First of all, a big thanks to yesterday´s day winner Rudy Gotes - he hosts Zippy, Matt, Patrick, Pedro and me, also Gary Osaba and his wife were staying for a couple of days! Rudy has a very nice, peaceful place above Valle.
Today we flew 83km around 4 turnpoints, a very fast race and Zippy won. I learnt that "convergence" doesnt always mean "line of lift", but can also mean some really strong, rough and tight thermals, and some really big sink inbetween. My vario showed -11m/s down... no wonder I nearly landed after the first turnpoint. After that humbling experience I was more careful and stayed up higher, I left the thermals at 4500, but cloud base was in outer space when some few cumulus developed high above us!
Goal was at the lake in Valle again, which is really nice at sunset. Pilots socialize and have a drink before pinning in. More than half of our field made goal today. The day was undercalled, but with yesterday´s weather having been overestimated, today we just wanted to see many in goal and have fast retrieves.
The organizers are very efficient at finding pilots and picking them up. If you have to land out, it is like Turkey or Croatia - you have to know the area and know where the landings are smooth and easy. Lots of slope landings around, and some tiger country as well. Never below 1600m.
The thermals are strong, but quite tight all day. There are a few spots out to the east of take off where the thermals were wider and a little smoother. But in the big glider without a zoom A-frame, without carbon tubes, and with a sail that has probably flown 500 hours already, it is a little exhausting for me to shift it around in the strong air. Guess I am just spoilt with my RX3 ;)
Today we flew 83km around 4 turnpoints, a very fast race and Zippy won. I learnt that "convergence" doesnt always mean "line of lift", but can also mean some really strong, rough and tight thermals, and some really big sink inbetween. My vario showed -11m/s down... no wonder I nearly landed after the first turnpoint. After that humbling experience I was more careful and stayed up higher, I left the thermals at 4500, but cloud base was in outer space when some few cumulus developed high above us!
Goal was at the lake in Valle again, which is really nice at sunset. Pilots socialize and have a drink before pinning in. More than half of our field made goal today. The day was undercalled, but with yesterday´s weather having been overestimated, today we just wanted to see many in goal and have fast retrieves.
The organizers are very efficient at finding pilots and picking them up. If you have to land out, it is like Turkey or Croatia - you have to know the area and know where the landings are smooth and easy. Lots of slope landings around, and some tiger country as well. Never below 1600m.The thermals are strong, but quite tight all day. There are a few spots out to the east of take off where the thermals were wider and a little smoother. But in the big glider without a zoom A-frame, without carbon tubes, and with a sail that has probably flown 500 hours already, it is a little exhausting for me to shift it around in the strong air. Guess I am just spoilt with my RX3 ;)
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