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August 15, 2019, 7:46:27 pm CDT

2019 Big Spring Nationals

Setting the best task that the weather forecast allows

Chris Zimmerman|competition|Davis Straub|dust devil|Erick Salgado|Flytec 6030|Gary Anderson|Kevin Carter|Roger Irby|US Nationals 2019|weather|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo

Today's task and flight:

https://airtribune.com/2019-big-spring-nationals/results

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 01:55:47 960
2 Rodolfo Gotes Wills Wing T3 144 01:55:57 882
3 Erick Salgado Moyes RX 5 Pro 02:13:02 841
4 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 02:00:22 821
5 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T2C 136 02:08:10 746
6 Nathan Wreyford Wills Wing T2C 144 02:24:56 667
7 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T2C 144 02:47:42 589
8 Vic Hare Wills Wing T3 144 02:34:51 559
9 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 144 02:37:59 544
10 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T2C 144 02:44:33 533

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 3904
2 Rodolfo Gotes Wills Wing T3 144 3772
3 Erick Salgado Moyes RX 5 Pro 3761
4 Vic Hare Wills Wing T3 144 2967
5 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T2C 136 2909
6 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 2858
7 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 2748
8 Nathan Wreyford Wills Wing T2C 144 2617
9 Roger Irby Wills Wing T2C 154 2041
10 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T2C 144 1882

Sport Class:

Five pilots made it back to Big Spring with Peter Wall winning the day. Jose Sandoval is in the lead over all.

Swift Class:

They made a task to the south. Chris Zimmerman won the day and leads overall.

The weather forecast was for over development in all directions after 4 PM. So we decided on short tasks with early starts.

There were cu's to the west and east of the airport very early and there were too many cu's to the north with cu-nimbs to the west and north at Lamesa which almost stopped the task at 12:30PM (we launched at 12:15). Mitch was on the radio to the safety committee and we said level 2 and 2.5. We were south of the airfield and in good conditions climbing to 7,400', so we said it was level 1 where we were. We were just concerned about the conditions to the north.

As we were six or seven kilometers from the top of the five kilometer start cylinder I flew up to the north at four minutes before the first start time but found weak lift down to 4,500'. I hung in it with a couple of other pilots trying just to stay up.

We stayed in the poor lift for almost half an hour until, just before the last (third) start time, the lift we were in finally turned on and we were able to climb up to 6,000' before going on glide and finding a good thermal to 7.400', nine kilometers to the north. There were no cu's near us.

The winds were light which is why we called a triangle task for the open class and an out and return task for the sport class. The towering cu's to the north dissipated and there was plenty of sun shine on the ground. It no longer was a level 2.

I was leading out in front of the other two pilots which seemed easy to do. We found 200 - 300 fpm average climbs and hooked up with Rudy for a few climbs south the the first turnpoint. The lift was improving as the day went on. We had taken the last clock at 1:45 PM.

I found a nice dust devil just before the first turnpoint where I had seen Rudy turning a bit earlier under a cu and I climbed to 7,700'. There was a much bigger dusty to the east by the second turnpoint which Rudy got into. Before I got to that dust devil I found a thermal under a small cu that averaged 425 fpm so I took it to almost 9,000'.

As I headed south on my own I could see the over development further to the west. The rest of the sky was inviting. I found a forming cu out in the blue and climbed at 380 fpm average to 9,300'. The 6030 said I had goal but it was 12:1 to get there from twenty five kilometers out so I didn't exactly believe that.

The outflow from the top of the over development was partially shading the ground between me and goal. I could see a nice little cu about half way to goal, but off the course line a couple of kilometers. I felt that there was a good chance of finding lift just going down the course line in spite of the partially shaded ground.

At thirteen kilometers from goal I found 440 fpm and took it to 7,500' with an 8:1 required glide.

I came into goal with 600' AGL and landed. The wind was light out of the west toward the over development.

The over development continued to grow and come toward us but all the pilots who made goal made it in with incident. It was just shaded and there were no thunderstorms near us.


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