After a gusty night for the campers, the briefing optimistically set a AAT task of 2.5 hours but this was quickly changed back to the 2 hour ‘B’ task when the grid wasn’t able to start early enough. Launching finally commenced at 1:45pm, Dan (JDP) was on the fourth line of the grid today, so had an early start with his aerotow at 1:57pm. The start line opened an hour later, at 2:55pm after a Backstreet Boys rendition of ‘I want it that way’ over the airways was stopped! (No unnecessary radio chat here then!!)
On the grid (Sally Hender)
Dan: "I went fairly quickly 10/15 mins after the gate opening, as did most of the rest of field. It was such an easy day, with climbs of 7 knots, but I just never felt like I connected with anything at the right time.
I had some good climbs, but then had to fly slower than I wanted to, before the next climb, I just couldn’t get the flight to flow, I felt like I was saving myself each time I got into lift, even though I was in 7 knots climbs!
After turning the third turnpoint it continued to go wrong, and I just couldn’t recover. However, there were lots of fields to choose from! I still managed to find the one with a locked gate though!
Locked gate! (Sally Hender)
Sonny Rising’s (JNG and fellow competitor) dad, was watching on glide and seek and was 5 mins away when I landed, so came to check on me. Fortunately he had a friend of a friend of a friend, who knew how to unlock the gate! Not an enjoyable flight!"
A good field (Sally Hender)
A fairly easy retrieve from Team Hender, and we were back in time to cook gammon and fried potatoes for tea!
Dan still managed get some points for the day 32nd for the day, but still 17th overall. - Sally Hender
