On Jun 20, 10:14*am, " wrote:
RR....turning this event into a learning tool....why was it best to
leave the gear down? You point it out with conviction, there must be a
good reason. Also, about how far did you slide,plow,then cruise thru
the water before all ahead stop?
R

I had seen a briefing at a US teem XC Camp at Perry. The briefing was
originally prepared for the contestants at the worlds in Sweden. The
procedure was gear down to avoid the suction that the belly will
cause. If you dangle a spoon by its handle and gently touch the
bottom of the spoon to water flowing from a faucet (this works even
better in an un-aerated faucet) you will see the effect the spoon will
jump towards the faucet.

Having the gear down I think will also slow you down using a part of
the structure that is designed for high drag loads.

Spoilers out are bad, they can’t take the load, I had neutral flaps
but the briefing described landing flaps, but not dive breaks.

The other thing the briefing noted was don’t worry it will float. And
indeed it did. I don’t think it would stay up all day, but for quite
a while. It was a rapid deceleration but not “impact” like. As to
whether I went under, I don’t know as I got a face full of water as I
hit (I forgot to close the vent) but when I opened my eyes I was high
and moist…

I believe we are putting up the briefing on the web and when it gets
there we will post a link.

As well as it went, don’t try this at home…

Commodore