Task 6 - 1/Feb/2008

The day started off blue - no clouds... which is weird, I haven't seen that happen here, could it be really good?? Up on launch Cu started forming and it was a bit windy, which makes for nice ridge soaring and therefore no bomb-outs, but good launch technique was important.

There was a rumor that a 200km task would be attempted, which meant someone thought it was a stellar day. Partly because there wasn't a turnpoint that far out, and maybe because it was a bit ambitious, the task ended up being a straight line to Millmerran, 114 km west. Elapsed time start, so you could leave when you wanted too, picking a gaggle you wanted to fly with. People were a lot higher at the start, so it wasn't "instant survival" mode as soon as you left launch like most other days - it looked like a really sweet day for flying.

As I was driving down, I heard a tree got in a pilots way, and a different pilot had an issue with the ground, and an ambulance was called, but from what I heard, the injuries were relatively minor.

Really nice Cu was setting up down the course line and pilots were blazing the course. About 30k out, the Cu diminished and some blue holes pulled pilots down, but there was still cloud.

Lots of people in goal, which was a dry barren field, and it was really windy at times, huge thermals must have been releasing. Everyone in my retrieve vehicle made goal, so today they finally earned the "A Team" nickname I have been using with them on the radio.

At HQ later, I heard that Trelawney couldn't get a tracklog out of his 6030 - I bet he will be sporting a backup GPS real soon... What a buzz killer, as he was doing so well.

Tomorrow is the last day, day eight.

Task 5 scores:













Overall after 5 tasks: