Ooops

Today was really thermic. I should have not flown the C2, even the fun would have been a handfull.



I setup around lunchtime when the Motor Sailplane boys took off, watching them getting vaccumed up to 7000ft directly over the strip made me want some of the action.
As it turned out it took me 3 hours to rig the glider and power harness combo, it took so long because it was so thermic, even after hammering pegs into the ground and tieing the c2 down at each corner I still had to keep dropping everything and running for the nose wires each time a cycle came through. If the monster dusties were not warning enough I should have heeded the constant winds changes, from 15knots ESE to 15knots WNW depending on exactly where the thermal was relative to you. I was so aware of this as an issue that I put up about 20 wind streamers so I could watch the cycles come through and time my take-offs and landings.
The first couple of T/Os and Landings were pretty uneventfull, base bar style, a walk, trot, jog and then "Run Forrest Run" with full power leaving the ground with as much speed as possible.
Landings were base bar all the way and run faster.
My third T/O was completely nil wind, in between cycles. I even had a streamer on the nose wires and It was lifeless when I started my run, I was not even close to full power and just getting to the running as fast as possible stage when the right wing just dropped. I throttled off completely and managed to kind of keep the non flying wings levelish, but the nose dropped and the power harness pushed me through the A frame and an upright that was in the way. Mostly I was pissed off to be at the bottom of the heap of glider and harness and apart from re-openeing an old wound from Exmouth I did little damage. In trying to stop the wind from blowing away my C2 I too hurridly lay it flat and in the process destroyed one end of the base bar when I really only needed a new upright, Doh again.
It was pretty horrible in the air. After my first T/O which was into a cycle and an easy T/O into a nice breeze I found myself stuck in the sink at 100ft and with the bar to my knees to stay in control, it was the longest climb to 1500ft I have ever had and that was with the engine on and me trying to stay in lifting air. To say I got my arse kicked would be a huge understatement, it was scary up there. Landings were actually the easy part, with the prop braked and on the base bar.