Nick's day 6

Nick, ST - Day 6, 10 Aug

Dr. Jack was showing heavy cloud coverage to the north by 2PM, but in contrast, the weatherman predicted a few CUs with chance of thunderstorms later in the afternoon. The task was set for the north first, and then south. As it turned out, heavy weather developed to the north quite early. I wanted to get higher for my start and didn't start with the group I was in and went for another group of gliders just behind the start gate. They were circling in nothing, so I left them and started.

At the first thermal, they all joined me, and we continued on. They were higher and pushed ahead after the first turn while I topped up, and lost them. There were a couple of gliders ahead lower. The sky was black and there was rain around and the lift was difficult to find. I did find a couple of 5 kts thermals, but nothing great. The two gliders (UH, TT) that were lower found better and caught up, and we flew together for a while. The second turn was in dead air and the next turn, Fredericksburg, was under a thunderstorm. We skirted the edge of the storm near lightning and heavy rain and took the turn. We back tracked along the front edge of the storm and looked for lift in different directions. I found 4 kts to 9600' as I crossed the storm boundary. Ed called on the radio and said that there were two t-storms ahead of me. I was able to go between them but finding lift was a problem. Beyond the storms to the south, there were a few Cus and the blow-off from the t-storms behind. With a low speed so far and weak lift ahead, I dumped ballast, and thought about landing back at the airport. I saw the other two gliders heading that way and it turns out that's what they did. I decided to keep going, for a while anyway.  The few wisps provided lift tp 6500' but with 2-3 kts it was slow going. 50km from the last turn, I was under a gaggle that was returning from the turnpoint. A discouraging sight. I kept going, hoping to find better lift to get the turn and get back to at least Cotulla, but at 7:30PM it wasn't to be. There were 3 airports nearby, and I picked El Caballero to land. The airstrip had a 12' fence all around which would probably be locked. There was a plowed field just across the road from the airport to the north, and I landed there. I checked the gate and it was chained but not locked, so I could have landed there after all.

My crew, Christine and Sonia, who also enlisted Conrad Huffstutler's help, got under way by 8PM, for a 2:30hr drive. Unfortunately, somehow, the car GPS took them the wrong way and when they got to the Mexican border, they figured out something was wrong. They had overshot my position and had to backtrack 2 hrs. We stayed in contact by texting and phoning. When I got the text about the detour and long delay, my anxiety level went up a notch. Would they find me...

My Dell streak flight computer became a music player and e-reader and I kept busy reading Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 days to the music of Chuck Mangione. An orange crescent moon started to rise and Perseid shooting stars streaked across the sky. I tried to keep the canopy closed to keep the bugs out but the temperature got way too high. I opened the canopy every so often and eventually used my knee to keep it partially open. I had an emergency bottle of water in the glider but eventually ran out of water at midnight.

When they got close they were blocked by fences everwhere they tried. after unsuccessfully flashing headlights and honking the horn to see if I could see or hear them. At 1 o'clock in the morning it was time to call the contest office and request assistance. The office contact, who turned out to be Brian Milner, called the local sherrif, who eventually called the ranch owner who drove to the ranch gate to let my crew onto the ranch. (Thanks for your help, Brian).  In the meantime, I was sitting in the cockpit of the glider in conplete darkness, stars overhead, with coyotes howling nearby. The crew reached me at 3:30 in the morning. I was so glad to see them arrive. We derigged by the headlights of the ranch owner's truck and when I backed up the trailer to leave, Conrad and Christine saw a rattlesnake nearby, coiled, head up and looking. By that time, the car was running low on gas. We headed for Cotulla, where there was fuel, and altough the fuel pumps were open, there was no one at the booth. A credit card could be used, but a ZIP code was needed, and as Canadians, we had no ZIP code. Conrad had to use his card. Had he not been there we would have had to wait till opening time. After a 2:30hr drive back, and dropping the glider back at the airport, we were back at the hotel at 6:30AM, normally our wake up time, emailed the flight log and headed for bed.