Well, I was disappointed not to improve on my 3rd place position but I had to not only fly well, but rely on the others doing something silly, which they didn't. It was an interesting task, set with a brilliant cloud street running up to Crater Lake, which had largely decayed by the time we were heading up there. Our task was a 3.5 hour AAT Cunningham, Crater Lake, Lake Shasta. The Cunningham sector was working quite well so I used the old rule of thumb, going deep while conditions were good. It worked well and I had a good run back up towards Montague but had to slow down to cross the valley north of there, where sea air had intruded and killed off the cloud street. Nevertheless there was some sporadic convergence and I got back into the drier air without too much trouble. There was another strong convergence line running north. Crater Lake was daunting - all high ground with nothing but rocks, trees and snow. Outlanding would mean doing an uphill on a snow slope and getting out before the glider started backsliding! But the temptation would be to fly away from the mountain and retain ground clearance, which would probably end badly in the trees or rocks.
Anyhow, I turned Crater Lake and hit dreadful sink getting back to the convergence, but then had another decision to make - go east or west of the Shasta valley to make the final turn area? I chose east as the clouds were more solid, but they were further away than I thought (the shadows weren't visible due to the terrain) so my deviation was more than I had planned. I got a good climb though and pushed for Shasta Lake, flying right into the lee of Mt Shasta itself. There was good positive air there but as soon as I moved out around the mountain into the main southerly flow I hit 3.5kt sustained sink. I knew I would have to fly back down the valley in the same sink so I elected to turn early while still comfortably high. Consequently I was 3 minutes early and my fears turned out to be unfounded - I came in with plenty of spare height, testing my VNE for the first time.
The scores showed that Phil and Peter in #1 and #2 had made much the same choices as me, but I did pull up 60 odd points. I was pleased though to note that I achieved over 99% of the winner's score. A few extra practice days would have been wise.
Today we drove to Air Sailing for the Sports Class 2012 Championships - we passed through Truckee on the way and that's a lovely town with a big gliding operation. It is as hot as hell here - 35 degrees with 38 forecast for tomorrow, the practice day. And there's no air conditioning in the clubhouse or the RV (no power hookup). Time for a good night's sleep.
