The problem was it was a blue day, cool and inverted after yesterday’s frontal passage, with thermal activity likely weak and low until much later in the day. It was quite likely that no one would want to launch early, and if no one did I would surely hear about what a bad idea the early launch was. I had made my bed and was going to have to lie in it. I tried to fluff the pillow a little by asking if I could slide back in line if I sunk out after my first tow. Nope. Sink out – back of the line, even if you never hit a bump. Damn! The Man sure likes to kick you when you are down. Oh well, I had to do what I had to do. When the launch open horn sounded I slid into line and started trudging forward. As it was, I still had two pilots move in front of me, but I didn’t mind. Third was much better than sixty-something. As I settled into the cart waiting for my tow I saw two gliders already coming back to land from weak link breaks. This was not a good sign. My tug pilot did a heroic job of dragging me around to explore, but to no avail. We saw a couple of gliders turning lazy circles and headed that way only to have them glide off before we got there. Several tugs towing in other directions showed no signs of lift. Finally at 2500ft I got the “slow wave” which essentially means “sorry, buddy I did my best but you are on your own now.” In spite of that less than optimistic wave-off I found I was actually in some light lift and started climbing. A couple more gliders joined in and the tugs dragged in a few and pretty soon we had a rag-tag gaggle going. I looked at my clock: 12:41 – just 11 minutes after launch opened - not bad! We were drifting downwind and climbing, eventually topping out around 4500ft a couple of miles downwind of the airport. I was hot to get out on course, and I tried to leave and drag the gaggle along, but no one bit. A few went on glide back up wind and a few just hung in the dead climb. Damn! OK, I went back upwind, and we formed a new gaggle and did it again. This time when we topped out I went on glide again, then turned around to see that I had dragged 3 other gliders along. I let them catch up and we fanned out and started to search for the next climb. We were starting to get low when I hit the slightest hint of a climb. I stopped and hunted for it, but was really just maintaining and drifting. The others pressed on, and were soon really low. One landed, but the other two hung on. Finally my climb started to turn on and I saw the others starting to climb as well. Soon the climbs merged and we topped out together and went on glide. We hadn’t gone a half a mile when we hit another light climb. I kept going, but the others stopped for it. I was now chasing a rigid wing in front, and he was definitely gliding better than me. He started to turn out front and I dove for it, arriving very low in very light lift. He topped out and left while I was still on the deck. After turning for ever at less than 100ft per minute the climb finally got better and got me back around 4500ft. Now I was totally alone. My strategy had been to get out on course ahead of the lead gaggle and have them catch up and drag me along for a bit. Now would be a really good time for them to catch up. There were no gliders in sight. I went on glide, never hitting another thing, and landed. Ten minutes later a gaggle of twenty five went over followed close behind by a gaggle of twenty. It was definitely a day to stick together, and my overly aggressive strategy had backfired big-time. Nonetheless, I was still happy with the day and happy that I had at least gotten the chance to get in the air in time to have a chance. Tomorrow they are talking about a 300km task, and it’s already late. I need to get some sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment