1-26 Championships Day 2 Try 1

Well the forecast this morning was pretty encouraging. We were given a 2hr TAT to the east and then south and back. There was a wind out of the south forecast in the 10-15 mph range but with cu forming around grid time we were optimistic. We have the Region 6 contest here now and today was there practice day so we had a bunch of fiberglass ahead of us to find the thermals. The launch was proceeding pretty well but climbs were hard to find, especially down low. I managed a low save and used a few gaggles to get up to 5200 feet. However I had drifted well out of the start circle and lost 1000 feet to get back to it. I figured I’d find another climb and lo and behold i couldn’t find a thing. In the meantime about half or more of the 1-26’s had landed, several had taken relights, and the task had opened.

I ended up gliding straight to a landing at the airport. Didn’t find a bump. There had been a delay while the towplanes refueled and about half the grid had re-formed so I figured I would have a long wait to take off again. I called Leah and told her to hook up the trailer as I expected my second flight to be a distance attempt. Jim Bob Slocum (142) and I were towing back and Bill Vickland (238) was just landing. When we got back to the end the ground crew asked if JimBob and I wanted to launch. Apparently everyone else had decided to wait. I figured if the task was open I was going for it. I managed a climb to around 4000 feet and set out. The wind was strong enough that most of the thermals were pretty torn up and I couldn’t really get anything better than zero sink. I was trying to get over to the Flea Market, hoping the large asphalt surface would be putting off a thermal. After a lot of struggling I got there and at best found about 50 feet per minute and was joined by Jeff Daye (039) at about 1000 feet. We couldn’t find anything that was going up much and were just drifting downwind. Eventually, we both landed in a field across the street from the Flea Market. Jeff had made the first circle and made about 14 miles on task. I was around 7. Two others were brave enough to give it a shot with Cathy Williams (392) making about 19 miles and Bob VonHellens (244) also going 14. Everyone else tied their gliders down and enjoyed the Hog Roast in the towplane hangar. Luckily Jeff and I had landed out close enough that we made it back in time for supper too. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

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