When I got up this morning, I was eager to take a look at the soaring forecast, as I was pretty sure it was going to be a much better day today than yesterday (which was basically unflyable). And, my anticipation was justified, as the airmass looked to be considerably better, with winds from the northeast at 5-10kt and 3-5kt climbs to 4000-5000′ in the cards. Unfortunately, there was also a rather menacing snake in the woodpile, in the form of a large body of cirrus clouds that could be seen streaming in from the west. We all kept our prayer wheels spinning that this cloud cover wouldn’t really materialize, but they had no effect as it was visible on the western horizon even as we were pulling our gliders down to the grid – bummer!
As launch time approached, the cirrus clouds were passing overhead in short, thin bands that weren’t doing too much damage to the lift, so there was still room for optimism, and the launch proceeded normally without any immediate need for relights. We all were looking out to the west for any indications of clearing, but what we all saw was more of the same coming in, with some indications that it was thickening slowly as the day progressed. I got off tow and almost immediately found a 2-3kt thermal, and there were some 4-5kt climbs to be found. BZ and I found ourselves in a nice thermal with a beautiful mature bald eagle – just a joy to watch as it serenely outclimbed everyone!
The task today was a four-circle TAT; south to Winter Haven with a 10-mile radius, then west to Black Water Creek with a 10-mile radius, then northeast to Bob White with a 10-mile radius, then west again to Cheryl Lane with a 10-mile radius, then home. Since this was a practice day, there was no official gate opening time, and so gliders started streaming out to the south well before the grid was even halfway launched, with pilots trying to get around the course before the cirrus got too thick. BZ and I were unfortunately most of the way back in the grid, and so starting early wasn’t really an option for us. By the time we got together and found a decent climb near the upwind edge of the start circle, it was about 1:30, almost an hour after the launch had started. BZ and I found ourselves in a thermal at the far eastern edge of the circle with local pilot Jim Lee, flying BL, his beautiful Std Cirrus. Jim took off out on course, and BZ and I followed him out a few minutes later. After ten miles or so we had caught up with Jim and shared a thermal with him, and then we parted ways – Jim took a little more westerly course, while BZ and I continued pretty much due south in order to stay over the infrastructure along Rt 27.
By this time, the cirrus layer had pretty much covered the entire sky, but it was thin enough still that it wasn’t completely killing off all convection. There were still decent 2-4kt climbs available, although they seemed to stop a little sooner as we continued south. We kept going, using other gliders and birds as markers until we got to the far eastern edge of the Winter Haven circle, and by this time we had gotten down to about 2000′ msl. At this point we could still make the Winter Haven airport, so we anchored our turn there and started west. Pretty soon we found a decent 2-3kt thermal, and were grinding around, when we saw a fair-sized hawk come to us and start climbing. Pretty soon the hawk had moved about one circle diameter to the west and was clearly out-climbing us, so we moved over and were rewarded with a 4kt climb to 3500 msl – thanks Mr. Hawk! As we topped out this thermal, BZ mentioned in his ever-so-diplomatic way that continuing to the west under a thickening cirrus shelf was most likely going to result in a double landout, and if we turned north right now, we could make the Flanders airport and at least reduce our retrieve distance considerably. After a few minutes of ego management (i.e. a 2×4 applied liberally to the side of my head) I had to agree, and so we abandoned the task and turned back north. We managed to not only make it to Flanders, but found another climb or two and were able to fly up to Osborne (about 15 miles north of Seminole) and back again before landing back at the field.
Our experience was pretty common among all the other pilots, with most reporting that they had abandoned the task at some point. Those that started early and turned short in the Winter Haven circle were able to make the first two circles, but most had trouble getting into the Bob White circle. Bob White is located right next to a huge lake, and so pilots had to beat their way upwind and directly into the lake shadowing effect. This, combined with the deleterious effects of the cirrus shelf, made it difficult or impossible to make progress. Ken Sorenson (KM) reported that he tried twice to get into this circle, and finally gave up. He noted that Andy Gough (44) continued on toward Bob White, so he may or may not have made the circle. Rumor has it that Rob Cluxton (1K) made it around the course in his G-1000, and John Seymour (SM) flying his ASG-29 also made it around, but we won’t know anything definite until the morning meeting tomorrow.
I keep saying this, but tomorrow looks better than today. The outlook is for 3-4000 top of lift, with 3-5kt thermals and maybe even the chance of a few clouds. The flies in the ointment for tomorrow (and there are ALWAYS flies in the ointment) is the possibility of more high overcast layers, and reduced Buoyancy/Shear ratio due to fairly high winds from the southeast (in the 15-20kt range). Stay tuned!
Frank (TA)
