• Jeff O'Brien


• Jeff Shapiro


• Jamie Shelden


• Alex Cuddy

The day started with sunshine and an off shore flow. The race
didn't start until 4:30 PM, so there was plenty of time for the winds to turn
around. By the time we got up to launch at 2:30 PM (after a day at the beach) we
were surprised to find quite strong winds which made us think a moment about
launch conditions.

After that moment, we got about the business of getting off the hill and getting
ready for the race. The sun had been gone for a long time hidden behind thick
grey clouds, with a cloud base of 1,200'. We could see the wind lines on the
ocean shift from west to west southwest, straight in. It looked good. I placed
the ten pounds of lead that I borrowed from Raul in my harness pocket.

The launches turned out to be a piece of cake and it took only a few minutes to
get to cloud base. But the point was to stay low and practice the course for the
next hour and a half. With the strong winds it was easy to complete the course.

The sketchy part was the leg over town. The main ridge gives way about a
kilometer south of town. The task requires going over the middle of town and
then back to that ridge. There is a small ridge where the lower takeoff is
located and you do go over that going to town and coming back.

I checked out the altitude required leaving the ridge going over town and
getting back to the ridge. It looked like 700' would be a safe bet, getting back
with 300' after a four kilometer glide.

As the start time approached I headed back to the launch area and the highest
cliffs which were producing the best lift. The pilots started to huddle together
getting ready for the start, trying to get as high as possible. The cliffs were
about 1.5 km from the edge of the exit start cylinder and our first leg was to
the south.

In the last two minutes we headed to the edge of the start cylinder away from
the lift and lost a little. Dustin and Jeff O'Brien stayed high at or slightly
above cloud base. The rest of us were a bit lower, maybe 100' to 200' below
cloud base. Some of us headed out toward the ocean to get a bit of a down wind
run.

Dustin and O'Brien got the best start. I was 300 meters behind the edge of the
start circle when the clock started, which is way too much. Shapiro was in third.
Kraig peeled off not content to start 300' below Dustin and he went back for the
second clock (there is no penalty for starting later as time is the only
consideration.

We dove across the big gap to the next ridge and got down to 500' heading south.
The pilots were spread out and racing hard. We stayed between 400' and 600'.

Coming back to the north I left the ridge south of Canoa at 580', less than the
700' that I felt comfortable with, but there were other pilots nearby, even if
they were a bit higher. As I approached the soccer field in the center of town I
started to turn, but turned 70 meters too early. I had to turn back around the
other way to get the cylinder. Four pilots caught up with me on that maneuver.

Coming back to the small ridge at the lower takeoff I came in at 160' much lower
than on any of the practice runs, but this was the real thing, so I put the wing
close to the cliff and rode the lift up along the small hills and kept going. I
was back down to 190' when I got back to the main ridge and the race began in
earnest again.

Jeff Shapiro had passed Jeff O'Brien and was going after Dustin who was far
ahead. We had a lap and a half to go for the 53 km race.

The winds were just right and the lift was good so there was no need to do
anything except stay within the lift band and keep from getting too high. Some
pilots were very fast (and some landed out):

#	Pilot	Glider	Time
1	Dustin Martin	Wills Wing T2C-144	0:37:01
2	Jeff Shapiro	Wills Wing T2C-144	0:37:28
3	Jeff O'Brien	Wills Wing T2C 144	0:38:28
4	Kraig Coomber	Moyes Litespeed	0:38:38
5	Alex Cuddy	Moyes Litespeed	0:39:27
6	Daniel Velez	Wills Wing T2C-144	0:41:21
7	Mike Glennon	Moyes Litespeed S5	0:42:41
8	John Hesch	Moyes Litespeed	0:43:14
9	Fausto Arcos	Wills Wing T2C-154	0:43:32
10	Raul Guerra	Moyes Litespeed	0:44:05
11	Davis Straub	Wills Wing T2 - 144	0:44:08
12	Pato Cathme		0:44:16
13	Jack Simmons	Wills Wing T2	0:44:19
14	Rafel Arcos	Wills Wing T2C-154	0:45:16

There is a sport class here also, and they had a bit smaller race. The results are as follows for those who made the full course:

#	Pilot	Glider	Time	Handicapped Time
1	Jamie Shelden	Moyes Litesport 3	0:18:35	0:18:35
2	Eduardo Cajas	Wills Wing U2	0:21:21	0:21:21
3	Kent Harman	Wills WIng U2	0:22:03	0:22:03
4	Juan Ochoa	Wills Wing US	0:25:36	0:23:18
5	Michael Columbo	Wills Wing U2 160	0:23:32	0:23:32
6	David Morillo	Wills Wing Sport 2	0:25:45	0:24:28
7	Nicolas Glennon	Wills Wing Falcon 170	0:41:09	0:31:41