Squeezing the Last Foot out of your Start Height
Again I will start with a common theme to reduce the pressure of this one small part of the race. You have the next 4 hours to screw it up.
Do not worry about a few hundred feet. When I team fly even being separated by a 1000 ft is not the end of the world, annoying yes, but there is a lot of fluctuation in the air. Defiantly 200 ft is nothing to worry about (until you are on a marginal final glide, 3 miles out...) Because that is what we are really trying to save on the start without a safety margin.
I was trying to get that extra 15 feet above others at the top of the thermal and a small bubble in the air got 1 fix above the start height and then had to wait 2 minutes to start because my time had restarted. Give yourself some safety margin.
What altitude are you using vs what the scorer is seeing? Is he seeing what your United Instruments mechanical altimeter is showing that probably has not been calibrated since new? Have the altitude that the scorer is seeing displayed on your flight computer and give yourself a few hundred feet of buffer.
Make sure you did not confuse AGL and MSL. This could be only a few hundred feet difference or many thousands of feet difference. Either way, it probably will not work in your favor.
In the US if you are using a 2-minute rule below the start altitude then make sure you use 2 minutes. Using your watch or phone at 12:02 to 12:04 might only be 1 min 30 seconds and you get an invalid start or a start much earlier than you had expected if you happened to have a valid start.
When you are on the top of the gaggle and spoilers cracked trying not to climb and everyone is packing in under and around you it can get very busy. This is not the time to also include the altimeter into your scan. Your stress level and fatigue are not working for your advantage for the next few hours. If you are tired before you even start...
Mentally it is great rolling out with the pack and being on top, but it is really only mentally better. Scoring wise you are going to be just fine even if you are not the top glider at the start.
Photo: Luca Bertossio
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.
