Hobbs 2004

We had a very cool start to summer in Kansas City. The high had not yet topped 85. On the way down we are cruising with the windows up and the AC going. As we pass Lubock Texas, I see a sign that says the temperature is 104!

On the practice day (Saturday) cirrus moves in with lots of OD to the north and west. Getting launched goes smoothly. I am suprised still at how much stress I have on the launch line. Hundreds of miles from home and a hundred details have to be just right to go. Did I really remember to put the TE probe in the cockpit? Get the wrenches I need? The GPS power cable? .... I had all of it on carefully prepared lists but still the doubt nags.

Finally I get a launch and the doubts on the details fade away. The weather looms. Clouds and rain to the north. Most of the 2nd leg is covered with cirrus and a huge gap to cross. How fast will the bad weather come in?

I take a start and get to Abandoned with no trouble. Clouds run along the edge of an e/w line of overdevelopment from there to the NE, the next turn is to the SE. There are cu's at the 2nd turn but it looks like a heck of a long run to get to them. I consider running way north of the course along the edge of the OD, then chicken out and go back to Hobbs. I take a 2nd start. The gap on the 2nd leg is not so big now but still, I try to get around the worst of the blue hole by going north of course to Denver City. I get low enough there to be concerned but finally get a reasonable climb and get high enough to make Seminole. As I run for Seminole, Hobbs is completely in shadow and with rain closing in. The clouds at Seminole look fair, as I run in I get a good solid climb to 12,000+. Now I have Hobbs made if there is just not a bunch of sink. I head for Hobbs considering the possibility of also going to Eunice or Abandoned. I finally decide to veer north toward Abandoned thinking I can add it to the list without another climb. Still 20 miles from Abandoned I begin to get tiny rain drops on the wind shield. Finally I decide that as a practice day discretion is the better part of valor. I make a beeline for Hobbs. The traffic patter is BUSY. I work into a train of 5 of us that land inside a minute. When I come to a stop I realize I hadn't breathed at all on base or final. The day is finished out with a BBQ and a the mandatory Safety briefing. The weather forecast for monday is more showers.

Flying time 2:40, XC distance is about 80 miles.

Day 1

Forecast is much like Saturday. OD starting to the NW. Lots of cirrus hanging around, cloudbase and thermal strength expected to be lower than the day before. On the grid I am nervous but ready to give it a shot. The cu's start in a line to the NW, the task is TAT to Lovington, Plains, Seminole with a 10 mile circle on each turn. Out of the gate I have consistent strong lift. Good looking clouds form to Lovington so I start out by going west of the turn to put more miles in under a good sky. Back east is a big cell, probably 20 miles long that was towering before I launched. It is not clear yet if this will be blocking the 2nd turn. I go significantly south of the course to Plains to stay under CU's. Along the 2nd leg the big question is what is the storm going to do? It could very quickly kill all the lift around it or it could continue to grow long enough to propel me around at remarkable speed. A climb at Denver City in the line of clouds next to the storm gets me to 12,000+ feet. As I run along the edge lightning repeatedly broke the sqeulch on my radio. I run up a street that parallels the storms until I get inside the turn cylinder and at the end of the line of clouds. I cover a lot of ground very quickly and then head south. The run south is downhill fast.

There is lots of sink around the storm and most of the clouds south of it are just dead. I push on into the Seminole turn area finally contacting some whisps of clouds and mediocre lift. From here on the flight is very difficult, hot, low and weak. I turn back west toward Hobbs to run a line of clouds hoping I'd get just one more good strong climb to get me home. I get a weak one and take it until I just need 25/1 to get home. Two different glass birds race past me making me think I am being overly conservative. The last few miles I hit more sink than lift. The landing options in the last two miles aren't very good, the altimeter unwinds, the runway is not rising in the canopy. I just miss the bottom of the cylinder and take a nearly straight in approach to land on runway 240. I end up 8th for the day.

TO 20:18:50
Start 20:56:14
Finish 22:42:44
1:46

106 minutes
111 miles
62.8mph

Total Flight Time 2:24

Day 2

Today the forecast is for very few clouds with storms to the east late in the afternoon. In the morning I spend some time wet sanding the leading edges of the wings to reduce the drag of all the rock chips in the paint. I also notice that the gap seals on the flaps do more gapping than sealing at anything but the full negative setting and decide to experiment with circling with full up flaps. Cloudbases and thermals are forecast to be a little better than day 1. The task for Sports class is Andrews, Intersection 180/303, then pilot selected. At launch time there is a narow area of cu's just east of the field and then a huge blue hole on the path to Andrews. I get a fantastic thermal just at the extreme edge of the cylinder that gives me an ideal start. I climb out the top while circling in and out of the edge of the cylinder. I top out at 14,000 feet and then head for Andrews. As I head into the blue I am struck with how smooth the air is. I run 15 minutes at around 100mph without even the tiniest bump. The erie glide ends 20 miles from Andrews with a good strong climb, the logger showed about 700fpm.

From Andrews to the intersection there are very nice looking clouds, I run north trying to hold out for at least 700fpm climbs. Leaving the intersection I head for a line of Cu's that point to Seminole. I get my lowest point of the day there at just under 8000msl. A good solid 500fpm climb gets me back up. There are no clouds to the west, they look like they poop out a few miles north, OD just a few more miles east. The street back to Andrews still looks good but also had a little OD on further south. I run back down the street to Andrews then north again to the intersection. From here I am just a little early to head straight home. There are a few clouds on a course generally toward Denver City. I am very much afraid that I might screw up the day with a long climb to get just a few more miles but don't want to come in undertime. Some cloud streeting and a few turns in 300fpm got me comfortably high to make Denver City. Not wanting to repeat the previous day's rolling finish I erred very much on the side of being conservative. The final glide from Denver City was all over 100mph indicated with a high finish.

My raw speed is over 70mph, the flight is good for 1st place for the day and puts me within 40 points of 1st overall. I get to give a speech the next morning on how I'd done it as did my brother Dave for winning the day in 15 meter!

To 19:57
Landing 23:34
Flight Time 3:37
Dist 191.5

Day 3

The weather is VERY different from the previous days. I get the honor of the first launch. There are no cu's in sight, thick cirrus/haze to the south. I climb very slowly to about 7000msl (3300 agl) which seems to be the top of the lift. I hope that as the ground heats the thermals would brake through the inversion and we will get cu's over the field. Cu's start to form off to the east. Staying airborne is a struggle. Once the entire field is launched the gaggles are very hectic. It is unusual to share a thermal with less than 5 or 6 other gliders, sometimes all within a couple hundred feet of the same altitude. I watch a big gaggle move out onto course but I hold back. When I decid to try to go it seems that the lift in the start area has gotten worse not better. With thermal tops only a little more than 3000 agl it is a little tricky to even move out to the edge of the 7 mile start cylinder without risking a landout. Dave, Steve, YF and Dick Hollenberg (5A) and I shared our last thermal in the start clyinder. I want to get within a mile of the edge and over 7000 msl but finally settled for only 6600 and head out behind Steve and Dave.

Steve and Dave head just north of course toward a big gaggle. I am not at all confident I have sufficient altitude to reach it so I head directly down the highway toward the next airport. YF flies along side me for awhile but veers off to the north with Steve and Dave. The meager 3000 feet AGL doesn't take long to unwind. It is looking very much like I will have a dead straight glide to an early landing at Hamilton. I am lined up with the runway and about to put my gear down when I get a squeel out of the vario. I luck into a 200-300fpm thermal that takes me back up to a staggering 4000 feet above ground. It seems dizzyingly high when I top out but then reality returns, I still have a good 15 miles to go to the next coulds, this could still very easily go bad. The next thermal is still in the blue, this time 300-400 fpm!!

I deviate way north of course to make a bee line for the clouds, then follow them on past the turn. I make a quick excursion out into the blue for the turnpoint then just can't decide what to do next. There is a good cloud street to Denver City. It looks like I might be able to get high enough from the end of it to glide back without having to look for lift in the blue. There are huge storms brewing south but they look to be 50+ miles away. From the north a huge wall of cirrus is moving in cutting off the light about 20 miles north of Denver City. A run home now would put me absurdly under time. I head in the general direction of Denver city, then toward the intersection then finally make up my mind on Seagraves. The changes of direction are bad, they cost me many minutes. The Seagraves decision looks like it might cost me a landout. About a third of the way there it becomes obvious that to get there and then to the next clouds will involve about a 20 mile glide from only 6300 agl! I have wasted too much time and feel like I had to go for it. It is a long spooky glide in, the altimeter unwinds slowly. After making the turn I take a heading back to the nearest good looking cloud. I am very suprised to make it to the cloud with almost 3000 feet agl remaining, even more suprised to get a reasonable climb back up. Still I am looking at being a bunch under time. There is a line of clouds pointing to Denver city so I go there next. By the time I get to Denver City the clouds from the north have brought a wall of shaddow almost to the courseline from there home. North of Denver City is totally shaded. A run to Hamilton would have to take me significantly farther from home.

I decide that a run down to Hamilton would take too much of a chance for a landout. I get as high as I can at the edge of the shadow and start final glide. On final glide I pick up one last turn at Abandoned then go home. The final glide is conservatively high, getting back with 2000 agl but still almost 20 minutes under time. The under time is really bad for my score. I drop 2 places in the overall list. The number '8' Grob made a good flight and moved into first place nearly 200 points ahead of me now.

TO 19:24
St 21:15
Fi 23:22
La 23:25
Flt 4:00
Dist 90.5

Day 4

No clouds are visible or expected at launch time, winds are 20+ mph. The first two gliders to launch fall back to the runway in minutes. Many gliders are at pattern altitude just a few minutes before my launch! The task is MAT with the only mandatory turn Lovington. Off tow I have no trouble getting up. I move downwind toward the edge of the cylinder topping out at only about 3300 agl. I resolve to try to start with or ahead of the pack to have some markers. I get a climb to over 7000 msl just outside the cylinder. Another glider joins me. I used him to mark it, went back in and out of the start cylinder again and climbed out. The trip to Lovington is uneventful. Thermals are weak and sporadic. I decide to take anything that shows over 200fpm. There are several other gliders visible going in and out that make it easy to find lift. With the Lovington turn in the bag it is time for important decisions.

To the north I am concerned with the rain overnight. West the terrain is unlandable. Back toward Hobbs the terrain is not good and I am not sure I can get there in a single glide. I decide to go straight east toward Abandoned next. Looking back west I am suprised to see a very thick dark cirrus deck moving in. Where had it been an hour ago? Lovington is now several miles into a very dark shadow. Good thing I set out when I did! A couple of modest thermals get me to the turn point at Abandoned. A climb just south of abandoned gets me up to 8000 feet. I go straight south for a few miles and get another good climb. This one takes me to 8800 msl, but by now the cirrus shelf is over me! It looks like it was moving straight east and the south edge was north of Hobbs and it has to be advancing fast.

Now my choices are getting limited. A straight glide back to Hobbs is possible but would put me under time by an hour and probably will push me farther down the score sheet. I hear others calling their finishes on the radio, others calling out that they are just not even going to try the task. It looks like a golden opportunity to catch up with the leaders. I set course for Hamilton, about 20 miles away and still in the sunshine. As I dive for Hamilton at 80mph I am very much alarmed to see that the cirrus deck is moving at the same pace, possibly faster. I am getting farther into the shadow and it is moving to the southeast, not east as I had estimated before! I aim for a refinery north of Hamilton that has a large fire plume. The feet tick off with no lift at all. It looks like I could just make the airport at Hamilton, a few miles out I spot two gliders circling just a little west of my course line. I veer off to their position and save from 1600' agl back up to about 3000' agl. It is enough to get the other gliders home but not only was it not quite enough for me to be comfortable with the glide, I have not yet made the turn at Hamilton. I need one more climb!

I fly into the turn cylinder at Hamilton. I consider going farther east to the sun, but the clouds are advancing faster than I can and I conclude I'd just be digging myself into a worse hole. I just need one weak thermal under the cirrus deck. I fly over a feedlot and a VERY black field but find nothing. I select a part of a circular irrigation field to land. Only half of it is green and watered, the other half has straight furrows. Under 1000 feet I drop the gear and flaps and line up to land. I still can SEE THE RUNWAY AT HOBBS!#@$!@#$ but there is just no way to get there. I stretch my approach to put me as close to the edge as I dare. When the glider touches the main gear digs in, the glider goes up on its nose and dirt flies everywhere. The glider stops in just a few feet then the tail drops with a thud. To add insult to injury, another glider comes over my field gets a weak thermal, climbs and flies back to Hobbs, ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!

A farmer comes by with his tractor a few minutes later. Even though he speeks very little English, I persuade him to use his tractor to pull the HP to the edge of the field. His charity saves me from what would have been a back breaking ordeal! The landout gets next to nothing for points. A finish would have gotten me probably 400 more, a 1 knot climb to 3000 feet would have won the day and put me in the overall lead.

When Sandi and the kids arrive I am greeted with a gleeful cheer from my kids, "You owe us supper Dad!"

TO 20:07
Land 22:07
Flt 2:00
Dist 49.2

Day 5

The forecast for today is weaker than the day before. No cu's and a 30% chance of storms. Winds are down to 10 out of the SW. I joked with Dennis Brown (in 2nd place) that it must be tough to be in 2nd place with such lousy weather. You would HAVE to at least try. Then I remark that I hope the weather is worse than the day before as I need a huge score sheet shake up to have a chance of winning.

At launch time there are no cu's, no cirrus, but lots of haze. The standard and 15 meter tasks are MAT with Tatum as 1st turn. Sports is a 2 hour MAT with Abandoned as the first turn. With the chance of storms I decide to start as early as I can. The top of the lift seems to be less than 8000 msl. A bunch of us go out all within a few minutes and head for Abandoned. With lots of markers I get a good climb at Abandoned. I then set off into the blue. I am high enough to make Denver City so I head there next. There are a couple of other gliders at Denver City but no good thermal. I can see cumulus to the east past Seagraves.

Just getting to the coulds will require many thermals in the blue, the prospect of getting to them at all is not very good but if I can get to them it is possible I could have a great flight and regain some ground on the leaders. I press on toward some landable terrain to the east and hope for the best. At under 2000 agl I get a climb up high enough I might make the runway at Seagraves. I push on East with another glider. We work a very weak thermal a few miles from Seagraves but get less than 3000 agl out of it.

I push on to Seagraves thinking it will be the end of the line. I cross over town and then head for the airport. At only 900' I get a bump. After several turns I get it centered and have a good solid climb to 8000' then head for the clouds. From here I go South toward highway intersection. In the blue sky short of the first cloud I get a climb to 10,000'! I bump along under the clouds to Intersection without getting any good climbs. I head gerenally into the wind for awhile (SW) and get a 3-5 knot climb in the blue. It looks like getting home could be tricky, there will be no cumulus for almost the last 40 miles. A lone cloud forms over Seminole, looks like my ticket home so I go for it. The cloud dies as I get to it, I turn SW into the wind for about 2 miles and hit a good thermal. I get to over 11,000 feet.

This gives me enough altitude for a VERY marginal final glide. I'd like to have had more nearly 13,000 from there to make it comfortable. I am not at all confident there will be more lift to the west so I set out nearly at best L/D. Every few minutes I recalculate, about 30/1 will get me back. The miles tick by, the air is mostly smooth. 20 miles out, 30 to one will do it , 15 miles out 25 to 1, 10 miles out still 25 to 1. Finally I cross the finish comfortably inside the cylinder. My gamble to go east got me a decent flight on a really awful soaring day but didn't give me much of a boost on the score sheet.

TO 20:34
Land 23:57
Flt 3:23
Dist 104.7

Day 6

The forecast is a repeat of Day 5. Maybe not as good and a little more wind. There is some last minute switching of tasks on the grid. Finally we are given a TAT with Lovington and Seminole with 8 mile cylinders.

Before the start I struggle to stay above 3000 feet agl. My first start is right at 6700 msl (3000 agl). Several other guys go out at about the same time considerably higher. I elected to go back and try again. About 15 minutes later I get a little over 7000 msl and head out. I go only a mile or so into the Lovington cylinder and turn back when I am still high enough to make it back to Hobbs (maybe). As I pressed on to the SE I spot several other gliders.

I work a couple of thermals with the PW5 and 1TM. I get lucky and find a strong core just after the other guys left which let me keep up with 1TM for another thermal. There were a few scattered cu's and a couple of 5 knot thermals but mostly the thermals were weak, erratic and short lived. The markers ahead gave me confidence to press on though I was generally working between 2000 and 3000 agl.

I follow LY into the Seminole cylinder and turn back at the same time he does. The going had been so slow that even with the bare minimum distance I would be well over the minimum time. I try to follow LY, but unfortunately for me LY was 500+ feet above me. One more good climb gets him away and onto final glide. I am stuck. I scratch for some time to try to get up. Z marked a couple of weak thermals but nothing that would get me quite high enough to make it. Just 12 miles out I still am not comfortable that I can make it. I hit a weak thermal but about every 3rd circle I'd loose everyting I'd gainded in the previous 3. Though I am very marginal on the final glide, I push on. The last couple of miles the terrain is very nasty, it would be very ugly to come up short.

One more weak climb gets me up to a 30/1 glide that should still get the bottom of the finish cylinder. As I run for home the last 4 miles to the cylinder were all lift. I could have been back at least 5 minutes sooner if I'd only known. It had been a greuling low day. No cu's, hot, mostly in constant peril of landing out. But I MADE IT HOME!!!!

My speed is just under 40 mph. I expect to end up 4th, but Billy Hill in 'Z' had his second day 233 point start penalty erased which pushes him ahead of me. I ended up 5th overall in Sports Class.

Dave ended up 1st in 15 meter class! TO 20:08
Lnd 23:08
Flt 3:00
Dist 67.9

Contest Total Flight Time 21:04
Contest Total Distance 693 miles