And it was a repeat of yesterday, only more difficult at the end. We got a 169 km task, straight to goal. Nils Aage and me took the first start gate, flew together most of the day, and ended up on the same field 24 km from goal. Olav Opsanger made it in again, Olav Lien Olsen landed after 101km.

Atilla have won every day now, and is strong in the lead. The weather does not look as if it is changing at all, so we will have more of this low and slow conditions.

Nils Aage and me together in slooooow conditions. We landed after gliding out when this thermal died at 1700 meters, the terrain is at 900 meters here.

Sign at the airport

Another blue day today, 10-15 miles southerly winds and what looks to be a repeat of yesterdays conditions.

Just got back, 1:30 here. A long task in slow conditions, 185 km dogleg. Olav Opsanger took the first startgate and got to goal, Nils and me flew fast and well with the main gaggle until after the tp, where I topped out on top of the gaggle, and went on glide, only to find that nobody followed. I should have looked back and waited, but I could not imagine the gaggle would hang back on top of the thermal. Bastards… Being alone today was not very efficient, and I went into survival mode to try to stay in the air and take it very slowly. I managed to stay up, but all the gliders I could  see in front were low and landing. Weak thermals meant stayin in 0.5 meter and often just 0.

I came to a quite wide canyon with no landings, and I did not risk going low into it, so I flew back upwind and landed around 35 km from goal. Olav had topped out at 2500 meters above that point and glided to goal. So close, but 1000 meters too low.

Nils had landed where I left the gaggle, and Olav Lien Olsen around the turnpoint. Around 30 in goal.

Now sleep…

We got a 145km task to the north, straight line to goal. It was a strong tailwind, but inverted, stable, and blue. Almost nobody started towing until 30 minutes after the start opened.

My camelback started leaking while I was waiting in line for the tow, 2 liters of cold water down my back was quite refreshing in the 36 degrees heat. I had a good tow, and quickly found myself in a very good position on top of the gaggle at the edge of the start circle. But it was very weak conditions, and I did not see anyone else leaving at the first start clock at 14:45 I was flying with Seppi, and Antoine and a few others I did not recognize.  We flew upwind and stayed in the weak stuff for the next 30 minutes to take the next start. By then almost everyone had joined us in the same gaggle, making it quite unsafe for everyone in the unstructured air. I searched around for better lift, but only lost height and ended up low in the gaggle at the second start time.

I flew on and tried to stay in touch with the leading gaggle, many pilots landed under us, and I tried to stay as high as possible – meaning only between 500 and 1000 meters above ground. It was slow going, but I got to goal without major drama. I had to abort my 18:1 final glide when I got worse air than expected, and lost maybe 10-15 minutes before gliding to goal. Around 35 pilots in goal. Some of the top pilots landed out early, so it was clearly a challenging task. Olav Opsanger was first on our team, then me, and Nils Aage just behind. Olav Lien Olsen struggled early and had to land.

We do not have any results yet.

At goal – a nice little airport.

The drive to Big Spring was long and uneventful. We spent about 10 hours, and took it slow. Not much to see, but very green landscape due to lots of rain lately. We arrived in Big Spring, had dinner, and did some shopping at Wal Mart before going to bed.

I’m still jetlagged, it’s 5 hours difference to home, and I woke up at 04:30 feeling quite awake. We went out to get our gliders put together from shortpack, and do a testflight after lunch and registration at the HQ. Quite nice facilities here, we are at an airport. It’s strange to be flying above the airstrip while a 2 engine turboprop is taking off below.

Some pictures from today;

We had to pay towing and remaining fees in cash, they do not take credit cards at the worlds… Funny when all ATM’s only will give you $200 at the time, and all in $20 bills.

Setup inside the hanger, nice to be in the shade, it was 35 degrees outside, and quite windy.

Towing up

Johnny’s new bike, fitting for his personality…

Getting ready in the heat. Carrying the glider in the wind was hard work, flying after is easy, but it was still way to warm in the air. I only got to 800 above the airstrip, because I had to go down and let Olav have my helmet as he had left his at home in Norway before traveling here

Olav after his first flight on his new Wills Wing T2, he was happy with it.

So now it’s off for mexican dinner, and some sleep. Probably need to shop water, gatorade and a ice-box to have in the car. Tomorrow is another practice day, and then it all starts on Thursday.

We arrived on time in Houston, after a lot of waiting in line in Oslo, and running to get the next plane in Paris. Arriving in Houston our baggage was delayed in Paris. We got our car and checked in at the Motel, got some good mexican food, and slept solidly for 12 hours.

It’s warm and humid here, it was 33 degrees yesterday, and it’s very sticky air. We slept win aircondition running all night. The plan for today is to mod the car with roof racks, find the shipping company and get out gliders. Then it’s a 9 hour drive to Big Spring. The 5 day forecast looks very good for flying, very hot though.

So it’s flying time again… We are leaving Sunday morning for the Worlds in Texas. Our plane leaves OSL at 06:50, via Paris, and to Houston. We’ll get a car, and our gliders there, before we drive on to Big spring where the Worlds will be held.

The team is reduced to only 4 pilots due to injuries and pregnant wifes. The team will be Olav Opsanger, Nils Aage Henden,  Olav Lien Olsen and me.

I got a short soaring flight Sunday night, after that it’s been rain. 26 pilots in the comp, not much, but with a forecast for record rainfall it’s understandable that pilots stay home.

The results from the competition in Bassano are now online. The scorer had big problems getting CompeGPS to work, and we could not get results or downloads the second day. I’m hoping we can have Stein Tore’s new system up and running for Frya Cup in May.