Final Results
Photos From the Canadian Nats

Well, sort of :-)

After my disappointing finish yesterday I was pretty sure I'd dropped out of the running for even a 3rd place trophy.

With Bruno making goal he'd sewn up 1st. Will had most likely moved into 2nd with his birthday-party flight.

Mark was very secretive about the scores making it clear that no one would know the winners until the awards announcement. So I headed into town to pick up some stuff for the BBQ pretty sure I'd dropped to at least 4th place.

The food was good, the company excellent, and the Bullshit Blues Band full-on.

So I was pretty surprised when Mark announced that the 3rd place winner in the open category (overall) was the one foreign entrant.

Will was second, and Bruno far ahead at first.

Even though Josh and Nicole described 3rd as 'vice-loser' (2nd place is 'first loser') I was thrilled to win my first trophy and the big bucks: CAD 110 (or about $98 real dollars :-)

Yup, I can now claim to be a professional competition pilot!

Josh, who was in second going into the final task, dropped to 5th place, a mere 4pts behind Jacques, also a first time competitor, at number 4.

Those 4 points turned out the be valuable—the best prize of the evening was a trip for 2 to Costa Rica awarded given to the 'best newcomer'. Maybe Jacques will take Josh with him!

Big thanks and props to Eric Olivier and Mark Dowsett for putting on the event, all the winners, all the pilots, and all the volunteers.

Mont Yamaska isn't huge, and base wasn't so high, but the flying was fun and challenging and the local folks a blast!

Day 7, Task 5 Results
Photos From the Canadian Nats

Ok, so I started the day in 3rd place with very few points difference among the top 10. That means I was in striking distance of first, second, or dropping out of the top 3.

Even I realized that this was not a day to take risks and I swore swore swore that I would fly conservatively and with a gaggle.

After yesterdays "tricky" task where only 2 people even made the first turn point, the tasks committee reverted to a straight downwind race to goal.

Winds were pretty strong on launch and there was seemingly endless discussion among the safety committee of whether or not to call the day. Eventually it was decided to open launch with newer pilots strongly advised to make their own call and sit out the day if needed.

To encourage people to get up, out, and away from launch the task was set with individual starts. That means we could leave the start whenever we got high enough.

It was much liftier (and windier) than yesterday and it only took a few minutes to find a good thermal drifting us north on the course line.

This time I circled slowly in the drift until absolutely topping out AND until a good group had formed. A GROUP, not solo, I actually left the hill with 3 other pilots including Keith and Nicole, both excellent and well experienced competition pilots.

As we headed on course we fanned out working together to find lift.

OMG! I'm doing what I supposed to be doing! Flying conservatively, topping lift, flying formation with experienced pilots, a first for me at this comp.

This means we all made goal right? No, actually, Keith, Nicole and I were all rewarded for our efforts with a death glide, zero lift, and good rich Quebec dirt about 25km from goal. Nicole first (extra-small Trango 2), me about .5km further (Medium Boomerang Sport) and Keith about 2km further (Medium Boomerang 4), so there's a glide test for ya.

Infuriatingly, the second pack to leave the hill, filled mostly with standard class—predominantly DHV 1/2 and below—gliders, found a second thermal and flew another 10km.

Bruno, in the lead at the beginning of the task flew completely alone and made goal.

Will, also flying alone, landed 4km short of goal at an outdoor birthday party. When asked if he was mad that another glider had gone further (Bruno flew over the party on his way to goal) he replied "No, I have a beer!"

Day 6, Task 4 Results
Photos From the Canadian Nats

After yesterday's "easy" task with all of 3 people making goal but with no turn points, the task committee opted for a slightly more complex route.

Today we had the start cylinder at launch, goal directly downwind, but two intermediary turn points forcing us to cut cross wind in a zig-zag pattern—reverse tacking our way downwind.

As usual I started out the day planning to stick with a gaggle and ended up going my own way.

Like the previous days, we all ridge soared a bit in front of launch waiting for a good thermal to ride up and over the back of the caldera.

Today was more desperate than previous with nothing major coming through. Will started pushing out in front hoping to catch something lifting from the valley floor. Jim Orava dropped his controls and arms outstretched tried flapping for a bit.

I just surfed efficiently back and forth waiting for the inevitable—either a ride out, or a glide to the bomb-out LZ.

Will pushed out at least 3 times, racing down wind back to the hill low to scrape up each time for another go. Finally, just before start time, he found something and 25 gliders raced toward him.

He and Keith hit it best and rode it straight up and out of the cylinder on course.

I was just a bit behind but stuck around to milk as much height and drift as I could. A few minutes later I headed out following Keith and Wills line, a bit upwind of the course.

I made up a little time on Keith and Will and was planning on joining them, but they weren't going up and there were clouds setting up downwind a bit so I broke off heading for what I hoped would be lift.

The gambit worked. I hit light lift, was able to stick it, and rode slowly back to cloud base.

By this time most of the field had left Yamaska and was sinking out. Seeing me they raced over, but low, and most dirted a few km past where I'd found the thermal.

Keith had taken a thermal earlier that drifted him back to the main pack, and though he entered higher than most, he couldn't cling on and ended up down with the pack.

By now Will had spotted me, turned downwind, and entered the same thermal.

As I topped out and flew on I took a look back to see everyone but Will down, and Will pretty low.

"Looks like I've got the day!" I thought as I cruised on toward the first turn-point.

But the day was a strange one and as I dropped below about 1800ft I hit a bumpy shear and the winds changed nearly 180 degrees leaving me with a couple km upwind slog to the first turn point—and I wasn't very high.

I spent most of the glide peering right over my shoulder at Will, at least 500ft below me gliding a parallel path, but upwind of course with an easier glide to the first point.

I hit the point, turned and raced downwind to the only thing that looked like it would produce a thermal—and Esso/A&W complex just off the freeway.

It bubbled, it popped, but it did not go up. As I landed I saw Will, desperately low, but refusing to dirt.

I shook my fist "Why won't you sink out???", but lightly, not wanting to trigger any thermals :-)

In the end Will went about 1km past me to win the day.

Oh well, still no first place finish, but an effort worthy of a frosty A&W root beer while I waited for my retrieve!

Day 5, Task 3 Results
Photos From the Canadian Nats

Thursday was pretty windy, as every day this week has been, but it was launchable so the task committee picked a 44km downwind task.

As people started launching (and getting worked) it became clear that the main challenge was going to be staying in front of launch, downwind, and inside the exit cylinder until start time.

I got in line a little late and spent the waiting period laughing my ass off watching people flub their launches—Jim Orava played a round of reverse bowling, popping up and getting dragged back through the launch line 3 times before launching; Keith McCoullough popped and smacked twice before stepping out of line; and various other folks bobbled dangerously off launch.

Of course instant karma is a bitch and I proceeded to have my worst launch ever (yes, even worse than my frontal-free-fall off of Tollhouse back in my early XC days). I carefully inflated the glider, nicely, solidly overhead, turned and launched into the rotor on the south end of the launch. Kabloom! Their goes the left half of my glider. A nice rolly motion toward the left, a big wide-eyed view of the trees about 5 feet away and a slammed myself to the right, rolled out to the right and pendulumed myself into the air.

Once in the air the game was all about getting high without being pushed out of the start cylinder. Having blown the previous two tasks by letting myself get whisked down-wind out of the game, I was careful to ride only strong thermals back, and to keep pushing upwind make big ovals, even falling out the front.

Right about start time I was riding a decent thermal over the back of Mont Yamaska (an ancient volcano caldera—which means it's wide and flat on the top, once you are over the back, there is no coming back) and despite my promise to 'stick with the gang' I took it out of the cylinder and on course.

The sky was filling with clouds—the first nice cloud day we'd seen&mdsah;and my death glide to the first nice fat dark cloud was a little sketchy but worked well. Riding light lift (nothing here is very strong), I took maybe 10 minutes to thermal to base. It looked like a 'get stuck to the clouds' kind of day so focused on patience and refused to leave until I was pegged to base.

From there it was all about following the clouds downwind. There were a few blue holes, but my line was good and each crossing was working.

Looking back I was alone, well ahead of the field. I was trying not to get cocky but this was looking like a first place finish—my first ever. But alas my glory was short lived. About 7km before goal I hit one more blue hole. Impatiently (that word that haunts me...) I dove through the hole toward the clouds on the other side. This was a mistake.

One of the things I love about XC flying and competitions is how in order to make the right decision one has to take into account a seemingly infinite set of information. Knowing what to prioritize is a bitch and in my opinion the difference between a newbie like myself and a seasoned competitor is exactly this: knowing intuitively what input to consider and what to ignore.

Here is what I considered:

• I needed one more thermal for goal.


• Clouds were forming upwind for me and downwind (across the blue hole).


• I had only been low once on the crossing and with clouds everywhere lift was easy to find.


• There was a nice brown field with a big silver barn in the blue hole—thermal generators to be.

So in a dove, and down I went, landing 4.5km short of goal. Swearing quietly to myself (because of the nice farmer and his small son who were helping me pack), it was another FIFTEEN minutes before I saw a glider go overhead.

Here is what I didn't consider:

• Past the field I was hoping would cycle was only trees. If it didn't work I either had a real death glide into trees or an upwind slog back to the field.


• This was a downwind task with a strong tailwind.


• Clouds were forming nicely just upwind from me.


• I was way ahead and should be thinking conservatively

Looking back all I had to do was slow down, circle in some light or zero lift while getting blown toward goal, and taken the next thermal the formed.

Dirting ealy I ended up in 4th place instead of 1rst.

This animation of the top 4 flights shows how, as Will Gadd put it "Wishnie, you were killing it until you didn't."

Day 3, Task 2 Results
Photos From the Canadian Nats

After yesterday when almost no one exited the 'bomb-out' circle, the task committee decided to game the system a bit—setting a 3.5km radius on the start cylinder. This causes the scoring software to give everyone who hits the start 3.5km along course.

Yup, for some reason the GAP scoring system scores you to the center of a cylinder, not the edge.

This nifty trick made the day slightly more valid than yesterday, but alas, despite the fancy tricks, the weather conspired to make it another short day.

The morning looked pretty awful with high cloud shading everything.

But by about 1pm the sky was breaking a bit and it looked like we might get a decent task.

Nicole Mclearn, task committee member, took the bullet for the team by launching first and pretty much going down. She hung in there and scratched her way back toward launch, but it wasn't looking good.

Eric Olivier, comp organizer, launched next and disappeared down and out of sight.

Around this time, Bruno decided to show off his technique for fluid recycling in flight—it allows him to keep fully ballasted through an entire task...

Shortly after this demonstration, Will Gadd, next in line to launch, and carefully watching Eric bomb out, 'discovered' that he'd 'clipped in backward' and pulled out of line.

Somehow I ended up next in line (a few others ditched), but while I hemmed a bit, another local pilot launched. That put me in the air 4th.

The winds turned out to be surprisingly strong, but there was thermic air and I was able to bench up over the rim and work some gusty blown out thermals up to around 2000ft (1000ft over launch). Will, Keith, and Jim Orava launched soon after and all made it up decent.

Next we had to push out up wind to the start cylinder. This wasn't so difficult, and the race back to the hill was fast with a strong push from the wind.

I made it back to the hill a bit above Jim Orava, making good time, and tagged the first turn point.

Unfortunately, it's at this point that I decided to get clever—and impatient.

I really need to learn to be slow and patient during light lift tasks. Thing is, this is the first comp I've flown with very light lift. Everywhere else has been booming, so this patience thing is coming to me slow.

Here is what I tried to do: rather than scratch my way back up to launch and over (where the lift had been before), I followed a couple birds downwind around the bend. That spot had worked earlier in the day, and there were birds, but, as with yesterday, once downwind, there was no way to push back into the wind to the lift being marked by the other gliders.

If it had worked, I would have been well positioned to cut cross-wind to the 2nd turn-point, and I would have been ahead on the way to the 3rd turn-point.

That is, where everyone else working back up at launch would again have to push straight into the wind, I could have glided cross-wind off the far edge of the cylinder, on track to the next point.

Thing is, the birds were playing me. There was no lift that I could work. I tried to scratch it out a bit, then headed straight out over the valley away from the hill (probably a mistake) hoping for a thermal, launch (upwind), where people were going up was out of reach.

I didn't get my savior and ended up back at the main LZ—barely.

I'm now 11th overall out of 22 or so, right in the middle of the pack, not nearly as good as I can do.

I'm realizing that even though I've had some good success in recent comps, I'm still very new to this and learning a lot about different conditions.

Today, for example, it was clear that no one was going to make goal (head-wind was too strong), so there was ZERO reason to race and even less reason to try something risky.

Today, like yesterday, was all about slow and conservative.

Let's see if I remember this tomorrow!

Day 2, Task 1 Results
Photos From the Canadian Nats

Here is am in Saint-Paul D'Abottsford, a very cute New England-esque town 45 minutes east of Montreal. Just like the place my mom lives in Vermont, except that they all speak French.

Yesterday was blown out (28kt winds at 6000ft) so I went to LaRonde, the local 6 Flags, to ride the roller coasters with Keith MacCullough, his girlfriend Caroline, her sister and her sisters boyfriend.

The roller coasters were fun, but paragliding kind of ruins amusement park rides—they all seemed slow and low G...

The flying site, Mt. Yamaska, is an old volcanic caldera that sites about 1000ft AGL. There are launches in every direction—nice launches with grass that they mow.

1000ft AGL is a little low, especially compared to Rendez-Vous Mountain where I've been flying in Jackson, with 4000ft of vert, but it is enough to get up.

The surrounding area is completely flat—farmland and small towns. There are 2 other small hills within 40km to the west. You can't go past the second one or you are in Montreal (YUL) airspace.

Today we waited a long time on launch, pushing back the start time hoping for some better clouds. Pretty much we had high cirrus shading the area and a few cummies disappearing quickly.

The wind dummies went straight for the LZ.

Finally we got a few folks off launch. We had chosen the west launch, but the winds had turned south, so we were launching into rotor.

Keith, 3rd off the hill, entertained us with a large frontal on the first flight of his new Boom4. He ended up in the trees below launch. No damage to pilot or glider, but not very inviting for those of us still in line on launch.

My turn came up and I had a solid launch, cut left (south) through the rotor to the south side of the hill where about 6 gliders were ridge soaring up over the rim of the volcano.

Getting over the rim was fairly easy, but the thermals took me to 2000ft at most, not really enough to drift north on course over the top of the mountain (hill).

About 20 of us screwed around a little up, a little down, for a good 20 minutes PAST start time, at which point I tried to drift north, fell out of my thermal, made a desperate (and silly) run back toward launch to bench back up and ended in the LZ.

Nominal distance for the comp is 30km. A small group of 5 or so made it away from the hill, but it's not clear how many, if any, made it past the nominal cylinder.

It was fun, I should have gone further, but today will not be a high scoring day.

Positives:
- Solid launch through rotor.
- Good job benching up and maintaining.

Negatives:
- Silly half-assed push to no-where.
- Poor decision to try to push up wind back to the ridge that I knew (should have continued north ward drift and hoped for the best).

Definitely a big change from launching at 10,000ft in Jackson—the high to low!