Another light lift day with temps at 95 and the humidity even higher the wind was light and crossed so launch was not a problem. The first tow I broke a weak link twenty seconds after leaving the cart and with the tugs having the 914 turbo's I was plenty high enough to drop the landing gear and have a nice landing just off the end of the run way. The tugs have some serious power and climb like crazy but have a lot of pull coming off the ground so I will need a new weak link each tow from now on. As I was waiting to launch there was a large gaggle circling to the north and getting lower and lower, then the sky rained gliders as the whole gaggle came down at once. It was exciting to watch twenty gliders fight it out for air space and landing options with some choosing to spin down fast and beat the pack and others going to best glide to eek out a little more time. They all got down safely with nothing more than a light whack by a couple.
The next tow went well and I signaled the tug pilot to take me north as I was not planning on coming back. I went on a death glide right off tow and stopped only once to circle in a stinky thermal right over some chicken coops, we are talking thousands of them smelly creatures in each coop and there were about a dozen coops, the best I could do was zero sink so I left after a couple turns and continued down the course line. I picked a huge field and set up and landed at 4.4 miles, 6 tenths of a mile short of the edge of the start circle. No one else in the sport class made it much further and the day was only worth 1 point to any one that flew so the stats remain the same.
One thing I found out today is that Dan Braddo, the guy leading, is a master rated pilot with over 30 years experience so it doesn't hurt as bad being behind him. :o)
This stuff is a blast I would highly recommend the experience to anyone wanting to XC.
Flights: 1
12 min.
4.4 miles XC
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