The weather doesn’t look good today. A front or trough or something is approaching fast. Jonny is frustrated because the gaggle is pimping so hard, holding back, and he is getting snaked on final glide. 2 days in a row he has gotten the raw end of the deal on that. He reckons it isn’t even worth heading up to launch to set up.
Well the weather report was more grim then reality. High clouds threatened to block the lift. Strong winds loomed on the horizon. I got lucky and it turned out pretty good for me. 2 starts a half hour apart and very strong lift outside the start gate. With the forecast calling for the day to fall apart I headed out for gate one after Dave Sieb, Big Jon, and a few others. I wasn’t able to top out the lift in time so I took a more conservative line into the Mt Buffalo area. Dave charged ahead between the first fingers and got VERY low. I don’ know how he does that and still stays off the deck. The confidence he flies with is just amazing. By the time I got to the fingers those guys were getting above ridge height on the other side. I opted to hang out on the opposite side and establish myself before searching for stronger lift. The air was broken, angry, rough, and hard to core. At least the bubble that ripped through were strong. Dave quickly outclimbed the others and punched ahead against a stiffening headwind. I topped it out about 5 minutes later and pushed on as well. The next few thermals were easy to find but I needed far too many of them before a turnpoint so close. At the second start time I was only 7-8k into the course and it was at least a half hour before passing the first turnpoint. The weirdest part about it all was the lack of a gaggle back at the start gate. In fact I couldn’t more then a small handful of pilots even in the air. The high clouds still persisted but courseline had good sun. With a quartering tail wind it wasn’t so stressful hunting out the best line and thermals. Ovens Plantation delivered as expected so I topped out there. Best glide to the Pinnacles because I was worried about finding the next one. The lone ridge half way gave me no love, only some turbulence. I suppose I just missed it but couldn’t waste time searching. At the Pinnacles I couldn’t find it where I expected and was getting low on the ridge. I had picked out a few possible triggers plus some bailout fields to land in. Search search search. Some strong turbulence but nothing to climb in. Dammit, it felt very much like a lee side area and I had expected it to be in the wind. After a couple minutes of searching I finally figured out the shear and some strong broken lift. Just as it came together for me Lukas and Steve Moyes glided in over my head. I knew we had been slow but getting caught by guys who left a half hour after you is pretty demoralizing. Not to mention the got to glide right into this core I had worked so hard to find. Oh well. Three is better then one at finding the best climbs. Lukas headed into the Kiewa first and got a bad line. I went to the left, and steve to the right. I thought I was so tricky taking my line. That is until I watched him get higher and higher once we crossed out into the flats. Whoops. You can’t out Ninja Steve. He is the Ninja Master. Lukas hit the ridge low so Steve and I just raced each other for the last 25k or so. We have different thermalling styles and the surging stuff on the ridge suited me just fine. I climbed right back to the top before leading out…..and getting smacked with another dose of humility. I went left, Steve right. I ended up about 500 feet lower. Score: Ninja Master 2, young grasshopper 0. Outfoxed again! The next thermal I used a tight core to get back on top ( and hopefully for good). This time leaving lift I took another roll of the dice and it worked out for me. Score Ninja 2, Grasshopper 1! We had good numbers for final although they weren’t very big. I pushed ahead and snuck into goal second about a minute ahead of Steve. Since he took the second start Steve smoked the day. As first in goal Dave was second, and I was third. The rest of the second clockers came in much later. Jonny was pretty happy such a tough day weeded out so many pilots.
Fun day.
Kev
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