I am so worked up about my finish today I can't even sleep. My instrument told me I made goal but then the scoring software said I might have missed. Finally as I tried to doze off to sleep I figured it out. The scoring software measures distance wrong (WTF?!) All I had to do was pull my GPS track points out of my flight instrument, graph the points in my Garmin and BINGO@!@! They show me crossing the plane by just inches. Too much stress after such a challenging flight.
The day took her time clearing out and cooking up. The 100 cloud cover didn't break till about 30 minutes before the rigids took off. I thought the day looked still iffy so I took my time organizing myself in the air. Unfortunatly a small chunk of raw hang gliding talent grouped up and bolted away at the first start (Oleg, Jonny, Brett, Super Mario). I went back for the second start and managed good position at cloud base with Robin and Curt just a hundred feet below. We flew together for just a couple of climbs before parting ways. Robin went more west (upwind) and curt fell behind. I took my own line and followed the clouds. It worked well until I-4. Just when I got in striking distance of some guys from the first start I got stuck. Curt joined me and we flailed around like desperate fish on the floor. We got out of there and continued on. The day seemed hard again, not like the las 15 miles.
Glen joined us and we hooked some climbs east of courseline in an area that seemed much more blue then the rest of the state. I got greedy chasing after mystery cores that weren't there and the other boys left me behind. I couldn't chase them into the blue before getting back to cloudbase so I just hung back and bit my lip. The slow broken climb was tourture.
Now flying solo again I couldn't bear to glide into the blue hole with all its ratty broken looking clouds. To the east the clouds seemed so much better formed. Time for a major course diversion. Boom Boom Boom I hit a bunch of good ones in a row. The sky still worried me, with long gaps between clouds and no backups if my first choice didn't pan out. Since I was alone, I held back and didn't charge too hard. I knew I had alot of cross wind ahead.
40k from Avon Park(Goal) parts of the sky looked over developed. On the ground below I could see signs of smoke laying flat from the sea breeze. Lucky for me I was high and got to take advatage of the Mega glide bonus from this cool layer shoving under our airmass. I set up final at cloudbase from about 30k out and the 5030 showing 1000 feet of spare altitude. I was not excited because I knew that would be barely enough once I decended into the strong west cross.
My biggest concerns were well founded as my numbers deteriorated HARD below 2000 feet. The west pushed hard and I had to follow a few lines up wind to stay alive. That airport looked very far away. I just pointed my toes, tucked my elbows in and did my best to use the speed to fly on my Flytec. A bit of dolphin flying here and there and I was pretty sure I wouldn't have to bail out in the fields short of the airport. I had to be sure because the last bit was over a road, 2 fences, and then a small building before gliding across airport property. I just glided till my distance to the radii about zeroed out, popped the VG off, and quickly landed. Milking the flare I got too greedy and turtled my glider. That is what sparked all the horror about "in the circle"/"out of the circle" I think I got pushed back out when I was upside down. Ha Ha. Got to love technology.
Oleg, Brett, and Jonny got to goal before me but our course times were relatively close since I took the second start.
Weather looks pretty sweet for tomorrow. I can't wait!
Kev
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