Day 3

Friday, July 11
After a surprisingly good day on Thursday, Friday promised to be even better. The weather charts were optimistic, calling for 2/8 of Cu's with cloud bases from 1600 to 2000 meters. Accordingly, the task was set to be 3 hour POST (pilot selected speed task) between 271 and 487 km.
Around 11 AM the first Cu's started popping up in the sky, and we started towing gliders to the runway. As usual, Rica and I towed 03 and NS in Rica's Fiat Brava.
However, even before take-off the cumulus clouds started disappearing and soon it became obvious that it was going to be a dry thermal day. After take-off we struggled to climb above 1000 meters in weak and broken lift. There was time enough to take some nice photos.

I crossed the start line a couple of minutes before 2 PM, together with ZR, ZF, EJ and BB. It was relatively easy going all the way past the second turn point. I got there first and set off towards Senta alone. Soon enough I was down at 600 meters near Lofcenac and had to circle in some week lift just to stay aloft. Finally, I managed to find a 1.5 m/s thermal and got up to 1300 meters.

Staying below 1000 meters with no cloud cover at all, it was getting pretty hot in the cockpit. Luckily, I had with me a spray bottle/fan air conditioner that David bought me for my birthday. It proved to be quite handy.

Near Senta, the conditions improved and I managed to climb up to 1500 meters. Zoki in his Discus 2B (ZF) joined me and we set off into the sun towards Srbobran. The day seemed to be dying and we reduced the cruise speed to 120 km/h. My DG-101 could not keep up with Discus 2 and soon I was some 150 meters lower.

We rounded Srbobran pretty low and headed towards Becej. Just west of Becej there was a large stubble field and I was hoping to find something there. However, there was nothing usable and I ended up landing in that field. Miro (30) was already there and Jagica (ZR) and I landed in formation.

It was great to have company and we set up camp by the side of the main road to wait for Bela and Dalibor who were coming with the trailer to pick up Miro - see the photo below titled "Miro, Ovce a ima i Jagica".

They arrived within an hour and we took '30' apart in 20 minutes. On the way back to Ecka, Bela dropped Miro, Jagica and I in Becej and we went to a nice restaurant wit a patio in the town center. We stayed there for a couple of hours, had a nice supper that Miro insisted on paying for, and even listened to some live music.

Bela returned around 10:30 PM to pick up ZR and they left around 11. I stayed waiting for Rica and Pap. Rica and I are sharing the trailer and his Fiat tow car, and since he landed out before I did, I was second on the retrieval list.

Rica and Pap finally showed up half past midnight. We loaded NS unto the trailer with the help from a farmer who used his tractor's headlights to illuminate the trailer and also helped with taking the glider apart. We finally made it back to the airport just before 2 AM.

It turned out that everyone landed out. I ended up 4th for the day, staying 1st in the overall standings. http://www.soaringspot.com/odjpsz2008/results/standard/daily/day3.html

Saturday, July 12

I woke up at 8 to make up for getting to bed at 2 AM. The sky was clear, but the SE wind was blowing at some 5 to 8 m/s. The forecast was for dry thermals to 900 meters and nobody was too keen on flying. Milos was sent up to check the conditions in the open Cirrus. He managed to get up to 900 meters, but the wind was too strong. Finally, the day was cancelled and the gliders pulled back into the hangar.

I phoned Gile (Silvia) and and she came around 3 PM with Anastazija, her daughter, and a couple of friends and took me to Lukicevo. We visited her good friends Toma and Olja who have a nice house with a very nice back yard there. We stayed until 11 chatting and had a great time.