ACD300 is on Sunday due to blowhome conditions on Saturday. Sunday looks to be better race speeds with variable SE(tailwinds) and NE (crosswinds) conditions along sections of the course. Hopefully they neutralize each other. 236 birds will make the journey - best of luck ~~!
Today's clocking will be uploaded later as the computer/Wincompanion was powered off.
Birds will be rested tomorrow Saturday, bath and fed at 8am...
ACD300 basketing list to follow...
300 mile payout posted tomorrow ~!!
Birds loft flew this morning for about 45-60 mins - routed well and diving on return - Inventory will be up later tonight. They will be on the road for a 40-60 mile toss in the morning.
Our scheduled ACD300 is this Saturday 15th. We are monitoring the winds - for about 50 miles of the course, there are 15-18mph East winds, and double-digit side/tailwinds along other areas which could spell a 2000 ypm blowhome or serioius overfly and having to counter a 15 mph headwind to get back. As the week progresses, if this does not change - we will move the ACD300 to Sunday 16th - stay tuned here ~~!
Looking ahead - the Final ACD350 is on Friday 21st - and as we cross over into Texas - currently it looks like variable headwinds 5-10mph all the way - WHICH WE WILL BE FLYING ~~!! We do NOT delay races due to reasonable headwinds.
Best regards
FAST and FURIOUS !!!!!!!!!
At release station 8 mph NE, at the 200m station 10 mph East, at 150 miles 12 mph ESE is what was predicted... at 100 miles from the lofts it was a different story.... the Windy App showed 15-25 E and ESE at 100 miles in ... We were expecting birds around 11:30. They showed up at 10:58 .. Congrats to that 1st drop of 6 that set the pace, and dove for the traps. The last two big groups came straight out of the West (overflew) - not sure how to correct that - it seems habitual now ~! That should set them up for the longer races with the additional wing time over the early arrivals.
I apologize to those that showed up and we were not setup for entertaining. Food and refreshments will be provided on the Final race. There are no planned activities for the pre-races.
What's next?
We will have the next race on Saturday Dec 15th. Thur-Mon are showing some tailwinds at this point. I want to maintain the momentum and be aggressive by NOT having the birds sitting around more than 5 days between races. This would set us up for having the Final on Friday 21st Dec.
Tuesday - Lockdown/Rest
Wednesday - TBD (Loft fly or 50 miles)
Thursday - 50 miles
Friday - Lockdown
Saturday - ACD300
Basketing List published later tonight....250 is on for 12/10/2018
250 Payout:
1. 800
2. 700
3. 600
4. 500
5. 400
6. 300
7. 200
Rain Thursday night and early Friday morning with cold damp air. Loft flying birds today again with a 50 mile toss Saturday. Rest on Sunday - and we go to 250 on Monday.
Birds are on lock-down today with Vita King Return Combo and to allow any 2nd day birds to clock and rebound.
Thursday - Loft Fly/Bath/Open Loft
Friday - 50 miles
Saturday - 50 miles
Sunday - Locked down
Monday Dec 10 - Next race
CONGRATS to the winners ~~!!!
Release 28 degrees, NE winds < 5mph. Our race course is South East with today's expected winds less than 10 mph variable along the course, clear skies and perfect temperatures. This should have been an easy race (if there is such a thing).
Winds notched up to 14-20 mph East as the morning progressed in Winkelman (60 mile station). The first drop of 23 or so came directly out of the SW which says they were pushed to Tucson (south of us) with the later winds. The 2nd drop came directly out of the West which means they definitely overflew. The later birds were not tired at all - no open mouths or drooping wings. The later ones are definitely in the + column for wingtime.
Thanks to the local lads that helped out with the droppers and came to watch the race and congrats with 2 of them being in the 1st drop (Scott and Jairo).
2nd Race 200m station - Tuesday Dec 4th. Basketing list published later today.
Best of luck ~~!
Well we timed it good. Strong cold front came in last night with rain and headwinds along course - which unfortunately led to only 2 additional birds making it home today. Cold headwinds along course for Sat-Mon.
We will have the birds back out on a 50/75 mile tuneup before the next race.
Thanks to the local lads that made it out on race day to observe the proceedings....
Best regards ~~!
297 birds shipped (one bird was pulled and will not be competing in the series - breeder has been notified).
275 birds in the clock at end of day.
** There were 3 birds that showed up in training mode that I will have to get with Terry to see if these birds can get the credit for the flight today. after we close the clock. I had to manually add them to the basketing list last night (as clock said "Already basketed" when we scanned) and they showed up on the official published basketing list but not when Wincom ran. I have screenshots of Unikon clocking if anyone wishes to see it.
DMAR 306 - TIme: 14-03-39
OL 2597 - Time: 10-17-27
JEDDS 21409 - Time: 9-58-15
The birds started off with very little help in terms of the non-existent winds. Results-wise, 200 birds in the first 20 minutes, 22 birds on the 1st drop at 1521 ypm. Congratulations to ALL the winners with my long-time mentor Lazy AC being first in the clock. Just a quick tribute - Al was the guy that showed me Winspeed, Unikon, how to figure a race, and how to race pigeons.
"Generally" with speeds over 1500 ypm, and around 80% of the birds home in the 1st hour - this is a good gauge of overall conditioning of the birds. Test that criteria on the various OLRs out there and draw your own conclusions....
What's next??
Based on what we saw today, I would really have liked to quickly go to the 200 on Monday - but the weather seems iffy - we will make that call as we get closer. We will load the birds appropriately for this next task -
Congratulations again and thanks for your support ~~!
