We had quite a show of thunderstorms last night, quite impressive. The weather still looked iffy in the morning but showed some indications of improving. Wind on launch was quite strong, and the race committee selected a long, mostly downwind task for the day.
I had a somewhat frustrating time over launch, climbing to 10k a couple of times and then losing it.
Wayne climbing out in front of Sugar launch
The third time I went fishing way out front as a promising cloud rolled in, caught it, and followed it over the back of the ridge. Made the gap, though not with a lot of altitude, and moved north along the front, finding patchy lift. Scratched lower, with a few promising moments but no big gains.
I had one good run up a spine, and was hoping to repeat that as I followed patch of sunlight back into a canyon near Barnes Creek. I knew I was pushing it, but apparently I had used up my reserves of caution the prior day. The lift didn't amount to anything, and when I turned back I realized had probably pushed a little too far. The glide out of the canyon looked pretty challenging.
(from the track it looks like I might have had a glide out but the photo below gives a little truer indication)There was a bare patch of gravel on the slope ahead to my right and beyond that all it was pretty much all trees until out on the flats. I had 10 or 15 seconds to think about it, concluded that chances of getting to the flats were little better than 50/50, so I went for a fly-on-the-wall at the gravelly bit.
Very nearly pulled it off but flared a bit too soon. When the glider stopped I was a few feet higher than I planned and dropped down fairly hard, hitting my knee (yes the left one) on a rock, and taking out a downtube.
My double thick pants were shredded and the knee hurt quite a bit; once I dusted myself off I was relieved to find I could still walk on it. It looked bad though, so I put some gauze and tape over it, as much not to see my kneecap swimming around as to keep junk out.
Didn't have radio contact right off, and was planning to hike out before things stiffened up, but then raised a driver, relayed my position, and decided to pack up and mark a waypoint before leaving so I could relocate the wing.
It was about 800 feet vertical down to the valley floor, and I carried my harness down maybe a quarter of it when Tom Flynn and our driver, Justin arrived below me. With a little cajoling and promises of an extravagant dinner they they came up to help me pack out the glider. It was a bit of a struggle but was fortunately all downhill (if steep), and we made it in less than an hour, with them doing the lions share, despite Tom's iffy back and Justin's sandals. Its at times like these that you learn the quality of your friends and I was lucky today in more ways than one. I'm in your debt, guys.
Got back to HQ, checked in, etc. Looked closer at the knee and decided it might need something more that Bactine and a bandaid. Gerry took me to the local ER. They were very nice (gotta love these smaller towns) and fixed me right up with a few stitches. Gerry also got a nice snap for posterity prior to the patch-up.
Doc sez don't bend it so I'm probably out of the flying for a few days, but hey an extra driver is always handy to have around. There were some impressive flights made by other pilots today, Chris Valley for one set a personal best. Way to go Chris!
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