Saturday, July 23, 2005

Gliders Tumble In Spain

Dave seib send me a report on the spanish nationals I haven’t been so lucky over the past two days. The third task was a 162km task and I landed at about the 60km mark after a strong headwind and little lift – I was out in front. No-one made it to goal this day. On day four my glider was tumbled on launch by one of the many dust devils. We lost four gliders this day, two the previous day and two glider (and one pilot – broken hip) the day before. I was lucky with only a broken carbon tip, carbon under surface batten and a very bent number 11 batten. Carlos wife brought me my spare tips from down the bottom, Marino (Betinho’s old assistant) help me repair everything. I was able to launch a little late but managed a good second start gate. It was a 120km downwind dog-leg. I managed to catch everyone just after the first turnpoint and was in the lead with 50km to go, a 25km tailwind and 4300m height. I stop at 12km to go for a top up because I didn’t want to take any risks as I was in front. I climbed in a 4m thermal to gain an 8:1 glide ratio before continuing my glide. I hit massive amounts of sink on final and landed 800m short. A lot of people made goal. Today I’m going to win the task.