http://soaringspot.com/2010tsss/

http://westcoastbrit.blogspot.com/

There was fog in the morning which is a a good indication of light winds. The
sky was grey but by breakfast at 9:30 AM it was breaking up with nice low cu's.
The forecast was for a good day to the northwest over the hill country west of
Austin (only about 500' to 1000' higher than Austin at 500') with a 10 mph
southeast wind.

The task committee called a 91 miler to LLano given the forecast for cloud base
at 5,000' to 6,000' and strong lift. The cu's were setting up nicely as we setup
at the airfield at around 11 AM.

The launch opened at 1 PM, and soon after Mick Howard, myself and Chris
Zimmerman launched. It wasn't long before we were back on the ground. This also
went for Kent Robinson, Joe evens, and other pilots, but not Chris Chaney and
Ben Dunn. We watched them climb up as we stopped launching to wait for better
conditions.

The cu's were a bit scarce just upwind of the field so we waited for them to
form. Then at a few minutes after 2 PM Jeff Hunt back six pilots pushed and
Mick, Chris and I went with Kent and Dan just behind me. The cu was well formed
and working and the three of us got in it together and climbed out to 4,000'.
Looks like we won't be launching at Luling until 2 PM.

The cu's at 2:45 PM.

I flew with Chris for the first 33 miles. Chris is flying a Wills Wing Falcon
170, with cross bar fairings, and a aero control frame, Dacron sail. I'm flying
a Northwing Freedom 170 with a Mylar sail, cross bar fairings, and an aero
control frame. We were both trying to fly together because that doubles each of
our chances. My basic take away from this part of the flight is that I was
almost always able to out climb him and out glide him. See the chart below:

I'm the red line. The only place where this is not true is where I take a
different line then he does. Our track logs are up at the Soaring Spot. This is
the first time in my competition experience where I have noticed that I am
flying a better glider than my opponent and that I can "control" the sky with my
better position.

Ben Dunn took off early and landed near San Marcos not having any help. Joe
Evens was off just before Jeff Hunt so he was behind. Mick in his Moyes Malibu
couldn't keep up with Chris and I. Ken Robinson started below us and we quickly
left him behind. It was just Chris and I in the lead.

After flying with Chris for the first 33 miles I got a bit too high on him and
had to go out on my own. I was torn between two cloud streets and finally had to
dive back into one to the west. That was a bit of a disaster, but I got under a
nice cu and worked my way back up. Chris came over to me, but again I was 1,200'
higher in weak lift so I headed further along the course line.

I found a thermal that averaged 250 fpm, which was the strongest so far. Sure
the forecast had been for strong lift, but the lift had averaged less than 150
fpm so far. It was good that we had a tail wind otherwise we would have been
really slow.

I found two more thermals that averaged over 200 fpm and when topping out I
could see Chris four miles behind me. I went on an eight mile glide and it
looked like I might be landing. Chris was smarter and stayed high behind me.
Down to a little over 1000' AGL I found lift on a small hillside under a dark
cloud, but in the sun. It averaged 140 fpm and I was able to climb to 6,000'.
Chris was five miles behind.

I climbed back to over 6,000' again and went on glide toward some thin cu's
ahead. The last two climbs had been over 200 fpm, so the lift was still good (it
was 5:45 PM), but again I was torn between two sets of cu's. I went for the ones
closer to me and closer to the course line. I came in under them but they were
dying and I had to come back a ways to land in a good field near the highway.

Chris was ten miles behind me as I came in under the dying clouds. He also
climbed to 6,000' in the thermal that I had just left sixteen minutes after I
left it. He went along my course line but then shaded to the north to get under
the cu's that I could have gone to but chose the other ones. He got very weak
lift under them, less than 50 fpm and not gaining much altitude landed a few
miles past me. No one made goal. It was nice to know that my decision to go for
the cu's that I went for wasn't that much worse than making the other choice.

Kent did well and landed a few miles back. Joe Evens also did well landing at an
airport to the north a bit.