2nd task Chelan PWC

Wow, another 100 km plus task. This one was a triangle with two turnpoints in the flats, landing back at the soccer field which is the butte LZ. Since I was low priority I had to launch later, but that meant I didn't have to circle in the air for an hour before the start. Conditions were light on launch and a little switchy, so it was taking pilots a long time to get off the hill. It took me three tries today, along with many other pilots. Today was awesome over the butte. The start was right over the butte, and the climbs were great with pilots getting to 10,000 msl. It was easy crossing over to the flats and get established.

Once over I set myself up with several pilots. Of course I am one of the slow guys, as I enjoy just the sheer excitement of going x/c. I wasn't pushing much speed. The first turnpoint was Farmer again. It was a little easier to get there as we got climbs to 10,000 msl on the way. Once there we headed north to Leahy, which is about 40 km from Farmer. I ran into a little trouble on the way there, and got low. Finally getting a climb we passed the town of Mansfield which is halfway between Farmer and Leahy. From 11,000 feet msl, I headed to Leahy only to get drilled close to the turnpoint. It took me close to 45 minutes to climbout finally getting the turnpoint, and go toward goal. Lot's of late pilots like myself were looking for climbs to get out of there and make it over the rim to goal. By this time it was 5:45 pm and the thermals were beginning to get light, but also much smoother. I got a climb to about 7,500 feet msl ,and saw a group going up toward goal, so I headed toward the pilots, and we climbed up to about 10,400, and thought we were going to get close to get passed the rim and make goal. But, of course there was a lot of sink still and could not find another climb to get back up. A few pilots I was flying with made it passed where I landed by working the light lift, but being this late it was going to be hard to make goal. While packing up I saw two pilots, really high, and thought they were going to make it, but they dirted just before the rim. I made a little over 89 km. Not good for score, but a fun x/c.

The US pilots are doing awesome with Josh Cohn winning the day Dean Stratton getting third.

So the top four pilots overall are all US pilots after two tasks. Let's hope we can show the world we have amazing flying, and great pilots here in the states.

The weather looks great for the next 4 days of the comp. Stay tuned for more blogging.