I can't believe there are only 3 days left! Maybe it seems quick since 2 days were kind of a washout - Monday & Tuesday were both really windy & I didn't make it further than the main landing zone. I'm super bummed about it, but not as upset as I am about today.
This morning I felt overwhelmed before the task was even called. I guess 2 days of not tagging any waypoints made me question what I was even doing here. But I found a quiet place to sit & give myself a short pep talk and felt a little better. The sky today was showing promise of lots of lift from the big clouds everywhere and we were getting excited about the potential of the day. I launched a little later than I'd wanted to since there is a system where the top pilots get to officially "butt in" and launch whenever they want, and that happened when I was about 5 spots away from launching. The pilot in my line attempted to launch his competition wing numerous times without success and the rest of us in line were starting to get frustrated. Thankfully he finally stepped aside and let us minions huck ourselves off the mountain.
The task started out well, I tagged the start cylinder & first turnpoint and headed across the valley for the second one. I got there too low & it was rough, so I flew back & forth to the hill 2 more times til I got the height I needed. It was important to get high today because along with all the lift there was a lot rough air. People's gliders were collapsing all around-I saw someone get worked below me just before I got the 2nd turnpoint & then another pilot impacted the hill beside launch after losing half his wing. Even without seeing everyone else getting tossed around I was spooked today, I just felt nervous & couldn't shake it. Still I talked myself into attempting the third turnpoint but after a few tries I admitted defeat & skulked down to the same landing zone I've landed in every day this week. Grrr.
I was actually ok with my decision until everyone started the post-flight "How far did you fly today?" discussion at HQ. I realized that after all my hard work & tagging 2 turnpoints I got the same amount of points that I would have got if I'd flown straight down & done nothing. Of course good lessons were learned and hopefully my bump tolerance increased but part of me cares that this is a competition and sitting in last place in the women's division isn't the confidence boost I was hoping for when I signed up a few months ago & was imagining all that I'd learn.
But...tomorrow's another day - and 2 more after that to redeem myself. It's time to put together all the puzzle pieces of what I've learned so far this week. No more little miss scaredy-pants!
3 comments:
Awww, you're not the only one who gets majorly frustrated at competitions and takes the results personally. We need to have an in person chat over this one over some glasses of wine!
You are an excellent pilot Martina, and Woodrat (esp. the dreaded Rabies Ridge!) is a tricky place to fly. Keep your chin up, stay positive, and you might just surprise yourself. :)
Look back to learn - look forward to doing better next time. Focus on what you did right last time and do more of it and less of what you think you did wrong. Stay positive and good luck!
Thanks for the advice guys, it worked! :)
And V...I made the Dreaded Rabies Ridge waypoint today! Wine is definitely in order when I get home.
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