Our encounter with the harrier jets

Brett has some footage of the Harrier jets passing through our gaggle (see post on day 6). Closest encounter I've ever had with jets and I don't think they've seen us...

Closing the circle

It started 6 months ago at Quest and this morning, while I realize that the trip is coming to an end, David Glover showed me this clip:

I guess that really closes the circle. The video might not be that funny to you, but if you know the people in there, it's major fun :-) Let's turn the clock back six months and start it all over again!

Santa Cruz Flats, day 5 & 6

Day 5 took us east again. Towards Newman's Peak. The first leg was a very slow flight for me. Very low and in weak broken thermals. I had made the mistake of going to early and had to work hard due to that. Those that left half an hour later climbed to 3000 m in the start circle and glided the whole first leg. It took me 1,5 hours below 1000 m AGL... Once I got to Newman's peak I finally hit some nicer lift, but I also rushed it because the day was going to come to an end and landed out. I seem to make one bad decision after the other.

By the way, the optimized route feature of the Compeo+ can play tricks on you. I wanted to take the 10 km cylinder and climb out on the peak again. You can see in the track log that I wasted altitude by not heading to the closest point on the cylinder, but by going to the optimized point for the route. Which wasn't my optimal tactical point at all.

Yesterday, we had a 125 km task to the north east. It was super slow in the flats again. But this time, I stayed with the gaggle and we slowly did make progress. We headed to the mountain south west of Phoenix, where beautiful, high clouds were waiting for us. While we were climbing in the first good thermal of the day there, I saw two fighter jets approach us from the west. And they were exactly at our altitude, heading straight for us and dumping fuel. I left the thermal to get out of their path, but immediately regretted that, because I was on my own now and surely they were going to make a move to divert the gaggle. But they didn't, they continued dead ahead and I think Larry Bunner saw them from very, very close. The thermal had an intense jet fuel smell after their pass.

I climbed to 3500 m, followed the ridge and went for the turnpoint in the flats. Again, a 30 km cylinder and it seems to be very hard to fly the shortest distance to the cylinder and back, when your desired out direction is different from the route to the next turnpoint. Back on the ridge I set a new personal height record of 4500 m. The instrument indicated I had final glide to goal (50 km!), but I knew it was going to be hard. Dustin and I left the same thermal at the same height, but chose a slightly different path. I glided only 40 km (only 10,6:1) and landed 13 km short. Dustin made it to goal. I seem to be really bad at picking lines this comp...

Santa Cruz Flats, days 2, 3 and 4

Well, I guess day 2 and 3 were so demotivating for me, that I didn't bother to write anything about them yet. On day 2, I took the start thermal and 2 minor thermals before gliding to landing. I was very disappointed not to make it to goal 2 days in a row. Not even close by the way.

The result was that by day 3 I was low down in the ranking and as a result had no priority to speak of in the launch lane. Having only 3 tugs working, I knew I had to launch early to have any chance. I prepared early, get in line 10th, but saw everybody else use their priority to launch before me. I was on the same spot for 45 mins and was in line for 1h20. By the time I launched, the first start gate had already gone by. But what was worse, was that the air in the start area had become very inactive. I took a very slow climb to 1500 m, but still had to land after that. The second tow resulted in a very slow climb to 2000 m, which also was the last climb of the day for me. Three miserable days in a row...

Yesterday I launched early again and got in the start gaggle, making slow progress to 2000 m. I launched very early to avoid being stuck again and flew for 1h15 before the start. We had overdevelopment with virga and a visible gust front to the south of us and heading our way. The first thermal after the start was strong and very wide and must have been gust front triggered. It felt good to be flying with the lead gaggle at last, but when they decided to ride the gust front, I didn't feel comfortable doing that and headed out towards the sun. It was clear that the task was going to be canceled and I wanted to be able to pack up the glider before the gust front would hit me. I had an interesting time on the ground, being bitten by ants, watching the gust front get closer and seeing 3 microbursts very close to me. They were small, but they had some power.

Although the day was canceled, it felt good to be competing again. Bring on day 5! We have predictions for lift up to 3700 m...

Santa Cruz Flats Race, Day 1

Yesterday we had the first task of the Santa Cruz Flats Race. A 110 km triangle was set. The thermals were weak immediately after tow, but conditions improved soon after and after 20 mins I was floating around at 2800 m. I was convinced it was going to be a true racing day and I headed out in the blue, towards the start circle edge.

Things changed from then on. No more strong climbs and I had a bad position for the 2nd start, so I waited for the 3rd. After the start, I headed for a little mountain, which was a bit off course line and nobody followed me. I was on my own in the blue, not the situation I wanted to have. I got lower and lower and never had nice climbs, but just before the first turnpoint, I joined a gaggle. Immediately after the turnpoint, I wanted to make a detour over the mountains again and the gaggle decided to do otherwise again. I spotted a bird and a dust devil and went for it. But, it didn't work out. I got very low and it took me a long while to get up again. And, it was my last climb.

I flew towards the foothills of the mountains, didn't find any lift and had to fly out of there, because there was no way to land there. It was a cactus forest. Doesn't look inviting at all!

So I landed at the 2nd turnpoint, 40 km short of goal. Only to see the gaggle I was with drift over me low and climb out slowly. Dustin and Davis flew over as well, on their way to goal. 8 Guys made it in. Here you can see a few pics of the world I landed in, it's a different world :-)

Carl's Dolomites video

Carl, Jamie, Jem and I had two magnificent flights in the dolomites, in August. And Carl produced a great video on those flights. If you don't have a lot of time, have a quick look at 2:00, where Carl and I fly on the south wall and over Marmolada. The view was exceptional!

Pierro's Dolomites Video

In August, I had a dream flight with Carl Wallbank over many of the famous Dolomites peaks. Apparently, Gianpietro Zin had such a majestic flight as well. Enjoy Pierro's video, it's hang gliding at it's best!