Comments on the Red Rock PG Nationals

There are a few items I would like to comment on. First, I'd like to commend the organizers and meet director who made the Red Rock Nationals work so seamlessly. Their consideration for every detail paid off well.

We did start with "stellar" conditions for the first weekend of the comp, with Saturday and Sunday being very good soaring days (July 23-24). Monsoonal moisture crept into the area about 12 hours earlier for the next Monday, which put a lid on the flying, as expected. The drying trend did occur mid week as predicted by the GFS long range forecast for the Richfield region, but was still on the edge. There were a few days where XC flights could have been made with earlier launches, but the timing of official task starts made it impossible to get everyone safely on course before overdevelopment shut down the two parallel valleys. Conditions to the East and North were potentially soarable for solo XC some early afternoons, but unreachable for a competition with 60+ pilots at varied skill levels, plus the time it takes to set a task and start a race.

In the end, we had 2 valid tasks, a lot of sight-seeing of Utah's incredible national parks, plenty of mountain biking, bowling, beer drinking, a few matinee movies, and even a little tennis. Not to mention a performance by Miss Richfield at the awards dinner.

Looking directly above launch, Task 2.
Photo by Sarah Galli

Weather Review for July 29

Today presented a very challenging and frustrating situation on launch. The weak ridge surpressing moisture was aligned from SW to NE across the SW portion of Utah extending into central Utah. Monroe Peak was unfortunately on the moist side of this line by only 20 miles.

The task committee and meet director chose to close the launch within 3 minutes of the official open. This was due to a relatively shallow cumulus line developing directly on course line. Within 20 minutes, the line was dropping out in a somewhat benign fashion, but with a single lightening strike in the distance and the psychological factor of the sky just looking very border-line, the task remained on hold for another hour until the day was canceled.

The meet director deliberated on canceling the next day, given the forecast was for considerable more moisture and instability over the entire lower half of the state of Utah.

A conference call was initiated to incorporate the opinions of what would likely happen for Saturday, July 30. Those on the call were seasoned forecasters and a Professor of Atmospheric Science from the University of Utah, all who are familiar with reviewing and forecasting monsoonal conditions in the state. The consensus was that Saturday would not yield a soarable window from noon through 4pm, which would be the earliest a task window could be executed within.

Hence, the competition is officially over and the awards ceremony with commence a day early.

Closing thoughts to follow on another post.