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Here are all the pictures I took and have been given. They are in chronological order.
If anybody has some pictures to add, you can do it directly or e-mail me the pictures.
Day 1, May 14, 2022
Tow pilots Dan Gudgel in "Red Tow" and Andrew Ouellet in "White Tow."
Day 2, Sunday, May 15
Tow pilots Dan Gudgel in "Red Tow" and Andrew Ouellet in "White Tow."
Sunday's weather was a significant improvement over Saturday. We all
woke up to a sky filled with mid level cirrus that slowly burned off as
the morning progressed. Skysight showed thermal tops at 10500' in the
early afternoon at both Wright and Black, with a hint of cu over San
Benito around 4 pm. Also shown was blue convergence running from EL5 to
the Temblors.
The task called had a nominal distance of 221 miles (355 km):
Start Tar Peak
EL3 1 sm
Bitterwasser 3 sm min, handicapped
San Benito Mtn 1 sm
Avenal Finish 1sm
We
launched at 12:30 as the last of the cirrus was passing over Black.
This proved a slight challenge and delayed the opening of the 5 minute
start window until 1:50 to allow all but one competitor to climb up to
the 6000' start ceiling. As we flew north towards EL3, we were happy to
see wispy cu beginning to form over Wright approximately 11,500ft high.
By the time the last of the gaggle were turning south, the cu covered
about a 5 mile area and marked the tops of 8-10 kt climbs. Alex Neigher
(4B) found the highest climb of the day around this time to 11,400 ft.
The run south rewarded those who were able to sniff out the blue
convergence and took us to the north end of the california valley, no
clouds in sight. Climbs were available, but more dispersed and weaker
south of Black mtn. The run back north was similar to the south leg, I
found myself off the line, too far to the east and had to dig out of
black from below ridge height while the rest of the group who were able
to stay connected blew by me a mile above. Climbs got strong again
around Center peak, with quite a few of us finding 8,9,and even 10kts
bottom to top. Many got above final glide prior to rounding the final
turnpoint and were able to take final glides in excess of 100 kts due to
the buoyant air all around San Benito Mountain.
Congratulations
to Wyll Soll for finishing the task in 3:18:48 with an average speed of
67.3 mph (108 kph)! Below are the other preliminary results.
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Andrew Ouellet provides a picture of "Red Tow" pulling up the last contestant of the day
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Ground Crew is enjoying the electric air conditioner in the ClubHouse while watching the contestants progress.
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Wyll Soll lands CZ after Day 2 winning time of 3:18:48.
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Alex Neigher lands 4B with Day 2 second place time of 3:22:13.
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Close behind is David Greenhill in Contest 16 with a Day 2 Fourth Place time of 3:23:03.
Only 50 seconds separated second through fourth places today.
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Zach Yamouchi lands after a Day 2 fifth place time of 3:27:27.
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Walt Rogers has just landed after a Day 2 Third Place time of 3:23:23 and is watching
Neiman Walker land his Libelle, 4P.
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Thomas Greenhill has a Day 2 fourth pace time of 3:27:08.
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Ken Talovich land NT.
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Tom Coussens on short final in Z9,
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Tom Coussens an inch from touchdown in Z9.
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Day 3, May 21, 2022
Tow Pilots: Morgan Hall in "Red Tow" and Jim Rickey in "White Tow."
Today's forecast delivered! Although the mountains were completely blue,
strong climbs, and prominent convergence ran the length of the San
Benitos. Plenty of 10 kt climbs were found on course, topping out at
10,000 ft. The task began again at Tar with a 6000' start ceiling at
12:40, up to EL1, down to Blackwell, then rounding Harris Ranch on final
glide, 212 mi nominal distance. All competitors made at least 2 of the
turnpoints and everyone made it home for our contest banquet.
Thomas Greenhill turned in an impressive 78 mph task speed, winning the day 14 minutes ahead of the rest of the pack.
Below are the day's scores as well as preliminary cumulative times for the competitors.
Tomorrow is our final day, with high cirrus forecast. Tasking will likely keep us closer to Avenal similar to Day 1.
Zach
| Name | Contest ID | Day 3 Time | Total Time | Ranking |
| David Greenhill | 16 | 3:08:37 | 8:22:58 | 1 |
| Zach Yamauchi | ZY | 3:10:15 | 8:23:09 | 2 |
| Thomas Greenhill | FH | 2:48:53 | 8:33:04 | 3 |
| Walt Rogers | WX | 3:26:56 | 8:36:04 | 4 |
| Wyll Soll | CZ | 3:02:24 | 8:46:36 | 5 |
| Alex Neigher | 4B | 3:15:40 | 9:05:31 | 6 |
| Neiman Walker | 4P | 3:23:29 | 10:29:26 | 7 |
| Philip Lee | UV | 3:39:43 | 10:45:40 | 8 |
| Tom Coussens | Z9 | 4:48:52 | 10:58:39 | 9 |
| Ken Talovich | NT | 4:48:52 | 11:54:49 | 10 |
Final Day, (Day 4) May 22, 2022
Tow Pilots: Dan Gudgel in "Red Tow" and Kyle Hyde in "White Tow."
Day 4 Summary:
Saturday night was the BBQ/banquet, we all likely
benefited from increased wing loading Sunday seeing how much tri tip
was consumed :) We were very fortunate to wake up to a completely
different forecast than that of Saturday night. The cirrus outlook
dramatically improved, skysight still showed some patched passing
through, but the day turned out to be mostly cirrus free. The task we
improvised (Avenal, York Rd, EL7, New Coaling, Dudley Ridge, EL5,
Avenal) kept us mostly off the mountains in the early afternoon, with
the thought that we would allow the high ground more time to start
working before a run up north later in the afternoon.
We
launched the grid at 12:30 and opened the start gate at 13:40. A few
contestants were able to reach 8000' over black while waiting for the
start gate to open so we likely could have done another mountain task;
however, keeping us off the high terrain proved to be a doable challenge
for the group. Climbs off the high terrain were weaker and more
dispersed, as expected. The front gaggle was able to avoid getting stuck
for the first 4 turnpoints, and all elected to take an indirect route
to the final turnpoint (EL5) by following the ridgeline out to the west.
It was a little slow for everyone reconnecting with the convergence
around Black the second time. The blue convergence set up far west, I
ended up committed to parkfield before finding a climb about 5 miles
west of black that got me back on the line northbound.
Congratulations to David who won the day, and further widened his first place lead.
