Day 4 has topped all previous days, in my view.  Today, I was in the back of the grid, per normal rotation and the launch was as good as all of the others.  Having said that, I do not take that for granted because it is hard work for the ground crews, Seminole Lake management team, and tow pilots to get 55 gliders up in less than an hour.

All during the launch and for 15 minutes or so after, all gliders are trying to find lift that will get them up to maximum allowed start altitude.  Today I think it was difficult since most gliders seemed to be flitting from one cloud to another and not finding sustained lift.  Of course, yours truly was one of them.  Once the gliders are up, the CD coordinates with his team and they announce a time for the start gate to be opened.  We had about 15 minutes notice and I connected with a thermal that got me to 4000 ft and I started shortly after the gate opened.

The first leg was a challenge as I found only 3 kt thermals.  The first area is a 25-mile circle about the turn point.  I had planed to go as far as I could in 60 minutes.  I turned around at 57 min since I had just finished a climb and I was behind on my ETA for the entire task.  On the way to the second area, which is 10 miles, I had to cross a rather large “blue hole”.  I left my thermal at 4000ft and started across.  I figured I would be below 2500 by the time I could get to the promising looking clouds.  That was acceptable but not optimum.  Then I noticed a glider off to my right and joined him in the climb.  It was not spectacular but good enough to give me 3500 at my next thermal, which was better than I had been getting.

I am well over the minimum task time so I planned to only nick the second area and then start the run south to the last turn point.  The thermals are now getting stronger and seeing the vario registering 8 to 10 kts was a real thrill.  If you have not been lifted up fast enough to have your ears pop, you have missed out on a real treat.  Finally, I began to connect some dots and put together some rather long runs going to the last turn area.  Not counting the 31 mile final, I had one at 21 miles and 3 more that were 11 or 12 miles and all at speeds over 80 kts.

I am now beginning to shorten the time on task because of the faster ground speeds.  I was able to drive nearly to the center of the 25 mile turn area and reverse course to end my flight in 3 hours and 2 minutes.  Even though the minimum task time was 2hr 45 min, I pressed on a bit to realize the benefit of my faster speeds and improve my average speed for the task.  This flight was my personal best, so I am happy with it and it was a lot of fun.

I’ll add this lest some reader think I am bragging.  The runs were good because the weather was good.  I did better than I had done but compared to the winners, I was slow.

I think it is worth pointing out that it is not really meaningful for me to compare my flights, having 350 hours in gliders to someone with 3500, plus multiple national, and even world competitions behind them.  Any comparison should deal with what can I learn from looking at their flights. I am not competing against them or anyone else for that matter, but rather I am competing against my earlier flights.

I view this as a laboratory to experiment and learn more about the art of soaring and cross-country flight.  Every one I talk to is most helpful and willing to share advice and their techniques.  Flying in the same thermal with someone who is climbing faster is like and instant grade on what I am doing.  I am learning to adjust my circles to get better lift.

BZ