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Aug
12
Written by:
Jeff Shapiro
8/12/2009 6:55 AM
I should have, but didn't manage to take any in air photos from yesterday. Our friend, Karen Johnson, took some really nice photos from the launch line and of the cu nims that ended up stopping our task. She told me last night that she would be happy to send some to post which I will do soon. This photo was taken by Eric Donaldson. It's a great photo and shows the beginning of the end.
We launched yesterday shortly after the task was changed (in the launch line) to a straight line to goal of around 100 miles. The task committee had originally called a big triangle but the sky was very quickly filling in with tall cumulous clouds, with particularly imposing looking clouds toward the course line. We made the changes in our instruments and got tugged up into good lift. We climbed pretty quickly and ran to the edge of the start circle. I drove around a bit with Davis while watching Jeff and Zippy climb up to our height with the large majority of the field. It was the first time this comp that there was a bit of a gaggle and with interval starts, a real start game.
It was obvious that the chance of overdevelopment stopping the task was probable so we decided as a team that we would take the first and maximise our distance. We found ourselves in good position and left in front as a team. Zippy went right with Derrik Turner off to his right and a bit higher, Jeff faded left and I split the difference with Davis. We had the gaggle with us for a couple of climbs but it spread out a little as the choice of direction became more effected by the storms. There were two or three major cells to the East (left of course line) that were dropping virga and had horse shoe shaped red dust clouds pushing quickly toward the course. I stayed to the west feeling like we could sneak around before they got to us and was pleased to see Davis, flying well, under the same clouds. I had been eyeing the storm and the two or three cutains of virga were all coming out of the same monster with a shelf on it's west side that was flat and dark. It looked like the fastest line and if we were under it, we most likely could pull in and blaze without a turn. I thought about making the glide to it but rationalized my fears by thinking that if the gust front pushed, there would be a strong cross wind as opposed to the tail wind that we had on our current line. About the second or third climb on this line I looked over to see a speck of a glider up against the black wall of storm cloud. There was already talk on the radio about the safety of the day and as I said that I saw this glider, Zippy piped up and said "that would be me". I laughed a little and pushed on. Turned out he had climbed out from low and was now standing on it without turning. Jeff came into the climb I was in around 1000' below and although the lift was broken and my instincts were screaming to go, I wanted to wait a little so that we could go together. This was a stupid decision. First off, slowing down NEVER makes the group faster collectively and two, if I would have kept driving (especially knowing that the task would most likely be stopped) I would have placed better for the day as the guys that had better results were no more than a few k's in front. Stupid. Lesson learned.
I told Jeff I was going and he came with me around 500' lower and it was then that the day was stopped. We decided that we would land in Lamesa and I saw that James Stinnet, Ben Dunn and Zippy had flown over to us to all land in the same place. Just as we were spiraling down, we al noticed that the gust front was moving extremely fast and was pushing across town. By the time I was dropping into final, the red, airborn dirt was blowing hard over the tree line at the edge of our chosen LZ. I landed in gusty and switchy winds with OB and Ben right behind. We all managed to turn our gliders around just as the "meat" of it hit us. Zippy and James both made the wise decision to turn down wind and run a few fields away to land, hoping to squeak in. In the end, all made it down with no dramas.
I was a little twisted about the results because if I would have listened to my instincts, my point value would have been higher for the day but it's all about learning. This one is one I will remember to not make again. Today is another day.
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