The 2009 Hang Gliding Worlds, day ten, task cancelled
The chance of thunderstorms was quite high today. With a XCSkies/GFS forecast of north northwest winds at seven knots the organizers send us to Aspres. When we get there it is coming right in on the south launch. The forecast for lift at 2 PM was 300 to 400 fpm indicating cloud cover.
The task committee calls a short, 89 km, task to try to get ahead of the rain. The launch window opens at ten minutes to one and the start window opens at 2:15 PM. Way way more time than we need to get everyone launched and up and ready at Aspres, which is an open launch and on this day has the wind coming right in (why do they do this?).
I'm off first and the whole US team is in line near or at the front of a couple of the lines. We decided as a team to get off early and get ready in the air.
There is plenty of lift and it is no problem to get quickly to cloud base. We have an exit circle of fifteen km and that puts the launch about twelve km away from the center of the exit circle. Once in the air we need to watch other pilots and figure out where to go to have the best run on the first leg.
After a while we drift back north of launch and to the east toward Pic de Bure, always staying near cloud base. As we get further east toward the edge of the start cylinder we see ten pilots on the last ridge next to Pic de Bure and they were clearly outside the start circle, but they could get back to it easily.
This far over to the east made for a better run into the mountains to get to the first turnpoint to the southeast. We would not have to cross much of a valley to get on course from this position.
We were just hanging at cloud base with about twenty minutes to go when all ten pilots from the further east ridge came back to join us as it gotten darker and darker where they were. Looking down it was also the case that the clouds that we were under and just avoiding were growing and moving to the south. The nice sunny cliffs that we were so high over were now in the shade.
As the lift slowed down pilots headed across the valley out of the start circle to get up on the sunny hill (with a cu over it) to the south. That would mean that they would have to come back and get inside the start circle (about 3 km) to get the start gate. I could see that it was raining back by Pic de Bure.
Then the meet organizer came on the radio and said that the task was cancelled and that we were to fly to the south to run away from the cu-nimb over us. Now I knew why the other pilots headed from the peak across the valley. They had already received the radio transmission and knew that the day was cancelled and that we were instructed to head south.
I headed south immediately and flew back to the Camping LZ. Almost all the other pilots did the same.
Thus the day ended.
It turns out that there was a bug or two in the latest version of the FS scoring program (another good reason to use my SeeYou based scoring program). They have worked it out and the scores have been fixed.
It is my understanding that at least GAP 2000 and OzGAP 2005 give only 918 and 900 points respectively to the winner of a day that the goal is not made. GAP2002 also gives 918 points for the winner on such a day, and that is now the score given.
http://OzReport.com/1246455625
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