Sunday, July 12th, 1998

ay 1 of the Paragliding National Championships 1998 was delayed due to high winds, as reported by the Klamath Falls Herald and News. The jetstream moved further north today, with NW winds forecasted for the Lakeview area. Basically this means a slightly more southwest wind for Black Cap launch. By one o'clock, we could tell that the day was looking more promising, so a task was called. Plush cutoff road intersection with hwy 140 for a turnpoint, and Plush as goal, about 28 miles total.
     Kiwi was one of the first wind dummies, and didn't look real good until he got low on the front hills behind town, where he hooked a low dusty and climbed out to way above launch, and proceeded to the house thermal over Black Cap. He seemed to be able to maintain rather high over launch, and we were all encouraged, since this was the first day the thermals weren't blown to bits.
     Launch window opened at 2:30, and start tarp came out at 3:30, with a good portion of the competitors still on the ground. The lead gaggle got on course about twenty minutes after the start tarp opened, once they topped their thermal out at about 10,000 feet. I followed a little later, after getting all the way to 10,600 feet, and by then they had found a nice bubble over the first hill on the other side of the valley where Hwy 140 is. I came in with Lee Kaiser and Fred Lawley and enjoyed the merry-go-round thermal already marked by the leaders.
     Then off they went to the turnpoint - the intersection of Hwy 140 and the Plush Cutoff road. The thermal they got over the turnpoint drifted off to the east, so when I got there, I found it, but decided to track back to the road to better follow the route. WRONG! I found sink all the way to the edge of the road, where I hooked a weak dribbler, working it for two miles out into the flatlands before it set me down in the soft green grass. At least the landing was soft in a nice place, altough I'd trade it anytime for a rowdy thermal getting me closer to goal!
     Eighteen people made goal, but there was a ensuing debate since many crossed goal much higher than the 1000 feet or less rule. It will likely be the cause of much discussion and debate for days to come....