Opti-Mystic

Last night was hot and humid. I slept on top of the covers with the van doors open, but still found myself tossing and turning most of the night. I must have slept some, however, since others reported thunder and lightning overnight. I never heard nor saw it.

The sky was overcast this morning; certainly not a day I would expect to fly, but knowing how the game works I figured we would go through the motions nevertheless. Sure enough, at the morning briefing we were sent to the bomb-out at Mystic to meet again at 11:30. Things didn’t look much better there, but we were sent up the hill to wait. Looking to the north and west, things looked even less encouraging. There was light rain falling towards Mt Buffalo and the sky was a uniform steel gray. Heather was determined to wait it out, though. Apparently in years past they had called off overcast days only to have it clear in the early afternoon. It really didn’t look to me like that was going to happen, and even the task committee was still at the bottom of the hill.

Having nothing else to do, I reached in deep to find some reserve of optimism and joined the five or six other pilots who had decided to set up. Meanwhile Heather and Carol brought out some hedge loppers so anyone who wanted could have a go at the low shrubs growing in front of launch. I took my turn and then settled in to wait. Finally it was decided that a spot landing contest was all that would come of the day. Heather offered a pot of $250, and if more than 15 pilots took part the pot would be $500 – winner take all. That generated a flurry of enthusiasm, and pilots started setting up. About then it started to drizzle, and I decided to fly down rather than risk getting stuck in the rain. I would forego the contest, but I’d be on the ground to see the landings.

My launch was not my best – I started with the nose a bit high in the light wind, and a small gust turned the glider slightly to the right as I was launching. I corrected and pulled it off, but I’m sure it was not pretty. It annoyed me, because I usually have a strong and consistent launch. It was a good reminder not to get complacent. The air was surprisingly turbulent out front, and I had a fairly hard wire twang straight away. Hmm… I didn’t like the way things were working out. I decided to make a beeline for the bomb-out and at least try and set up a good landing. When I got there, naturally there was a thermal going off and the wind was light and switchy. I soared in the light lift at the end of the field waiting for things to settle down. After 5 or 10 minutes the thermal drifted away from the field and the wind sock settled down. I set up a fast and tight approach and made a perfect landing. That was a welcome relief!

It was fun to watch the landings. Conditions were quite difficult, and for much of the contest the wind was light cross, changing from quartering one way to the other. Competitors ended up landing both ways, some in light tailing conditions. Of the twenty that competed there were three that landed on the spot, and most had good landings, with only a couple of mild whacks and no broken aluminum. It was quite a graphic demonstration of the skill of these pilots.