Nick's day 7.

Nick, ST - Day 7, 11 Aug

In bed by 6:30AM after an all night retrieve, and awake at 9:30AM with a slight headache, most likely due to dehydration. Only 3 hours of sleep; I definitely need some rest but today is not a rest day unfortunately, tomorrow is. To fly or not to fly today? I decided to delay the decision, and to get ready. First priority, drink and get re-hydrated. I skipped the meeting, and headed to the glider to rig and water and get to the weigh scales by 11:00AM. Next a quick breakfast, skipping the coffee and drinking more water. At grid time, the launch is delayed, giving me a little more time to get ready. Headache a little worse but overall feel OK. Drinking more water and gatorade. I decide to give the task a try and cut it short if necessary. Weather looks good, and there's even gliders climbing higher than the cloudbase, kind of a like blue thermal next to a CU. I give it a try, but there's little lift under the gaggle. Must have missed the bubble. My goal for the day, is to take it easy and complete the task and get some points as opposed to zero points if I take a rest day. I decide to start early. The first leg is so-so, but looking great on the second leg. The third leg looks promissing, but can't seem to find consistent lift and my speed drops. It gets better on the fourth leg, but there are fewer and fewer CUs. My headache has gotten much worse and it's definitely the time get home. As I get near the turnpoint, I start seeing a few gliders. I'm on time and turn early in the area and need a few hundred feet for final.  Finding only 2.5 knots under small wispy CUs, I move on, intending to pump up along the way. It works for a while and then I hit heavy sink and have to detour right to a CU. Only 1.6 kts, climb a little and move on. 2.4 kts, climb a little and go. I just lost 4 minutes! the speed for the leg drops from 147 to 127 km/H, and overall from 132 to 130 km/H, but it's much better than no points.

The first graph shows the task and track.

The second graph shows the glide profile. The highlighted best glide is on the second leg.

The third graph shows the thermal profile. The highlighted best thermal is at the end of the best glide above, a great run!  If only all the runs were that good!

You can also see the zigzag in the lift showing that the thermal is not quite centered. You can also see that the best lift was found between 7500' and 9800'. It also shows the concentration of lift between 4 and 6 kts. And lower down, you can see the poor lift taken on final glide to get back onto glide slope.

First leg -   54 km, 113 km/H
Second leg -  82 km, 141 km/H
Third leg -   92 km, 128 km/H
Fourth leg - 138 km, 134 km/H
Last Leg -    64 km, 127 km/H
Overall -    434 km, 130 Km/H

Some stats for today: Too much circling in 4.3 Kts average lift.

Circling Number:  25
Circling Time:   00:52:04
Circling Speed:   71 Kts
Circling Radius:  553 Ft
Circling Rate:     26 sec/circle
Circling Count:   119 circles
Circling Gain:    22687 Ft
Circling Avg:      4.3 Kts
Circling Best:     7.3 Kts
Circling Percent: 25.1%

Glide Number:    25
Glide Time:     02:35:00
Glide Speed:     98 Kts
Glide Distance: 467 Km
Glide Avg:       19 Km
Glide Longest:   45 Km
Glide L/D:       53:1
Glide Loss:     28967 Ft
Glide Avg:       -1.8 Kts