Rat Race Sprint Day 7 (Task 6) - JK

The last day of the Rat Race was set up to land in the confluence of valleys at the preferred LZ, Longsword Winery. This held the Sprint course close. The Race course went deep up one valley, back to the confluence, out another valley and back again to land at Longsword LZ as well. Overall, the plan was to reduce retrieve times and get the GPS turn-in done as quickly as possible. There was an awards ceremony, party, and some planned to leave that evening.

The Sprint was a Start Exit over WR launch, Rabies, a series of points that had us run back and forth over China Gulch, then across the valley to Burnt, past Woodrat Pk along its ridge line over the sink-ladened air over Squire, and finally to Longsword with a 400m goal line.

Along with a half dozen other Sprint pilots, I took in the tutelage of Paul Murdoch, a top local pilot, task committee member and our gracious host for the week. He gave us his insight and told us how to make goal with minimal risk.

My start was dismal. I got low off of launch during a lull between cycles and nearly got flushed. Eventually, I found a thermal in front of the ridge and climbed back up to where I needed to be. The first start time lapsed as I was fighting my way back, so I simply put a delay in my GPS of 30 minutes to work off of the last start gate. There were plenty of other pilots by now, marking the lift.

I pretty much flew Paul's suggested game plan to a "T" and it worked. I was 31 out of 33 who completed goal that last day, but I made it, and that was huge! Once i got high, i stayed high, and took every column of lift to its top.

Because i left late, I expected other pilots to find thermals for me, but i ended up finding all my own. The one big assist was a certain pilot who routinely jumped into my thermals. That's OK, but I saw him in so many turns across from me, it seemed he was pimping. Again... there's nothing wrong with that. It's just annoying seeing this goofy guy in an all-orange flight suit so often. I was high and holding back at Rabies, watching three pilots go across the valley to Burnt. My "pimp" was the furthest right of the three, and he was getting drilled with sink. I ended up leaving higher and taking a line behind the pilot to the far left. I found boaty air across the valley. For me, that was a bigger assist than any thermal marker. After that, the rest of the task was void of any drama. I tanked up neatly over Woodrat and set up final glide that was an uber conservative 3.5:1 required glide to goal. I crossed the goal line with 2500'AGL, just to be sure.

We all made it; Alex with 20 minutes shorter time than me (13th for the day in the overall Sprint) and Nikki finishing in first place for the day in the Race's much longer Sport class. That was amazing!

I think most of the Maui pilots made goal too. Hawaii was well represented. It was a perfect task to end the comp.

There was so much learning going on. Some was basic XC skills, some comp skills, some local site orientation. My clue bag is currently full and I'll make one more wrap-up post to try and pull it all together.

Flight Info - Day 7 - Task 6