Final Task

It's lonely when you land short. But, at least the scenery is nice.

Task 4 was another long one, 102 miles, with 4 turnpoints. I found a good climb off of my first tow and hooked up with some other gliders. I was busy climbing and decided to wait for the 2nd start clock which made me loiter for about 10 minutes. I actually did quite nice as I left the start circle 45 seconds after 2:15. This is something I am trying to master, and has never been easy.

At the first turnpoint I was high and saw three other gliders coming so I decided to wait on them. Turns out Lucas was with them so for the first time this meet we were able to fly together. We all had a good climb and I was on top. At 6,300 feet we decided to glide towards the 2nd turnpoint. I left first. I had a good line as I was only sinking at 200 fpm until I got close to the turnpoint when the air got roudy. I knew there was a good climb nearby, so I started searching for the lift. I was sinking like a rock and starting to worry. Looking back to find the others, I saw that they had found it about a 1/2 mile back and to the north. Now at 1,000 feet I didn't have the altitude to get back to them and I turned downwind with my fingers crossed. I found nothing and landed in a huge field beside the road, extremely upset with myself.

After I cooled down, I realized just how lucky I really am. If this wasn't a competition, I would have considered this a pretty good flight. I am lucky to be doing exactly what I want to be doing, flying around the country like a bird.

The comp is over and Dustin Martin came in first, Andre Wolf in second, and Johnny Durand in third. Now we rest for a day and start the rally race back to Tennessee tommorrow.