Task 4: Rainshowers and a Short Day at the OD PG Nats

It seems every day during this competition we've had better weather than we expected, making longer distances than anyone has thought possible.   Today was the exception to that rule.  There were clouds booming off all of the high peaks by noon when we arrived on launch, and they were quickly getting bigger.   Rain was already coming at us over Utah Lake, so it was launch soon or not at all.

Even getting in the air quickly didn't help much.  There wasn't much lift organized at launch, and no one got high.  I saw a couple of wings heading south, and decided to follow them.  There was just enough lift to float along the ridge, I didn't bother trying to get very high because frankly the clouds above me were starting to look icky.   At some point the sky clouded over completely as I soared above the Y.   (Yes, it's a big white Y on the hillside).   All lift seemed to die, the air got really still, I just kept flying south to get as much distance as I could before landing near a trail at the base of the hill.

It was enough for 5th place on the day, although to be fair it was a short day and only counted for 1/2 the points of a longer day.  I did win the women's division so the race is still on for second place between Becky Brim and I...Julie Spiegler is clearly in the lead for the win, and we can't catch her at this point.

It started sprinkling within a few minutes of landing so everyone was quickly on the ground and back at HQ for an early finish.  I think we're all pretty tired from long flights so a good sleep will see us ready to go for the last day of competition on Sunday.

If any of you are wondering where my Orange and Blue wing is, I've left it in the shed this week and borrowed a faster wing from Ken Hudonjorgensen.  My wing this week is a Sun Lava EN C, it's super fast and fun to fly.   And it's got cool colors...yellow, red and blue in a design that looks like a phoenix. It's all about the colors, really!

See the live map of our spot trackers here http://xcfind.paraglide.us/comp.html?id=62

To check out other people's perspective on the competition, read Two-Can Fly's Blog HERE

Chris Galli, the XCSkies weather guru, blogs about weather HERE for the week.

Results are HERE