2010 Bogong Cup - day four
With a forecast for southwest winds at eleven knots at 4,000' we
decide that we can go up Emu and likely fly. There is a forecast for a strong
inversion below 7,000', a blue day, and very strong west southwesterly winds
above the inversion. But if it really is a strong inversion then there will be
no or little mixing, and the high winds will stay up above the inversion.
It is really cold when we get to launch. This is supposed to be summer, but it
doesn't feel like it. A cold breeze makes pilots think about how to dress warmly
after flying in Forbes where it is not necessary to have much on.
We can see the high winds in the high clouds off to the south. Steve Blenkisop
and Corinna (two safety committee members) want to make sure that the high high
winds haven't come down to affect our winds. Sometimes the conditions are strong
on launch. The safety committee wants pilots to know that the task could be
stopped at any minute, due to strong winds.
We can see little cu's forming and breaking up and swirling in a most unpleasant
way as a taste of what we are in for when we get into the air. Very few pilots
want to get on with it. We all hang back waiting for the others to go. A few do,
but mostly they do poorly, so that is no draw.
Finally Cameron launches and starts thermaling right off of launch. This is the
signal to get into the air. Jonny calls a push from twenty back and the launch
is on. Although even with Jonny pushing most of us wait another five minutes
before the tipping point is reached.
After such a long wait, we are now late for the start times. I launch at 2:32.
The first start time was 2:20, and the last 3:00 PM. Many pilots won't get off
until after the last start time.
The air isn't as bad as it looked and I climb out to 6,700' to the left of
launch at Emu, just about the altitude that the forecast predicted. Instead of a
totally blue day, there are just little wisps of clouds that form and dissipate
quickly. They are much appreciated.
The start circle is a twenty five kilometer entry start circle six km down the
ridge line to the north. A few pilots head that way, but no one down there seems
very high. I hang back a bit staying in light lift, hoping to stay high as well
as get to the start cylinder edge on time. That doesn't work out as well as I
had hoped and I take the start at 5,000', 1:43 after the start window opens.
The start cylinder edge is at Coral Bank, a dip in the ridge line. I have to
spend ten minutes getting up and out of there after I cross the gap, so I get
behind Jonny and the crew following him. Oh, well.
The lift is weak, broken, and mixed up, with some nice shots of strong lift just
to keep you on your toes. I'm being tossed around quite a bit, but staying away
from the trees to make sure I don't have a problem. Once I get up out of Coral
Bank it is a matter of racing along the mountain side hitting lots of little
bits of lift until I find a coherent strong thermal and then stopping to core
it. The little bits of lift are enough to keep you up, but you'll need the
height later for the runs into the valley.
The wind is out of the west south west at about twelve mph. Our course takes us
to the north northwest to the turnpoint at Gundowring North (out in the valley),
then south back along the ridge line to Mongans bridge at Coral Bank, than back
south to Upper Gandowring and finally into goal at Mt. Beauty airport.
As I approach the first turnpoint from five kilometers out, I see Jonny way
below me coming back out ahead of everyone else. There are about six guys
following him. I get the turnpoint high, but get low coming back to the hills to
get upon the ridge. I race for a cu and it is working so I climb out of there
fast.
Now it is a race back to Coral Bank. Nine kilometers out I see Jonny again out
in front alone lower than his six or seven followers a kilometer behind. Did I
just lose eight kilometers? It turns out this leg is fast and back at the north
turnpoint I again see Jonny coming back, relatively low, five kilometers out
from the turnpoint, but all his followers are now spread out from the difficulty
of making the turnpoint.
I get it high again having found strong lift to over 6,000' on the hill side and
dive back into the hills high and looking for good lift. I race up the ridge
finding good lift and get high enough to make goal on a glide from twenty five
kilometers out. I figure that I'll hit something along the way to make sure that
I can make it in.
Maybe I left that lift too early, but I don't find any more lift in the next
sixteen kilometers (after hitting lift all along the course line for the
proceeding two hours) and land nine kilometers short. The results are up.
Julia was shot at three times. She heard the bullets whiz by her. A number of
pilots felt that the conditions were unsafe. Dave Shields went and landed as did
Gerolf after the bar was pulled from his hands and then he was slammed into the
keel. I certainly felt pretty uncomfortable at times.
http://OzReport.com/1263894951
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