I did better than I thought! Quest comp Sunday

[Lauren Tjaden]

My arms ached. I had been following the tug for many minutes, climbing at only 1 or 2 hundred feet per minute. Joe, my tug pilot, flew over the widest range of sky possible, trying vainly to find a bit of lift in the large blue hole over Quest. Finally, he gave up and waved me off. I spotted the vaguest wisp of a cloud by the start circle, 2 miles south of the field. I raced over and climbed, and tagged the start. My next turnpoint was 4 miles north -- across the blue sink. I didn't make it, but landed back at the field. It was better than the sled rides most of the pilots had, but it wasn't great.
I tried again when a few clouds formed and I saw birds soaring, even though the day was getting late. This time I climbed to 4000 feet, a mile north of the field (and 3 miles from the start). I ventured even further north to a better cloud, where 2 bald eagles led me. One had a mouse in his claws. Cool. I flew into the wispies and took off south.
I'll keep this short. JD and I flew together lots, and we both got drilled on our way to the second turnpoint, headed into a stiff headwind. Lots of swamp below. Scary. I was grateful to hear my 5030 sing its happy song when we finally snagged the waypoint and I could whip around and head home -- at 50 mph groundspeed!
Neither of us made the next turnpoint but we sure had fun. I wimped out early but JD followed the vultures we were with downwind from the field and barely squeaked in over the trees when he finally gave up.
Mitch Shipley won the open division (15 pilots, the others were sport and rigids), flying the WHOLE course in under half an hour. He was the only pilot in the open to complete the course either day, and he was lightening fast. I do not get it, like how he does it. Jim Prahl was second, and JD and I tied for 3rd. Pretty amazing to see all the pilots, like magic fairy dust in the air, telling you instantly how smart or dumb your decisions are. I liked the eagles the best, though.
Lauren

[jimrooney]

Was this Jim's "star" course?
I remember him talking a lot about getting a tight course with lots of turnpoints going this year.

Nice work btw :)
Jim

[breezyk1d]

Keep up the good work Lauren! As an armchair pilot, I sure enjoy reading about your exploits and skills, and adventures. -Linda

[Paul Tjaden]

In a message dated 11/8/2005 2:00:49 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, jimrooney@gmail.com writes:

Was this Jim's "star" course?

Pretty much, with some modifications. We didn't use the western turn point (it was named "bad" on the way point list that?we downloaded into our instruments, because the wind was east and there is a dearth of landing fields in that direction). And the sports class had closer way points, at 1 mile points from the field, so they could get used to flying to specific way points without risk of landing out. If you landed out you got a score of 0, because Quest didn't want to irritate the land owners close to them.
Lauren
PS: I hope you are still having lots of fun on your adventure!