2010 Forbes Flatlands - 5th day
The forecast was for a blue day with the overdevelopment to the
northeast again like yesterday. At Forbes there was supposed to be a few cu's,
with cloud base at 9,000' going up to 10,800' with good lift during the day. The
winds were supposed to be a little lighter, eight knots from 300 degrees on
average through the boundary layer with higher winds at the top of lift.
The task committee really liked not having a long retrieval yesterday so they
went for a triangle task, despite the blue sky. They wanted a bigger task than
the day before though, so they sent us south back to Grenfell west over to
Caragabal and north back to the World's tow paddock (from the 1997 Worlds) eight
kilometers south of Forbes, for a 150 km task .
Pilots took their time launching as there were no cu's to entice them into the
air. I got towed up half an hour before the first start time, and there was a
mandatory start time (the second) for the top twenty pilots. The winds were
thirteen mph out of the west. I hung in a weak thermal drifting almost five
kilometers back to over Forbes.
It was tough to get high and get to the south edge of the start cylinder to get
the second start. Jeff, Larry and I got there, but a bit late. Zac had much
better luck with his tow and was ready to start on time.
It was gaggle time as you needed friends out there in the blue. Larry and I flew
together, with Zippy out in front and Jeff to our side. Lots of pilots were low
out in front of us. We were all communicating (other than Larry whose radio
seems to be permanently stuffed).
Zippy quickly pulled away finding much stronger lift. 30 kilometers out Larry
and I came high over Jeff who was groveling with six other pilots. They followed
us to better lift ahead but they found better below us and soon came up to us.
I kept leading out and Larry iwa always ready to go when I was (as soon as the
lift slowed down). We flew to the hills just before Grenfell and I went right
over the top of them as Larry was out in the flats upwind of them. He found a
bit better lift and I kept looking over the hills. He then went back over the
hills and found much better lift which I missed (again, Larry doesn't have a
working radio).
I got into the turnpoint a bit too low and was not able to find a good climb on
the other side. Jeff came low over where I just landed and made a low save to
get back up and high. Larry and Jeff was on their way to the second turnpoint.
Zac was on his way to goal.
Larry landed 8 km past the second turnpoint. Jeff landed 17 km from goal.
Nine pilots made goal. Balazs was first in with Zippy and Gerolf in third.
Attila came in much later and even later Jonny. Ben Dunn was with Jeff but found
a thermal when the three other guys didn't. He was the last one into goal at
around 7 PM.
http://OzReport.com/1262862799
|
