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01.01.1970
2007 Gulgong Classic - Day 3






... Weak lift at first keeps pilots on the ground ...



The latest scores will be up at: http://www.soaringspot.com/2007gc/results/


On Tuesday there were plenty of clouds left over from the cu-nimbs the night before. It was clear out to the west, but the clouds were suppressing the lift around the Gulgong glider strip.


The task was a down winder 108 km to Yeoval. The chance of over development was high.


Phil Schroder took off first and was towed to 4,000' without finding any lift. I went after him at noon and got off at 1,300' AGL in light lift, but it was not enough to sustain me. Every where was shaded near the airport.


I and a few more pilots launched around 12:30 but only Miklhail, Cris and I were able to stay up. Everyone else had landed or soon would. A few kept trying but they didn't stick with it.


Mikhail drifted off down wind about 1 PM, the first start time. But as none of us were getting over 2,500' AGL, I saw no reason to leave yet, especially without much help. Cris and I kept going back over the airport and then drifting away in the wind.


Down below pilots had abandoned their gliders. No one was launching. The tug pilots were telling them it was no good, despite the fact that Cris and I were continually soaring over their heads for an hour and a half. Finally at 15 minutes to the opening of the last start time Scott Barrett took off and found lift where Cris and I weren't looking, down wind to the west of the tow paddock.


I was working my way down to 500' AGL at 2 PM right over the launch line that had now finally formed up again. Still pilots who had just launched were landing.


I went to open up my zipper and it malfunctioned. Now I really had to stay up and get it fixed before I landed. Just when I really needed it  I found the best thermal so far, 200 fpm. This got me high enough so I could consider my possible landing options and what to do about the zipper.


Scott was already on his way alone north of the course line which headed off to the west, somewhat away from the cu-nimbs building to the southwest. There were six or seven of us in the gaggle and lots of folks still in the launch line fifteen minutes after the last start time and we still had a ways to go to get to the edge of the start circle.


I worked with Phil Schroder and Cameron as we worked our way along south of the course line. There were very few cu's around, and ahead a massive shaded area 25 km wide. The cu-nimb to our south was spraying out clouds and overcast. Scott was well ahead of us (15 km) and approaching the shaded area but far to our north.


My friends found some good lift just before the shaded area and I went back to join them in it. The shade extended many miles to the south and north as well as to the turnpoint 25 km to our west. The idea was to get as high as possible before going into the shade, hoping to make it across and to the sunlit areas.


The cloud bottoms were dark and there were no breaks in the clouds. I could see spots of rain coming down. With no breaks in the clouds, I wasn't too interested in getting too close to them, so that was the trade off, get as high as possible but not too high.


At 5,000' AGL I went on glide through the dark area. At the same time Scott twenty km in front was finding a bit of lift 5 km before the turnpoint and 5 km before the sun lit areas just passed the turnpoint. He waited in lift that averaged 67 fpm for the sunlit areas to heat up.


I glided to the turnpoint without finding any lift and landed. It was a very smooth 25 km glide. Scott just ahead found lift a quarter of a kilometer past the turnpoint in the sun and got up.


We hadn't seen Scott the whole time so none of us knew he was out in front of us. All of us in what we thought was the lead gaggle had to go through the shaded area. I saw one pilot land just beyond the turnpoint right after I landed. A few others landed nearby.


Scott carried on and was the only one to make it to goal. Other pilots who were slower or launched later didn't have the shaded area to deal with as it cleared up soon after I landed.


The results should be up fairly soon. The scorekeeper is flying in the meet.

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