Abandoning the Day

I am not sure how many of you watched the Pan-Americans in early Dec but the US team blog can be found here. It was in Argentina and as expected for any international contest the weather was less than stellar. They had 2 1000point days in 7 flying days for the 15-meter class.

One might say, 'Boy am I glad I did not travel that far to fly 5 weak days and 2 reasonable days.' This is the same mentality we use in the US when traveling east across the Mississippi. Few are willing to do it. I drove 5 days to fly 5 days at Cordelle GA. On the last day, not everyone made the minimum distance of 60 miles.

I was talking to a friend today who had a few years hiatus and he was commenting on how soaring is just not as good as it once was. Before he was here every Saturday and now he bases his Saturday on the forecast. This resulted in many missed Saturdays because the forecast was pessimistic. Unless it is un-flyable it is probably worth the drive out and taking a tow.

Sean Franke had a nice flight with his son on a day when nobody came out and the forecast was marginal for wave. We looked at it and we were pretty certain it would be there if you towed into it, it was and as you can see in the video it looked fun.

So back to the Pan Americans, most of us have a tendency to not fly on days we deem to be not worth it. The Argentinian pilots have been placing very well at the WGC's. They do not give up. Look at Day 5, the winner only received 200 points, however, that was 73 more points than the closest American pilot.

There are many days at home that I do not fly because the forecast is not very good or days I abandon a task because the likelihood of landing-out out is very high. Landing-out is very inconvenient. During a contest, I keep going. My willingness to land-out attempting a task is much higher. I have a crew and as long as it is safe I will keep going.

However, that was because I learned my lesson. I remember at a JWGC in Nitra Slovakia I gave-up and abandoned the task. There may or may not have been a great international dogfight waiting on the outside of the rain (luckily this was before GoPro's). Eventually, I gave up and a few of us started back. On the way home I found some rotor, which the group I was flying with climbed into the wave and made it back into the turnpoint (above the clouds). As I floated home I had no idea what was going on behind me. I learned my lesson that day, there was no risk in waiting and continue searching for a way into the turnpoint.

Once I was home it was too late to take a relight as the start line had already closed. Later on that evening few of the pilots still on course overflew the airport to a field with their trailers waiting for them. A couple of other trailers were ready to go as their gliders floated overhead and were told to not land at the airport and keep trying to get as much distance as possible. The fields around Nitra are very good.

It was a depressing evening for me to watch the group I was with all drift over me on course as I sat at the airport. All because I couldn't get into the turnpoint when I arrived and I gave-up to land back at home. It was just as bad watching them all leave me on the score sheet the next morning.

You gain no experience or points by sitting on the ground.

 Garret Willat holds a flight instructor rating with over 8000 hours in sailplanes. His parents have owned Sky Sailing Inc. since 1979. He started instructing the day after his 18th birthday. Since then, Garret has represented the US Junior team in 2003 and 2005. He graduated from Embry-Riddle with a bachelor's degree in Professional Aeronautics. Garret represented the US Open Class team in 2008 and 2010 and the Club Class team in 2014. Garret has won 3 US National Championships.