Day 1 - a result!

Today they called a 2.5 hour TAT (AAT) for all classes. The sky was already overdeveloping by the time we launched, so I headed off as soon as the gate was open. 3 minutes into the flight I discovered that my Oudie had somehow reset to yesterday's task, so I turned around and reloaded the correct task before making a second start. The two guys who were with me kept going, so I ended up on my own. Area 1 was 95% overcast so I was planning to cut it short and go deep into area 2 which had a good cu field. By the time I started the second leg, area 2 was almost totally suppressed by high cover sweeping in from the west. Change of plan - cut area 2 short even though the 3rd area was overcast with approaching rain. There were two possibilities - it would work and I could go deep into area 3, or it wouldn't, and I would come home early but avoid a landout. As it happened there was lift in front of the rain and I managed to get home 4 minutes over time - I love it when it works out like that! 4 minutes after landing it was raining at the field.

When the scores were posted, CR and I were joint 1st place - the first time I have ever seen that in the scores. We were lucky to be the first class off - the Sports class had about 50% landout.

Here's another photo from the practice day.