It's not the first landout of the day that is embarassing - it's the second one - especially during a contest!

One of my first contest flights, in a G-102 out of Estrella. Task was basically Estrella to Ryan and back. Pedalling hard to stay with the pack, got low on the way out and dropped into El Tiro, which was conveniently on the way to the turnpoint and even better, could give me a tow to get home. Off tow, spotted the pack heading home and pedalled off after them. Halfway back, here comes a solid status deck from the West. Near Casa Grande, we got to the shadow, and all but a couple of leaders (who had a final glide to Estrella) landed out within minutes of each other. I ended up in a wheat field (in preference to an active shooting range - seriously!), which led to a long, late "carry the glider out of the field at midnight" retrieve by my then future wife...good sign that! No damage done, but we picked wheat out of that glider for a long time after - and it took awhile to pass the club's "Lead C" award to someone else.

I still enjoy a nice landout - but now I really try hard to keep them to airfields...which is easy where I fly now in Illinois.

Of course, that does set you up for some interesting aero retrieves, say at night flying on tow by the light of your iPhone...but that's a different story...

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