RU Open 2012 : Task 4
Another fast action packed 50km task, beginning with a run down the ridge to N08 then straight to Greenwall, back to takeoff, over lakeside Mandradunga, Pame and finally end of the lake for landing.
A couple of mistakes cost me the ability to stick with Debu and Jamie who once again led the field all the way to goal with only a second separating them at ESS. Poor line choice heading for first waypoint resulted in me needing to find good lift earlier than planned.
Once the field had hit the first waypoint there were a couple of different routes that they took to get to greenwall. Jamie and I took the most direct line heading over from between red temple and mandradunga having to get some height at Dicky Danda to get on to greenwall. others went down the ridge to toropani. Lift seemed to be in more places than normal and we had people specking out all over the place.
By the time I had arrived at Greenwall I could already see Jamie and Debu flying back for Sarangkot. Here I managed to gain some time on people that had gotten to greenwall ahead of me. flying low along the wall in search of the “better lift” which I finally found and instead of heading to east greenwall as most did today I flew directly to takeoff.
once back in house thermal I was greeted by the strongest thermal I have seen here, +7.5 but very narrow and quite turbulent. we could see some beginners stuck in it with their faces almost turning white.
gaining enough height to hit the turn point and head towards mandradunga I didn’t waste much time getting any more height as there were too many M4’s ahead of me. so 1/4 speed all the way to the WP slowly catching Herve and Adam on their 2 liners but in the end it wasn’t enough to nudge through. From the LZ the standings should look like this
Jamie, Debu, Herve, Adam, Me or Arnold in 5th. Awesome job today Herve, choosing great lifty lines all the way. you got what you wanted today, to pass me 
tomorrow RACE ON!!
With reports coming in that tomorrow being the last day of racing due to a Bhanda I think ill have to use full speed instead of my conservative 1/2 speed setup that I use for everyday flying. let the frontals begin
Finally a request to all pilots taking part in the Comp, if you can register and upload your IGC files to www.xcontest.org it makes for some interesting night time watching of tracks, lines and strategies. If anyone needs help find me at the comp office after our flights.
