Worlds, Last day

Ahhhh, how sweet it was! Today there were clouds popping when I got up! It
is about dam time I say! There were 2 days with good clouds but one was
cancelled while we were in the air (the accident) and the other was called
off out of respect and for safety issues to be addressed.

I had a good position early in launch line, winds were strong from the NNW.
Course line was south. I got towed near a good one and wasted maybe 2
minutes fishing through 200 fat to a 600 core. That one turned to 8 and
took me all the way to base, at about 9,500! How sweet it was. I wasted no
time and immediately punched up wind crossing the streets also. I wanted to
move hard west to track around the start circle. When the wind is crossing
tail to the first turnpoint, you are best to make your way around the
outside of the circle while you wait for the start. That way when you
eventually do start the task, you can just fly straight downwind to the
first turnpoint. With clouds and no other pilots, I was primed for a solo
flight. I timed the start perfect. Cloud base, upwind of a street,
directly upwind of the first turnpoint, exactly 50k (on the edge of the
circle) the moment the clock struck. I plowed straight down wind looking
for my next big fattie. Outside the start circle I had hit a couple of 8's
so that was my minimum. Flying alone I couldn't take a straight line
directly to the turnpoint. Instead I had to zig zag about 15 to 20 degrees
to hit where I expected the big climbs. 4 in a row. Bang, bang, bang.
Each time I found 400, I threaded around for my 6, to tighten up into my
8-9. When things really cranked the dialed up over 1,000fpm for minutes at
a time. Straight to cloudbase for each of em! I had to practice timing my
dash out from under the clouds so I wouldn't get whited out. STF had me at
90 to 100 kph in the air, and with the tail I was blowing past traffic on
the highway below. 140kph groundspeeds at times.

It wasn't till I made an error going into the second turnpoint that I even
say another glider. He was a couple thermals back behind. I picked what
looked like a good set of cummies going towards the turnpoint but I picked
the wrong ones. They were weakening when I got to them, and drifting across
course line. I had to deviate, take a slower climb, then punch upwind for
the TP. Bad call. Then I got my first strike of bad luck, no good
indicators on courseline. I was down to 5k and not many good choices. That
sounds high, but with big lift comes big sink. I took a cross wind to a
ragged cloud and got TOTALLY DRILLED! I think I was lucky to get 2 to 1
glide for about 30 seconds. Later, when I finally found a light one, I
realized my old track was downwind of a later forming dust devil. DOH!
Timing can make such a difference! I failed to look 3 moves ahead and I
cornered myself. In the process, 3 guys caught up and passed me. My
scraggle came together enough for me to hunt for better and eventually I
found my fat sixer. Took that till my final glide said "Go" (it was up to
7.8 by then) so I glided into goal 4th.

Can't help but think how things could have worked if I hadn't made that
mistake. That was the key on this flight. You can't make any mistakes with
the best guys chasing you down. When you do make mistakes, you better cover
your ass well or you will get stomped!!!

I havn't seen the scores but most of the field took the third start. I
should do well with bonus points for leaving early and getting to goal
early. Most of the main guys flew faster, but those 2 items should work in
my favor in the final tally.

Hope you all enjoyed the juice of the posts. Learn from my mistakes and be
better XC pilots!

Kev C