canyon before it goes up to the plateau and the
croplands at 240 fpm. They both turned around and came back to me. They must
have mirrors on their gliders. We climbed almost to 8,000'.

Before us stretched the crop lands and the prospect of weak lift. No cu's or
wispies ahead. It looked like we would suffer as we had in previous days when we
didn't go to the east and get over the drier and thinner lands. There were ponds
and lakes every where, something that we haven't seen before in Big Spring.

A 9 km glide and we caught up with Olav Olsen turning in 8 fpm. Apparently Robin
Hamilton was already on the ground.

We moved further west and found 15 fpm. Then found 240 fpm. The guys I was with
including Ospanger, Zac, Bruce, Pannese, Dave, and Danny found a better core and
left with 500' on me. I left with 6,700' and headed for the 10 km radius
turnpoint at Welch northwest of La Mesa.

I watched the guys ahead and above me to see how they would do. Making the
turnpoint and heading into the 17 mph south southeast wind toward Tahoka, I
didn't see them start to circle. I headed further north, downwind of their track
to check out some other areas and watching the ground for ponds or other wind
disruptors, I found weak lift that averaged 72 fpm. I was by myself at 4,200'
(1,200' AGL).

Although drifting north of the northeast course line I stayed in whatever I had
so I could get high enough to head further east. I moved over a little to the
west and found 133 fpm and worked it.

One pilot came in under me and then Larry came in at about my level and popped
up above me. I worked it until the lift quit at 6,650'. Larry was 200' over me
as we headed east northeast 8 km downwind of the course line. After a couple of
kilometers he stopped and turned in 50 fpm. I didn't find that lift.

I continued easterly skimming the cotton fields. Down to 100' I had picked out a
nice field and then saw that Zippy and Olav were breaking down right there I
landed next to them. Larry would continue on for another six kilometers and win
the day. No one made goal. I was 15 km short.

Six of us landed within half a kilometer of each other. The guys who got high on
me and made the turnpoint in front of me never found lift after that.

James Stinnett was about 8 kilometers behind us but 20 kilometers ahead of Robin
so he held on strong to second place after Robin was one point behind him after
six days. Robin dropped from third down to fifth.

The wet cropped fields to the north and northwest of Big Spring cut dramatically
into the lift that we normally expect here in Big Spring. The combination of
strong winds, weak lift and cross wind tasks made it difficult, still we were
able to get across a lot of country.

Everyone indicated that once again they had a great time flying in the best
competition site in the US. They were very appreciative of Belinda Boulter as
the meet director and want to come back next year for some more great flying.

We raised $2,840 for the needy children in Big Spring and the Cloudbase
Foundation added another $1,000. The folks from the Rainbow Room came to our
awards dinner and presented the USHPA and Cloudbase with plagues stating how
much they appreciate our substantial support of their effort.

Matt's landing on the last day:

Task 7 results:

https://airtribune.com/2015-big-spring-nationals/results/task7/day/open-class

Final results:

There were a number of former Sport class pilots (last year)
flying in open class including Danny Jones, Cory Barnwell, Jeff Bohl, Jeff
Kannard, Matt Christensen, and Patrick Pannese. There were a few others that
were Sport Class pilots previously. Sport Class is the feeder class for Open
Class.