Cloud Base addict

Above:  Zippy buzzing us.

This whole Keelometer stuff is hard on me’noodle.  But here’s what I think it tis.

Speed to beat:  40.8km/hr

Time to beat:  1hr 13min 30sec

In my attempt on 7/19/09 here in Zapata, the winds were abnormally light for this place.  About 8mph from the SE.  The clouds powered up and got taller, wider and more prevalent as the afternoon heated up. 

First lap: 00:56:28 (hh:mm:ss) which resulted in a 53.13km/hr average speed.

Second lap:  01:00:39 (hh:mm:ss) which is about 50km/hr average speed.

Below Pic:  Mexican Eagle.  The birds down here are super helpful.

Difference in height from start to finish needs to be less than 2% of 50km.  So, .02 times 50km is 1km.  That’s 3,281ft.  Unfortunately on my first lap, I got back to Zapata airport 140ft shy of that minimum.  Huge bummer. 

Tonights Dinner.  Used Mesquite in the BBQ grill.  That stuff burns too hot.  I really miss Gwen’s cookin.

Just in time, Gary Osoba mentioned that he thinks conditions are getting better and better which convinced me to try another lap.  While this time I was slower, I made it back to Zapata with about 1200ft to spare. 

Above is the SeeYou tracklog.  The red plane is on the first lap’s track.

I remember hitting enormous lift on the downwind leg, which was also the last leg.  I pulled in and was well past the speed limits of the sky and Atos going up like nuts.  There was a 2 mile section where my averager showed 400fpm lift while I flew from 38-55mph (ish).

So, I’ll submit the 2nd lap for a new 50km Class 5 World record.  2 new records in the first two flying days of Zapata and I’m jazzed.   That was about 2 weeks ago.  We haven’t had a classic distance day yet unfortunately.  We’ve lacked the morning moisture that turns into low cloud streets at 9-11am-ish.  Nice clouds in the morning a few times so I can imagine what it gets like.  We’ve had some wind but there have been fronts up on course-line that create headwinds 250-400 miles out.  Tomorrow is the first forecast I’ve seen in a while that has tailwinds along the entire courseline up through Big Spring.  Not as strong as we’d like but I’ll take anything close.  I’m fine with blue day attempts at this point.  Get’r’done. 

Wish us luck!