The results:
http://soaringspot.com/2009ecc



Tweets: http://ozreport.com/tweets.php



http://skyout.blogspot.com/



http://gottafly.blogspot.com/



The task (57.8 km), to the north:







With the forecast for a south wind up to 12 knots, we called a task straight to
the north as far as we could. We could have called a zig zag task, but with the
forecast for no cu's and 3,000' to maybe 4,000' (good luck on that) top of the
lift and given
the difficult conditions on the day before (no one made goal) we were being a
bit conservative.



The winds were supposed to go from southeast to south southeast by 2 PM, but
there we were at launch on the northwest (300 degrees) to southeast runway and
the wind was coming at 90 degrees from the south (south southwest, actually)
making launching a bit iffy. Thankfully it was light and we launched a bit
downwind.



They hauled up Joe Gregor and he didn't inspire us. Then Bob Flipchuck was put
in the nice thermal by Jonny Thompson where Jonny said his vario in the tug went
from 600 fpm to 1,200 fpm. It was time to go. But folks were still concerned
about the slight tail wind.



I moved my glider to the front of the launch line and started putting on my
harness. No one was even interested in launching until I decided to get ready.
Now they were all rushing to their gliders. The launch window had already been
open for half an hour.



I moved the glider into the launch line as pilots waited behind (still not ready
to go) and got hauled up right to where Bob had been getting up. Unfortunately
he had come back to near the airfield and was now on the deck circling right below me
but just above the trees and being pushed north by the winds.



I joined up with Dan Spier on his ATOS and Larry Bunner came over as Bob landed
back at the airport. Larry and I
were in radio contact flying as a team, so we just coordinated ourselves in the
thermal as Jim Prahl joined us.



The thermal was working reasonably well. There were no cu's around, as forecast,
but the lift was averaging 133 fpm, so we stuck with it. It turned out that we
were in exactly the right spot and any pilots who were still in the air (lots
were landing) were struggling.



All four of us climbed to 3,000' at 1 minute before the first start clock at 2 PM, 1 km
away from the start cylinder edge. Larry and I headed out together after Jim and
Dan, but they turned around as they saw that they were going to break the cylinder wall
before the start time. They had forgotten that it wouldn't have mattered at all
(my scoring system allows you to go before the first start time with little
penalty).



Larry and I hit the start cylinder edge at exactly 2 PM. Not one second before.
Never a better start.



We could see a few very very tiny wisps that were actually very high cu's out ahead of us.
They were too far away, but I found the lift at 2.5 km out so even though it was
blue and our future was unclear, it looked like at least we would have a good
start and maybe find lift out in the blue.



Now very widely spaced and almost totally insignificant cu's were within reach.
Larry and I were radioing each other and saying when we should leave. We were
staying in the thermals until we got to about 3,000' when they would peter out.




We made it to a wisp and sure enough it was marking lift, as well it
should, for how short lived these wisps were. Prahl and Dan followed us and Larry and I
showed the way, team flying and spreading out to search after each thermal.



We were able to find wisps for about seven out of the ten thermals that we needed
to get to goal. The pilots after us apparently didn't have any wisps to guide them.



The winds were more southwest as we headed north indicating on-shore flow from
the Chesapeake Bay. We could see great swirls in the wheat fields and follow the
wind lines in the waving wheat.



Twenty seven kilometers from goal we found great lift getting us to 3,600' AGL.
Both bodies of water on our east and west were quite visible. It looked like we
almost had it made into goal. But not quite.



Down to 1,200' AGL nine kilometers from goal I spotted some birds circling. I called
Larry back to the spot and we climbed out quickly getting more than enough to
make it across a couple of inlets and into goal, a long grass (uncut as it
turned out) runway in the middle of a bare field (just sprouts coming up). They hadn't used that runway in a
long time.



Larry and I were the first pilots into goal, with with Jim and Dan coming along
ten and fifteen minutes later respectively.



Paris was next in, seventeen minutes later, taking the second clock at 2:15.
Mark Frutiger won the day flying the fastest but taking the third start time.
Greg Dinauer flew with him but started one minute too early.



Larry and I got great arrival time points which made up for being second and
third fastest.  I didn't necessarily want to take the first start time, but
in this case, flying with three pilots and in good communication with Larry, it
turned out to be a great idea.



Eleven pilots made it into goal with three start times. All the pilots that
started at 2 Pm made it to goal. The last start time used was 2:30 PM although
2:45 was available to be used, if needed.



When we got to goal we broke down under the very nice set of trees that lined
the narrow road paralleling the runway on the western side. The pilots who came
much later didn't see us  and landed with Dan in a field further on. Only
Paris and Jim Prahl joined us under the trees.

#	Pilot	Glider	Time	Total Points
1.	Mark Frutiger	Wills Wing T2 154	01:15:38	882
2.	Larry Bunner	Wills Wing T2C 144	01:22:44	870
3.	Davis Straub	Wills Wing T2C 144	01:22:48	869
4.	Paris Williams	Aeros Combat L 13	01:24:16	791
5.	Jim Prahl	Moyes Litespeed S 4	01:31:46	761
6.	Tom Lanning	Wills Wing T2C 144	01:28:01	750
7.	Greg Dinauer	Aeros Combat L-13	01:29:37	734
8.	Charles Allen	Icaro Z8 12.9	01:30:35	724
9.	Stephen DesRoches	Wills Wing T2 154	01:33:30	697
10.	Terry Reynolds	Wills Wing T2C 144	01:33:44	666
11.	John Chambers	Aeros Combat	01:44:11	610

http://OzReport.com/1243900971