Day 4 My best flying day ever!

This is a bit late because we have been flying every day and the heat is exhausting so I have been falling asleep early.

On day 4 I finally flew an entire day without making any big mistakes. I launched 50 minutes before the first start clock and started to climb out over the resort. I watched as Dustin started to head north and since this is his backyard and he is a great pilot I figured it was a goo decision. I was a little to his left and we were starting to get low. I had just flown through some lift when Dustin turned around as he had missed it so I went right back to it and started to climb out from 300 m. Soon we were joined by Davis, Jon, Chris and a few others. We took the climb to 1000 m when Jonny and Chris headed off towards the edge of the start circle. Davis and I decided to follow and we eventually found a good climb just outside the start circle and it gave us a huge advantage over the rest of the field as it punched through the inversion that the rest of the guys were stuck under.

When the second start time approached I was at 2300 m with Chris, Jonny and Davis and I was on top. We all went back to grab the start and timed it perfectly and started on course. As I made my turn I could see all the rest of the guys getting to the edge of the start circle 2500 ft below us. We flew right back through the thermal we were in and we were on our way.

As we glided the 25 km towards the first tp I was able to glide head to head with the guys in the most perfectly still air. We had found what I think was the very first thermal of the day that had broken through the inversion so the rest of the air mass up there had yet to be stirred up by any thermals. We glided almost he entire way to the tp without a bump in the air and Chris, jon and I were still all together. Davis started a touch lower than us and as still there. We started to climb out in the first thermal we found and I was with Chris, on top of Davis but had lost track of Jonny. We took the climb to the top, tagged the tp and started to head south towards the next tp. As we glided Davis noticed a field spitting out dustdevils 1 mile east of the course line. Chris was going for it as well. That is when I noticed Jonny who must have skipped the climb before the tp and now was low over the field. Davis hooked up with Jon in the weak climb and I started to search around for the core as I was at least 1000 ft over them. I thought I would have some help centering the thermal but Chris was no where to be seen. The climb was better up higher so I was climbing really well as Jonny and Davis struggled for 10 minutes until it turned on for them as well.

Chris had gone to the field to the west of the course line and the rest of us had gone to the east but eventually the 2 climbes joined up and I was surprised to see chris appear at my altitude circling. Jon and Davis were now climbing fast and our thermal had pretty much topped out. I singled to Chris that we should go and e poited towards the tp so I pulled on a bunch of rope and headed out. When looked over my shoulder he was still turing. As I knew that I would do better with help i turned around and as I did I found a bit better climb. Chris came over to me an we did a couple more turns as Davis and Jonny were climbing up fast and closing the 2000 ft gap fast. Now this time Cris singled methat it was time to go, so I pulled on my vg, pitched down and tucked my arms in andstarted to glide. But yet again he had pimped me an had stayed behind turning waiting for Davis and Jonny. I saw this, called him a couple of names quietly to my self and continued on. I glided straight to the tp, as I ot there the air was rough so I knew there was a climb close so I tagged the t and started to search around. I found the core just as Chris got there at my altitude. Jon joined us shortly afterwords followed by Davis. We stayed in the rough climb that eventually smoothed ou but Davis skipped it and continued on course. I kept an eye on him as Ifigured We could fly straight to him when he finds the next climb.

Chris, Jonny and I topped out the climb and headed on course where davis was turning low over a field in survival mode. We flew a few thousand feet right over him but didn't find any thing so we kept going and found another good climb over a dustdevil a couple of miles west of Davis. I let him know about it on the radio as I climbed out with Jonny and Chris.
We were 25 km out from goal, all of my glide numbers had gone positive but they wern't going on glide yet. We stayed and climbed until we had a 10/1 glide then Chris went immediately followed by Chris and I. I ws at the same altitude as Chris, 150 ft over Jonny and between the 2 of them. As we glided towards our oasis in the dessert I passed Jonny and chris had moved over and slid 30 ft underneath me to take a line closed to the small mountain ridge between us and goal. Shortly after that move I started to fall out of the sky in sink as Chris got at least 500 ft on me in a few seconds. I had to turn 90 degrees to get away from the flushing and this let chris get in front of me. I was now even with Jonny and we were both trying to chase chris down. Until now we had een gliding at 90 - 95 km/hr but as we were only 15 km out and ou glide was now a 8/1 I started to pull on more speed. I figured Jonn was hanging back so he could watch our line and come in at the end and scoop the win with some extra speed. But..... Chris and I are both big bys on gliders that are a touch small for us we were both flying at full vg and full stuff going 120 km/hr and Jonny couldn't catch us as we hammered through some crazy rough air at full speed. It was an incredible mix of emotion for me I was very excited, happy and scared as I raced in as fast as Ii could against 2 incredible pilots on the most violent glide I have ever had.

It wasn't until after I landed that I learned that Jonny hadn't passed me on the final. I was grinning from ear to ear and was quoted saying that you couldn't beat the smile off of my face with a hammer. A lot of the guys made goal and we all sat under the shae of a tree at the resort drinking margaritas and celebrating a great day of flying.