Day 3 PWC

Day 3 had all the qualities of epicness and of course we were going to go BIG. But not to be for me as I landed out due to poor line choice, lack of skills & desire. No, I take that back. I wanted it bad enough to cruise the power lines on the rim for way too long with CK. we both found nada for lift after a great crossing into what was tons of dusts creating nice clouds along the rim. Unfortunately those clouds shaded out the land over which we had chosen to fly to and the east flow off the flats didn't make finding lift any easier. while we survived for longer then I thought we would it was a bit rowdy when I did find a core that might take me higher the 20ft off the ground. 3 crappy turns in shredded thermals & watching CK take several wacks as he tried to lock in too made it an easy choice to run away to play another day, so I ended up landing in the LZ. CK landed in the canyon and when I called him his words echoed my thought, "your alive!" Upon landing I learned that several made it off of launch after the start and several never made it above launch. A reserve toss (he is all good) and many dirtied on the rim. Those who did get to cloudbase had a fine day of flying a 127k course to bridgeport, bump in the road back west of the Butte and LZ in the soccer field. kind of fun to watch the leaders scream across the sky on the way to the final way point. Then I went a did a tandem, which was cool. the kid was way stoked & Dad was psyched to share the experience with his son. That is hard to beat.

As good of a day of flying as it was (safe launch & landing) in the immortal words of Will Gadd it was "NOT a good flight." especially when you know that lady luck ended what would have been epic cloud flying. In the end (after like 30 pilots made goal) they cancelled the race because of OD and drop out that put rain on the ground in the LZ. The gust front kept several people way up at cloudbase and as it dissipated they made it safely down. That's when we went tandem. The bad weather was short lived. the clouds toned down and those still on course landed when told to. everyone was saved by retrieve. it was a great day. Cloudbase was somewhere near 12,000ft. Josh Cohen was out in the lead again with 2 others. WISH I HAD BEEN IN THE SKY WITH THEM! Today is another epic day of clouds and fun. I'll be working hard to make up for my lack of skills yesterday. call it a do over. I did a karmic cleanse last night. I am focused on having fun and flying safe. Today I will have my day.