Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Day2 Goal, Day3 cancelled

I have found myself with the privilege of being on the task committee for this comp. Everyday I am learning something new about calling tasks. Weather is a huge factor and when the course is 60+ miles the weather can change dramatically with terrain as well as time. Taking pilots over land-able and retrievable terrain is a high priority. Terrain turbulence due to wind direction and leg difficulty progression needs to be factored in too.
The route chosen for Day2 is below. It was raining when we decided to go up the hill. But you see from the pictures it turned into and epic day. The course was about 145km. We went up to Lakeview, struggled for a climb on Hill2s with probably 12 pilots in one thermal. Then across the pass toward the Plush-cutoff road. And on upto Plush. This is Plush looking north-east toward Hart mountain antelope refuge.

From Plush we were to head north parallel to Aberts rim. This is after a good climb looking south at Hart mountain.
Looking NE from the same spot, Wagontire is up there somewhere. This stage of the course became fast and relatively easy.
Arriving at goal much to high. At least I was not the only one to do this.
Looking southwest from goal at Aberts lake.
Goal I came in 4th for the day.
The beautiful drive home along Aberts rim.
Day 3 was cancelled due to strong winds at launch. It was launch-able but only for the bold.Task setting was challenging today due to those winds. There are a few cliffs and canyon that would be tricky to land near. The eventual task kept us in the Lakeview valley, which was a smart move for the wind and retrieve time with the late start. However as soon as a few pilots landed to day was cancelled. The wind was probably gusting to 35+mph at times.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

task committee!

Honor or Curse? I could never decide. I don't envy the position at a sanctioned competition...someone will grumble no matter what you choose.

You are flying great! No suprise there.

I flew locally Tues & Wed when you were blown out.

Paul Allen

west coast brit said...

Being on the task committee was definately a previlege in this comp. I learned much about what to look for in a route. Dangers, inconviences, intimidations, airspace, groundspace...