So, the first day of the US Nationals has come and gone, and it turned out to be a good day, a challenging day, with a perfect task called. The task was about a 100 km race to goal from the Flynns launch to Hammil, a small town to the south, then a return to the north end of the range to Big Ears, and then finishing at a place called Fish.
Kevin the meet director, decided to go to Flynns as it is much more user friendly to get the 80 pilots off launch safely. Flynns is only 1,500 Vertical feet from the valley, so it makes for maybe a more chanllenging climb out as you don't have as much vertical as Gunter. Gunter has approximately 4,000 vertical feet above the valley, with about 2,500 vertical feet to the alternate LZ. Quite a bit more room to find a thermal and climb out. Plus the road up Gunter is very narrow with no real turn around at the top. With about 15 vehicles it is logistically a nightmare.
To the task. Launch window opened at 1:00 pm and the Start was at 2:15 pm. Wind techs launched at about 12:15 pm and started to climb out nicely. The launch window opened and the valley wind started to kick in. The first few pilots off launch had a nice 10 to 12 mph southwest wind. However in about 15 minutes the winds increased to 15 mph with cycles to 23 mph. It quickly became sporty with a couple of pilots getting blown back and one landing on the hill, a couple getting dragged on launch. No one got hurt and everyone did get off the hill.
I luckily had no trouble getting off and had a great climb out launching at about 1:40 pm. It seemed a fairly slow climb as I topped out at about 14,000 msl which is about 8,000 feet over launch. I only had 10 minutes until the start instead of an hour, which made it nice not to have to wait an hour before the start. I hate having to wait after getting high. Once the start opened it was a cruise north up the Whites toward Gunter Launch. That area always seems to work and the few pilots that were ahead were already climbing in next thermal. The second thermal was nice and another climb to about 14,000 msl again. On course I found myself staying on the upper third of the mountain range as it seemed to be working nicely. Some pilots were going to the very top over the range to climb out, but I felt since it was working in front it would be easier to get the turn point which was out in the valley. The third thermal was excellent and I got a climb to 16,000 msl which made it an fairly easy get the turn point.
It doesn't always matter how high you are, you can lose the altitude you have gained faster then it took to get there. From the turn point you have to come right back to the mountains to climb out. It was down wind to the 1st turn point, now coming back down range it was going to be a head wind. Again, today the winds were forcasted to be from the southeast, though light it was still putting us slightly in lee side conditions. It feels very unusual to crab into the hill to stay on course and in the mountains instead of crabbing away from the hills.
Once back to the hills I found a climb out with a few other pilots including the famous Rob Sporer from California. Rob has been instructor of the year a few times and was a poster child model for Old Navy. His bright green wing with red tips is unmistakable. So, on course we were flying together a bit, I would continue to climb, but Rob would push ahead. I thought the higher I could get the better even though it was making me slow. On the second thermal coming back I had my ass handed to me. Some time there are thermal monsters out there. I noticed ahead a couple of pilots entering a thermal climbing wildly, then sinking as fast. I wasn't there yet, but expected some action. I wasn't disappointed. Just as I got there I was greeted by a full frontal right into a front horseshoe, about a second later I turned 180 degrees as the horseshoe snaked out and the glider began to sort out, but still was not flying. So, I said fly mother )(%^&%. The glider handled perfectly, not letting it surge too much , also not letting it get behind me, she flew nicely out of the event. Back into that nasty thermal and let's climb.
A few of us pilots were still in front, and many pilots chose to go to the top of the range, which was the best option in hindsight. I decided since the front was working so well why not stay in front. I finally got another great climb to 16,500 msl and so I thought cool, I have plenty of altitude to find something else. This is where I should have gone to the crest of the ridge as there probably was either a convergence, or the southeast wind would help from the back side. Why, because I went from 16,500 msl to the ground in about 20 minutes. No thermal and just a strong head wind. I ended up making it to the Flynn LZ. It turned out to be about 55 km flight. I guess around 35 miles. About 3.5 hours in the air. About 35 pilots made goal. Eric Reed won the day.
So, a great first day, every one was safe. Let's see what the rest of the week brings.
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