Well the contest here is complete and the last day was a good one. The wind was forecast to come up and although Mike the Strike was wearing his white hat he was forecasting mostly blue in the task area. We (or at least i) was a little worried about this as the task had a long downwind leg and the idea of having to make progress into a 30 knot wind in the blue did not sound very fun. Needless to say I was pretty happy to see cloud wisps forming as I thermalled up in the start cylinder.

I typically do not mess around much with start times, but today I made an exception. I had talked with Michael about flying together again and especially if it was going to be blue we both agreed that it was important to stick together. As the start gate opened and the minutes ticked by I was waiting for the thermals to get strong enough so I could get a good start out the top as well as find Michael so we could set out together. About an hour after the gate opened both of these things coincided and away we went. This also had the added benefit of giving the clouds time to form on course.

The first turn was just a quick run over to Cline’s Corners with a 10 mile circle. We went as far upwind as we could get in that circle to minimize the distance required to go back upwind on the 3rd leg. We found a few decent climbs, marked by clouds and occasionally other gliders and turned south. We had gotten behind 4A, Ron Leonard, in his HP-18 and he marked a few thermals for us and we took a few climbs on the downwind run to the south. We went as far south as about Encino before finding a really good climb which made it an obvious place to turn back upwind.

The first section of our run was on a good line of lift that allowed us to run straight into the wind and hardly lose any altitude. We both were having dreams of not having to turn for the rest of the task but those were quickly dashed by some sink and before too long we had to take a thermal. We were flying with on of the Air Force Academy Cadets at that point and maybe one other glider. As we got closer to the Moriarty Airport, Michael managed to get about 1000 feet above me and we lost track of each other. Never fear though there were plenty of clouds around the rest of the course. My goal was to get into the turn area around Sandia East and get a good climb that would give me final glide through the last cirlce at Estancia and back north to Moriarty with a little cushion to spare.

I found a great climb just north of Sandia and decided that climb would be better going downwind than upwind so pressed north a few more miles and turned back for it. I’m not sure if it was the same one but I found a good climb, 10 knots for a while, and got up to an altitude that would give me final glide while going to the southern end of the Estancia circle. I had been flying too fast for my own good and was going to be under time but oh well. I bumped along at high speed, mainly cruising in lift and really had trouble getting down even on the ~20 mile upwind run at the end of the flight. Oh well flying fast is fun and down I came, finishing at 2000 AGL.

We de-rigged in killer northwest winds (which made the landings interesting) and headed to the Civic Center for the banquet. Everyone made it back so it was just a matter of waiting for all the pilots to arrive. When results were announced I was pleased to hear that I had won the day! Michael was a mere .24 mph behind me for the day and we moved up one spot each, he in 2nd and me in 3rd overall. We were both very pleased by that of course. Jim Payne was 5th for the day I think and held on to the overall lead.

I need to take the opportunity to thank my awesome crew, Leah Condon and my sister Amy Condon. Their help really made the contest possible for me. Also, Pete Vredenburg (“Bulldog” if you’re a 1-26er) and his wife Judy have been most accommodating, allowing all three of us to live at their house this week. Thanks!!

The contest overall was a great time for me, I learned a lot and had a lot of fun flying in a new place. Moriarty demands a lot of respect but great things are possible here as we’ve all seen over the last several years from OLC and contest flights here. This week didn’t feature any “Moriarty Weather” and I still had personal best flights in altitude and speed. I know for sure that I’ll be back!