Don't Stop Me Now

I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity
I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva
I'm going to go go go
There's no stopping me
...
So don't stop me now
Don't stop me
Cause I'm having a good time
Having a good time

---

Amazing weather that we got a week of Green Swamp Sports Klassic competition was coming to an end. Sunday was the only good, flyable, day left until next weekend. So when Tom suggested we should fly somewhere, I was all for it.

With SSW wind in the forecast,  Tom set our goal to Williston airport 70 miles away, with a potential detour waypoint toward town of Dunnellon, to avoid Ocala class D airspace.

Natalia agreed to retrieve us, even though it could be a couple of hours drive (if everything went according to Tom's plan).

Another "green swamper" decided to join us as well. Ricardo Vassmer, flying Bautek Fizz.

The day was looking pretty good toward the afternoon. Cummies were everywhere. It was very hot on the ground, so I delayed putting the harness on until I was near the launch line. Tom and Ricardo launched first as they were ready before me.

The launch went smoothly, and I pinned off early as I felt a nice fast thermal. A few minutes later I was at 4500'. Tom was circling near me as well, and I followed him to optimize my climb to 5200' MSL.

at cloudbase

Ricardo was struggling to get up and landed back at the airport. The thermal we were in was still working, so we decided to wait for Ricardo. While boating around at cloudbase I saw Tom flying straight at me. WTH? I made a diving turn in case Tom was asleep at the wheel, but he radioed that he was going for a better video shot. Thanks Tom. I am still waiting to see that shot.

Ricardo launched second time and climbed to the cloudbase with us. After 30 minutes delay, we finally set on course, going NNW.

Thermalling somewhere on course

Clouds were looking good in all directions with a few blue holes in between, required a detour or two. For the first 10 miles or so it was a pretty easy ride, but we were going a bit too much west. I saw Ricardo higher than me, then lower, then I heard Tom reporting that Ricardo was safe on the ground.

I was flying the way I flew at the comp, pressing on alone each time I felt the thermal was getting soft. I figured, flying the slowest glider - my comrades will catch up, or tell me if there is anything better in a different direction.

I drifted south of prisons, getting lower. Found a climb, and I was trying to get high before I would drift over the prisons. Getting low over those things did not seem like a good idea.

It worked out. I was out of prisons and on a glide toward turnpike. Tom was flying back and forth, getting ahead, flying back or waiting for me. It was hard to find him in the sky sometimes. He couldn't locate me at times either, because my ability to report my location is still pretty rudimentary.

Tom -  "what's your location?"
Max - "I am over the truck stop, at 5k"
Tom - "I am over the truck stop as well, and I don't have a visual on you"

Well, that is because Max was still 3 miles away flying toward the truck stop. From that altitude it looked like the target was right there... but it was still a few minutes away.

When I finally was over the truck stop, I stumbled into 500 fpm climb. Tom was in zero sink several miles ahead on the course line. Then he said something about a bad idea, but he was doing it anyway. Huh? Tom set on a glide toward my thermal. I guess he was getting bored waiting for a slow flying aircraft.

He was late to the party, just as he predicted. The next thing I heard on the radio  "I am low.... *something*.. landing *something*". Ok, there was something about landing, so I assumed Tom was done. I pressed on toward Dunnellon. I had that waypoint in my instrument, but I didn't bother putting Williston in. "Tom will take me there". Right. I guess I will just fly north after Dunnellon, and get as far as I can.

Thermalling over interesting looking housing development

A few miles later - recharging before a lot of forest in front of me, getting to 7k MSL, and staring feeling severely under-dressed - I decided to check if Tom was safe on the ground. Nothing on the radio... Thanks Tom... Then, as a couple minutes passed by,... "Sorry, had my radio off. I am at 4k flying N. What's your location?"

I was so glad to hear that Tom was still flying! I waited for him to catch up. At that point we were right next to Ocala airspace but cruising along at 7k+ MSL, chilled to perfection.

Tom decided that at this altitude, even with Sport 2, we should skip the detour waypoint, and go right over the airspace. He warned me several times that if I was getting low I should bail and glide out toward that field over there. Right on the border of the airspace.

I only gotten as low as 4k, found another climb to 7500'. Circling in a view of the airport was pretty neat. My instrument doesn't have airspace altitude information, and treats all of them as an infinite cylinder, so vario was barking at me, and showing the closet direction out of the airspace for all the time we were passing this place by.

Recharging over Ocala airspace

Tom pointed out that we could see the ocean to the west. It was an amazing view but a tiny gopro couldn't capture it...

Ocean to the west of me

After Ocala, it was a relatively easy glide to Williston, around 18 miles or so.... I cannot believe I am saying that! Just a week ago I had trouble crossing 15 miles mark from launch to landing. The reason it was relatively easy because we were consistently at 7K+ MSL at that point in the flight.

As we were approaching Williston, Tom asked if I was going to land there or keep going? Do you even have to ask, Tom?

I was on a long glide toward the airport, watching planes to takeoff and land. I got there with 4k altitude. Took a small climb while resting a bit, but couldn't climb higher. Day was ending, clouds were thinning.

"Goal" is reached - resting for a bit.

On a glide beyond

There was a cloud to the north of the airport. I went to check it out. Picked a field to land, right next to a road. Got there below 2k feet MSL. Found a very light climb, and was working it patiently. Tom, in his fast ship, jumped to the next line of disappearing clouds and reported strong lift, probably due to convergence with sea breeze. If only I could get where he was...

In the last climb - getting tired.

After what seemed like a very long time, I managed to find that last strong core going all the way up. I was at 7k again, closing on 6pm. Amazing!

Last clouds

Tom warned me to stay right of the cloud line for better lift. I was on a glide, a very long glide, often in weak lift. Weak lift I was passing through didn't have any oomph to circle me up. Tom was doing much better, finding another climb and flying farther.

On a final glide

I stretched my glide as far as I could, but my day was done. Another 20 miles from our original destination, I picked a decent looking field and set for a landing.

Over LZ

Landing didn't go all that well. The glider got turned on final by a cross gust, but continued flying/crabbing straight. That would be fine, but I also saw what looked like boulders on the ground, and I had to flare over them. I hesitated, and didn't flare. Flew over the "boulders" to the grassy area and ended up on my knees, hitting one knee on the basebar. Nothing broken on glider or me, but it hurt. The "boulders" that freaked me out were just grey sand patches in the grass. Oh well...

Sandy "boulders"

Ouch!

All is well that ends well. Enjoying sunset on the ground.

I carried glider to the edge of the field where I got greeted by local kids. They were not terribly impressed by a guy falling out of the sky, but one of them did ask a couple of questions.

I was out of my harness, and was about to text my location to Natalia, as my red truck was already rolling toward me. I was speechless! I have the best retrieve in the world!

In the LZ. Finishing up breaking down the glider.

As I broken my glider down, Tom finally landed, an hour after my landing. He was another 15 miles north. We loaded my glider on the truck and went to pick up Tom.

Tom and I showing off our coordinated attire - Morningside T-Shirts

Two thumbs up  to an amazing day and an amazing retrieve 

Tom treated Natalia and I to a nice dinner at Great Outdoors restaurant in High Springs. A very nice restaurant that was still open late Sunday night. Great ending to an amazing day of flying.
...

This flight was all my personal bests for XC distance and XC flight time. I couldn't believe I flew that far and for that long. Thank you Tom Lanning for taking me on this adventure! You are the best! I also hope all this translates into better XC flying back home in LZ-deprived New England.

Recording of my flight:
    https://ayvri.com/scene/8dk3nyv15x/ckclbc97o00012a6lehwvjt8o

Flight stats:
    http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1593394

Green Swamp Sports Klassic 2017 - conclusion

Short version: I had so much fun it should be illegal.

Longer version:
I am not interested in competition all that much, so going to a competition event made me anxious a bit. Things were going to be rushed. Performance anxiety. Pressure...

None of that happened. I took performance anxiety out of the equation by performing poorly in the first 3 days :) But seriously, the event is as laid back, and smoothly running as they come. My anxiety disappeared by day 2.

I didn't feel rushed once. Yes, you have to be on a cart and ready to fly by certain time, but you have hours to prepare. I had time to take a leisurely breakfast, drive to a grocery store, very slowly assemble my glider, check everything as many times as I felt necessary, etc. You get the idea.

Team One on launch. Hooked in and ready.

Then there was a magic of 5 tugs towing us up. No long wait before you get in the air. It was awesome.

As to the competition itself, I was looking at it as an opportunity to fly with a purpose. It gives you a task to complete. Technically, you should always  plan your flights anyway, so here you can practice that. Practice working with your instrument to help you fly a selected route so you can fly farther.

Competition points...  I viewed those as measure of my progress. Yes, it is nice to win, but if that is the only driving force, then this event is probably not for you. This is a practice comp, no reason to be stressed about points.

Anyway, if you are an aspiring XC pilot - this is the event to go to. You will be practicing your XC flying skills with help from very experienced XC pilots. And if you want to compete, same thing - this is the best staring point for you, too.

Oh, and last but not least, flying in Florida is amazing. I logged more hours in a week than I logged last year in 2 months back home.

Winners on GSSK 2017

Green Swamp Sports Klassic 2017 - Task Six

Friday was blown out. Task six moved to Saturday - the last task of this competition.

Another magical foggy sunrise - last day of the competition

Saturday forecast called for a blue day. No cummies. No lift indicators in the sky. Plus westerly wind up to 13 miles per hour.

To ease the retrieve before Saturday night award ceremony, the task committee decided to set a triangle - 2 turn points and return back to Quest. 50 kilometers total. Easy retrieve, not so easy to stay up.

We launched at 1:30pm. Our team was first to launch, and I was second in line.

After a very bumpy ride, I ended up in a very weak thermal. It topped out at 3k MSL. Meanwhile, other people started to show up, and that thermal got crowded. Up and down, more people - not much upward progress.

Team One in one thermal.

getting crowded

I thought a glider (away from this gaggle)  was climbing better. I went to check it out, and hit huge sink. Turned around, and couldn't get back to what I had. Went exploring - and didn't find anything. Time to land back at the airport.

Landing

Zhenya to the rescue

Meanwhile, my old gaggle found another climb in a different direction from where I went. Sigh.

Towed again. Tug dropped me off under the gaggle - not a beep from my vario. They all were floating in zero sink above me. 5 minutes and I was on the ground AGAIN! I was getting slightly pissed. Slightly, just very so very, very slightly.

Michelle helping on launch

Towed again. This time got into a weak climb. I topped out at 4k MSL. Progress... but that old gaggle (no one left yet?) was still higher than me.

They all higher than me... How did they get up there?

Our team mentor, Greg, was calling something on the radio. He had a shoulder mic with a lot of wind noise. In this weak lift that was breaking my concentration - I couldn't hear my vario. I turned the radio off and decided that I was done with this ridiculous day - I was flying out, on course, not landing back at the airport ANYMORE. I better land out and relax for the rest of the day... I turned my ass toward that gaggle above me, and left. Take that mother nature!

I immediately felt better. Now I just needed to find me an LZ as far as my Green Sporty would glide. Plenty of fields ahead. Check. Blue day - pay attention to ground thermal triggers. Check.... As I flew toward a neighborhood with a lot of houses (as a potential thermal trigger), my vario told me that my day wasn't done... Yet...

And that pretty much described my flight for the next 2.5 hours. As a thermal I would stumble into gotten weaker around 3200-4000 feet (~150fpm or less) - leave. Glide to the next potential trigger, arrive sometimes as low as 700 feet, recharge, rinse and repeat.

Several times I thought I was done. Terra firma - here I come,I mean, here I fall out of the sky. But each time I was able to climb up using a few bug farts and helium in my leading edges. It was surreal.

Getting low... chicken coops to the rescue.

Only once, early on a glide toward turn point one, I saw a few other gliders. Tom with his team flew into a thermal where I was, but a few hundred feet higher. After that I was completely on my own. All alone in the sky.

Saying hi to Tom

Several times I drifted away from a turnpoint because I found a climb. It took a couple of iterations to figure out that I wasn't making much of a forward progress - glide, climb, drift back. So I set on a glide much farther and lost more altitude, but made the turnpoint and could finally change direction, flying crosswind.

Drifting away from first turn point

On a long glide to first turn point

...

When I was on a final glide, I stumbled into a Florida fat thermal. Soft and easy, it took me all the way up to 6200' MSL. Yet again I recharged too much for a final glide. But the way this flight was progressing - I didn't want to take any chances.

It was exhilarating to realize that I made it! I didn't expect that at all. I arrived with 2500 feet of altitude, shouting as I was floating above Quest, but I was too high for anyone to hear me. Exhausted, I spiraled down and landed.

On the ground I was told I was the first sport class pilot to show up! I won the day, second time in a row. And I wasn't even racing, I was just very pissed, and tried not to land for as long as I could. I guess, that can be a winning combination. Awesome!

...

All that awesomeness in the last 3 tasks didn't move me anywhere close to the comp leaders. I've done poorly in the first 3 tasks, and there was no way fixing that. But I got way more out of this competition than I expected. "NO REGERTS"

....
Recording of the flight:
http://doarama.com/view/1273937

Flight's stats/info:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1592512

Task 6 results:
https://airtribune.com/2017-green-swamp-sport-klassic/results/task2285/day/sport-class

Competition results:
https://airtribune.com/2017-green-swamp-sport-klassic/results/task2285/comp/sport-class
...
I did manage to squeak into top 10.

Green Swamp Sports Klassic 2017 - Task Five

Morning or Day 5

Day five of the competition brought stronger south winds that were supposed to turn more west later in the day. The task committee decided not to get too creative and just repeat task from previous day - Quest to Leeward Air Ranch. Same task but potentially much faster.

Tom and I discussed what I've done not optimally on that route, so I was very excited to try and fix it. An opportunity like that was a nice gift.

Our team was second in line. Jeff launched first, and I a few minutes later.

Jeff Curtis ready to take off

Launch director, Spinner, running along with the cart on take off

With winds 10+mph it was a bumpy ride. We rolled through strong lift, but I decided not to pin off, and get everything a tug pilot would give me.

He finally waved me off, and I went up like a rocket - solid 500 fpm.

Lucky climb. First team to launch (seen below) wasn't as lucky.

6 minutes later I was in the wispies, radioed that I was going on course, and set on a long glide to the next cloud.

Initial climb is done. Ready to race. 

After a few clouds lined up for me without need to take a detour, I started to think of going for time. I was racing! I would leave climbs as they were getting softer, without waiting to get all the way to the cloudbase.

This time around, I also went over the villages. This option that seemed a bit intimidating yesterday was just fine today.  When I approached that junction, I could see that there were actually LZs I could use. And a few clouds were forming over the housing development anyway. I recharged a few times flying over that town, never getting low.

Recharging over the villages

On the last leg, I freaked out a bit and stopped to recharge even though I had plenty of altitude, losing some time. It wasn't necessary as I arrived at the goal with 3k altitude to spare. Actually, for the last 3 miles I had the bar to my knees and was I still going up. Ama-freaking-azing!

Flying fast

I arrived first, flew around for a bit trying to lose altitude. It required some effort. I could have easily flown farther than the task called for.

Monkeying around... because I can...

First!

A U2 pilot beat my time by 2 minutes, but with 6% handicap that sport2s get, I still won the day. Felt good. It didn't improve my comp standing all that much, but hey, cannot get it all, right?

...

Jeff also made the goal, and because he was very consistent he moved into first place in the comp. Day 6 is blown out, so we probably have only one task left. Jeff has real shot at keeping his first place. Congratulations, Jeff! A job well done.

Task results:  https://airtribune.com/2017-green-swamp-sport-klassic/results/task2281/day/sport-class

Comp results: https://airtribune.com/2017-green-swamp-sport-klassic/results/task2281/comp/sport-class

Recording of my flight: http://doarama.com/view/1270697

Green Sport Landed

Goal gets filled in.

Green Swamp Sports Klassic 2017 - Task Four

After a nice flight a day before, I was more relaxed and ready to enjoy a new day. It didn't matter much how it would turn out. I now got an idea how mentoring worked for me. I was going to report my position, if it was relevant to the group, and I was going to take route suggestions from the mentor, if we got to that point. Otherwise, I was going to fly my flight, my pace, filtering everything else out.

The task was set to fly to a private airstrip - Leeward Air Ranch. No other waypoints - just a straight line between Quest and the goal.

Team One on launch. John Blank is taking off in front of me.

On tow to yummy looking clouds

We launched, and got the whole team into one thermal. Michael directed us a few times trying to get the whole team to leave at the same time. We switched thermal a couple of times, and eventually, Jeff and I were at the cloudbase.

Going up!

Michael is joining the fun

Banking hard into a thermal. Jeff Curtis a few hundred feet higher.

Jeff reported that he was going on course, and he set on a glide (he was higher than I was). I made a few more circles to maximize my altitude before leaving.

At the top. Time to leave.

As soon as I felt there was nothing else to gain here, I went on course as well. Michael stayed behind to help the rest of the team.

I was about a mile behind Jeff and saw him flying into big sink. I looked at the sky in front of us, it seemed like a good idea to change my glide a bit to get to a different cloud. I lost sight of Jeff after that.

15 minutes later, we all reported our position, and I made a slightly better progress toward the goal. Jeff turned off-course to find a climb and was low. I was pretty low as well... I actually was ready to land. There was a big field across the prisons. I was about 1000' AGL at the end of my glide. I unzipped the harness - started boxing the field, but still making a last ditch effort to find any air that wasn't going down.

Low next to prisons/construction area.

I flew along the road to an intersection (thinking about ease of retrieve), as I finally felt air pushing up. 10' up - gentle circle, 20' up... 30'. After a few circles, broken, weak lift started to get more organized, and I was able to complete a few full circles in lift. I started thinking I could save it. As I approached 2000 MSL, I saw another glider going through my weak thermal but continuing farther over the construction area - hitting some faster raising air in the process. I moved over in the same direction and went up faster as well. Phew! I saved it. Now I had a chance to beat my personal best for distance. Ha! Each day was getting better and better!

Very soon I was approaching cloudbase, but not quite making it all the way to the top. A low save was still fresh in my mind, and I wasn't pressing on. Also, there was a choice to make - huge blue hole if I go straight toward goal; a close line of clouds to the left way off-course but with many LZs; a farther looking line of clouds to the right going over dense housing development with no visible LZs from my vantage point. Decisions, decisions.

Other gliders started to show up in my thermal. Pete (our first day mentor) and his group started circling around me. I thought following Pete to see what decision he makes, but he wasn't going anywhere, just circling around. I figured he was waiting for the rest of his team.

Pete

Then Tom and his flock showed up. This place was getting too crowded, and I also realized I was just wasting time. It was time to leave. I was on my own and I had to make my own damn decision. Be brave, eh?

I went with a lots of LZs and closer clouds option. Tom later told me that one of his mentees was about to follow me, and Tom radioed - "Don't follow that green glider". I wish I was on that frequency! Apparently my decision wasn't optimal.

Time to leave

And so I was pretty much flying alone. Only after 20 minutes or so, another glider caught up with me, apparently making the same decision. This glider rushed through my weak thermal and went on a glide to the turnpike truck stop. When I got there I was plenty high but saw that other glider very low. Oh well, sometimes it is better to wait, I guess.

Other glider joining my weak thermal close to turnpike

Going toward truck stop

After I topped out thermal over the truck stop, my instrument started showing that I might be able to make the goal. I set on a final glide.

On a final glide

I had to stop one more time to recharge for another 300 feet, just to be safe. And I arrived to the goal with 800' to spare. Not optimal, but safe decision.

On final glide. Checking my instrument for L/D progress toward goal.

I finally made a goal! I beat all my personal bests in the process, too! 63.5 km, or 39.5 miles. I actually flew for 78km with all the detours I had to take.

Fast thermals, slow thermals, low save, good decisions, bad decisions - all 3 hours of it. It was awesome! (my course time was 2h35min, but total flight time 3 hours)

I didn't really race,  just tried to get to the destination for once. My result for the day wasn't great - 8th. That 90 degrees detour I took, cost me plenty of time. But it didn't matter, I was happy as a clam.

One more note about NOT racing, - when I was just a few km away from the goal, Jeff radioed that he had the goal on glide... My non-existent racing mode immediately switched itself on. I checked my vario and it told me I had a glide with a small margin. I started racing, gliding as fast as I could. Made it to the goal 2 minutes before Jeff :-)

Many people made goal this day, so it didn't improve my competition standings, but I already got what I came for. The icing on the cake was that I completed the flight on my own from start to finish. Michael actually landed out while helping other team members...

Tom Lanning posing for a photo in goal

Day results:
https://airtribune.com/2017-green-swamp-sport-klassic/results/task2279/comp/sport-class

Anyway, I had an awesome flying day. My best flight to date so far! A lot more to learn, a lot more to practice.

Flight stats/tracks:
https://airtribune.com/skymax/tracks__104281

Green Swamp Sports Klassic 2017 - Task Three

After a second disappointing day, I was determined to fix it. I wasn't sure how, but I gotta do it. Well, at least I would integrate thermalling suggestions that I got from day before.

Our team in setup area

We launched and I got established in a nice thermal. At least I thought so. But it took me to 3500 feet, and then it turned into zero. Jeff Curtis had a better luck elsewhere, he soon was at cloudbase and went on course.

Meanwhile, everyone else, including other teams, joined me. Our new mentor, Michael, as well. He directed us a few times trying to optimize the climb, but we couldn't punch through 4k. I remained on the top of that gaggle.

Michael joining thermal below

Gaggle

Our mentor, flying topless glider, went exploring farther away, and he found 600 fpm thermal. He called to join him there.

Since I was at the top, I figured I might be able to reach it. The truth was, if I didn't get that radio call - I wouldn't have went. Use the force, Luke!

And, predictably, I didn't make it into that thermal. As I was on a glide, I saw Michael going up like a rocket, but I wasn't even half way there. Too late to the party...

And, just like a day before, I was presented with a choice - keep exploring farther away (clouds too far for me to glide to at that altitude), or go back.

I looked back,  and the airport was still in my reach. I opted for that. I'd rather try again from higher altitude. While gliding to the airport, I got under my old gaggle - not a beep. Sigh. Over the airport - there was plenty of thermal activity, and I played with it for a few minutes, hoping to get out on my own. It didn't happen.

Circling low over Quest

I landed in a few minutes. Turned my radio off as that chatter wasn't relevant to me anymore. Another tow. Another scratching at 3k. And suddenly I realized that I enjoyed this flight way more. I was on my own. I wasn't rushed or distracted by all that radio noise. I started flying much better.

After an hour and 30 min, a couple of trips to cloudbase, one low save, and 16 miles - my patience finally disappeared, and I went for something that wasn't there. There was a big overdeveloped area farther south. I was a bit too low to look for anything there, but I went anyway. At least I registered that I was making this mistake while I was making it... Progress, right?

Then just for fun of it I picked a very questionable lz. Landed ok.

Where is he going to land?

Not a very prudent decision. I promise not to do that on purpose anymore... maybe.... Anyway, it was a most fun day in the comp so far.
...
A few discussion with mentors definitely improved my flying. Just a tiny bit. I didn't enjoy competition part all that much, and wasn't not doing well points wise, but flying with a purpose was pretty cool.
...
Here is a video of my landing https://youtu.be/R3MccZ8WSyM

Green Swamp Sports Klassic 2017 - Task Two

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.

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

Green Swamp Sports Klassic 2017 - Task One

For sometime now I wanted to try competition flying. Not so much for competition itself, but to have a target to fly to, some kind of measure of progress, and people to help me figure out how all that is done.

I originally wanted to go to ECC (East Cost Championship), but that got terminated together with Highland Aerosports that was running it. Then I learned about Green Swamp Sports Klassic that was twice as far, but still reachable in one day of driving. Plus, I've already flown at Quest Air a few times. 

And so I decided to give it a try. It was going to be at the end of March. Florida has pretty good flying weather this time of year.... and it is not super hot yet either. Natalia went with me, and graciously agreed to retrieve me when I needed it. 

Driving to Florida

I didn't know what to expect exactly. Not knowing rules of the game, I was a bit anxious. But the atmosphere was pretty laid back, and from morning to launch I had plenty of time to do everything without rushing.  

At Quest. Camp Skymax.

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The way this event is organised is that all participants are split into teams, and each team is assigned a mentor. Each team is assigned a radio frequency, and mentor then provides in-flight guidance - whatever each team member needs help with.

From points in the competition, the teams are not really teams - each participant is scored separately. So team members do compete against each other, but then again, this competition is not a part of larger Hang Gliding championship, so if points all you care about - these ones don't go anywhere else.

I wasn't too concerned about points, I just wanted to get my flying to the next level. For a year I got stuck in that 1-2 thermal mode that would get me to 10-15 miles range. I wanted to break that loop. 

By the way, any type of glider is welcome in this training competition, but you will have either a penalty or handicap comparing to a baseline sport class glider that is WW U2). Since I was flying a WW Sport 2 - I got 6% handicap.

Also, the cost of this competition is really low comparing to "real" ones, - you pay a small entry fee, you pay for tows ahead of time, and you take care of your own retrieve. There were a few people doing retrieve for a small per-pickup fee. 

Flying the course part is pretty straight forward, but does require an instrument with GPS and ability to set waypoints. I bought Flytec Element last year. It is a very basic competition vario. It doesn't have sophistication of more advanced models (like route optimization, speeds to fly, etc), but it get the job done. It beeps, points to the right direction, and plays happy music when you reach the waypoint.  

So, with organisational details out of the way, how was my first day?

It was pretty good, but not better than all my XC flying I've done last year. 

I was dropped in a good thermal, and got to the cloudbase pretty quick. One of my teammates (Richard) was already there. He radioed that he was going on course. OK, I guess, I was going, too.

We hit pretty significant sink, and Richard turned 90 degrees off the course line. Hm... I figured, I'd keep going. There was a chance I would lose altitude either way. But there was a chance another thermal was ahead of us.

A few minutes later, I was at 2K MSL, and when I looked back, Richard was doing much better, he was in a climb. Damn! I should pay more attention where the clouds are, I guess.

I didn't give up. I found broken, weak lift, and started working it. Being rather rusty (I haven't flown for the last 3 months), I kept losing those elusive upward air streams. But I kept flying... I saw a highway going in downwind direction, I instinctively started flying along this road. It kept me afloat for a few kilometers (all competition distances are in kilometers, but hang glider pilots in US still measure lift in foot per minute... it's as confusing as it gets).

While flying along the road, I noticed that waypoint arrow was slowly moving to 90 degrees. I wasn't flying toward my target. Without any additional information or experience, turning now was as good as ever, and started flying crosswind toward the turnpoint. 

I didn't make it too far. Another weak thermal, another glide, and I was on a ground. Right next to a pilot from another team (Sara Weaver).

One of the local residents came out to greet us. He was very friendly. We chatted for a bit, and then he helped Sara to move her glider from the far end of the field (she landed far from the road).

So it was a pretty good XC day. Flight time 1 hour.

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1587344

What about mentored part of competition? I wasn't sure how that would work when I signed up. And aside from one thermal location broadcasted on team's radio, I didn't get any decision making tips,  so I flew the way I knew how, and got similar results. 

We discussed my flight with my mentor in the evening, and he gave me a few good pointers on how the day went, and decision process for the conditions. I guess, this is the way mentoring would work for me, but I was still willing to give it another try the next day. Maybe I'll get some in-the-air help. 

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Here are the results after day 1 -  https://airtribune.com/2017-green-swamp-sport-klassic/results/task2274/day/sport-class