The forecast was for a great day, possibly the best of the week so there was allot of gliders/pilots set up when I got to the tow site. So many in fact that it was going to be impossible to get any consistent tow time. I rounded up my crew for the meet and asked if they wanted to head to a different road. We headed over to a different road and set up. It was getting late by the time I towed the first glider up. I went with a soft tow for the fist one and I wasn't sure how far the road went so Loren got a 1600' tow but didn't stick. Next was Ken. He broke the record for height of tow off my winch with 3200' which was broken soon after by Glen with a tow to 3600'. But apparently high tows don't come with luck and after a couple tows each, they never got away. There was a few others that were dotted along the countryside all the way to just north of brooks. (actually a paraglider pilot of all things!) About 120K or so.
May 17 Goal: Brooks-100k
At the pilot meeting, some rules were layed down, classes were sorted out, and I was elected to the task committee. The classes are Novice (never over 50 miles) Intermediate (never over 120 miles) and Advanced (anything over 120 miles flown) That put me into the novice class. Myself, Loren, Ken, and Cal make up the novices which I feel is pretty fair. The intermediates have some pretty extreme ranges of pilots, and the advanced looks pretty fair too. I like the splitting of the classes and hope it works out well.
With the forecast "gusting to 50K" winds we decided on a straight downwind task to Brooks. We drew the long straw and got the long road with Dougs crew. The wind started south and we towed a few south but again it was proving tough to get away. One by one Dougs crew towed and left the site. We had a trainee driver I was teaching for a few tows. He did well but small problems kept popping up that made life difficult. Loren had the chute pop out on tow and somehow ripped the bridles off it when he got released. That sent the chute floating in the wind down the field (thank you Karen) After that crisis the line was all pulled off the winch on the next tow and had to be found and rewound. On my tow my release line got tangled with the chute and upon release, cut the chute bridle again. I had the chute still in the sock so I had to go and land to give back the chute. On the second round of tows we went away one by one. It was very windy and with the bar out to min sink I was traveling a 75 kph The order of the day was drift with what you could. I got farthest of my crew, at around 20 K. Ken was a K or 2 short of that, and Loren was around 10 K. Glen never got away. Ross and Rob made goal, Gary was 20 k away. In my class Cal beat me by a long ways flying to Bow City for around 75K and will be tough to catch without some luck on my side, or bad luck on his, but it's still early.
May 18 Weather day.
It started to rain on our parade shortly after breakfast. There was a few people that headed out last night and I was going to but a few beer later and it was too late to hit the road. I am at home now and the forecast is looking alright for tomorrow so I'll be driving back tomorrow morning.
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