The second thing that stands out is that I went too deep into the first turn area in less than ideal conditions. The max distance on the task was 380 km and if an average speed of 140 km/hr was achieved for the 2.5 hour task the distance flown would need to be 350 km. This did not leave much choice besides trying to max out the first two cylinders. My weather analysis also suggested that the third cylinder would be the weakest part of the flight, so the decision was made to go deep in the first so I wouldn't run out of space late on.
As you can see, I did max out the first cylinder, but this proved to be a poor decision as I had to make large deviations going in and out of that corner. On the way in, I was getting low and needed to move east into the sun to climb in some weak lift. On the way out, the second leg was blue, but there was a good line of clouds to the north that I again had to deviate towards. This push into the back of the cylinder cost me around 15-20 km/hr on the day. By the time I was re-established on the second leg, my average speed was down to 84 km/hr. So now, there was no need to push deep into the second as this would put me well overtime and into weakening weather at the end of the task.
As it turned out, the east side of the second cylinder had much better conditions then the west half where I was flying, so I probably should have turned sooner in the first and then continued further in the second But the damage was done and continuing now would have added another 30 km and my current speed didn't justify going that much further to the good weather that I could see from the cockpit.
My last leg home was the best of the flight and although it didn't look very good with very few clouds, there was a climb where I needed it and then a couple of short streets as I got closer to home.
So all in all, not a good start to the contest, but the great news is there is lots of up potential from here!
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