Forbes Opening and Practice Day

The parade and opening was pretty casual. Hot as hell here but by 6pm it was down to around 100F- better than earlier. We walked alond the river in team groups- loosely- until we got to the park. There were no availabe there so some of us made a store run- the beer room at the grocery was the place to be. The wave of heat leaving the store was really something. After all the introductions and speeches at the park, the BBQ began and a two person band started up. The food was really pretty great- lots of prawns and meat on the barbie- the band was good enough to get Heather Mull onto the floor. After rolling around in a tub of ice that Polona dumped on the ground for me, I got into the dancing and we pretty much did that til the band was done- taking breaks to roll around in the ice pile. Did I say it was frigging HOT??? Sunday was the official practice day. I was too hot and tired to fly Friday, and got pinched on Saturday by being too late to the paddock, so I was really anxious to get another flight in. They set a 140K triangle but Jamie and I were just looking forward to flying together some and getting some tips from Mitch in air. The launch line was so slow- the forecast for 108 degrees was daunting. But freezing my camelback and a few huge water bottles for the line and setting up is all we have to combat the heat. It's dusty, fly filled and inconvenient away from where we park and pee. But whatever. All I wanted to do was NOT spend another day on the hot hot ground. The wind kept clocking around and the ONLY tow into the wind here, so it was slow going. But finally I got in the air- a fairly active tow, and took a nice climb to 5 or 6 grand. I found Mitch and thought we'd wait for Jamie but Mitch took off and I tried to follow. I made my way much more slowly to the first WP but got some super screaming climbs and actually got a tad chilly at 10,000'. It was NICE! On the way back we decided to ditch the other WP and see if Jamie was hanging around the airport in the air. But the sink and the headwind proved a bit too much for me and I landed 4K short of the paddock. I had lost Mitch a while back and there was no one in the air on my final glide. Rob Clarkson made the WP and back to Forbes... and I did have decent climbs at times but I think I panicked when I got to like 5000' msl because the heat was unbelievable and I was not wanting to be on the ground in the middle of nowhere. The headwind I saw was like 27kph - 35kph up high at 10,000'. So getting back proved too tough for me but I have even more confidence in my glider especially the way she climbs. Plus the handling is so much lighter and I am working a lot less to keep things together in the air. So today we start the actual comp. I was sleepless last night in anticipation but that's pretty normal for me. So many people have helped me get here and it is a dream come true. The flying is incredible- Texas is the closest thing to it that I've done. I hope I can keep my blog up as things get crazy with long retrieves but I'll do the best I can. Oh and I am trying to think of a name for my glider- I've never named one before but she is so pink she deserves one! I was thinking Sandra Dee... Sandy for short....