Day 2 at Perry (no task today)

I'm sitting in my micro-camper at about 3pm, after the day was called
here at Perry. A storm system was moving in from the southwest, with
major blow-ups visible on radar and visible satellite loops. At the
morning meeting it was decided to move the grid time up slightly to
see if a task could be completed before the stratus came in and shut
everything down. Unfortunately, the stratus got here before there was
sufficient heating to get us off the ground, so the day was cancelled
Yesterday (Day 2) was a challenging day for all classes Winds out of
the south at 15-20kt, mostly blue. The Standard and 15m guys had a 4-
area 2:30hr TAT; first east to Orangeburg, then south to Barnwell,
then north again to Fogles, then west to Ernies, then home. 18m was a
2:30hr TAT; first southeast to Dry Swamp, then south to Allendale,
then west to Aiken, then home. Sports was a 2:00hr TAT; first
southeast to Bamburg, then west to Aiken, then east to Fogles, then
home.
We were all off the ground by about 2pm, and then the start-gate
roulette commenced. For those with sufficient patience, a few raggedy
clouds popped up on the extreme upwind edge of the std/15 start
circle, allowing climbs to a little over 5000'msl. In the 15m class,
BB (John Cochrane) led a group of us out at around 2:45, and we had a
very fast first leg into the Orangeburg circle, not stopping for 20
miles or so, and then pulling into a 4-5kt climb. BB and the eventual
day winner ZJ (Jerry Zeiba) then extended farther east for a few
miles, hoping to come back to the same thermal (didn't work). I went
all the way to the back of the Orangeburg cylinder chasing some good
looking cu's, and caught them just inside the circle. Unfortunately,
they didn't work at all, and then I was alone in the blue (again).
Fortunately I met up with XM (Mike Smith), and I was at least smart
enough to stay with him for the rest of the task. This was the first
time I have been able to really team fly with someone, and it worked
pretty well; coming back north after the 2nd circle, heading for the
3rd, we were about 100yds apart and at the same altitude. He would go
up a bit, and then I would. One or the other of us would pull up in
lift and start circling, and the other would immediately pull in and
start turning as well - cool! About halfway between Barnwell (2nd
circle) and Fogles, Mike started slowing down and then he dumped the
rest of his water. I wasn't really sure what was happening, but I did
the same. Turned out Mike was about 15 minutes faster than me to
recognize deteriorating conditions ahead - some of that National Champ
mojo.

Most pilots got in trouble at least once, some more so than others.
BB reported that he was down to about 500'agl at one point, and
counted himself very lucky to have gotten away at all.


The 18m guys had a slightly better time of it, probably because their
task took them a bit more south where the conditions were better.
The day winner was W3 (Tim Welles), who reported that when he really
needed a thermal, he spotted two other gliders circling ahead. When
he pulled in, who did he see but 8H (Al Tyler, previous 15m US team
member) and DJ (Doug Jacobs, previous world champ), After W3 joined,
the 3-glider gaggle consisted entirely of previous US team members -
talk about an exclusive club!

Sports class was won by Sarah Kelly-Arnold (again), who says she's
still looking for that 1000-point win. Heck, I would be perfectly
please with a 900-point win!

Tonight we are being treated to another wonderful dinner. Wagener
isn't exactly a culinary hotspot, so on-field dinners are more of a
necessity than a luxury, along with the on-site camping.