I'm going to go back and look at my flying and decision making at the 2009 Big Spring US Nationals in order to provide you with a way of looking at your own flying and decision. Doing well in a high level cross country competition depends on four factors: piloting skills, glider/pilot performance, decision making, with a minor role for luck. Assuming that you have the requisite skills, and that you have a top hang glider and a slick harness, what you have left to deal with is your decision making abilities.

To look at decision making I'm going to use the framing provided by Jonah Lehrer in his popular (Amazon number #1446) book, "How We Decide." I have written previously about how feelings are very much wrapped up in decision making when we are flying, but I think Lehrer's approach will give us a better handle on what's going on with our brains when we fly.

Lehrer writes (page 41):

The activity of our dopamine neurons demonstrate that feelings aren't simply reflections of hard-wired animal instincts. Those wild horses aren't acting on a whim. Instead, human emotions are rooted in the predictions of highly flexible brain cells, which are constantly adjusting their connections to reflect reality. Every time you make a mistake or encounter something new, your brain cells are busy changing themselves. Our emotions are deeply empirical.

August 9th was the first day of the 2009 Big Spring US Nationals. The goal was 100 miles to the north and the task was a dogleg going cross wind (in a twenty mph south wind) to the northwest and then to the northeast. I was anxious to get launched. Not so anxious that I launched when the launch window opened, but anxious enough that I was the first pilot to launch a half hour after it opened.

Launching first on a windy day is not a great idea. It means that you are likely to be on your own as there will be little chance to meet up with other pilots inside the start circle. I was, of course, aware of that, but my feelings were insistent that I get going. I do not like waiting in line to get towed up. Waiting in line means being too hot for too long a time. I dislike being cold more than I dislike being hot so perhaps I put on more clothes than is normal, so when on the ground and suited up I'm anxious to get up into the air where it is cooler.

I have a lot of anxiety about towing in rowdy conditions and I wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. I don't want to wait around on the ground feeling these feelings of anxiety. I pulled the pin after ninety seconds on tow even though I was only at 1,400' AGL because I was happy to get off tow, and there was lift around (or so I think).

In ninety seconds I hadn't been able to get pulled very far upwind, and in fact I had to go back to a bit downwind of launch to find good lift, so I started climbing already being blown down wind from the start point. I would now have to do the best I could to stay inside the 15 km start circle (which we made big enough to deal with the winds) before starting at a reasonable start time, after the start window opened, and not out ahead on my own without any help.

Twenty two minutes later I was doing well, at 7,500' and only pushed down wind one half of the start cylinder radius. Jeff O'Brien had launched fifteen minutes after me and was climbing well over launch exactly along the same path that I had taken on my climb. He had other pilots closer to him than I did.

I then chose to head west southwest to get under a dark cloud and to get upwind of the course line and a little closer to the center of the start cylinder. I was still alone but I had good signs of lift and I was climbing at 600 fpm, which made me feel good. It was only a few minutes before the window opened so I knew that I would have no problem leaving the start cylinder after the window opened. I didn't have to be concerned about that any more.

After I climbed to cloud base, I headed west again to again get upwind of the northwest course line, but this time I head toward much smaller clouds to the northwest, and closer to the edge of the start cylinder. I know that I wanted to get more upwind, but why I made this decision is unclear. I could have stayed under the nice dark bottomed cu and waited for others to join me. The clouds I was headed toward didn't look that inviting, they were too close to the edge of the cylinder, I was still alone when other pilots would have been helpful.

I struggled trying to find a good core, like the previous two good cores, and I had to leave the start cylinder at 2:16 PM to find it. I climbed back to 7,700' as again I was pushed downwind. At the top of the thermal I was 1.75 kilometers outside the start cylinder and I tried to go back to get a later start time (we weren't using start intervals, and your start time was the last time you left the start cylinder).

After I turned to go back I decided to instead to continue on down the course line as I was afraid that I would lose too much altitude going back against the 20 mph wind. My feelings of fear (the fear of making a mistake, the fear of getting behind, the fear of not getting up) were too strong for me to overcome at that moment. Jeff O'Brien was only 3.25 km behind me and 900' lower. He was still inside the start cylinder, but I couldn't see him (and if I had I would gone to him). Jeff crossed the start cylinder edge six and a half minutes after me. I was on my own.

I felt the need to stay upwind of the course line. There were plenty of clouds ahead, so I had plenty of lift markers. Jeff didn't seem to mind staying downwind of the course line.

An hour later I was climbing at 270 fpm just south of Lamesa still out in front. I radioed Jeff and he came in 1000' under me. The lift continued to be good as I headed for Lamesa and I was in a good mood. Jeff followed me from below, we were in radio contact.

At 3:35 PM I left a thermal at 7,800'and headed toward the first turnpoint to the northwest. I didn't see Jeff 1,300' below me but 0.7 km to the northeast in a better thermal. Jeff stayed in his thermal until he climbed to 8,400' while I raced 5 km of him getting down to 6,200' when he topped out.

On my own I was heading for wimpy looking cu's on the south (upwind) side of the course line. I worked weak lift while Jeff used his extra altitude to glide at 50 mph over the ground cross wind to get to better lift at 1,300' AGL. This got him 5 km ahead of me. I heard his report on his lift but considered him too far away to go chase him and stuck in my weaker lift. I was afraid to try for better.

This got Jeff 3000' over me when we both got to the turnpoint. I chased him and the pilots with him to goal. I came in six minutes after he made goal.