As in, is it half full or half empty?
After overnighting in Alamogordo (at the very nice Tavarres B&B/Inn) I headed for a flying site near Las Cruces (Mag Rim). The forecast looked like it might be flyable in the afternoon. It was cloudy, but this is mostly a ridge soaring rather than thermal site, so that was ok. I wasn't the only one to notice the possibility of flying and one of the locals was bringing another visiting pilot.
When I got there the wind was blowing over the back (the opposite direction we needed) so I took my time organizing my gear. By the time the other guys showed up the wind had flipped (as forecast) and all of a sudden we were in a hurry to launch since there was rain threatening.
The wind was the perfect direction and a reasonable speed. I was first in the air, with an uneventful launch (that's a good thing!) and soon got up above the ridge. I managed about a 30 minute flight before the wind slowed down and I sank out. Ideally you want to land at the top so you don't have to hike back up but by the time I realized the wind was dropping I was already too low. No big deal, I landed mostly clear of all the prickly stuff, packed up and hiked back up.
If I had been flying by myself, I would have been perfectly happy with this flight. Decent launch, fun flight, good landing, what more can I ask for? The problem is that the other visiting pilot flew circles around me. While I was working to stay up, he was way up high above me, cruising around seemingly effortlessly. I know that's irrelevant. The fact is, with the amount I fly I'm never going to be expert. Many, if not most, of the pilots I run into are going to be better than me. I accept that. I work on being "competent" (or at least not incompetent!) and for the most part I think I succeed. But I still struggle to let go of the ego.
After overnighting in Alamogordo (at the very nice Tavarres B&B/Inn) I headed for a flying site near Las Cruces (Mag Rim). The forecast looked like it might be flyable in the afternoon. It was cloudy, but this is mostly a ridge soaring rather than thermal site, so that was ok. I wasn't the only one to notice the possibility of flying and one of the locals was bringing another visiting pilot.
When I got there the wind was blowing over the back (the opposite direction we needed) so I took my time organizing my gear. By the time the other guys showed up the wind had flipped (as forecast) and all of a sudden we were in a hurry to launch since there was rain threatening.
The wind was the perfect direction and a reasonable speed. I was first in the air, with an uneventful launch (that's a good thing!) and soon got up above the ridge. I managed about a 30 minute flight before the wind slowed down and I sank out. Ideally you want to land at the top so you don't have to hike back up but by the time I realized the wind was dropping I was already too low. No big deal, I landed mostly clear of all the prickly stuff, packed up and hiked back up.
If I had been flying by myself, I would have been perfectly happy with this flight. Decent launch, fun flight, good landing, what more can I ask for? The problem is that the other visiting pilot flew circles around me. While I was working to stay up, he was way up high above me, cruising around seemingly effortlessly. I know that's irrelevant. The fact is, with the amount I fly I'm never going to be expert. Many, if not most, of the pilots I run into are going to be better than me. I accept that. I work on being "competent" (or at least not incompetent!) and for the most part I think I succeed. But I still struggle to let go of the ego.
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