US Nats Task 3, Day 4

Who remembers Bill Murray when he first morphed into that tragic-comic role that he now owns? Today was indeed Groundhog Day. We went up the hill, the wind was southerly (more so and stronger) and the task committee set the same crosswind leg as task 2. The early wind techs who launched were being drifted directly north in very light climbs and not getting anywhere near the height of yesterdays base, so there was an air of agreement amongst pilots when the task was put on hold, thinking it would be changed to suit the obvious conditions. It wasn't. So we went ahead with a 145km task to the northeast, with the same 20km crosswind leg from launch to the first turnpoint. One gaggle of about 15 gliders got away at the start of the task, many others sunk out or scratched around the hill and about a dozen pilots didn't fly. Of 18 pilots who survived to the first turnpoint, 10 went on to fly the remaining 125km to goal, setting a US distance record for an FAI task. James (who I believe got away early) flew 48km and Gav did exceptionally well after having to top land for new GPS batteries, he re-launched and spent the next hour scratching around launch, getting high an hour after the task had opened and flying 38km by himself. Heike and I both chose not to launch. Just before sunset the pilots who made goal arrived back to a well deserved hero's welcome. Frank Brown was fatest in with a time of 3hr 45min, Dean Stratton was second followed by Dave Prentice. The day wasn't as high as yesterday (a few got to 16'000ft on task 2) but there was a good tailwind with the fastest guys hitting 90km/h on glide. We had a great BBQ dinner and were entertained by a local band and the local rodeo princesses roping (lasooing) boys by the ankles, which the boys didn't seem to mind too much.

It's always a hard decision deciding not to fly during a comp. Well, not always, but you do beat yourself up about it more than necessary. It's hard to deny that there is some external pressure to get off the hill, and sometimes that's good - it challenges you to fly in conditions that you might be totally capable of but wouldn't normally fly if you were outside a comp environment. If I’m free flying I'm either happy with the day or I'm not, I go flying or I don't. Today was only hard because there wasn't one definitive thing that made me decide not to fly. It was a combination of how I felt when I woke up (that we weren't going to fly at all), sketchy conditions on launch, fatigue, windy slow climbs out of launch and the thought of having the same fight as yesterday to stay out of the wilderness (see below). But flying comps for me is all about learning and getting in tune with how I analyse my personal situation on any given day. Today was a win for me, I learnt something, it was different to what I might have learnt if I'd flown but no less valuable.

I don't envy the pilots who take on the largely thankless job of being on a task committee. In some flying area's the job is made much harder by terrain and road restrictions, unpredictable weather etc. Most pilots agreed the SSW crosswind leg on task 2 was simply a fight to stay out of some very rough terrain rather than any kind of race to test piloting skills. So it was reasonably astonishing to me (and some pilots with much more experience than me) that the same leg would be set the very next day with an apparently stronger wind which was even more southerly potentially pushing us further into the land of trees, ticks and very long walks out. Perhaps I'll be on a task committee one day and I can be a bit more humble about the whole thing.