On day 4 we were expecting north wind so it was decided to send us south but this time it would be 86.6 km task. The only thing to be aware today was about a fire at about 17 km from the take off so an extra waypoint was set to keep us away from the fire.
I was starting to feel very comfortable doing the flights to the south by now and especially after we fixed the little issue that I had with the Boomerang 5 that I was testing. Every time that I stepped on the speed bar the left wing tip would collapse with no reason. Lucky enough Mads Syndergaard advised me about stretching some lines to correct the problem. Bernard gave me a hand at launch and it worked just fine.
The flight went by the book and I was pretty much with the lead group until we went for a long glide by Elk Ridge. When we finally arrived to the next mountain range I felt like I was a bit too low so I took the safe exit towards the valley just to see the rest of the group climbing shortly after I flew away. From this moment I was playing catch up with them but I was only able to pass a couple of pilots and arrived at goal in 7th place.
On day 5 the fire was still going on south of the take off so to stay completely away from it we were flying North big time. A 105 km out and return task was set and everybody was getting really excited. Lighter wind in the forecast, lighter thermal conditions and having to fly over Long Peak twice on the same task was giving me enough reasons to plan my flight better this time. I took off earlier but it took us a long time to climb so I tried to use my altitude to spring ahead of the gaggle. This idea didn’t work for me since I went out of the start cylinder to early and I didn’t find any lift at the other side of the valley.
I quickly headed back to the start cylinder and left again, this time with even lower so I aimed to the NW part of the mountain hoping to use some of the valley wind to keep me up until the next thermal. When I finally found the lift the rest of the pilots were right there with me which actually made it easier to work the light lift. I kept pushing forward trying to fly faster and move ahead of the rest of the pilots. One small group of 4 pilots was ahead and crossed Long Peak before me. I also found a great thermal before the crossing so it put me at a good height to cross over but I decided to wait for a couple of the local pilots to go ahead and show me the way. Now we were getting up to 12,000 feet so I picked a faster line a bit more to the valley and met with the lead group just before Beacon waypoint. I was literally seconds behind and that was enough to miss the thermal and stay behind again.
On my way back I stayed pretty much together with the second group until we crossed Long Peak again, this time a bit more to the west since we were getting lighter thermals and not able to go up as high. I worked the thermal patiently trying to get a good altitude which put me behind my group but then I went for a longer glide and put me again ahead. This move seemed to be the right one until I failed to find good lift and watched the other pilots moving ahead much higher than me. I kept on going but being 7 pm didn’t help with my previous bad decision. I worked every single lift on my way just to miss the last waypoint for less than 500 metres and like some of the other pilots I ended up landing by the school. This task was completed by only 3 pilots and I finished on 13th place. I also wanted to mention that on that day a new distance record for Utah state was established with 105 km!
On Day 6 we had a similar task than the previous day. The fire was still going 17 km south of the take off at Inspo so we had a waypoint 12km south and after we have to go again north over Long Peak and back to goal at Point of the Mountain. If there is anything I should change for next competition it is to take off earlier so I could have a better start – that was the thing I constantly missed through the entire competition.
Anyway, we finally had a day with very light wind and a really high cloud base in the forecast. No surprise they decided to call for another 104 km task. By this time everybody was familiar with the place and we all tried a little bit different lines but one group timed really nice and hooked the best lift at the other side of Long Peak. The only cumulus cloud was sitting there waiting for them and took them up to 14,000 feet. I did my fly again slowly more towards the valley until Beacon waypoint and then flew faster the way back to the goal. Nice to be back on goal because that meant that I could go for early dinner …=) I arrived in 14th place and we had 33 pilots in goal.
