http://soaringspot.com/2010tsss/

http://westcoastbrit.blogspot.com/

The flight of the day on the HOLC or on the XConest
here.

On Sunday the winds were as high or higher than on Saturday. At one point during
my flight I measured 25 mph. The day started with low clouds and a little bit of
rain. The sky was completely dark until later in the morning when the streets
started to appear. Given the low cloud base we were not exactly rushing to get
going at the airfield.

Kamron Blevins from Northwing is here and Joe Evans and I hooked up with him for
the Pacific Northwest breakfast. Kamron is the sponsor of the competition and a
number of us are flying gliders that he has provided. I'm flying a Northwing
Freedom 170, Ben Dunn also, Dan Bereczki, a Freedom 190, Chris Chaney a Freedom
170. There are also a bunch of Falcons, a Moyes Malibu, and an Icaro Relax, so a
broad range of single surface gliders.

We set up and hung out waiting until almost 2 PM. Kent Robinson went first but
he landed soon after the Dragonfly. I took off next not expecting to stick, but
let off at 2,400' AGL and pushing almost half a mile against the wind under a
dark cloud found light lift (115 fpm) to cloud base at 3,000' AGL. (Elevation
here is about 500'.)

There were cu's every where but no flat bottoms and lots of wind. The clluds
formed quickly and dissipated quickly. I decided quickly that I had no choice
but to go downwind and not a bit cross wind to get around the east side of the
Austin airspace. The wind was coming out of the southeast at 150 degrees which
would put me on the west side of the airspace toward the hill country if I
stayed up that long.

There were open fields below and plenty of landing areas. The corn crops were
only about a foot high and the soy bean fields were even lower.

The lift was weak. I averaged -7 fpm in the next thermal, then 190 fpm back to
cloud base, then 54 fpm to 3,100' in the fourth thermal, and not to cloud base.
I didn't find a thermal after that and landed after an eighteen mile flight for
the longest flight of the day. Joe Evans landed about nine miles out at Lockhart
trying to go a bit to the east but basically he went straight north.

With the low cloud base, light lift and strong wind it was a tricky but
enjoyable flight. I wanted a good landing in the high winds  so I picked
out a big field and concentrated on the landing. It was very smooth from 500'
AGL on down.

We've got fifteen pilot here, a number of them new to competition. It should be
a great experience.

Here's what the day looked like from above:

The competition starts on Monday with winds lightening a bit but still south
southeast. A higher cloud base perhaps.