Bright 321, Day Three

We had the rare East wind again today, it was mostly aloft. The wind was blowing over the back at Mystic so there were delays about what to do. The valley effect didn't kick in as hoped, so we went to the Pines which took time to organize because the road is 4 wheel drive. We had a convoy of vehicles so long we had to coordinate the giant snake using radios, one at the front and one at the rear, well done Brian Webb.

Then some joker starts playing the "We got a Convoy" song (1975 by C.W. McCall) over the radio, here are some of the lyrics:

Ah, breaker one-nine, this here's the Rubber Duck. You gotta copy on me, Pig Pen, c'mon? Ah, yeah, 10-4, Pig Pen, fer shure, fer shure. By golly, it's clean clear to Flag Town, c'mon. Yeah, that's a big 10-4 there, Pig Pen, yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy...

It was pretty funny (the first time anyway). So we end up on the Beechworth Ridge Launch where it's blowing over the back. The smart people all lob off into the first up hill puffs, but the lift was very weak and the death gaggle was growing and writhing below launch, so a bunch of people wait for something better (big mistake).

I had been watching the cloud above us growing and growing, but didn't calculate where it would shade out. The cloud soon blocks out the sun for miles, shutting down launch, and 25 of us watch JJ's valiant hour long struggle to chase the line of sun to the North East.

The sun returns at 4:45, the launch window closes at 5:00pm. Several people that bombed out had hiked back up and just before 5 pm we do forward launches and scratch out a couple of minutes of airtime....

Meanwhile we hear people making goal over the radio, it was a pretty painful day for some of us.

The next couple of days look promising, except for a new fire near Barwidgee Creek that could create some smoke.

When the scoring is finished, results will be here. Or here.


Stay Tuned