January 9, 2013 - Day 3

First I must apologize for the lack of news until now. Landing out 3 times in the past 4 days didn't leave me much time for doing much else other than what's required for the competition. However, yesterday (Jan 11) I completed the task and I will try to give you the updates.

Day 3 began with very nicely. At the pilot's briefing I was declared as the winner of Day 2 and given a kilo of locally made caramel, which I donated to the Brazilians (since I'm allergic to all dairy), a  bottle of very nice Cabernet Sauvignon (which will wait till my wife Karyn arrives to Buenos Aires) and a yellow jersey, kind of those they give out in the Tour-de-France. A very nice touch by the organizers.

The task winner loot 

The weather forecast was good with mostly blue but strong thermals and even a few Cu's at the sea breeze boundary. We were given a 2:45 assigned area task, with the first TP to the Southwest, the second one to the North and then back East before turning home to Chaves (http://www.soaringspot.com/wgc2012/results/club/task/day3.html).

After we got launched into the blue sky, it was back to gaggle flying in worse-than-forecast conditions (which has become standard so far in this competition). This was going to be the 4th day in a row of more or less constant gaggle flying in bumpy and broken up thermals.

A "gaggle" on Day 3

After a relatively close encounter in one of the gaggles, I decided that I should take a break from gaggle flying for today, as I was starting to feel quite a bit stressed by it. So, I waited till everyone had gone on task, then climbed up and started the task alone, with no other gliders in sight. On a blue day this is risky because you never know where the next thermal will be and if you will manage to find it alone. However, in spite of that, I felt much better and had a very relaxed and enjoyable flight. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, while the lift was weaker than forecast, the wind was stronger (up to 50 km/h at one point) and the day died early, probably because of the strong wind. I almost made it back, but was about 12 km short of the finish.

I landed out in another stubble field next to the road from Chaves to Tres Arroyos. Luis and Leo (part of the Brazilian team) found me without problems and we were back at the airfield at the sunset.

Sunset through the trees at the farm I landed at on Day 3

Points-wise I didn't do very well as most of the Club class pilots finished the task and I dropped from 2nd to 21st in the overall standings. However, I am quite happy with my decision to place safety and my piece of mind above the sporting result. I do this because I love to flying and I want to keep doing it for many years to come.