Sticking with the theme “More Blue”, August 12th held more mystery as to if we would continue to see blue but strong conditions.
After my 6 hour pig out the day before I decided to take over the “Tow-Meister” duties and try to help Mia, Randy and Mike get some “end of the Encampment” airtime. Randy was all enthusiastic about trying to do his first 100 “mile” triangle (161km). Well not totally trusting all of the various soaring forecasts it did look like a day to stay on the upper plateau, nearly all the numbers looked poor down toward yesterdays first turn-point Wilson Creek.
Today we started a little further north at L+13, giving us plenty of tow road to get pilots high to try and connect. Mike was first up and pretty much mirrored what I did the day before (except the early pin off). After some very impressive scratching (didn’t know a VR could bank that steep!) he was up and away. 25 minutes later, Mia was up and away and before 1pm climbed straight up over 10,000ft asl. Another 25 minutes later Randy was up on the rig for what was going to be the longest tow of the day. Starting at L+13 we towed all he way down to L+7….. a 6 mile tow! In fairness to Randy, I could tell the tow was in real sinking air. Right at the end of the tow he connected and also climbed to over 10,000ft asl… Three tows + Three away = a happy “Tow-Meister” !
The plan for the group was to turn at Dry Falls but the air (as usual) over Saint Andrews was slowing the children down. Pretty sure Mike was having trouble cuz he had nobody to hold his hand 
While I back tracked to Mansfield to drop off the tow rig and head out on ground support with the Suzuki for chase, I heard complaints of rough air, scratchy broke thermals. In the end, the only pilot to do Dry Falls was Randy. Mia and Mike, turned nearby and soon everybody was heading west in the order that they launched.
On the ground it was hot as hell but I faithfully monitored the progress. When it appeared everybody was going to make it west of Farmer, I moved onto the Waterville airport… that is, after a short trip into Waterville to get the one of the best Espresso Shakes on the planet Highway 2 Brew Espresso! A MUST stop for any ground crew.
Enjoying my “shake” out of the East end of the Waterville airport, my flight team all seemed a little concern about the time of day as they poked around their intended course so by now everybody had truncated their plans and was heading out with Mike having turned NW of Waterville, Mia over the east end of the airport and Randy just a few miles east of that. From there everybody was dashing north in a bit of a tail wind and I had trouble keeping up. Just like yesterday, the visablity was not that great, no clouds to chase and few if any devils on this northern leg. Still, everybody was staying up high and cool… I finally relented and started to run the air conditioner (97f on the ground).
Mike made his next turn, south of the Wells Dam fire line, Mia and Randy crossed paths near Mud Springs but everybody continued to stay high. From here, Mike and Randy closed their triangles near L+13, Mia drifted a little further north short of Pearl Hill, down to Leahy Cut off. From there, everybody was heading for Mansfield. With the LZ showing an ever so slight NE wind, Mike was first in with another perfect landing, Randy second with…. well a not so perfect landing (but no damage to anything but his pride… and got to taste a new flavour of regional dirt), and Mia…. always trying to be different, decided to land on the south side of the highway and dropped in for a nose up landing (not quite on her feet, the grass was taller then she expected).
Being the gentleman that I am… I carried Mia’s light weight VQ back to the house, while Randy and Mike carried their own. Back on the lawn, they set to work emptying the cooler of cold Becks and consumed some leftover pasta from the night before… and all with smiles on their faces. Nice to see. Shortly after, Randy and Mike packed up and headed for home. Mia and I where staying to end our trip on the 13th (no flying as it was forecast to be windy).
Mike's 139 km 4.5 hour FAI triangle
Mia's 113km 4.5 hour FAI Triangle
Randy's 110km 4.5 hour FAI Triangle
(Check out the animation below showing the tracks and barograph traces for all the children. Best watched in HD, full screen from the YouTube page)
We may get a few more kicks and the cross country can this year but it looks like some big fires might shut us down.
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