Yes!!!! Another 100 km plus task. Another several hours in the air, and another great abdominal workout. Today dawned with some clouds overhead. The forecast for Chelan was supposed to be mostly sunny today, but it turned out to be over 50% cloud cover most of the day. On the NWS forecast discussion they did mention a chance of thunderstorms and showers over the eastern slope of the Cascades, and the central Columbia river valley. That just happens to be where we are. I was curious to see if it would overdevelop, because where I come from if it's like these conditions, usually is over by noon with big cumulus. There were cumulus around noon, but it did seem it might make for a great x/c day with some cloud flying.
So, they called the task and it was 129km triangle. We were to fly north to Brewster, then southeast to 'bump in the road". then southwest to Goran Peak, and then back to the Chelan LZ.
Since I was very low on the priority list, I decided not to suit up for a while, which was the right decision since it turned out to be another slow launch day. The line was getting shorter, and finally decided to get ready, and then everything shut down. No one launched for 45 minutes, since there was little wind, and what there was was coming from the northwest. Finally, there were cycles coming from the lake side launch, and a few of us went over there. I got laid out, tried to pull up once and had a ground tangle. Tried a second time, and not enough wind, then the third time got a decent cycle and got off. I surfed the front of the west launch, and then sunk, so I headed to a saddle to the south, and hook a great thermal of about 800 to 1000 fpm. I was pretty psyched since the task had already started and I was 15 minuted behind. As I was climbing out there was another pilot to the south climbing. At about 9,000 feet msl I am circling and he takes a full frontal, glider goes behind him and then surges asymmetrically and he gets a big cravatte. His glider immediately starts to spiral and he then goes through the maneuvers of stalling to get the cravatte out. After two tries with no results, he hucks and is under reserve for a long ride. He gets on the radio and says he is ok, and another pilot lands next to him. Whew!
So I eventually climb to 10,000 msl over the butte, and I am trying to decide which way to go. The flats or the mountains. To go north to Brewster you can go either way. So I stay over the hills as I go north and find a great climb with two other pilots near the Chelan airport. We climb to cloudbase at about 11,000 msl. The two pilots stay in the hills, I decided to cross the river onto the flats. There seems to be more cumulus developing there. Once over the flats I see other pilots and find a great climb to cloudbase and go on glide toward Brewster. About 9 km from Brewster a few us find this climb to this huge cloud and to stay out of it we have to take a detour toward the Columbia river. Once on the edge of the cloud we made good headway to tag the turnpoint and head back. There was a lot of blue near the turnpoint and there was some sink, but on the way to the second turnpoint there was some great climbs with a big darkening cloud overhead looming. Since cloudbase was about 11,500 msl I went on glide at 10,000 feet msl and was climbing about 400 fpm. At about 10,500 I pushed 3/4th speed, the fastest I had pushed so far, and maintained for quite a ways. About 8 km from the second turnpoint began to sink, and I was concerned because now almost the whole flats were in shade. Once at the turnpoint I headed to the rim and was getting low, below 5,000 feet msl. I saw a dust devil and decided I would go towards it. I found a weak climb that got me over 7,000 feet and then headed 0ver the river to the third turnpoint and then, with all the dark cumulus looming overhead, and fairly overdeveloped it began to rain. I got over the river, and began to climb out in thermal in the rain, and the organizers called the task for safety reasons. So I made over 70 km.
It was an interesting flight having to stay out of big clouds, and pushing more speed, with the added bonus of flying and landing in the rain. Andre Rainsford from South Africa won the day with Yasushi Kobiashi getting second and our own Josh Cohn getting third. Overal Josh is first with Nick Greece being in third for the US. Stay tuned for more excitement from Chelan.
So, they called the task and it was 129km triangle. We were to fly north to Brewster, then southeast to 'bump in the road". then southwest to Goran Peak, and then back to the Chelan LZ.
Since I was very low on the priority list, I decided not to suit up for a while, which was the right decision since it turned out to be another slow launch day. The line was getting shorter, and finally decided to get ready, and then everything shut down. No one launched for 45 minutes, since there was little wind, and what there was was coming from the northwest. Finally, there were cycles coming from the lake side launch, and a few of us went over there. I got laid out, tried to pull up once and had a ground tangle. Tried a second time, and not enough wind, then the third time got a decent cycle and got off. I surfed the front of the west launch, and then sunk, so I headed to a saddle to the south, and hook a great thermal of about 800 to 1000 fpm. I was pretty psyched since the task had already started and I was 15 minuted behind. As I was climbing out there was another pilot to the south climbing. At about 9,000 feet msl I am circling and he takes a full frontal, glider goes behind him and then surges asymmetrically and he gets a big cravatte. His glider immediately starts to spiral and he then goes through the maneuvers of stalling to get the cravatte out. After two tries with no results, he hucks and is under reserve for a long ride. He gets on the radio and says he is ok, and another pilot lands next to him. Whew!
So I eventually climb to 10,000 msl over the butte, and I am trying to decide which way to go. The flats or the mountains. To go north to Brewster you can go either way. So I stay over the hills as I go north and find a great climb with two other pilots near the Chelan airport. We climb to cloudbase at about 11,000 msl. The two pilots stay in the hills, I decided to cross the river onto the flats. There seems to be more cumulus developing there. Once over the flats I see other pilots and find a great climb to cloudbase and go on glide toward Brewster. About 9 km from Brewster a few us find this climb to this huge cloud and to stay out of it we have to take a detour toward the Columbia river. Once on the edge of the cloud we made good headway to tag the turnpoint and head back. There was a lot of blue near the turnpoint and there was some sink, but on the way to the second turnpoint there was some great climbs with a big darkening cloud overhead looming. Since cloudbase was about 11,500 msl I went on glide at 10,000 feet msl and was climbing about 400 fpm. At about 10,500 I pushed 3/4th speed, the fastest I had pushed so far, and maintained for quite a ways. About 8 km from the second turnpoint began to sink, and I was concerned because now almost the whole flats were in shade. Once at the turnpoint I headed to the rim and was getting low, below 5,000 feet msl. I saw a dust devil and decided I would go towards it. I found a weak climb that got me over 7,000 feet and then headed 0ver the river to the third turnpoint and then, with all the dark cumulus looming overhead, and fairly overdeveloped it began to rain. I got over the river, and began to climb out in thermal in the rain, and the organizers called the task for safety reasons. So I made over 70 km.
It was an interesting flight having to stay out of big clouds, and pushing more speed, with the added bonus of flying and landing in the rain. Andre Rainsford from South Africa won the day with Yasushi Kobiashi getting second and our own Josh Cohn getting third. Overal Josh is first with Nick Greece being in third for the US. Stay tuned for more excitement from Chelan.
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