The Super Fly Paragliding Blog

Task cancelled due to wind.

Without a doubt the best day of the week! The wind backed off, base rose to 7,000′+ and the clouds were quite friendly. Clearly, great racing conditions. A 50km task was called – Launch to Entry cylinder at Rabies Ridge to FlyAir to Burnt to Squires Peak to Rabies Peak to out in the Medford Valley – Jacksonville Lz to Dark Hollow to Donato’s LZ. I had decided before launch to attack the cylinder from the upwind side. A quick climb at launch and I transitioned to Burnt ridge with a  few other pilots (Rick Ray & Paul Murdoch) a quick trip to cloud base and I transitioned to Rabies alone. A few pilots had gone directly to Rabies from launch and we worked to cloudbase together. We had an absolutely perfect start – at cloudbase, upwind of the cylinder and 1 minute to go.

I crossed the entry cylinder line 3 seconds after the start with Jack Brown, Meredyth Molocsay and a few other pilots – it was without a doubt one of my best starts ever. I tagged the turnpoint and had a great glide to FlyAir and an equally great glide to Burnt Ridge – all without stopping to climb! A quick climb at Burnt and I cruised to Squires. I had an altitude advantage of about 1,000′ above my fellow leaders so I slowed down and let them show the way ahead. Paul Murdoch struck out ahead of me and his glide indicated that the convergence was setting up on the right hand side of Rabies Ridge. I adjusted my line to the right and was rewarded with a convergence ride to Rabies Peak without stopping to climb. I got to the turnpoint and realized that I had caught up to Jack Brown who was in the lead.  Pushing out to Medford Valley and a sky without clouds, I again slowed down. After a few years of flying here, I knew that the Medford Valley has slower, smaller and less frequent thermals. Sure enough, I started getting low near Dark Hollow and Chris Galli and I were in survival mode together on a low ridge. Meredyth came in just above us and showed a small thermal on ridge top. I was able to stick it and race into goal with her. Total 29 in goal. Todays top ten.

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times, then again, it was the worst of times, it was the best of times. Today started off looking quite good and we were all psyched. Thinking I was being smart, I lined up in the far left line which was downwind of the cross wind and optimized for the best launch potential. The only problem was that the top 25 pilots with priority launch realized the same thing and jumped in front of me. I ended up sitting there until 2 minutes before the start. I had resolved myself to not racing and only limping into goal sometime very late in the day. However, after launching I realized that I had a carpet of gliders extending in front of me from the start cylinder to the second waypoint. I launched and was able fly straight to the stat cylinder in a straight line thermal after thermal, connecting the dots without circling in lift. Woodrat launch to Woodrat LZ to Rabies Ridge to Rabies peak without making a circle and on 1/2 speed. To my surprise I was within striking distance of the lead gaggle by the time we went Rabies Peak to Burnt Ridge to Woodrat Peak. Chris Galli was crushing it with Jack Brown, Paul Murdoch, Meredyth Molacsay and suddenly me on the course to the Cemetery Turnpoint. The lift 500′ below cloudbase was strong and it was quite a struggle to stay out of the clouds. It went like looking as a dismal task for me to quite hopeful. Then – again, taking a shorter line on course put me in sink out near Dark Hollow and I ended up ridge soaring a small hill for 15 minutes until a ripper came through and I was able to climb and continue to goal at Donato’s. 35.8km of racing fun!

Another day of wind was predicted so the task committee wanted to get the group off of the hill and on the ground early. The forecast called for increasing wind around 3PM. Launch window opened at 12:08 and a start at 12:50 was called. Conditions were less than ideal but by some miracle, 7 minutes before the start – myself, Paul, James, Meredyth, Dave W., Chris G., all climbed to base and crossed the line about 10 seconds after the start. We were rewarded with an instant plummet of 2,000′. Scratching up from mid-launch for a long time until we were able to transition to Burnt Ridge the next turn point.  Getting up on Burnt was a an ass kicking battle but if you were able to hold on you were rewarded with a beautiful cloudstreet directly to the Jacksonville LZ turnpoint. Unfortunately, I made an incredible rookie mistake and did not activate my route on my Flytec 6030 and I lost valuable time going 2 KM further than I needed to. However, with perfect racing conditions and riding the same street back to Cemetary -> Dark Hollow -> to Doanato’s Goal.

A 25.9  km task with 18 in goal. If you were able to get out of the Ruch valley, it was a great task.

A windy day was predicted so a short 24.9 km task was called. Woodrat LZ was the entry cylinder then on to Rabies Peak which was the crux move. With a strong WNW wind coming directly from Rabies Peak this really separated the pack. The few pilots that were able to get over Rabies ridge were able to continue on course. Unfortunately the strong headwind put 86 of 105 competitors in the LZ with minimum distance. 11 Pilots tagged Rabies Peak and continued on course line to Woodrat Peak -> Cemetery ->  to Goal at Dark Hollow. 10 Pilots made goal.

Fantastic first day with approximately 50% in goal. We had a 32.8 km task with an Exit Start cylinder at the LZ  -> Rabies ridge -> Burnt -> Woodrat Peak -> Rabies Peak -> Ruch -> Purcells Goal in Applegate Valley.  Here are the

Conditions improved greatly after the lead gaggle got to goal as the convergence set up and base rose to 7,500′. There were lots of smiling faces, including Super Fly pilot Jim Hull – first competition ever, first real XC flight and he made goal his first day. Way to go Hully!

Full Results are available here – http://flyxc.org/2010ratrace.html

On glide to Rabies Peak