[LASS Soaring] "Practice again this morning for TNT Texas"

[GordySoar at aol.com]

I went out again this morning to practice in Texas type morning  
conditions...wind and rain.
 
I decided to fly the Sharon for the TNT since John Luetke is the supplier,  
friend and lives in Dallas so my host for the weekend :-)
 
The Sharon is 147" span, so right now the biggest Thermal Competiton ship  
out there and has been for almost the last 15 years, but inspite of that, it has 
 consistantly won at the Nationals in Muncie and this year, I think every 
major  that has been held other than the MidSouth....and its still the prettiest 
ship  out there too.
 
today it was raining, mostly just enough to put drops all over the wing and  
my radio and the wind was steady  My launches were tremendous, the  Picolario 
Atlimeter reporting 730' + with each launch.
 
I was shooting for 10min task times, but the closest I got in 6 flights was  
8:40 with an average flight time of 6:40 for the flights.  The last flight  I 
decided to take a big launch and work it down wind.  Wasn't long before  the 
Sharon was likely over the post office in Jtown...not kidding. I had made  one 
or two turns too many.
 
The grey sky and wind got me freaked some so I put it in reflex, kept my  eye 
on its approach and started walking fast toward the street and the baseball  
diamond in that field to get a better view.
 
I won't lie, I was worried.  But she held a steady course, rising and  
falling dramatically with the wild lift cycles, but she kept on coming.

When I got back over the road, I had backed up toward the chute in the  field 
so that I could shoot the landing, didn't want to end that kind of flight  
without one.

The landings at the TNT (Texas National Thermal Champs) are runway, so  I was 
landing up the line with a limit of about 10' from the chute.  

When I came over the street I still had 4 minutes showing on the  Talking 
Timer, and I noticed the tail kick up, so I took a sharp wrap and got  some 
altitude from it, now at about 140' according to the Picolario's  report.
 
Comfortably situated at the landing line, I worked that piece to the left  
and then to the right, it moved in for one wrap and back to the trees at the  
road and finally broke apart, again with the wind blowing like it was, I didn't  
want to chance getting balled up attempting some cute downwind turn low to 
the  ground and I really wanted a controlled and smooth approach to the spot, so 
I  got her lined right up with the tow line and chute, and brought her down 
early  for 100, nose on the line landing. About a minute off wasn't too bad 
considering  the drama of the flight.
 
Drizzle picked up and I had to get some work done...so I speed packed and  
...here I am :-)

You?
Gordy
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://localhost.localdomain/pipermail/soaring/attachments/20061011/3ddbf3ee/attachment.htm