USA Soaring Team

The WAG has been great so far. The borrowed Ventus arrived on the same day we did as scheduled. Had a great flight on the practice day (see photos) but, of course, much worse conditions now that the contest has begun. We got about halfway up the mountains on the one contest day so far.

Also, everything worked for the practice day, except I still can't get the LX5000 to do anything but stay in cruise mode, and I discovered I had no radio about ten minutes before takeoff on the first contest day. Borrowed two handhelds and took off.

I began by blowing the start, the height limit was 1500 meters with a speed limit 170 kph ground speed. I am still embarrased about this but apparently most of the other pilots did the same thing. I thought I was going to land out about ten miutes after the start, but found myself in a gaggle of the entire feet in about a half hour. The flying kept improving thoughout the day, the last thermal was nearly twice as strong as anything I saw the rest of the day.

After finishing, we may or may not be cleared to return to the arifield because of timing with all the other activites. We only waited a few minutes in easy lift so this was not a problem so far. There is a nearby arifield, but no aero tows until after 8 pm so I hope it continues to go as well.

Today was called because of poor weather.