A bit foggy this morning when I got up, awakened by a sound you only hear at New Castle – a chain-saw!  Got through my run without any major medical problems, and did the New Castle assembly gaggle on the grid with the rest of the crews. By this time (about 0830-0900), the fog has burned off and it looked like a delightful day.

At the pilots meeting under the patio at the Towplane Cafe, weather guy Richard Kellerman (QV) got a laugh by trying to explain how he had gotten the weather forecast so badly wrong yesterday (Richard is one of the very best soaring weathermen around, and so if he gets it wrong, *everyone* would get it wrong!), and then proceeded to tell us that today would be a pretty good day, with cloud bases around 7000′ msl, and decent – but not necessarily great – climbs.  He also said he saw no reason that the day would end particularly early (more about that later).  By grid time, there were Q’s popping in all quadrants, and shortly thereafter sniffer John Good (X) was reporting OK if not decent climbs through 4500 msl, with cloud bases well above that.

Both classes were launched without delay, with the 18m guys off first.  Most gliders were out on course by 1:30, with a  few unfortunate souls (me among them) starting 20-30 minutes later.  I had gotten a decent climb off tow, and so headed down course 10 miles or so before the start.  Subsequently, I wasn’t in the best position to start when the gate opened, and by the time I got back up, almost everyone was well out on course.   The good news was that by the time I found a good climb and was in position to start, a beautiful cloud street had formed over the tunnel ridge, and I was able to really smoke the first leg.  The bad news was (as I found out somewhat later) was that there were only 2.5 hours left in which to fit a 3.0 hour task – oops!  When the soaring light was turned out around 4:30, I still had the two last turn areas to go, but no juice to get there – landing back at the field for no finish.   I was totally bummed out by having such a good run, only to be shot down at the end.  The silver lining on the cloud was that I actually had seen a good indicator that the day was going to end sooner rather than later, but chose not to act on it.  As I was telling Erik Nelson at dinner, at least I am able to see the indicators now, even if I’m not quite good enough (yet) to change my flight plan accordingly ;-).  All in  all, it was a great flying day here.  I got to run streets for 70-80 miles and had a blast, and the hawks were out flying with us as their annual southward migration goes through here every year at about the same time as the contest.

Speaking of dinner, tonight was the traditional pig roast, and it was spectacular.  New Castle traditionally has meals every night, and every one this year has been the best of its type I have had anywhere for years, especially the low country boil.

Tomorrow’s weather is looking a bit iffy, depending on who you talk to or what source you look at.  There is a cold front approaching from the west, and although it probably wont’ actually get here until Saturday night, there is a fair bit of weather out in front that probably will.   It was amusing to see how many pilots had their cellphones out looking at weather while waiting in the serving line for dinner.  John Lubon (JL) and I were actually contemplating leaving here very early tomorrow and driving back up to our home club in Ohio, figuring that we would be able to fly there in great post-frontal conditions rather than sitting on the ground here in pre-frontal weather.  Alas, it looks like CCSC won’t quite be post-frontal enough, so neither place looks very promising.  We’ll see.