That being said, the weather finally turned on and the forecast was excellent - light SSE winds, top of lift (TOL) at 5000', decent thermal index. The only problem - it was going to be yet another blue day.
The goal was set at Leeward Air Ranch. That was the the place where I made my first goal last year. And won the task the following day. I knew that route, but so did the guys in the top 3. At least two of them were here in the last year competition. The only difference this time - there was a turnpoint trying to keep us more to the west, for safety considerations - more landable areas and all. Anyway, I wasn't in a race mode. I wanted for the whole A-team to make the goal.
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| Task 4 (photo by Kyle Orth) |
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| Task 4 |
Our mentor for the day was Pete Lehmann. He was one of my mentors last year. A very experienced pilot and a great mentor. If only radios would work this time. Right?
Another change was that finally this time we were launching last. We launched first two days in a row, and since all days worked better later, we had a slight disadvantage... theoretically.
Launching last, with all that late-day advantage is a bit more stressful. You see a huge gaggle above your head and keep wondering why you are still on the ground. It took an hour for the launch line to clear before we finally took off.
We were getting ready 15 minutes prior our launches. Pete - radio check - PTT is not working! Ilya - PTT button that he fixed a couple of days earlier failed again. A-Team wasn't surprised. Working radios would make it way too easy.
Crystal and I were the only ones on the comms. Not ideal but better than nothing. We flew like that before, and we worked out a certain routine that helped us to coordinate... as long as we kept visual contact.
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| A-Team is on the line! |
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| On my way to the gaggle |
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| Climbing up with Ilya |
The thermal was disappearing under Crystal. She needed to use that altitude while she could. A-Team got separated again. Crystal went on course. Ilya and I tried to follow but sink was too great, and we started searching again. I had a good visual on Ilya, so I was trying to report my position, climb rates and status of my visual contact with Ilya. I was hoping that Ilya and Crystal would find that useful.
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| On a glide back to Quest |
And yet again, we topped out at 3000' MSL. Not good, but we still had some altitude to play with before turning back. I set on a glide downwind in a direction of a small gaggle - there must be some lift there. A couple of miles later we got some lifting air, but it was as weak as the previous one. This was getting very frustrating. We were 35 minutes into the flight and still couldn't break 3000'.
Two things happen at that point. We were close to a gaggle, and much farther from the airport. Going back for a relight wasn't an option anymore. Go, go, go! We pushed forward. Bounced off another 3000' climb, and set on a glide for a bit longer. I could feel that we were getting in more lifty area. Our glides were shorter before we were finding more lift.
Meanwhile, Crystal kept reporting climbs, altitudes and how close she's gotten to the waypoint. She was making outstanding progress, and was ahead of us by a few miles. I was happy for her, and it also gave me hope that we should get our ticket to TOL... eventually.
And we got it! We joined a gaggle we were flying toward to, and went up to 4300' MSL. The day started to look much, much brighter. I immediately got my aggressive mode back on. If I could glide instead of circling - I'd rather do that.
Ilya and I were on a glide together for a while... until my line got really sinky. Ilya got a better line but without a radio he couldn't tell me about it. Crystal was reporting a good lift above a huge chicken coop. I remembered this place from last year where it helped me with a low save. This time I was 2000' above it, not really a low save, but I needed to recharge all the same.
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| Hey, chickens! Let's fly! |
Flying fast in sinky air on a sport class glider - you drop down pretty fast. Ilya was behind me and decided that this was too much for him. He chose a safer approach and went toward a gaggle to the east of our position. A detour. That's where a radio com would help. I wasn't aware that we split up until I got another climb. I got it around 2800' MSL. I had still enough altitude to press forward if needed to be. The climb turned on awesomely showing 600' up. I looked around... I was all by myself.
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| On a course line... all by myself... |
In 10 minutes I was comfortably sitting at 5100' MSL. Very relaxing feeling, and nice views. I saw a gaggle in a distance to the east. People there were doing well, but they were a bit off-course. I pressed forward.
I tagged the waypoint shortly after (it had 8km radius around it). I still had enough altitude to keep gliding forward. Fly toward mines didn't make sense anymore, a better option was going straight through a huge housing development - The Villages. It might generate enough lift to kick me back into the sky.
While on that long glide, I went through some lifty areas and recharged back to 4000' MSL. Then set on a glide again and got served with huge sink. It's a balance thing... I got to The Villages with only 2000' to spare. I needed some lift.
It took more than 10 minutes to find a solid climb. Air over the houses was rising, but was soft and bubbly. Not lifting up enough for another glide. And then other gliders started to arrive. We all circled together searching for that perfect thermal core, waiting for the power to turn on. And eventually it did. I was back at 4800' MSL and the air was getting crowded. I didn't want to bump into other gliders just to get another 200', so I left.
I still didn't have the altitude for the final glide, but I was going over some potential heat sources, and I hoped my strategy would work out.
Pete was in one of the gliders that were circling with me over the Villages. He later told me that he saw me descent rather quickly, and he went around where he could feel a better, more lifting line. I was, obviously, not aware of that development. I just pressed forward like I always do.
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| Getting low a half way through The Villages |
As expected, the instrument was super optimistic when I started, but at some point was showing that I wasn't going to make it. It all evened out. You fly through sink you fly through lift. I flew through a nice thermal with another 2 hang gliders circling a few hundred feet below. I didn't need to stop. I was sure I made the goal.
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| Goooooaaaal! |
Unfortunately, Crystal and Ilya didn't get all the way. They were close though. Ilya beat his personal best, too. Nice flying guys! I wasn't flying any better, I was just more aggressive on a stronger day, and it worked out. Like educated gambling :-) Since I took a more direct route, each time I was looking for lift, I was also a bit closer to the goal.
Fun day! Natalia picked Crystal, then Ilya and Zac Majors (Ilya landed in the same field with Zac). I got to nap for 20 minutes before my rescue arrived.
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| All packed up and ready to be rescued |
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| Skymax crosses a barbwire fence (photo by Ilya Rivkin) |
At the awards ceremony I learned that I won the competition. I wasn't expecting this. It just so happened that this day was a 1000 point day, and 2 top contenders didn't make goal. By winning this high scoring day I got a huge points boost. Oh well. I said my goal wasn't winning, but I'll take it. It's awesome to win once in a while :-)
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| First place cup |
This year I came to Green Swamp Sports Klassic event to learn how to fly as a group. The result was mixed. Our team didn't make goal together, but I learned a lot, and we flew together really well (at least part of the way) even with all the radio problems. We were getting much better by the end of the week. Now we can practice back in New England.
I was impressed how smooth everything went this year. With a double number of competitors and mentors comparing to the last year, there were no hiccups at all. Everyone was in the air right on time. Everything was operating like a clockwork. Huge thanks to Davis and Belinda for organizing this event and to all staff and volunteers who helped to run it so smoothly. Wilotree park is also getting a facelift which is awesome! We'll be back next year.
Huge thanks to my lovely wife who picked up the whole team. She didn't really want to be an official retrieve driver, but she is very good at it. The retrieve was flawless!
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A video of that flight:
Visualization of A-Team tracks:
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| http://doarama.com/view/1972423 |
https://airtribune.com/2018-green-swamp-sport-klassic/results/task3117/day/sport-class
Final competition results:
https://airtribune.com/2018-green-swamp-sport-klassic/results/task3117/comp/sport-class
Crystal wrote about this day here:
http://flyingwolfe.blogspot.com/2018/03/green-swamp-final.html
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