Santa Cruz Flats Race 2011

The Santa Cruz Flats Race is a hang gliding competition that takes place every September in Casa Grande, Arizona. If you don't know how it works, most hang gliding comps are similar to a road bike stage race. Each day the pilots race along a predetermined route to a goal. The routes can be point-to-point, out and returns, or triangles. If you make goal you get scored on how fast you flew the route. If you land out then you get a lesser score based on distance. The person with the most points at the end of the week wins. As the course is flown the pilots group together in gaggles, just like a peloton in a bike race. People go on glide and get covered just like riders making breaks and getting reeled back in.

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2011

(you can see the dust storm I talk about later at the end)

The race is held at the Francisco Grande Hotel, which used to be a premier Major League Baseball spring training facility. Now it's a sports resort with a ten-story tower overlooking a palm tree laden golf course. The resort bends over backwards to accommodate the comp, even building a runway for us to aerotow from. Jeff and I scored a room on the 7th floor of the tower overlooking the golf course. The flying is why we come, but the people involved, from the tug pilots to the organizers, ground crew, and other pilots are what make competition hang gliding truly enjoyable. Throughout the week we had good fun lobbing water balloons off the balcony, flying the RC Mustang on the tower roof, and socializing.

View from our Balcony

The Runway

Flying the Mustang on the Roof

Jeff Behind the Safety of His Water Balloon Curtain

This year would be my second time at Santa Cruz Flats. I had high expectations based on my improvement at the Flytec Race and Rally in May. Success in racing hang gliders is based more on decision making than any other factor. Many a hot shit pilot has shown up to a comp only to be humiliated by bad decisions. During a typical flight you make hundreds of critical decisions, any of which could land you on the ground prematurely. Your decisions need to be in tune with the conditions, your skill level, and the competition. My thermalling and gliding have much room to improve, but decision making is my biggest focus.

At The Flytec Race and Rally the conditions were epic, allowing long tasks and intense racing. Most days my decision making was too conservative. I flew too high and slow, coming in late in the day and low in the rankings. Towards the end I adapted and made goal a few times. I also flew with the lead gaggle a few days and got a taste of real hang glider racing. In Arizona I showed up super motivated to race aggressively. This was completely inappropriate for the conditions. Blue skies (no clouds to mark thermals) and light lift prevailed throughout the week. The first three days I flew overly aggressive by leading out glides, leaving the gaggle, and not sticking with people. The worst was on the third day when I landed just past the first turn point next to a Walmart. My independently minded decisions are a carry-over from mountain bike racing where my skill and fitness could back up my aggressiveness. It will serve me in hang gliding one day, but for now I need to stick with the group. Landing out three days in a row offered me lots of solitude to think about my mistakes.

Day 1 Track Log

(click for a larger image)

Landing Out Day 1

Footprints Starting from Nowhere

By the middle of the comp the lessons of my failures had started to kick in. The great thing about hang gliding is that nothing is free, every climb and every kilometer has to be earned. I'm at the stage of the game where every success has to be earned. Every failure is a gift to file away and not repeat. The more I can master the art of loosing the more I will succeed. It's easier said than done, especially when fighting an ingrained independent streak. My victories in Arizona were small and incremental, but slowly I began to claw my score up from the bottom.

The biggest improvement I made was getting in the air early. The logistics of staging are a huge deal. Rigging the glider, rigging the harness, packing the glider bags, dealing with the inevitable radio issues, filling the Camelbac, programming the GPS, sun block, lunch, pooping, etc. Doing all of that in 100+ degree heat is demoralizing. In the past, by the time I got it all done I would always end up at the back of the launch line, which meant I was behind before I got off the ground. At SCF almost everyday I was one of the first flex wings off the ground. Immediately after the morning pilot meeting I would go to straight to my glider and wait. As soon as the rigid wings (who launched first) cued up I would hook in completely and get in the line. It usually meant 30-50 minutes of suffering in the heat, but it set me up to stay with the leaders.

Shade is Valuable Real estate

114 Degrees Fahrenheit

By Day 4 I had started to heed my lessons and make a concerted effort to stay with the main gaggle. All morning a huge area of convective clouds had been building south of our route. By midday, VIRGA was dumping out of the clouds causing a dust storm on the ground. The storm was moving slow, but would eventually converge with our route. The day had not been called yet, so I pressed on with everyone else ready to bail out if the storm got uncomfortably close. I think our collective hope was we might be able to beat the storm to goal, but that hope faded as the day progressed. As we neared the second turn point the task was cancelled. We all turned around and tried to get as close as possible to Casa Grande before landing. I picked a TA truck stop because it would have cold drinks, warm food, and a shelter in which to break down my glider when the dust storm hit. The restricted landing area was challenging, but was worth it when the dust storm hit.

Day 4 Track Log

Running From the Dust Storm

Landed at the TA

My Tracks

Breaking Down in Shelter from the Wind

The Dust Storm

The forecast for Day 5 looked very optimistic. The task was a triangle to the east. The route went northeast to Coolidge, then the turned south along the Newman Mountains to turnpoint 2, which was downwind of Ploken?? Pass. The final leg followed I-10 back to Casa Grande through an agricultural valley where lift would be sparse. The main gaggle was filled with talent. I flew conservative by staying high and following on glides. At the first turn point I got dropped in the climb. I missed a core and in three circles I was alone. I glided hard for the mountains where I found myself uncomfortably low. There were a few tenuous moments, but eventually I clawed myself off the deck and caught the gaggle. The problem was that by the time I got there everyone had tagged the turnpoint. I still had to dive downwind and make it back with enough altitude to clear the ridge.

Day 5 Task

On Top of the Gaggle

On Glide with Glenn and Matt

Enjoying a Gu

Over Coolidge Looking South at the Newman Mountains

Low with Charlie

Working Back Up North of Newman Peak

I caught an 800fpm climb with Davis above Newman Peak. As he left with the gaggle I dove for the turn point. It had a 10km radius. I started a 180-degree wingover at 10.3km that put me a mere 136 meters into the turn point. Traveling at 70mph over the ground I was proud to be so efficient. I made it back to Newman Peak with good altitude, but I was alone and the lift was super light. I scratched on the ridge for an agonizing 45 minutes before a good thermal came through. After topping out at 8900' feet I pressed out into the valley. I didn’t find a bump of lift until I finally caught a 150fpm climb past the last turn point. It would be last climb of the day. I landed 25km short of goal. It was super frustrating, but an improvement from the first three days. I'm confident I would have made goal if I could have stuck with the gaggle at the first turnpoint.

3D Track Log of Tagging the Turnpoint

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Landed 25km Short of Goal

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On Day 6 a triangle task northwest into the Sierra Estrella Mountains was called. The lift in the mountains was forecast to be strong and high, but we had to cross light-lift agricultural areas in both directions on the way. In the start circle the lift was light and capped at 5000'. The result was the worst death gaggle of the comp. Gaggle flying is a chaotic tornado of gliders all turning and climbing within wingspans of each other. When the lift is light and people reach the top all order erodes as their circles evolve into cloverleaf search patterns. The result is gliders going in all directions like golf balls in a racquetball court.

Looking Down on the Gaggle

After two hours of the death gaggle I'd had enough. I ignored my own advice and left the gaggle early. I had got rolled out by wake turbulence just as two Litespeed gliders left below me. I knew it was the wrong move, but I was so frustrated I didn't care. Of course, just as I left the lift turned on and everyone got up. I had to scratch with Ricker for a while, but we caught back up over the second turnpoint.

Relieved to be High Again

Estrella Airport - The Second Turnpoint

When we reached the Estrella Mountains the lift turned on with 800-900 fpm climbs. I shared a climb with Matt, Charley, and a sailplane. The main gaggle was 4-5000' above us. Out in the distance I saw two military aircraft converging fast. They were AV-8B Harriers doing about 400 knots. White contrails were trailing from each wingtip, which didn't make any sense at their altitude. After they blasted directly above us I realized it was jet fuel being dumped. The air reeked of Jet A afterwards.

The Estrella Mountains

Freeze Frame of the Harriers

Glider Between their Fuel Contrails

Matt, Charlie, and I topped out at 14,000'. They ran the ridge north while I glided straight to the turnpoint. In hindsight this was a mistake because their GPS's showed an optimized route that mine didn't. The result was that I burned away precious altitude and time tagging the turnpoint farther from the course line than I needed to. After the turnpoint I ran back to the ridge and caught my best climb of the meet. I went from 6900' all the way up to 15,200' in consistent 900 fpm lift. In Colorado it's easy to climb into the high teens above high terrain. Arizona is only 1000' above sea level. That meant I was almost 3 miles above the ground! I was already cold from the climb to 14,000' before the turnpoint, but back up at 15,200' it was becoming unbearable. All I had on was thin speed sleeves and box handling gloves. As I left on the long glide to the next turnpoint hypothermia was in the back of my mind. At about 12,000' a sailplane came up next to me. I looked at the warm pilot behind his canopy longingly as my shivering turned into full body convulsions. On the ground it was 105 degrees, but I might as well be on the North Pole at my altitude.

Charlie and the Sailplane

Stiking High at 15,000'

At 15,000' I Could See Downtown Phoenix to the North

Another Sailplane

I had a decision to make. I could fly the course line at best glide and hope to make goal or deviate into the mountains to the west to search for lift. Making goal in one glide didn't look optimistic so I opted for the latter. It was a long slow glide, flying slow and efficient. At 8000' I finally stopped shivering. After running the mountain range just south of Estrella without a bump I realized searching for lift was moot. I was so far off course that making goal was out of the question; it was all about making the last turn point. I tagged it with enough altitude to set up an approach into a tight gravel lot next to an abandoned gas station. I overshot the field, kicked my feet on a line of bushes, and landed in the next field. I glided a total of 49 km, 30 miles, in one glide.

Jo Met Me on the Ground

Sunset

Jo arrived in AZ that night and showed up on my retrieve. It was a wonderful treat to see her after such an intense flight. The last day was cancelled due to poor conditions. Jonny took Jo up for a Dragonfly ride that was the highlight of her trip. I took a free flight and enjoyed one last taste of Arizona air. It was bittersweet to finally land at the hotel, but not at the end of a task. I busted a few victory wingovers and strafed the hotel tower anyway. We enjoyed an evening in the pool, flying the RC, and socializing.

Flying Over the Hotel

Photo Courtesy of Ricker Goldsborough

Landing

Photo Courtesy of Ricker Goldborough

Stoked!

Photo Courtesy of Ricker Goldborough

My main challenge this comp was to motivate and stay in the fight in the face of day after day of mediocre results. Towards the end I was able to put together a few good flights, but my expectations were higher. That said, I feel good about my progress and will enter next season with more lessons learned in my toolbox. It may not be in the timeframe I want, but I am slowly earning my successes through my failures. It feels good!