Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Day 2



Well day two didn't go so well for me. The weather was much like day 1 with lots of clouds spreading out and creating large holes, but to complicate things just a little more, we had 25-30 kt winds from ground up to cloud base.

After searching under a cloud for a thermal with another glider and not finding anything worthwhile, I headed for the next few clouds I looked back to see him turn into something, but kept going. As it turns out I couldn't find anything under the next clouds and he made it home.

Once you dropped below 2000 ft it was almost impossible to climb away in the thermals that were being broken by the wind.

The day could have been worse - for example two pilots on the German team landed out 4 km from the start line and to make things worse, one of them hit a deer when he landed and damaged his glider. It has now been taken back to Schleicher for repair and at a team Captain's meeting it was agreed to let him fly a different glider for the remainder of the contest.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Dave:

Don't be discouraged by the land-out. There are still 12 days to go and just do your best and show people what you can do.

Cheers,

Ulli

K. Springford said...

I don't suppose the deer fared so well, either. Keep your nose up!