This is a difficult article to write because it deals with
failures and readers don't take well to failure. Apparently it is considered
contagious. But to start off a bit of humor.

I remember the time a few years ago in Australia that I had a short bike race
with Kraig Coomber. He came in second and as I recall he was pretty shocked that
this old guy could best him. After a too short a time period Lukas Bader
challenged me and he was first. I'm quite certain that I could best them both
now.

After each day's task at a hang gliding competition I have a lot of feelings.
This is especially true after I do relatively poorly. These feelings hang on and
on and even a good day can't eliminate them from my short term memory. I
involuntarily obsess over my poor decisions and their outcome.

I had a reasonably good day on the first task at the SCFR.
https://airtribune.com/santacruzflatsrace2016/results/task1931/day/class-1

I liked the fact that I was able to recover from chasing a dust devil (after
ignoring a bump) that didn't work and got me lower than the lead gaggle. I felt
good catching excellent lift after the first turnpoint and getting out in front
with Dangerous Dave. Later I appreciated staying in strong lift over Picacho
Peak and not leaving it when Jonny left. I was happy that I turned to the south
seeing another pilot thermaling on the last leg and climbing to 7,000' as John
Simon continued out along the line that we were following and landed.

I felt good about shading way off to the west when we all left the lift
following Jonny trying to find a better line against the head wind. The fact
that I was able to come back to where Jonny found light lift and get in it and
stay up for a couple of more thermals seemed like a victory. I finished in the
middle of the pack, but there was satisfaction in much of the flight.

Afterwards I wished I had turned in that bump before the dust devil chase,
wished I had stayed in that thermal at Picacho to 10,500' like Larry Bunner
instead of 8,800'. I really regretted not having gone to that single only cu of
the day to the west over no man's land after the second turnpoint instead of
hanging with everyone else. This was the only cu any where near the course line
all day. It was small but very thick. It wasn't in the right direction, but it
was close enough that it appeared to be the case that if I found the thermal
under it I would still be high enough and if I didn't I could make it to a
landable area. The only real issue was if I did indeed find the lift, the others
would come over to me and what would be my advantage, but getting in the lift
first.  Further I wished I had worked harder to stay up in light lift at
the end of the day. Regrets.

On the second day there were cu-nimbs to deal with and because the day was
canceled later it wasn't scored. The tension revolved around how to avoid the
shading from the cu-nimb, avoiding the cu-nimb itself and staying up. Since the
cu-nimb was heading in our direction as we flew cross wind to the south eastern
turnpoint it was a difficult balancing act.

I liked the fact that I could climb up over shaded areas and make the second
turnpoint while others were behind. I would have loved to have spent more time
getting high near the first turnpoint to make it easier to get around the
second, but the approaching cu-nimb cut off that possibility.

The fourth day and the second scored task was a complete embarrassment: 
https://airtribune.com/santacruzflatsrace2016/results/task1936/day/class-1.

I could not have done worse. After uneventfully climbing up to 6,200' but
drifting just outside the start cylinder everything started to slowly fall
apart. Each climb was worse. Half an hour after I launched I was above half the
field but after that slowly got lower and lower with each climb being weaker and
the top of each climb lower.

It was so frustrating seeing pilots above me but not being able to climb up to
them. And they were not all that high either. Add to that the feeling that I had
been in a much better situation a little earlier and it was just getting worse
and worse. What was really weird was that Zac and Jonny were down there with me.
What was up with that?

An hour and twenty minutes after I had launched I was now down to 1,000' AGL,
three kilometers from the launch and over unfriendly terrain. Zac and I had gone
northwest to get under some lift that we just saw Jonny catch. We had been
climbing in 70 fpm to 1,800' AGL when we headed to a spot a little over a
kilometer to our northwest where a couple of pilots showed lift including Jonny.

We didn't find it and Zac was now much lower than I and there I was low at
1,000' AGL. Panic mode set in. As I saw Zac head north over shaded country with
poor retrieve options, I headed south to fly over sunny areas closer to the
launch field. I hit little tiny patches of very weak lift but did not turn in
them. I was more focused on checking landing options than staying up in weak
lift again.

Zac and Jonny got up. I landed. Just too many unhelpful feelings after first
getting up.

On the fifth day it was all different:
https://airtribune.com/santacruzflatsrace2016/results/task1940/day/class-1.
Almost all of the pilots were able to climb to 8,500' on the east side of the
start cylinder. This gave me the opportunity to feel very comfortable about my
chances to fly far and find lift. No more desperately hanging on to anything
available.

When Jonny headed south southwest and I headed southwest with Zippy and Larry I
felt great as I knew that we were going to an area that had in the past been a
great source of lift and it proved to be the case.

When half a dozen pilots came in under us as we climbed up quickly back to
8,500' just before the window opened I could not have been happier or more
confident. Everything was well timed and well positioned. We were going to go
south to the hills where I have always had great lift and good luck. We were
going to fly over the driest areas where the lift can be expected to be great.

We got even higher as we raced to the southern turnpoint. I sometimes hit lift
at over 800 fpm. There were a good number of pilots nearby and in the same
thermal. We were all racing hard and pulled in.

As I got to within one kilometer of the edge of the turnpoint cylinder I saw
Zippy coming back under me. Oh, oh. How did he get two kilometers ahead? That's
about two minutes.

Turning around I raced back to the remnants of the second gaggle that broke up
just as we got there. There were now eight pilots just in front of me. I don't
know how they were able to get that extra distance on me. I had glided into
turnpoint cylinder neck and neck with about five pilots matching their glide
foot for foot and I turned very quickly at the turnpoint, so who knows how I got
a little behind these pilots.

Heading back to the Francisco Grande I shaded to the left quite a ways to head
for the last hill before the flats going to goal. I don't know why Zippy and his
followers were avoiding the peak going to the right. I had always found lift on
this hill and earlier Jonny and others climbed up over it on the way out,
although they were way below us.

I didn't find the lift I had hoped for and had to join the others in first some
200 fpm and then a little later much stronger lift that got all of us into goal.
Three minutes behind Zac but eight minutes in front of Jonny.

Racing felt good but not enough to erase the feelings from the day before.

On the sixth day here:
https://airtribune.com/santacruzflatsrace2016/results/task1944/day/class-1
we headed for the mountain range to the northwest. Again we got over 8,500' in
the start cylinder and got a good start although not as high as the previous day
hoping to stay north of the cultivate fields and make it to the mountain to get
even much much higher. I had dressed up warmly hoping to see 14,000'.

With eight guys again ahead of me (must have found better lift to our north) I
raced along behind trying to catch up. It was a long glide down to 3,500' before
those of us around me and I found the next thermal at 300+ to get back to 7,000'
Bruce and Dustin and one other pilot were above me as headed for the northwest
corner of Maricopa.

There we saw the pilots in the leading gaggle at least three thousand feet below
us, very low and climbing at only 100 fpm. I was positively giddy. I had been
chasing these guys wondering if it was the right move and noticing that they
weren't getting up or finding any thermals, so it affirmed my choice to stay
back and climb with the pilots who had been just behind me.

The lift was weak over these guys and the alluvial fan from the mountain range
beckoned ahead. With Dustin and Bruce heading out just over me I went for it. I
had always found good lift in this area and even though it is only accessible on
a small dirt road and there are lots of tall saguaro cactus up the fan, it was
still landable.

I had hoped to find strong lift as I approached the mountain side but only found
120 fpm. I knew I was out in front of the other pilots with only three pilots
with me. I also knew that I had previously found good lift right at the mountain
side. I kept turning but wanted more.

I saw Dustin head in and hit some good lift right at the mountain side. I chased
after him. I should have waited because he only took a few turns before heading
further northwest around to the west side. Bruce had followed him also. I was
about two hundred feet lower than they were.

When I came to the mountain side I didn't find much lift. I saw them turning on
the west side and getting up. I proceeded west low and didn't hit anything that
would get me up. It was just down down down until I landed three miles down a
jeep track.

A little patience was in order. I really need to keep working the 120 fpm to get
high enough to have a better chance at finding lift on the mountain side. I
needed to not jump at the first sign of lift when Dustin turned in it. I needed
to stay away from the west side with its limited landing options until I was
sure I could stay up or have other options. I needed just to calm down and wait
for some others to join me and help out and not just follow from below.

On the last day my troubles continued:
https://airtribune.com/santacruzflatsrace2016/results/task1947/day/class-1.
It started when I declined my opportunity to launch early because I had been
able to climb up well on the previous day even with a later launch. Now
scrambling to climb up with the earlier launchers in order I thought to take the
first start clock I made one bad decision after another as I was in a hurry.

I got up quickly to 5,200' but that wasn't enough for me. I "needed" to find
really strong lift really quickly to get up to those pilots that were very high
above me. I went looking in all the wrong places, not waiting to find good lift.
I headed east to get on the right side of the start cylinder but there was
nothing there. I went over the mine to find what is usually good lift there to
find 900 fpm down.

It was a trap and I was quickly on the ground. Again a mindset that was sure to
produce bad results. I didn't focus during the pilot meeting on what would be
the best strategy for launching but took into account other considerations that
were not pertinent. Once I went down that rat hole I found it hard to do a
reset.

All the articles on the 2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race
here.