The flight
and task.



Oh my god, the forecast. It was for 9 to 17 knot winds out of the southwest
(right to Lake Okeechobee). The lift was predicted to be 250 fpm (then subtract
your minimum sink rate), falling to 166 fpm at 5 PM. The height of the lift was
forecast to be 2555' but the cloud base was to be 1985'. It looked terrible.



Not only that, the sky and the day didn't look very good either. There were high
clouds and no cu's. We sent the wind dummies up a couple of times and they came
down.



We had decided to call at 42 mile task (open distance task for the Sport Class)
to Okeechobee airport, downwind (sort of) to the north of the Lake, but it
didn't look like we were going to be able to even get off the ground.



The launch window opened at noon, but nothing was happening lift wise. And this
continued for almost the next two hours. Sometimes light blue sky overhead,
sometimes high clouds. At about 1:30 we begin to see little cu's developing
about 20 miles to our east. Then ten minutes later a few cu's ten miles to our
west.



At 1 PM I decided to take off even though the cu's aren't nearby. I didn't find
any lift until I was down to 900'. I worked the lift which was definitely there
but I was being pushed to the north east too fast. I decided to come back and
launch again.  A few others had launched but they were landing also.



While in the air I saw the beginnings of a cloud street right to goal just a few
miles to the north. The sky was beginning to look very good. Earlier pilots had
reported a strong inversion at 1,800'. It looked like the inversion was about to
break.



After I landed there was still no one in the launch line, so I got right back in
it but let half a dozen pilots get in front of me. Campbell Bowen launched first
on this round and then after a few more launches I got off at 2:30 PM.



There were plenty of cu's over the launch area now and Neil took me right to one
of them to the west. There was 60 fpm there, so I hung on and after a while it
turned to 133 fpm as I drifted north toward the edge of the start circle. Twenty
minutes after launching I was just hanging on in zero inside the start circle at
4,000'. Bruce Kavanagh, Ron Richardson, Richard Lovelace, and Jonny Carr were
out past the start circle getting a little low but working some lift. We kept an
eye on those guys as we hung back in the start circle bidding our time.



Your start time started when you crossed the start circle circumference. With
the forecast for high winds, no lift, and low cloud base, we didn't want to make
people wait inside the start circle for the next start interval time. As it
turned out the height of the cloud base and lift was a lot better than forecast
so we could have used start intervals, perhaps.



Start intervals were introduced originally to stop the start clock game. But so
far no one has been playing that game on days with open start times, so it seems
that it is okay to have these open starts. The start game is where you go out of
the start circle then come back and start again after the other guys.



Zac Majors joined me and along with Derrick Turner we headed off toward Bruce
and Ron. Somehow Dave Mathews, also on the English team, slipped in behind us
four minutes after we left the start circle and talking on the radio to his
compatriots ahead joined us under a nice cloud as Bruce climbed up on top.



The lift was only 150 fpm, but it got us to 4,500' and in line with the cloud
street going to goal at the airport. With three Brits just above us a couple of
hundred feet, Brits who started before us, we've got the best of both worlds.
We've got guides out in front of us who were actually a little behind us.



As we climbed up in a thermal on the west side of the Lake, the three Brits
glide off in front of us into a gloomy area all shaded but with good looking
cu's above. We were climbing well, so I watched to see how they did then headed
after them, thinking about a different route, a little to the left and out over
the sunny edge of the cu's.



They started turning ahead of us but it looked better in the sunny areas so I
headed there will three pilots in tow. There was lift at the edges and Zac and I
climbed out.



With a 14 mph tail wind, it looked like we had a good chance to make goal,
especially with all the clouds in front of us and lots of sun light too. We
headed toward goal and arrived just after the three Brits. Campbell got there
first and won the day in rigids flying on his own. Jim Yocom got a later start,
flew the last twenty miles under the cloud street without turning at 60 mph.



The rest of the flex pilots came in later with later starts. Speeds to the goal
were very similar but arrival points made the difference.



Patrick Kruse won the Sport Class, which had an open distance task, flying four
miles past Okeechobee.



After we got out of the launch area the cu's went away and the soaring closed
down in the nearby area. The cloud street persisted for maybe a total of two
hours to the north of the Florida Ridge.



The day was different than forecast. The forecast for winds were pretty much
correct. The height of the lift was much higher than forecast. The lift was
better than forecast, but not much better.



You can find the results (in Race output format) here:
http://ozreport.com/2007usnats.php.