July 5 Report

All times are Mountain Daylight Time.

1233 - First launch. The sky is going blue.

1350 - All the gliders have been in the air for a while. They are struggling to stay airborne, and so far there have been no landings. Heating is progressing much more slowly than forecast. The sky is completely blue. We are nowhere near opening the Task.

1430 - Still milling about over the airport, not very high. The Task has been shortened to 2 hours. 85 degrees on the ramp. Still not hot enough.

1505 - We can see the cumulus associated with the Dry Line, far to the north. That's where we wanted to go today. But it's just too far away, and they're still not getting high. There are clouds in the south and southeast, and they are starting to look good. Task changed to a 2-hour MAT.


1522 - The Task is open, finally. They are beginning to trickle out.

1530 - Make that a stampede. They are all on task now.

1915 - (Back from a retrieve) - Conditions deteriorated near the mandatory Turn Point, and the going got very tough. At this hour the Open Class day is valid with about half of them finishing the Task. Dick Butler and Ron Tabery essentially tied for first, at about 61.5 mph. The Standard Class probably did not get a valid day. Only one returned (CG), and we won't know how far the rest got until much later. It will be a while before the next update.