BIG Springs - Day One

MADE GOAL! The task was a 76.6 mile downwind task to another airport. A lot of people made goal today. I wasn't fast but I made it, got to 800' at one point but climbed back out. Maxed out to 10,500'! Eric and I found each other about 15 miles away from goal and navigated our way through a big blue hole on course line. James, Ollie, and Stump all made it! It was a personal best in distance and altitude, it was a great time. It took Eric and I about 3 hours to make goal. The day got bigger as it went on, cloudbase went from about 7,500' to 10,500 over the three hour flight. The rigids were on the ground long before the flexi's so they didn't experience the higher cloud base. All in all it was a great day, everybody in our group made goal safely! Great way to start the trip! Now on to dinner and some sleep!

The results for the day just came in and I'm in 17th which isn't surprising considering how slow I went from climbing out from 800 feet and farting around trying to figure out how to get around a blue hole. My 'goal' for today was to make goal and I did so I am very pleased with that. My GPS said my batteries were failing only 30 minutes into the flight so I was turning on and off my GPS to see where to go. When it was off I just headed toward other gliders and then I would turn it back on to verify I was going the right way. Once Eric and I were flying together that helped me get to goal.
Flex wing results: http://soaringspot.com/bsi2008/results/flex/daily/day1.html

Practice Day

Today people were in the hangar getting their gliders set up and getting everything together. Some people got to tow before it overdeveloped for the day and the gust front hit. Ollie, James, Eric and I did not tow today. It rained pretty hard for a while and there is standing water now, so it may be a more mellow day tomorrow? I'm a bit nervous, but excited to fly high and far!

I don't think I'll be getting in the pool at all this trip . . .

Some towing and what the hangar looks like:

Practice Morning

Got to stop by Wally World to pick up knee pads so I save my knees on the concrete in case a weak link breaks and a dog stake so my glider doesn't get tossed by a dust devil.

Next up going to the airport to get some practice flights in.

I think I'm going to go with the normal release, even though I've been pro towing because on the LMFP-made release there are three points to distribute the weight (as opposed to two on pro tow) and the weak link is over a wider area than the release used for pro towing which is like a butter knife, so in my opinion the weak link will be easier to break on pro tow than with the normal release. That is a concern of mine so that my weak link doesn't break too easily coming off of the cart. Any comments, thoughts?

I will try to be posting at least once a day and give an update on the meet, so check back to get updates if you're interested.

Mississippi

We loaded the gliders in the rain and got on the road at 9pm and now in Mississippi at 1am!

With the gliders on the car, it is now a very expensive and precious vehicle!

Over the drive, Ollie (left in picture) entertained us with stories of rattlesnakes, dust devils, thorny landings, praire dog holes to fall into, towing off of concrete, and many other dangers we may face over the next week. I'm now thoroughly scared, but still excited for the BIG Texas air!

Klondike Bar Contest!

What would I do for a Klondike Bar?

Make a video you can watch and rate at:

http://www.wwydfakb.com/videos.aspx

Search for 'Lucas' or 'Hang Glide' and give it a good rating and a comment!!!!

Full Throttle

Still going FULL THROTTLE! Go there and rate my video!

https://cocacola.eprize.net/gofullthrottle/index.tbapp?page=gallery

Glory Ring of goodness

Flew three hours yesterday and saw my glory ring for the first time! I was enjoying playing around in the docile clouds. It was intense, for a split second I thought it was another glider popping out of the cloud because I only saw it out of the corner of my eye.

Practiced best glide and and trying to climb as effeciently as possible and leaving thermals at the right time to be faster. Flew to Cloudland Canyon SP, 'Stedman's Gap', and then to the drive-in movie theatre as a practice course to get ready for Big Springs. I averaged about 20-22mph for the time it took for me to cover that distance. So I think I did a pretty good job of flying fast between thermals and leaving them when I should.

(Photo from www.pacifictandem.com/photos.php)

First Post

Hi, My name is Lucas Ridley and this is my first 'blog.' I wanted to set this up so I could provide updates for the Big Spring competition coming up in two weeks, but it could turn into more . . .

Check out some of my videos: