Day two was starting pretty much the same as day one. Early lazy morning. Natalia and I went for a breakfast to a local restaurant, and were back to Quest before 9am, leaving enough time to setup the glider before pilots meeting at 11am.
My anxiety was dramatically reduced after day one, but it wasn't completely gone. I needed a few more launches to get into the groove (note to self: if I do a comp event again, I should come a couple of days earlier for practice runs). Plus, my poor performance of day one was still fresh in my mind. Not from points perspective, but from self-reflection - it went wrong somewhere for me, and I still had no idea how to fix it. I got no in-the-air help, and I felt that this kind of help wouldn't really work for me. I just couldn't see how someone would be able to tell me what to do in the air. Things happen too fast, and I am the one that has to make the decision anyway...
Eventually it was time to launch and put all those self-reflecting thoughts aside.
Launch went ok, and I got dropped in a decent thermal. I started circling left (my preferred direction), and realized it was a right-turn day (everyone should turn right inside of the start circle). While changing the direction, my teammates were climbing through me. I turned around, and couldn't climb as high as they were. After a few circles, I got frustrated. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working for me. Thing was, there was no rush to start flying to the goal in this particular competition as my time starts when I cross the start circle - 3 kilometers radius. But instead of waiting and looking for better lift, I went after my teammates from much lower altitude. I saw a few gliders circling a mile away, much higher than me, and I started chasing from below. It's never a good idea as lift can be long gone by the time you get there.
Impulsive and stupid decision. It was just one glide, and I landed in a field a few kilometers away. A very short XC.
While I was on my terminal glide, Richard radioed that he was at cloudbase and he was starting on course. As I landed and carried my glider toward the edge of the field, I heard someone landing behind me. I looked over - it was Richard. I was very surprised. Apparently he got into the same sink as I did, and even though he had another 1500 feet over me, it didn't help much. I guess, things can go wrong quickly no matter your altitude...
...
I felt like I needed to take a step back and figure out what was happening. I was pretty confident in my thermaling skills, and I wasn't happy they failed to deliver. There was something else at play - my head wasn't in the game, I guess.
In the evening, I talked to our next day mentor Michael Williams. We discussed thermaling techniques. Especially, for broken lift with small strong cores. Always good to get a different perspective on what can be improved. Tomorrow is another day... We'll fly again.
https://airtribune.com/leaderboard/892/2017-03-27
 |
| Set up and ready to fly |
My anxiety was dramatically reduced after day one, but it wasn't completely gone. I needed a few more launches to get into the groove (note to self: if I do a comp event again, I should come a couple of days earlier for practice runs). Plus, my poor performance of day one was still fresh in my mind. Not from points perspective, but from self-reflection - it went wrong somewhere for me, and I still had no idea how to fix it. I got no in-the-air help, and I felt that this kind of help wouldn't really work for me. I just couldn't see how someone would be able to tell me what to do in the air. Things happen too fast, and I am the one that has to make the decision anyway...
Eventually it was time to launch and put all those self-reflecting thoughts aside.
Launch went ok, and I got dropped in a decent thermal. I started circling left (my preferred direction), and realized it was a right-turn day (everyone should turn right inside of the start circle). While changing the direction, my teammates were climbing through me. I turned around, and couldn't climb as high as they were. After a few circles, I got frustrated. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working for me. Thing was, there was no rush to start flying to the goal in this particular competition as my time starts when I cross the start circle - 3 kilometers radius. But instead of waiting and looking for better lift, I went after my teammates from much lower altitude. I saw a few gliders circling a mile away, much higher than me, and I started chasing from below. It's never a good idea as lift can be long gone by the time you get there.
Impulsive and stupid decision. It was just one glide, and I landed in a field a few kilometers away. A very short XC.
While I was on my terminal glide, Richard radioed that he was at cloudbase and he was starting on course. As I landed and carried my glider toward the edge of the field, I heard someone landing behind me. I looked over - it was Richard. I was very surprised. Apparently he got into the same sink as I did, and even though he had another 1500 feet over me, it didn't help much. I guess, things can go wrong quickly no matter your altitude...
...
I felt like I needed to take a step back and figure out what was happening. I was pretty confident in my thermaling skills, and I wasn't happy they failed to deliver. There was something else at play - my head wasn't in the game, I guess.
In the evening, I talked to our next day mentor Michael Williams. We discussed thermaling techniques. Especially, for broken lift with small strong cores. Always good to get a different perspective on what can be improved. Tomorrow is another day... We'll fly again.
https://airtribune.com/leaderboard/892/2017-03-27
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