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...the tortoises shall inherit the earth.

I wrote earlier about the East Coast Championship: "Linda Salamone is in second. Again, not a fast pilot, but one who sticks with it and gets as far as possible."

Linda was very consistent and did well at the ECC, as did Paul Kelly, who was first. These pilots did well because, as it turned out the conditions and the tasks I called matched their flying styles. In all but a very few competitions they would not do nearly as well flying in that style. This fact does not take anything away from the fact that they did well in this competition. So, no tortoises shall not inherit the earth, but when the rabbits run themselves into the ground, they will be victorious.

The major problem for the much faster pilots was that they weren't rewarded for their speed. Because on three out of the four tasks no one made goal, getting as far or further quicker didn't matter much.

Task one was a matter of survival, with very light lift, very low top of the lift and a wind that was cross to the task. With my miscalled task Kraig and Paul, who was third on that day, put themselves down early when they perceived that they were approaching restricted airspace (they didn't get into the airspace). It was my fault to send us in that direction and as a consequence the day is worth very few points for Kraig who won the day.

On task two, Paul and I get out in front of everyone else and I quickly leave Paul getting five kilometers in front of him. A review of our track logs shows that as I glide at about 56 kilometers out I will pass through an area at about 2,700' and find strong sink there. Three minutes later, Paul will pass 90 feet to the left of my course line at the same spot and find lift at 2,100'. Twelve minutes later I will land. Paul will make goal first. Kraig who was flying with Paul will miss the lift 100' under Paul and will land near me.

On task three, I call a task that has a short (18 km) upwind final leg near the coast line where the peninsula gets thin. I will lead the whole day flying with Pete Lehmann (getting out in front of him 10 kilometers before the turnpoint), but no one makes goal as we go upwind into an area with no lift. I'm second for the day, but get no credit for being much faster than the other pilots.

On task four, I again miscall the task, making it a bit too long for anyone to make. Kraig and I will quickly get into the lead, and get way out, up to fifteen kilometers, in front of Paul. But near the turnpoint, the lift turns weak and while Kraig will climb high as possible under the cloud before the turnpoint, he will not find any more lift. I will not climb as high and not get quite as far as him. Paul will play it smart and go further east to get into the clouds past the turnpoint, but this will not be enough to get him to goal.

One needs to draw the proper lessons from one's experience. If one draws the inference that flying slow is the ticket, I think that next time they will not get their ticket punched.

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