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topic: Jim Weitman (51 articles)

Dinosaur 2015 - Predictions From the Organizers »

September 7, 2015, 8:27:25 MDT

Dinosaur 2015 - Predictions From the Organizers

A pilot had qualms

Dinosaur 2015|Terry Reynolds|weather

https://www.rockymountainglider.com/locale.html

WEATHER

(1) While no one would be so foolish as to guarantee the weather for any hang gliding contest, the period scheduled for this meet should yield seven straight days of outstanding flying conditions. The desert area around Dinosaur is not affected by the high mountain weather which makes many mountain sites inconsistent. (2) While a high mountain site could have a solid week of virtually unflyable conditions, it is unlikely that there will be even a single day at Dinosaur on which a safe, valid task cannot be called. (3) During the post-monsoon period of this meet, pilots can expect a weather pattern dominated by high pressure, with light westerly winds aloft and blue thermals/small cumulus. Climbs above 17,000'msl are normal.

The numbers in parentheses and emphasis added.

The pilot writes:

Terry Reynolds and Crew, Jim and Amy Zeiset, and all those vested deeply in Dinosaur 2015 should be applauded and recognized for their enthusiastic and significant effort in putting on such a comp from scratch. Events such as this are a labor of love and demonstrate both a philanthropic and historical support for the sport of hang gliding. They are by nature cash negative.

However, when will event organizers properly recognize the importance of meteorological assessments and strategies? Pursuits which rely upon harvesting energy from atmospheric discontinuities which is both reliable and safe must fully understand the scope and impact of these parameters.

Reading the paragraph about the weather from the Dinosaur 2015 website in advance (see above), and being somewhat familiar with the area, meteorological patterns, and time of year for this event, I bit my lip, sublimated the skepticism, and hoped for the best.

The good (1) and the bad (2), bad (3). Unfortunately my concerns about the conditions proved to be only too well founded. Congratulations to Zippie on another top performance and extending something of a real roll! Congratulations to the organizers for putting on a very special event at a special site. It's unfortunate that the weather didn't run against historic patterns, but it didn't, and that's like crying over spilt milk.

The message: Make sure events, sites, and meet practice synch with meteorological realities. Time is precious, as are the best and well-meaning efforts and lives themselves.

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Dinosaur day 7 cancelled »

September 5, 2015, 1:59:22 pm MDT

Dinosaur day 7 cancelled

Gail force winds force the end of the meet after three days of flying.

Bill Soderquist|Bruce Barmakian|Christian Ciech|competition|Dinosaur 2015|Jim Yocom|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Pete Lehmann|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/dinosaur2015/results

Final:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 962 928 1000 1962
2 Glen McFarlane Wills Wing T2C 144 947 1000 945 1947
3 Christian Ciech Icaro Laminar 987 916 730 1903
4 Pedro Garcia Wills Wing T2C 144 935 897 416 1832
5 Jon Sr Durand Moyes RX4 833 878 374 1711
6 Rudy Gotes Wills Wing T2C 144 576 969 442 1545
7 Jonny Durand Moyes RX3.5 880 472 448 1352
8 Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 144 556 102 709 1265
9 Bill Soderquist Moyes RS3.5 812 443 380 1255
10 Pete Lehmann Wills Wing T2 154 266 536 673 1209

Sport class final:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Kelly Myrkle Aeros Discus 844 133 451 1295
2 Beau Buck North Wing Liberty 148 794 107 464 1258
3 Nathan Grimes Wills Wing U2 145 652 272 514 1166
4 Brian Morris Freedom 170 862 220 194 1082
5 Josiah Stephens Predator 142 450 114 468 918
6 Rob DeGroot Moyes Gecko 321 477 265 798
7 John Christian Wills Wing U2 145 613 107 0 720
8 Carlos Alvarado Wills Wing U2 145 363 272 203 635
9 Jon Lindburg Wills Wing Sport 2 135b 319 114 126 445
10 Rick Maddy Wills Wing U2 160 195 0 164 359

Kelley

Jim Yocom was the first of two ATOS pilots.

Dinosaur day 6 cancelled »

September 4, 2015, 2:00:05 pm MDT

Dinosaur day 6 cancelled

Forecast for unpleasant conditions

weather

NWS forecast for this afternoon, here:

Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 5pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. South southwest wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

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Dinosaur - today's forecast »

Fri, Sep 4 2015, 8:17:14 am MDT

30 mph gusts again forecast

Dinosaur 2015

Forecast here:

Isolated showers and thunderstorms after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Breezy, with a southeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

NWS hazardous weather forecast for today here:

SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA THIS AFTERNOON…WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FORMING OVER THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE AREA. THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF GENERATING HEAVY RAIN…SMALL HAIL AND WIND GUSTS TO 40 mph.

Forecast for Saturday:

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 74. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 5 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph.

Forecast by Rich Jesuroga. Tomorrow looks worse.

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Dinosaur day 5 cancelled »

September 3, 2015, 1:59:48 pm MDT

Dinosaur day 5 cancelled

Windy with gusts to 30 mph

weather

NWS forecast for this afternoon, here:

This Afternoon: Isolated showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. South southwest wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Glen sends:

And reports 30 mph gusts just as forecast. I wonder if there is anything to do in Dinosaur, Colorado.

From the cancelled day:

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Dinosaur - Hazardous weather forecasted »

Thu, Sep 3 2015, 9:44:04 am MDT

Thunderstorms for the Yampa

Dinosaur 2015

NWS hazardous weather forecast for today here:

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA THIS MORNING AND SPREAD SLOWLY NORTH DURING THE DAY BEFORE DIMINISHING THIS EVENING. THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF GENERATING HEAVY RAIN…SMALL HAIL AND WIND GUSTS TO 40 mph.

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Dinosaur - Thank goodness for the Sport Class »

Thu, Sep 3 2015, 9:29:20 am MDT

So few open class pilots

Dinosaur 2015

https://airtribune.com/dinosaur2015/pilots

There are only eighteen open class pilots flying in the Dinosaur competition. But, fortunately there are eleven sport class pilots and two rigid wing pilots. This with a competition that promised in advance $15,000 in prize money and had lower costs because there was no need for towing.

Without the sport class this would be a very poorly attended competition. It is also a warning flag to future meet organizers that they should be careful about how many pilots might want to come to their competition and how carefully they should encourage sport class pilots.

It wasn't that long ago that there weren't any sport class competitions in the US. We have worked hard to turn that around despite lots of discouragement from old fart pilots who felt that this was a travesty. It has turned out to be very favorable to competitions and has been a whole lot of fun.

It's great to see such enthusiasm from these newer pilots and the fast learning that is taking place.

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Dinosaur - day 4 »

Wed, Sep 2 2015, 10:37:51 pm MDT

The results

Bill Soderquist|Bruce Barmakian|Christian Ciech|competition|Dinosaur 2015|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Pete Lehmann|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/dinosaur2015/results

Task 3:

# Name Glider Time Distance Dist.
Points
Lead.
Points
Time
Points
Arr.
Pos.
Points
Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 01:59:35 115.67 717.5 49.4 197.8 35.3 1000
2 Glen Mcfarlane Wills Wing T2C 144 02:04:37 115.67 717.5 42.8 167.6 16.6 945
3 Dave Gibson Wills Wing T2C 144 03:19:32 115.67 717.5 7.5 8.8 734
4 Christian Ciech Icaro Laminar 107.93 688.0 41.6 730
5 Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 144 112.99 709.2 709
6 Pete Lehmann Wills Wing T2 154 105.07 672.8 673
7 Cory Barnwell Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 56.85 480.2 480
8 Aaron Rinn Wills Wing T2C 144 53.12 464.5 465
9 Felix Cantesanu Aeros Combat C 12.7 51.86 457.9 458
10 Jonny Durand Moyes RX3.5 50.24 447.5 448

I'm quite certain that Christian was happier to get his leading points than not.

Cumulative (well here's a little different outcome):

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 962 928 1000 1962
2 Glen Mcfarlane Wills Wing T2C 144 947 1000 945 1947
3 Christian Ciech Icaro Laminar 987 916 730 1903
4 Pedro Garcia Wills Wing T2C 144 935 897 416 1832
5 Jon Sr Durand Moyes RX4 833 878 374 1711
6 Rudy Gotes Wills Wing T2C 144 576 969 442 1545
7 Jonny Durand Moyes RX3.5 880 472 448 1352
8 Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 144 556 102 709 1265
9 Bill Soderquist Moyes RS3.5 812 443 380 1255
10 Pete Lehmann Wills Wing T2 154 266 536 673 1209

Only the best two scores are used. Clearly, so far, Zac and Glen are disadvantaged by this elimination of the worst day (perhaps they'll have bad days later), while everyone else was advantaged, especially Christian.

Four sport class pilots made goal. Kelly Myrkle is in the overall lead.

Dinosaur - day 4 »

Wed, Sep 2 2015, 4:32:36 pm MDT

Zac tasks wins task 3

Dinosaur 2015|Facebook

https://airtribune.com/play/995/2d

https://airtribune.com/dinosaur2015/blog__day_4

Zac in first, Glen second, Christian lands 9 km short. No one else in goal.

Dave Gibson makes it in later in third:

Nice looking sky. Thanks to Glen for his on the spot (goal) reports.

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Dinosaur - day 3 »

Tue, Sep 1 2015, 11:06:19 pm MDT

Just like the good old days

Dinosaur 2015|Facebook|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|photo

Jonny Durand «Jonny Durand» writes:

If you want to know why I was not in goal today it was because I was in front and at the last turnpoint I went to land because there was lightning and rain on course. Glen reports he flew through hail to make goal and win the day. I did the safe thing and turned around and landed away from the storm.

Every day of the 1990 Nationals at Dinosaur was like this. We didn't know any better then.

Good for Jonny making the safe decision. There is a reason I'm not flying at Dinosaur.

Photo from the first task.

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Dinosaur - day 3 »

Tue, Sep 1 2015, 10:59:34 pm MDT

The results

Bill Soderquist|Christian Ciech|competition|Dinosaur 2015|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/dinosaur2015/results

Task 2:

# Name Glider Time Lead.
Points
Time
Points
Arr.
Pos.
Points
Total
1 Glen Mcfarlane Wills Wing T2C 144 01:52:45 85.1 340.5 60.8 1000
2 Rudy Gotes Wills Wing T2C 144 01:53:09 78.2 330.7 46.0 969
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 01:55:55 78.2 301.7 34.5 928
4 Christian Ciech Icaro Laminar 01:56:22 78.5 298.1 26.0 916
5 Pedro Garcia Wills Wing T2C 144 01:57:21 72.5 290.7 20.1 897
6 Josh Woods Moyes RX3.5 01:58:15 66.5 284.4 16.1 881
7 Jon Sr Durand Moyes RX4 01:59:14 72.4 277.9 13.8 878
8 Pete Lehman Wills Wing Sport 2-155 03:11:37 9.4 12.6 536

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Glen Mcfarlane Wills Wing T2C 144 1946
2 Christian Ciech Icaro Laminar 1902
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 1889
4 Pedro Garcia Wills Wing T2C 144 1831
5 Jon Sr Durand Moyes RX4 1708
6 Rudy Gotes Wills Wing T2C 144 1537
7 Jonny Durand Moyes RX3.5 1350
8 Bill Soderquist Moyes RS3.5 1251
9 Pedro Montes Aeros Combat GT 15 1143
10 Josh Woods Moyes RX3.5 1119

Rob DeGroot was the only sport class pilot to make goal on a Moyes Gecko.

Brian Morris on a North Wing Freedom 170 (single surface) is in first place over all with Kelley Myrkle on an Aeros Discus right behind him. There is a handicap.

Dinosaur - day 3 »

Tue, Sep 1 2015, 5:57:20 pm MDT

Rudy second, Zac third, Christian, fourth, only seven in goal

Dinosaur 2015|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr

Jonny Durand, not in goal.

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Dinosaur - day 3 »

Tue, Sep 1 2015, 5:01:53 pm MDT

Glen wins task 2

Dinosaur 2015

https://airtribune.com/play/990/2d

https://airtribune.com/dinosaur2015/blog__day_3

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Dinosaur - day 3 »

Tue, Sep 1 2015, 12:46:34 pm MDT

Watch live tracking

Dinosaur 2015

https://airtribune.com/play/990/2d

https://airtribune.com/dinosaur2015/blog__day_3

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Dinosaur - day 2 »

Mon, Aug 31 2015, 9:53:41 pm MDT

Christian 40 seconds ahead

Bill Soderquist|Christian Ciech|competition|Dinosaur 2015|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/dinosaur2015/blog__day_2

https://airtribune.com/dinosaur2015/results

Task 1:

# Name Glider Time Lead.
Points
Time
Points
Arr.
Pos.
Points
Total
1 Christian Ciech Icaro Laminar 01:39:40 81.3 354.9 63.4 986
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 01:40:20 86.0 340.0 46.0 959
3 Glen Mcfarlane Wills Wing T2C 144 01:40:22 82.4 339.5 33.2 942
4 Pedro Garcia Wills Wing T2C 144 01:40:35 82.1 336.5 24.2 929
5 Jonny Durand Moyes RX3.5 01:47:25 88.7 278.3 18.4 872
6 Jon Sr Durand Moyes RX4 01:51:11 66.5 255.2 15.0 823
7 Bill Soderquist Moyes RS3.5 01:52:55 57.7 245.4 13.3 803

Notice that Arrival Position and Time points (the difference between the values given) are way more important than Leading points (where the differences are very small among the top five pilots).

Sport class: Most pilots not scored yet.

Dinosaur - day 2 »

Mon, Aug 31 2015, 5:13:26 pm MDT

Zac and Glen first into goal

Dinosaur 2015

https://airtribune.com/dinosaur2015/blog__day_2

https://airtribune.com/play/975/2d

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Dinosaur - day 1 cancelled »

Sun, Aug 30 2015, 3:20:56 pm MDT

Over development - just like in the old days there.

Dinosaur 2015

https://airtribune.com/dinosaur2015/blog__day_1

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Dinosaur 2015 »

July 29, 2015, 7:06:04 MDT

Dinosaur 2015

Fees rising

Terry <<terryreynolds2>> writes:

Dinosaur 2015 (see http://rockymountainglider.com) is a maximum NTSS points (600) meet (+$10,000 prize money). Also, at least fourteen Sport Class ($5000 prize money) pilots have signed up and more to come. Entry fee goes up August 1. Pilots registering and paying before then get an embroidered fleece jacket instead of a t-shirt. So far all entrants are foot launching, so too bad we built Dinosaur International.

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Dinosaur 2015 »

July 16, 2015, 8:00:22 MDT

Dinosaur 2015

150 million years of soaring

Terry <<terryreynolds2>> writes:

The entry fee for Dinosaur 2015 ( http://rockymountainglider.com ) goes up to $425 August 1.

As anyone who has been part of organizing a hang gliding comp could tell you, it would be much easier and better for all concerned if competitors were able to plan ahead and pay the earlier, lower prices ($300 for Dinosaur.) For pilots registered and paid before August 1, the “T-Shirt Size” requested on the pilot registration form is actually for a nice fleece jacket (or vest, as shown) with “Dinosaur 2015; 150 Million Years of Soaring” embroidered around a pterodactyl and hang glider. Entrants paid after that date - we have to place the order - will get a t-shirt. Extra jackets for family, crew, etc. can be ordered by paid up pilots, before August 1, for $55.

The event is non-profit and any money left over will go to the Cloudbase Foundation.

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Dinosaur 2015 »

June 25, 2015, 5:15:33 pm MST -0600

Dinosaur 2015

Fees rising

Terry <<terryreynolds2>> writes:

The entry fee for Dinosaur 2015 goes up July 1 to $400.

The comp was conceived last year to boost hang gliding through competition by providing a major foot launch meet in a proven location. (Although designed primarily as a footlaunch event, we built a runway just for this comp for those who prefer to aerotow.) While aerotow contests have evolved and been refined to a fine art, particularly through the work of Davis Straub and Jamie Shelden, large footlaunch comps in the U.S. seem to be a thing of the past.

Dinosaur 2015 aims to:

1) To attract the world’s top pilots - the World Champion and the U.S. Champion are coming;
2) To bring back former regular competitors - “The Jeffs,” among others, are coming;
3) To build on the well thought out efforts to encourage the Sport Class.

Most of the Sport Class pilots signed up thus far have never flown in either class of a major comp. Nothing changes the fact that only the individual pilot can determine what is safe or not for that individual pilot. That said, we are making special efforts to encourage and cater to Sport Class:

1) Ryan Voight, USHPA Instructor of the Year and experienced big air pilot, will teach a free clinic, including video critique of launches, onsite Friday and Saturday before the contest starts Sunday;
2) Sport Class competitors will drop their two low score days - bomb out or choose not to fly and you’re still in the comp!;
3) Jim Zeiset has pledged $5,000 prize money (split $3K, $1500, $500) to the class.

To register, and to see the answers to more questions than you thought to ask, please go to http://rockymountainglider.com.

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Dinosaur 2015 »

May 26, 2015, 8:27:04 EDT

Dinosaur 2015

Entry fee rises soon

Terry <<terryreynolds2>> writes:

Reminder, the entry fee for Dinosaur 2015 goes up June 1. Please see http://rockymountainglider.com for more information and to register. Contact us at <rockymountainglider> with any questions, to volunteer, etc.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic - three days later

Tue, Apr 14 2015, 2:04:46 pm EDT

Nice weather after the competition

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air|weather

The weather forecast here.

The weather has actually been pretty nice after the Green Swamp Sport Klassic. Rain in the late afternoon one hate and a little rain at night on the other. Plenty of good flying in competition conditions could have been had (but it would have been a bit nerve wracking. Lots of tandems and single flights here.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 7

Sat, Apr 11 2015, 9:29:09 pm EDT

An upwind leg to start off given the conditions and the approaching front

Facebook|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Jeffrey "Jeff" Lawrence Bohl|PG|Quest Air|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/para/flightinfo.html?flightId=-1436600459

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/para/getScoring.html?scoringId=319

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1133582

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20150304&gliderclass=hg1

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/11.4.2015/16:40

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-open/

We had a forecast of a 40% chance of rain. We could see on the forecast maps that a front was coming our way. When we looked to the north we could see the milky colored sky. The idea was to have a task that was valid but was short enough that we could get everyone on the ground before any rain showed up.

The visible satellite photo for 12:30 PM. You can see the lack of cu's to our north.

At noon the task committee changed the task because while there were plenty of cu's, there were none then to the north and the milky coloring seemed to be coming a lot nearer. Now the task was to the south to 474 and 33 and then back up to the northeast to the Sawmill turnpoint and back to Quest. The sky to the north filled in with cu's a bit later.

We had expected 7 mph westerly winds, but they were a little stronger, 9 mph to 11 mph and south south westerly. The task committee had abandoned the plan to go to the north to the Grass Roots airfield, so we didn't have a down wind leg to start the task off (the next leg would have been 20 km into the wind), but a 14 km leg into the wind (from the edge of the start cylinder to the north edge of the 3 km cylinder around the turnpoint).

We put a bigger cylinder around the turnpoint so that pilots wouldn't be flying over fields where the owner is less than pleased to have us landing. The edge of the turnpoint cylinder was just east of the Seminole glider port. Right on highway 33.

We started early at 12:30 PM because we felt that the day could end early with rain showers and thunderstorms and we wanted to give pilots the best chance of staying safe. That turned out to be a good call, not that we had any rain.

The first couple of pilots who were towed up didn't stick. I was next and was pulled toward and then flew to the southwest edge of a reasonable looking cu but found no lift. Heading back to the field, down wind, I saw a pilot turning just west of the field and that was 200 fpm. It was early and none of the pilots were getting very high or climbing very fast. We got up to cloud base at 3,800'.

With the south wind we kept drifting back to the north. Finally I had climbed to 3,900' and was at cloud base so I headed south. There was perhaps one pilot out on the course at that point. A few came with me and joined me in thermals to the south of Quest, but as it turned out, still inside the start cylinder (at least at the top of the lift).

I found 200 fpm at 2,600' just outside the start cylinder and drifted back into at 4,100', again at cloud base. Cory was following me and I saw one pilot a little out in front of me lower.

I was on the radio to my team calling out the climbs. Cory was listening. I had turned down the volume on the radio because of some early obnoxious transmission so I wasn't hearing anyone. I forgot that I turned it down, which caused some consternation as I would be the one to stop the task as meet director if there was a safety issue and I needed to hear pilots comments. Turns out there were no safety issues during the day.

There were plenty of cu's along highway 33 and just needed to be sure that I could get to the next one with enough altitude to find the lift. I came in to the lift at 2,000' next to the Seminole field and worked 150 fpm up a little more than a kilometer from the edge of the turnpoint. I needed to get higher before getting the turnpoint. I had to do another thermal to get to 3,500' and high enough to actually get to the turnpoint given that the wind was strong enough to make that difficult.

The sky was still full of cu's and turning around to go back and downwind made things much easier. I found 300 fpm and got to over 4,000'. A 150 fpm thermal 6 kilometers to the north that had three other pilots working up wind around it allowed me to climb up to 3,500', before shooting to the east to get the Sawmill turnpoint.

That looked like enough to make it in so I just kept on gliding and enjoying the tailwind to goal.

About forty minutes later Mick Howard came first into goal on his Wills Wing T2C. The topless gliders are heavily handicapped. David Lopez was next over goal, then Cory and finally Spinner, the Quest Air tandem pilot. That's everyone who made it to goal of the contestants.

Larry came in with David and said let's go back and do the course again but in the opposite direction so he and David did that and were successful.

The first leg was just too much of a headwind for the Sport 2 pilots. So that was a bit unfair. We, of course, try to make each task fair to all the pilots, including the Falcon pilot, so we would not usually include an upwind leg, especially not the first leg.

The cu's were cleared out at about 3:30 or 3:45. It was a good thing that we started early as the end ended so early.

http://soaringspot.com/gss2015/results/club/daily/day7.html

http://soaringspot.com/gss2015/results/club/total/day7.html

# Pilot Glider Total
1. Cory Barnwell Wills Wing U2 160 5007.35
2. Mick Howard Wills Wing T2C 144 4075.95
3. Matt Christensen Wills Wing U2 160 3756.62
4. Jeffery Bohl Wills Wing U2 160 3692.01
5. Jim Weitman Moyes Litesport 4 3689.30
6. John Maloney Wills Wing Sport 2 150 3217.33
7. Greg Sessa Wills Wing U2 160 3137.92
8. David Lopez Wills Wing T2C 2992.86
9. Willie Van Caulart Wills Wing Falcon 2 195 2501.97
10. Owen Mcdermott-Berryman Wills Wing U2 2277.73
11. Dana Pasternack Wills Wing Sport 2 2051.27

Replay the flights here: https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-klassic/blog__day_7

Dana, in eleventh, is the leading points person in contention of the US women's national sport class champion. There were three women in the competition.

Cory Barnwell did not have to fly the last day as Mick Howard could not catch him as the most points that he could have scored would be 800 given his handicap. Because of the difficult first leg, the day was not worth 1,000'. Too many pilots landed quite short.

Because this is a sport class only competition the sport class pilots were the focus of the competition and it was very friendly. Because we have a handicap system, we allow in topless gliders and pilots with lower NTSS points and ranking. We just have to keep it fair with an appropriate handicap to allow everyone a chance to do well, but not rely on the glider to give you an edge.

Kim Frutiger raised about a $1,000 for the Cloudbase Foundation with a raffle. Pilots had a great dinner at the Redwing restaurant and a local band played great music.

The winner:

Photo by Adam Bain

Larry and his new glider:

Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 6

Fri, Apr 10 2015, 9:42:29 pm EDT

One contestant makes it back

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

Pilots took a relaxed approach but we got in the air quickly. The lift was only 100 fpm until we got high and then it improved. We climbed to 5,000' and cloud base. Plenty of cloud suck at the top. I headed out with Cory and either Matt or Jeff. I moved ahead and kept going past Mascotte to get under nice looking clouds west of highway 33 after a 10 kilometer glide.

The lift was not what I hoped for but I was still well over 3,000'. I went looking for something more than 75 fpm. That just brought me further down and I went on a hard search stopping for just a little over zero at 1,800'. I stayed in it until finally it turned on to 300 fpm and climbed to 4,800'. I had lost the two pilots I was with and hopefully helping.

Plenty of cu's ahead and it was easy to climb high to 5,200' just before the turnpoint at the Turnpike. Cory and another pilot were way north of the Turnpike and Greg and Tom came in under about 1,000' below.

With all that altitude it was easy to head southwest to the next turnpoint. Dave and another pilot were low out on this leg.

When I got to Center Hill I could see a rain shower/cell about 20 kilometers to the west. There was a lot of shading to the west, but still patches of sunlight east of the cell and some dark clouds east of the cell. I flew over the town of Webster at 1,600' and found very sweet lift at 100 fpm in the shade. It was so smooth and there was no gust from the cell to the west. The wind was 4 mph out of the west.

As the cell dissipated I headed out at 4,000' to the west to get the optimized turnpoint at 7 km radius. There was strong lift right at the turnpoint to 4,500'. It looked really good.

With nice clouds ahead I found good lift to 5,300' and headed for the turnpoint at the northeast end of the Green Swamp. I was hoping earlier to get rid of this turnpoint as it was right in line with the last leg and I wanted to go over the Green Swamp instead and there were nice cu's there.

As I approached the next turnpoint I could see that there were very few cu's between it and Quest Air. There was a cu to the right over the Green Swamp but then I saw Cory turning sharply to my northeast over the nursery. I headed for him.

Missed the lift there and the cu next to him disappeared. Ran to the south to get under a cu in the Green Swamp but came in too low and couldn't go too deep into the Swamp. Landed in a long field next to Sloan's Ridge Road at a farm that I very often bicycle past. Had a great time with the farmer and his friends.

Mick Howard made it in. Cory did not. Greg and Larry made it back.

http://soaringspot.com/gss2015/results/club/daily/day6.html

https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-klassic/blog__day_6

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 6 task

Fri, Apr 10 2015, 11:33:59 am EDT

Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 6

Triangle task

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

Turnpike and highway 33 first. Starts at 1:30 PM.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 5

Thu, Apr 9 2015, 8:58:58 pm EDT

Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 4

Many personal bests

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

This mentoring is harder than it looks, at least for me. I got a new team today and my goal was to help out our star women pilot, Dana. I told Dave Lopez that I wasn't going to help him as he made goal yesterday, and therefore I needed to help the people that hadn't made goal yet. I told Cory the same thing and he went to a different frequency. Maybe the guys making goal need to get on one frequency together and not with the mentors. All the mentors agreed that they needed to help out the pilots who weren't making goal.

I also wanted to help Fernando and Willie on the Falcon. Dave, Willie and Dana are easy to spot in the air. Fernando is not.

Our team launched second and I was right with them. There was huge lift right at the end of the field and I pinned off low and climbed out quickly. The launching took all of 33 minutes, or about a minute a pilot. We've got four planes for 30+ pilots.

After 3,000' at 300 fpm the lift slowed down and the gaggle over launch filled in with most of the pilots. We climbed to 3,900' and I had Dana and Dave with me. Fernando I could not find. Willie had been with me but wandered off, I don't know exactly why. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to ask him.

Dana was just above me and I said let's go toward Mascotte when we got to almost 4,000'. I could see Tom and three other pilots circling there so it was time to get going. She seemed responsive to my suggestions.

She came in low and I could see Willie way low but working lift. Tom, Larry and I were working better lift much higher and it wasn't long before I was at cloud base at 4,700'. Dana was working her way up steadily so I pushed forward to the next clouds to report on what was ahead.

The lift was less than 100 fpm under the next two clouds so after a few minutes and at 4,000' I pushed north northwest downwind to clouds just passed small fires. No lift over the fires but the clouds were working a little. This turned into a general area of lift.

Dana, Tom, Larry, Dave Lopez and four or five other pilots were low and circling. Dana further to the south with a couple of them. I had headed upwind to the east under a cloud street and stayed high.

I went back to Dana three times where she was circling with a few others but there was 400 fpm down above them. I'd go back to the north and tell her that as soon as she felt comfortable she should join us further north to get better lift.

She was finally able to get to where we were and David Lopez and I climbed to 4,800' at 300 fpm. She was about 1,000' below us. At cloud base we headed to the prisons to the north northwest.

Got to the prisons at 4,200' and found light lift. Now the idea was to wait for Dana. David and I were out in front and there was no reason for him to wait. I just needed to wait to stay with Dana. I headed southeast away from the course line hoping that he would get the idea and head off on his own. There were plenty of cu's around.

Losing just three hundred feet on my little glide back I returned to the area of lift but it was not there. I went searching for it under good looking clouds but suddenly there was sink every where.

Now racing to find the lift I lost 2,500' before I hit some weak lift as 1,700' Suddenly there was David Lopez right next to me at my altitude. He apparently had followed me around when I wasn't trying to climb up but wait for Dana.

A few turns that averaged 35 fpm and then I just lost it circling a little to the east of it when it was moving northwest apparently. In 500 fpm down I was quickly on the ground. David found it and climbed up.

The pilots and mentors behind us soon caught up with us and a good number of them made it to goal. As I write this they haven't reported in yet.

Cory, Dave Lopez, Tom, Mick, Matt, Greg and Larry at goal.

http://soaringspot.com/gss2015/results/club/daily/day5.html

https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-klassic/blog__day_5

Dana continued to do well without my mentoring and undoubtedly had her personal best.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 5 live tracking

Thu, Apr 9 2015, 12:47:53 pm EDT

Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 5

It's working

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-k…/blog__day_5

Starts at 1:30 PM EDT.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 5 task

Thu, Apr 9 2015, 11:29:14 am EDT

Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 5

A personal best day

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

Over open areas to the Savana airfield turnpoint, then a leg to the west to keep us out of Ocala airspace, then the field next to Williston airfield. Five kilometer circle around Dunnellon.

114.5 km.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 4

Wed, Apr 8 2015, 10:49:24 pm EDT

Another fabulous day in paradise

Bob Caldwell|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air|Tom Lanning

The task:

Four turnpoints. A zig zag task assuming an east wind. Cu's started popping before the 10 AM pilot meeting. The start time was moved back again to 1:30 PM to make sure that we had plenty of lift for the pilots who launched first.

The forecast was for good lift, the kind we always get here in Florida with a high cloud base and light east winds. So far we have had east winds every day.

Tom Lanning was off first and I was off at about sixth with my team right behind me. There was 100+fpm lift at 1,400' so I pinned off and slowly climbed up to over 4,000' as plenty of pilots joined me just over the launch area. This time I only had to spend 40 minutes over Quest waiting for the team to congeal up at cloud base at 4,600'. Matt, Glen and I took off to the northwest with three pilots in front of us and plenty of cu's along the course line.

I glided 9 km to the nursery west of Mascotte. The three pilots in front turned north at Mascotte and headed for some good looking cu's. Down to 2,200' I turned over the middle of the nursery and found 140 fpm. Matt joined me. We saw Glen low on the east side of the nursery suddenly start climbing well. We shaded over there and found 250 fpm to 4,600' and went on glide for the first turnpoint at Center Hill. Matt was just behind me and I suggested to Glen that he climb up to cloud base before leaving.

It was a 10 km glide to the turnpoint and around to the second leg to a cloud where I saw three pilots, including Larry and Greg turning. I was down to 2,500' before I got to the lift, but I thought that the glide was pretty good at 16:1 with an average sink of 220 fpm. Matt behind me didn't get as good a glide and didn't get the first waypoint before he joined us in the lift.

It was broken and weak at 150 fpm. I watched Larry high head for the next cloud and waited to see if he would turn. I was hanging with Matt and Greg, and Tom was circling just off the deck below us. I headed for Larry when I saw him circling but Matt headed back to the turnpoint. I didn't know at the time that he had not made the turnpoint, so I could not understand what the hell he was doing.

Greg, Jim Weitman and I climbed in Larry's thermal at 300 fpm to 4,600'. I didn't know what was up with Larry, but it turned out that he couldn't help any of his team as his microphone cable was broken. So he was helping Greg help Jim.

As they all headed to the second turnpoint to the south I headed back north to find Matt and get him going. He was circling low over Tom and with David Lopez. They were in weak 60 fpm lift and I came over them and joined them in it. I needed to relax and stay with Matt. Glen was behind but getting slowly to the first turnpoint.

I went south a short distance to a nice looking cloud, found 250 fpm and climbed to 4,600' as they all came in under me. At cloud base I told Matt that I was going to go to the big dark cloud south down the course line and that as soon as he got to cloud base to come join me. After a six kilometer glide I was in 350 fpm with Larry, Greg and Jim who had by then made the turnpoint only 3 km to my south and were back in this nice thermal heading to the next turnpoint to the north northwest.

At 4,800' and cloud base I went south to the turnpoint and then came back to the same area where I got up to find Matt not very high. After fifteen minutes he finally found a nice thermal and we left for the turnpoint, for me again. Glen was there but 1,000' below us as we took the turnpoint and headed back to the north to see if we could find the strong lift one more time.

I found 132 fpm and Matt came over to me as Glen landed just south of us. I climbed to 3,100' and said I'd go look for better lift to the north under good looking clouds. I didn't find it and landed. Matt landed soon thereafter, both of us just short of the third turnpoint.

Larry, Greg, and Jim struggled just south of the Cheryl (third) turnpoint (about where we landed) and Cory caught up with them. Only a few pilots made it into goal.

Bob Caldwell«rcaldwell» writes:

Shot this looking toward Orlando from the gulf coast at 1 EDT. 38,000 ft. Sweet looking sky, hope soaring was great.

http://soaringspot.com/gss2015/results/club/daily/day4.html

http://soaringspot.com/gss2015/results/club/total/day4.html

https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-klassic/blog__day_4

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 3

Tue, Apr 7 2015, 10:26:37 pm EDT

A beautiful day a long ways away from the rain that came later to Quest Air

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Greg Dinauer|Larry Bunner|Quest Air|Tom Lanning

The sport class pilots on the task committee called a task that was an extension of the first and second day's task using a 3 km cylinder around Gross with a 20 kilometer leg to Inverness to the northwest. The last leg would take us over wild country, swamps, river and forest. I thought that this should prove interesting for sport class pilots.

My team was scheduled to launch first at 1 PM. The sky was full of cu's and had been since early morning. The wind was actually out of the southeast so I saw no reason not to get going right away. I was the first pilot to launch at 12:58 PM hoping to help out my team by stating where the lift was.

I was pulled almost 4 km to the southeast to get me on the upwind side of a large black cu. There was no lift all the way out and I just felt a little bit as I released and went to the edge of the cu. There was lift there and I climbed to cloud base, 3,600' at 200 fpm. I called out my location and my climb rates, and continued to do so for the next hour and a half.

Pilots were pulled up after me, including Larry Bunner. They all landed fairly quickly as I went upwind further southeast to get under forming clouds. Pilots kept being pulled up and landing. Finally a few began to stick including Larry again and Greg Dinauer and a few of the sport class guys.

All my team had to go to the back of the line and things were slow down below. It was an hour and forty minutes of circling near the field before I had one team mate, Matt Christensen, that I could help make it to goal. We left together at 4,000'.

There were plenty of pilots out on the course before us as we were near the end of the leaving pilots, but we didn't see too many. The rest of the team was behind us.

I raced ahead to spot better lift for Matt telling him to take the weaker lift that I left behind to stay high. I got down to 1,500' but found 150 fpm and called out my position. Soon a pilot that I thought was Matt came in under me but wasn't climbing. As I got above 3,000' I saw Tom Lanning just above me and then another pilot came in to join us just below me.

Well it turned out that this pilot was Matt and I was just waiting around for the pilot way down below who I thought was Matt. When he asked if we should go after Tom left (and we hadn't really been gaining much as I was just waiting around) I finally realized who was who and off we went.

There were plenty of cu's lined up going toward our turnpoint to the west. Tom was hanging around going slow to see if he could pick up a pilot to mentor. The one he tried to drag up a few times refused to climb with him, so Tom was on his own.

I raced ahead to spot the lift and got down to 1,500' again over a pond but under a black cloud and found 300 fpm. I radioed to Matt and he was soon a couple of hundred feet below me.

I had to leave to escape the cloud suck and went ahead toward the turnpoint and a cloud about a kilometer to the north of it. Matt could easily follow me and see if he needed to go with me or shade a little to the north to the next set of clouds. I went under the dark cloud but didn't find any lift. Tom was just to the north.

Not finding lift meant I had to head toward some cu's further away and over unfriendly territory. I could see Tom about 1,000' above me and watched to see if he was getting anything. Matt was behind but high and I told him to stay high under the clouds to the north.

Down again to 1,500' over the river I came in under Tom as he turned over a small patch of sunlight on a open forest plantation. There was a bit of lift coming off it and I stuck with it at 123 fpm. Matt stayed high and kept going. Tom was high enough to continue even though he didn't find any great lift in the next clouds.

Getting to 3,200' I moved to way, way left of the course line to get over open fields and under better looking clouds. Over the highway I spotted a bird further west climbing very fast. I was just a few seconds and I was in the good lift, which provided plenty to get the last 11 km into goal.

Greg, Larry, Tom, Matt, Cory, and Jim had made it in already. A few landed nearby. Others came in later.

Day score: http://soaringspot.com/gss2015/results/club/daily/day3.html

Cumulative: http://soaringspot.com/gss2015/results/club/total/day3.html

Blog and Live Tracking: https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-klassic/blog__day_3

https://airtribune.com/play/505/2d

Looks like Matt won the day.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic - Day 2

Mon, Apr 6 2015, 9:30:15 pm EDT

No monsters in the air for us

cart|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Greg Dinauer|Larry Bunner|Quest Air

The forecast was for again east southeast winds at 8 mph. Good lift, but the chance of thunderstorms late in the day.

With the chance of thunderstorm activity the task committee calls at earlier launch at 12:30 PM. But the question was will it be soarable at 12:30? There was a layer of high cloud above that the models don't take into account so the heating started up late as those clouds went away.

I have seen this happen before where the desire to get an earlier start because of possibly late deterioration gets us going when the conditions aren't really ready. Larry Bunner, mentor, and head of the task committee, launched first and Greg Dinauer, another mentor ,was lined up right behind him but had to get out of line because of a flat on the cart. He was placed back in the sixth spot.

Larry landed out (amazingly upwind). Greg was waved off early but in very very light lift and had to work hard to stay up as numerous pilots didn't and landed back at the field. The wind was 9 or 10 mph out of the east.

I relaxed the whole time because it sure didn't look good to me and didn't launch until we got through all the first flights of the all the pilots and the line was filling up with reflights. Larry was soon back at launch.

Lift was still weak when I went up but got off early and climbed up. Went to a vertical cu to the southwest and got up again from low. Now there was good lift over the field and I could see pilots getting up. I went over a joined them.

The start was open, whenever you leave the five kilometer start cylinder, your time starts. Given that it seemed to get better as the day progressed, I hung around in the start cylinder trying to find my team and could only raise Mick on the radio. My team was near the last team to launch.

Finally headed out with a few pilots and there were plenty of nice cu's along the course line to the northwest, more cu's to the south of the course line.

It was three thermals to the goal field progressively stronger going from 200 fpm to 500 fpm. I could see pilots working lift all about me. It looked like they would be able to make the goal.

Results (so far): http://soaringspot.com/gss2015/results/club/daily/day2.html

Live tracking, replay, notes and pictures from the day: https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-klassic/blog__day_2

It turned out to be a spectacular day and the task was too short, but after yesterday it was good to have a bunch of pilots in goal. Larry made it to goal and then headed back to Quest Air upwind. He got within a mile of Quest.

Live tracking with Airtribune seems to be working and we found a couple of pilots who were lost due to instrument failure because of their tracks.

Looks like a lot of pilots are having a good time.

There was plenty of thunder and rain to our west along the coast and some to our east later in the day.

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2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic »

April 5, 2015, 10:32:52 pm EDT

2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic

18 mph winds at 2,000'

Davis Straub|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Greg Dinauer|Jeffrey "Jeff" Lawrence Bohl|Joe Schmucker|John Alden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Quest Air|Rick Brown|Tom Lanning

Despite a NAM/XCSkies forecast for 7 mph winds at 2,000' at 2 PM, it was 18 mph at 2,200' at 2 PM. Launch conditions were relatively mild with winds about 10 mph on the ground. The wind at 2,000' was supposed to be east southeast. The winds were northeast on the ground and in the air. The air was supposed to be rising at between 700 to 900 fpm, I didn't find any lift on my first attempt and about an average of 10 fpm on my second. Larry was able to climb up from 900' to 4,000' in 450 fpm.

The task was stopped with the report from me of the winds aloft and increasing winds with the northerly component at launch. Should be a low scoring day.

The scoring is completely screwed up so far: http://soaringspot.com/gss2015/results/club/daily/day1.html

Day 1, yesterday, Sport Class, Preliminary results
Davis OzGAP 160, Task time: 07:00:00
QUEST - GROSS
Task length: 38.4km
# At Launch: 11, # Who Flew: 8, # At Goal: 0, Total Distance Flown: 7 km, Average Distance Flown: 1 km, Nominal Distance: 20 km, Minimal Distance: 5 km, Nominal Goal Percentage: 20%, Nominal Time: 1.0 hour, Minimal Time: 24.0 hour, Day Quality: 0.011, Launch Validity: 0.815, Distance Validity: 0.029, Time Validity: 0.491, Pilots with speed points: 0, Handicapped, Available Distance Points: 10, Available Speed Points: 1, Available Start/Departure points: 0, Available Arrival Points: 0, Tmin: 24:00:00,
#CNPilotTeamGliderHcapStartDist.Points
1.110Willie Van CaulartCANWills WingFalcon 2 19514513:44:185.0km12.48
2.105Greg SessaUSAWills WingU2 16010014:45:496.8km10.28
DNF.126*Adrian SanchezUSAWills Wing Ultra Sport 1471065.0km9.12
4.112Owen McDermott-BerrymanCANWills WingU210013:29:075.0km8.60
DNF.114*Cory BarnwellUSAWills WingU2 1601005.0km8.60
DNF.402*Davis StraubUSAWills WingT2C 1441005.0km8.60
DNF.101*Jim WeitmanUSAMoyesLitesport 41005.0km8.60
DNF.118*Richard WestmorelandUSAWills wingRam Air 1461005.0km8.60
DNF.121*Clive BeddallCANMoyes2006 Litespeed 4S1000
DNF.113*John AldenUSAWills WingU2-1451000
DNF.107*Jeffery BohlUSAWills WingU2 1601000
DNF.108*Rick BrownUSAWills WingU21000
DNF.403*Larry BunnerUSAWills WingT2C1441000
DNF.122*Matt ChristensenUSAAFH 22800
DNF.116*Glenn CurranUSAWills WingU21000
DNF.401*Greg DinauerUSAAerosCombat C-12.71000
DNF.106*Michelle HaagUSAWills WingSport 21060
DNF.124*Mick HowardUSAWillsWing T2C 144800
DNF.119*Spencer KindtUSANorthWingLiberty1000
DNF.404*Tom LanningUSAWills WingT2C 1361000
DNF.109*David LopezUSAWills WingT2C800
DNF.104*Lance MacleanUSAWills Wing Sport 21060
DNF.103*stephan mentlerUSAMoyesLitesport1000
DNF.102*Antonio MercadoUSAWills WingU21000
DNF.115*Fernando MilaniUSAWills WingSport 21060
DNF.125*Kelly MyrkleUSAAeromot. Super Ximango1060
DNF.111*Dana PasternackUSAWills WingSport 21060
DNF.104*Joe SchmuckerUSAWills WingSport 2 1761060
DNF.123*Jonny ThompsonUSAA-151000
DNF.117*Alex TrochezUSAWills WingU2 1441000
DNF.120*michael williamsUSAWills WingSport 21060
* File not yet delivered
DNF = Did not fly

Looks like a nice day tomorrow with a southeast wind.

Dinosaur fees to rise

March 30, 2015, 3:09:16 pm EDT

Dinosaur fees to rise

March 31st.

Dinosaur 2015

Terry writes:

March 31 is the last day for the Dinosaur 2015 early entry fee. Go to http://www.rockymountainglider.com/registration-fees.html to fill out your Pilot Entry Form and pay before the entry fee goes up!

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2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic »

March 30, 2015, 8:45:51 EDT

2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic

It starts next Sunday

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

http://ozreport.com/2015GreenSwampSportKlassic.php

Twenty two pilots are signed up. In addition, we have four mentors.

https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-klassic/pilots

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2015 Dinosaur »

March 16, 2015, 9:01:12 EDT

2015 Dinosaur

Registration is open

Terry <<terryreynolds2>> writes:

Registration is now open for Dinosaur 2015. Open ($10,000 First Prize), Sport ($5,000 prize money) and rigid classes. August 30 - September 5. Dinosaur, Colorado. Please see http://RockyMountainGlider.com for complete information.

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2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic »

February 16, 2015, 8:42:59 EST

2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic

The next deadline is Sunday, March 15th

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-klassic/pilots

Seventeen pilots have entered. All but two are actually confirmed (they have completed the three step process):

http://ozreport.com/2015GreenSwampSportKlassic.php

The entry fee increases after March 15th by $25. You must complete all three steps to qualify for the $200 entry fee.

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2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic »

February 13, 2015, 11:52:40 pm EST

2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic

The first deadline is this Sunday, February 15th

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-klassic/pilots

Fifteen pilots have entered. Eleven are confirmed (they have completed the three step process):

http://ozreport.com/2015GreenSwampSportKlassic.php

The entry fee increases after the 15th by $25. You must complete all three steps to qualify for the lowest entry fee.

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2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic »

February 5, 2015, 8:40:23 EST

2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic

All types of hang gliders

Facebook|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-klassic/pilots

http://ozreport.com/2015GreenSwampSportKlassic.ph

https://www.facebook.com/events/475511969257990/

You can fly a Class 1,2,4,5 hang glider in the competition. We handicap all the gliders for a fair competition.

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2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic »

February 3, 2015, 8:24:58 EST

2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic

The first deadline is February 15th

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

https://airtribune.com/2015-green-swamp-sport-klassic/pilots

Fifteen pilots have entered. Seven are confirmed (they have completed the three step process):

http://ozreport.com/2015GreenSwampSportKlassic.php

The entry fee increases after the 15th by $25. You must complete all three steps to qualify for the lowest entry fee.

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2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic »

January 12, 2015, 8:57:42 EST

2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic

Pay by February 15th for the least cost

Dragonfly|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

The first deadline is only a month away.

http://ozreport.com/2015GreenSwampSportKlassic.php

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2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic - mentors and sessions »

December 22, 2014, 9:31:04 EST

2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic - mentors and sessions

Steve Kroop will lead two instrument sections

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Larry Bunner|Quest Air|Steve Kroop

Flytec 6030|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Larry Bunner|Quest Air|Steve Kroop

We have added mentors and instructional sessions to the Green Swamp Sport Klassic. Steve Kroop of Flytec USA will lead two sessions on flight instruments. Those prior to the 6030 and the 6030. Larry Bunner, Greg Dinaur and I will act as mentors and I have asked other experienced competition pilots if they are interested.

These pilots will be on hand to help and fly with you each day. There won't be teams, but the mentors will be happy to communicate in the air with up to four pilots each day to help them compete. The mentors will be assigned to different pilots each day.

Mentors will also lead discussion sessions on competition issues, tactics and strategy.

If you are interested in Sport Class competition or just want to try out and see if you like competing, sign up here:

http://ozreport.com/2015GreenSwampSportKlassic.php

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Dinosaur 2015 »

December 4, 2014, 8:51:59 CST

Dinosaur 2015

Terry is up and going for it

Terry <<terryreynolds2>> writes:

Tim Collard, longtime Colorado tow pilot, stood in for me with the Mayor of Dinosaur and a local rancher/county road grader artist building the new hang glider towing runway (1800' x 75') just east of town. While Dinosaur 2015 is being organized primarily as a foot launch contest, we want to provide an alternative for pilots who prefer to tow. The runway is within the same 10k start circle as the foot launches and a 2000' tow puts the pilot at the same altitude.

http://www.rockymountainglider.com/

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2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic »

November 10, 2014, 9:11:23 PST

2015 Green Swamp Sport Klassic

The web site is up

Facebook|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2015|Quest Air

http://ozreport.com/2015GreenSwampSportKlassic.php

https://www.facebook.com/events/475511969257990/

Registration will open in December.

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Dinosaur 2015 goes topless

September 17, 2014, 6:37:26 MST

Dinosaur 2015

No longer restricted to kingpost only

Dinosaur 2015

http://www.rockymountainglider.com

August 30 - September 5, 2015

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2014 Big Spring Nationals »

Tue, Aug 5 2014, 5:10:52 am GMT

Day two

Big Spring Nationals 2014

https://OzReport.com/2014BigSpringNationals.php

http://soaringspot.com/2014bsn/

http://airtribune.com/bigspring2014/blog#!day_2

Replay: http://airtribune.com/play/273/2d

A 141 km triangle was called when the cu's start popping early. Due to uncertainty about the launch location the task was delayed with a start time at 2:50 PM. A very late task. We are moving the pilot meeting up an hour tomorrow to get pilots to be prepared.

Launch went briskly despite having to make multiple changes. I was just happy to be able to launch into the wind. I got off early and we climbed to over 9,500'. It was late in the day after all. The winds were light at 2 to 7 mph out of the east. The sky was full of cu's with plenty of lift under them.

We had a nice tail wind of 6 to 12 mph 62 km to the west to the first turnpoint. There was plenty of lift under the nice clouds. Not too much vertical development.

The clouds were thinning out as we headed northeast toward the second turnpoint and we had a cross or quartering head wind between 5 and 9 mph. I'd hooked up with the lead gaggle as we struggled a bit past the first turnpoint, but gradually lost a few of them as we pressed forward to the next turnpoint.

About half a dozen pilots got higher than me including Chris Zimmerman and Zac just before the second turnpoint, but we all got over 9,000'. The cu's were getting real thin as it was almost 6 PM.

We made the turnpoint and headed into the headwind going southeast back to Big Spring. The wind varied between 5 and 15 mph. I was on my own and so was Chris Zimmerman who got left behind in the thermal just before the turnpoint. Ahead there were very few cu's and a no cu area along the course line. Chris on his own headed south west of the course line (down wind) toward good looking cu's, and I headed east south east toward the wispies in that direction.

I essentially found a lift line jumping from cu to cu going 11 kilometers east of the course line. Chris was way to the west of the course line under thicker cu's. It sure didn't feel like I was going to make it in.

I was heading on a course almost perpendicular to the course line but I recognized it as a lift line as I wanted to stay high, find some good lift and get back over 10,000'. Finally after five 200-300 fpm climbs I found a thermal that took me to over 10,000' thirty kilometers from goal. Other pilots were struggling in the blue, while Chris was doing well under his clouds.

I headed off into the blue south toward goal. Goal looked reachable from that distance out and it went well at first as I hit a little thermal and climbed back up. At 10 km out I was down to 5,000' (2,500' AGL) and just barely on glide to make goal. Fortunately I found a very nice thermal in the blue and climbed up to 6,700' which was plenty enough to make it into goal. Of course, there was not that much sink after that so I came in at 4,200'. Again, Robin was right behind me, also high at 5,000'.

Chris was in first having taken a better route in. The pilots who left him behind in the thermal before the second turnpoint came in soon after him.

See the tasks and the scores at the links above.

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2014 Big Spring Nationals »

Mon, Aug 4 2014, 1:23:27 pm GMT

Gregg Ludwig's trike

Big Spring Nationals 2014|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Jeffrey "Jeff" Lawrence Bohl|Mick Howard|Robin Hamilton|US Nationals 2014

He towed me up on the first day, no issues, just like last year.

Gregg Ludwig «Gregg Ludwig» writes:

Last Sunday I towed Robin Hamilton, Mick Howard, Jeff Bohl and Bob Fisher, who are all participating at Big Spring. One nice upgrade I did was to replace the 13.5 pound battery with a Lithium battery of similar capacity that weighs only 2.2 pounds.

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2014 Big Spring Nationals »

Mon, Aug 4 2014, 12:25:50 pm GMT

Sport Class pilots go big

Big Spring Nationals 2014|Cory Barnwell|David Williams|Jeffrey "Jeff" Lawrence Bohl|US Nationals 2014|Wills Wing

Three sport class pilots made their goal then flew to the open class goal on the first day. David Williams, Jeff Bohl, and Cory Barnwell. Cory wrote:

Epic day today! Made the sport class goal and then kept going and made the open class goal too! Over 70 miles! Took me six and a half hours. New personal bests for distance, duration, and altitude gained (over 8,000 feet)! Woohoo!

He seems to be flying a borrowed Wills Wing U2 160.

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Dinosaur 2015 »

July 4, 2014, 7:08:31 MDT

Dinosaur 2015

$5,000 prize money for sport class

http://www.rockymountainglider.com/about.html

Terry<<terryreynolds2>> writes:

Jim Zeiset just kicked in another $5,000, designated for Sports Class prize money. This will be escrowed as will the $10,000 from us.

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Dinosaur 2015 »

June 23, 2014, 7:44:53 MDT

Dinosaur 2015

King posted only - open and sport

http://www.rockymountainglider.com/about.html

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$300 payment due by June 8th for the Big Spring Nationals

June 2, 2014, 7:27:38 EDT

$300 payment due by June 8th for the Big Spring Nationals

Thirty four pilots signed up so far, getting close to the limit

Big Spring Nationals 2014

http://ozreport.com/2014BigSpringNationals.php

Now that June is here, this is a reminder to let you know you only have a few days to get your entry fee to us and received by us.

Pilot entry fee and full on-line registration must be received by us in the following amounts given the dates below:

Before June 8th Before July 6th After July 6th August 2/3
$300 $350 $400 $450

We look forward to having you at the Big Spring Nationals and having the resources to make sure that you have a great time towing and flying.

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2014 Big Spring Nationals now up on CIVL calendar

Mon, Nov 11 2013, 3:54:55 pm GMT

International Finance

Big Spring Nationals 2014|calendar|CIVL|US Nationals 2014

https://OzReport.com/2014BigSpringNationals.php

Nicky «Nicky» writes:

The sanction fee has now been received and the event is here: http://www.fai.org/events/events-calendar-and-results?id=34877&EventCalendarId=9273

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