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Award Winning Instruction
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2009 Monarca Open - Task 1
The Task Committee is Eric Reed, Ronny Helgesen, and Greg Blondeau. They called a nice 78km task today with a 12:45pm start time. The start cylinder was a 1km entry at the Piano. Pilots who launched early worked to get to 9,000 ft. at launch before heading over to the Peñon. It seemed weaker than previous days, but things started to heat up and pilots got climbs at the Peñon and the Wall. Pilots at the Wall were doing more ridge soaring than coring thermals and drifting up onto the mesa behind the Wall. The G spot was working which is between the Wall and Crazy Thermal. Pilots weren’t getting as high as the previous days, and we were all hoping base would lift. Pilots who launched early had time to burn trying to stay high before the start. We saw clouds developing out in front of the Crazy Thermal Mesa on the way to the piano with 12 minutes before the start. Pilots made a move for these clouds and did get climbs but the clouds fizzled, and there was too much time left before the star to stay close to the cylinder and hope for lift before the start. These pilots came back to the Crazy Thermal Mesa in order to get one more climb before making a move. There was a big gaggle of pilots who timed a big pulse at the Peñon. They got high and were still climbing just before the start. They left the Peñon thermal and went for the upwind glide to the start at Piano. A handful of pilots hand left Crazy Thermal Mesa and got the start with more of a tail wind by flying a bit upwind of the cylinder. Pilots made the move back to the Peñon and the Wall after tagging the start. There were some climbs but others got stuck. It was bit hectic with everyone looking for scraps after the start. The leaders got established on the Mesa behind the Wall and Crazy Thermal Mesa before making the crossing to Maguey on the way to the Divisadero turn point. Some pilots pushed west toward the knife ridge at Espina where clouds were forming before making the crossing. After blowing past Maguey, the leaders surfed along the ridge of the Mesa which leads to Divisadero. Some pilots who were well established on the Mesa had a buoyant glide almost all the way to Divisadero. Some pilots were pushing getting low along and below the lip of the Mesa hoping for a good climb. It always seems to work somewhere no matter how low you get on the way to Divisadero. You are going to find something on the way to climb in, but it gets windy and turbulent down low. Pilots pushed along and got nice climbs just before getting to Divisadero. There were good climbs leaving Divisadero for the La Pila turn point. Pilots found nice cores just before the small town on the way to the turn point. Everybody got on speed and made a play for La Pila. The leaders got nice climbs at the turn point, and the gaggles that followed got climbs before the turn point. The gaggles following the leaders left to get the turn point and were climbing the all the way on glide before hitting La Pila turn point. Everyone mashed the speed bar and pointed it toward the Three Kings. Some arrived very low, and managed to get good climb outs from down low. Others came in and flew past the Three Kings and went for the saddle and ridge before Maguey. There were climbs starting to happen at the Three Kings in the lee and on the windward side to the south. Pilots on the south side got close to base before making a play for Maguey and the Mesa NW of Maguey. Some of the leaders got close to cloud base North of Maguey on the Mesa while others found climbs at Maguey. Pilots kept pushing out west in the thermals at Maguey looking for stronger bits. It finally came together and these pilots topped out and put it on glide toward Cerro Gordo to catch the leaders. It was working on the lee side well past Cerro Gordo. The leaders got good climbs here and hugged the Mesa flying over Escalares following the cloud street. The gaggles following the leaders picked up the scraps and finally got high as well, and made the same play. The leaders were climbing behind Sacamacate over the junk yard and the clouds were showing the way to San Ramon. It was a bit overdeveloped on the way to San Ramon, but there were good patches of lift along the way, and you actually had to be careful and avoid getting sucked up into the clouds once you got within 500 feet of base. Pilots were mapping thermals for the leaders as they headed back for Escalares after tagging San Ramon. It was very buoyant the rest of the way. Pilots came back toward Sacamacate and St. Augustine to be sure to have enough altitude for the glide to goal after tagging Escalares. It turned out to be very buoyant the whole way back and lots of pilots arrived very high at goal and could have made up some time if they had skipped making so many turns. There were approximately 35 pilots in goal, and pilots were spread all over the course for what should be a fully valid first day of racing. The team at Alas Del Hombre runs a great competition. The registration was a breeze and we were able to get scored very quickly at the end of the day. This place is ideal for competition flying. The weather forecast looks good. We are supposed to be getting a bit higher tomorrow, and I they might call a big task. Rob sporrer reporting from the pit. Thanks to Brad Gunnuscio for the photos.    
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