Last race day

The day started with loud cheers for Fernando as he went to the podium to be recognized for winning the day yesterday. He has made a lot of friends here, and he took a moment to thank Martin Bossart for helping the US Team throughout the competition.

At every contest there seems to be one day on which the weather forecast completely misses the mark.  Today was that day. We were told to expect thin cirrus, 20 kph winds, and 3 m/sec climbs to 2000 meters. They gave us a 3-hour AAT and no Task B.

The reality was thickening cirrus, slow heating and 40 kph wind.  The day was barely flyable.

After a 1.5 hour delay on the grid, they shortened the Tasks to 2 hours and launched both classes. The Standard Class start gate opened at 1415, and a few minutes after that the 15 Meter Class Task was cancelled.

Al was not able to get away. He landed back home and took over the base station radio and tracking computer in order to help his partner around the course. For the rest of the day Ryszard chased the sunny areas and touched all the cylinders. He was one of two finishers, coming in 30 minutes overtime.

The contest is over, but we don't yet have the final scores. There will be a prize-giving ceremony at 8:30 pm, followed by the farewell party.

It was a safe and happy contest, without a scratch on any glider. The worst mishap was probably Ryszard's flat tire yesterday.

This is all I've got today. We are frantically breaking camp, returning equipment, packing gear, and climbing the power pole to retrieve the antenna