Golden August 6

Up on launch it was sunny but south wind. Normally we'd set a task north in this wind, but it looked a bit stable for that (crossing to table mountain with no LZs), so we opted for a 40 km "fishbowl" task, from launch to the Pagliaro gap, to the gravel pits, again for another round, and to the Nicholson LZ in time for the Sunday party and dinner planned.

We ended up waiting all day, opening the window, closing it, extending it, once again closing it, etc. We could see it getting better as the day went on, so we finally decided on a 6:30pm start of the race.

It was really south, so we all launched from the south launch. The locals have been working to fix the south launch so it's not as steep and clifflike, and it's a bit sloped now (still being worked on though), but still not the most comfortable of launches. There were a few hairy launches, but most people got off (some decided to stand down).

In the air it was not as bad as we originally thought, more west wind and less south wind. The first round of the task was a bit slow, since the climbs weren't that great and the wind was pushing them all over the place. But the second round of the task was much better, it got better and people were getting to 3500m ASL above the peak of Mt. 7!

At the end, I was able to get to 3000m ASL and discovered I had the rest of the course on glide (even though I had 3 TP's to still get), so left the thermal that everyone else was topping out at, and went around the course again. Tagged the last TP (launch) and then full-barred it to Nicholson LZ and goal, just behind John Clifford (who later on told me he's 17kg over the weight range of his glider, which is probably why I couldn't catch up to him on the final glide since we were both flying full bar at the same time).

In the end 6 people made goal. There were several people who didn't get the last TP (launch) since they were too low, and couldn't thermal up high enough to tag it before gliding to goal. Special kudos to Gavin, who grovelled on the cliffs waayyy low for about 1 hour, until he got high enough to tag launch and then finally leave for goal.

The non-Race people opted to either fly locally, or do out and returns to Parson-ish. Jon Orders flew 80km OR for the longest HG flight today I think. It turned into a great day, despite us having to wait until the evening to fly. It's the first time I can think of doing a task so late in the day (I launched at 6pm, and people were still flying at 9pm), and still flying 40 km!

We were supposed to be treated to a base jump from a tandem, courtesy of Scott Watwood, naked (!), but apparently they got distracted by a car coming up to launch when they were about to take off, and they had to hide since Scott had no clothes on, and by the time they got re-organized, it was too dark to check the lines. So we are hoping to see this spectacle tomorrow!