Pre-Worlds Task 2 Llano

The 75km Task 2 made use of the new turnpoint south of Penon. First, we had a start cylinder at Espina with the usual long wait while trying to stay out of the clouds. Next it was a run over the back to Three Kings to the Northwest then a 20K xc to Llano to the South, and then all the way back to the Mesa to tag Cerro Gordo, La Casa and then La Torre with goal there so we could land at the lake. There was epic cloud streeting and convergent lift with +6 m/s thermals consistently all day. After the start everyone was on glide to Maguey and 3 Kings, watching ahead a green Boom 4 was coming down on reserve and then moments later one of the Valic brothers was struggling to keep his glider open. After about 6 stalls he recovered and blasted back on course. Those guys are incredible. After getting the Kings we hammered out to Llano and worked the decent valley lift along the way until we got the turnpoint in deep of the little cinder cone that its in and the convergent lift is good over there. Tanking up there we shot back towards launch and the wall with some nice climbs back up to cloudbase before hitting the wall and mesa to Cerro Gordo. The convergence at Gordo was textbook, a nice strong lift line on lots of bar to La Casa. After hitting La Casa, pilots were trying to glide back to Torre and the lake but getting low and impatient. But most were able to squeak out some lift near Casa Vieja and glide into the ridge lift and grab Torre and then land at the lake. Another incredible day and great task, I was fortunate enough to make it with lots of folks into goal. I think the Valic brothers were in 1st and 4th or so. SM