My plan for this comp is to be a sponge and soak up as information and experience much as possible. Today was a wet one. Actually is was 105 degrees and zero humidity, but the sponge was soaked. I got in late last night and hooked up with Jeff. We got our room dialed and settled in for the night.
This morning we enjoyed a full breakfast at the Francisco Grande Resort then set up my Talon in the green grass outside of our hotel room. Its a pretty sight to walk out the door and see a line of gliders set up right there. Next Jeff helped me put on the Phoenix Multisport decals. I decided to do one on each upper wing near the outboard edge, similar to a WWII war bird!
Gliders at the Francisco Grande
Putting on the Phoenix Multisport Decals
The Phoenix Warbird
They Serve a Purpose Too - Covering Holes!
At the pilot meeting they called a 112 kilometer square task with four turn points. It was going to be a light day, but climbs into the teens were possible and Davis warned that it could get cold up high. With the surface temperature forecasted of 105 it would be a day of extremes.
Jeff told me to launch early and try to get as high as I could before the first start window. I launched 4th or 5th, but had trouble hooking into anything significant. After I pinned off I maintained just west of the runways for about 15 minutes. Finally, I got frustrated with the 150FPM up and glided to the gaggle Jeff was in to the east. I was low when I got there and didn't want to drift too far west and not be able to make it back to the field if I sunk out. If I didn't make it back, it would have been the end of my day. After another 20-30 minutes I was maintaining, but not really climbing and drifting farther away from the field. I decided to be conservative and land for a re-lite. I easily made the field, landed, unhooked, and enjoyed a stretch and a coke.
The Staging Cue
Now I was last in line, but that was fine with me because the stronger the conditions got the easier it would be to stay up. I pinned off into solid 200FPM on the second tow, but couldn't really find much more. After a while I got frustrated and headed southeast. It was off the course line, but there was open desert and hopefully stronger thermals there. The lift got better as I drifted southeast and eventually I got up to 5,000 feet.
It was a cloudless day and I was alone, well behind the main gaggles - a huge disadvantage. I decided to leave the flatlands and try a small mountain range further southeast. It was well the off course line, but if there was good lift there I could make the first turn point on glide. It worked. I hooked up with a blue and black glider and stayed below or behind him to the first turn point.
The ground below the turn point was full of farm fields and the lift was light. Again I became frustrated, not being able put together a good climb. The lift was there, I just wasn't able to hook anything good. The blue glider climbed out and another glider west of me hooked a boomer, but I was too far away to catch it. I decided to head south east towards the open desert again. I used a lot of altitude to get there and found myself scratching at 1000 over. I was 9km away from the second turn point and faced with a decision. Do I stay and scratch for something good or use my altitude to gain more distance and more points? I choose the latter, hoping I would get lucky and find something on the way. I made it to second turn point with enough altitude to turn base and land near the side of a road.
Landed at Turn Point 2
Big Cactuses
Overall it was a great first day. I'm stoked to have made it as far as I did and feel like as the days progress I'll get more dialed on the Talon and brush off my skills.
This morning we enjoyed a full breakfast at the Francisco Grande Resort then set up my Talon in the green grass outside of our hotel room. Its a pretty sight to walk out the door and see a line of gliders set up right there. Next Jeff helped me put on the Phoenix Multisport decals. I decided to do one on each upper wing near the outboard edge, similar to a WWII war bird!
Gliders at the Francisco Grande
Putting on the Phoenix Multisport Decals
The Phoenix Warbird
They Serve a Purpose Too - Covering Holes!
At the pilot meeting they called a 112 kilometer square task with four turn points. It was going to be a light day, but climbs into the teens were possible and Davis warned that it could get cold up high. With the surface temperature forecasted of 105 it would be a day of extremes.
Jeff told me to launch early and try to get as high as I could before the first start window. I launched 4th or 5th, but had trouble hooking into anything significant. After I pinned off I maintained just west of the runways for about 15 minutes. Finally, I got frustrated with the 150FPM up and glided to the gaggle Jeff was in to the east. I was low when I got there and didn't want to drift too far west and not be able to make it back to the field if I sunk out. If I didn't make it back, it would have been the end of my day. After another 20-30 minutes I was maintaining, but not really climbing and drifting farther away from the field. I decided to be conservative and land for a re-lite. I easily made the field, landed, unhooked, and enjoyed a stretch and a coke.
The Staging Cue
Now I was last in line, but that was fine with me because the stronger the conditions got the easier it would be to stay up. I pinned off into solid 200FPM on the second tow, but couldn't really find much more. After a while I got frustrated and headed southeast. It was off the course line, but there was open desert and hopefully stronger thermals there. The lift got better as I drifted southeast and eventually I got up to 5,000 feet.
It was a cloudless day and I was alone, well behind the main gaggles - a huge disadvantage. I decided to leave the flatlands and try a small mountain range further southeast. It was well the off course line, but if there was good lift there I could make the first turn point on glide. It worked. I hooked up with a blue and black glider and stayed below or behind him to the first turn point.
The ground below the turn point was full of farm fields and the lift was light. Again I became frustrated, not being able put together a good climb. The lift was there, I just wasn't able to hook anything good. The blue glider climbed out and another glider west of me hooked a boomer, but I was too far away to catch it. I decided to head south east towards the open desert again. I used a lot of altitude to get there and found myself scratching at 1000 over. I was 9km away from the second turn point and faced with a decision. Do I stay and scratch for something good or use my altitude to gain more distance and more points? I choose the latter, hoping I would get lucky and find something on the way. I made it to second turn point with enough altitude to turn base and land near the side of a road.
Landed at Turn Point 2
Big Cactuses
Overall it was a great first day. I'm stoked to have made it as far as I did and feel like as the days progress I'll get more dialed on the Talon and brush off my skills.
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