WCPC Days 2 & 3

I don't think I've ever seen rain at Woodrat, but this week has produced not just rain but thunder, lightning, fires, gust fronts and hail. Needless to say, this has influenced the flying. In general the mornings have been good, the afternoons have overdeveloped with rain in the evening or overnight.

Yesterday was day 2 and, while there were big clouds to the East, the day started pretty gently. Early flights showed there was lift - although no-one was getting high, it was boaty. At the start, a whole bunch flew across to Rabies and struggled; I was in decent lift right then and got as high as I could - only just over 5,000 ft - before following them. I followed a couple of gliders that were gliding well, they got in above ridge height and I just failed to do so. I looked for some lift but didn't get anything usable and joined a bunch of frustrated pilots in the LZ. Many of the pilots that got in over the ridge still sunk out or had to scratch for a long time before getting up. Sam and Brett were a bit smarter and stayed over launch until the lift improved and had nice flights, getting far along the course. Only one pilot reached goal - Matt Beechinor, the winner of day 1 - before the task was stopped due to overdevelopment.

As in day 1, nearly half the field failed to make minimum distance. When conditions are tough at Woodrat getting established above the first ridge can be the hardest part of the flight. It's frustrating when that happens (at least, if you are one of the pilots failing to make minimum distance).

Day 3 started looking better but very quickly the clouds to the East were going thermo-nuclear. An early task to the West was called, trying to beat the overdevelopment. I launched towards the end of the gaggle as the clouds were building; it seemed OK to fly for now, but it was unlikely to stay that way long enough to complete the task. As we got higher and the clouds built behind launch I found myself unwilling to follow the gaggle and stayed out front, in a bit of a blue hole. These conditions produce big lift and big sink, and if you're reluctant to fly near threatening clouds just staying up can be difficult. By the time the task was cancelled all the CPC pilots were safely on the ground.

We're all hoping for some improvement in the next few days, but the forecasts don't really show much change at all.