Task Five, and Awards Party

Today was another tough day - very hard to get high in the Ruch valley. I got maybe 5000, and then headed across to tag the first turnpoint, but bombed out shortly after that. June worked hard but came short of the turnpoint and joined me in the LZ. Czech Pete took a different approach, over Burnt ridge, but ended up bombing out before long. Nick made a few more turnpoints, but wasn't able to put it all together to get out of the valley towards goal in the Rogue valley. Next time!

Our host Paul had his best comp results ever - fourth overall, and top regional pilot. He was the only guy in the top twelve overall flying a certified (2-3) wing. Local knowledge and experience really made a difference with this tough high pressure weather.

While the party got started, a few of us ran up to fly the glass off again, including former Hawaii pilot Troy, who just moved to the Woodrat area with his wife Carey a few weeks ago. We landed just in time for the awards presentation, to cheer for our XC heroes, as well as for Brad's ritual swimming pool dunkings after the winners were announced. Since Brad came in second, he had to be dunked too - Reaper and Tom Chestnut and a few others pooled their brawn to make sure of that.

Day Six - Cancelled

We waited on the hill most of the day as the task committee revised the task three times, finally calling the day because the conditions just didn't seem to support a safe valid task for the competition. The northeasterly wind direction would have created some potentially tricky leeside areas in the valleys, and the committee didn't want the newer competitors to risk a distance flight in those conditions. But a lot of us launched anyway, and enjoyed a nice flight over the Ruch valley, soaring the convergence above the vineyard, and finally landing there to show our appreciation for the local terroir.

Later a bunch of us ran up to soar the glass-off from mid launch, benching up to ride the lifting air over the valley at about the altitude of the summit launch, as the sun sank over the mountains. Even Mike Haley came up and flew. I'll upload a few pictures if I get a chance.

We're all hoping that Saturday gives us a great task for the last possible day.

Task Four

Finally a real racing day. All the Hawaii pilots got up and got high, finally cracking 7 grand here, and we were all able to run at least partway along the course. I don't think any of us made it to the third turnpoint - I was headed that way, but retreated back towards the valley when it was clear I was too low in the strong headwind to get back up safely, and landed . . . at the vineyard again. I've landed there more often than anywhere else in the comp. I shared a nice bottle of Syrah with Conrad from Seattle while waiting for retrieve. The valley winds got quite strong today and people who were trying to work low on the ridges were getting into trouble - three pilots (at least) ended up in trees, thankfully unhurt. An exciting day for everyone - glad the weather is finally giving us some good conditions to get high.

June's Story from Task 3

Today was interesting. In the launch line, I overheard two of the excellent local pilots strategizng to go left off of launch. I looked around and decided that would be a good plan, too, although a bit trickier for me with my lesser skills. They both made it up high right away, but I struggled to join them. As my scratching took me over a clearing on the hill (clear of tall trees anyway), I contemplated my now limited landing options. Two verboten fields were in easy reach while other allowable LZ's were a long glide over numerous spines with tall trees. I decided I'd prefer to take my chances working the bare patch, and if I didn't go up from there, then do a sidehill landing and possibly hike back up to relaunch.

The sidehill landing went well, except that my glider was too entangled in the brush to be extracted in time before the task launch window closed. I was not the least bit concerned about the hike until I started to remember about the bears, cougars, and coyotes. And then there was the reminder on the radio about the poison oak -- which I've never seen before. So I hiked carefully, and when I got back to headquarters, I was ordered to take a cold shower with the abrasive "tecno" soap. Penance for not landing in a regular LZ by a road I suppose. BTW, both of those local pilots made goal, one in first place. So perhaps the plan wasn't so misguided, just poorly executed by me.

Day Four, Task Three

A very tough day. The task committee revised the task to a less ambitious course just before the launch window opened, and they moved the window back in hopes that the air would start to lift better. But the high pressure continued to dominate. It wasn't a gaggle around launch today so much as a swarm - gliders sinking and swirling all around the ridge. June got herself low around Woodrat Peak (west of launch) and ended up on the ridge, unhurt but in the bushes somewhere below the peak.

I struggled to stay up near launch for a while but finally ended up sinking down below mid launch, almost ready to set up for the LZ, when I caught something strong and serious that seemed worth turning in for one last chance. Sure enough, me and another guy got back up above launch height, from down at the LZ, but we lost it soon after. After I lost it I made one attempt to head towards Burnt ridge, where some pilots had headed early to get pretty high, but I hit a wall of sink and had to turn back for the LZ.

Nikki hasn't been heard from since he launched - I assume he is one of the few pilot still out on course. More details later. I imagine the reports from June and Nick will be way more interesting than mine today!

Nickspeak:

Timing is everything. Today, luck favored those who waited. I can thank Reaper mostly for this one. He convinced me to wait on launch until another up-cycle. Everyone was slowly getting flushed and my strategy of immediately going to Burnt mountain to tank up depended on me getting slightly above launch and then bee-lining it over there.

I launched and struggled with a few shredding thermals. I found one halfway down the mountain and took it straight up. The other pilots saw my discovery and started to stream towards me. It felt good to be on top of the gaggle! Well, since I was above launch, I decided to leave the waning lift and head directly to Burnt. This accomplished two things: one, I could start heading toward somewhere useful before the sink cycle got fully developed; and two, I could leave before someone out-climbed me. :) I arrived at Burnt to turning gliders and immediately started climbing. Got to about 5500' (launch is 3750') and headed towards Rabies Peak. There was plenty of lift at Rabies too. I managed to get enough altitude to make it back to launch and bee-line straight to Burnt with no turns! This battle to get up at Burnt was more difficult than the last. I arrived slightly below the ridge and the thermals were pretty bullet-like. Another glider flew towards me and we climbed together in the ratty thermal. I then took a huge collapse, more than 50% and lost some altitude and it pointed me out of the thermal. I turned back to the thermal to find that strong lift, but it was very ratty. I decided to abandon that thermal and head north along the ridge to find the same sweet stuff I worked on my previous trip there. I found it and was in convergence heaven. Straight to 7000' and then must have hit the inversion layer...no more beeps. I then flew back to Rabies Peak and hit that turn point and found another thermal to tank up. Now came the critical decision: should I head back to Burnt and tank up there before the goal or try to make goal straight on? Well one thing that was egging me in the back of my mind was whether or not I hit the Burnt turn cylinder. It was a huge turn cylinder (1km), but I was not paying attention to my distance when I was working it. I decided to keep climbing until my GPS showed an 8:1 glide ratio to goal. I figured that would be enough to get me there with the forecasted tailwind.

Final glide to goal was a nervous affair. The forecasted tailwind was only about 10-15 km/hr. My ground speed was about 46-50km/hr. As I got deeper into the valley (of goal), my tail wind advantage started to diminish. My GPS was showing that I was only getting about 7:1 glide ratio, when I needed about 8:1 at this time. Those trees were getting awfully big! I knew I should head towards the edges of the valley to get some bumps off the spines, but the reserve deployment during the first task in this same exact area was fully in my mind. I convinced myself that since the valley winds weren't so strong, the rotor would be minimal. I gingerly moved over to the spines. The LZ was around the corner in the valley, so I still couldn't see it. Thank god that I had made goal on the first task and was familiar with the area. I would have felt extremely uncomfortable trying to find goal and squeak in there with little altitude to spare. Well, the spines helped me and kept giving me little boosts here and there. I tried to turn in one of them and got dumped pretty hard out the side. It was a little ratty near the foothills, but they gave me the altitude I needed. I arrived at goal with enough altitude for one S-turn and landing. Goal!!! Another score for the Hawaii team. I later checked my GPS for the Burnt turn cylinder and found that I made it with no problems!

End Nickspeak

Day Three - Cancelled

After waiting up at the launch today for about four hours, the task committee cancelled the task due to high pressure conditions and wind from a tricky direction. None of the wind technicians were staying up. But after they cancelled the task, everyone launched for a sled ride down to the LZ. It turned out to be soarable, and it got better as the afternoon wore on, although it was windy. I made it to the vineyard again, and I hit some huge convergence lift right over it as I was hoping to land. What a dilemma! But I chickened out and spiralled down to land just behind Rick Ray. Nick and Czech Pete joined us at the vineyard for a bottle of sparkling wine. Another educational day at a very complicated mountain site.

Second task day

Another challenging day, high pressure still building, no clouds, ratty bullet thermals capped by a low inversion. They called a similar task to yesterday. June and Nick both had a much tougher time following the course, and ended up at the LZ pretty early. Somehow I got to the right place (high) at the right time (start opening) and got a good early position to head out. I made four of the six turnpoints before goal but ended up pushing low into a strong headwind for the fifth one. I was high enough to scout a decent field for outlanding, and I just happened to pick . . . the big field behind the Longsword vineyard. Oh please, don't throw me in the briar patch! Turns out there was a pilot already there, relaxing in the shade under a tree, and he is a former student of Scottie Gee on the Big Island, living in Mexico now. June and Nick and Czech Pete joined me for a few bottles of wine at the vineyard, and then we went back to HQ to turn in our GPS units for scoring. What a nice day. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

First Task Day

Today was a tough day with an unusual north wind direction. The thermals were rough and rotory and capped with an inversion. I launched early and got high a few times but then got flushed to the LZ soon after the start gate opened. June launched late, flew a few legs of the task, but got flushed on her way to the fifth turnpoint. Nick launched late too, and managed to eke his way along the courseline in a slow and steady way, getting low at times but never giving up, finally coming into goal, last pilot to make it, after almost three hours in the air. What a hero! I wanna be like Nick. Tomorrow is another day. I will post some pictures soon. Maybe I can convince Nick and June to write a few words here too.

Nickspeak:

Today was a 43km task with north wind conditions which apparently produce some confusing valley winds scenarios. My goal today was to get high and stay high. Nothing else mattered. I ended up launching only 5 minutes before the race started. Conditions seemed to get better the later you launched so I took the time penalty since I knew I wasn't going to win...I think you need a pod harness to win. :) I just plodding along course never bypassing a turn opportunity to keep my vario singing. In a couple of instances, I ventured way off course to tank up in some "comfortable" areas. Today felt relatively comfortable, since I never got super low, kicking the trees, like I did last Rat Race. At one point Sandy and I shared a few turns in the same thermal. To bad it wasn't a screamer! The Mustang 2 performed solidly.

Having participated in yesterday's practice session paid huge dividends for my bump confidence. I got in two flights yesterday. The first one was just a 30 minute bomb-out session with just one notable climb. The second flight was much much better, I probably could have gone far on course if it hadn't been so late in the day. Since I arrived just minutes before the shuttle up to launch, Alex was a great help in helping me get my waypoints loaded.

Back to today, I tanked up for the final glide using Ray's compass page technique of setting final glide of 5:1 or so to final. Today I settled for 7:1 since I knew I'd have a tailwind. It felt weird doing one big 7km leg on final glide since I was traveling way deep in a valley. Being so used to ridge lift you can't help but to think of rotary air along the many spines along the valley. I arrived with plenty of attitude and scored one for HPA! I was last to goal, but I'll take it! 2 hours 47 minutes, 983 turns and 197 thermals. At least the last two stats felt that ways. On the way to goal, I spotted a yellow reserve canopy in the trees...little did I know I'll spend the next 3 hours helping Reaper rescue the pilot.

Reaper and his trusty Bronco was on mission today to rescue the downed pilot. I met up with him as he was trying a different technique to get closer to the pilot. The access from below was a bit difficult, so we tried to access the site from above. The pilot was okay, but the glider and reserve was hopelessly tangled in some significant trees. Cherry flight on a Niviuk Peak at that! So we were prepared to cut down some trees if necessary. It turned out that the upper roads were worst than the lower road so we opted to go the lower route again. We had the pilot hike down and meet us halfway. Sun was setting so no time to fish out the glider...tomorrow morning?!? Got to brush up on map/gps skills. Every Comp needs a Reaper! The trails were so bad, we lost our radio antenna and had to fold in the mirrors! Reaper scored a few cases of beer for his troubles, however I think he spent $50 in gas on that mountain!

Tomorrow, I think I'll take more risk and try to factor in time. I'll try to stay with the "B" team gaggle perhaps?!?

End Nickspeak.

Hawaii pilots head to Oregon

A handful of Hawaii pilots are off to southern Oregon for our annual trial by thermal. This year Nick, June (recently relocated to Utah) and I have signed up to compete. Pete is reprising his role as extreme retrieve driver, and will also be working with new Hawaii student pilots Marc and Art. Czech Pete will be coming down from Jackson to fly for fun. We also hope to see Hawaii expatriate pilot Troy, who has recently moved from Bend to a new house near Woodrat. Local pilot Paul has graciously offered to host a few of us at his paragliding dude ranch, and others will be cruising at the campground. Stay tuned for updates.