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.
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"
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.
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...
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
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.
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.
...
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.
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.
“An adventure is never an adventure when it happens.
An adventure is simply physical and emotional discomfort recollected in tranquility.”
― Tim Cahill
Ready. Set. Go!
If a year ago our trip to Florida was more or less a spur of the moment thing, it was such a nice trip that I wanted to do it again. I now had a new glider. I needed more practice and, maybe, fly XC. This time I took a couple of weeks off so I wouldn't have to be stressed about not flying if weather turned bad on some of those days.
We made trip to Florida a few times by now, and the best way it worked for us was driving in one go. 20-22 hours of driving then rest for a day. Two days are lost to travel no matter how you slice it but we'd rather spend second day relaxing under Florida's sun than doing yet more driving.
We left on a rainy afternoon a day before Christmas.
Ready to roll
Our first destination wasn't even a hang gliding one. We wanted visit friends down in Florida that we haven't seen in 10 years. The drive was uneventful. We pulled into our friend's driveway the next morning and got greeted by a couple of horses.
After spending a day with our friends, we left in the morning and headed for Quest. It was just an hour away. We set our camp, and I assembled Sport2. I wanted an easy glider to fly first. However, the day was too windy for my liking. I had to wait till next afternoon to spread my wings again.
Camp Skymax. Sport2 edition.
Beautiful but windy day
Tandems are always going
We spent that day relaxing and watching sunset at a local restaurant. Not a bad way to spend a day...
Sunset
The next day looked great. No wind, plenty of sunshine. I launched around afternoon but cloudbase was very low - 2400' MSL. I was flying too close to the clouds. Lift was everywhere though and I stayed up easily for 40 minutes. Eventually I started gliding to other clouds and, with only 2000' to play with, I couldn't get another thermal, and had to land.
As day progressed, cloudbase lifted up. I launched again around 3PM. This time day really worked. Nice big thermals taking me to 4500' MSL. I boated around, making a triangle. The day started to shut down early. It's winter after all, so just another 40 minutes of easy flying.
Not a bad start of my flying vacation. At the end of the day I broke down Sport with intention to fly Combat the next afternoon.
Adventure
I was a bit anxious flying Combat. I had a dozen flight on it and about 12 hours of soaring. Not enough to be really in-tune with this high performance glider. A good level of anxiety is healthy, though. It keeps one focused and alive... maybe...
Rhett towing at Quest
I launched around afternoon. Rhett was towing. I set angle of attack lower than I did for Sport, but there was not much wind on the ground, and the glider didn't come out of the cart the way I expected it. I probably pushed out a bit too early, too. Should have waited a second longer. Glider popped out of the cart pretty high. I thought I was fast on the controls trying to get it back down... but Combat doesn't handle the way Sport does. Weak link snapped.
That was the first time I snapped a weak link on that glider. My initial reaction was to belly it in, but with no wheels on the basebar, I changed my mind. I popped high enough, and this glider retain energy really well, so I had time to get my feet out and start running. It all ended well, and it gave me a false sense of security (more on this later).
Here is a video of this incident:
Spinner helped me to adjust the cart, and I went for another launch. This time everything went smoothly. Very soon Rhett pulled me into a thermal. I could feel the lifting air but decided not to pin-off until Rhett waved me off. I needed more towing practice.
We barely made a complete circle as Rhett waved me off. I went up at solid 200-400 fpm. This was gearing up to be an awesome soaring day.
A few minutes later I made it to cloudbase. 4500' MSL. Great! Now what? Wind was very light. Drift was taking me south-east. With a day like this - I couldn't resist. Let's start with a trip to Wallaby, eh?
I radioed to Natalia that I was going to attempt Wallaby. There was a pretty big blue hole south of me, and a nice looking set of cloud streets to ESE. I set on a glide in that direction, around the blue hole.
First glide
4 miles later I reached the set of clouds I was going after. A thermal was where I expected it. Good! I got to 3800' MSL and lift became very light. I was right in the middle between route 33 and route 27 with other clouds SE of me. I had at least another 1500' to play with before I should start worry. Back on a glide I went.
For the next 7 miles or so I was gliding between cloud streets toward route 27. I took time to recharge each time I felt air coming up. Never got higher than 3700' MSL but never got lower than 2500' MSL.
Then I finally flew into a stronger thermal that took me back to the cloudbase - 4400' MSL. But it was too early to celebrate. As I set on a glide to the next cloud, that cloud started to disappear as I was about to reach it. I corrected the course, and hit a lot of sink. My altitude dropped to 2000' MSL. As I was considering my landing options, I reached another, very strong, thermal. Back to 4500'MSL. This day and this glider were working marvelously!
At this point terrain below me started to look vaguely familiar. I've flown here only twice before, and I wasn't sure how close I was to Wallaby. I didn't have its waypoint in my instrument. I thought, I might have Wallaby on a glide now, but as I stumbled into yet another thermal I took it anyway, just in case.
Very soon I saw the ranch and other gliders flying around. I arrived with 4K feet MSL to spare. Not very efficient, but then again, I wasn't racing.
Hello Wallaby!
I flew to the south end of the ranch, circling with other gliders for a bit. I was trying to figure out what to do next now that this goal was obtained. Keep flying south? Land at the ranch? Go back?
I decided to fly back. The day was still working, and even though I thought I might not have enough time to get back before day shuts down, I went on that mission.
Away from Wallaby
Blue skies widened to the north of my position, but west side, over route 33, looked much better. There were a couple of other gliders in the direction, so I went there with intention to fly parallel route 33 when I reach it.
I think, I spent too much time trying to climb as high as I could. Another glider that was constantly outclimbing me, was a distraction. In anycase, when I was just a couple of miles from route 33, I couldn't find another climb. Other gliders most likely returned back to Wallaby.
Last climb of the day
I started looking for a good place to land. A few big fields with cows in them. Another field next to the road, with a cow far away from where I intended to land. Ok. That one will do. I completely ignored the fact that there was no fence between the field and the road. My lack of XC experience didn't trigger a warning. In retrospect, it is kind of obvious - cows in a field with no fence... fence it somewhere else, probably far, far away, so no retrieve vehicle can get to me.
As I was boxing the field, I saw a couple of vultures circling below me. I tried to get what they were getting, but it was only good enough to prolong my decent. Vultures just climbed through me, probably laughing at that heavy oversized bird.
Final, ground effect, early attempt to flare, hold it, whack. Dammit! I left some VG on and I didn't have much experience landing this glider with VG. Oh well, everything seemed ok. I missed all cow dung piles.
LZ
Cows in the LZ
As I carried my glider to the road, trying not to look at a very curious bull 100 yards away, a realization that I landed far, far away from a real road started settle in.
I sent my location to Natalia and started breaking down the glider as fast as I could. Fortunately, the bull lost all interest in my activities and didn't come to investigate. A few minutes later, 3 donkeys showed up from another part of the ranch. They were very curious and stopped just a few feet away from me.
Curious donkeys approaching
Attack Asses
The white one was the most curious. He was standing just 4 feet away from the glider for 10 minutes, but eventually moved onto more interesting, donkey appropriate, activities.
Natalia texted me that she was at a closed gate. We exchanged our positions again and, as I was suspecting, I was far, far away from the rescue. A 1.6 miles hike to the gate.
Well, this wasn't time for self pity. You do what you gotta do. With a harness backpack on my back, and the glider on my shoulder, I set toward the gate... I managed 100 yards maybe... Combat is 80 pounds, harness is another 20 or 25, but the biggest problem was that Combat is very long and wide. It doesn't simply fit on my shoulder the way Sport does, especially with harness in the way...
I started to hike just the glider for 100 yards, and then come back for harness, and hike harness for 200 yards. Come back for the glider. Hike glider for 200 yards. Rinse and repeat. The only problem - my progress was very slow and sun was setting in an hour.
I made just over a quarter of mile when I saw a pickup truck driving in a distance. Phew! I felt physical relieve. I knew the rancher wouldn't be happy with me, but then again, I hoped, he would want to get rid of the problem on his property as fast and as trouble free as possible... meaning, give me a ride.
I started apologizing way before truck stopped. Rancher was an old guy, I would say in his late 70s, chewing a cigar. He just asked where my airplane was, and then said, "load it on the truck. I'll give you a ride". Yes, sir!
I threw glider on the back of the truck, resting it on the top of the cabin and the gate then got next to my glider so I could hold it. Rancher turned truck around, and we were at the gate a few minutes later.
Natalia ran toward the truck as it was clearing an automatic gate, with intention to stop it and ask for help. Then she saw me happily riding in the back. As soon as we unloaded the glider and harness, I went to offer this nice rancher $20 or something for his troubles. He declined, and actually smiled at that point. Asked where I was flying from.... Life was good again. Thank you mister rancher. I promise not to land on you property ever again.
Later, I learned that this ranch is hang gliding infamous. They never were excited for us landing there. Even if we landed close to the gate/fence... All is well that ends well.
"Anything I got ain't worth your life"
Now, back to my flight, this was my best XC flight to date. 36 miles. Combat makes thermal jumping is so much easier. Total flight time: 2h18m.
Also, in just 2 flying days, I exceeded airtime I got last year in Florida from 7 days of flying. I could drive back home now. It was a good adventure!
In over my head
About that false sense of security I mentioned.... When I handled an emergency landing well, I figured, I was close to finally figuring out landings on a Combat. All I had to do was to experiment with different settings. Like - slightly more VG on landing for flare authority. I also started to tow with half of VG. All was going well.
The weather for the next week was all windy. And I was taking pattern tows on Combat early morning and late at night. Take off and land. 6-9 minutes per flight.
A couple of flights went well. I figured that more VG on landings doesn't help me yet. OK, let me try it again without VG. That worked better. Let's go again! Next take off... and I snap a link again. I wasn't sure why. I was doing something differently than I used to, and maybe not paying as much attention to it as I had to.
Anyway, link snapped, I tried to do exactly the same thing I did the last time - pull in, legs out, quick transition, run. But something went wrong. Either I pushed out too early, or glider didn't pick up as much speed as the first time, or I got hit by prop wash... Or a combination of all of the above... Left wing started to drop...
I know it sounds silly, but before that moment, difference in handling between kingpost and topless, was mostly a theoretical thing. Yes, I could feel harder handling at lower speeds, I could feel adverse yaw, but all those things didn't affect the result of my flying much. A dropped wing on a topless on landing... no recovery from that. On a Sport, I could shift all my weight to one side while in ground effect on final as a matter of last second recovery. Topless glider didn't care to react. I hit ground with a corner of the control frame and cartwheeled. Glider stopped. I stopped. Quick check. Nothing hurts. Good.
The only thing that saved me from more damage to myself was that vertical speed was close to zero, and horizontal speed was pretty low too. Otherwise, it could have been much worse.
But there was some damage to the glider.
It's repairable... And I have a spare aluminum basebar, too. The crash was hard enough that I would need an inspection on the glider before I fly it again.
As I was contemplating my poor landing skills, Mike Barber magically appeared at Quest. Talking to Mike was very therapeutical. It didn't cancel the fact that I was trying to take things a bit faster than my skill level progressed, but it helped to map certain things. Like very obvious ones that weren't obvious to me for some reason - when aerotowing, launch with VG you want to land with. I had too much VG on. Great at 200' and up, but not so great when link snaps right out of the cart.
Also, Mike said he doesn't try to save a snapped weak link launch (get his feet out and flare), he just bellies it in. In his experience, trying to save it works 50/50. Too many things can go wrong (as being hit by prop wash), and once wings are not level, there is no recovery. So just pull in hard, and belly land. If you are lucky/good, basebar will slide on the grass. If not, you will whack, but it will be way gentler than what I did.
Anyway, what's done is done. I broke down Combat, trying to find any other obvious damage. Everything else seemed to be ok, but still need to pull the sail off to be safe.
Then I assembled Sport and took a nice evening sledder. Ended it with a perfect and easy no-stepper landing. That reminded me why I thought I was ready for a topless... Anyway...
The next day, I thought I noticed something on the Sport wire. I took it out of the down tube, and there was a slight kink. I couldn't see it on normal preflight inspection. I decided not to test my fate any longer. Sport was overdue for annual inspection anyway. Time to learn how to do that thing.
kink
While showing Rhett this damage, he pointed out that I had more damage on that glider that I missed earlier. This was from a crash at Wallaby in April. It shows how well those gliders are built, and how one can get away with lack of maintenance. Once I knew the damage was there, I couldn't claim ignorance anymore. I packed the gliders, and we drove home the next day.
This trip was a mixed bag. A super awesome flight, a crash... It was educational as always.
A few photographs from the trip:
Useless End Of The Year Statistics
2016 was my best flying year so far. I got most airtime, got new rating, got new glider, new experiences, plenty of XC flights, my personal best for distance... I hope the next season will be even better!
Total Hours : 43h 38m Total Flights : 60 Longest Flight : 2h 48m Longest XC distance: 36 miles
