Task 6

Long and tiring day today. They originally called a 162km task coming back to Ager. However, after some grumbling from the usual suspects, they decided that the trip back to Ager from the turnpoint had a dangerous crossing over unlandable terrain (crossing the gorge we hiked into on the cancelled day). So, at the last minute, they changed the task and opted to use a turnpoint about 30km short of Ager as the goal. Unfortunately, the turnpoint was in a small village with no decent landings on final glide or in the goal cylinder of 2 km.

After a rough and not terribly pleasant flight, I landed in the Ager landing field, packed up in a hurry and rushed off to goal. While the new goal was only 30 km away by air, the drive was over an hour. I arrived at the coordinates to find the goal crew cruising around the small village trying to find a reasonable landing field. No luck. Along with about a half a dozen other chase cars, I searched around the town for a flat field. Just about the time I was ready to give up, I heard from Carl on the radio asking what the wind was doing at goal. Having no idea where "goal" really was, I had to just throw my hands in the air. I guess I must be able to smell Carl though, because just at that moment, I looked up and there he was, directly over me. What luck!! I must be the best retrieve driver on the planet ;-)

Turns out the choice of goal points was perhaps not the best. The main field that most pilots landed in at goal was not good. Spanish Ako took out both uprights and a basebar on landing. Another pilot had a bad landing and probably has a bit of a concussion. She was taken away by ambulance, but reports say she's fine but for a little confusion. My thoughts are with her.

At pin-in, Gerolf was deep in discussion with the CIVL, no doubt informing them of his opinion as to the safety (or lack thereof) of the task.