Day Five changed character many times. What started out as a cool morning with some mid-level clouds quickly started to bake the pavement. The sky was bright blue and you could feel the wind blast the heat into your face like a hair dryer. I spent my morning reconfiguring the Duckhawk. Some fixed ballast here, less tail weight there and the center of gravity and wing loading was nicely sorted. I looked forward to flying it and seeing if the ship was happier.
The main theme today was when and how would the day develop. The contest administration set shorter tasks with the hope of getting everyone home by 5pm. Storms were expected to develop after then and the idea was to get everyone around and down safely before they blew up.
The day started slowly. The first class had several relights and struggled to climb above release altitude. I figured that the day was delayed somewhat and that a closer to 2:30pm start would work out fine. The 15 meter class launched and the day kicked off. I enjoyed milling around before the start, finally feeling that the glider was set up perfectly. It tracked well in the thermals, responded well to my inputs, and ran much better.
At around 2:20pm, most of the class had went and Noah, Tim and I started. Much to our mutual surprise, the three of us evaporated into thin air within seconds of starting. We completely lost sight of each other visually or on FLARM and our flights separated for the rest of the day.
I drove out of the gate hard. I figured that the clouds ahead were working well and was keen on getting a solid first climb. Sure enough, 6.5 knots rewarded my good run. I climbed up and drove ahead, catching up to most of the earlier starters. I took the left, much more developed line of clouds, figuring that I had enough room in the second turn area to make my distance. After maxing out the first turn area, I flew toward the towering cumulus line, stopping for 10.5 knots. Safely at cloudbase, I drove off to the back of the second turn area, Jared Graznow (WR) close behind.
It looked like right at the edge of the turn area that there should be a solid climb on the front side of the towering cu. I found good air, but nothing solid to climb in. I turned and dove off toward the sunny, developing area ahead. Jared connected at that point and our days diverged.
Nonetheless, I found solid lift, picking up to 7 knots. Up to 11,000ft, I saw that the sky ahead was starting to blow up. I thought about my options, seeing that heading east would take me on the wrong side of the storms, the west side was a bit far away to connect with, and gliders and a cloud street mostly straight ahead. I banked on the storms moving east and then the line redeveloping on the back.
After several climbs, I pushed out toward the storm. Even though there were some cumulus clouds, the air was crushed. I kept getting lower and lower. I had glide to Tatum Airport, but with not much extra to spare. About 8 miles out, I pushed the nose down, reconciled to my fate.
About 4 miles from the airport, I got flung into a strong thermal. I started climbing and saw other gliders converge to my area. At this point, the storm on my left and the storm ahead of me were throwing out lightning every 30 seconds to a minute. It occurred to me that I could sit here, work my way up and maybe wait for the storm to pass. But the prospect of being a carbon fiber lightning rod just did not appeal to me. I figured that I could try the far side of Tatum and maybe if there was a strong climb there, I could wrap further west.
There was nothing there. And looking at the menacing storm to the south, I just decided I was done. I pulled out the boards and dumped into Tatum Airport. I was the first to land there, with eight more gliders joining me over the next hour. We ran a fine operation, with each landing glider being pushed off the runway to make room for the next one coming in. Gliders were coming down into airports and fields all over. Around half of the contestants tiptoed their way around the storms, and with others running the gauntlet between some of the cells. Pilots reported experiencing 20-30 knot sink and severe turbulence. A gust front rolled through the Hobbs and many scrambled to get their ships into the box before they were flipped over.
I know of two gliders that had especially interesting retrieves. Niemann Walker had his borrowed Libelle carried out of the field and Andy Brayer’s ASW20 is still stuck in the mud.
After I landed at Tatum, I thought to myself, better to be on the ground not wishing you were in the air, than to be in the air, wishing you were on the ground.
Soaring Economist 