2010 Forbes Flatlands - 8th day
The task committee, Gerolf, Dave May, and Conrad Loten, called a
206 km triangle to the north, given the forecast for light winds with the center
of the high pressure moving south to the west of us during the day. The forecast
for cu's was a bit weak with only thin cu's predicted, but the lift was seen to
be reasonable if a bit weaker than the previous two days.
The lift, the height of cloud base, and the thickness of the cu's turned out to
be better than predicted, but the winds were strong out of the southwest, but
not on the ground. This made for a long and difficult task getting back to
Forbes.
To avoid the heat I was ready to take off first, when the word came down that
the task had been changed to just Tomingley and back, 188 kilometers. Most
likely because there were no cu's showing up at the noon launch time (as
forecasted). I quickly deleted the Trundal waypoint and launched.
While it was blue there was still plenty of lift and it was possible to get to
over 8,000' in time for the first start time. Given the long task, I wanted to
get going early. Cu's started forming during the hour between the launch and the
first start time.
I raced out with Steve Blenkinsop and quickly found lift that averaged over 500
fpm. There were plenty of clouds on the course line and it was easy to find the
lift. I was thirty kilometers north of the edge of the start circle when the
last start time came around (forty minutes after the first start time).
Fifteen minutes later I was 40 kilometers north of the start cylinder at almost
cloud base just above Steve Blenkinsop. I told myself (apparently not too
convincingly) that I should just stay with Steve as he was doing well in the
competition (much better than me). But as we raced down the cloud street, that
was just about to end before Peak Hill, Steve stopped to work his way as high as
possible.
For some reason I didn't see the point of this and charged on ahead. Forty five
minutes later I was groveling east of Peak Hill as I heard Zac and Jeff behind
me catching up.
Jeff got low a couple of times and slowed way down. Zac kept moving along as did
Larry. I finally got back up past Peak Hill, but eleven kilometers from the
turnpoint I saw a pilot going back. Jeez, I had already lost twenty two
kilometers. Steve stayed high the whole way toward the turnpoint.
There was strong lift just before the turnpoint and I found 700 fpm to over
8,000'. It was easy to get the turnpoint as I hooked up with Larry. Jeff was
working hard to stay up. Coming back into the head wind there was plenty of lift
and good clouds and I stayed high for the next twenty kilometers.
Larry got stuck behind me and Jeff was fifteen kilometers back. Zippy was just
out ahead a little.
After climbing to 8,500' south of Peak Hill I had a disastrous glide. Eighteen
kilometers later I was down to 1,500' AGL next to the mine north of Parkes. I
would spend the next hour there drifting backwards in the 14 mph head wind, just
trying to get back up.
There was a cu-nimb back by the turnpoint but east of it. The sport class goal
was at Tomingley. Four out of five made it for the longest sport class task of
the competition. The one pilot was only two kilometers short.
There was another cu-nimb forming east and north of Parkes. I was on the western
edge of it as it expanded going west. This provided some reasonable lift but I
was already eight kilometers down wind of the course line so I didn't get too
far under it.
The lift worked well, but when I got to Parkes I didn't find it again, and had
to land. Jeff had been able to get back up while I was groveling. So did Larry.
Zac had been really low just before I got low and was back in the game. Jeff was
now climbing to 11,000'.
Zac and Jeff made it in. Larry was just 3 kilometers short. See the results page
to see who won the day.
http://OzReport.com/1263125004
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