Dave's Day 6

Yesterday we managed to get a task in, although it was low and weak.  Cloudbase peaked at 3000 AGL and while we had some good 3 kt climbs, the majority were less than 2 kts.  I averaged 1.5 kts for the day.

On course, I thought I was doing reasonably well and was flying with a group of gliders, but I was with a slow group and placed poorly on the day.  One of the problems I am having is deviating too much while on course.  Yesterday for example I flew an extra 30 kms beyond my scored distance, and for a two hour task this equates to 15 km/hr - just about the amount the winner was faster than me.

After the second turn area, we were able to run a street most of the way home with a tailwind, but then it abruptly ended with about 25 km left to go and I was at 1500 ft.  With little in the way of cloud options, I turned towards one cloud on the way to the home airport with the thought that if all else fails, I'll land there without making the steering point.  The final cloud offered 0.5 kts lift, that I worked for 500 feet and that gave me just enough to get around the checkpoint and home.