2003 Wallaby Open - Task Four
On Day Four the weather deteriorated somewhat, with moderate northerly wind, more stable air, and no cumulus clouds. The Task Committee decided on an entry start cylinder of 20-mile radius, centered at a new point 3 miles south of Bok Tower. This put the start arc six miles south of launch. An entry start has big advantages on a day when conditions make for crowding and confined gaggles. It only works properly if the first waypoint is the center of the start cylinder, and the established turnpoint along the best route to the south, BOK, has given us persistent radio interference that has caused about 2/3 of the pilots to lose GPS coverage in an area from the tower out to the northwest for one to four miles.
The new waypoint was meant to keep competitors away from controlled airspace, and away from a skydiving contest that has been running for several days just to the west of the main route. Below is an example flight (Richard Walbec of France) in Task Four, from CompeGPS:
The main benefit of an entry start cylinder is that it provides a long "line" (126 miles long, in this case) that is the same distance from the first turnpoint at every part of it. This is supposed to prevent the kind of gaggling that occurs when there is one optimal part of the arc (when the start is an exit cylinder) that is closest to the first turnpoint.
However, this benefit occurs only when 1) the wind is light enough that there is no clear advantage to waiting exactly upwind of the turnpoint just before starting; and 2) when thermals are plentiful enough that it isn't necessary to stay with a group of other pilots simply to be able to stay in the air. Today, the first condition was reasonably well satisfied, especially with such a large start circle, and with wind direction that wasn't entirely predictable throughout the day or at all altitudes. The second condition was not satisfied, though, and the biggest drawback to the task (or, probably, any task in these conditions) was that there were no clouds, mostly weak lift that topped out low, and thus big, dense gaggles, not only before the start, but all along the course. There was one mid-air collision (with no injury and minor damage to one glider), and numerous close calls. Despite a large selection of start times (six of them from 1:30 to 2:45), most pilots took the last start, and all who made goal used the last or second-to-last start.
The task was not particularly short or easy under these conditions, but 50 pilots made goal out of about 85 who flew.
Class 1 Final Results as of 04-25-03 14:00
Task 4 to Wauchula
0.0 miles
26.0 miles
SS
26.0 miles
40.7 miles
59.6 miles
ES
14:45:00
16:47:02
02:02:02
16.50
59.6
425.7
55.4
387.6
69.2
938
14:45:00
16:47:16
02:02:16
16.47
59.6
425.7
54.3
380.1
64.7
925
14:30:00
16:47:18
02:17:18
14.67
59.6
425.7
66.2
264.8
60.5
817
14:30:00
16:47:26
02:17:26
14.65
59.6
425.7
66.0
264.1
56.5
812
14:45:00
16:57:24
02:12:24
15.21
59.6
425.7
41.9
292.7
46.0
806
14:30:00
16:47:46
02:17:46
14.62
59.6
425.7
65.6
262.3
52.8
806
14:45:00
16:57:35
02:12:35
15.19
59.6
425.7
41.7
291.6
40.0
799
14:45:00
16:58:03
02:13:03
15.14
59.6
425.7
41.3
288.8
37.3
793
14:45:00
17:01:41
02:16:41
14.73
59.6
425.7
38.3
268.1
28.5
761
14:30:00
16:54:42
02:24:42
13.92
59.6
425.7
56.9
227.7
49.3
760
14:45:00
17:02:50
02:17:50
14.61
59.6
425.7
37.5
261.9
26.7
752
14:45:00
17:03:39
02:18:39
14.53
59.6
425.7
36.8
257.6
25.0
745
14:45:00
17:03:52
02:18:52
14.50
59.6
425.7
36.7
256.5
23.5
742
14:30:00
16:57:30
02:27:30
13.65
59.6
425.7
53.7
214.8
42.9
737
14:30:00
16:58:07
02:28:07
13.59
59.6
425.7
53.0
212.1
34.8
726
14:30:00
16:59:45
02:29:45
13.45
59.6
425.7
51.2
204.8
32.5
714
14:30:00
17:00:49
02:30:49
13.35
59.6
425.7
50.0
200.1
30.4
706
14:45:00
17:12:47
02:27:47
13.63
59.6
425.7
30.5
213.6
18.9
689
14:45:00
17:16:38
02:31:38
13.28
59.6
425.7
28.1
196.6
18.1
669
14:30:00
17:08:09
02:38:09
12.73
59.6
425.7
42.4
169.5
22.2
660
14:30:00
17:08:35
02:38:35
12.70
59.6
425.7
41.9
167.8
21.0
656
14:45:00
17:19:31
02:34:31
13.03
59.6
425.7
26.4
184.4
16.7
653
14:30:00
17:09:01
02:39:01
12.66
59.6
425.7
41.5
166.0
19.9
653
14:45:00
17:19:49
02:34:49
13.01
59.6
425.7
26.2
183.2
15.6
651
14:30:00
17:17:09
02:47:09
12.05
59.6
425.7
33.7
134.6
17.3
611
14:30:00
17:19:44
02:49:44
11.86
59.6
425.7
31.3
125.1
16.1
598
14:45:00
17:32:27
02:47:27
12.03
59.6
425.7
19.1
133.5
15.2
594
14:45:00
17:42:13
02:57:13
11.36
59.6
425.7
14.1
98.3
14.9
553
14:45:00
17:43:33
02:58:33
11.28
59.6
425.7
13.4
93.6
14.6
547
14:45:00
17:44:32
02:59:32
11.22
59.6
425.7
12.9
90.2
14.4
543
14:45:00
17:44:37
02:59:37
11.21
59.6
425.7
12.9
90.0
14.2
543
14:45:00
17:47:08
03:02:08
11.06
59.6
425.7
11.6
81.3
14.0
533
14:30:00
18:07:27
03:37:27
9.26
59.6
425.7
0.0
0.0
13.9
440
58.9
423.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
423
56.6
412.2
0.0
0.0
0.0
412
54.4
399.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
399
53.9
395.8
0.0
0.0
0.0
396
53.5
392.6
0.0
0.0
0.0
393
49.7
362.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
363
49.1
358.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
358
47.9
350.2
0.0
0.0
0.0
350
44.6
326.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
326
42.3
312.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
312
38.9
293.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
293
37.9
287.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
287
37.4
283.8
0.0
0.0
0.0
284
37.4
283.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
283
37.3
282.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
283
37.3
282.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
282
31.9
229.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
230
31.8
229.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
229
25.6
195.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
195
24.4
189.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
189
23.9
186.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
186
23.6
183.6
0.0
0.0
0.0
184
23.3
181.5
0.0
0.0
0.0
181
23.1
179.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
180
22.1
168.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
168
21.4
160.5
0.0
0.0
0.0
161
20.1
142.9
0.0
0.0
0.0
143
18.4
123.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
123
18.3
121.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
121
17.8
116.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
116
17.5
113.6
0.0
0.0
0.0
114
16.3
99.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
100
6.4
41.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
41
4.4
34.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
34
4.1
34.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
34
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0
Class 2 Provisional Results as of 04-23-03 23:00
Task Four Downwind to Wauchula
0.0 miles
26.0 miles
SS
26.0 miles
40.8 miles
59.6 miles
ES
14:45:00
16:38:12
01:53:12
17.83
59.6
351.8
60.7
424.5
75.8
913
14:30:00
16:46:49
02:16:49
14.74
59.6
351.8
60.0
240.0
35.6
687
14:45:00
16:56:02
02:11:02
15.39
59.6
351.8
38.8
271.5
19.0
681
40.8
296.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
296
Class 5 Provisional Results as of 04-23-03 23:30
Task 4 Downwind to Wauchula
0.0 miles
26.0 miles
SS
26.0 miles
40.7 miles
59.6 miles
ES
14:45:00
16:42:19
01:57:19
17.16
59.6
355.8
61.4
429.3
76.7
923
14:45:00
16:42:35
01:57:35
17.13
59.6
355.8
60.1
420.0
63.7
900
14:45:00
16:42:38
01:57:38
17.12
59.6
355.8
59.9
418.9
52.7
887
14:45:00
16:43:45
01:58:45
16.96
59.6
355.8
57.3
400.8
43.5
857
14:45:00
16:55:05
02:10:05
15.48
59.6
355.8
43.9
306.9
30.0
737
14:30:00
16:48:26
02:18:26
14.54
59.6
355.8
64.5
258.2
36.0
715
14:45:00
17:10:05
02:25:05
13.88
59.6
355.8
32.0
223.9
25.3
637
14:45:00
17:11:29
02:26:29
13.75
59.6
355.8
31.0
217.0
21.8
626
14:45:00
17:11:57
02:26:57
13.71
59.6
355.8
30.7
214.8
19.2
621
14:45:00
17:19:02