2021 Recap
US XContest National Champion
This past year has been a challenge on many levels; Covid, death and weather were constants throughout. Covid acted as a veil that constantly reminded of the need to take care and precautions to keep us all healthy. Although not directly impacted, the potential issues continually lurked in the background. This summer death knocked on the door too many times (having lost several loved ones) and in spite of our best efforts took Sue’s beloved mom from us. The weather was inconsistent and challenging to predict. The winter/spring season in Florida never really set up with the conventional southeasterly flows up the peninsula. When southerly winds did briefly occur, they ended up being blocked by stationary fronts north of Ocala. There weren’t any 100 miles flights to the north this year. In the midwest (Whitewater, WI), typically cold fronts will pass through on a weekly frequency starting in late July. It wasn’t until mid September that a strong cold front finally passed through that resulted in a good flight however the soaring duration was limited by the number of sun hours at this time of year. Even the weather in the usually reliable west Texas was hard to predict. The coastal plains were inundated with moisture in early summer that retarded the development of normally hot arid conditions expected in late July and early August. A week in Cotulla, Texas was somewhat of a bust. A number of pilots gathered there to be towed up by Gregg Ludwig on his super trike with setting records in mind. Even though we had all of the logistics aligned, two days of torrential rain limited our best efforts. I hadn’t seen west Texas so green before.
Yet it wasn’t all gloomy. Florida is a great time in the winter and spring as a significant number of like minded cross country (XC) pilots gather at Wilotree Park to fly preset tasks on the good days. Davis Straub, Greg Dinauer, John Simon, Mick Howard, Pedro and Maria Garcia, Corey Barnwell and a host of others fly together on most days to enjoy the sweet Florida conditions and improve their skills. Although the southerly conditions didn’t get established this year, there were a number of decent flying days. February and March resulted in about 45 hours of airtime but no big XC days to speak of. A week of exceptional weather started off the month of April and on the the 4th a large group went for it on a 100 mile triangle around the Green Swamp. John Simon, Pedro Garcia and I managed to make it . The next day looked good for an out and return task with light winds and high cloudbase. We set a task to fly south to Gilbert Airport and return north to Baron Airport and then back south to Wilotree (~100 miles). Davis, Bruce Barmakian and I completed the task in epic cumulus cloud filled skies. The conditions the next day were almost a repeat so we set another big task to the south to Suzanne Airport and back to Wilotree. Davis and I flew together the entire flight. The task was ~90mi so as I neared Wilotree I found a good climb and decided to fly further north to get an additional 10 miles to put me over 100 again. On the fourth day, conditions still looked good with mostly blue skies but high top of the lift so we again set an aggressive task to the south to Lake Wales and then back to Wilotree. To get 100 miles we would need to proceed further north to Grass Roots Airport and back to Wilotree. We flew together to Lake Wales and back. Davis landed at Wilotree however just as I approached the airport a gaggle of vultures popped out of the field climbing very fast. I joined them and climbed back up to 4500’. A convergence line of clouds formed a couple miles to the west and was producing excellent lift up to 600fpm. Cloudbase at 6700’ was enough altitude to glide north to Grass Roots Airport and back to Wilotree for my fourth 100+mile flight in four days! The conditions indeed had been epic with strong climbs up to 1100fpm (>700fpm average) on two of the days and tops above 7000’. Two weeks of competitions started the next weekend however the weather had turned for the worse. There were only two good days during the period. The rest were mediocre at best with low, slow climbs and few clouds. By the end of the month it was time to head back to northern Illinois.
The four 100 milers in Florida.
Back on my home turf, I connected with Kris Grzyb from Aurora, IL who I have flown big flights with for over 25 years. We share the same strong desire to push ourselves for long distance and he is probably the best cross country pilot in the US. Thankfully for me anyway he logs flights under his native land of Poland (lol!). In early May strong spring conditions set up for three days of good flying. Kris had to work on May 11th however my brother Rob met me in Whitewater, WI to fly in strong post frontal conditions. We didn’t have a driver but decided to go for it and figure out retrieval once we were done flying. I launched first and climbed in successive thermals to 5000’, 5500’, 6700’ and 7200’. The spacing between thermals was tight and for three hours my lowest point was above 4500’. Temperatures up high were brutally cold (<25F) however I was reasonably prepared with heat packs in my shoes, multiple thermal layers, bar mitts and heat packs for my hands. At one point the thought crossed my mind how wonderful it would be to soar in these conditions and be toasty warm. I didn’t get hypothermic but did have to run in my harness to keep my core temperature up. Unbeknownst to me the surface conditions at Whitewater worsened after my launch so Rob elected not to fly. He knew the conditions would be better the next two days so decided to drive the chase vehicle to pick me up. We weren’t using radio’s so had no idea he was on route. About 100 miles out high cirrus shaded the ground and ever so slowly cooled the environment including my body temperature. I’m a strong believer that eliminating distractions is the key to excellent performance and am driven to remove those distractions that impact my ability to focus on the task at hand. Unfortunately the cold was getting to me and once that started my thoughts about the length of time it would take to get retrieved were becoming dominant. I began looking for towns in the distance suitable for a landing. The optimal place would be an airport however after overflying several towns I touched down in an open field on the outskirts of Metamora, IL 4hrs 40min in the air and 153 miles from launch. Unbelievably Rob arrived 30 minutes later. After a 2 hour ride back to my house we checked the weather for the next day and found that the conditions improved with light and variable winds and top of the lift at 10000’!
Whitewater to Metamora
We met Kris at Whitewater early. He had followed my tracker for the whole flight the day before and was chomping to fly a big one. He planned out a 207km (128mi) FAI triangle to the southeast to Ringwood, IL then west northwest to Avon, WI and finally back to Whitewater. Temperatures at the top of the lift were predicted to be 15F so it was going to be a very cold day. I dressed similarly as the day before but added a neoprene no fog face mask. Kris was off early and on course. I followed and headed southeast but a few clouds later was down to 1700’; quite disappointing after having topped out above 7300’ on the previous two climbs. After digging out and struggling to get high again and seeing the clouds on course line thin out, the decison was easy to just follow a better cloud line. The task was abandoned and I flew a new route to the south using the Flytec 6030 to determine distance to takeoff. The line was good for 30 miles just past Harvard, IL where it then diverted to the west which was perfect to get me back on the original course line. The last climb at the southern terminus took me over 9000’ for the first time and the clouds to the west were strong too with multiple climbs over 8500’ and one climbrate at a peak over 1200+fpm. West of the Rock River the lift was more elusive; flying under multiple clouds resulted in little gain but there were better looking clouds further west. I spent an hour searching for a good climb and eventually found one near Durand, IL that was solid and took me to 9400’. The path north now looked epic with flat, black bottomed cumulus marking the lift along the way. The next four climbs were over 8800’ with one strong climb at ~750fpm average to 9859’ the highest of the day. East of Evansville, WI I decided to return to Whitewater so headed east toward Milton. This leg of the flight was uneventful with several good climbs until I was high enough to glide back to the airport for a good landing. The flight duration was 5hrs and 35 minutes and total distance was 120miles. Kris flew the original task and made it back as well. Rob had an awesome flight too.
The third day showed lift over 10500’ (the best I can recall in the area in 45+ years of flying) however there would be higher winds from the southwest as the day progressed. Kris set a monster task to fly around the city of Madison and its airport over 150 miles. Although neither one of us completed the task, Kris did manage to get 2/3 around the course and I did around 60 miles. The notable part however was that both of us thermaled up to cloudbase and I reached 10497’ in one climb.
It was almost another month before I flew again. The 2nd of June looked to be epic again so Kris and I set another task around the city of Madison. A dry wedge of air was centered over the area and the forecast was for light winds with cumulus clouds rising to over 9000’ at the peak of the day. Kris and I both completed the 150+ mile task in just under 8 hours. I posted the story of our flight in my blog: https://tinyurl.com/ymy9nccp.
The two big triangles in Wisconsin.
The rest of the summer didn’t produce any big flights. Even Cotulla, TX was woeful at best. IN September, I was able to spend a couple days flying with friends in SE Oklahoma at the Panorama site on the Talimena National Scenic Byway. The site is beautiful and the pilots are a great group. On the 16th I flew for 5hrs 20 min and approximately 120 miles. This story is also in my blog: https://tinyurl.com/ycknfnmn This was my 8th flight over 100 miles this year. The best six were long enough to get awarded the XContest US National Championship for the second year in a row.
For the year, I ended up with 51 flights, just over 136 hours and 2279 miles.
Ayvri:
