Bogong Cup Day 1

Today was the first day of the Bong Cup and I woke up very nervous. I am in the company of some really great pilots and was feeling a little un-sure of myself - was I in the right place?

It was decided this morning at the pilot brief that we would be launching the Emu launch because of the conditions, so we loaded gliders and headed up. The launch list/launch order for the first day was decided by world ranking for the first 25 positions and then the rest of the list was randomly sorted and I ended up 40th in a line of about 80 people - not too bad.

After setting up on launch we were given the day's task and set up our instruments. The task was 115k (about 75 miles) and had a total of three turn points. There were no CU's today so that actually made me feel a little more confident as I am a mountain pilot and we never have clouds - so the site and conditions were what I am use to.

By the time it was my turn to launch I had settled down a bit and felt confident with my equipment and my skill level. My game plan for today was not to race too hard - just stay in the air and complete the task. The wind was straight up the ramp and I had a nice take off.

Big smooth thermals all day long with altitudes up to around 6500k. I realize once in the air that since I had the right equipment now that I would be able to get with a group of pilots and stay with them. This worked really well and I was in about the middle of the pack on the way to the first turn point. Midway to the second turn point I had already left the group I was with behind after getting a great climb over the valley and then found myself thermaling with Jonny Durand Jr. - was this really happening? I ended up in the lead gaggle for a while which included Davis, Steve Moyes, Jonny D. Jr., and kevin Carter...I was pretty stoked. These guys are long-time champions and my position with them only lasted to the second turn point at which time my arms felt like rubber and I lost the ability to thermal and climb as good as I needed to stay with them.

To make a long story short I slowed down a bit and made my way back the the Kiewa valley to the last turn point before heading the 29km to goal. At the last turn point I was only about 1000ft AGL and joined a pilot who was thermaling at about 500ft AGL and climbed to 6k. After a few more climbs I had goal in site - I also had Kevin Carter in sight and he was behind me. He and I raced down the valley and I thought I had him beat and lost site of him - until he passed me about 200meters before the goal line...it was very close. I belive he beat me by about 20 seconds.

The good news - I MADE GOAL! I was very stoked. The results have not been posted yet but I believe I was about 17th into goal. This will put me in a much better launch position tomorrow.

The game is on.

ps. You can click any image on this blog for a larger version.