2011 US Nationals - Big Spring, Texas

After an abominable world championships in Italy, I was excited to be heading to the US Nats in Big Spring, TX. This area offers the most consistent conditions in the country. I have flown there for at least 5 years now and cannot recall more than a day or two that was cancelled during the entire period. Interestingly, it rained from Dallas to Big Spring on the morning of the practice day. This was the first rain received in over 6 months. The area is very dry which is very good for us hang glider pilots.

Day 1 I am on the task committee. Davis is doing the weather. It looks pretty weak for today with quite a bit of wind. We call a 110km task northwest to Ackerly, then northeast to Gail and west to Lamesa. Unfortunately, we never got very high and no one made goal. Joe Bostik flew over my head high just past the first turnpoint and almost made it to goal. I landed in the same field as Davis Straub but squeaked past him to take second. With nobody at goal, the point values were very low. I am happy with second though.

Day 2 The good conditions return and we call a 164km slight dog leg to the north. The dog leg will keep lesser experienced pilots away from unlandable terrain before going the last leg over wide open farm fields. It has been so dry here that ½ the fields are barren. If you don’t irrigate you don’t have a crop. I took the second start at 1400 and had two nice climbs to 9000’msl on course. I left the group I was with and headed to an excellent cumulus cloud. I flew right under it but found no lift. I saw smaller cu’s on courseline to the north and headed to their way only to see them dry up just as I arrived. I now was down low in rough terrain (how ironic) and lost a turbulent climb down low finally putting the glider down in one of the few open fields in the area. Years ago, I would have been very upset with such a bad flight but my attitude has changed somewhat. I came to this competition with the objective to win it. I flew hard on this day and perhaps just a tad too fast as I never was in synch with the thermals. Of course as I was packing the glider, I looked up to see a number of gliders fly over my head thousands of feet higher! My nephew Zack is driving for me, Tom McGowan and Dave Proctor. He picked me up before I was finished packing (Excellent job!). Both Tom and Dave made goal. I couldn’t have been happier for them with just a few remorseful pangs for my pitiful performance. I finished 29th today and am in 24th overall. Davis won the day flying very fast.

Day 3 The task committee calls a record 380km (236mi) task to Parma and a backup task to Muleshoe (yes we are in Texas) of 242km (150mi). The reason for two tasks is that the weather models aren’t consistent. They all predict good strong winds but are not in agreement about the cumulus clouds. Some pilots are grumbling about calling such a big task because we won’t get back until very late. The committee changed the task to Muleshoe when the expected clouds didn’t materialize. I takeoff around 1300 and leave on the third start clock at 1400 in a good climb to 8700’. I hold the hammer back a little after landing early yesterday and find myself struggling again in the same area. I finally claw my way back up to 9000’ and connect with three good strong thermals at 700fpm as I follow the courseline north. There are no clouds to mark the lift but there are huge dust devils in the barren fields below that show where the good climbs are. Just past Lamesa I catch a group of gliders from an earlier start. They are flying around a huge dust devil but I don’t find the strong climb and decide to leave. A couple km’s later I hit a strong thermal over 800fpm at one point and top out the lift at 9500’. After a long glide, I spot Davis circling down low to my left and fly to him. I eventually catch 600fpm and get to 9700’. There are cumulus clouds to our north marking the way and I fly to them. The climb rates stay the same but it is obvious cloudbase is much higher. I take three climbs to 11000’ and one last climb to 13000’ before going on final glide to Muleshoe. I arrive at the airport to find no one there! Woohoo, I win the day! When asked to describe my flight at the pilots meeting the next morning, I tell the group that I flew the same as I did the previous day (when I finished 29th) only this time I made it to goal. I move up to 9th overall today.

Day 4 The winds are much lighter today so the committee calls a 143km task to the northwest to Patricia then due east to 11T and finally south back to the airport. Gary Osaba reports from his sailplane that the conditions are the best yet. I launch and get to 10000’ just before the 1320 start. This was the highest I had been this early. I thought I needed to leave early today to get around the course before the conditions started to wane. This was a miscalculation on my part as conditions stayed strong late into the evening. I flew with Mitch around the first turnpoint where I got low and had to dig out above a football field. The lift turned on to the best climb of the day at over 1000fpm to 10500’. Two more excellent climbs put me under a building cloud street. I was flying east to the next turnpoint into a south crosswind. Although the clouds looked better to the north, I was worried about drifting too far north and then having to struggle upwind to get the 2nd turnpoint. I elected to fly to the southeast where there were fewer clouds. This was my mistake for the day as I struggled in two climbs before finally getting up high again. I made the last turnpoint and headed on to goal. Two more good climbs put me on final glide to the airport. I finished 11th for the day and maintained 9th overall. Dave Proctor also made goal today climbing in one last thermal at over 700fpm at 1900 in the evening. Unbelievable!

Day 5 We call a bigger triangle task of 202.6km. The committee discusses the current world record speed for the course. The conditions are going to be so good that we think the record could fall. It is held by Attila Bertok from Hungary at 42km/hr. Gary reports from the air that the conditions are better than yesterday. Wow, how can it get better? This time we fly northeast 66km, west to Lamesa 65km and southeast to Big Spring 70km. I’m in good position to start at 1340 but Zippy signals me to hold back for a later clock. The start clocks are 20 minutes apart. At 1400 we start right at cloudbase at 10500’ which is the best start of the week for me. The course is long, I expect it to take about 5 hours so I pull the bar in and fly fast from thermal to thermal to the first turnpoint. Zippy gets out ahead of me but on the second leg to Lamesa I hit 5 climbs around 1000 fpm and catch him and many others at the 2nd turnpoint. I hit 800fpm at Lamesa and top out 2000’ above ten other gliders. I continue on as I’ve had excellent luck on my own this flight. The headwind is significant, up to 15mph as I glide toward goal. I climb up in three more good thermals and have the numbers (10:1) to get into goal. I pick up the speed but end up plummeting in strong sink and have to slow down to find another climb. Eight km from the airport, I’m down to 1500’ searching and hearing David Glover in my head saying “It’s better to come in a few minutes late than it is to land short”. I finally find a climb that eventually turns on to 700fpm. I take it up until my instrument shows that I have a 7:1 glide into goal. I turn on the afterburners crossing the finish line at 600’. I am the first into goal by 10 minutes; only five pilots make it. My task time is 4:20 which equates to 46.6km/hr possibly a new world record! I now move up to 5th with two days to go.

Nearing cloudbase over west Texas

Day 6 We poll the pilots this morning to see whether they want a short (2hr), medium (3hr) or long (4hr) task. The group is split so we opt for a short to medium task north to TBar and then northwest to Levelland airport. It takes me awhile to get in good position before I start on the 5th clock at 1440. Zippy and Davis take the same start and we are off to the races. Zippy gets a good line and leaves the rest of us behind. I miss a climb and end up behind the rest but continue to push north. There are no clouds to mark the skies but there are many dust devils in the fields. Half way to TBar I hit 1100fpm and take it to 11000’ and catch Davis and Bill S. I am now catching pilots who took an earlier start. I glide toward the turnpoint and just before it hit another 1100fpm climb. There are a number of gliders below. The final glide is off to the northwest and I have a tailwind. Two more solid climbs and I have the numbers to make goal. I race in as fast as 88mph and finish 2nd for the day four minutes behind Zippy. What a fun day. I made good decisions and pushed myself to fly fast. I moved up to 4th overall.

Day 7 Windy, windy windy this morning. I saw one of the planes that tows us up get a wing lifted and it took three guys to pull it down. The spot landing contest was to take place at 0900 and many of the locals were out to watch. The winds were just too strong so it was delayed to 1200. The task committee picked a couple reasonable tasks but the winds continued to blow hard. At 1300, the Safety committee decides to cancel the day. The conditions were just too strong to guarantee that the 30+ pilots could safely launch and land. An hour later the winds did die down some but they were predicted to ramp back up in the evening. I was charged up to fly as I was climbing up the rankings very steeply after my day two fiasco but alas it wasn’t to be. You can’t be a national champion by blowing a day. All was not a loss however as my poor start motivated me to push harder than I ever have before. I now know that I can compete with the best in the world whereas in the past I only believed that I could.

Recap for the week: I finished 1st twice and 2nd twice, accumulated over 21 ½ hours and 930km (575mi) in the six days of flying. Big Spring is the best hang gliding site in the US and possibly the world.