Another long task today, using some of the same turnpoints as previous days but in a different order. The day was very different to the previous ones in that the wind was stronger and from the North, and the cloud base was also higher, up to around 3800m.We had a 6km exit cylinder around the El Penon turnpoint, and there were grillions of ways to take the start. About half the field chose to wait out in the flats SW of launch, and a small group waited further south and got quite a bit higher. First turnpoint was the Llano one, some 18km SW of launch, and many pilots, myself included, got low and frustrated on the way there. The higher pilots seemed to cruise there and back towards the antenna at B05, but I’ve learnt that even that group had some challenges getting over the Crazy Thermal mesa. I was close to decking it again just before connecting to the lift around the spur coming down from Crazy, so I feel I have earned my kilometres today.
After a good climb to cloudbase at Crazy we pushed on over the valley towards Maguey, then along the usually reliable ridge towards the turnpoint. I was in a small group with among others Martin Orlik, and we felt we knew the ridge well enough by now to not need any climbs along the way, only the wind today was more N so the ridge wasn’t actually working. To be brutally honest with you it was a scary leg that one, dodging trees and cliffs and battling a hefty headwind all the way. One other pilot on a Magus opted for a slightly less tree-hugging line, and paid for it by arriving extremely low at the end of the ridge. I don’t know if he got up again, but if he did it would have been a long battle.
As it was we got a good climb at the turnpoint, and could point our noses over the mesa towards the E end of the lake and eventually towards Elefante and a 3km turnpoint radius around it. By now we were battling a strongish headwind, and the group I was in managed to get pretty low again just E of the lake, but eventually a good climb took us back into the game and we could glide to the turnpoint. There we had another fine thermal which took us all the way to cloudbase, and we followed a huge cloud street back towards the launch. Sadly the last turnpoint was not around launch but further W, at the 3 Kings, so we had to leave our cloud street eventually. That was when the wind suddenly switched to S, and to cut a long story short I got stopped by it in a valley between Crazy (or the G-spot) and Maguey. I tried to soar the G-spot cliffs, I tried to get out from the middle of the valley, but in the end I just had to bite the dust and get ready for a long hike out.
As you all know, landing short isn’t really my idea of a great afternoon. I always struggle to be just remotely civilised towards the everpresent kids materialising out of nowhere, but today this task was made harder by the fact that they had brought a puppy which they happily commenced to torment as soon as they had settled down to stare at the Gringo packing. So I packed my wing to the accompaniment of a squeeling puppy, something that left me in a bit of dilemma since the kids found it really funny that I should take umbrage to their actions – this in turn meant that the more I tried to get them to stop, the more fun the tormenting was. I packed in a hurry and left, hope the puppy grows up to be a big rabid mongrel that bites their sorry arses to shreds.
I don’t know who won today, all of team Denmark was short although Morten only missed goal by 600m. It did seem to me that the usual suspects were in goal, so I predict little changes in the top echelons of our event.
AMAZING flying by the top pilots here, their consistency is otherworldly. And another thing: Put enough skilled pilots out on an impossible mission and suddenly the impossible becomes trivial. Today’s task was by far the most tricky to get in the bag, yet the goal was busy I’m told.
I need an early night but I have a meeting tonight with Gasper about the Nordic Open. Anyone doing this for holidays must have a busy schedule at home.
Mads S from Valle (grumpy)
