Goal!

After so many pilots made goal the first day it seemed inevitable that the task committee would turn up the heat. Following the same format as the first day, they didn’t set a task until we were at the airfield and set up. Unfortunately, due to my poor performance I was near the very back of the staging line. This meant that when the launch window opened I had to walk my glider the whole length of the line to the front to launch, and on the way, any pilot who wanted to slip in from the side could slide in front of me. The sky was already popping, and you could see that most everyone wanted to go early. My chances of getting out at a reasonable time were slim. The task was set; sure enough, they called a 243km (145mile) task. It was mostly downwind with one turnpoint to keep us out of controlled airspace. The launch window didn’t open until 1pm, and due to my position in line I would be lucky to launch before 2pm. I am pretty slow, and I knew there just weren’t enough hours in the day for me to finish the task. The longest I had flown before was 120miles and that took me 5½ hours. 145miles at that pace would take me 6½ hours. That would put me in at 8:30pm – well after sunset. Finally I got to the head of the line and hooked up behind a trike. The tow was smooth and uneventful until we hit the lift. The pilot flew through it and sped up, causing him to dive out the other side. I quickly found myself high above the tug, struggling to get down. Rather than break a weaklink, I decided to pin off and try to work the lift. It was only about 500ft, and I found myself in the traffic pattern and well away from the airfield. I decided to forego the heroics and go back and land and re-tow. This time I didn’t have to wait long and I was lined up behind a Dragonfly. Well, dammed if the same thing didn’t happen again. This time I decided to try and save the tow, and sure enough the weak link broke. Again I found myself at 500ft in the pattern, but now I was determined not to tow again, so I worked the lift until eventually it got me to cloudbase. I ignored the start times and went on course. After all the delays, if I had any chance of getting close to goal I needed to boogey! The flying was classic and easy at first, then about 4:30pm things started to get weak, and I found myself low with over 60 miles to go. As the day winds down the lift gets weak, but often in the early evening there is a period of smooth buoyant air that can unexpectedly extend a flight – sometimes until sunset or later. If I could stay in the air, perhaps I would get to take advantage of this. It was unlikely to get me to goal, but at least I would be closer. I hung on and drifted in the weak lift. Sure enough, after about ½ an hour things got better and I found myself the highest I had been all day – well over 9000ft. My flight computer said I only needed 4500ft more climb for goal - I started to think it might be possible. About 25 miles out my computer told me that I needed around 2000 ft more. Ahead I was looking at a huge swath of blue sky. To stay under the clouds I would have to divert far to the east or west, and I new that I surely wouldn’t have time to make it if I took that longer course. I took a deep breath and dived into the blue and was rewarded with regular climbs of up to 400feet per minute. Soon my flight computer told me I had goal, but I wasn’t going to trust it. I didn’t go on final glide until it said I had goal with over 2000ft. I’d look like an idiot coming in that high, but there was no way I was going to risk landing short. Two other gliders passed me while I was being conservative, but I didn’t care. I arrived at goal happy but tired. I managed to pound my landing and break a downtube which only served to reinforce my image as an idiot after arriving so high. I didn’t care. Final statistics: 145miles in 5hours and 22minutes; a new personal best.

I was one of the last in to goal, just an hour before sunset. Again I found myself waiting for retrieve for three hours. Everyone else had left and the sun had set. I carried my gear off the airfield and closed the boundary gate and settled in to wait. I saw a spectacular rising moon – just one day past full, and a huge shooting star. Beautiful scenery to wait, but coupled with the four hour drive we weren’t back until 2am. I’m in no shape to fly today.

See the results here

See the flight in the HOLC here

Get the Google Earth file of the flight here