Back at the Rat Race

Hi Everyone,
It's been a full year since I have last posted. Time flies and here we are back at the Rat Race for 2014. Today was the first day of flying for me at Woodrat. A bunch of Colorado pilots arrived Friday afternoon with about 10 of us creating tent city at Cantrall Buckley campground. Having not flown any big thermal flights with mostly sledders, today turned in to a true awakening of the senses with some highly textured air and some windy conditions. Never-the-less, it felt good to be in the air for a couple of hours and get a few miles under my belt.

Tomorrow the comp starts, and there are about 60 pilots in the Rat Race comp, 70 pilots in Rat Race Sprint, and about 30+ in the Super Clinic. Total pilots of about 165.

Always a big event with Woodrat delivering lots of thermals, many pilots had great training flights today. We also had 3 reserve deployments, and as far as I know everyone is OK.

I will try to post daily, so keep checking every evening after 8 pm with new updates. I hope to post some pics as well.
Cheers

Results

The Rat Race is over, and as always it is one of the most fun and cross country experiences I have every year. Even though the weather was wet and rainy the first 3 and a 1/2 days of the comp, the rest was perfect for cross country flying and racing.

The results had the hot pilots on the podium. All have extensive comp experience both nationally and internationally and the winner is a test pilot for Gin Gliders. Here are the results:

Task	Date	Distance
T1 Wednesday	2013-06-26 16:40	30,8 km	Race to Goal with 3 startgate(s)
T2 Thursday	2013-06-27 12:30	78,3 km	Race to Goal with 1 startgate(s)
T3 Friday	2013-06-28 12:15	79,3 km	Race to Goal with 1 startgate(s)
T4 Saturday	2013-06-29 12:00	65,6 km	Race to Goal with 1 startgate(s)

#	Id	Name		Nat	Glider	Sponsor	T 1	T 2	T 3	T 4	Total
1	164	Michael Sigel	M	SUI	Gin Boomerang 9	Spälti AG, Gin Gliders, NAVITER	289	998	1000	954	3241
2	123	Josh Cohn	M	USA	Gin Boomerang 9	Eagle Paragliding, Flytec	252	976	909	1000	3137
3	105	Nick Greece	M	USA	Ozone Enzo	KAVU,Evolve Capital,KEEN,TAKA	255	956	982	868	3061
4	150	Brett Hazlett	M	CAN	Gin Bommerang 9	FlyBC FlytecUSA	286	957	851	887	2981
5	112	Eric Reed	M	USA	Gin Boomerang 9	Eagle Paragliding	250	980	875	871	2976
6	115	Dean Stratton	M	USA	Niviuk IP6	FLYTEC / EAGLE Paragliding	253	949	898	850	2950
7	120	Hayden Glatte III	M	USA	Icepeak 6	Eagle Paragliding	247	944	855	878	2924
8	161	Keiko Hiraki	F	JPN	Ozone Enzo	API / Sky Asagiri / Fakhawk	250	938	813	846	2847
9	113	Nate Scales	M	USA	Niviuk Icepeak 6	Eagle, Buttercup, Flytec	244	849	869	855	2817
10	142	Jack Brown	M	USA	Gin Boomerang 9	Super Fly	251	803	866	870

Last Comp Day

Well, today was the last day and it turned out to be awesome. Blue skies, a few scattered cumies, lots of pilots having great flights, and I bet more then half the field making goal.Task today was about 60+ km. The task committee usually makes a shorter task on the last day so everyone can get done early to have a big party, and have awards to the winners on the podium. I think it's also awesome that a shorter task makes it doable for the pilots. More pilots in goal, happy pilots, makes for a great party.


Launching at about 1 pm, the start time was the usual 1:30 pm. The start was the Burnt mtn again. I decided today to go to Burnt to get high for the start. I get there and Burnt was not working as well as Woodrat was. Most of the pilots decided to stay at Woodrat. Go figure, the day I go to Burnt it's not working great.

Getting the start, all of us had to get to Rabies Ridge go west toward the Murphy turnpoint. Good climb out on Rabies, and then looking for the convergence followed the ridge toward the turnpoint. It worked well. What was interesting about this task was you had to go into the valley to hit the turnpoint, come back to terrain to climb out. After getting back to the terrain, it was not easy. There were about 4 of us working broken bubbles and trying to find a core. In and out of the bubbles gave us a net climb, but it was hardly substantial. As we worked together we got enough altitude to make a move to the big valley crossing for the second turnpoint. On the way there I got to hook up with about 3 other pilots and we got a great climb before making the go ahead across the valley. It was fun to see glide and performance on the gliders as we made the crossing. It was smooth and all the pilots were pushing full bar.

Once on the other side, working up the ridge to the turnpoint broken climbs got me to the top of the turnpoint Tallowbox (sp?), and then a Bald Eagle comes over to check us out. I got excited hoping he would show us the way, but he just checked in and checked out. After climbing out with pilots, I decided to follow my friend Luis, and Brian decided to head straight to Rabies. This was another valley crossing. Getting to the terrain on the other side, Luis found a bubble and began to get a little climb, but the air turned out trashy. This bowl and area is called China Gulch and is famous for rotor and reserve tosses. Luis got enough of a bubble to head to higher terrain, I got the trash and rotor and got the big flush. Trying to find something I headed into the bowl of Rabies Ridge, and finally found a bubble to sustain me to the ridge. I then got the best climb of the day and my highest altitude to 8400 feet msl. Could not have come at a better time.

In China Gulch two pilots I was flying with ended up on the dirt. I was the lucky one that got out of there. I remembered the words of Nick Greece. Never give up. Boy I was close, though.

Finally on glide to the last turn point, I had hooked up with my friend Chris on an Icepeak 6 and we glided towards Johns. Close to being there we found a slow climb to guarantee making the turnpoint and then heading back into the headwind which wasn't that strong, it seemed like we hit the seam. With an easy return, made goal with 1500 feet agl to spare. Goal finally.

Results will be in the next post.

Today turned out to be a beautiful flying day, albeit, with a little more wind. Even though there were blue skies, there were still a few cumulus popping up at different locations along the course line. Thermal tops were also a bit higher then yesterday. I climbed to 7487 feet msl on my highest thermal of the day. So the xc should have been easier.

Unfortunately, I got a late start today and ended up with the last gaggle after the start. Once on course I got a fair climb over Rabies Ridge and then began to look for the convergence line which seems to set up along the spine to the first turn point. It's great at these events because there are lots of pilots working together and flying the course so you can actually see what is working, thermal and convergence wise around you. Once on the spine I got a great line and was able to glide for while between thermals. Halfway to the first turnpoint I got a great climb to my high point and was able to glide most of the way to the turnpoint. What was good for me was pushing more speed and was able to catch the second gaggle.

Arriving higher then pilots at the cylinder, I saw pilots working down low in weak lift. I circled a couple of times, but felt I could follow a ridge back on course and find a thermal along the ridge. Big mistake. Once over a saddle and along the south face. I got drilled into a south facing bowl with strong winds. I had company of about 5 other pilots and we circled in broken lift, frisbeeing with a marginal net climb in and out of the thermals. With the strong wind, the lift didn't seem to get organized and I dirted soon after.

I always learn tons at these events. Tactics, patience, and flying with a group can be key to being successful. What I should have done is waited and circled with the large group near the turnpoint even though I was higher then everyone. I could have climbed out with them and stayed on course. Many pilots that were there made goal. It's great to learn.

Enjoy the pics. Cheers

It was a great day Thursday with conditions being close to ideal for a challenging task. Thermal tops were not much above 7000 feet msl. Weather was sunny with a few cumulus marking thermals. The task was an 80+ km loop that took us from Burnt to Grant Pass area, then east to Gold Hill, back to Burnt, then to Jacksonville, and finishing at Donatos.

I found the task very challenging with my top height at 6700 feet msl. Not as high as I have been previously. On the training days I was climbing to 9000 feet msl.

After the start we headed toward Grant but with a strong southerly wind I found it difficult. I kept being pushed into the north valley, so had to push up wind often to stay on course. This made the first leg slow. After tagging Grant, I retraced my line along the ridge and then headed into the north valley toward Gold hill. This is where climbs were more difficult to find and broken. Trying to fly the sunny faces and staying on ridges, There were many scattered pilots working together in small groups to maximize the climbs that were there. One of the thermals had my wing talking to me, but the glider held up and finally after topping out at 6500 feet msl I tagged Gold Hill and the proceeded to head toward Burnt. Still working to get a little higher with a few other pilots we headed toward Burnt across some remote areas. About halfway from Gold Hill to Burnt I found a decent climb and made my highest gain of the day to 6700 feet msl.

I got quite a bit of sink toward Burnt and found myself at ridge height when arriving there so I was unable to tag the turn point. I had to continue and ended up super low 400 feet agl just above the bail out LZ. Finally found a good climb and was able to get back up to 5300 feet msl. Hoping Burnt would work I went a tagged the turn point, but climbs were barely there to non-existent and I was on search mode for a long time and actually losing altitude. I went back to Woodrat and got back up to the 5000 foot height and headed to Burnt again. Got a weak climb and then headed to Jacksonville. Getting the Jacksonville turn point and being a little low I saw two pilots thermaling on the way to goal. Arriving about 300 feet below them, I found broken lift and couldn't get a net climb and began to sink. I decided to work toward goal and try some of the small ridges and points, but just found small light thermals that really just maintained my altitude. At this point there was a headwind and being low ended up landing about 15 km from goal.

Still enjoy these comps as I always have my best flights of the year. Ended up with about 66 km and over 4 hours of airtime.

Today is sunny and hot. looks like there will be blue thermals all day.

Cheers

The rain has finally stopped and this morning dawned partly cloudy with drying out to occur through the day. Yesterday (Wednesday) turned out to be a long day. We had rain and drizzle through the morning and then intermittent drizzle through the afternoon. By 3 o'clock clouds started to dissipate somewhat, but the cloud base was just 300 feet to 500 feet over launch. The Rat Race crew decided on trying to get a task in, but we new it would be difficult with such a low cloud base.

The task was an elapsed time with 3 start times that the pilot could choose to leave for the task. I launched about 5 pm and had a slow climb with about 15 other pilots to cloud base. I got the first start time and slowly made it to the first turn point. You couldn't really race hard and had to be patient as the thermals where sporadic, broken, and light. Made the first turn point and then flew toward the second turn point. I found a great climb to cloud base and since cloud base was so low it was difficult to stay out of the clouds. At times clouds would began to form around you and slightly below you as you climbed. Once the second turn point was made, I began to fly toward number 3. Interestingly, there was no sun and just a low dark cloud 500 feet over launch between the 2nd and 3rd turn point. Flying over to a ridge (Burnt) I got low and had to follow the ridge toward Ruch as I was too low to climb over the ridge. I continued to look for some lift, but there was none. I thought I was going to dirt at the bailout LZ, but found a light thermal that got me high enough to get over Burnt and toward the 3rd turn point. I was with two other pilots. But, as thought, there was no lift and we ended up landing in one of the few fields on the back side of Burnt.

I got a big 17 K, but there were many pilots dropping out. It turned out to be a low valid day. Today looks great with top of thermals forecast to be around 8K. Let's hope for a good day.

On Saturday we had great weather and a training day with all the pilots that wanted to dial in their instruments, gliders, and bump tolerance. It was blue skies and a few clouds, but on the horizon there was a storm brewing with stronger winds on the way and a forecast for rain. Since the day was a practice task we were able to download a route and launch at your convenience since there was no scoring. Many pilots launched early to beat the approaching cloud cover and winds.

I took off and had a decent climb to 6250 feet msl with start across a small valley called Burnt mountain. From there the task took us west for about 25 km to turnpoint 1 and then cross a huge valley to turnpoint 2. There was a head wind going west and pushing speed was the best way to make some distance.

From Burnt I crossed over to Rabies Ridge and found a broken climb. The thermal did not seem organized so I flew a little to the east and then found a nice climb to with 1100fpm lift to a nice height of 8600 feet msl. I was with a couple of pilots and on the transition toward the next turnpoint one pilot found a cool convergence line and we flew for about 6 km with no loss of altitude. In fact we gained some. I continued on glide for another 6 km and found another thermal which brought me to a top height of 8972feet msl.

Winds started to increase and from the first turnpoint decided to cross the big valley rather then take another tactic. The glide was smooth, but no lift was encountered on the way to the other side. Prospect Mountain was the next turnpoint, arriving there fairly low with strong valley winds the thermals were quite broken. I groveled for a little while, but ended up sinking to the valley floor and landed with 4 other pilots. It was still a great flight and I was happy enough for the training day. A few pilots made goal, but most pilots did sink around Prospect. One pilot had to throw her reserve. She shared the story with us at the morning meeting the next day. Check out her post on her blog.

www.nicolemclearn.com  . We also had one pilot that landed somewhere behind the third turnpoint and the landowner came out on his ATV and was angry the pilot landed on his property. The landowner decided to drive over his glider and do 360's ripping the wing and catching the lines on the drive shaft and axles of the ATV. The landowner then wanted to take a knife and cut the lines to disengage the glider from his vehicle. Luckily the pilot talked him out of it and was able to slowly untangle the mess. The landowner also had a gun mounted on the ATV. Needless to say there may be a price to pay for the landowner.

The retrieve bus arrived and by the time we had scoped the fields for pilots we had standing room only. Nevertheless it was a fun day for me and still some of the best flying of the year.
Cheers