So, I have been back in Vail now for a couple of weeks, trying to get back to working the tandems and lessons. I have great memories of the US Nats and the PWC in Chelan, and now I will try to update the last two tasks. On day 5 we had alot of wind, and the task was cancelled. It was a good thing because most of the pilots were quite tired from the long day before with some pilots in the air for over 6 hours. Even though you sit in your harness, there is still a lot of physical, and copius amounts of mental stimulus going on in a flight that long. Most of us either hung around the lake or by the hotel pool on the day off.
Day 6 dawned nice, and we all headed up to launch for task 5. The task was set as an out and return with a 50 km cylinder as the distance every pilot was to fly away from the start. This format allowed the pilots to go in any direction they wanted. The task was still over 100km. And why not, Chelan always sets itself up for long cross country flights. I launched at the end of the pack as usual and had no trouble climbing out, and had over 15 minutes to wait for the start. Winds again were forecasted to be lighter then they turned out to be. Once on course my track took and easterly direction away from the start as I thought that was the best direction to go on my outward leg. Crosswind the whole way. I kept getting pushed to the south as the winds again had a strong north component to it. Once I got clear of the out cylinder, a big northwest wind kept pushing me south and made it difficult to get back to the butte. There were several of us yoyoing again trying to make upwind headway. After numerous attempts to find a decent climb, I dirted after about 60 km. I was pushing more speed, but it just wasn't enough.
So, day 7 task 6. One more day of cross country flying. And, no, really, a short task under 100 km. The task committee called about a 77 km task out a return again. This time they took the north wind component into the task direction. We were to head north for 30 km, back to the butte, and land at the usual goal the soccer field. However, and ironically, the winds turned out to be strong south. Another great climb over the butte. Once on course I headed north on the east slope of the mountains with the whole group. Another couple of climbs and several of us crossed the Columbia river. We got drilled. Catching the rim several of grovelled 150 feet over dirt. 4 of us landed 2 climbed out, so I was in good company with lots of pilots around. My girlfriend retrieved us with my truck, and on the way back toward Chelan we ended picking up 13 pilots and gear on my truck as the organizers did not send out a van to the location close to the 1st turnpoint. So, we limped back towards Chelan and we finally got the organizers to send a van to meet my truck about 3/4 of the way back. Amazing!
The result party is tonight after the 6th task. Josh Cohn wins the event. Go USA! Nick Greece our USHPA magazine editor got 2nd. Our own Melanie Pfister got 2nd in the womens division. So cool.
A pretty impressive event. I figured that I was able to get over 600 miles of distance in the 13 days of the US Nats and the PWC. A record for me in such a short time. I had my longest duration flight of 6 hours and 5 minutes. The best thing about being at the comps is the camaraderie, the cross country flying, the retrieve and safety infrastruture, and personal bests that everyone gets. No need to be overly competitive at these events. You can always get want you want out of the comps, whether it's serious scores competing with the big pilots, or just achieve personal bests in the distance and duration of the tasks. Hope to see you all at the next event.
Cheers
