Wednesday, July 21
About five of us flew. We didn't organize
a race. Here are just a couple of traces - Ernie in LS-6
- LU and Peter in DG800-15 - PK...
you can see we could fly anywhere. 1,000 feet per minute
to 12,000 feet...
Thursday, July 22
Each day was better than the previous one.
Today we easily climbed to 13,000 feet.
This was our first race day - but as Steve
Smith said - it was like herding cats. Couldn't get them
all going in the same direction at first, but we did eventually
have a race.
Here are just a copule of the flight traces,
just to show you what kind of day it was...
Friday, July 23
Thermals from 12 to 14,000 feet everywhere.
There were probably twenty or thrity flights.
Ten (10) flight recorder traces were collected.
Here is what they all looked like on one page.
We had our second race today. Start times
were staggered so as to spread people out. Here are the
color codes and the status of participants at 2 pm. Colors
may be difficult to identify on the graphic....
NF is Steve S.
KX is Tim K
SD is Richard P
LU is Richard H
PK is Peter K
C1 is Luke A
L6 is Jon F
1B is Jim D
YD is Dean A
7H is Bob I
At 14:00 (2 PM) Richard - LU was still on
the ground, and 1B was about to start. DLB - Dale B started
at the same time, but I don't have a copy of his trace.
Luke - C1 had decided to fly the first part of the course
on his own and was already heading from Wright to the turnpoint
at Carter. Click on image to enlarge.....
By 14:07 there were five racers on course
(not counting DLB or C1). L6 and YD were just coming towards
the Gunsight start gate and SD was busy climbing, in prep
for the start....the last five minutes of flight is shown
at the tail of each glider...
By 14:19, 1B was already past the first TP
at Wright, and KX was hot on his tail. YD was last to leave
the start gate (not including LU who had just released from
tow and was climbing over craggy through 5900 feet). Now
coming into the Wright TP were NF, PK, 7H, SD, L6, and YD)....
By the time YD arrived at Wright, the field
was spread out in a line. XK was in the lead, followed by
1B, NF, PK, SD, 7H, L6, and YD.
At 15:06, you can see C1 orbiting over Shasta,
KX had done a flat glide directly towards Three Sheds, the
next turnpoint, 1B was opting keeping higher altitude enroute
by going towards the lift at Shasta, as were NF, followed
by PK, SD, YD, L6, and 7H.
By 15:52 all principals had turned Three
Sheds.
After the race, KX and NF went up to Cottonwood,
while 1B, YD, L6, and Pk went down to the Trinity Alps and
enjoyed the views from 14,000 feet. C1 was returning from
Lake of the Woods (NW of Klamath Falls) about that time,
and LU was inbound to Three Sheds.
It was a fantstic day.
Saturday July 24
All that flew on Friday flew again on Saturday,
including, Dale, Mallory and Richard G, as well as more
two place ships.
This was the weakest day of the entire week
(only 7 or 8 knots to 12,000), and Jim D was the CD for
today. It was a close contest, and we got all that the day
had to offer - overdevelopment caused us to scramble back
to the airport at 5 pm.. Here are traces of those who submitted
their flight recorders....
You can see we had a variety of flight logs
submitted...
Here is how they looked as Tim started his
final glide to the finish line...
Here are the names of each of the players
depicted above.....
Sunday July 25
A lot of people had to drive home on Sunday
(so they could be back to work on Monday), but we still
had lots (about seven in the race). Here is Richard H's
traces, to show you the course we flew...
Monday July 26
Another lead and follow day. Several of us
made the usual course - over to the Marble Mountains (Wright
Lake), south to Carter, run 80 miles east, past Mt Shasta,
over past Butte Valley, and then back to the West again.
Tuesday July 27
One WSC glider was towed back to Williams.
The two place ships and three single seaters remained, as
well as a couple of private ships. Flying conditions remained
good, but not on par with the fabulous conditions that had
existed the preceding six days!
Wednesday, July 28
Last flying was accomplished. Phil towed
home in the K21 behind the Pawnee. Others were derigged
trailered home to WSC.
This is The Fly Page dealing with
Montague Expedition - 2004
