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This is the blog for the USA Soaring Teams. Check here for the latest on-site contest reports from the team members.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Day 4

The guys had a bit slower task today. The day started with a typical high pressure scenario. Hot weather, weak lift, and light wind. A turn area task was called with a minimum distance of about 160km and a max of 611km and a minimum time of 4 hrs. Sniffers were launched for the first time in the competition, and were seen thermaling overhead for about 40 minutes. The task time was shortened by half an hour and the launch time was pushed back in 15 minute intervals until things started to improve. By about 12:30 things were looking good enough to launch and I believe the launch went off without any relights, despite the weak conditions.

As we waited for the start line to open, cumulus clouds started appearing and the sky started looking pretty good. The report from the air was a bit different. The winds picked up a bit and started to break up the lift, causing pilots to have a bit more trouble centering, and resulted in slower speeds overall of about 89 km/h as opposed to 110 km/h or so for previous days.

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