Dave's Practice Day 1

This morning we went through the technical inspections and then stood in line for about an hour waiting to register.  By the time we got through this and onto the grid it was almost 2 pm before we were able to launch.

I started late around 2:20 and had some trouble with rain in the 1st turn area, so I had to cut it short and planned to make up the distance in the 3rd area (with its 28 km radius and the 2nd area was only 10 km).  By the time I got to the edge of the third area some large cells were filling in the sky and moving northwards.  I was able to skirt the north edge of the storms and make it into the 3rd area, but only just in.  I turned and followed the same line out, but it was about 70 degrees off course to the 4th turn.  At the end of the line of storms I headed south across a large blue hole that was left in the wake of the storm.  A smooth glide at best L/D for about 45 km got me to the 4th turn at about 2000 AGL where the first clouds were to be found.  A quick 5 kt climb to cloudbase and I was on final glide for home.

I arrived home 15 minutes early, devaluing my speed to 94 from a raw speed of 102.  Considering the delay getting airborne and my later than optimal start it was a good practice day.