On Saturday, the contestants gridded with expectations of a reasonable soaring day, but due to the moisture in the ground, it took too long for things to heat up and the convection to start. The day was scrubbed at 1430. Eleven competitors decided to launch for practice and were able to fly locally for 2 -2 1/2 hours. They all agreed that is would not have been a contest day.
Sunday was the first contest day. The launch was started at 1300, after Ray Wood had been airborne in VS for an hour. The task was changed in the air before the gate opened to take advantage of the Cu that had formed to the north. The task and day scores are shown below (click on the score sheet to enlarge it). All the pilots had a tough time on Sunday and many were close to landing out several times during the flight. Although there were cu, they were not honest and many of them had little or no lift under them.
Monday was another contest day with better soaring then Sunday, but it was not without its challenges. About 35 km from the first turnpoint at St Marys, the cu ended and the sky was blue. Most pilots minimized their distance into the blue and turned as soon as they were within the 20 km zone. The second leg to Tillsonburg had a few wispy cu, but south of Tillsonburg near the Lake Erie shoreline there were large good looking cu. Most pilots made it to these cu and then ran back up to St George under the clouds. The leg back west to New Hamburg went blue again about halfway along. This combined with the slowly weakening sun slowed things down at the end of the day.
Congratulations to Jerzy - the 2008 Mudbowl Champion!It seems that there has been a turn for the better in the weather patterns over the last few weeks and the flying conditions have been much better then experienced during the last half of July and first half of August. Hopefully this dry weather will hold for the remainder of the season. We still have at least 8 weeks of flying weather before the end of the season, so come on out and keep flying. Besides soaring flights, there are lots of other things that you can work on. Students can continue to work towards their first solo or license, licensed pilots can take up some aerobatic or unusual attitude training or work on progression through the fleet.
See you at the Airport!
