Big Spring US Nationals
The forecasts were all mixed up, contradicting each other with winds in various directions both calling for thunder showers and sunny all day. I couldn't tell what was going on. The RUC on XCSkies forecasted what looked like thunderstorms just south of Big Spring at 4 PM, but it was a blotchy picture there and in Dr. Jack's RUC display. When it is blotchy (lots of little areas of light or no lift), you know that the areas of no lift (thunderstorm, most likely) could be any where for a few thousand square miles. So it doesn't make sense to think that the areas of no lift will actually be to our south.
All the forecasts agreed that the winds would be light, but the forecasted ground temperature was 91 in Dr. Jack/NAM, 94 in Dr. Jack/RUC, and 98 on the local NWS site. That would make a big different in lift and height of lift.
Given the forecast for light winds, Glen wanted a triangle task over the better lift areas to the east. We went with that at the task meeting.
By the time we got our gliders setup on the dirt south of the hangars, things had begun to change. The sky to the east and northeast was filling up with thick cu's, some towering and a cu-nimb far to the northeast. It looked like our task would be doomed to a short end and finally just before we opened the launch window at 1 PM, we got Glen to go along with a straight line 169 km task to the north northwest to Leveland. It looked a lot better in that direction although not great.
We were ready to start launching right at 1 PM, given the cloud situation, and I was second after James Stinnett. Unfortunately my weak link popped off at twenty feet and I had to get back in line. The next two pilots also broke their weak links. The backs of the carts were set too high.
There was plenty of lift over the airport and with the light winds it was easy to climb up and stay within the ten kilometer start circle. I was hanging with John Simon, Chris Zimmermann and a number of other pilots before Zippy and the Jeff's joined me as we stayed mostly near cloud base three km from the edge of the start cylinder.
With a minute and a half left to go, Zippy started to race out in front followed by me, and the Jeff's then Derreck, John Simon, Glen, Stinnett and Larry Bunner. We raced hard to the next cloud and Zac found good lift that we joined him in. O'Brien had taken a course a little to our east and had to come over to get under us and was on the bottom of the stack.
Zac left that thermal first, with me right behind him at his altitude (7,500'). Derreck came after us at 8,000'. There was a cu-nimb raining to our east which we were avoiding easily, as it was about ten miles away. There was blue sky and lots of good looking cu's ahead, but darker stuff to the northeast. Our task was to the north northwest.
The three of us got out in the lead and about 6 km out I stopped for a little bit of lift that gained me a few hundred feet. It wasn't strong enough to bother with. I shouldn't have stopped and that put me behind Derreck and Zippy. Fortunately I caught up with them on the next thermal as we climbed to over 7,100'.
Zippy headed out first again, and this time I was just behind and above Derreck as we moved north with Zippy a kilometer in front of us. Zippy stayed out in front of us as Derreck and I climbed in the next thermal that Zippy missed. Derreck caught up with Zippy and they were about a kilometer in front of me as I was 400 feet higher as we headed toward Ackerly up highway 87.
The two Jeff's were just behind me with all the rest of the pilots. The three of us had semi detached ourselves and were getting away from the rest of the crew.
The cu-nimbs to the east were closer now and more dangerous looking. It was raining hard to our east northeast and there was a solid wall of cu-nimbs forming all to the east and northeast of us. I decided to fade to little to the west of the highway 87 and to get back toward to course line. I split from Derreck and Zippy at this point and went to a nice high cloud over Ackerly that got me to 8,400'. Derreck and Zippy were 4 km ahead east of the course line and 2,500' below me. I radioed to the Jeff's to come over to the thermal over Ackerly, they did and found 700 fpm, like I did.
At this point I was really getting nervous about the rain and now the gust front to the east northeast. And this is directly where Zippy and especially Derreck were heading. Right to the gust front that was outlined by the red dust. I turned the other direction and headed further and further away from the course line to the west. We were forty five minutes into the task.
Zippy and Derreck got up close to the cu-nimb as I headed further west. Climbing on the gust front they headed back west closer to the course line and a little away from the bad area. But looking ahead we were all concerned about the gust front to the north of Lamesa about ten miles that was moving to the west. We were discussing back and forth how to get around it. I had already gone west in the hope of getting around the cu-nimbs.
A little after 3 PM, Zac radioed back that he thought the we wouldn't be able to get around the gust front in front of us. I was getting more nervous about the conditions. The Jeff's were concerned also but plunging ahead as the rest of us were. I was now almost 15 kilometers was of the course line running from the cu-nimbs to the east. We agreed and radioed to Belinda to call David Glover back again and tell him to stop the task. She had already been on the phone with David and he had been receiving frantic calls from drivers whose pilots were frantically trying to get the task stopped. David stopped the task.
I went out and landed in quiet conditions further west of Lamesa. Zippy landed just west of Lamesa and the Jeff's right on the western edge of town fifteen seconds before the gust front hit them. I was able to apck up and get the glider on the truck before the gust front came to me and by then it was quite mild as I was quite a ways to the west. We all came back for a pool and pizza party for pin in at the Plaza motel.
Tomorrow looks like there may be more thunderstorms. The locals say that it never rains when the forecast is for a sunny day and that it rarely rains when there is even a high chance of rain. They were quite shocked to see the huge downpour over town. The sky completely filled up with dark clouds.
http://OzReport.com/1250052992
|
