The results are found here: http://soaringspot.com/BSI2008 (flex wing) and http://soaringspot.com/BSIR2008 (rigid).

David Glover, meet director, blogging: http://2007worlds.blogspot.com/

Jeff O'Brien blogging here: http://hang6.blogspot.com

All the rigid wing pilots made it.

Most of of the flex wings did also. Even Kent Robinson on his U2. Lauren Tjaden also, although Paul was just short. Oh, the drama at that home tonight.

David Glover moved everything back one hour after the long task yesterday, so the pilot meeting wasn't until noon. This gave us all a chance to set up our gliders after a full night's sleep. Looks like we get to go with that timing again tomorrow.

The timing was perfect to allow for the cu's to start forming, after a forecast from a weather guru that called for a very blue day. The latest RUC update gave us a chance for cu's high  (11 to 12 thousand feet) and they showed up. Of course we had almost the same forecast yesterday and there were no cu's.

The winds were lighter as forecast, but they were supposed to turn south up to our north, while be southeast down by Big Spring at 14 knots (up high). They stayed southwest all the way, which made the last leg of our task down wind instead of cross wind.

The task committee decided on a small Texas size task to kind of back down from our record 215 mile task on Sunday. So we called a mere 109.5 mile dogleg task, just to make for a little difficulty. It was set for a 69 mile leg north northwest to Tbar airport which was supposed to be cross wind where there was a southeast wind, and then a 41 mile leg northwest to the airfield at Levelland which was supposed to take place in the area where the wind would be out of the south.

We got out to the tarmac between 12:30 and 1 PM and the rigids actually started launching at 1:30 PM. The scattered cu's overhead were drawing the pilots into the air. Again I was the first flex wing off at 1:45 PM. I don't like waiting in line in the heat and it was over a hundred again today. July 2008 was the hottest month in Texas history.

Wyle dragged me through a bunch of bad sink to the west of the airport, but I came back to find weak lift next to the hangars. Then Jeff O'Brien, who launched right after me, found much better lift just to my west and we zoomed up under a forming cloud.

We climbed to 11,000' and over the next hour hung out under the clouds, but a few of us were making a mistake. Jeff Shapiro and I stayed to the west with a south southeast wind (195 degrees) at about 17 mph. My 6030 kept saying it was south and I knew that the first turnpoint was to the northwest and so if I was to the west why not leave the start circle on the west side?

Glen, Jeff O'Brien, and Dustin were closer to the airport, which is seven miles to our east. They were going to start at the second start time. But we were high and ready to go at the first start time. They were in a better position, as it turned out, as they were upwind of us and they were strategically better positioned to take advantage of better conditions that would come later in the day (even 15 minutes later).

Jeff and I were stinking high and right at the edge of the start cylinder at cloud base at the first start time, and I have a predilection to go at the first start time (as I launch early), which is really not rational and I should try to stop doing that, especially when I've heard on the radio that my buds are going to wait. There were plenty of cu's ahead of us and they were very tempting.

We headed off fast and stayed high (lowest was 8,000', which we would have considered high yesterday), heading north and going from cloud to cloud finding good lift under each one. It looked like a great start. We were twelve miles out before the others got their start.

Now a cloud street had formed off to our right a bit and we were heading in that direction to get under it. But the cloud street was closer to the airport and right up the line toward the turnpoint and our buddies were already under that cloud street. We were finding lots of lift and lots of cu's, but we did have to take long glides and circle up. While those under the cloud street could do a bit of running it.

We soon got to the cloud street and at one point I had an straight eight mile run 500 feet below the thick dark street, far enough below the clouds that I was comfortable. But still the folks who started behind us had an advantage and caught us ten miles before the Tbar waypoint. Jeff Shapiro and I ran to a dark cloud and started climbing just to see Glen, Jeff, and Dustin over us.

Jeff Shapiro was a little higher than me and was able to catch up with them soon after this thermal. I headed in a different direction and got the waypoint but lost track of my buds. Dustin and crew had come into the turnpoint three minutes before me and made a turn away from the goal to the good clouds to the east, this was a very good move on his part. My he radio was causing a problem as there was some one transmitting on a nearby frequency, so I lost audio contact also. I turned the other direction at the turnpoint ignoring the clouds to the east.

The cloud street to the turnpoint represented all the clouds this far north. It was cloud free from a little ways past the turnpoint to the goal. I hooked up with Chris Zimmerman, another pilot who started second, just past the turnpoint and we flew the rest of the way together.

We worked first strong lift, then later a good thermal, and finally very weak lift, at seventeen miles out. We just hung out in a little better than zero lift. We were just hoping to get to goal at this point in the flight, so we let the wind drift us toward goal. When it looked like we could make it easily, we went on glide to find light sink unlike what we had found on the way to this last thermal. It was easy to make goal.

Jeff Shapiro was the first pilot across the line. Jeff O'Brien won the day with Dustin right behind him. Glen next. We came in soon after. Pilots started piling into goal.

There was a tug accident at the Big Spring airport with a tug pilot breaking a wrist and a rib. The tug is out of commission also. I heard that the pilot cage is crumpled up. It is Jim Yokom's tug.