http://soaringspot.com/2011bsn

In the middle of the night on Friday, the rains came. The first rains in either
six months or a year depending on which local you're talking to. Texas is drying
up and blowing away (See
here.) There was a substantial amount of rain (maybe a quarter of an inch),
and it rained into the morning. But by Saturday afternoon it had cleared up and
a good number of folks were able to get some practice flights in.

The remnants of that storm were hanging around on Sunday as we looked to the
south in the morning and saw cu-nimb development maybe fifty miles away. The
forecasts showed it coming close to us later maybe even going to our north. With
a higher temperature predicted to be 89, six degrees lower than normal, and a
low cloud base forecasted to be between 6,000' and 7,000' (ground level is
2,500'), it looked like a day for a shorter task.

Zac Majors, Larry Bunner, and Glen Volk, the task committee, called a zigzag
task to the north with a turn thirty three kilometers to the north east at
Ackerly then thirty kilometers to the northeast Gail and then back to the
airport at La Mesa to the west. When I called the weather in the morning I
noticed the cu's forming to the north and west of us in addition tot he cu-nimbs
to the south, but didn't think deeply enough about them to realize that maybe we
should set the task at an earlier time. On the first day of the competition
things are still a bit disorganized. The cu's normally form here between noon
and one o'clock, which is what we like. If they were forming at 9:30 that meant
that we could expect over development (there was forecasted at a 30% chance of
thunderstorms) and we should have got going early. I just missed that one as I
wasn't thinking as clearly as I should have about the task.

A shelf of stratus clouds approached us from the cu-nimbs to the south as we
waited for the launch to open at 1 PM. There were towering cu's also to our
south and the stratus clouds were shading almost everything to our south. It
look like we had a very iffy day and we weren't even sure that we would be able
to launch. The wind was five to ten mph out of the east or southeast.

I decided to get going early even though the conditions might be a little
unsettled. It could gust from the south, or the shade might shut us down, but
there seemed to be little harm in trying. I was the first one to get to the
launch box and that pulled four or five pilots behind me. It was just a couple
of minutes after the launch open time at 1 PM that Jonny Thompson pulled me into
the air and waved me off in a little lift at 2,000' AGL on the east side of the
airport.

The stratus clouds were blocking the sun at the airport and as far south as I
could see from my high vantage point. There was sunshine on the ground five km
to the north and cu's over the hot fields. There was a wisp of sunshine on the
ground near the park on the east side of the airport and I was in a light
thermal going up at 140 fpm. I was watching the next pilots get towed into the
gloom as I slowly climbed up trying to concentrate on getting as high as
possible before possibly racing to the sunshine as it looked like the shade
continued to move to the north. And I was also thinking about getting the
earliest cleverest start at 1:19 and a few seconds which meant I would have to
run to the sunshine perhaps sooner than I would hit cloud base. My head was
spinning.

I stayed in the weak lift topped out at 5,800' and headed north toward the
sunlight trying to make the edge of the start circle a little less than forty
minutes before the opening of the start window in order to get my amended start
time to be just past the last start time at 2:40 PM. If you start early your
start time to shifted past the first start time (2 PM) by the amount that you
start early.

Belinda told me that the four or five pilots that were towed up behind me did
not get up and that no one was launching. I was the only one to get away from
the airport before the shade shut it down. I raced toward the sunlight and went
past the edge of the five km start circle with four seconds to spare. As I
started 39 minutes and 56 seconds before the first start clock at 2 PM, I would
have my start time (and my whole flight interval) shifted to forty minutes after
2 PM, the last start time. I had tried starting early a couple of times
previously in competition, but it never did me any good. And it wasn't clear if
this was going to do me any good as I was out on my own in very weak conditions.
Also if the task was stopped I would have my time reduced by eighty minutes
thereby significantly reducing my scored distance. It sure looked like the task
would be stopped given the cu-nimbs nearby.

It was a nine kilometer glide from not very high before I found any lift at 600'
AGL. It was weak at an average of 92 fpm, but I needed anything I could get. At
first I had to keep searching for its core and at 600' that's a nerve racking
task. There was a dispersed looking cu some where over my head, but no real
clues other than the bits of lift to guide me. When I found something that I
could actually turn in and keep going up for the whole turn I stayed with it for
twenty minutes the whole time wondering whether I could get to the next thermal
and whether I should search around for better.

An hour later Larry Bunner, Joe Bostik, Bruce Barmekian, and Owen Morse would be
in the same dilemma, climbing very near where I was, rifting away from the
course line and wondering whether to stay in the weak lift. Bruce and then Owen
would bale on the lift and soon land. Joe and Larry would hold on for twenty
five minutes and get out of there.

Six hundred feet is low when you don't really have a purchase on the lift, but
it is not as low as Dave Gibson got today. He had a save from a genuine 200'.
That's a real 200', not a perceived 200'. And he stayed at 200' for quite a
while before he zoomed out of that hole. He said the secret was not to open his
harness.

I was out on my own, and the airport was still shaded. There were no cu's above
it. I heard from Belinda that no one was launching. I had just climbed back up
to over 5,000', only 2,500' AGL, and I was being blown downwind of the course
line by the southeast wind. There was a lot of shading all around from stratus
clouds and a cu-nimb to my southwest. There were nice looking cu's ahead to the
north toward Ackerly and patches of sunlight. More shading to the east and
northeast. I was happy that the cu's and the sunlight were all on my course
line. I was wondering if anyone was going to be flying behind me and whether the
task would be stopped because of the rain to our west.

I knew that if I got further north I could out run the approaching shade from
the cu-nimb and the shade from the east, but the lift was even worse under the
next cu to the north at an average of 89 fpm and I hadn't found it until I was
down to 800'. I had to stick with it until I was over 5,000' again so that I
could get far enough to have a good chance of finding better lift in the sunny
areas with cu's nearby. On the next thermal I finally found 300 fpm and climbed
to 6,000'. The race had begun.

Seven kilometers south of the turnpoint at Ackerly I found lift under a cu that
averaged 500 fpm with plenty of 700+ fpm to 7,800'.  Now things looked
really good. It was easy to get the turnpoint and head northeast toward Gail.
The cu were quite sparse ahead of me so I had to be careful. There was shading
on all sides from stratus clouds but there were open areas with cu's along the
way. It was raining to my south west in an area that appeared to be just west of
the course going to Ackerly and it was all shaded in that direction. It appeared
as though no one would be able to get very far behind me.

It was into the wind to Gail, but the winds were not that strong. I was able to
glide at approximately 47 mph into the wind and find good lift under small cu's
getting back over 7,000'. I heard from Belinda that pilots were being towed back
up and while there were many relights, some pilots were sticking and would soon
be out on course. I was about an hour ahead of every one else.

The course line from Ackerly to Gail was over Mesquite territory with just a few
open roads so I wanted to be sure that I stayed high especially going into the
wind. There were just enough cu's to keep me encouraged and going for it and not
banking off toward some paved road.

Within ten kilometers of Gail I climbed up in 500 fpm lift, but I couldn't get
as high as I wanted to as the cloud base was low. It had varied all over the
place from the start of the flight. I left with 6,500'. I actually had climbed
above some wispy clouds that were forming off to my side below me. I wanted lots
of altitude because the turn point was in a shaded area. I could see a big shelf
of stratus above the turnpoint and they had cooled the ground near there for a
significant period. There were a line of cu's to the west of the course line
that I was hoping would give me the altitude that I needed to make the
turnpoint.

I flew under the cu's but there wasn't any lift. They were just too weak given
the nearby shading. I was drifting north about to go downwind of the turnpoint
and I turned up wind trying to get under another cu, but it didn't produce
anything so I was forced to land in a nice big field by the highway with Belinda
nearby to see me land.

I had had the option of continuing downwind to perhaps actual lift past the
turnpoint and that's what I should have tried for. While I was showing fifteen
mph winds at the wind pushing me sideways past the turnpoint, I would probably
have been able to get up and make the turnpoint then head back west toward La
Mesa.

After I had slowly packed up and was ready to leave Larry Killer Bee Bunner came
and landed in the same field. He was about an hour behind me.

Joe Bostik was near us about ten minutes before Larry landed. He found a nice
thermal to the west of Gail just where I would have drifted to about an hour
earlier, and was able even after drifting away from the turn point to tag it and
then head northwest. Given the deteriorating conditions by the time Joe got to
us, he was not able to make it back to La mesa all the way to goal, but plenty
far enough to win the day.

10 AM pilot meeting at the airport lounge.

Half an hour before the 1 PM launch start looking northeast into the sunshine
and away from the gloom to the south.

Photos by Gary Osoba.