2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »
Butch Peachy|competition|Greg Dinauer|John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors
Play Back: https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-2021/blog__day_2
Open class task:
Not much of a flight:
Johnny Thompson tows me up again right after the Swifts and a couple of early birds at 12:37 PM. The lift is still weak near the hotel so I have to go west to hook up with the Swifts and other pilots and even there it's less than 200 fpm to 5,700' MSL. Lots of thermaling in little more than zero.
At about 7 or 8 minutes before the second clock at 1:45 PM the pilots around me northeast of the hotel head toward the edge of the start cylinder I'm thinking that it's too early and head the other direction to find much better lift than the zero we were giving up on. I climb to 5,800' and then head for the northeast edge of the cylinder.
As I fly to get out of the start cylinder I see a few pilots flying back, some of them quite low, so it looks like they are going back for the third or fourth clock. I keep going and find about eight pilots a thousand feet below me trying to get up three kilometers outside the start cylonder. Now I have a quandary.
I'm high with one other pilot who left the start cylinder with me. My desire is to just forget these guys down low cause I'm positive that there is much better lift just a few kilometers further along. But do I really want to leave eight other thermal finders and go out alone? I spend 10 minutes not climbing circling over these guys who aren't climbing either. Then we find 95 fpm and climb to 4,900'.
Finally, as I watch the pilots from the third clock come in low under us, I've had it and head out leading toward where I had previously thought there was much better lift. The pilots I'm with are not helping at all.
I find 267 fpm near the northeast end of the Casa Grande air field and climb to 5,400'. Of course, the other pilots joined me.
I lead out again and find over 300 fpm to 5,100' just before the first turnpoint at Signal Peak. My hangers ons join me.
I lead out again taking the turnpoint and heading for the foothills to the south. I've got a 6 mph head wind and I go for the hill sides that should gather the thermals. I stop for 100 fpm for one turn but I'm thinking that there is better lift a bit further in. I'm wrong.
Got fooled by the 300+ fpm lift in the previous thermal so I was not ready to take 100 fpm.
It's all sink the rest of the way down the hills to the flats and a premature landing.
Zac took the fourth clock and he was first to goal. Phil Bloom and John Simon who took the third clock came in right behind him. Konstantin Lukyanov from Russia was the last pilot into goal.
https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-2021/results
Task 2
# | Name | Glider | Time (h:m:s) |
Distance (km) |
Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Zac Majors | Wills Wing T3 144 | 02:31:02 | 83.71 | 988.7 |
2 | Phill Bloom | Moyes RX 3.5 Pro | 02:46:53 | 83.71 | 930.0 |
3 | John Simon | Aeros Combat C 12.7 | 02:47:39 | 83.71 | 917.0 |
4 | Konstantin Lukyanov | Moyes Litespeed RX | 03:19:26 | 83.71 | 832.3 |
5 | Jeff Chipman | Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 | 80.73 | 725.7 | |
6 | Butch Peachy | Moyes RX 3.5/S4 | 78.36 | 701.1 | |
7 | Ian Brubaker | Wills Wing T2C | 67.85 | 632.6 | |
8 | Gary Anderson | Wills Wing T3 144 | 58.29 | 568.6 | |
9 | Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann | Wills Wing T2C 154 | 58.10 | 566.6 | |
10 | Jason Boehm | Wills Wing T3 | 56.71 | 561.5 |
Cumulative:
# | Name | Glider | Total |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Zac Majors | Wills Wing T3 144 | 1967 |
2 | John Simon | Aeros Combat C 12.7 | 1760 |
3 | Phill Bloom | Moyes RX 3.5 Pro | 1697 |
4 | Konstantin Lukyanov | Moyes Litespeed RX | 1505 |
5 | Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann | Wills Wing T2C 154 | 1306 |
6 | Gary Anderson | Wills Wing T3 144 | 1296 |
7 | Greg Dinauer | Aeros Combat 12 | 1231 |
8 | Tyler Borradaile | Moyes RX 3.5 Pro | 1185 |
9 | Jeff Galvin | Wills Wing T3 154 | 1181 |
10 | Davis Straub | Wills Wing T3 144 | 1048 |
Leonardo Ortiz was the only Sport Class pilot at goal on day one. Leonardo and Tim Delaney were the only two Sport Class pilots at goal on day two.
Chris Zimmerman is out with a blown motor on his Swift, so only two Swifts left. Greg Chastain won day two and is in the lead overall.
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6 topics in this article: Butch Peachy, competition, Greg Dinauer, John Simon, Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021, Zac Majors
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