Thunder and lightning started the day very early. It also rained quite hard for about an hour, just after dawn. The sun followed the clouds and as good soaring pilots, we all came out of our nighttime hiding places and began assembling gliders. The 10:00 pilot’s meeting provided the essential information for the day’s task and the CD slid the grid time to 12:30. The day was a bit slow to develop and the first contestants did not launch until 13:30. The sniffer reported climbs to 4500 feet and the rest of the fleet was pulled airborne. The gates for the sports class and handicapped FAI class opened after the normal delay.
BZ among other gliders climbed to the top of the cylinder and stepped out on course to Madison County Airport. We all had tailwinds of about 15 to 20 mps on the way to the first turn area. Lift was good in the early part of the run but weakened further north. Life was good as might be expected with a strong tailwind and we all knew it would be tough going coming back south for the second turn point. Starting the task up wind was not an option this day due to the Cincinnati airspace restrictions. The day ended with widely scattered showers of gliders; some in airports and others placed carefully in farmer’s fields. BZ was one that ended its flight short of the goal but did so safely. Among the 18 gliders launched most landed out but there were enough making minimum distance to satisfy the rules and count as a contest day.
The day’s winner for Sports class is Curt Lewis (95) with 656 points; with Daniel Reagan (MK) with 397 pts sliding into second and Don Kroesch (DK) posting third place with 371 pts.
For the Handicapped FAI class the lineup is Jeffrey Russell (TZ) at the top with 658 pts; John Cotter (JC) in second showing 417 pts and Eric Nelson (5E) following up in third place with 396 pts.
As best as I know, the main reason for land-outs was the winds were as strong at low altitude as they were at the top of lift so the thermals were not able to form and hold together. Still it was a good day and it counts, as a contest day so tomorrow is Day 2.
