Andy Blackburn wrote:
At 04:54 01 August 2005, Ttaylor At Cc.Usu.Edu wrote:

I am working on the planning for a 1000K attempt.
One question I have
is how much water should I launch with in my Ventus
B? I can carry up
to 40 gallons (150 liters), but for a 1000K flight
I will need to
launch in early weak conditions, followed by strong
conditions latter
in the day.

Options would be to launch with 20 to 40 gallons.
Twenty to thirty
would probably give a good balance for early climb
and later running.

Any suggestions for an optimum balance?



The optimal, assuming strong enough conditions to support
1000k, is full water - so long as you can stay aloft
early in the day. The slower climb in the first 1-2
hours of the day is more than offset by the faster
cruise for the peak 6-7 hours later on.

Take off full, dump until you can stay up, just like at a contest. If
you can stay up easily when full, you are either flying in a great
place, or you took off too late!


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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA