I wasn't the only one to have a great time here at Big Spring this
year. Yes, compared to the last four years the weather was a little iffy, with
cu-nimbs in the area, but we had some great flying.
The first two tasks were to an agricultural air strip at Brownfield, seventy six
miles, and in retrospect the tasks were way too short given the conditions for
the day, with pilots finishing in less than two hours. Unfortunately, with the
weather forecasts, I was unsure of what tasks made sense, something that hasn't
been much of a problem here previously.
The pre-Worlders missed the second day and I didn't appreciate being in the air
when a huge cu-nimb formed over La Mesa to the north of Big Spring. Sure
everything was fine and safe where I was, but the air just felt weird. I thought
it might just be me, but I found out on the last day of the Big Spring Open that
it was likely to be the air.
We most often have little cu's to mark the thermals during our tasks here in Big Spring and that was the case for these first two tasks. These thermal markers
make for fast open racing and we could have easily used them to go twice as far
on these two days (although we would have had to go around one small area of
rain past Brownfield).
On the fourth day we on the task committee thought we had a forecast for good
weather that would allow for a big task. Gerolf wanted to go long and so did a
few of us. We also contemplated a big triangle, 98.6 miles, more for convenience
than anything else. In the past we have tried to come back if we had light wind
days, but Gerolf complained that triangles were for the Alps. He has a point.
We could have called a 176 mile task to Clovis, New Mexico to the north
northwest but it seemed like a long drive home. Perhaps that shouldn't have been
a consideration. I would have loved to go that far, although it was toward the
dry line which can mean a blow up and cu-nimbs. Better would have been to go to
the north northeast where there would normally be less chance of thunderstorms.
We came up with a big dog leg task that would have left us only 90 miles away
for a 168 mile task, but then that wasn't optimum as it made for a lot of cross
wind flying. Having two good options we let the pilots choose and they chose the
more convenient task.
The day turned out to be spectacular with nice thin high cu's that showed no
chance of overdevelopment but did show where the plentiful and strong lift was.
I loved the day because I was very clever and that allowed me to win by 18
minutes, coming back first to applause at the hangar, on the only day we came
back.
Not only did we have the best conditions of the meet, but the cloud streets set
up (hey, there was still a 10 mph head wind) and there was a great one just
left/east of the course line coming back from the second turn point to the goal.
This made it perfect going into the wind.
The cloud streets were so long and hung on so late that Gerolf said that he had
never seen anything like it. This is why we come to Texas. The clouds also made
it possible to safely take the cross wind leg from the first turnpoint to the
second one to the east.
Having not gone long on day four, and having seen that conditions were perfect
throughout the panhandle for a flight as long as we could have possibly wanted
to go, with no trouble from the dry line to the west at all, we think about
going long on the fifth day. But could we have such a day again?
It didn't look like the day would be that great. The south winds were actually
forecast to be a bit lighter and from the southwest instead of the normal south,
the day would be blue, very unusual here, and we had a chance of the dry line
bringing rain near Amarillo. It was hard to believe that the winds would
actually be from the southwest as they are always from the south here, but all
the models called for that. But the wind socks visible outside the windows at
the terminal showed that the wind was right down the runway - 190 degrees. Hmmm?
We didn't have a goal to the north northeast so I quickly had to come up with
one. I missed the goal altitude by 500', which turned out to be crucial to a few
pilots who just missed making it. The goal was a grass airstrip just on the east
side of the tiny town of Silverton. This turned out to be a goal in the right
direction as the wind was indeed out of the south southwest.
The day was very blue except for a few cu's twenty five miles south of goal, and
the dry line a hundred miles to the west. Still there was plenty of good lift
and it was easy to find. The dry line did come close to us near goal and
outpouring from the top of a north west of goal cut off the lift for the flex
wing pilots causing all but four to land short.
This turned out to be a great day as we matched the longest task ever set and
made in a hang gliding competition. The conditions were much more marginal than
the previous day which added to the fun of making it.
Thick clouds kept us on the the ground on the sixth day and they threatened on
the seventh, but then it looked like we had a chance. We took our chances and it
paid off in many exciting, some too exciting, flights to a goal 68.5 miles to
the north northeast.
The clouds moved out to the east a few miles and it was blue over the airport at
1:30 when we took off on this last day. But very quickly the cu's filled in as
the ground heated up from the sunlight. It was very unstable and there were soon
towering cu's nearby. But, and this is what was important to me, the air felt
great. In spite of the fact that cu-nimbs were forming nearby, the air was not
scary, so unlike Monday.
In addition, there was blue sky to the north and east so it looked like there
was an easy way to escape if there were any problems with the clouds so I was
ready to risk it. It turned out fine for me and about thirty other pilots who
made goal after me. I particularly enjoyed flying in these risky conditions and
making it through in good shape. But there was a lot of concern about the risks
that we all took. There is little agreement on whether we should have done so.
I compare the last day of the 2006 pre-Worlds with the last day of the 2005 Big Spring Open where I flew 150 miles to goal at Muleshoe, the last fifteen or
twenty miles of it directly into a cu-nimb. In that case the cu-nimb was much
larger, but it wasn't raining yet, and then it did rain very hard within a few
minutes of my landing.
I very much look forward to being the meet director here next year (CIVL
willing) and only wish I was flying in the Worlds in 2007. I'll have other
opportunities.
The exact route for the cross-Texas corridor has not yet been
drawn up, though it will probably be somewhere within a 10-mile-wide swath
running parallel to Interstate 35. Whatever course it takes, it is clear many
farmers and property owners will lose their land, though they will be
compensated by the state. Construction could begin by 2010.
The opposition comes in several forms: Some see it as an assault on private
property rights; some object to putting the project in foreign hands (it will be
built and operated by a U.S.-Spanish consortium); and some see the project as an
affront to open government because part of the contract with Cintra-Zachry is
secret.
Up early Friday morning July 22, we're off to Airventure 2006 at
Oshkosh. This will be our first visit to an aviation Mecca that only happens in
the good ol' U S of A Our route out pretty much follows I-80 except that we are
still far south of it here as we approach South Lake Tahoe.
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