i will try to sum up a few flights quickly.
NATs were disappointing on that there were only 2 tasks but the meet was great otherwise, good people and some fun stuff to do. it was sort of a weird victory when it was only one other us female pilot i had to beat to get the title. but can i help it if no one showed for the party?
i also got to spend a nice birthday with my mom and sister in naples on the 11th.
so flytec started sunday and we got some air the day before. of course the practice day was sweet air-but the first task was like a barroom brawl fighting upwind (both ways!!!) i was desperately trying to just get back to quest since i was too tired to break down the glider. what motivation. i found myself flying right over huge lakes and areas that looked mighty unlandable- praying for thermals and swearing the next climb i got i would take to a decent landing area.....i landed2 miles shy of quest even though i was supposed to fly on by for 20 more miles and THEN back. 4 hours and 24 miles.... but it was a whole lot better than a ton of other people and only one rigid made it to go (yay russel!) but he collapsed at the end from exhaustion and dehydration from what i hear.
next day, big long run to the south. jeff and i flew the whole task together and made it to 7 miles short. my flight was a ton of fun- we scraped each other off the deck over and over and the guys flying at wallaby (must be marty's buddies) were nonstop chatting on the frequency we picked. thank GOD for the kill switch on my helmet. when i say NON STOP, i mean NON STOP. we flew past wallaby and heard them for 4 hours. even after they all landed they were using the radios on the ground. UGH! but we found that we did pretty well that day so i am in the top 20. holy shit.
so yesterday, we did a 67 mile rectangle flight with quest as goal. as soon as we got in the air- the wallaby guys started again. jeff asked them to consider a different frequency but tough to change when you are already in the air. they never shut up. NEVER. sometimes it was impossible just to ask where mark or jeff was. gotta switch off that one today for sure. i had a bad start- i was 5 miles away from quest thinking i was still in the start circle and as the gaggle rushed by at the first gate- i realized i had to go back to 3 miles and tag the start. so the whole flight i was feeling very behind. i did catch up with people, and got past a bunch. but the mistake cost me probably half an hour. i caught up with mark at the 2nd TP after a 1000fpm climb almost into a cloud. he was so low and i thought he was toast for sure. way later on my last leg, i heard him again, he had a really low save and came into goal. i flew very conservatively at the end- i didn't want to miss by inches again. i took an extra climb 2 miles from quest for insurance. so i finally made goal at flytec. but so did 46 other pilots and i am in like 30th place overall for my5 hour effort!!!!
so here we still are waiting for the second half of the meet- and i am so stiff and sore i can't sleep well. i think the 42 year old body is giving out. meesha is having a blast.