Happy to be Alive

Yesterday (Sunday) was the first day of the NSW State Titles.

On Saturday many of us went up the hill for a practice day. The conditions didn’t look stellar. The wind was quite south, forecast to be southeast, and there were already tall cumulus in the distance at 10:30 in the morning. I set up anyway, but it soon looked like I might be breaking down on launch. Both the south and west launches were working, but it was crossing on both. I decided to try and fly early, and to launch from the south – my plan was to dive off to the left and just head out and land at Godfrey’s – better to break down next to may van in the shade than on top. It looked like the pilot in front of me had the same plan. He launched, turned left, flew through the lift and continued on out. I waited for a reasonably straight cycle, and followed him. By now I could see him very low on the way out. I decided to try and get high for the glide, and stopped in a choppy climb. It was no fun, but it was getting me high, and I watched the other pilot land far short of Godfrey’s – barely making it to the east bomb-out. Once I was sure I had enough altitude I went on glide to the farm, set up a good approach and made a nice landing. OK, that felt pretty good, but I was getting tired of these short flights in rough conditions. I felt prepared for the next day, however, and I felt I would be prepared to work a little harder even if it meant risking landing in the bomb-out.

At the pilots meeting on Sunday we learned that it was supposed to be blowing 15knots from the southeast, going to 30knots from the east-southeast above the inversion at 4500ft. Once the inversion broke things would likely get rough down low, and if we were going to fly it would be good to go early. As many of us found yesterday, flying from the south launch when it is windy can be pretty rough. The Borah range continues to the south from launch, curving to the east. It’s a perfect setup for turbulence and sink in the rotor behind the range. On launch we found it to be southwest again today. In many ways it was like yesterday, but dryer. The task was set for Moree, 151km to the northwest.

Many of the top pilots launched early, concerned that launch conditions would deteriorate as they had yesterday. I got in line on the south launch, but launching was slow, with pilots having to wait a long time for lulls to safely launch in. Some pilots launched from the west, but they all came around to the south to try and get up. The odds were definitely favoring the south. The pilots who were successful launched into a lull, then just hung out and tried to maintain in front until a thermal came through. Once pilots were climbing in front, conditions were usually not safe to launch. Typically only one or two pilots were getting off in the lulls and the cycles were far between. Finally the pilot two places in front of me launched. He flew out and started searching. The next pilot launched and joined him. Now they were starting to climb weakly, and the wind was still light on launch. I launched just as the lull was ending. I had to correct aggressively as the glider started to turn, then felt myself get behind the glider as it accelerated off the hill. I got away cleanly, but I wasn’t happy with it. As I entered the thermal under the other two pilots I turned right and looked back to make sure I had enough altitude to safely turn in front of the hill. It looked good, so I continued around. Just as I was headed back at the hill my left wing was hit hard and I found myself banked at 90 degrees and sliding quickly towards the tress below. It happened so fast I don’t even know what I did, but I got the glider level and away from the hill. Now I was much lower than the other two pilots and if I didn’t want to get trapped on the saddle I had to make a move. I decided to go to the west along the low ridge in front of the saddle – this seemed to be where the thermals were feeding from. I was still trying to calm down after my scare, and I wasn’t willing to be overly aggressive. I chose instead to work my way down the ridge hunting while staying within easy reach of the bottom landing. It wasn’t a strategy with high odds of success, since no one else had gotten up there, but I was still just trying to calm down. I saw another pilot ahead of me and lower heading for the bomb-out. I wasn’t having fun and I decided that that was the prudent choice. I followed him, trying to hang out and maintain altitude to give some separation to our landings.

At the bomb-out the wind was so strong I was practically hovering. I didn’t want to get behind the tress downwind of the field, so I just hung in front of the tree line. By the time the other pilot had landed I was still a bit high and had made my way forward a bit into the field, so I decided to make a turn to lose some altitude and drop back a bit. Suddenly the glider was turned downwind and screaming away from the field. There was no way to make it back; now all of my options were downwind. I had to fly slalom style through the trees to a small clearing. I only had a moment to decide that the risk of hitting a tree was too great; I would continue downwind to the next paddock – a large plowed field. I cleared the fence low. Now I was in the clear, but going downwind low and fast. I had to get the glider into the wind somehow. Fortunately the field sloped gradually down to my left, and I started a gentle left turn. I watched my left wingtip, allowing it to just drag across the furrows, kicking up a plume of dust. If I had to, I would dig in with that wingtip and cause the glider to ground-loop into the wind rather than land downwind. Better to tear up the glider than to pile in downwind at this speed. Amazingly I was able to get the glider into the wind, but I was still prone in my harness. I let the bar out a bit, the glider climbed a few feet, I kicked out of my harness, up on the uprights, and a perfect landing into the wind. It was the only thing that went right the entire flight.

Four other pilots had landed in the same field, including Gerolf and Peter. We called Mary-Eve on the radio, only to find out that the basher had broken down and she had no way of getting us. Gerolf had left his glider and was hiking back to launch with his harness. Eventually Mary-Eve called on the radio to say that they were coming to get us in Gerolf’s car. It was about a kilometer walk uphill through plowed fields to the road. We had to make several trips but we got all the gliders and harnesses out by the time Mary-Eve and Gerolf got there.

By the time we got back it had been a very long day for a short and scary flight.