Lore from the Log of 4J

July 22 I headed for Sunflower Aerodrome at Hutchinson Kansas for the Region 10 Regional Championships. I left home at 6:30 on Saturday morning so that I could fly Saturday in addition to the practice day on Sunday. This contest would be on my home turf. I know the landmarks well enough to not need a map, many friends from the club would be around to help out, Sandi and I would stay with my family and she would spend some time visiting with hers. With any luck I would enjoy five days of racing. In sports class you are scored on your achieved speed over a pilot selected course, the major restriction being a minimum time you must fly. I personally like this kind of task as it allows the pilot to control the degree of risk of land-out, and allows you to change your task selection to account for unexpected weather patterns.

I arrived before noon Saturday and was ready to go flying, but the weather was blue and windy. I gave up without a fight and spent the day with Gerry Aksamit trouble-shooting the wiring for RV hook-ups outside the tower. I even got to crawl through a little hole into the space underneath the tower building, oh what fun. Sunday was the first practice day, and promised to be not as good as Saturday. No Cu's again and weak lift. I assembled and went out to the grid late. With all the other gliders around it was fun to go fly but I didn't ever leave the vicinity of the field. There were Cu's 35 miles to the north, but I decided to conserve my strength and not risk a landout. My brother Dave took a chance and finally was rewarded with a climb to 8000 feet and an easy glide back to Sunflower.

Monday was the first contest day and the weather promised to be a repeat of the practice day. The standard & 15 meter tasks both used Turon as a first turn, and the sports class had a 1.5 hour minimum time. I was the 2nd glider on the grid, but Ken Jacobs in SY pulled out due to a variometer problem. As I sat in my cockpit watching his glider get pulled to the side I exclaimed, "Ya big chicken!" It is so much easier to not go first, the later guys have all kinds of thermal markers. I managed to stay up anyhow and went through the start gate two different times before really heading out on course. Each time I headed towards a large field fire west of Sunflower only to chicken out and head back. Finally I got a little higher and took a 3rd start. The max allowed start height is 5000 agl, but I could only make it to a little over 3000 feet. I decided I would go to the fire out west and then try to go with the Standard and 15 meter pack toward Turon, about 30 miles to the west/southwest. The fire was really going good and producing a large cloud of smoke. Two miles away I could not see any other gliders working it. As I approached, I spotted glider after glider. I dove into the smoke, visibility was quite poor and I was a bit nervous. I ended up circling opposite IT, the pilot formerly known as Dick Mockler, and his Ventus. We climbed out together at almost 500 fpm up to 4000 agl, coughing all the way. As we climbed, other gliders loomed in and out of view. Finally I dove out to the west and headed out a 65 mph. It was a relief to be able to see again. I was not at all confident of finding more lift and there were no airports on the way to Turon. As I pressed on, I watched the standard Jantar XS. He stopped to circle in a very weak thermal. From only 2500 feet I pressed on. A bit farther west I tried another small field fire with no luck and finally contacted a weak thermal with the help of some other gliders. I climbed out to about 3400 agl and headed on for Turon. Going into Turon, I spotted KJ, John Wells in his ASW-20 heading back east. John was one of the Sports Class pilots who I expected to do quite well. I worked a weak thermal he marked for a few turns and then glided on to Turon for my turnpoint picture. By this time I had left XS the Jantar behind and had no other thermal markers in sight. From only 2200 feet I headed back toward Sunflower. There were no more fires in sight and a shadow from the high cirrus along the course line. Toward Kingman where the Standard and 15 meter ships were headed was another fire, but it was well out of gliding distance for me. I considered going to Kingman but decided that this was not a day to really push for speed. As weak as conditions had been so far I would be lucky to get home. I glided back west across the shadow area in ominously still air. By about 1500 agl I had several landing choices picked out which were dark and I hoped good potential thermal sources. At about 1000 agl, I finally contacted a hint of lift. If this didn't work I would soon be on the ground. Round and round, up on one side, down on the other, 50 fpm down for a turn, 50 fpm up for a turn. I was steadily drifting away from my good landing spot at 1000 agl. Watch the trees, study the fields, give up yet or keep trying? After almost 10 minutes of this a train went by, two minutes later the thermal finally picked up to 200 foot per minute. The train was just the disturbance needed to kick the thermal loose. The trees and tractors which had loomed so large slowly shrank away as I climbed to 3000 agl. From here I glided to within 10 miles of Sunflower. Still no fires, but I lucked out and caught one last weak climb to 3000 feet agl in the blue. Just enough to get home. Glad to have simply made it I dove through the finish at 100 mph. John Wells in KJ won the day and Ken Jacobs in SY was second. I was in third place but very close behind. I felt good about my strategy, I was close behind the leaders without pushing hard and taking any more chances than absolutely necessary. Weak days favor the better ships and with any luck the next four days would provide good opportunities to move up.

The second day's weather was forecast to be stronger than the first, with convection up to 6000 feet. The Standard and 15 meter tasks were called at about 100 miles taking them to the south then to the west. I was again the 1st to launch and was delighted to be greeted with a sky full of Cu's. A line of storms loomed to the north, but it looked like it might be a strong racing day. Not. The clouds were only about 3400 agl, and most were totally dead. I could barely stay aloft and finally took a low start at under 3000 feet. I headed out with several of the 15 meter ships. I decided to follow the pack south to Harper. In addition to the other ships, morning storms and overcast had not shielded that area from early heating and I expected stronger lift in that direction. The first 20 miles south were not bad. I followed several ships including a Ventus loaded with water ballast, IT. About the time the 15 meter guys got ahead out of sight I started having trouble finding lift again. I had been running 80 mph and now had to slow way down. Soon I found myself under 2000 feet and another 15 meter ship, TM, a motor ventus passed me. I pushed on under great looking but lifeless Cu's. Finally at under 1500 feet I contacted weak lift. A few turns later I had it centered and was going up. As I moved on south I spotted several ships below me, and the fields ahead were very wet. By this time it was really too late to change my plan, so I pressed on to Harper. I spent a few turns with 33, an ASW-20. We were only 2000 agl, but there was no lift and we were bucking a head wind to get to Harper so I pressed on. Again at under 1500 feet I contacted lift. As I climbed out I saw two ships well below me, one was TM who had passed me 15 miles earlier. From there I made it to Harper, shot my picture and headed north. From only 2000 feet over Harper I headed toward a large field fire. This paid off and got me back to 3400 feet, but a few minutes later as I went north I was under 1500 feet again. Again I contacted lift and worked back up. The cu's ahead of me all seemed to be dying, and there were storms forming to the east of course line. I began to fear that the storms had spewed out could air on the surface and I would not be getting back to Sunflower. The next glide took me to within 15 miles of Sunflower and under 1500 feet. I went to each whisp near course and finally was rewarded with one last weak climb to 3000 feet. I dove for home and crossed the finish line with a huge sigh of relief. I made about 41mph and again was in 3rd place for the day. My dad and my brother Dave had both landed out in their ASW-20's. In fact, only 3 of the 15 meter ships made it home that day. The previous day's Sports class winners finished, but didn't do so well, and I moved up to only 34 points out of first place and 12 out of second. With 5 saves under 1500 agl I was lucky to get home. I was very pleased with my finish for such a weak day and seemed in an ideal position to push for a win at the end.

Wednesday and Thursday the weather just didn't cooperated. Thursday it was 92 degrees at 4000 feet. Tops of the lift were around 2000 feet. Both days were no contest days, without even an attempt to fly and it looked like Friday would be more of the same. I was enormously frustrated.

Finally on Friday we got a break in the weather. It looked like it would be just barely soarable. There was no chance of any Cu's. So the contest would be decided on another weak blue day, and this one with a strong east wind. Oh boy. I got the last launch in sports class and could barely stay up. There were very few thermals, so before the launch I often found half of the ships in the contest sharing the thermal with me. I tried for about an hour to get a start above 2500 agl. Finally, I realized I had to head out on course with a 2500 foot start if I were to finish before dark! I went through the gate with XS and found a good thermal about 3 miles out. SY, who was 50 points ahead of me started after me and I ended up marking a good first thermal for him. I decided to go to Kingman first since that is where the Standard/15 meter task would be. From 3000 agl at the top of the first thermal I headed toward Kingman at 60 mph. The sky was dreadfully smooth. About 10 miles out I watched XS roll into a turn. I came in under him and found nothing. I was under 2000 agl now, starting to sweat both figuratively and litterally. A fire had been started a few minutes before so I headed for it, 3 miles to the east. I arrived at the fire with all of 1200 feet and was rewarded with smoke, heat and sink. I searched around down to under 1000 feet and headed straight downwind of the fire hoping that it would create thermals which moved off downwind. At 700 feet I had the gear down and a landing place picked out but caught a hint of lift. As I circled I looked at the fields trying to decided between 4 likely candidates. Round and Round, up and down, loosing a little, gaining a little. The cockpit was an oven, probably 90 to 100 degrees, I was soaked with sweat. I watched the farmer drive up in his white and blue Chevy van, an 88 model I believe, and walk into the farm house. Boy did my shadow on the ground look big, each circle could well be the last. I wouldn't have bet a nickle on my chances of climbing back out. I watched the farmer come back out, get in his van and drive away. Hmm, that would probably be a lonely place to land now. Round and Round I drifted to the west. Finally it paid off, 200 fpm up to 1500 feet and I felt high! 400 fpm up to 6000 feet and for the first time in the contest I actually felt cool! On the radio I heard KJ cross the finish line, I had lost the contest. With my dismal speed so far, the only way I could have caught KJ was if he landed out. In retrospect, Kingman was an exceptionally poor choice for a first turn. Cheney lake, east of the course line to Kingman, created a large dead area of 'lake effect.' The faster speeds were made farther west that day, and there were more fields burning to the west. I went on to Kingman where I spotted one of the Sports class gliders on the ground. I got another thermal northeast of Kingman as high as I could go then decided to head towards Sunflower. I to another field fire and climbed up to 3400 agl. This put me within gliding distance of Sunflower. I headed northeast hoping to go to Burton, but the sky was quite dead. At a little under 2000 feet I was in position to just make Sunflower and had not hit a bump since the fire. I decided to cut my losses and go home.

On the ground I joined in the inevitable hangar flying session. XS in the Jantar had made a 20 mile final glide and a straight in approach to landing at Sunflower. He rolled to a stop without touching the dive brakes 10 feet short of the finish line. Dick Mockler in IT who had been leading in 15 meter class landed out and dropped to 3rd overall. Joe Emmons in his ASW-24 watched Dick Mockler land, even saw the dust fly. He then proceeded to make a save from 400 feet over the field Dick landed in. My flight for the day was once again 3rd for the day and left me 3rd overall. Ken Jacobs in SY won the day and the contest.