The contest is almost at an end and that means that the time to make points is dwindling. At this stage, points amount to being a certain amount of time ahead or behind another. And today, Noah had his work cut out for him. He was in second place, a little over 60 points behind Mike Sorenson.
My landout on the thunderstorm day ended any hope of me having a reasonable performance here. Going into the last two days, all I’m concerned with is helping Noah get to the top of the podium. To do that, Noah needed to have a clean flight, but make a clean break from Mike. A tie would not serve Noah well going into the last day. We strategized having either an early or late start, whatever it took for him to break out on his own.
My morning went to pieces. I had trouble the glider and spent all morning getting it ready. It was a bit of a rush to get set up on the grid and be contest ready. I reviewed the assigned task, a nice 217 mile sprint, and the weather on my phone. John Bird also gave us some forecasting advice. The day should peak late, with cloud suck and vertical development. Watch out for the cirrus at the end of the day.
We launched and Noah and I got together. The day was taking a while to cook, likely due to some residual ground moisture from the storms several days ago. Starting early was not the best strategy. We waited under a cloud, and Mike joined us. What to do?
We waited and waited. All of the Club Class and 15 meter glider had gone. The 18 meter task was just about to open. At 2:30pm we headed out to the line. As I turned the line, I saw Mike glimmer two minutes behind us. I smiled, went for the line and then made a hard right back to the cloud that we came from. We created a dilemma for Mike; start now with the prospect of catching some folks ahead, or give chase to us and potentially be dropped behind the pack at the end of the day. Covering several minutes behind is tricky; maybe that cloud several miles from the start won’t cycle in below if he gives chase. In the end, he took the bait and rolled out on task.
Noah and I peddled hard to get back to the cloud and climbed up. 10 minutes later, we went through the line again, now with the 18 meter gliders just ahead on our left and below. We pressed hard, climbing only in the best lift. We made good time on the downwind leg and drove into a busy thermal close to the first turn. We caught Mike!
At this point, I started to fade. The heat and the morning excitement was getting to me and my performance was dropping off. Noah was now 600ft above, in perfect position with the gaggle. I felt like a spent bicycle racer, having gotten my lead man to where he needed to be. He made his break and I contented myself to simply get around.
The second leg worked out fine. I took the less travelled line to the left and it did not work as well. I got low approaching the high cirrus rolling in, though I connected, got in and out of the turn and set up for final glide. I got home 15 minute after Noah, about middle of the pack. Noah’s glider was already parked and mostly put away by the time I opened the canopy.
First thing I asked Noah was, “Did you beat Mike home?”
Noah grinned ear to ear and reported that he beat him home by 30 seconds. He got him by a full 10 minutes and was now only three points out of the lead.
A job well done!
Soaring Economist 