Turnpoint One Near Hit?!
I got to France a couple days ago, greeted by light rain. The first full day spent out here was in the rain, but as a practice day, it didn't much matter anyway. On day two we went to one launch site region, but by the time we got there, the wind changed, and we had to go back to the main Chabre launch site. Some people got off and flew just before a big cu-nim headed our way - I wasn't one of the ones who got off in time, but missing what would have been an extended sleddie didn't bother me too much.
Today was looking decent, but as there was a chance of overdevelopment, I launched relatively quickly - within the first 20 or so of 120 (?) pilots. While flying, I didn't think twice about how I entered the cylinders into my GPS, and just sort of assumed things were fine. I thought the proximity alarm for turnpoint one beeped a bit soon, but the thought soon left me. I continued down the range for a while, following the clouds and timing when I wanted to go for turnpoint two. As luck would have it, this was still on course for turnpoint one...
So there I was, continuing ignorantly merrily along to turnpoint two, and then on course to turnpoint three. At that point, 15 k's in or so, the task was cancelled due to a cu-nim developing out at turnpoint two and I landed in a field next to the main highway, thinking I had a pretty good flight.
When I submitted my gps, they immediately said I had a distance of around 5 k's or so, which was sort of like a slap in the face. What?! How could I have a distance of 5 k's when I flew at least 15?! After submitting my backup gps, going through some settings, etc. the verdict was in: I entered the larger cylinder around turnpoint one correctly, but I completely forgot to enter the small, 400 meter cylinder around that same point. I ended up missing it by just over 50 meters. Fuck!
Man, for scoring purposes, I would have done better than I actually placed, but wouldda, couldda, shouldda, didn't. I'll NEVER make this mistake again, that's for sure!!!!
Anyway, sometimes it's hard to be positive about blips during competition, but at the end of the day, I think I flew well, and knowing that these types of technical glitches can and do happen to most paragliding pilots gives me solace in the situation. Perhaps writing about the situation makes me feel angrier than when I was first informed about it, but anyway, life goes on.
Tomorrow's forecast is apparently quite similar - overdevelopment early afternoon, but flyable in the morning. I'm going to enter everything correctly into my gps, and dammit, today has lit a bit of a fire under my ass, so watch out!
Pics soon...
Today was looking decent, but as there was a chance of overdevelopment, I launched relatively quickly - within the first 20 or so of 120 (?) pilots. While flying, I didn't think twice about how I entered the cylinders into my GPS, and just sort of assumed things were fine. I thought the proximity alarm for turnpoint one beeped a bit soon, but the thought soon left me. I continued down the range for a while, following the clouds and timing when I wanted to go for turnpoint two. As luck would have it, this was still on course for turnpoint one...
So there I was, continuing ignorantly merrily along to turnpoint two, and then on course to turnpoint three. At that point, 15 k's in or so, the task was cancelled due to a cu-nim developing out at turnpoint two and I landed in a field next to the main highway, thinking I had a pretty good flight.
When I submitted my gps, they immediately said I had a distance of around 5 k's or so, which was sort of like a slap in the face. What?! How could I have a distance of 5 k's when I flew at least 15?! After submitting my backup gps, going through some settings, etc. the verdict was in: I entered the larger cylinder around turnpoint one correctly, but I completely forgot to enter the small, 400 meter cylinder around that same point. I ended up missing it by just over 50 meters. Fuck!
Man, for scoring purposes, I would have done better than I actually placed, but wouldda, couldda, shouldda, didn't. I'll NEVER make this mistake again, that's for sure!!!!
Anyway, sometimes it's hard to be positive about blips during competition, but at the end of the day, I think I flew well, and knowing that these types of technical glitches can and do happen to most paragliding pilots gives me solace in the situation. Perhaps writing about the situation makes me feel angrier than when I was first informed about it, but anyway, life goes on.
Tomorrow's forecast is apparently quite similar - overdevelopment early afternoon, but flyable in the morning. I'm going to enter everything correctly into my gps, and dammit, today has lit a bit of a fire under my ass, so watch out!
Pics soon...
posted by Veronica at 11:33 AM
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