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topic: Phill Bloom (97 articles)

2022 Canadian Nationals »

Sat, Jun 4 2022, 7:25:42 am MDT

Last task on Saturday, looks like they are not able to fly the task

Canadian Nationals 2022

https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=4456&pwd=3c5bf9662b1b645826f56085fad157

For Kamloops:

https://www.weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-45_metric_e.html

Today: Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this morning. Fog patches dissipating this morning. Wind becoming southeast 20 km/h gusting to 40 this afternoon. High 21°C. UV index 7 or high.

Final Results here:

https://civlcomps.org/event/canadian-hang-gliding-nationals-2022/results

# Name Nat Glider T1 T2 Total
1 Willy Dydo M USA Wills Wing T3 830.2 196.0 1026.0
2 Damien Zahn M CHE Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 693.1 227.0 920.0
3 Tyler Borradaile M CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 643.4 249.3 893.0
4 Erick Salgado M MEX Icaro 2000 Laminar 742.4 109.9 852.0
5 Felix Cantesanu M ROU Aeros Combat C 654.7 195.7 850.0
6 Jeff Chipman M USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 694.1 91.6 786.0
7 Evan Smith M CAN Wills Wing T3 582.6 201.0 784.0
8 Mick Howard. M USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 518.7 77.5 596.0
9 Soham Mehta M IND Wills Wing T3 375.2 191.8 567.0
10 Timmy Middlemiss M CAN Wills Wing T2 503.1 0.0 503.0
11 Gary Braun M USA Wills Wing T2 363.0 77.5 441.0
12 Ken Millard M USA Wills Wing T3 331.8 77.5 409.0
13 Ric Caylor M USA Moyes Litespeed RX 5 Pro 272.5 82.9 355.0
14 Dennis Turner M CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 5 Pro 260.6 77.5 338.0
15 Kevin Fischer M CAN Wills Wing T2 188.6 77.5 266.0
16 Trennon Paynter M CAN Wills Wing T2 155.6 77.5 233.0
17 Kurt Hartzog M USA Wills Wing T2 127.9 77.5 205.0
18 Zac Majors M USA Wills Wing T3 0.0 199.2 199.0
19 Owen Morse M USA Wills Wing T3 0.0 197.7 198.0
20 Phill Bloom M USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 69.2 113.0 182.0
21 Mauricio Brittingham M CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 4 Pro 79.0 0.0 79.0

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Thu, Jun 2 2022, 7:05:05 pm MDT

Fifth day, no task

Canadian Nationals 2022|Willy Dydo

No flying on Thursday.

https://www.weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-27_metric_e.html

Fri, 3 Jun: Cloudy. A few showers beginning near noon. Risk of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Wind becoming east 20 km/h near noon. High 18°C. UV index 5 or moderate.

Sat, 4 Jun: Periods of rain. High 16°C.

For Kamloops:

https://www.weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-45_metric_e.html

Fri, 3 Jun: Showers. Risk of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Local amount 5 to 10 mm. Wind becoming southeast 20 km/h gusting to 40 near noon. High 18°C. UV index 3 or moderate.

Sat, 4 Jun: Showers. High 18°C.

I'd give Willy a 90% chanced of winning the 2022 Canadian Nationals.

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Wed, Jun 1 2022, 6:34:21 pm MDT

Second task poor conditions, flew from Lumby instead of Kamloops

Canadian Nationals 2022

https://civlcomps.org/event/canadian-hang-gliding-nationals-2022/results

Task 2:

# Name Nat Glider Distance Total
1 Tyler Borradaile CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 39.4 249.3
2 Damien Zahn CHE Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 34.1 227.0
3 Evan Smith CAN Wills Wing T3 28.3 201.0
4 Zac Majors USA Wills Wing T3 27.8 199.2
5 Austin Marshall USA Wills Wing T3 27.6 197.7
6 Willy Dydo USA Wills Wing T3 27.4 196.0
7 Felix Cantesanu ROU Aeros Combat C 27.2 195.7
8 Soham Mehta IND Wills Wing T3 27.0 191.8
9 Phill Bloom USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 13.3 113.0
10 Erick Salgado MEX Icaro 2000 Laminar 12.5 109.9

Cumulative:

Name Nat Glider T2 T4 Total
1 Willy Dydo USA Wills Wing T3 830.2 196.0 1026.0
2 Damien Zahn CHE Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 693.1 227.0 920.0
3 Tyler Borradaile CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 643.4 249.3 893.0
4 Erick Salgado MEX Icaro 2000 Laminar 742.4 109.9 852.0
5 Felix Cantesanu ROU Aeros Combat C 654.7 195.7 850.0
6 Jeff Chipman USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 694.1 91.6 786.0
7 Evan Smith CAN Wills Wing T3 582.6 201.0 784.0
8 Mick Howard USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 518.7 77.5 596.0
9 Soham Mehta IND Wills Wing T3 375.2 191.8 567.0

Weather Forecast for Lumby:

https://www.weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-27_metric_e.html

Thu, 2 Jun: Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers in the afternoon. High 24°C. UV index 6 or high.

For Kamloops:

https://www.weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-45_metric_e.html

Thu, 2 Jun: Mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. Risk of thunderstorms late in the afternoon. Wind becoming east 20 km/h gusting to 40 near noon. High 22°C. UV index 6 or high.

Looks like flying at Lumby tomorrow. No flying on Friday, and maybe Kamloops on Saturday (60% chance of rain). I'd say that Willy has a 50% chance of winning the Canadian Nationals.

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Wed, Jun 1 2022, 2:52:43 pm MDT

Second task, live now

Canadian Nationals 2022

https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=4456&pwd=3c5bf9662b1b645826f56085fad157

No one is getting high.

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Tue, May 31 2022, 7:04:47 pm MDT

Poor weather

Canadian Nationals 2022|weather

Day 3, weather not good for flying. Tomorrow looks sunny.

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Mon, May 30 2022, 9:08:22 pm MDT

Kamloops

Canadian Nationals 2022

Task 1:

https://civlcomps.org/event/canadian-hang-gliding-nationals-2022/results/629566b991a95

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Willy Dydo USA Wills Wing T3 01:13:27 830.2
2 Erick Salgado MEX Icaro 2000 Laminar 01:23:44 742.4
3 Jeff Chipman USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 01:25:39 694.1
4 Damien Zahn SUI Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 01:27:56 693.1
5 Felix Cantesanu ROU Aeros Combat C 01:33:24 654.7
6 Tyler Borradaile CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 01:34:01 643.4
7 Evan Smith CAN Wills Wing T3 01:43:39 582.6
8 Mick Howard. USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 01:48:02 518.7
9 Timmy Middlemiss CAN Wills Wing T2 01:51:48 503.1
10 Soham Mehta IND Wills Wing T3 02:12:46 375.2

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Thu, Mar 31 2022, 12:26:17 pm MDT

Eleven places open

https://civlcomps.org/event/canadian-hang-gliding-nationals-2022/participants

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Wed, Mar 16 2022, 7:05:29 am MDT

Registration page

Canadian Nationals 2022

https://civlcomps.org/event/canadian-hang-gliding-nationals-2022

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Mon, Mar 14 2022, 7:08:13 pm MDT

May 29th - June 4th

Canadian Nationals 2022|Jamie Shelden|Tyler Borradaile

Tyler Borradaile writes:

I am pleased to announce that Jamie Shelden and I will be hosting the Canadian national Hang Gliding championship this year out of Savona BC. May 29th - June 4th with May 28 set as a practice day.

    Some quick details:
  • $175 CDN entry
  • Open and sports class
  • foot launched
  • Live trackers for scoring will be used
  • Expecting to cap registration at 45 pilots (a number I think is attainable based on the interest I have received and the demand for us to host this contest)
  • Primary launch will be Savona (Deadman’s), there is camping 2 km from the main landing area, plenty of accommodation and dining in Kamloops 22 km east of Savona.

I personally am very excited for this event, 2019 was a fantastic time with word of the good flying in the area spreading. With travel being a thing again, I expect this will be a very well attended contest so please sign up ASAP if you’d like to join us.

More information to come, I will post as soon as registration is set up, please also follow the Oz Report for updates.

I hope to see many of you soon.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Sat, Sep 25 2021, 10:44:18 pm MDT

Day 7, task 6 results

Bill Soderquist|Butch Peachy|competition|Davis Straub|Greg Kendall|J.D. Guillemette|Jason Boehm|John Simon|Konstantin Lukyanov|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Phill Bloom|Ric Caylor|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Tyler Borradaile|Willy Dydo|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-2021/results

Task 6 (open):

# Name Glider Time
(h:m:s)
Distance
(km)
Total
1 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 03:01:54 81.73 1000.0
2 Bill Soderquist Ww T3 63.95 764.9
3 Jason Boehm Wills Wing T3 60.35 736.1
4 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes Litespeed RX 59.67 731.2
5 Jd Guillemette Moyes RX3.5 57.07 704.1
6 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 55.26 686.4
7 Butch Peachy Moyes RX 3.5/S4 54.55 677.8
8 Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann Wills Wing T2C-154 53.06 655.4
9 Ric Caylor Moyes RX5 Pro 52.78 649.9
10 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 52.13 641.8
11 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 52.25 640.3

Final:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 T 5 T 6 Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 977.8 988.7 927.1 820.1 77.7 420.0 4211
2 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 766.7 930.0 573.5 699.5 117.2 466.4 3553
3 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 843.0 917.0 776.6 423.9 45.5 470.9 3477
4 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes Litespeed RX 672.5 832.3 763.4 211.0 102.2 731.2 3313
5 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 295.2 510.0 795.3 514.6 117.9 1000.0 3233
6 Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann Wills Wing T2C-154 739.6 566.6 732.3 410.5 0.0 655.4 3104
7 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 984.8 200.1 577.8 512.0 145.4 641.9 3062
8 Greg Kendall Moyes RX 3.5 457.5 489.0 845.1 702.6 75.8 451.5 3022
9 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 792.2 243.0 378.3 680.6 162.0 686.4 2943
10 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 794.9 253.3 886.8 226.0 117.6 640.4 2919

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Sat, Sep 25 2021, 8:59:40 am MDT

Day 6, task 5 results

Bill Soderquist|competition|Davis Straub|Greg Kendall|Jeff Chipman|John Simon|Konstantin Lukyanov|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Owen Morse|Phill Bloom|Rob Cooper|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Tyler Borradaile|Willy Dydo|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-2021/results

Task 5 (open):

# Name Glider Distance
(km)
Total
1 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 34.30 162.0
2 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 29.85 145.4
3 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 19.44 117.9
4 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 19.36 117.6
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 19.24 117.2
6 Bill Soderquest Ww T3 18.23 112.6
7 Jeff Chipman Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 18.17 112.3
8 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes Litespeed RX 16.53 102.2
9 Rob Cooper Wills Wing T2C 15.97 98.3
10 Owen Morse Wills Wing T3 154 12.29 78.7

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 T 5 Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 977.8 988.7 927.1 820.1 77.7 3791
2 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 766.7 930.0 573.5 699.5 117.2 3087
3 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 843.0 917.0 776.6 423.9 45.5 3006
4 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes Litespeed RX 672.5 832.3 763.4 211.0 102.2 2581
5 Greg Kendall Moyes RX 3.5 457.5 489.0 845.1 702.6 75.8 2570
6 Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann Wills Wing T2C-154 739.6 566.6 732.3 410.5 0.0 2449
7 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 984.8 200.1 577.8 512.0 145.4 2420
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 794.9 253.3 886.8 226.0 117.6 2279
9 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 792.2 243.0 378.3 680.6 162.0 2256
10 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 295.2 510.0 795.3 514.6 117.9 2233

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2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 6 »

April 16, 2021, 8:30:48 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 6

Results

competition|Davis Straub|Filippo Oppici|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|Phill Bloom|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

# Id Name Glider Time Distance (km) Total
1 948 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:56:52 57.74 342.0
2 973 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:57:35 57.74 334.7
3 979 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 02:57:36 57.74 332.4
4 978 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:58:22 57.74 329.8
5 974 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 23.20 168.4
6 985 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 19.23 152.8
7 957 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 12.96 132.0
8 969 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 12.90 131.8
9 946 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 12.68 130.8
10 967 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.11 127.9

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 4 »

April 14, 2021, 10:24:21 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 4

Task 3, more blue then a few cu's

Attila Plasch|competition|Filippo Oppici|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|Phill Bloom|Raul Guerra|Robin Hamilton|Tim Delaney|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo|Zac Majors

The forecast:

NWS:

Wednesday

Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Light southeast wind becoming south southeast 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Hourly in the afternoon: 7 mph south southeast wind , 38% decreasing to 23% cloud cover

RAP

1 PM:

South surface wind at 1 PM: 6 mph, 2000' 7 mph, 4000' south southeast 6 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 4,400'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 580 fpm

CB at 1 PM: none (with south southeast there is almost always cu's)

B/S at 1 PM: 9.7

4 PM:

South surface wind at 4 PM: 6 mph, 6,000' 6 mph

TOL at 4 PM: 7,700'

Updraft Velocity at 4 PM: 720 fpm

CB at 4 PM: 7,500'

B/S at 4 PM: 10.0

The Task:

Quest 3 km
Turn33 3 km (Intersection of the Florida Turnpike and highway 33)
T33D 3 km (Intersection of Dean Still Road and highway 33)
Quest 400 m

Results for Open and Sport classes: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

Task 3 Open: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5007/day/open-class

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:24:22 991.2
2 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 02:24:24 981.9
3 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 02:24:32 973.1
4 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 02:25:03 963.5
5 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 02:25:27 958.0
6 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:26:24 931.8
7 Kevin Carter Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:27:05 920.9
8 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 02:30:02 900.3
9 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:30:47 898.2
10 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 02:39:58 838.2

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 928.2 980.4 898.2 2807
2 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 822.3 954.9 981.9 2759
3 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 806.6 941.6 991.2 2739
4 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 815.0 945.7 973.1 2734
5 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 779.4 991.7 900.3 2671
6 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 650.1 961.5 963.5 2575
7 Kevin Carter Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 655.4 865.4 920.9 2442
8 Raul Guerra Icaro Laminar 14.7 754.7 832.7 834.4 2422
9 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 634.3 580.8 958.0 2173
10 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 787.1 503.1 804.5 2095

Sport Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 828.3 954.8 504.2 2287
2 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 624.4 598.6 986.6 2210
3 Douglas Hale Moyes Gecko 328.3 581.1 772.6 1682
4 Ric Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 137.6 989.3 475.5 1602
5 Abishek Sethi Wills Wing U2 145 563.4 547.4 462.5 1573
6 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 624.4 533.6 411.9 1570
7 Attila Plasch WillsWing U2 285.5 479.2 704.7 1469
8 Soham Mehta Wills Wing U2 145 327.7 581.6 524.1 1433
9 Richard Sibley WW T2 144 450.6 361.3 350.6 1163
10 David Hayner Wills Wing Sport 3 155 247.0 438.6 475.1 1161

The Sky Wants Us to Return

Mon, Apr 12 2021, 11:10:54 pm EDT

The forecast was an utter failure

competition|Davis Straub|Filippo Oppici|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|PG|Phill Bloom|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo|Zac Majors

We were confronted with a forecast that said we were going to get to only 3,000' and have really light lift. None of that was true but it made life difficult for the task committee. None the less with Larry Bunner's guidance we called a great task that took advantage of the superb conditions and got most of us back to Wilotree Park.

Now we have to be concerned about why the forecast was so wrong and how to deal with the fact that the forecast for Tuesday is similar. Likely we'll just grab another forecast from our set of models and also go with whatever Skew-T brews up for us.

Given our great uncertainty about the forecast we called for an elapsed task with no leading or arrival points. We were concerned that it would be difficult for pilots to hang around for an hour in poor conditions. As it turned out there was no reason for that.

I was about the third pilot to get hauled up as a few pilots in front of me backed out and went to the end. Phill Bloom was first off and I was hauled up right under him. We climbed right to cloud base at 4,100' and then sampled nearby clouds wondering who would go first. Raul left early.

Larry and I left a gaggle of about half a dozen of the top pilots to go to the next cloud just outside the start cylinder and got up back to cloud base. When they came to join us in the lift we headed back and got a later start time by about three minutes. We then caught back up with them.

The task was a bit complex:

There were cu's around and we just hopped from cu to cu, which is why we didn't follow straight along the course lines:

There was plenty of lift under most of the cu's and at one point it averaged 500 fpm for 3,500'.

The results can be found here: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5003/day/open-class

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 01:46:52 981.2
2 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 02:04:54 804.8
3 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 02:05:27 800.3
4 Pedro L. garcia Wills Wing T3 144 02:06:40 790.5
5 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 02:06:47 789.6
6 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:06:48 789.4
7 Austin Marshall Wills Wing T3 154 02:08:55 772.6
8 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 02:11:43 750.8
9 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 02:13:13 739.2
10 Kevin Carter Tbd 02:15:57 718.5

Sport Class results here: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5002/day/sport-class

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/12.4.2021/17:08

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

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

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2761334

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2021/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20210405&gliderclass=hg1

Alfapilot

April 20, 2020, 11:36:31 EDT

Alfapilot

Backup for Navigation

Phill Bloom

Phill Bloom <<phillipbloom>> writes:

Your recent articles inspired me to send this picture.

I purchased this vario as a back up for navigation. The screen is the best I’ve seen so far. It is also totally customizable and can automatically switch between three screens in flight. The only bummer is no air speed but it still isn’t bad on final glide info.

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2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 22, 2019, 6:21:32 MST

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race

A win by one point

Bill Soderquist|Brian Porter|Chris Zimmerman|competition|Davis Straub|Facebook|Glen Volk|Greg Chastain|Greg Kendall|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Phill Bloom|photo|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2019|Tim Delaney|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2019/results

Tyler Borradaile wins the 2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race.

Fourth task:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Kraig Coomber Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 01:55:45 74.63 925
2 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 01:55:46 74.63 912
3 Olav Opsanger Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 01:56:00 74.63 896
4 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 01:56:49 74.63 876
5 Bill Soderquist ? ? 02:08:42 74.63 861
6 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T3 144 01:57:23 74.63 860
7 Bruno Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 02:00:46 74.63 822
8 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:02:49 74.63 794
9 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 02:18:45 74.63 733
10 Philippe Michaud Wills Wing T2C 144 02:19:07 74.63 708
11 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 72.35 502
12 Greg Kendall Moyes RX 3.5 67.07 489
13 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 69.56 488
14 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 66.48 445
15 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 71.81 441

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 3364
2 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 3363
3 Olav Opsanger Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 3337
4 Kraig Coomber Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 3268
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 3146
6 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 2992
7 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 2904
8 Bruno Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 2526
9 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 2476
10 Philippe Michaud Wills Wing T2C 144 2373

Sport Class:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 01:14:07 45.19 1000
2 Hugh Glenn Moyes Gecko 170 01:15:01 45.19 977
3 L.J. Omara Wills Wing Sport 3 155 01:56:46 45.19 703
4 Ken Millard Wills Wing Sport 3 155 43.56 589
5 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 35.98 518

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 3187
2 Hugh Glenn Moyes Gecko 170 2447
3 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 2142
4 Ken Millard Wills Wing Sport 3 155 2027
5 L.J. Omara Wills Wing Sport 3 155 1962

Swift Class:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Chris Zimmerman Aeriane Swift'Light 01:51:21 1000
2 Brian Porter Aeriane Swift 02:07:01 778
3 greg chastain Moyes or Brightstar Litespeed 5 or Swift 02:13:27 726

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 greg chastain Moyes or Brightstar Litespeed 5 or Swift 3070
2 Brian Porter Aeriane Swift 3047
3 Chris Zimmerman Aeriane Swift'Light 2858
4 Stephen Morris Bright Star Millennium 1316
5 Bruce Barmakian Aeriane Swift 1131

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 18, 2019, 6:50:03 pm MST

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race

A too short task - the results

Brian Porter|Chris Zimmerman|competition|Davis Straub|Greg Chastain|Greg Kendall|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Phill Bloom|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2019|Tim Delaney|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2019/results

Task 3:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 00:59:06 864
2 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 00:59:57 835
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 01:08:21 721
4 Olav Opsanger Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 01:09:21 704
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 01:13:57 657
6 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 01:16:04 632
7 Bruno Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 01:17:48 622
8 Greg Kendall Moyes RX 3.5 01:18:33 599
9 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T3 144 01:21:51 577
10 Willy Dydo Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 01:19:17 570

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 2547
2 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 2487
3 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 2452
4 Olav Opsanger Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 2441
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 2352
6 Kraig Coomber Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 2343
7 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 2171
8 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 2167
9 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 2035
10 Bruno Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 1704

Sport Class:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Rick Warner Wills Wing Sport 2 155 00:30:35 729
2 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 00:33:29 657
3 L.J. Omara Wills Wing Sport 3 155 00:41:03 560
4 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 00:44:33 525
5 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 00:49:01 483

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 2187
2 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 1624
3 Hugh Glenn Moyes Gecko 170 1479
4 Ken Millard Wills Wing Sport 3 155 1401
5 Rick Warner Wills Wing Sport 2 155 1314

Swifts:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Brian Porter Aeriane Swift 01:55:19 998
2 greg chastain Swift 01:55:17 993
3 Chris Zimmerman Aeriane Swift'Light 01:55:48 974

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 greg chastain Swift 2344
2 Brian Porter Aeriane Swift 2269
3 Chris Zimmerman Aeriane Swift'Light 1858
4 Stephen Morris Swift 1015
5 Bruce Barmakian Aeriane Swift 903

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 17, 2019, 8:59:49 pm MST

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Task Two Results

Brian Porter|Chris Zimmerman|competition|Davis Straub|Greg Chastain|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Phill Bloom|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2019|Tim Delaney|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2019/results

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 01:47:15 67.83 1000
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 01:52:59 67.83 862
3 Kraig Coomber Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 01:55:37 67.83 828
4 Olav Opsanger Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 01:58:21 67.83 797
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:10:28 67.83 762
6 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 02:05:02 67.83 755
7 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 02:07:21 67.83 734
8 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:31:54 67.83 629
9 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144   66.16 497
10 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5   57.06 445

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 1826
2 Kraig Coomber Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1785
3 Olav Opsanger Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1737
4 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1695
5 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 1665
6 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 1652
7 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 1613
8 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1588
9 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 1403
10 Philippe Michaud Wills Wing T2C 144 1116

Sport Class:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 653 877 1530
2 Hugh Glenn Moyes Gecko 170 356 872 1228
3 Ken Millard Wills Wing Sport 3 155 328 815 1143
4 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 141 1000 1141
5 Bill Snyder Wills Wing U2 145 209 525 734

Swifts:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 greg chastain Moyes or Brightstar Litespeed 5 or Swift 1000 351 1351
2 Brian Porter Aeriane Swift 464 807 1271
3 Chris Zimmerman Aeriane Swift'Light 716 168 884
4 Bruce Barmakian Aeriane Swift 415 347 762
5 Stephen Morris Bright Star Millennium 361 275 636

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 15, 2019, 10:07:09 pm MST

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Results from the first day

Davis Straub|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Phill Bloom|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2019|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 02:11:32 963
2 Tyler Borradaile Moyes Rx Pro 3.5 02:11:25 959
3 Kraig Coomber Moyes RX3.5 Pro 02:11:15 958
4 Olav Opsanger Moyes LSRX3.5 PRO 02:11:39 938
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 02:11:43 931
6 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 02:11:45 929
7 Philippe Michaud Wills Wing T2C 144 02:13:10 914
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 02:12:48 904
9 Bruno Sandoli Wills Wing T2C 02:13:21 881
10 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 02:17:31 859
11 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 02:29:10 767
12 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 02:52:44 660
13 Cory Barnwell ? ? 02:55:11 599

CIVL WPRS ranking, for the USA

Mon, May 6 2019, 7:36:16 am EDT

Updated after week 2

Bruce Barmakian|CIVL|Davis Straub|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Robin Hamilton|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Worlds 2017 Class 1|Zac Majors

CIVL WPRS ranking, for the USA

http://civlrankings.fai.org/?a=326&ladder_id=1&nation_id=235&

Rank Name Nation Points Rank/Ranking-points/Competition
1
W: 24
ZAC Majors
Civl Id: 10613
 USA 227.0 5 62.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
3 57.4 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
1 54.3 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
7 53.2 HG Brazil Open 2019 Round 1 Valadares
 
2
W: 37
PEDRO L. Garcia
Civl Id: 9442
 USA 185.4 2 59.7 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
37 47.9 2018 Hang Gliding Pre Worlds
18 43.5 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
40 34.3 20TH Fai European Hang Gliding Class 1 Championship
 
3
W: 40
JOHN Simon
Civl Id: 10959
 USA 181.2 3 52.1 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
6 50.7 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
19 42.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
7 36.3 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
 
4
W: 48
DAVIS Straub
Civl Id: 6143
 USA 174.5 10 54.7 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
2 43.6 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
11 40.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
8 36.1 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
5
W: 51
BRUCE Barmakian
Civl Id: 8035
 USA 173.3 7 59.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
7 47.9 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
10 42.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
16 24.2 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
 
6
W: 65
KEVIN Dutt
Civl Id: 9017
 USA 160.6 7 48.5 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
15 47.6 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
9 33.8 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
11 30.7 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
 
7
W: 71
KEVIN Carter
Civl Id: 6871
 USA 156.4 3 65.2 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
11 43.7 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
10 32.1 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
18 15.4 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
8
W: 72
PHILL Bloom
Civl Id: 7426
 USA 156.1 9 44.2 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
14 40.7 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
7 38.5 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
7 32.7 22D Open De Canaris De Ala Delta Class 1
 
9
W: 82
LARRY Bunner
Civl Id: 6925
 USA 141.9 2 66.8 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
5 39.1 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
39 18.8 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
17 17.2 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
10
W: 99
ROBIN Hamilton
Civl Id: 7536
 USA 131.4 1 54.1 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
4 40.6 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
9 28.8 21ST Fai World Hang Gliding Class 1 Championship
8 7.9 2017 Midwest - Class 1
 

CIVL WPRS ranking, for the USA

Mon, May 6 2019, 7:32:54 am EDT

After the 2019 Nationals week 1

Bruce Barmakian|CIVL|Davis Straub|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Robin Hamilton|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Worlds 2017 Class 1|Zac Majors

CIVL WPRS ranking, for the USA

http://civlrankings.fai.org/?a=326&ladder_id=1&nation_id=235&

Rank Name Nation Points Rank/Ranking-points/Competition
1
W: 26
ZAC Majors
Civl Id: 10613
 USA 215.7 5 62.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
1 54.3 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
7 53.2 HG Brazil Open 2019 Round 1 Valadares
4 46.1 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
2
W: 53
DAVIS Straub
Civl Id: 6143
 USA 170.3 10 54.7 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
2 43.6 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
8 36.1 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
19 35.9 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
 
3
W: 64
KEVIN Carter
Civl Id: 6871
 USA 156.4 3 65.2 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
11 43.7 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
10 32.1 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
18 15.4 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
4
W: 67
JOHN Simon
Civl Id: 10959
 USA 155.5 3 52.1 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
19 42.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
7 36.3 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
13 25.0 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
5
W: 69
PEDRO L. Garcia
Civl Id: 9442
 USA 154.3 37 47.9 2018 Hang Gliding Pre Worlds
18 43.5 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
40 34.3 20TH Fai European Hang Gliding Class 1 Championship
27 28.6 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
 
6
W: 77
BRUCE Barmakian
Civl Id: 8035
 USA 144.0 7 59.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
7 47.9 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
16 24.2 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
51 12.8 21ST Fai World Hang Gliding Class 1 Championship
 
7
W: 80
LARRY Bunner
Civl Id: 6925
 USA 141.9 2 66.8 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
5 39.1 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
39 18.8 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
17 17.2 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
8
W: 83
KEVIN Dutt
Civl Id: 9017
 USA 139.8 15 47.6 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
9 33.8 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
11 30.7 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
28 27.7 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
 
9
W: 95
ROBIN Hamilton
Civl Id: 7536
 USA 131.4 1 54.1 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
4 40.6 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
9 28.8 21ST Fai World Hang Gliding Class 1 Championship
8 7.9 2017 Midwest - Class 1
 
10
W: 112
PHILL Bloom
Civl Id: 7426
 USA 120.1 14 40.7 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
7 38.5 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
7 32.7 22D Open De Canaris De Ala Delta Class 1
7 8.2 2017 Midwest - Class 1
 

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 28, 2019, 3:25:20 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

Results for day 7, task 6

Bruce Barmakian|competition|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Davis Straub|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Phill Bloom|Raul Guerra|Tim Delaney|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-2/results

Task 6:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 03:00:56 993
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 03:00:36 989
3 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 03:01:12 987
4 Nene Rotor Wills Wing T3 144 03:01:13 985
5 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 03:02:08 971
6 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 03:01:58 970
7 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 03:02:28 969
8 Corinna Schwiegershausen Moyes RX 3 Pro 03:04:59 945
9 Giovani Tagliari Wills Wing T2C 154 03:05:28 943
10 Raul Guerra Aeros Combat C 12.7 03:47:06 758

Final:

# Name Glider Total
1 Nene Rotor Wills Wing T3 144 5614
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 5426
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 5266
4 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 5153
5 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 5005
6 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 4827
7 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 4635
8 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 4620
9 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 4430
10 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 4242
11 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 3956
12 Corinna Schwiegershausen Moyes RX 3 Pro 3911
13 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T2C 136 3875
14 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T3 144 3770
15 Raul Guerra Aeros Combat C 12.7 3747

Sport Task 6:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 48.36 900
2 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 44.29 847
3 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 42.30 813
4 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 26.41 528
5 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 22.35 475
6 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 19.75 431
7 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 16.77 369
8 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 5.00 116
8 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 5.00 116
8 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 5.00 116

Final:

# Name Glider Total
1 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 4531
2 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 4217
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 3462
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 3063
5 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 2987
6 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 2716
7 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 2226
8 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 1541
9 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 1490
10 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 1287
11 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 625

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 25, 2019, 10:20:58 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

Preliminary Results for day 5, task 5 (Kevin Dutt not scored yet)

Bruce Barmakian|competition|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Davis Straub|Glen Volk|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Phill Bloom|Raul Guerra|Tim Delaney|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-2/results

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:28:56 987
2 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 02:29:51 968
3 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 02:30:59 953
4 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 02:43:59 845
5 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 02:44:41 839
6 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 02:51:41 798
7 Raul Guerra Aeros Combat C 12.7 03:09:40 709
8 Corinna Schwiegershausen Moyes RX 3 Pro 03:21:44 647
9 Wolfgang Siess Wills Wing T3 154 03:23:50 641
10 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C144 03:20:34 636
11 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 03:39:55 631

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 4634
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 4445
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 4283
4 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 4121
5 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 4042
6 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 3978
7 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 3861
8 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 3655
9 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 3641
10 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 3631
11 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T2C 136 3415
12 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 3393
13 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 3364
14 Philippe Michaud Wills Wing T2C 144 3236
15 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T3 144 3227

Sport task:

Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 02:23:18 51.30 1000
2 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 31.46 615
3 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 28.50 584
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 26.15 552
5 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 24.28 522
6 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 19.19 422
7 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 17.67 388
8 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 17.38 381
9 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 7.53 155
10 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 5.00 105
10 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 5.00 105

Sport cumulative:

Name Glider Total
1 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 3718
2 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 3689
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 2987
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 2632
5 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 2140
6 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 2110
7 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 1816
8 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 1541
9 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 1374
10 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 918
11 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 509

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 25, 2019, 7:58:08 EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

Results for day 4, task 4

Bruce Barmakian|competition|Jeff Chipman|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Phill Bloom|Tim Delaney|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-2/results

Task 4:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 02:43:32 987
2 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 02:47:40 922
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:51:00 917
4 Philippe Michaud Wills Wing T2C 144 02:47:56 915
5 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 02:51:18 912
6 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 02:51:02 882
7 Jeff Chipman Moyes RX 3.5 02:53:35 863
8 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 02:56:40 847
9 Wolfgang Siess Wills Wing T3 154 03:03:09 804
10 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 03:11:24 801

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 3666
2 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 3647
3 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 3631
4 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 3600
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 3360
6 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 3296
7 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 3276
8 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T2C 136 3207
9 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 3203
10 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 2908

Sport task 4:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 01:34:28 38.23 1000
2 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 01:35:11 38.23 979
3 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 01:38:31 38.23 934
4 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 35.24 518
5 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 27.66 441
6 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 26.35 424
7 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 25.02 402
8 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 11.06 156
9 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 5.38 87
10 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 5.00 83

Sport Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 3074
2 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 2718
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 2606
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 2080
5 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 1588
6 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 1556
7 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 1436
8 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 1394
9 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 1219
10 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 530

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 23, 2019, 9:25:33 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

The preliminary results for day 3, task 3

Bruce Barmakian|competition|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Davis Straub|Fabiano Nahoum|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Konstantin Lukyanov|Phill Bloom|Raul Guerra|Roger Irby|Tim Delaney|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-2/results

Task 3:

# Name Glider SS Time Distance Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 14:35:00 02:40:29 88.43 958
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 14:35:00 02:40:45 88.43 944
2 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 14:35:00 02:40:46 88.43 944
4 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 15:15:00 02:35:04 88.43 901
5 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 14:35:00 02:56:35 88.43 862
6 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 14:35:00 02:58:54 88.43 852
7 Corinna Schwiegershausen Moyes RX 3 Pro 14:35:00 02:59:28 88.43 846
8 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T2C 136 14:35:00 03:15:02 88.43 782
9 Roger Irby Wills Wing T2C 154 14:15:00 03:29:18 88.43 778
10 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes RX 3.5 14:15:00 81.69 622

Cumulative:

Name Glider Total
1 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 2836
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 2827
3 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 2758
4 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 2669
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 2654
6 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T2C 136 2422
7 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 2416
8 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 2382
9 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 2301
10 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T3 144 2297
11 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 2175
12 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes RX 3.5 2137
13 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 2119
14 Raul Guerra Aeros Combat C 12.7 2118
15 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 2047

Sport Task 3:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 19.58 257
2 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 15.34 219
3 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 6.77 145
4 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 5.00 129
4 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 5.00 129
4 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 5.00 129
4 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 5.00 129
4 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 5.00 129
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 5.00 129
4 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 5.00 129

Sport Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 1853
2 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 1660
3 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 1614
4 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 1564
5 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 1375
6 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 1144
7 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 1021
8 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 911
9 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 869
10 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 405
11 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 404

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 22, 2019, 10:18:12 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

The preliminary results for day 2, task 2

Bruce Barmakian|competition|Fabiano Nahoum|Glen Volk|Jeff Chipman|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Phill Bloom|Tim Delaney|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-2/results

Task 2:

# Name Glider SS ES Time Total
1 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 14:30:00 17:44:36 03:14:36 947
2 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 14:50:00 17:59:14 03:09:14 926
3 Jeff Chipman Moyes RX 3.5 14:50:00 17:59:23 03:09:23 918
4 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 14:30:00 17:49:30 03:19:30 905
5 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 14:30:00 17:49:50 03:19:50 896
6 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 14:30:00 17:49:55 03:19:55 886
7 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 14:50:00 18:04:05 03:14:05 864
8 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 14:30:00 17:55:56 03:25:56 861
9 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 14:50:00 18:05:51 03:15:51 857
10 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 14:50:00 18:06:43 03:16:43 845

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 1935
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 1883
3 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 1843
4 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 1818
5 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 1814
6 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 1807
7 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 1802
8 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 1800
9 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 1771
10 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T3 144 1748

Sport task 2:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 27.06 900
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 22.70 803
3 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 20.80 749
4 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 20.11 726
5 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 20.07 724
6 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 17.60 624
7 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 17.54 621
8 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 16.19 553
9 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 15.07 491
10 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 6.59 177
11 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 5.00 142

Sport Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 1724
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 1485
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 1435
4 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 1403
5 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 1156
6 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 1015
7 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 892
8 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 782
9 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 724
10 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 404
11 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 276

Styling at the 2019 Nationals

February 22, 2019, 8:34:22 EST

Styling at the 2019 Nationals

We have accommodations at the Swiss Ski school

Jeff Chipman|Phill Bloom

Jeff Chipman writes:

California Sylmar Pilots (Phill Bloom and Jeff Chipman) are in need of a couple of roommates for the house that we rented for the 2nd week of the 2019 Nationals in Florida. The house is 5 miles from Wilotree , even closer as the crow flies but there are no roads directly there so you have to go around a little.

Here's the link to our rental and a link to the location. Wilotree is basically on the west side of Olsen Lake.

The current cost breakdown is 1820 / 4 = $455 per person for the week we're there. When you look at us staying there 8 days (April 20 - April 28th) that breaks it down to $56.87 / day. Not too shabby for not sleeping on the ground. We had a fellow pilot back out because of health reasons, so we'd like at least one, but preferably two more pilots. First come first serve. I'll be arriving in Florida at 7am'ish on Saturday morning. Our gliders are on a truck coming from California.

We'll be renting a car but it's an economy so not a lot of extra room for transporting other folks.

We also have a need for a driver for this California crew or room for up to 3 pilots on your vehicle.

3.6 miles via Red Wing Road.

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Phil Bloom on the XXII Open de Canarias

December 13, 2018, 8:10:46 EST

Phil Bloom on the XXII Open de Canarias

And landing with a drogue chute

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Manfred Ruhmer|Phill Bloom|record|Thomas Weissenberger|video

Phill Bloom <<phillipbloom>> writes:

Kip Stone and I were the American team, with people from nine different countries, they also had a sport class, maybe 50 pilots total. It was great fun, and so nice to travel and rent a glider take your harness only. Tom Weissenberger rented to us both, RX 3.5 for me and RX 4 for Kip. Great gliders vary competitive, mine was like new. Also Jonny Nilssen has a variety of gliders to choose from beginner to intermediate. And a supper nice guy.

It was a relatively safe comp but it was a comp so you never know what you will get. One pilot had a little issue with full VG near the hill and actually flew into the mountain, ended up knocked out for a few minutes but is totally fine and back flying the next day. Also at least 2 other pilots flew under power lines, which seemed a little crazy to me, but looks like it happens quite often.

Everyone was complaining about the conditions (should have been here last week ) sort of thing, but I had a lot of fun getting to fly with top ranked pilots all week.

But the thing that really got me to write this was this. That both Manfred Ruhmer and Thomas Weissenberger were using there drogue chutes on a consistent basis. It totally surprised me, so I questioned them both about it. Manfred said that (every cross country pilot should have one and know how to use it). He was saying practice using it. Thomas said that (he uses the drag shoot about 50% of the time, it makes landings much easier and less stressful). Now just so you know this info is coming from two super talented pilots that have no problems landing a hang glider.

The discussion in the car recorded:

XXII Open de Canarias

December 8, 2018, 2:52:27 pm EST

XXII Open de Canarias

Finally, more than a few make goal

Christian Pollet|Icaro 2000|Joseph Salvenmoser|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Phill Bloom|Thomas Weissenberger

Saturday, December 8th

Last task:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 00:38:01 715
2 Christian Pollet Aeros Combat C 00:38:37 694
3 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 00:38:39 693
4 Carlos Punet AIR ATOS VQ Race 00:36:46 633
5 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 00:48:17 599
6 Francois Isoard Aeros Combat GT 12.7 00:49:06 581
7 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 00:56:04 535
8 Blay Olmos Ramos (Snr) Moyes Litespeed RS 3 01:04:25 463
9 Joerg Bajewski Willls Wing T2C 154 01:07:18 449
10 Johnny Nilssen Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 01:07:18 443

Final Results:

# Name Glider Total
1 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 1852
2 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 1762
3 Christian Pollet Aeros Combat C 1667
4 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1502
5 Francois Isoard Aeros Combat GT 12.7 1360
6 Manuel Garcia garcia Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 1300
7 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1218
8 Joerg Bajewski Willls Wing T2C 154 1162
9 Gustavo Migliozzi Wills Wing T2C 144 1150
10 Carlos Punet AIR ATOS VQ Race 1129

XXII Open de Canarias

December 7, 2018, 5:50:53 pm EST

XXII Open de Canarias

More tiny flights

Christian Pollet|competition|Icaro 2000|Joseph Salvenmoser|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Phill Bloom|Thomas Weissenberger

Friday, December 7th

https://airtribune.com/xxii-open-de-canarias/results

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 00:55:29 24.00 407
2 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 00:56:18 24.00 400
3 Carlos Punet AIR ATOS VQ Race 00:53:47 24.00 358
4 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5   23.92 337
5 Benito Rodriguez Gonzalez Wills Wing T2C 144   21.49 315
6 Christian Pollet Aeros Combat C   20.45 305
7 Manuel Garcia Garcia Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro   20.17 292
8 Joerg Bajewski Willls Wing T2C 154   18.70 275
9 Jose María (Tximo) Iriarte Ziritza Aeros Combat GT 12.4   14.72 238
10 Gustavo Migliozzi Wills Wing T2C 144   14.62 237

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 1149
2 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 1037
3 Christian Pollet Aeros Combat C 965
4 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 959
5 Manuel Garcia garcia Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 876
6 Gustavo Migliozzi Wills Wing T2C 144 793
7 Francois Isoard Aeros Combat GT 12.7 775
8 Joerg Bajewski Willls Wing T2C 154 706
9 Benito Rodriguez Gonzalez Wills Wing T2C 144 689
10 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 615

XXII Open de Canarias

Tiny flights

XXII Open de Canarias

December 6, 2018, 7:48:46 pm EST

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Christian Pollet|competition|Icaro 2000|Joseph Salvenmoser|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Phill Bloom|Thomas Weissenberger

Thursday, December 6th

https://airtribune.com/xxii-open-de-canarias/results

Task 4:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 17.96 154
2 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 14.87 135
3 Carlos Punet AIR ATOS VQ Race 17.84 130
4 Wolfgang Brunner Moyes Litespeed RX 10.06 112
5 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 9.94 111
6 Francois Isoard Aeros Combat GT 12.7 9.66 110
7 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 9.39 108
8 Tormod Helgesen Moyes Litespeed RX 4 9.03 105
9 Manuel Garcia garcia Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 8.92 104
9 Benito Rodriguez Gonzalez Wills Wing T2C 144 8.99 104

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 0 3 611 135 749
2 Christian Pollet Aeros Combat C 0 3 585 72 660
3 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 0 4 472 154 630
4 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 0 3 511 108 622
5 Francois Isoard Aeros Combat GT 12.7 0 0 489 110 599
6 Manuel Garcia garcia Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 0 3 477 104 584
7 Gustavo Migliozzi Wills Wing T2C 144 0 3 481 72 556
8 Juan Antonio Molina Vera AIR Atos VR 0 3 368 94 465
9 Tormod Helgesen Moyes Litespeed RX 4 0 3 354 105 462

22nd Open de Canarias

Thu, Dec 6 2018, 3:32:18 am GMT

Task cancelled

Open de Canarias 2018

Wednesday, December 5th

https://airtribune.com/xxii-open-de-canarias/blog__day_4

Things are not going well for this meet either.

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22nd Open de Canarias

Mon, Dec 3 2018, 11:13:41 pm GMT

1st task results

competition|Icaro 2000|Joseph Salvenmoser|Konrad Heilmann|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Phill Bloom

Monday, December 3rd

https://airtribune.com/xxii-open-de-canarias/results

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 12.00 10
2 Ataulfo J. Fernandez Montero Wills Wing T2C 144 5.00 7
2 Kip Stone Moyes Litespeed RX4 5.00 7
2 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 5.00 7
2 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 5.00 7
2 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX 3,5 5.00 7
2 Cyro Lopez Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 5.00 7
2 Manuel Garcia garcia Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 5.00 7
2 Jose María (Tximo) Iriarte Ziritza Aeros Combat GT 12.4 5.00 7
2 Cedric Michelena Moyes Litespeed RX 5.00 7

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22nd Open de Canarias

Wed, Sep 26 2018, 4:28:18 pm GMT

Lanzarote

Open de Canarias 2018

https://airtribune.com/xxii-open-de-canarias/info/details__info

This year marks the 22nd edition of the traditional International Hang Gliding Open & the Canary Island's Championship. We would like to share with all of you this new edition to be celebrated from the 2nd to 89th of December (both inclusive) in the island of Lanzarote. Taking advantage of the excellent conditions for hang gliding that occur in this place. So enjoy the fantastic scenery and good climate that gives us the Canary Islands.

Discuss "22nd Open de Canarias" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 22, 2018, 10:10:58 pm MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The lift returns along with the high top of lift. No cu's, of course

Ben Dunn|Brian Porter|Chris Zimmerman|competition|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Flytec 6030|Fred Kaemerer|Glen Volk|Greg Chastain|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Greg Kendall|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Moyes Litespeed RX|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|Tyler Borradaile|Wayne Michelsen|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2018/results

I wrote in a review of the 2018 Big Spring Nationals that luck is an important part of a hang gliding competition. Today really illustrated that truth. Larry Bunner launched early and climbed up to 6,400'.

I launched in the tenth position with Gregg Ludwig pulling me behind his trike upwind and took me to a thermal where I pinned off at 1,600'. That thermal averaged 270 fpm and it got me to 5,700' (the first piece of luck). I had just a couple of other pilots with me in the thermal (none at my altitude) so it was no problem staying in the best part of the lift.

Four or five of us headed northeast against the 11 mph east wind and down to 3,100' (1,600' AGL) I found a nice thermal that averaged 450 fpm (second bit of luck). Robin came in under me and Zac, Dustin, Tyler and Mitch came over me. We all climbed to 8,000' with me ending up just slightly on the bottom. As I was climbing up I heard from Larry and he was landing back at the tow field having not found any more lift.

This was our task for the day. The forecast was for a strong east wind:

After topping out at 8,000' we headed northwest three minutes late for the second clock just the six of us with no one else around. This seemed like a good group to go with (third bit of luck) and I doubted that we would get any higher in the start cylinder.

I followed just behind and just below the other five pilots. I would do that all day. It was a 16 kilometer downwind glide to 300+ fpm to 6,700' before the turnpoint at Maricopa. A bit of nothing didn't work out after the turnpoint, but further south we found 280 fpm in a 15 mph east wind to 5,500'. We lost contact with Mitch at this point as he didn't connect well with this thermal.

At the second turnpoint we found 225 fpm climbing to 5,700' in a 17 mph east wind. I had now caught up with Zac, Tyler, Robin and Dustin, finding my spot about 100 feet below them. I would spot the best core just below them and they would use me as a sniffer dog to keep climbing at the best rate.

Heading north toward the three kilometer cylinder around Mobile and down to 3,200' I found a thermal that averaged 290 fpm and the four other pilots joined me as we climbed to 7,300' yet again in a 17 mph east wind. I had hoped to climb to 8,000' but Zac headed out and we all went with him.

After a 10 kilometer glide I was down to 3,600' (2,200' AGL) 4.5 kilometers from the edge of the goal cylinder at Estrella. The Flytec 6030 was showing a required L/D of 7:1 and I was getting 5:1 going into the 17 mph head wind. I felt a little lift and felt around going a bit to the north.

I found 460 fpm and took it way too high at 6,000'. That got me to goal in fifth position at 4,500'. The four guys in front of me found lift from four kilometers out and were able to stuff the bar in on the rest of the final glide.

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2018/results

Task 6:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 01:43:20 70.37 682
2 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 01:43:38 70.37 676
3 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 PRO 01:43:49 70.37 673
4 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 01:44:46 70.37 666
5 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 01:58:05 70.37 607
6 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 02:10:34 70.37 539
7 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144   53.79 401
8 Austin Marshall Wills Wing T2C 144   50.62 366
8 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro   50.16 366
10 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5   49.97 363

Final Results:

# Name Glider Total
1 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 3810
2 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 3692
3 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 3620
4 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 3607
5 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 3604
6 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 PRO 3313
7 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 3145
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 2964
9 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 2962
10 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 2829
11 Ben Dunn Moyes RX 3.5 2637
12 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 2556
13 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 2523
14 Kip Stone Moyes RX 5 PRO 2499
15 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 2359
16 Wayne Michelsen Icaro Laminar 2307
17 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C144 2197
18 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 2194
19 Felix Cantesanu Aeros Combat C 12.7 2179
20 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 2144

None of the ATOS Class gliders made it around the task, but Peter Cairns from Australia won the day (his first win here) getting almost to the last turnpoint. Fred Kaemerer won over all.

Greg Chastain won the day in Swift Class and the competition ahead of Chris Zimmerman, Brian Porter and Stephen Morris.

Dave Aldrich won the last day and Matt Pruett won overall in Sport Class with David in second and L.J. Omara in third.

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 21, 2018, 6:54:50 pm MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

More weakness, but none the less glory

competition|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Fred Kaemerer|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|sailplane|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

The task committee thought that the day would be pretty good and that the weakness from the previous day would be relegated to a distant memory. It would turn out to be the case that once again the lift would be weak and the top of lift would be low, at least where we would start our flying at the Francisco Grande.

The task set was heroic:

The idea was to head east against a 7 mph head wind and then, if you can make it there, get high on the mountain north of the sailplane port at Estrella, coming back with a tailwind.

With the first start window open at 1:30 PM I launched at 12:55 PM. Even with the light lift I only took the tow to 1,600' and pinned off in light lift with a couple of pilots.

The lift was indeed quite light and the first three thermals averaged 95 fpm, 86 fpm, and 129 fpm. There were just a few pilots around, maybe ten, and I got to only 3,600', or 2,300' AGL.

We were still in the center of the start cylinder with eight minutes to go before the start clock having been pushed back by the west northwest wind and I headed out with three other pilots to the north west to see if we could get closer to the optimum start point and also find better lift.

After gliding about 4 kilometers and finding nothing we all turned around with me as the lowest. Coming back and trying to get near a road in case I landed I found lift at 500'. I was by myself with everyone else high and down wind of me. 130 fpm felt like a strong thermal and climbed right up to all the other pilots at 4,000' without any issues. It was great to be by myself just turning in the best rising air.

Now we all headed north west again, aiming for the second start time at 1:50 PM. A 30 fpm thermal kept me above 3,800'. The next thermal, all of 66 fpm only got me to 3,200'. I was climbing terribly. I wasn't able to climb through anyone and there were twenty pilots in the gaggle, which severely restricted my options.

Heading north west again I was down to 900' AGL as three pilots landed below me. Half the pilots in the last gaggle were here with a few hanging back two kilometers to get the third start time. I joined other pilots in a 64 fpm thermal Again it was terrible. Very weak, only a small portion of the turn was actually in lift.

I was near the bottom of the stack. I was not climbing well and not getting up to where I needed to be. When all my turns were in sink I headed out with four other pilots, but I was by far the lowest at 2,900' (1,600' AGL).

That didn't last long and I found a good field to land in next to the highway.

Other pilots stayed up in the weak conditions very slowly moving against the headwind. They huddled together in groups of four or five. Only eleven pilots were able to get more than 10 kilometers from the edge of the start cylinder. Ten of them were able to cross the flats getting to Estrella where the mountains were working. Some got to at least 10,000'.

As we arrived back at the Francisco Grande hotel, Jonny, Ollie, and Tyler were arriving over the hotel. They had made it around. A great day for them.

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2018/results

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 02:40:07 80.76 605
2 Felix Cantesanu Aeros Combat C 12.7 02:57:39 80.76 553
3 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 02:59:49 80.76 545
4 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 PRO 03:02:16 80.76 540
5 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 03:02:16 80.76 536
6 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 03:03:20 80.76 534
7 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 03:10:44 80.76 520
8 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13   73.08 381
9 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C   76.10 365
10 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144   65.99 362

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 3326
2 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 3134
3 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 3081
4 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 2938
5 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 2925
6 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 2782
7 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 2694
8 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 PRO 2640
9 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 2428
10 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 2357

In the Swift Class, Greg, Chris and Brian made it back to the hotel.

David Aldrich got outside the start cylinder for 10 kilometers (coming low over my head into a landing) as the only Sport Class pilot to get outside the start cylinder. He got 8 points for that effort.

Fred Kaemerer was the only ATOS class pilot to make it around the course.

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 20, 2018, 10:18:21 pm MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The weakness after the rain storm

Ben Dunn|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Greg Kendall|Jeff Chipman|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Moyes Litespeed RX|Phill Bloom|Rich Burton|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

After I wrote about how good conditions were here (https://ozreport.com/22.189#3), they have turned to very weak after a deluge on Wednesday.

The pilot meeting was delayed for a late launch. The start window wasn't set to open until 2:30 PM with a short day forecasted. The task committee set a small task of 63 km:

The forecast for soaring indicated very poor soaring conditions. Pilots were not ready to launch at 1:15 PM. We stood around waiting for some sign that we should get going. Kevin Carter and Bill Bennett flew around but they weren't too inspiring.

Finally an hour later at 2:15 PM a few of us got dressed and that moved the crowd to get out of the shade and get to their gliders. I took off at 2:17 PM.

Jonny Thompson pulled me up and I didn't pin off until 2,000' AGL. There was very little lift. I joined up with Felix and Luke and we just hung in -30 fpm. Zac Majors came and joined us.

Luke drifted a little further east and found better lift and Zac and I joined him. We got up at 90 fpm.

We kept drifting further east at 9 mph and climbing to 4,100'. I noticed that we were right at the edge of the 5 kilometer start circle coincidentally it was about to be the second start time, 2:45 PM. One turn and all three of us got it.

Four or five pilots who had climbed up over launch came flying toward us as we headed out to the southeast. I followed Zac and Luke. Then veering off the course line to the south I found 35 fpm and that turned out to be the hot spot.

After a few turns to the south of me Zac came in under.  The other pilots trickled in. I climbed to 3,300', but something wasn't working. Zac was able to climb up through me even though I was right over him and lost 300' of altitude. I couldn't figure out what was going on.

I finally had to leave and head southeast to the Casa Grande mountains. Nothing there for me and I was soon on the ground.

Eleven pilots were able to continue in the air past the second turnpoint at Arizona City at 25.5 km out.

Task 4:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Kip Stone Moyes RX 5 PRO 36.98 229
2 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 36.00 227
3 Ben Dunn Moyes RX 3.5 35.34 224
4 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 PRO 35.22 223
4 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 35.25 223
6 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 33.24 206
7 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 31.39 192
8 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 29.93 184
8 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 29.72 184
10 Jeff Chipman Moyes Litespeed S4T 29.77 182

The scorekeeper needs to add 5 km to each of these distances.

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 2722
2 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 2690
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 2521
4 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 2355
5 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 2301
6 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 2297
7 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 2168
8 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 2134
9 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 2125
10 Kip Stone Moyes RX 5 PRO 2069

The ATOS and Swift class pilots passed on flying today, with only Rich Burton on an ATOS flying.

Only two Sport Class pilots got outside the start cylinder.

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Day 3 Cumulative Results

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

September 19, 2018, 8:23:10 MST

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Ben Dunn|Brian Porter|Chris Zimmerman|competition|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Fred Kaemerer|Glen Volk|Greg Chastain|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Phill Bloom|Rich Burton|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|Sara Weaver|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2018/results

Open class:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 789 891 937 2617
2 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 985 987 616 2588
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 806 996 527 2329
4 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 734 765 727 2226
5 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 512 839 777 2128
6 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 944 606 531 2081
7 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 919 228 931 2078
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 946 602 510 2058
9 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 823 585 542 1950
10 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 850 518 487 1855
11 Kip Stone Moyes RX 5 PRO 726 576 538 1840
12 Ben Dunn Moyes RX 3.5 766 816 240 1822
13 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 708 235 860 1803
14 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C144 448 630 652 1730
15 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 PRO 752 585 390 1727

Sport Class:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Matt Pruett Wills Wing U2 145 1000 775 41 1816
2 David Aldrich Wills Wing Sport 3 135 458 757 66 1281
3 L.J. Omara Wills wing U2 160 458 500 60 1018
4 Ric Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 753 197 41 991
5 Jeff Parrott Wills Wing U2 145 624 310 49 983
6 Bill Snyder Wills Wing u2 440 456 41 937
7 Sara Weaver Wills Wing Sport3 135 618 230 41 889
8 Abhishek Sethi Wills Wing U2 643 179 57 879
9 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 427 405 41 873
10 Bill Comstock Wills Wing S3 458 170 41 669

ATOS Class:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Fred Kaemerer AIR ATOS VR 1000 1000 925 2925
2 Peter Cairns A.I.R ATOS VQ 676 380 411 1467
3 Rich Burton Icaro Stratos 594 325 78 997

Swift Class:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Chris Zimmerman Aeriane Swift'Light 991 964 990 2945
2 Greg Chastain Swift 773 1000 986 2759
3 Brian Porter Aeriane Swift 951 682 0 1633
4 Stephen Morris Bright Star Swift 287 220 672 1179

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Day 3 Results

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

September 18, 2018, 9:25:14 pm MST

A.I.R. ATOS VR|competition|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Fred Kaemerer|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Moyes Litespeed RX|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2018/results

Task 3:

# Name Glider SS Time Distance Total
1 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 14:00:00 02:18:17 81.04 937
2 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 14:00:00 02:19:01 81.04 931
3 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 14:20:00 02:20:29 81.04 860
4 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 14:00:00 02:42:56 81.04 777
5 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 14:20:00 02:51:07 81.04 727
6 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C144 14:20:00 03:24:30 81.04 652
7 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 14:00:00   72.00 616
8 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 14:00:00   69.79 571
9 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 14:00:00   65.00 542
10 Kip Stone Moyes RX 5 PRO 14:00:00   65.00 538
11 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 14:20:00   64.97 531
12 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 14:20:00   63.86 527
13 Peter Suchanek Wills Wing T2C 136 14:00:00   62.76 512
14 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 14:20:00   63.45 510
15 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 14:00:00   59.07 487

Cumulative results haven't been posted yet. Kate, the scorekeeper, is likely fixing earlier results.

Fred Kaemerer, flying the latest tricked out version of the ATOS VR, won the day and it looks like he is leading over all.

The Swift results aren't final for the day as there is no score for Brian.

The Sport Class had a tough day with David Aldrich wining but only going 13.83 km.

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 17, 2018, 9:12:12 pm MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 2 results

Ben Dunn|Bruce Barmakian|competition|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

You'll find all the results for all the four classes at the link below:

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2018/results

Task 2:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 02:51:44 89.46 996
2 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 02:52:02 89.46 987
3 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 03:09:08 89.46 891
4 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 03:08:43 89.46 884
5 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 03:18:34 89.46 839
6 Ben Dunn Moyes RX 3.5 03:22:08 89.46 816
7 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 03:43:09 89.46 765
8 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C144   86.50 630
9 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5   77.42 608
10 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144   77.92 602

Cumulative:

  Name Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 985 987 1972
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 806 996 1802
3 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 789 891 1680
4 Ben Dunn Moyes RX 3.5 766 816 1582
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 944 608 1552
6 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 946 602 1548
7 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 734 765 1499
8 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 875 599 1474
9 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 823 586 1409
10 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 850 526 1376

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 17, 2018, 6:22:12 MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 1 results

competition|Davis Straub|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Moyes Litespeed RX|Phill Bloom|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2018/results.

Task 1:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 01:46:22 981
2 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 01:48:17 942
3 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 01:48:09 940
4 Jonny Durand Moyes LSRX 3.5 PRO 01:50:52 915
5 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 01:53:05 872
6 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 01:55:30 871
7 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 01:46:29 857
8 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 01:56:00 845
9 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 01:55:56 818
10 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 01:49:41 787

The life of a meet organizer

Thu, Jul 19 2018, 6:05:28 pm MDT

I completed 120 pages of documents just for the insurance part of the competitions that we have organized

CIVL|Larry Bunner|Midwest Championships 2017|video|weather

And we are forever grateful to be able to follow the original work done by Larry Bunner for the Midwest 2017 competition. Here is the required bid information for a Category 1 competition. You have until September 1st to fill this out and submit your bid.:

https://www.fai.org/document-compression/24747

Annexe A – Bid Information


  • The following information must be provided in support of your bid.
  • A bid will be refused if some of the information is missing.
  • This template has to be followed: same items in the same order.
  • Additional information of the bidder’s choice may also be included at the end of the bid (see point 35)

  • This document will form part of the FAI Organiser Agreement. It is binding. Key information (like the entry fee) cannot be changed later without CIVL Bureau and Plenary consent.
  • Documentation required in support of the bid is noted in Annexe B.
  • Outline of the budget must follow the template as per Annexe C.

1. Name of Championship

See FAI document: Naming FAI Competitions available at: http://www.fai.org/fai-documents under Organising an Event.

2. Location(s) of Championship

3. Proposed Dates of Championship

4. Competition allowing the organiser to bid

State here which competition allows you to bid.

To be eligible, the NAC making the bid shall, as a minimum, have held a national championship or FAI Category 2 competition with a minimum entry of 50 pilots for Cross Country events or 30 pilots for Accuracy and Aerobatics events, on the proposed site(s) within the four years before the bid is received.

5. Local Organiser (LOC)

Party designated in the Organiser Agreement who will have contractual responsibility for organising the event, and will sign the Organiser Agreement.

The party has written approval and endorsement of the holder of the Sporting Powers (see point 6).

6. Sporting Power

Party having the sporting power in your country.

  • It can be the National Airsport Control (NAC).
  • It can be another entity (a federation for instance) to which the NAC has delegated its sporting powers. If this is the case, a letter of information has to be sent by the entity to the NAC.

The Sporting Power will also have to sign the Organiser Agreement

7. Detailed Schedule of Championship

  • Free and official training days.
  • Registration.
  • Mandatory Safety Briefing.
  • Opening ceremony.
  • Mandatory training task.
  • Championship flying days.
  • Closing ceremony.

8. Organisers, Directors and Key Officials

Include brief note on qualifications, experience, languages, etc.

For all events:

  • Organisation/Event Director.
  • Meet Director.
  • Safety Director.
  • Meteorologist.
  • Launch (or drop) Marshal.

For Cross Country:

  • Scorer.
  • Live Tracking Manager.
  • Goal Marshal.

9. CIVL Coordinator, Steward, Judges, Jurors

  • At the time of the bid, the CIVL Coordinator will be the CIVL President or the appropriate Committee Chairperson. If the bid is accepted, the Coordinator will be the CIVL Steward as soon as he is appointed.
  • In Accuracy, the Chief Judge and Event Judges will be appointed by CIVL in consultation with the LOC. The Chief Judge will then appoint other Judges in consultation with the LOC. All Judges should be the same at the test event and at the event.
  • In Aerobatic, the Chief Judge will be appointed by CIVL in consultation with the LOC. The Chief Judge will then appoint other Judges in consultation with the LOC. All Judges should be the same at the test event and at the event.
  • The CIVL Jurors will be appointed in due time by the CIVL Bureau.

10. Pilots Entry

Specify the maximum number of pilots allowed overall.

You may want to justify this number in relation to the site and flying conditions.

Reminder:

The maximum number of pilots per nation and the team size will be defined in the championship Local Regulation, which is subject to CIVL approval.

11. Entry Fee

Define the Entry Fee for the Championship:

  • For Pilots.
  • For Teams Leaders and Assistants.
  • What is included in Entry Fee.

Reminder: See Section 7 Common 5.1.2 for the minimum expected to be included in the Entry Fee.

Define what will be optional or subject to additional charges, such as tow fees, retrieve, lunch packs, equipment hire, etc.

12. Test Event

  • Dates of Test Event.
  • Pilot qualifications (open selection or specific criteria if any).
  • Entry fee for Pilots, Teams Leaders and Assistants.
  • What is included in Entry Fee. (see 11. above)

Reminder:

See Section 7 Common 2.4.5 and 12.1.1 for general requirements.

See Section 7 Common 12.3.1 for the minimum International Participation required.

13. Launch sites

Add general comments on suitability of sites for proposed event, competition history, accessibility, availability, permission for use.

For each site, list:

  • Take-off direction(s).
  • Height above valley.
  • Configuration, surface, size of take-offs and rigging/preparation areas.
  • Number of ramps.
  • Hazards (cables, pylons, trees, etc.).
  • Facilities (car park, shelter/shade, water, refreshments, toilets, etc.). 

For winch/aero tow sites:

  • Airfield details, size, wind directions, facilities, etc.

For Accuracy:

  • Height difference between take off and target area.

For Aerobatic:

  • Height above water when reaching the flying ‘box’.

14. Distance/access to launch site(s)

  • Road access: for cars or only 4-wheel drive vehicles or organisers trucks?
  • Cable car or mountain railway to take-off area?
  • Parking available part way up?
  • Organiser transport arrangements to sites.

For Accuracy and Aerobatic:

  • Shuttle time from the landing area to take-off area.

15. Task flying area XE "Task flying area"

  • Type and suitability of terrain.
  • Unlandable and built up areas difficult to avoid.
  • Suitable goal landing fields and height AMSL.
  • Suitable ‘bomb-out’ .
  • Local road quality for retrieves, road traffic problems.
  • Any prohibited flying or landing areas.
  • Include a map or a link to an online map showing airspace, turnpoints, major features, typical tasks (see Annexe A).

For Accuracy and Aerobatics:

  • Target location and specificities.

16. Airspace XE "Airspace"

  • Free to what height above take-off and task flying areas?
  • What limitations? Restricted/prohibited areas?
  • What permission or exclusions required? How likely to be granted?
  • Frontier crossing arrangements?

17. Weather

  • Details of any sites prone to low clouds, possibility of wave or foehn, best time of day for thermal upslope, possibility of residual lift late in the afternoon, known turbulence areas.
  • Weather data and type of conditions to expect during the period selected for the event.
  • Recommended maximum wind speed: on launch and for task flying.

18. Meteorology XE "Meteorology"

  • What arrangements will be in place for daily forecasts during the event and the relevant experience of the forecaster.
  • Details of satellite weather monitoring, most reliable web resources for forecasts, automatic wind station monitoring, webcams, etc.

19. Transport XE "Retrieves"

  • Details of transport provided to launch, organisation vehicles, vehicles to be provided by competi­tors, etc.
  • How retrieve/check-in will be organised.

20. Safety issues

In general:

  • Local meteorological conditions (areas of rotor, strong valley winds, etc.) or local terrain features (pylons). 
  • Task setting/task style/scoring ideas to compensate.
  • Comments on pilot qualifications/skill levels required.
  • Details of any fatalities or serious accidents on the site or in the task flying area in the past 5 years.

21. Rescue XE "Rescue" /Medical Services

  • Information on experience of on-site doctor/paramedic, first aid arrangements, medical first response in tasks area.
  • Helicopter availability including response times.
  • Helicopter landing space for each site.

22. Safety Management Plan

States here what your safety management plan will be.

Reminder:

FAI has published ‘Guidelines in the event of a casualty or of a serious accident’. Please be aware of this document and its sections:

  • Advise Regional ATC Centre and also local ATC organisation.
  • Raise NOTAM.
  • Insurance to cover liability, rescue charges, etc.
  • Advise local police.
  • Advise local ambulance, hospital and other medical services.
  • Arrange medical doctor rota to cover the event also to cover any post-mortem
  • examination and inquest.
  • Arrange site facilities, including a control room and incident room.
  • Appoint officials: Event Director and Deputy Director, Event Safety Officer, Public Relations Officer.
  • Investigate laws, rules and procedures that apply at the event site or sites, for accidents, injuries, fatalities and air accidents.
  • Make plans for dealing with accidents and incidents: release of names, control actions, incident log, official statements after the event, immediate actions, follow-up actions, dealing with press and media, witnesses, details of injured or deceased, National accident investigation procedures, continuance of event, facilities for victim’s team, report to FAI; Injury, illness or death of participants or spectators.

23. Transmissions

  • Radio XE "Radios" s: details including any restriction on frequencies or types of radio, particularly 2m, and any licence requirements.
  • Mobile/Cell ‘Phone Coverage: availability of local SIM cards. Details of best network coverage within the competition area.

24. Liaison with police, military, public services

  • Their familiarity with this type of event. Past experience? Assistance expected?

25. Insurance XE "Insurance"

  • Insurance requirements pilots will be required to provide (third party, personal, repatriation…).
  • Detail of what will be available to be purchased on site.
  • Details of Organisers’ Liability cover for the event (including public liability and CIVL officials).

Reminder:

The LOC must arrange insurance coverage in an adequate amount in connection with the event including public liability insurance meeting the applicable legal specifications. This coverage must be presented to the FAI at the earliest opportunity.

The FAI, its respective directors, employees and assigned event Personnel must be designated as additional insured parties for liability claims.

26. Event Headquarters XE "Headquarters"

  • Location and size of rooms for briefings, registration, equipment checks.
  • Office facilities: AV equipment, office equipment, communication systems (phones, wifi, etc.).
  • Internet access available for Officials.
  • Internet access available for competitors.

27. Local facilities

  • General outline of availability and average prices of hotels, camping sites, apartments and other accommodation.
  • Proximity from event HQ of: car hire, shops, restaurants/bars, repair facilities, etc.

28. Competition website

  • Outline of the anticipated website design/content, which should be the main means of disseminating information about the championship.
  • Confirm that this will be in place prior to the test event, and updated prior to the main event, with all relevant information, at least 6 months before the start of the event.
  • An interactive online registration and payment facility is desirable.

29. Visas, Vaccinations

  • Will any FAI member be refused entry to the country?
  • Details of visas required for visitors from FAI member nations.
  • Details of any vaccinations recom­mended for competitors (or provide web addresses for information).

30. Early arrivals:

  • State any date before which competitors should not arrive.
  • Give details of arrangements for pilots if early arrival is possible (access to launch, etc.).

31. Customs and equipment importation:

  • Information on custom arrangements for temporary importation of gliders and other competition equipment. If necessary, customs at main entry points for the event should be informed of the nature of equipment that will accompany pilots.
  • List entry points that have already been contacted or notified.

32. Medals, etc.

Medals and diplomas will be provided for free by CIVL, but transportation and custom are paid by the organisers.

  • State here if there are any other forms of recognition or prizes.

33. Media coverage, merchandising

  • Outline of plans to promote the event.
  • Media coverage planned before, during and after the event.
  • Facilities for spectators (virtual and physical).
  • Filming/video opportunities.

Reminder:

Coverage produced by LOC or local partners may have to be provided to FAI for international use without any rights restrictions, limitations and costs. FAI retains the right to use any audiovisual coverage of the event without limitation in space or time.

Are also subject to FAI regulation as per Organiser Agreement (obtainable on request at FAI): international distribution; merchandising and hospitality rights; intellectual property, FAI marks and exposure, event logo, mascot…

34. Sponsorship

  • Secured or expected sponsors if any.

Reminder:

If the FAI requests exposure and the LOC has a specific possibility to secure event sponsors of the same products or services categories as the FAI main partners for a major sponsor position, FAI shall be contacted in order to agree on a solution.

FAI shall exercise its right up to 6 months prior to the event. Before this time limit, the LOC may ask the FAI to grant full release from this obligation or to specify which categories have to be reserved.

35. Finance

  • Anticipated sources of finance (local, government, sports authorities, NAC, etc.) and percentage of budget expected from pilot entry fees.
  • Provide an outline budget (see Annexe C)

36. Any additional information in support of the bid:

Name:

Position in Organisation:

Date:

Signed:

Annexe B – Support Documentation


  1. Letter of support from the NAC or delegated entity.
  2. Letter of information from the delegated entity to the NAC (if applicable).
  3. Letter of support from the local authorities.
  4. Map of the area.

Annexe C – Budget

See the Excel file. https://www.fai.org/sites/default/files/civl/documents/cat_1_budget_annexe_c_-_v2018.xls

2018 Quest Air Nationals »

Sat, Apr 21 2018, 8:14:52 am EDT

The happy pilots

Alejandro Riera|Andrey Solomykin|Bruce Barmakian|Charles Allen|Christian Ciech|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Davis Straub|Fabiano Nahoum|Fred Kaemerer|Gary Anderson|Glen Volk|Greg Dinauer|Jeff Chipman|Jim Messina|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Ken Kinzie|Kevin Carter|Konrad Heilmann|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|Makbule Baldik Le Fay|Mark Bourbonnais|Mike Glennon|Patrick Kruse|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Quest Air Nationals 2018|Raul Guerra|Richard Lovelace|Roger Irby|Sara Weaver|Tullio Gervasoni|Tyler Borradaile|Zac Majors

Joerg Bajewski's photo of all of us:

All the happy pilots at the 2018 Quest Air Nationals. May include, but not limited to: Adam Smith, Adrian Sanchez, Adriano Sorci, Alejandro Riera, Alessandro Silva, Alfredo Grey, Alipio Loyola, Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli, Andrey Solomykin, Austin Marshall, Bill Comstock, Bill Vickery, Brian Vitola, Bruce Barmakian, Carl Wallbank, Carlos Alvarado, Charles Allen, Charles Cozean, Christian Ciech, Corinna Schwiegershausen, Dan Lukaszewicz, David Aldrich, David Hayner, David Whittle, Davis Straub, Derreck Turner, Douglas Hale, enrique arriaga, Eric Williams, Erico Oliveira, Fabiano Nahoum, Fabio Thomaz, Fred Kaemerer, Gary Anderson, Giovani Tagliari, Glen Volk, Greg Dinauer, Greg Sessa, Hollidge Andrew, James Race, James Yocom, JD Guillemette, Jeff Chipman, Jim Messina, Joerg Bajewski, John Blank, John Maloney, John Simon, Jonny Durand, Jose Paulo Tavares, Jose Sandoval, Ken Kinzie, Kevin Carter, Kevin Dutt, Kevin Kernohan, Konrad Heilmann, Krzysztof Grzyb, Larry Bunner, Lee Silver, Makbule Baldik Le Fay, Malcolm Brown, Marcello Pereira, Marcelo Alexandre Menin, Mark Bourbonnais, Michael Duffy, Michael Williams, Mick Howard, Miguel Molina, Mike Glennon, Misael Rosalez, Nick Jones, Patrick Kruse, Patrick Pannese, Patrick Ruber, Pedro L. Garcia, Peter Kelley, Peter Suchanek, Philippe Michaud, Phill Bloom, Raul Guerra, Ricardo Ricky, Ricardo Vassmer, Rich Cizauskas, Rich Reinauer, Richard lovelace, Richard Milla, Rick Maddy, Rob Dallas, Robert Clarkson, Rod Regier, Rodrigo Russek, Roger Irby, Sandy Dittmar, Sara Weaver, Sergey Kataev, Soraya Rios, Stephan Mentler, Steve Hogan, Tullio Gervasoni, Tyler Borradaile, Will Ramsey, William Baker, Zac Majors

The photo is live.

Discuss "2018 Quest Air Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2018 Quest Air Nationals »

Results from day six, task 4

Fri, Apr 20 2018, 11:58:13 pm EDT

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Andrey Solomykin|Bruce Barmakian|Christian Ciech|competition|Davis Straub|Fred Kaemerer|Glen Volk|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|Makbule Baldik Le Fay|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Quest Air Nationals 2018|Richard Lovelace|Sara Weaver|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2018-quest-air-national-series/results

Task 4:

Name Glider SS ES Time Total
1 Christian Ciech Icaro 2000 Laminar 14.1 13:30:00 16:09:48 02:39:48 877
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 14:10:00 16:34:49 02:24:49 860
3 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Ww T2C 144 13:50:00 16:34:55 02:44:55 729
3 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 13:50:00 16:35:06 02:45:06 729
5 Malcolm Brown Wills Wing T2C 144 13:50:00 16:36:11 02:46:11 720
6 Sandy Dittmar Wills Wing T2C 144 13:50:00 16:41:14 02:51:14 694
7 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 13:30:00 16:34:49 03:04:49 687
8 Carl Wallbank Moyes RX 3.5 13:30:00 16:35:00 03:05:00 685
9 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.1 13:30:00 16:35:01 03:05:01 681
10 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 13:50:00 16:43:49 02:53:49 675
11 Krzysztof Grzyb Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 13:50:00 16:43:53 02:53:53 674
12 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 13:30:00 16:35:06 03:05:06 673
13 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 13:30:00 16:37:22 03:07:22 646
14 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 13:30:00 16:45:08 03:15:08 620
15 Richard Lovelace Wills Wing T2C 144 Carbon 13:30:00 16:46:58 03:16:58 614

Sport Task 4:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 James Race Wills Wing U2 160 01:38:00 985
2 Douglas Hale Moyes Gecko 155 01:40:33 935
3 Makbule Baldik Le Fay Aeros Discus 13B 01:46:14 866
4 Andrey Solomykin Aeros Discus 14 01:50:45 822
5 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 01:53:08 801
6 Charles Cozean Wills Wing U2 145 01:55:33 781
7 Sara Weaver Wills Wing Sport 3 135 01:56:02 777
8 Nick Jones Wills Wing U2 145 01:58:43 756
9 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing U2 145 01:59:53 747
10 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 02:00:18 744
11 Ricardo Ricky Wills Wing T2C 01:37:41 700
12 Lee Silver Wills Wing U2 160 02:18:14 622

Rigid task 4:

# Name Glider Sponsor Time Distance Total
1 Fred Kaemerer Air Atos Vr Air Usa 03:03:53 126.60 995
2 Patrick Ruber A-I-R Atos Vr A-I-R 03:04:08 126.60 992
3 James Yocom Air Atos Vr 10 My Beautiful Wife! 75.82 326

Rigid final results (they all left early Saturday morning):

# Name Glider Total
1 Patrick Ruber A-I-R Atos Vr 2509
2 Fred Kaemerer Air Atos Vr 2263
3 James Yocom Air Atos Vr 10 1875

2018 Quest Air Nationals »

April 17, 2018, 8:49:48 pm EDT

2018 Quest Air Nationals

Day three, task one, results (ready by 7:30 PM local time

Andrey Solomykin|Christian Ciech|competition|Davis Straub|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Quest Air Nationals 2018|Raul Guerra|Sara Weaver|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2018-quest-air-national-series/results

Eighteen in goal. The first task was elapsed time with no leading or arrival points following the Australian precedent for the first day. The launch opened at 1:30 PM. The pilots with the fastest times started the task later when conditions improved.

Task 1:

# Name Glider SS ES Time Total
1 Christian Ciech Icaro 2000 Laminar 14.1 14:58:33 16:08:02 01:09:29 514
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 14:59:05 16:11:12 01:12:07 488
3 Austin Marshall Wills Wing T2C 144 14:55:56 16:12:35 01:16:39 464
4 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 14:59:07 16:21:11 01:22:04 442
5 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 14:58:50 16:21:07 01:22:17 441
6 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 15:24:58 16:51:44 01:26:46 425
7 Malcolm Brown Wills Wing T2C 144 14:41:45 16:10:51 01:29:06 417
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 14:40:42 16:12:04 01:31:22 409
9 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 14:54:45 16:27:18 01:32:33 406
10 Sandy Dittmar Wills Wing T2C 144 14:55:36 16:30:06 01:34:30 400
10 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 154 14:40:53 16:15:26 01:34:33 400
10 Raul Guerra Moyes RX 3.5 14:41:31 16:15:56 01:34:25 400

Sport task 1:

# Name Glider SS Distance Total
1 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 15:43:47 25.76 359
1 Charles Cozean Wills Wing U2 145 15:44:10 25.70 359
3 Andrey Solomykin Aeros Discus 14 15:33:54 24.58 346
4 Sara Weaver Wills Wing Sport 3 135 15:43:52 22.62 338
5 Douglas Hale Moyes Gecko 155 15:30:11 16.51 264
6 adrian sanchez Wills Wing U2 145 15:43:17 14.89 249
7 Greg Sessa Wills Wing U2 160 16:04:05 11.57 214
8 Nick Jones Wills wing U2 145 16:11:00 11.51 213
9 Soraya Rios Wills Wing Sport 135 16:03:50 9.44 199
10 Rick Maddy Wills Wing U2 160 15:42:59 9.90 195

2017 Midwest, Vlog 3 »

June 16, 2017, 8:21:47 MST -0600

2017 Midwest, Vlog 3

After the first day of competition

Midwest Championships 2017|video

https://youtu.be/nv2tySnyPos

This video covers the winners of task 1 and pilot briefing for task 2 (which was canceled due to low/weak lift and high winds).

2017 Midwest, Vlog 2 »

June 15, 2017, 7:57:13 MST -0600

2017 Midwest, Vlog 2

The first day of competition

Midwest Championships 2017|video

https://youtu.be/oNlYpOfHkc8

2017 Midwest, Vlog 1 »

June 14, 2017, 7:06:53 MST -0600

2017 Midwest, Vlog 1

Wills Wing's turn to log it

Midwest Championships 2017|video

https://youtu.be/yZREHtibq0Y

2017 Midwest, a video look »

June 13, 2017, 6:54:22 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, a video look

A look around

Midwest Championships 2017|video

https://youtu.be/32ko6enNiJ8

2017 Midwest, my thoughts »

June 13, 2017, 8:48:59 CST -0500

2017 Midwest, my thoughts

Two weeks in Wisconsin

Midwest Championships 2017

We loved being and flying in Wisconsin. It was a wonderful week of competition flying. Eastern Wisconsin is so beautiful and there are landing areas everywhere so you are completely comfortable flying anywhere.

Flying started out a week before the competition on a very weak Saturday after a strong rain storm the previous day. I sure was hoping that we wouldn't have the situation of eighty pilots hanging together in a very weak thermal like the ones we experienced that day. Thankfully that didn't happen during the competition even when we had a weak day or two. There was plenty of room and numerous thermals so that everyone kept out of everyone else's space.

The area around Whitewater is dotted with lakes, small patches of forest and open farm lands. Because of the cold and wet Spring the corn fields were often not planted yet and if they were the corn was only two or three inches high. There were plenty of grass/hay fields with low growth also. One day I did land in a soybean field with the plants just sticking their leaves out of the ground.

Three days before the competition we again had good flying conditions and two days before the competition we had epic conditions which very robust lift and light winds. I had plenty of opportunities to try out various combinations of varios to see what I liked about each one. I'll be reporting more on that later.

With a high level of participation, far beyond what the organizers expected, there were plenty of skilled pilots and tough competition to liven up the meet. We flew in all directions and conditions from a day when almost everyone had to relight to cu filled skies with thermals wherever you went. I really loved the times that I got low and had to dig my way out of whatever I had managed to get myself into.

In my opinion there is no point in flying, if you are flying alone without a goal. I want to fly with others who are striving to do their best. The closer the better and the more helpful the better.

I'm hoping that we all come back to Whitewater next year.

2017 Midwest, the organizers' thoughts »

June 12, 2017, 6:14:35 CST -0500

2017 Midwest, the organizers' thoughts

At least Greg Dinauer's

Dragonfly|Facebook|Greg Dinauer|Jamie Shelden|Midwest Championships 2017|weather

Greg Dinauer <<gdinauer>> writes:

Organizing a major sanctioned hang gliding competition is something that Larry, Kris and I have always talked about and, indeed have attempted in the past. Plagued by low turnouts, and of course, the always dubious weather up here in the Midwest, we just lost interest.

This year we finally decided to give it another go. With the lack of sanctioned competitions, due to the complexity of negotiating the minefield of insurance imperatives, and the huge gap in years of having any large scale events like this, we agreed it was a perfect storm of wide open doors.

In October we started drawing up plans. Since then every door has opened, even though the insurance hurtle almost discouraged us out of it. We always had the back-up plan that if only 20-25 pilots signed up and we skimped on everything, we could just pull it off without having to dig too deeply into our new glider funds.

So when after merely five days of the event registration being open, I received a late night call from Larry and Kris confirming that we had 60 registered pilots, I felt like the co-inventor of some unique product that just went nationwide overnight.

Of course we had to have another meeting at Larry’s home (the geographical midpoint) to access what to do about the monster we created. We wanted to limit it to 60, but before we knew it there were 80 pilots registered. So we had to draw a sharp line in the form of strict deadlines to control every ones flying sickness for this event. The glee we shared with the break in the really gloomy weather in the upper Midwest over the prior month well; it was just another of those open doors which seemed as inexplicable as Kris’s “need” to schedule during a full moon. If he is silently gloating, he deserves to be.

In as much as we considered every contingency, now that the competition is over, there were weak places; places that we could have better addressed, had we not also been competitors ourselves. Better communication with the launch process volunteer staff, management of civilities like: the portable bathrooms and waste containers, and the damp condition of the ground, particularly on the first day, are among them.

With all that, the pilots’ response was overwhelmingly positive, and while the soaring was not particularly epic, we did have one or two good days along with some challenging ones.

I really want to say that the three of us never scuffled with each other over decisions or ideas (often done over Larry’s favorite beer), in spite of the daunting insurance mitigation forms that Larry labored endlessly over. Our individual tasks in this came about more or less naturally; just three flying buddies cooperating to make a bigger dream happen.

We want to again thank everyone including the pilots, tug pilots, all the selfless volunteers, and the (more than patient) local pilot community for participating in what we feel was a bit more like what these events use to be. I, for one, while watching Rhett’s vivid green dragonfly depart this morning couldn’t help but feel a bit sad to see it end.

Will we do it again next year? We’ll see. A lot of the busy work is done and as with Jamie, Davis and other organizers in the past, we have learned a lot.

2017 Midwest, day 7, the podiums »

June 10, 2017, 4:11:31 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, day 7, the podiums

Simon and Myrkle win

competition|Midwest Championships 2017

https://airtribune.com/midwest-2017/results

2017 Midwest, day 7 »

June 10, 2017, 4:05:59 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, day 7

It blows

Facebook|Midwest Championships 2017

https://www.facebook.com/groups/456553944685782/permalink/472285089779334/

The forecast was correct (we knew three days in advance):

NWS forecast: Sunny, with a high near 89. Windy, with a southwest wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 40 mph.

Hourly shows southwest surface winds at 21 mph at noon gusting to 31 mph, rising to 24 mph gusting to 38 mph at 3 PM then slowly decreasing. Forecast for 8 AM – 10 mph.

NAM 3 forecast:

1 PM:

Lift: 500 fpm
TOL: 4,300’
Cloudbase: No cu’s
Surface winds: southwest 24 mph
TOL wind: southwest 40 mph

4 PM:

Lift: 500 fpm
TOL: 4,300’
Cloudbase: No cu’s
Surface winds: southwest 24 mph
TOL wind: southwest 42 mph

The day was cancelled because of the high winds.

2017 Midwest, day 6, task 5 »

June 9, 2017, 10:57:55 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, day 6, task 5

The luck can be good or bad

Bruce Barmakian|Facebook|Flytec 6030|Greg Dinauer|James Stinnett|John Simon|Midwest Championships 2017|Niki Longshore|Raul Guerra|video|Zac Majors

Zac Majors called a task to the east given the west winds.

Here is the forecast for the day:

NWS forecast: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.

Hourly shows north northwest surface winds at 9 mph.

NAM 3 forecast:

1 PM:

Lift: 500 fpm
TOL: 3,600’ (RAP 13 – 5,000’)
Cloudbase: No cu’s
Surface winds: northwest 8 mph
TOL wind: northwest 16 mph

4 PM:

Lift: 600 fpm TOL: 5,000’
Cloudbase: No cu’s or cu’s at 5,600’
Surface winds: northwest 5 mph
TOL wind: west northwest 12 mph

Op40:

TOL: 5,000’
55 degrees
North northwest wind 6 – 10 mph
Reasonable chance of cu’s
Winds move to more westerly later in the day

The cu's were forming as we got pulled up into the air at 1:20 PM. The lift was weak under the cu's but we just held on and climbed slowly getting up to cloud base which was low at 5,000' as forecasted.

Up and down in the weak lift as we tried to stay near cloudbase. I lost track of the time for a few minutes and then realized I was out of place as the start window approached. Found 300 fpm and climbed back to over 5,000' but I was three kilometers from the edge of the start cylinder when the window opened.

Niki was right under me and I told her that I was going to take the first start clock despite being way behind. She decided to wait for the next start window.

I figured that I could use the pilots ahead to mark the thermals and if they slowed down I could catch them.

There was a cu-filled sky to the southeast but quite a ways off the course line to the north. I followed behind the lead gaggle until I lost most of them by the third thermal. The lift was still weak for me and I'd gain 1,000' before running off to the next one as I got near cloud base.

After climbing to 4,900' in the third thermal it was clear that I would have to venture out into the blue to the south to get near the course line and because basically there were no more cu's any where near the direction to the first turnpoint. Raul Guerra had joined me and we spread out looking for little forming wispies.

We found one but it provided only 129 fpm to 4,800'. We headed due south to the next forming wispies and down to 1,400' AGL and after searching around we connected. This thermal was almost 300 fpm and we hung on until 6,400'. The wind was perfect and we drifted right to the turnpoint as we climbed.

Greg Dinauer had come in under us. We heard later that he had lost his flight instrument and was relying on us to tell him where the lift was. He was circling right with us and climbing right with us even though we would have been very hard for him to see.

It was a short glide to the next turnpoint at Burlington airport and while there were little bits of lift we didn't stay but for a few turns before heading to the Bong turnpoint to the southeast. We probably should have worked the available lift a bit more and gained some altitude, but the cu's ahead looked good as did the dry fields below them.

Soon I was on search mode big time. I had lost track of Raul and needed any lift to keep me in the air. Heading over a series of drier fields I felt a little bump. I pushed back upwind into the 7 mph northwest wind and the lift improved. It was weak and broken at first but I was going up from 800' AGL.

I gained about 1,000' and then James Stinnett came in under me at 350' AGL. He was very happy to see me going up. We climbed to 5,100' at almost 300 fpm on average and again drifted toward the turnpoint to the east.

I noticed that a number of pilots who were ahead of us had landed out. As James and I topped out I saw Raul about a 1,000' below us heading for the goal. My 6030 said we had goal by over 1,000' so James and I went on glide.

It's 20 kilometers to the goal but there is a 2km goal cylinder to keep us away from the airfield as it is a drop zone.

There were no clouds a little past the turnpoint at Bong so I was a little cautious at first. Then sped up as I saw that my glide ratio greatly exceeded the required glide ratio and I was not hitting any big sink. It was a breeze making it into goal.

As I worked my way down from 1,000' AGL I noticed that the pilot before me landed going east. The wind had been out of the west or northwest the whole flight. I wondered what's going on.

I had not looked out to the east to see Lake Michigan. There was a sea breeze and that is why all the guys in the first gaggle other than John Simon and Bruce Barmakian are on the ground (or so it appears). James and I got high at the turnpoint, higher than most pilots so we had no problem dealing with the sea breeze.

Zac talks about his flight here: https://www.facebook.com/zacmajors/videos/vb.584324602/10155349211799603/?type=2&theater

2017 Midwest, day 6, task 5 »

June 9, 2017, 8:09:29 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, day 6, task 5

Looks like five competition days

Bart Weghorst|Bill Soderquist|Bruce Barmakian|competition|Davis Straub|Fabiano Nahoum|James Stinnett|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Konrad Heilmann|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Midwest Championships 2017|Mike Degtoff|Moyes Litespeed RX|Niki Longshore|Pete Lehmann|Phill Bloom|Roger Irby

With Saturday predicted to be too windy it looks like Friday is the last competition day.

Niki on launch:
Niki launching
Photo by Mike Degtoff.

https://airtribune.com/midwest-2017/results

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 01:16:23 954
2 Bruce Barmakian Icaro Laminar 13.2 01:21:44 881
3 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 01:22:16 874
4 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 01:15:55 853
5 Reinaldo Niella WillsWing T2C144 01:25:46 837
5 Bill Soderquist Moyes RX3.5 01:25:27 837
7 Robert Dallas Wills Wing T2C 154 01:27:00 815
8 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 154 01:28:45 807
9 James Stinnett Wills Wing T2C 01:19:38 797
10 Luke Waters Wills Wing T2 154 01:35:34 749
11 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 01:36:05 740
12 Niki Longshore Moyes LSRX 3.5 PRO 01:26:40 736
13 Bart Weghorst Wills Wing 154 T2C 01:35:47 726
14 Roger Irby Wills Wing T2C 154 01:38:41 720
15 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 01:30:18 712
16 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 01:40:26 698
17 Alfredo Cabezas Moyes RX 01:41:28 687
18 Rich Cizauskas Aeros Combat 01:54:34 642
19 Pete Lehmann Wills Wing T2-154 01:44:53 630
20 JD Guillemette Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 01:55:09 599
21 Bill Comstock Wills Wing T2 02:05:54 544

2017 Midwest, day 5, task 4 »

June 8, 2017, 7:56:05 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, day 5, task 4

Many Brazilian pilots here

Bruce Barmakian|cart|Derrick Turner|Fabiano Nahoum|Glen Volk|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mark Dowsett|Midwest Championships 2017|Mike Degtoff|Moyes Litespeed RX|Niki Longshore|Pete Lehmann|Robin Hamilton|Rohan Taylor|Sara Weaver|Steve Rewolinski|Zac Majors

Photo by Mike Degtoff.

The forecast for the day:

NWS forecast: Increasing clouds, with a high near 79. Light west wind becoming southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Hourly forecast is for a 9 mph west southwest wind

There is a front to our west.

NAM 3 forecast:

1 PM:

Lift: 600 fpm
TOL: 6,000’
Cloudbase: No cu’s
Surface wind: southwest 10 mph
TOL wind: southwest 12 mph

4 PM:

Lift: 300 fpm
TOL: 5,000’
Cloudbase: No cu’s
Surface wind: southwest 11 mph
TOL wind: southwest 15 mph

With the approaching front, cirrus clouds could shut down the lift early.

OP40:

1 PM:

TOL: 5,000’
53 degrees
Southwest wind 7 - 8 mph
No cu’s

Four models show no lift at 5 PM, 2 (RAP 3 and HRRR 3) show good lift then.

The major feature is an approaching front. I have the task committee move the task up an hour so that we can have a better chance of flying before the front gets here. That proves to be an important change.

The cloud from the front are already encroaching upon us as we start launching at 12:20. I get towed up into no lift and only find a little before landing. A few pilots find the lift and a few more land for reflights.

Despite the nearby mid level clouds associated with the front pilots find lift and get up over 6,000'. Niki and I launch again and climb up to 3,000' AGL. Our thermal stops there and I go west to find more lift. Just as I leave the pilots upo wind of us circling low find lift and Niki heads for them Her radio doesn't work so she can't tell me what's up. I land soon. She gets up and goes on to take the second clock.

With the weak lift the pilots who take the second clock are able to quickly catch the pilots who took the first clock twenty minutes before them. Pilots are just working hard to stay up and drift to the northeast toward the turnpoint 39 kilometers away.

Only David Brito Filho is able to make goal at the East Troy airfield.

Task 4:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 David Brito Filho Willswing T2Cx 144 02:12:20 76.15 991
2 Ollie Chitty Moyes Rx5 PRO   72.73 873
3 Robin Hamilton Moyes RX3.5   68.42 832
4 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli WW T2C144c   65.99 813
5 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1   65.00 803
6 Niki Longshore Moyes LSRX 3.5 PRO   63.60 784
7 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5   60.53 753
8 Krzysztof Grzyb Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5   56.45 725
9 Pete Lehmann Wills Wing T2-154   56.45 708
10 Bruce Barmakian Icaro Laminar 13.2   53.64 691

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Ollie Chitty Moyes Rx5 PRO 3072
2 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli WW T2C144c 2970
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 154 2933
4 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 2888
5 Robin Hamilton Moyes RX3.5 2884
6 Bruce Barmakian Icaro Laminar 13.2 2786
7 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 2721
8 Jonny Durand Moyes LSRX 3.5 PRO 2670
8 Steve Rewolinski Icaro Z9 2670
10 Krzysztof Grzyb Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 2638

Task 4:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Sara Weaver Wills Wing Sport 2 135 00:51:17 971
2 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 00:51:33 954
3 Rick Maddy Wills Wing U2 160 01:02:03 772
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 01:03:48 751
5 Matt Pruett WW U2 145 01:03:52 750
6 Dan Lukaszewicz Wills Wing U2 01:06:06 724
7 Douglas Hale Moyes Gecko 01:12:26 659
8 Mark Dowsett Moyes Techno-Gecko 01:20:33 583
9 Greg Sessa Wills Wing U2 160 01:21:14 577
10 Ty Taylor Wills Wing U2 160 01:26:48 530
11 Kelly Myrkle Moyes Gecko 01:47:55 377

The pilots at the Sport Class goal:

Your editor coming out of the cart:

Photo by Mike Degtoff

Derrick Turner coming out of the cart:

Photo by Mike Degtoff.

2017 Midwest, day 4, task 3 »

June 7, 2017, 11:18:56 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, day 4, task 3

Light winds

John Simon|Midwest Championships 2017

The task is a triangle with a 14 km start cylinder centered around Palmyra:

I was the first pilot to get towed up. Jim Prahl took me to the north and just barely inside the 14 km cylinder whose edge is just upwind of the launch. The wind was out of the east at about 10 mph, but I was able to stay near the start cylinder as I drifted west in each weak thermal.

I was alone and getting high slowly as other pilots struggled below me. Bart joined me and we climbed to 5,000'. Finally I found a good thermal and climbed to over 7,000'.

The launch was going well and other pilots were now in the air and climbing. I'd been been circling  for half an hour and now the cold was getting to me at 7,000'. I had the feeling that my hands (covered by thin gloves) were getting frostbit. I had half an hour to go.

Finally the window opened and half the field was ready to go from on high and at the edge. Ollie and Zac were a bit higher and out in front the rest of us were chasing.

Majors, Chitty, Bunner, Straub, Simon, Weghorst, Guerra, Volk and Dinauer were in the lead as we go on an 11 km glide into the blue. There had been a few wispies near the launch and the edge of the start cylinder which provided us the visual clues to the thermal that got us high at the start. Now there were no cu's ahead.

We were heading for a good sized lake which would kill the lift if we were on the downwind side of it. We were heading for a turnpoint at the south end of the lake. Half way there we found a thermal in the blue. It averaged over 400 fpm and that got us back over 6,500' before we raced ahead to the west.

No lift on the way to the turnpoint. We turned around at 2,900' AGL and headed into the wind with Majors, Simon, Chitty and Bunner out in front. They weren't hitting anything. It did not look good. Zac was just flying straight.

We were heading for three small lakes, not some nice open brown baking fields. Zac went right over the northern most lake and kept on going. Chitty, a few hundred meters behind Zac turned over a brown field and Zac immediately turned around to come back.

Raul and I found lift a little further back as we were down to 1,100'. Bunner was turning a little further south down to about 600' AGL. We all came together except Larry who had to stay in what he had. Chitty, Majors, Guerra, Volk, Simon, and Straub all climbed up together and then headed out at 5,000' with Chitty in the lead.

It's only 6 km when we find 400+ fpm to 6,500'. All six of us plus Bart get up, then Chitty headed out in front.

I followed Majors to the northeast while every else followed Chitty to the east. Unfortunately I missed the thermal that he found and had to go searching on my own which slowed me down a bit.

It got slow for every one as we approached the turnpoint at Lakeland.  I hooked up with John Simon. Majors and Chitty jumped ahead and got around the turnpoint first with Chitty in the lead.

Once we made the turnpoint it was an easy flight back to the flight park.

2017 Midwest, day 3, task 2 »

June 6, 2017, 10:32:59 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, day 3, task 2

The results

André Wolfe|competition|James Stinnett|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|Mark Dowsett|Midwest Championships 2017|Moyes Litespeed RX|Robin Hamilton|Rohan Taylor|Sara Weaver|Steve Rewolinski|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/midwest-2017/results

Task 2:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 154 02:04:27 916
2 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 02:17:56 857
3 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T2C144 02:20:39 851
4 James Stinnett Wills Wing T2C 02:20:35 850
5 Robin Hamilton Moyes RX3.5 02:13:44 839
6 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 02:20:49 827
7 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 02:14:16 822
8 Ollie Chitty Moyes RX 5 02:23:38 803
9 JD Guillemette Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 02:18:19 783
10 Andre Wolf Moyes Litespeed RX 3,5 PRO 02:24:00 779

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 1460
2 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli WW T2C144c 1449
3 Steve Rewolinski Icaro Z9 1448
4 Andre Wolf Moyes litespeed RX 3,5 PRO 1442
5 James Stinnett Wills Wing T2C 1407
6 Robin Hamilton Moyes RX3.5 1362
7 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 154 1353
8 Jonny Durand Moyes LSRX 3.5 PRO 1324
9 Ollie Chitty Moyes Rx5 1304
10 Krzysztof Grzyb Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1206

Task 2:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Greg Sessa Wills Wing U2 160 01:39:42 1000
2 Erik Grabowski Wills Wing U2 145 01:40:17 978
3 Ty Taylor Wills Wing U2 160 01:43:18 927
4 Rick Maddy Wills Wing U2 160 01:43:39 922
5 Ricardo Vassmer Bautek Fizz 01:51:05 842
6 Mark Dowsett Moyes Techno-Gecko 01:55:31 803
7 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 01:56:17 797
8 Charles Cozean Wills Wing Sport 2 02:01:48 754
9 Richard Milla Wills Wing Sport2 155 02:07:58 710

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Greg Sessa Wills Wing U2 160 1405
2 Mark Dowsett Moyes Techno-Gecko 1141
3 Erik Grabowski Wills Wing U2 145 1102
4 Charles Cozean Wills Wing Sport 2 1074
5 Rick Maddy Wills Wing U2 160 1064
6 Ty Taylor Wills Wing U2 160 1045
7 Ricardo Vassmer Bautek Fizz 960
8 Richard Milla Wills Wing Sport2 155 937
9 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 915
10 Sara Weaver Wills Wing Sport 2 135 524

2017 Midwest, day 3, task 2 »

June 6, 2017, 10:00:27 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, day 3, task 2

A sky full of cu's

Greg Dinauer|Jeff Chipman|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|Midwest Championships 2017|Niki Longshore|Raul Guerra|Robin Hamilton

The forecast for the day:

NWS forecast: Sunny, with a high near 74. Northeast wind 5 to 15 mph.

North northeast surface wind, 13 – 15 mph noon through 3 PM, 11 mph after that.

NAM3 forecast:

1 PM:

Lift: 597 fpm (other models similar)
TOL: 5,632’ (other models similar)
Cloudbase: No cu’s (All other models show no cu’s except NAM 12, which shows TOL 1,000’ higher)
Surface wind: north northeast 11 mph (other models show 9 – 15 mph)
TOL wind: north northeast 19 mph (other models vary between 15 and 23 mph)

4 PM:

Lift: 577 fpm (other models vary between 398 and 736 fpm)
TOL: 5,964’ (other models vary between 5,301’ and 7,289’)
Cloudbase: No cu’s or 6,000’
Surface wind: north northeast 12 mph (other models vary between 9 and 12 mph)
TOL wind: north northeast 14 mph (other models vary between 14 and 19 mph)

SkySight (between 1 PM and 4 PM):

Lift: 400 – 450 fpm
TOL: 4,000’ – 6,000’ (6,000’ – 7,000’ to the south later)
Cloudbase: No cu’s
Surface wind: north northeast 8 – 12 mph
TOL wind: north northeast early at 20 – 22 mph calming to 14 – 16 mph later

OP40:

1 PM:

TOL: 6,700’
42 degrees
North northeast wind 11 mph at surface level and 18 mph at TOL
Thin cu’s possible

4 PM:

TOL: 7,700’
39 degrees
North northeast wind 11 mph at surface level to 14 mph at TOL
Thin cu’s possible

Actually the cu's formed early and they were maybe 1,000' thick and very plentiful.

Niki Longshore, Larry Bunner, Raul Guerra, Greg Dinauer, Kip Stone and I along with a few others took off in early bird. The lift was weak but we managed to climb to 4,700'. We had to go searching after that and hung in zero or less for a good while until Larry showed us the lift to our west, downwind. We all got under him and all climbed to 6,700'.

The wind was blowing 11 to 13 mph out of the northeast so that we were drifting rather quickly to the edge of the 15 km start cylinder so we headed back upwind to the inviting cu's. I found 180+ fpm under an expansive cu and slowly climbed up from 4,700' to 6,900' as I drifted at about the right speed downwind toward the edge of the start cylinder in time for the second clock. Larry took the first one.

Hitting the edge of the start cylinder high ten seconds after it opened was reassuring. Greg and Niki were just behind me. About twelve gliders were below. Jeff Chipman pushed out in front about 1,000' lower and I was just behind him.

The next two thermals came in quick succession at 350+ fpm to 7,000' so I was flying at first at 80 km/h downwind then 85 km/h speed over the ground with an 11 to 18 mph tail wind. We were all pushing it just leaving good lift just before cloud base.

Four kilometers before the first turnpoint we turned in 280+ fpm and I left at 6,500'. Perhaps I should have stayed longer. There were good looking cu's ahead.

On the glide from that last thermal around the turnpoint and off toward the west southwest I lost 4,000' in 16 km, down to 2,500' (1,700' AGL). Niki was nearby also low and Krzys was just above us. Robin Hamilton had gone out in front and stayed higher. He was to our north over Beloit.

Niki and I spent the next fourteen minutes working lift that at best averaged 60 fpm to 3,000', but slowly died out as we searched and searched in the 11 mph wind. Krzys got even lower just a kilometer away down to 1,000' AGL. Robin worked weak lift over the town of Beloit from 2,500' AGL. Everyone else was behind us working whatever they found from higher altitudes.

Back down to 2,500' MSL Niki and I went searching but didn't find anything. Bart Weghorst landed with us.

The whole area was very weak and pilots worked and worked to get any lift. Krzys was able to finally get up as was Robin and the rest of the pilots around us.

Looking over the flight in detail I see that I should have stayed in the lift four kilometers from the turnpoint for another 500 feet at least. I would have had thermal markers out in front if I had done so. Also there was just a bit of bad luck finding weak lift to stay in that didn't pan out.

Many pilots made goal. Some very quick. The replay is great.

https://airtribune.com/play/2518/2d

2017 Midwest, day 2 »

June 5, 2017, 8:17:24 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, day 2

A bit too windy

Midwest Championships 2017|weather

NWS forecast: Mostly sunny, with a high near 71. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph increasing to 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.

The 25 mph gust is forecasted only for 11 AM. Launch wind speed forecasted to be 16 mph northeast.

NAM3 forecast:

1 PM:

Lift: 477 fpm (other models vary between 0 and 517 fpm. But most basically agree with NAM3)
TOL: 3,313’ (other models vary between 2,651’ and 4,307’)
Cloudbase: No cu’s (All models show no cu’s)
Surface wind: northeast 13 mph (other models basically agree)
TOL wind: northeast 18 mph (other models vary between 17 and 24 mph northeast)

4 PM:

Lift: 477 fpm (other models vary between 0 and 537 fpm)
TOL: 3,644’ (other models vary between 3,313’ and 4,638’)
Cloudbase: No cu’s
Surface wind: northeast 14 mph (other models vary between 12 and 16 mph northeast)
TOL wind: northeast 25 mph (other models vary between 18 and 25 mph northeast)

SkySight (between 1 PM and 4 PM):

Lift: 350 – 400 fpm
TOL: 3,000’ – 4,000’ (2000’ – 3000’ at 1 PM)
Cloudbase: 3,000’ – 4,000’ (2000’ – 3000’ at 1 PM)
Surface wind: northeast 10 – 12 mph
TOL wind: east northeast 16– 20 mph

The models more closely match each other than yesterday giving greater confidence in the forecast. For sure strong northeast winds at TOL. Low TOL at under 5,000’ likely between 3,000’ and 4,000’. Strong inversion between 3,000’ and 4,000’ rising during the day. There is a chance for thin cu’s.

I’d say a more difficult day than Sunday and also a later day like Sunday with lower TOL, low climb rates, and stronger winds aloft.

Temperature at TOL: 53°. Five degrees warmer than yesterday at a much lower altitude.

Better conditions on Tuesday.

The meet officials determined that overall conditions were not conducive to safe tasks. Local readings were 18 mph gusting to 24 mph, http://w1.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KJVL.html, and the winds didn't quite down until 7 PM.

We organized a big group to go ride single track at Cam-Rock Park https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/577682 and we loved the park.

2017 Midwest, day 1 »

Mon, Jun 5 2017, 6:23:59 am MDT

The Results

Midwest Championships 2017

Most pilots got minimum distance:

https://airtribune.com/midwest-2017/results

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Steve Rewolinski Icaro Z9 01:16:19 711
2 Andre Wolf Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 01:22:13 663
3 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 01:26:22 638
4 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 01:26:40 633
5 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 01:31:55 603
6 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Ww T2C 144 C 01:32:15 598
7 Jonny Durand Moyes LSRX 3.5 Pro 01:39:36 571
8 James Stinnett Wills Wing T2C 01:43:28 557
9 Robin Hamilton Moyes RX 3.5 01:54:53 523
10 Krzysztof Grzyb Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:55:14 521
11 Linda Salamone Wills Wing T2C 01:58:55 510
12 Ollie Chitty Moyes RX 5 02:02:08 501
13 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 02:17:24 464
14 Bart Weghorst Wills Wing 154 T2C 02:22:27 452

Jonny is flying the Moyes Gecko for the first two days as he gave Andre his glider. Andre's was damaged in shipping. Art's should arrive today.

Mitch Shipley is also towing, flying a Dragonfly. Linda Salamone did well.

There were five start times. All the pilots who made goal got the last start time which was very likely long before they actually made their start.

Jonny landing back at launch
Jonny landing back at launch.

Zac helping Majo with her glider
Zac helping Majo with her glider.

Sara Weaver ready to launch
Sara Weaver ready to launch.

Discuss "2017 Midwest, day 1" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

2017 Midwest, day 1 »

Sun, Jun 4 2017, 4:06:21 pm MDT

The heavy penalty for success, it's my own damn fault

Blue Sky|Midwest Championships 2017|Niki Longshore|weather|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Here's the forecast for the day:

NWS forecast: Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Southwest wind 5 to 15 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon.

NAM3 forecast:

1 PM:

Lift: 477 fpm (other models vary between 0 and 756 fpm)
TOL: 4,307’ (other models vary between 994’ and 8,945’)
Cloudbase: No cu’s (one other model shows cu’s at 8,283’)
Surface wind: northwest 10 mph (other models vary between 8 and 14 mph west northwest to northwest)
TOL wind: northwest 15 mph (other models vary between 14 and 20 mph west northwest to northwest)

4 PM:

Lift: 338 fpm (other models vary between 0 and 577 fpm)
TOL: 5,632’ (other models vary between 994’ and 8,283’)
Cloudbase: No cu’s Surface wind: northwest 13 mph (other models vary between 8 and 14 mph west northwest to northwest)
TOL wind: northwest 18 mph (other models vary between 12 and 18 mph west northwest to northwest)

SkySight (between 1 PM and 4 PM):

Lift: 350 – 450 fpm
TOL: 6,000’ – 7,000’
Cloudbase: 5,000’ – 7000’ disappears after 4 PM
Surface wind: northwest 8 – 12 mph
TOL wind: west 18 – 20 mph
Convergence: west northwest to east southeast Palmyra to Burlington and Richmond to Lake Geneva forming later in the day

With all the rain yesterday I would expect the the climbing conditions to be less like Friday and more like last Thursday. But in addition we will have stronger wind conditions than either day which should increase the difficulty.

The task:

https://airtribune.com/midwest-2017/blog__day_1

I'm doing the weather and I am on the task committee also. I wanted a 15 km start cylinder to deal with the wind and weak lift, but we compromised at 12 km. That didn't turn out well for me.

We trekked over to the Palmyra Municipal airport for its east-west runway to go with the forecast of an west northwest day with winds up to 20 mph at top of lift. Nice big grass runway 250 feet wide, plenty of room for two launch lines.

The launch wasn't until 1 PM. When we got there at 9:45 AM cirrus covered most of the sky. As the day progressed cu's formed to the northwest in an east west line. By around 12:30 PM this thin line of cu's were over the airport but rapidly moving to the south. Other cu's were way way to the southeast.

With the cu's rapidly disappearing as we started launch, things did not look good. Basically a blue sky with some remnants of the cirrus moving away to the south.

I was nineteenth to launch and pinned off at 2,200' AGL. I had felt a tiny bit of lift after a tow through sinking air. All the pilots ranked higher than me in WPRS points were below me having not found much lift after getting off tow.

I started working the weak stuff at 54 fpm just trying to stay up. I saw two Litespeeds turning near me and way below me so it seemed like a few of us were out there trying to get up. One of them may have been Niki Longshore. The rest of the pilots disappeared back to the launch. We were 2 km south of launch and starting out at 2,200' AGL.

Let me just say that again. All the higher ranked pilots other than these two didn't get up and went back and landed to get another tow up later.

I kept turning and found 214 fpm while Niki and the other Moyes pilot kept turning close by but way lower. I was hoping that they would hang in there with me and that we would be able to get together and fly the course together.

I had taken off at 1:17 PM. The start window on the 12 km start cylinder opened at 2 PM. I was facing a 14 mph west northwest wind. This presents a very tricky problem that I was most concerned about. Could I get high and also stay inside the start cylinder?

I climbed to 5,000' at 1:35 PM. I was way higher than anyone else. Unfortunately I was also alone as Niki and the other Moyes pilot went back to the launch as they weren't able to climb with me. Drat.

Then I spotted two other pilots near me but again way way low. Would they find some lift? I was only 5 km from the start but I didn't think that I would be able to make it back to the launch into a 14 mph headwind even from 4,200' AGL.

I watched these lower pilots as I searched around under wispy cu's for some more lift to keep me up or get me higher. The inversion looked to be about 5,000'. Soon at least one of the pilots landed and I lost track of the other. They were both very low.

I had succeeded in getting high. I wasn't forced to go back to the airport to re-launch. unlike most other higher ranked pilots (if not all of them). I felt that it would be stupid to even try to do so since I had just succeeded where no one else had and where all the best pilots in the meet were on the ground or soon to be. It felt like it would be nuts to give up all my gains and go back and start again. Even though the day might be better later. It did not look good over launch with no cu's around.

I went searching for lift near nearby wispies. I found 22 fpm. Then 20 fpm near the next wispies. And that was it. I was able to stop going down but not stop being pushed by the wind to the east. I needed a strong thermal to make it possible to stay upwind of the start cylinder edge or to go upwind for a few moments.

It was now a struggle to find better lift, not just zero sink because if I started too early I would be very heavily penalized. I had to serve two masters, the need for lift and the need to stop going east. I was not able to fight them successfully. I left the start cylinder racing to get under a cu two minutes too early.

There was plenty of buoyancy as I got closer to the ground but with the strong wind there was not a thermal. After I landed in a nice grass field I spotted the vultures ridge soaring the barn. They sure weren't thermaling.

More news on how the relaunchers did later. Some were doing very well.

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

Fri, Jun 2 2017, 6:13:54 pm MDT

Too easy for some

Glen Volk|Midwest Championships 2017|Risk Retention Group

https://airtribune.com/davisstraub/tracks__122221

The open task today was to the south southeast. An easy task for some, a mere 31 km out and then return. The sky was full of cu's and cloudbase was super high.

I took off at 2:05 PM and waited on the line in sinking air until 2,100' AGL. It looked to me like there would be lift ahead under a wispy tiny cu. I was also watching a king posted glider south low over the town of Whitewater turning.

Indeed there was lift and I climbed out to 5,200' at over 300 fpm. This was way below cloudbase but with plenty of cu's ahead I wasn't concerned about getting too high. It was already cold.

I headed west southwest to get upwind of the course line which allowed me to drift with the thermals in the 6 mph west northwest winds. I was soon at 7,600' under just forming cu's. It was cold up there. The forecast was for 40°.

I was the first pilot to take on the task so I knew that I would be alone, but given the conditions I was confident that I would have no problem with the task that now looked very short.

I just ignored lift and glided for 15 km until I got down to my lower limit at 3,000' AGL (3,800' MSL). I took the next thermal at 360 fpm to 8,000' just to see how high I could get. I still wasn't at cloudbase.

It was a 9 km glide to the turnpoint with lift near it which again I ignored. Turning back I found two thermals in the blue at 400+ fpm to 7,500'.

Two more thermals, one at 480 fpm average and it was easy to take the last 16 km glide into goal as fast as possible even with 900 fpm sink before goal.

There were plenty of reflights and pilots who started later came in later.

The flight park is filling up even more. Zac and Majo made it. Glen Volk arrived as did Nene. Mitch is here which should prove interesting regarding the RRRG.

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

June 1, 2017, 11:11:48 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, getting ready

Tasks completed

Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Midwest Championships 2017|Sara Weaver

The pace of the Midwest 2017 is picking up with lots of pilots here doing tasks. Sara Weaver completed out and return sport class task by landing in the backyard of the neighbor across the street from the airport as her flight instrument beeps when she was 3 feet off the ground.

https://airtribune.com/sweaverflies/tracks__121950

Krzys and Larry completed the 85 km triangle.

The forecast and task for the day was:

Twin Oaks, 3km
East Troy, 1km
Lake Lawn, 400m
Twin Oaks, 400m

NWS: Sunny, with a high near 77. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph in the afternoon.

NAM 3 forecast:

Noon

500-600 fpm lift
5000’ – 6000’ TOL
No cu’s
3 mph southwest surface wind
6 mph west wind at TOL

TOL raises 1000’ during the day. Climb rate increases to 600-700 fpm to the east Winds stay similar

Lift stops after 4 PM

Sport Class task was Palmyra and back, 28 km.

The wind turned out to be 12 mph west.

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

May 30, 2017, 8:42:20 CST -0500

2017 Midwest, getting ready

Forecasts improving

Midwest Championships 2017|weather

Tuesday (NAM 3, 1 PM): 600-700 fpm, west 37 mph at TOL.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=42.8336&lon=-88.7323#.WS10VMa1uM9

A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 66. West wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Currently surface winds at 13 mph.

Wednesday (NAM 3, 1 PM):  600-700 fpm, west northwest 23 mph at TOL.

Thursday (NAM 3, 1 PM): 500-600 fpm, west northwest 7 mph at TOL.

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

May 29, 2017, 4:51:12 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, getting ready

Bruce, Greg and I did a nice 30 mile road ride

Greg Dinauer|Midwest Championships 2017

Greg Dinauer sends this sky picture from the airfield:

The winds were predicted to be west 40 mph at the top of lift. We took our ride on Monday early in the day and the surface winds weren't that bad. Later I road back and forth to town and it was much stronger.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1011453786

Larry says that the forecast for next week is super good. The forecast for this week is not.

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

May 28, 2017, 6:04:05 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, getting ready

Larry kept flying

Larry Bunner|Midwest Championships 2017

Larry Bunner wrote:

I did manage a three hour flight yesterday and just when it got good decided to land to spend time with Sue on my birthday. Conditions were still good two hours later so in spite of the saturated ground the soaring was good.

This place is a lot like Florida in that if the sun is shining we will be soaring.

Also we have three bands playing during the week, one special guest guitarist on another night, open jam sessions around the campfire each night, a 5km run on one of the mornings, catered breakfast at the airport every morning, wood fired pizzas most evenings and a couple super meals during the event.

Plenty of cool things to do in the area as well, like mountain bike riding on kettle moraine trails, canoeing and kayaking on the numerous lakes and rivers and even a bowling alley in town.

As I mentioned above, on such days launch later in the day. We are far north with later sunsets here.

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

May 27, 2017, 9:09:55 pm CST -0500

2017 Midwest, getting ready

A typical day with light lift

Midwest Championships 2017

https://airtribune.com/davisstraub/tracks__120937

It's hard to imagine what we are going to do with eighty pilots in the air in conditions like we saw today (Saturday the 27th of May). It's been raining for two months here. We came through four hours of rain on Friday driving from the south. Neither corn nor soybeans have been planted yet in Wisconsin (although they were in Illinois). The fields are soaking wet.

Conditions much improved much later in the day. Maybe launch at 3 PM.

http://www.midwest2017.com/

Supposed to rain tonight and on Sunday and on Memorial Day.

2017 Midwest »

May 22, 2017, 8:53:45 EST -0400

2017 Midwest

Looks like rain this coming week

Midwest Championships 2017|Quest Air|weather

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=42.8336&lon=-88.7323#.WSJPNsa1uM9

We head out from Quest Air on Tuesday taking four days to get there.

2017 Midwest »

February 9, 2017, 8:07:40 EST

2017 Midwest

More pilots signed up than can be accommodated

Midwest Championships 2017

https://airtribune.com/midwest-2017/pilots

Eighty six have registered. Fifty six have paid. Eighty pilots is the maximum.

The entry fee goes from $350 to $650 after February 28th.

2017 Midwest Championships »

Fri, Oct 21 2016, 7:20:22 pm MDT

June 4th through 10th

CIVL|Jamie Shelden|Midwest Championships 2017|USHPA

Jamie Shelden at the USHPA BOD meeting tells me that only two US USHPA and CIVL sanctioned hang gliding competitions are scheduled for 2017, both in June. I'm assuming the their meet organizers will apply for CIVL sanctioning. This isn't automatic any more. The USHPA office has handled this for the past few years.

2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 14, 2016, 10:25:58 pm MST

2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 4

Results

Bruce Barmakian|competition|David Gibson|Gary Anderson|Glen Volk|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Moyes Litespeed RX|Niki Longshore|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2016

https://airtribune.com/santacruzflatsrace2016/results

Day 4:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Bruce Barmakian Laminar 67.62 640
1 David Gibson Wills Wing T2C 144 67.55 640
3 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 154 67.24 637
4 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 154 41.98 483
5 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 40.84 480
6 Jonny Durand Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 41.41 479
7 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 40.80 474
8 Derreck Turner Moyes Litespeed RX5 39.67 467
9 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T2C 144 39.97 465
10 Kevin Dutt Icaro Z9 38.75 448

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 154 1448
2 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1390
3 Jonny Durand Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1388
4 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T2C 144 1377
5 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 1350
6 Bruce Barmakian Laminar 1339
7 Robin Hamilton Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1332
8 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1326
9 Kevin Dutt Icaro Z9 1300
10 Glen Volk Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1268

Sport Day 4:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Kelly Myrkle Moyes Gecko 01:58:43 34.72 775
2 Niki Longshore Moyes Gecko   25.34 390
3 Douglas Hale Moyes Gecko   7.54 169
4 Gary Anderson Wills Wing Sport 2   5.00 123

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Kelly Myrkle Moyes Gecko 1671
2 Niki Longshore Moyes Gecko 1290
3 Gary Anderson Wills Wing Sport 2 476
4 Douglas Hale Moyes Gecko 169

2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 11, 2016, 10:07:59 pm MST

2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 1

Bruce Barmakian|competition|David Gibson|Davis Straub|dust devil|Dustin Martin|Gary Anderson|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Moyes Litespeed RX|Niki Longshore|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2016

Too long a task and against the wind. I knew right away that we would not make it back unless the lift was really much better than usual and we started getting to 11,000' as forecast right away. That didn't happen.

The task was a triangle to the east then south then back to the Francisco Grande Hotel, 130 km. Quite a task for days that end around 5 PM and the tasks start at 2 PM.

We started launching a little after 12:45 PM and there was plenty of lift. Launching eleventh I was able to climb right up to 7,500'. The wind was west northwest at about 8 mph so a bunch of us were soon on the south eastern edge of the start cylinder.

We pushed back up wind getting down to 6,000'; but were able to get back up to 7.400' in time for the first start time. Zac went out in front by far. Larry Bunner next, then me and I was followed by the rest of the pilots. Pilots bunched up and we found 200 to 300 fpm over Casa Grande, getting back over 6,500' and continued east. I chased a dust devil that gave out before I got to it and ended up 500' to 1,000' below my gaggle.

There was a reasonable amount of lift out on the flats and I went chasing the gaggle to see if I could find some. A couple of hundred foot per minute got me close and the lift was spread out and there were not consistent cores. Even closer by the time I got to the first turnpoint out over no man's land 7 km from the Cactus airport.

We headed south for the hills which were small bumps as we approached them from the north. But the bumps were hot and at almost 400 fpm and back to 7,300' it was time to race down the ridge line. Another 380 fpm north of Newman Peak and back to 7,300' before heading across the gap to Picacho Peak and what looked like it might be the last good lift of the day as we would soon be on the return leg into the wind over the flats and irrigated areas,.

Took the 400 fpm to 8,800' which was the highest so far. Jonny left early below a few of us. Later Larry with Kevin Carter below him would get to 10,500' staying at Picacho until he couldn't get any higher. Smart move. He had forecasted the 11,000' so he needed to get high to show that he was correct.

We thought we were pretty smart to let Jonny go out in front low and stay in the lift that much longer, but Larry was smarter.

Catching the edge of the 15 km cylinder around the next turnpoint John Simon and I headed northwest over a small range. It didn't work. About half way through it I saw a pilot turning to the south over more no man's land. I headed right for him. Jonny was working up slowly low on the small range.

The lift averaged less than 150 fpm and we were drifting back in the 5 mph head wind. But it was easy flying and the lift  had been very comfortable all day. John Simon headed out without climbing much with us and we saw him later on the ground not too far down the course line.

There was a cu to the west and I dearly wanted to go to it but no one else seemed to be inclined to do so. It was over the no mans land but we were high enough to make it as it died out. It was off the course line a bit but the only nearby cu we had seen all day.

Jonny headed out and we all followed along the course line all spread out. I was way to the west hoping the there would be lift toward where that cu had been. Jonny out in front finally found some light lift and I came in under him (I had been over him since the first turnpoint although he took a later clock) at 900' AGL to find 80 fpm and a head wind. I climbed 900' back to 3,500' and as I watched the four or five guys over head head north west I headed also in that direction.

Again back down to 900' AGL I found 175 fpm to 3,900' but that was it. I went on glide to land about 33 km short. Jonny geot to within 15 km. Larry within 17 km. No one made goal.

https://airtribune.com/santacruzflatsrace2016/results

Task 1:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 120.91 916
2 Robin Hamilton Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 120.72 912
3 Jonny Durand Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 120.29 909
4 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 119.95 906
5 Glen Volk Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 119.54 905
6 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 116.52 875
7 Kevin Dutt   115.18 859
8 Alex Cuddy   112.48 825
9 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 154 112.47 820
10 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 107.09 737
11 Bruce Barmakian Laminar 103.81 700
12 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 102.94 687
13 Sergey Kataev Wills Wing T2C 99.30 641
14 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2C 144 95.26 604
15 David Gibson Wills Wing T2C 144 95.04 598

Task 1 sport:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Niki Longshore Moyes Gecko 39.00 900
2 Kelly Myrkle Moyes Gecko 38.72 896
3 Gary Anderson Wills Wing Sport 2 13.36 353

Rob Kells Memorial - day seven

Sat, May 2 2009, 12:53:19 am EDT

The longest task ever at the Florida Ridge

Dustin Martin|Flytec 6030|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Phill Bloom|Rob Kells|Rob Kells Memorial 2009

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://www.jonnydurand.blogspot.com/

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

http://hang6.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

http://lucasridley.blogspot.com

Results here:

Open: http://soaringspot.com/rkm2009/

Rigid: http://soaringspot.com/rkmr2009/

Sport: http://soaringspot.com/rkms2009/

Team Score:
Dream15451
Usa12568
Blind Squirrels8266
Big And Tall7324

Unlike at the Worlds, we scored all five pilots every day.

The last day of the Rob Kells Memorial Competition turned out to be a great one, even though it started off looking a bit iffy. With a lack of cu's and some cirrus in the area we decided to forego the triangle task and go back to our 165 km, up and down highway 17 task. You can find the task itself here. This task is the longest one called from the Ridge and it was well made with quite a few pilots in goal.

We figured that with an lighter easterly wind it would be possible to go north and south on US 17 after we worked our way west to it from the Ridge, ending back at Shell. As launch time approached we could see a lot more cumulus development over in that area and very few where we were.

After a very wild first tow and again a broken weaklink, I got a very nice tow behind Kerry to a small cu forming to the north east of the flight park. It wasn't very strong at first, and there was a big shelf of cirrus just to the south, but I held on waiting to see what would happen. What happened was it got stronger after the cu disappeared and then reappeared and I climbed up to 5,500'.

Zac, the Jeff's, Dustin, Glen, Andre and Jonny were just downwind four kilometers and I noticed that there was a small cu between me and them. We had a start time of 2 PM, one hour after the launch time opened, so I didn't want to go downwind too fast, but it looked like they were staying up and it was far enough from the edge of the start cylinder so as not to crowd the plate.

I found 600 fpm just before I got to them and after a while they came and joined me in the better lift. We climbed up and hung around before heading out for the first start time. A whole bunch of other pilots joined us, which made for a fairer start and task, and with the lighter winds pilots were able to stay in the start cylinder for an hour.

We (about twenty of us) raced to the first good cu's to the northwest and were rewarded with strong lift. Jonny and Andre got away and headed north to the next turnpoint which would put us on an east west road. The cu's were thick as thieves now and it was easy to race from cu to cu.

Southern Florida is filled with cu's most of the time. Lots of moisture even in this drought. Soft air, great flying, just so much fun to be in the air.

We hit the turnpoint at highway 31 high after strong lift and began a hard leg to the north. Jonny and Andre were trading off with Dustin, Jeff O'Brien, and Zippy for the lead. I was four kilometers behind them.

The basic strategy was to go upwind to the best looking clouds and climb up as you drifted back to the west. A few times I really had to push strongly upwind to get in the good stuff.

Coming back from the northerly turnpoint I wasn't finding any good lift and pushed again to the east to get under some better looking clouds. These weren't working and I though my goose was cooked, when I went back tot he north to get under a few wisps that turned out to be great markers for the lift. I climbed out as the guy below me landed.

There was a nice looking cloud over arcadia and I came in under a pilot still heading the other direction to the last turnpoint to the north. It was already 5:30 PM. I knew that Dustin, Zippy and Jeff O'Brien were already in goal and I was thirty kilometers out.

There was a convergence and a sea breeze from the west at goal which was evident from the shelf of lower clouds to the west. I was concerned about turbulence associated with the approaching sea breeze.

I climbed high in strong lift at Arcadia but didn't tale it to cloud base stopping at 7,200', the highest I had been all week. My 6030 said I had 1,500' above best glide to goal. Goal at Shell was 30 km away. Phill Bloom was a few thousand feet below me climbing.

I headed out but took a line a little bit to the right of the course line toward the sea breeze. This was inadvertent as I was following the road a bit rather than looking more closely at where I needed to be going.

This track took me off a better line that would have been right on course and right smack dab under the convergence, which i could see out ahead of me. But I wasn't too concerned as my numbers kept being positive through out the final glide. It started of at 12.9:1 to make goal.

Phill wouldn't get as high as me but he took the course line and went under the convergence when I was just on its western edge. He found lift there and was able to get to goal with an extra 2,000'. I glided to the last landable field just before goal, missing it by less than 2 km.

Dustin was the first pilot in, followed by Zippy and then Jeff O'Brien. All the US team was flying together on the radio and these three flew near each other the whole way. By winning the day Dustin was able to win the meet and beat Andre and Jonny.

We had four days of outstanding flying in southern Florida. Unlike in previous meets at the Ridge we called lengthy tasks and completed them. The east wind was actually favorable getting us out to the west for lots of wide open flying over pasture lands.

Few pilots have had the opportunity to come down to this extreme end of the US. It is a wonderland so far away from everyone else in the US. It is out in the middle of the Everglades. It is a great place to fly, but it is hard to get the word out in a convincing manner.

Rob Kells Memorial - day six

Fri, May 1 2009, 6:57:58 am EDT

Rob Kells Memorial - day five

A third day of great flying

André Wolfe|André Wolfe|Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Phill Bloom|Rob Kells|Rob Kells Memorial 2009

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://www.jonnydurand.blogspot.com/

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

http://hang6.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

http://lucasridley.blogspot.com

Results here (will not be fully updated until the morning):

Open: http://soaringspot.com/rkm2009/

Rigid: http://soaringspot.com/rkmr2009/

Sport: http://soaringspot.com/rkms2009/

The easterly winds were forecasted to back off a bit today going down to ten mph overall over the Ridge and less to the west. It turned out that the winds were still reasonably high near the Ridge and about ten to twelve mph to the west.

We called a task to the northwest again, but with three turnpoints that forced pilots to head straight north on one leg and thereby requiring that they fight an easterly wind. Anything to spice things up a bit.

Jeff O'Brien was the first open class flex wing pilot to launch and I was right behind him. It was one of the most exciting tows in my life. With Kerry piloting a 914 powered tug, it was pure bucking bronco with strong lift powering us up and down until the weaklink snapped and the bridle went flying. Fortunately the conditions on landing were reasonable given the strong winds and I got back into the line quickly.

Rhett towed me up next behind his 582 powered tug and it was a smooth ride. I couldn't help myself and I pinned off again not at the top of the tow but at 1,800' when we first hit lift. Fortunately unlike the day before I was actually in lift and just stayed there. It was only 100 fpm, but I wasn't complaining.

Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Andre Wolf, Dustin Martin, and Jonny Durand had been hauled up and were near the edge of the cylinder while I was working my way up slowly after my second launch. They took the second start time while I had to wait and take the third one as I was too far behind.

I started low (as does Jonny) at 3,000' and got lower heading for the first turnpoint to the west northwest of La Belle. I was down to 1,500' hanging in zero sink when Phill Bloom came by just below me searching around for better lift and found it a quarter kilometer to my south. I joined him and we climbed out of this hole and got going on the task.

There was an area just to the northwest along our course line that would make for difficult retrieval and we were headed right for it. There were a good number of pilots around now and a bunch of us headed out over this area, getting low quickly. Fortunately we were able to find 400+ fpm lift after getting down to 2,000', which made it possible to get across this area without too much concern. One pilot, Mark Fruitiger, had to land just past the north edge of the area.

I got high and headed out on my own to the upwind side of the course line under good cu's and they produced. There was a turnpoint just south of Arcadia and with the good cu's it was easy to make it staying high.

I was down to 1,500' just east of Arcadia and found 600 fpm to 6,400', the highest climb of the day and the best lift. The next turnpoint was to the north just south of Wachula right up highway 17. We had to fight a east wind to stay near the course line. About half way up this leg we spotted four stragglers from the first start time, including Jeff Shapiro. We were able to catch them before we got to the next turnpoint.

There was a strong thermal just downwind of the turnpoint which a few pilots were marking and it was easy to get high enough to get the turnpoint back into the wind and then headed downwind toward goal. Shapiro and I flew together now that we were next to each other.

Getting to goal was a breeze given that it was downwind and the cu's were lined up for us all the way to goal.

Jonny was first in, followed by Andre, Glen and Dustin. Jeff O'Brien came in twenty minutes later.

Updated scores in the morning. The Dream Team is quite a bit in front of the USA team. More scoring soon.

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Rob Kells Memorial - day four

Tue, Apr 28 2009, 10:09:15 pm EDT

Why we fly here.

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff Shapiro|Phill Bloom|Rob Kells|Rob Kells Memorial 2009

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Phill Bloom|Rob Kells|Rob Kells Memorial 2009

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Phill Bloom|Rob Kells|Rob Kells Memorial 2009

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://www.jonnydurand.blogspot.com/

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

http://hang6.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

http://lucasridley.blogspot.com

After three days of waiting in windy conditions, we finally got the opportunity to get hauled into the air without too much drama in the first 500'. It was only about 2 mph less, 17 mph vs. 19 mph, but that was enough to make everyone feel that we would be safe enough.

The task was a short one with no fixed start time. Your time started when you crossed the cylinder. The cylinder was 15 km, and we figured with all the wind it would be hard to stay inside the start cylinder, but the wind wasn't all that bad. Still it would have been hard to stay inside it.

This gave a big advantage to the earlier launchers which is a bit unfair, and we will put start times and intervals back in again tomorrow.

The task was short at 75.7 km, with a cross wind component of 48 km. It was short as we called it when the winds were high and it looked like it might be tough to go cross wind. Tomorrow there may be a task 147 km cross wind. With maybe a little less wind tomorrow, it should be doable.

Once I got in the air I got to feel again why I love coming here to fly. The air is just so soft and sweet. It didn't matter that it was blowing at 17 mph, the thermals were still there and it was certainly possible to find them and stay in them.

I had to go cross wind right after getting off tow to get under a cloud. The lift on that line was weak, and after turning in it for a while and not getting high or climbing well I plowed up wind to give it another try as I didn't want to keep drifting downwind low. Zippy who was just above me in that weak lift stayed with it and hooked up with Andre, Dustin and Glen.

I found much better lift just west of the field and climbed to 5,200'. Carl, Jeff Shapiro and Phill Bloom were just upwind of me and came and joined me. We would fly together after that.

The sky was full of cu's. Dustin was to our north with Andre, Glen and Zippy as Carl who was on top headed to the southwest to a dark cloud. The lift was light up near cloud base and we were just kind of staying up and staying together as we drifted. This was not too bright, a left over from timed starts. We needed to get downwind and get an early start (while staying high).

Andre and his crew crossed the cylinder line at 1:41. We went across at 1:47. We had a six minute deficit already, but we didn't know that.

The lift was weak heading for La Belle but there were only orange groves ahead so we had to take what was given to us just east of the airport. Carl was high as was Phill. I was on the bottom below Jeff climbing in weak stuff that finally got stronger as I got over 4,000'. I was still circling as the others headed off to the turnpoint. Jonny and James Stinnet came in just under me but I was climbing well enough to stay above them.

Finally, I headed out at 5,500' and the lift really got good as the cloud suck took over and it was now 1000 fpm. I just pulled the bar in as I wanted to get to the edge of the cloud. This extra lift made it easy to catch up with Carl, Phill and Shapiro coming in over all but Carl at the edge of an area that we were nervous about going over as there weren't any roads.

We all dawdled around at the edge of the not so friendly area trying to get as high as possible allowing Jonny and James to catch up with us. Phill was low but headed out anyway and he would end up taking up additional time to make goal.

The new crew headed out with Andre and his crew not that far ahead. Phill saw them, but I didn't. The lift was good over the no man's land and we now knew that we'd make it to areas that were friendlier.

There was even better lift ahead and I headed for it, keeping an eye on the many cu's in the vicinity. James stayed high and just kept going toward goal in his rigid wing. After a short climb the lift ahead looked to be provided by the cu's above the brush fire whose smoke I was heading for. I wasn't worried about turning any more as there seemed to be plenty of lift and I was plenty high eighteen kilometers out.

The winds had decreased as we were now on the west side of the state. It was still a fast and easy glide into goal. The air was just as great as you can imagine.

Results here:

Open: http://soaringspot.com/rkm2009/

Rigid: http://soaringspot.com/rkmr2009/

Sport: http://soaringspot.com/rkms2009/

I can't imagine a better place to fly if what you appreciate if wonderful soft lovely air to fly in. Lots and lots of puffy cu's, high winds are not a big deal.

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Team Competition at the Rob Kells Memorial

Tue, Apr 28 2009, 8:59:32 pm EDT

Lots of money on the line

André Wolfe|Ben Dunn|Charles Allen|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Evgeniya "Zhenya" Laritskaya|Glen Volk|Greg Chastain|Jamie Shelden|Jeff Chipman|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Lucas Ridley|Moyes Litespeed RX|Ollie Gregory|Patrick Kruse|Paul Tjaden|Phill Bloom|Rob Kells|Steve Kroop|Tom Lanning|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

The Florida Ridge has put aside $500 for the winner of the team competition ($100/team member). John Harris at Kitty Hawk Kites will match it if the US National Team wins. Glen Volk, Ollie Gregory, Steve Kroop (Flytec USA) and Jamie Shelden each pledged $200 to the US National team if they win the Rob Kells Memorial. The competition is very tough. Here are the teams:

Pilot Team Glider
Davis Straub Usa Wills Wing T2C - 144
Jeff Shapiro Usa Wills Wing T2C - 144
Dustin Martin Usa Wills Wing T2C - 144
Zac Majors Usa Wills Wing T2C 144
Jeff O'brien Usa Wills Wing T2C - 144
Andre Wolf Dream Moyes Litespeed Rs 4
Chris Zimmerman Dream Wills Wing T2C - 144
Carl Wallbank Dream Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5
Jonny Durand Dream Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5
Glen Volk Dream Moyes Litespeed Rs 4
Derreck Turner Big And Tall Moyes Litespeed S5
Paul Tjaden Big And Tall Aeros Combat L 15
Larry Bunner Big And Tall Wills Wing T2C-144
Tom Lanning Big And Tall Wills Wing T2C - 144
Patrick Kruse Big And Tall Wills Wing T2C-144
Konrad Heilman Blind Squirrels Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5
Mark Frutiger Blind Squirrels Wills Wing T2C 154
Phill Bloom Blind Squirrels Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5
Linda Salamone Blind Squirrels Moyes Litespeed S3
Ben Dunn Blind Squirrels Moyes Litespeed Rs 4
Eric Donaldson Wills Wing T2-144
Jeff Chipman Moyes Litespeed S4
Greg Chastain Moyes Litespeed S 5
Miguel Molina Moyes Litespeed S 4.5
Evgeniya Laritskaya Aeros Combat L 12
Lucas Ridley Moyes Litespeed S3
Charles Allen Icaro

Day 1:

  • Dream 3385
  • USA 3322
  • Blind Squirrels 2511
  • Big and Tall 2007

Discuss "Team Competition at the Rob Kells Memorial" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

The final day - Santa Cruz Flats Race

April 27, 2008, 7:52:02 PDT

Day seven SCFR

What happened?

André Wolfe|Brett Hazlett|Chris Zimmerman|Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Leonardo Dabbur|Mike Glennon|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2008|Wills Wing T2C

The flex wing results.

The rigid wing results.

The Swift result.

The blogs of pilots here:

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://www.goflyxc.com/

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

With a forecast for a 10 mph northwest wind we call a 50 mile task to the southeast to the Marana airport. Some folks want to come back against the wind, but most don't.

The winds are light at launch with little dust so we are feeling good. The rigid wings get off, but they are not getting too high so this stops the flexies from launching, as the first pilot wants to wait. But Dustin evinces a desire to launch, moves to the front and takes off. This gets us going.

The lift is spotty, but adequate to get us up slowly. 55 minutes after launching I'm at 4,800', and there are lots of pilots nearby. The rigid wings have just left starting their task 45 minutes late given the poor conditions.

A few pilots head out for the first start time and I'm high enough to go with them. We've seen the rigid wings thermaling up at the hills to the east. A few of the pilot stop in light lift right at the edge of the start circle but there are a couple out in front of me heading for the hills. I follow.

After flying though the light lift at the edge of the start circle I hit 750 fpm and it continues for the next three miles as I race to get to the hills high enough to find something. I see a flex wing turning and a rigid wing behind him turning. There is a flex wing off to my right racing with me.

No luck, the flex ahead of me quits turning. The rigid wing disappears behind the hills and I come into the saguaro covered hills to get anything useful. I turn and run through the saguaro to land at the skeet shooting club. My contest is over.

At first, I hear that at least twenty five have made goal. This news seems to come about an hour after the start, which would mean that it was a much better day than it seemed at first. Thirty eight make goal.

Later Jeff Shapiro tells me that the day turned on soon after I left the start cylinder. Jeff O'Brien who I saw far below me in the start circle waited for the third start time getting high and then raced to goal to win the day.

Jeff said that he didn't stop for weak lift but watched the pilots ahead to see how well they were doing and just flew through the weaker lift pushing out a bit and waiting for 600 fpm. Larry Bunner flying a borrowed Wills Wing T2 (from Chris Zimmerman) came in fourth. His two week old T2C was the one broken by Rhett Radford early in the meet. Wills Wing is taking it back, replacing the broken carbon fiber spar and providing Larry with a brand new T2C. Quite a gesture.

Jonny and Andre were duking it out with each other over the task with Andre making sure that he covered Jonny. There was no need for him to take any risks to win the day, still he did very well.

Andre finished with two firsts, 1 second, 1 third, and 1 fourth for the meet. He won by a very substantial margin over the world number 1 (for now). Daniel Velez, a small pilot from Columbia, was able to be a bit more consistent than the local, Dustin Martin, to take third from him.

Wills Wing has a program to reward pilots who do well in big time competitions. $3,000 for first place, $1,500 for second, and $500 for third. Ron Kells gave Daniel his check during the ceremonies. Linda Salamone was the top female competitor. (Mark Fruitinger apparently beat her, but I haven't received his track log for the fifth task yet.)

Derrick Turner, an American and Venezuelan (he tried to fly in the last Worlds as a Venezuelan) was the big surprise of the meet doing very well in fifth and winning one day. Nene won one day, had two seconds, and a third, but fell down on two days. Jeff O'Brien did better every day, but didn't quite make it into the top ten. The other Jeff was just behind him.

Chris Zimmerman was in fifth place at one point but gradually fell back. Brett Hazlett had a couple of second place finishes, but didn't make goal on the last day.

The last day:

1. Jeff OBrien USA Wills Wing T2C 154 01:17:19 971
2. Nene Rotor BRA Wills Wing T2C 144 01:19:48 909
3. Andre Wolf BRA Moyes Litespeed RS 4 01:19:50 908
4. Larry Bunner USA Wills Wing T2 01:20:13 901
5. Leonardo Dabbur BRA Wills Wing T2C 154 01:17:29 898
6. Kraig Coomber AUS Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 01:20:50 890
7. Daniel Velez COL Wills Wing T2 144 01:21:14 884
8. Derreck Turner USA Moyes Litespeed S5 01:21:30 880
9. Jonny Durand AUS Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 01:22:10 869
10. Mike Glennon COL Moyes Litespeed RS 4 01:23:01 856

The final results:

1 5451 Andre Wolf BRA Moyes Litespeed RS 4
2 5102 Jonny Durand AUS Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5
3 4812 Daniel Velez COL Wills Wing T2 144
4 4720 Dustin Martin USA Wills Wing T2C 144
5 4657 Derreck Turner USA Moyes Litespeed S5
6 4617 Filippo Oppici ITA Moyes Litespeed RS 4
7 4611 Leonardo Dabbur BRA Wills Wing T2C 154
8 4588 Nene Rotor BRA Wills Wing T2C 144
9 4563 Phill Bloom USA Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5
10 4501 Kraig Coomber AUS Moyes Litespeed RS3.5

The conditions were tricky and interesting here. We called tasks that were a bit too long for the conditions. Dustin refused to have 40 mile tasks. I loved the fact that I could make two low saves from 300' AGL, one right over Michael Williams' head. The other was witnessed by Leo Dabbur and Phill Bloom who got very excited about it. Sure you can't go fast when you have to do this, but it really enriches the experience.

I believe that pilots very much liked the competition except for the fine dust at launch, and the fact that not enough of us made it back to goal and landed on the nice green lawns (in the middle of the desert). It was a safe competition with no one hurt.

Dustin says that there are a number of ways that they could reduce the dust significantly. It is great to be able to hang out at the hotel/resort and they want us to make a five year commitment to coming back and holding a meet here. They are willing to do what it takes to keep us coming back. That will require a good word in the hang gliding community to encourage pilots to come here was a country club competition.

The word is that Frank Minnifee will let Quest Air run a Flytec Competition next year at Sheets field (which Frank's family owns) in Florida, so that is a great thing , but there may be a competition for the best dates. I'm sure that Jamie Shelden, who was the meet director here (Dustin Martin was the meet organizer along with the Arizona Hang Gliding Club) can work this out.

Everyone agrees that it is great to have a central location for the competition with a restaurant, bar, rooms, hot tub, pool, green grass, and shade. The flying is about on a level with flying in Florida in terms of strength and elevation (actually often quite a bit higher) and often the winds are lighter than we've seen this year, so we can often come back to the resort.

Jamie and Dustin did a great job. The way we did the scoring, dividing the downloading from the scoring, was a huge success, and I can see many way to improve how the scoring works without putting so much stress on the folks doing the scoring. I only had to take a half hour each night to do it after Jamie did the downloads. I expect something like this to work for the ECC in a few weeks. 

No one makes goal - Santa Cruz Flats Race

Fri, Apr 25 2008, 11:13:05 pm PDT

Day six SCFR

Not even Brian Porter

Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|cart|dust devil|Filippo Oppici|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Kraig Coomber|Leonardo Dabbur|Mike Degtoff|Phill Bloom|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2008|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T2C

Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|cart|dust devil|Filippo Oppici|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Leonardo Dabbur|Mike Degtoff|Phill Bloom|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2008|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T2C

Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|cart|dust devil|Filippo Oppici|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Leonardo Dabbur|Mike Degtoff|Phill Bloom|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2008|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T2C

The flex wing results.

The rigid wing results.

The Swift result.

The blogs of pilots here:

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://www.goflyxc.com/

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Well, not true, two rigid wings (Johann and Yocom), but not the Swift, make it in.

The preliminary results for the day, show Nene winning, and I think that he did, getting very close to the goal at the Francisco Grande, but I misreported this last time he was supposed to have won, when the results weren't quite right, and there are some scores that need to be reviewed for this day also.

1. Nene Rotor Bra Wills Wing T2C 144 103.1 900
2. Brett Hazlett Can Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5 102.1 894
3. Jeff O'brien Usa Wills Wing T2C 154 100.8 885
4. Jeff Shapiro Usa Wills Wing T2C 144 99.7 876
5. Leonardo Dabbur Bra Wills Wing T2C 154 99.5 873
6. Alex Trivelato Bra Moyes Litespeed Rs 4 99.4 872
7. Phill Bloom Usa Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5 99.2 870
8. Kraig Coomber Aus Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 98.9 866
9. Derreck Turner Usa Moyes Litespeed S5 98.6 861
10. Filippo Oppici Ita Moyes Litespeed Rs 4 98.4 858

The first thing that was different today is that the winds were relatively light. They were forecasted to be out of the northwest at about 6 to 9 mph. So we called a task to the northwest with a short last leg to the northeast. You can find the task at the links above.

The winds were almost non existent in the launch area which very much kept the dust down, which everyone appreciated. A bunch of pilots were ready to go soon, so it looked like there would be no pilot strike today like there was the day before.

I got in line and got behind a trike. Now I tow behind trikes all the time in Australia, but I've sometimes not had good results in the US. I assume that the trike tow pilots in the US are on average a little less skilled than what I've run into in Australia.

I rolled down the the runway on the cart and a few seconds after I got off the cart the trike shot up into the air way above my head as though the trike pilot was pushing out as though they were flying on their own. They've got to keep the trike pulled in when towing to come up slowly with the towed pilot.

Everyone at launch saw this and thought that I would soon be experiencing a weaklink break. The line was way bowed out and I also thought the weaklink would soon break, but I slowed down the glider and when the rope came tight it was a soft landing and the weaklink didn't break.

This seemed like a rookie trike/tug pilot mistake, and then it happened two more times while I was towing. In addition, I got tossed sideways a couple of times. At that point I pulled that pin. I didn't want the trike pilot to have my death on his/her hands.

I came down, landed next to the launch line and launched again, but this time insisted that I not tow behind a trike, because wouldn't you know it I was lined up to tow behind the same trike again and then the other trike. Rhett came and pulled me up and put me in a nice little thermal right above our heads.

I let Mike Degtoff go before me and take the trike. He got bounced off at less than 300'. He was not the only one to experience the problems with this particular pilot. I hope that they get some training.

Once off it looked at first like the winds were strong out of the north northwest, but it really wasn't that bad. It was just a bit of work to get to the north, way north of the course line, in an effort to get up wind and away from the cultivated land to the west. The first turnpoint was 27 miles to the west northwest.

Only a few pilots are up by the edge of the start cylinder 5 miles out near the first start time. Jonny and Andre were about 500' over me and I was at 6,100'. They started off at the first start time, about seven minutes after it opened and I went with them but below them. A few other pilots went with us but they were much lower. Tyler Borradaile was too low, went north as Jonny and Andre did, didn't find any lift and landed. I saw this and decided to head more westerly instead. Only a few of us took this first start time.

Andre had to cover Jonny, but he felt that it was a big risk taking the first start time, especially seven minutes late, as other pilots could catch them. But going west was difficult and no one was nearby.

Going over the feed lots I was using my nose to check for thermals but didn't find any. I had to work weak thermals off to the side of the feedlots while Jonny and Andre were a couple of miles ahead.

Working carefully and slowly to the northwest I got stuck south of Maricopa and worked whatever I could find. I soon saw the pilots coming from the third clock coming to join me. Andre and Jonny were

It seemed like everyone passed over me as I repeatedly failed to climb high. Finally I ran west low and ended up working a dust devil at 700' AGL. Then another dust devil low, when it turned out that the dust devils just don't produce much lift down low.

I was alone again, while Jonny and Andre were out in front getting the turnpoint and getting to over 7,500'. I spent most of the course under 5,000'. Almost three hours into the race I got to the first turnpoint. Coming up to the first turnpoint I found a three mile line of lift that made it possible to go against the wind without having to spend a lot of time turning.

Jonny and Andre were between the second turnpoint at Maricopa and the third turnpoint at the intersection of I8 and Stanfield road as I rounded the first turnpoint.

After getting the turnpoint everything got better, even as the day got later. The lift smoothed out and it was great to be able to drift down wind with the thermal.

Jonny and Andre landed early. Jonny was racing trying to stay ahead of the folks from the third start time. Andre landed near the third turnpoint at I8.

I heard this and started working the lift I was in as high as I could get. I found a nice thermal half way between Maricopa and I8 and Stanfield road at 5:20. I was hoping that there will be one more thermal before 6 PM.

It was not to be. I did have the pleasure of flying over Andre's head, but Jonny got a little closer to goal than I did. The Jeff's did very well coming in third and fourth.

Discuss "No one makes goal - Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Stop the presses, Andre Wolf wins the first day - Santa Cruz Flats Race

Mon, Apr 21 2008, 8:35:53 pm PDT

Andre on day one SCFR

The downloads weren't quite right but the scoring have been updated.

André Wolfe|Brett Hazlett|Chris Zimmerman|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Glen Volk|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Konrad Heilmann|Leonardo Dabbur|Phill Bloom|Wills Wing T2C

The flex wing preliminary results.

Check out the new results (the guys who made goal):

1. Andre Wolf Bra Moyes Litespeed Rs 4
2. Nene Rotor Bra Wills Wing T2C 144
3. Dustin Martin Usa Wills Wing T2C 144
4. Leonardo Dabbur Bra Wills Wing T2C 154
5. Filippo Oppici Ita Moyes Liespeed Rs 4
6. Daniel Valez Col Wills Wing T2 144
7. Jonny Durand Aus Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5
8. Phill Bloom Usa Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5
9. Konrad Heilmann Bra Moyes Litespeed RS3.5
10. Chris Zimmerman Usa Wills Wing T2C 144
11. Glen Volk Usa Moyes Litespeed Rs 4
12. Michael Williams Usa Moyes Litespeed S5
13. Brett Hazlett Can Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5

We had a few problems with the downloads but those have been fixed.

Discuss "Stop the presses, Andre Wolf wins the first day - Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Moyes USA »

July 8, 2007, 12:46:51 pm EDT

Moyes USA

Gliders pouring into the US

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Mike Barber|Phill Bloom

Kraig Coomber «kraig» writes:

After months of development I am happy to announce that http://moyesusa.com has been launched. Chris Smith at Sonic Media is the man responsible for the result and I am very happy with what he has created.

In other news, we have a shipment of seven gliders in transit from Australia which we are expecting to take delivery of later this week. Six of the seven gliders are fully optioned Litespeed RS's with an additional seven RS's set to arrive later in the month in time for the World Championships in Big Spring. A number of these gliders will be available for sale after the Worlds creating an opportunity for pilots to take immediate delivery of some of the best equipment available. Contact us at «fly» for more details.

Fort Funston demo/tuning weekend -

Moyes USA will be heading up to Fort Funston for the weekend of July 14th and 15th. We will be accompanied by Jon Durand Jnr, Phill Bloom, and possibly Mike Barber, so if you are in the area stop by to check out the latest equipment and grab a flight or two. Hope to see you there.

2007 USHPA NTSS flex wing ranking

May 31, 2007, 10:49:30 EDT

NTSS

The ranking with two more USHPA sanctioned competitions to go in 2007

Bubba Goodman|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Jack Simmons|Jeff O'Brien|Kevin Carter|Phill Bloom|USHPA|USHPA NTSS flex wing ranking

Chris Smith sent this preliminary version of the NTSS ranking:

1SMITH, CHRIS1837
2O'BRIEN, JEFF1819
3MARTIN, DUSTIN1597
4CARTER, KEVIN1543
5VOLK, GLEN1483
6ZIMMERMAN, CHRIS1358
7LANNING, TOM1306
8STRAUB, DAVIS1278
9SLOCUM, JACK1165
10BLOOM, PHILL938
11WILLIAMS, MICHAEL933
12SIMMONS, JACK878
13SHAPIRO, JEFF824
14ZANETTI, MARCELO817
15WARREN, CURT756
16TJADEN, PAUL730
17SALAMONE, LINDA726
18GOODMAN, BUBBA707
19FRUTIGER, MARK695
20BURICK, CARL685

Phill Bloom speaks

May 14, 2007, 6:34:35 MST

Phill

So, like, what happened?

Phill Bloom

Phill Bloom|Phillip Bloom

Phillip Bloom «phillipbloom» writes:

The Owens Valley comes to Kagel.

The forecast is for 11000' MSL, possibly the best day of the year, so the usual suspects head up to launch, Chippy, Weiner, the Seabastard, driver Pauli-ester and yours truly Filthy. The first thermal of the day at launch is 1000 up on the averager right to 12000' so we head northeast on to the back range toward Magic Mt.

Another climb of 1200 up on the averager to 12500' then continuing on to Mount Gleason (first time I've ever done this, I've been flying Kagel for twelve years). We are now out of the convergence and in search mode pushing into a northeast wind of about 10-15 mph.

Trying to wait and decide what direction to go, I move toward Chippy and Weiner who are now working 100-200 up at about 8000'. I'm at about 9000'. With about 1/2 VG and flying straight and level at 23 mph my glider "tumbles" or "tucks" straight forward without warning. I might have been reaching for my VG but I'm not sure.

No nose up motion at all just a nose down motion all the way over one complete revolution and I hit the sail breaking the control frame, keel, spar, leading edge and shredding the sail. (Guess I know where I'll be spending my winnings from the Flytec comp.)

I hucked my chute and flew the glider by the unbroken portion of the keel to help slow my decent rate. I aimed the glider toward the windward side of the mountain and a dirt road, and had a nice touch down thanks to my Lara Gold 250 parachute and Greblo's pack job. (Dinners on me, Joe.)

Now the part you've all been waiting for (the glider's stability set up). Yes, it was a little bit racey, down about 1 or 2 turns. Hey I'm no "Brazil Nut," but I do like to compete.

I can't believe any high performance glider I've been flying with or without a king post would have had any different outcome. So like the country song says, "That's my story and I'm stickin to it".

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The story of Phill Bloom's tumble at Kagel

May 10, 2007, 6:18:32 MST

Phill Bloom

Flying back behind Kagel in the wilderness

Phill Bloom

Phill Bloom

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=35048#35048

I was one of the three pilots (Ron Wiener, Sebastian Lutges, and me) flying with Phill on Tuesday and was quite surprised to see a glider under canopy considering the conditions we were experiencing. The day was certainly living up to expectations given the BlipMap and BlipSpot predictions.

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The Flytec Championships 2006, day 5, task 4

Ring around the Green Swamp

Flytec, day 5

Thu, Apr 20 2006, 9:16:53 pm EDT

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Brett Hazlett|Campbell Bowen|Davis Straub|Flytec Championships 2006|Gary Osoba|Jacques Bott|James Lamb|Jim Lamb|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Mark Stump|Oleg Bondarchuk|Oliver Gregory|Phill Bloom|photo|Quest Air|Robin Hamilton|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|Timothy Ettridge|weather

Scores

The flight and the task on the HOLC and on Google Earth.

On Wednesday thirty two gliders follow Jonnie here.

We under call the day again, as we thought we would. The forecast calls for cloud base between 6,500' and 7,000' in the afternoon, with sea breeze convergence setting up in the middle of the state. The lift was supposed to average 500-600 fpm.

We decide to go around the Green Swamp as Gary Osoba and the Tampa Bay National Weather Service guys are both calling for sea breeze convergence and Gary says he thinks that it will be west of Quest. The flexies have a 79 mile task and the rigid a 92 mile one. We want to make the tasks long enough to get full validity for the day, which means three hours for the rigids and two and a half for the flex wings.

We send the the rigids right over the Green Swamp to Dean Still and Rockridge intersection, but we are kind to the flexies and have their first turnpoint at Dean Still and highway 33 so that they don't have to cut across the swamp. Our collective next turnpoint is Clinton over the Green Swamp to the west, then thirty miles to the north to the Coleman and then back southeast to Quest. The flexies only have to go north to Kokee and then straight east to Quest.

With no clouds near us at noon we postpone the rigid launches until 1 PM, as pilots are reluctant to get launched when there aren't any visible signs of lift, especially on a day that calls for clouds. The rigids get launched within ten minutes and the flexies start launching fifteen minutes after we start. We've only got a fifteen minutes gap between the classes today, so it's good that we have different first turnpoints.

At 1 PM there are a few wispies around and cloud base is 4,500'. The lift is weak and only three rigids take the first start time at 1:30, a half hour after we open the launch. The rest of us take the second start time at 2 PM, fifteen minutes before the flex wings open their first start window. The start intervals are a half hour for them also.

I catch a little bit of lift just before the 2 PM start time and am able to head southwest with 4,000'. The lift is still weak but I'm heading for the Green Swamp and the cu's in that direction. I see that Jacques Bott is heading south instead, around the swamp, as I follow Johann on the course line. Then Johann heads south as I head into the swamp to get under some wispies.

I find more weak lift but a few pilots who are willing to head out over the swamp join me as we climb up. I get high enough to run deeper into the swamp to a black cloud and with no one in tow climb at 500 fpm to 5,200'. I'm feeling good.

There are plenty of clouds ahead on the way to the turnpoint, but I don't find much lift under them. Two miles from Dean Still and Rockeridge I meet up with Jacques, but don't find much of the lift he appears to be turning in. Then the bottom drops out from under me as I head into the swamp after the turnpoint. Larry Bunner is there with me and he is falling like a rock also. I go to the driest spot out in the swamp to find the lift and we start climbing from 1,400'. This allows all the guys behind to catch up with us.

They are awfully nice about it staying right above us as we work our way back to cloud base. I bet that this won't happen in the Worlds. Getting back to 5,000' I push hard to the west to get us under the nice black clouds out there before the second turnpoint at Clinton. If the lift isn't good I just keep going.

Four miles before Clinton I get under a nice dark cloud that is the beginning of a cloud street to Clinton. I work the 300 FPM until Campbell finds the 700 fpm right next to me. We climb to 6,000'. Tjaden got there above us and was out of there in a hurry. We see him running in front of us.

The convergence has set up and we are in it. We make the turnpoint going upwind against a 5 mph northwest wind under the street all the way, once we turn, the street continues for twenty miles directly on the course line to the north. It is about half a mile wide and on the west side, toward the Gulf of Mexico (thirty miles away), there are only a few cu's. The street is dark, thick and solid. We porpoise fly under it and then stop for the strong bits. We pass Jacques below us as we race together down the street.

Jim Lamb who started early is out in front but Johann and Tjaden soon catch and pass him. I'm right behind them with Kevin Dutt and now Jim following me. At the end of the street eleven miles from Coleman I catch up with Johann and Paul and we head out into the blue after finding weak lift in the last cloud.

Paul dives toward Coleman. There are clouds to the east of Coleman, but it is not clear that we can make it to the clouds after getting the turnpoint as the sink is strong. Johann is slowly following Paul and I'm keeping an eye on both of them. Three and a half miles out and down to 3,000' with my 5030 saying we'll arrive at Coleman at 1,700' I decide that they are diving into a hole that they might not get out of. I spot a tiny forming cu to my left over Lake Panasofskee to the northwest and get under it to climb back to 4,400'. I'm sure that I'm going to see two gliders on the ground by Coleman.

I head to Coleman and still get pounded but make the turnpoint with 2,800'. I'm still in search mode running downwind to find a thermal. Fortunately Jim Lamb gives me some directions and while it isn't right where he is climbing at 500 fpm I'm able to find the thermal at 1,400' in a ten mph west (downwind) wind. Russell comes and joins me and we slowly climb out. I earlier saw Johann and Paul climbing east of us but couldn't find that thermal. They got a strong thermal right after the turnpoint at 2,000'.

There is a set of cu's heading southeast paralleling the Florida turnpike going in the general direction of Quest Air. We climb to 5,800, fifteen miles out and I go on final glide, heading off the course line a little to the east to deal with the light north northeast wind (also forecasted) and get over the drier areas. There is plenty of lift on the final glide to goal.

Jacques Bott gets fitted for lead. Photo by Timothy Ettridge

Thirteen of fourteen ridge wings make goal:

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 Posch, Johann Air Atos Vr 03:08:30 934
2 Tjaden, Paul Air Atos Vx 03:08:40 915
3 Bott, Jacques Air Atos Vr 03:15:33 830
4 Dutt, Kevn Aeros Phantom 03:17:24 807
5 Straub, Davis Air Atos Vr 03:31:38 709
6 Brown, Russell Air Atos Vr 03:32:25 696
7 Gregory, Oliver Air Atos Vx 03:42:21 646
8 Lamb, James Air Atos Vr 03:57:50 625
9 Bowen, Campbell Air Atos Vx 03:49:41 611
10 Yocom, James Air Atos Vr 03:51:46 601
11 Giles, David Air Atos V 04:01:48 596
12 Bunner, Larry Air Atos Vr 03:57:28 577
13 Gleason, Ron Air Resume C/v 03:59:53 567

Totals:

Place Name Glider Total
1 Posch Johann Air Atos Vr 3051
2 Straub Davis Air Atos Vr 2654
3 Bott Jacques Air Atos Vr 2615
4 Brown Russell Air Atos Vr 2588
5 Lamb James Air Atos Vr 2408
6 Tjaden Paul Air Atos Vx 2194
7 Giles David Air Atos V 2180
8 Bunner Larry Air Atos Vr 2139
9 Yocom James Air Atos Vr 2134
10 Gregory Oliver Air Atos Vx 1887
11 Dutt Kevn Aeros Phantom 1700
12 Bowen Campbell Air Atos Vx 1566
13 Gleason Ron Air Resume C/v 1413
14 Stump Mark Air Atos V 1118

Flex wings (40+ in goal):

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 Bondarchuk, Oleg Aeros Combat Ukr 02:47:47 1000
2 Warren, Curt Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 02:47:52 991
3 Guillen, Bruno Moyes Litespeed S4.5 Fra 02:47:53 987
4 Hamilton, Robin Moyes Litespeed S4 Gbr 02:48:00 979
5 Hazlett, Brett Moyes Litespeed S4.5 Can 02:48:02 975
6 Durand, Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 Aus 02:49:12 950
7 Bloom, Phill Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 02:49:41 940
8 Bajewski, Jorg Moyes Litespeed S5 Deu 02:50:35 925
9 Smith, Christopher Moyes Litespeed S4.5 Usa 02:51:11 916
10 De La Horie, Geffroy Aeros Combat L Fra 02:51:37 908
10 Carter, Kevin Wills Wing Talon Ii 154 Usa 02:51:37 908

Totals:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 Bondarchuk Oleg Aeros Combat Ukr 3030
2 Hazlett Brett Moyes Litespeed S4.5 Can 2979
3 Durand Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 Aus 2872
4 Hamilton Robin Moyes Litespeed S4 Gbr 2748
5 Carter Kevin Wills Wing Talon Ii 154 Usa 2618
6 Warren Curt Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 2593
7 Mathurin Didier Moyes Litespeed S4 Fra 2571
8 De La Horie Geffroy Aeros Combat L Fra 2559
9 Bloom Phill Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 2512
10 Guillen Bruno Moyes Litespeed S4.5 Fra 2496

Discuss "The Flytec Championships 2006, day 5, task 4" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Flytec Results

Nine rigids in goal within three minutes and seven seconds

Results

April 20, 2006, 5:57:17 EDT

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Brett Hazlett|Campbell Bowen|Davis Straub|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|James Lamb|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mark Stump|Oleg Bondarchuk|Oliver Gregory|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Robin Hamilton|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown

Task 3:

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 BOTT, Jacques AIR Atos VR 02:35:46 974
2 POSCH, Johann AIR Atos VR 02:36:58 932
3 YOCOM, James AIR Atos VR 02:37:12 917
4 GREGORY, Oliver AIR Atos VX 02:37:15 907
5 BROWN, Russell AIR Atos VR 02:37:59 889
6 TJADEN, Paul AIR Atos VX 02:38:27 877
7 GILES, David AIR Atos V 02:38:58 866
8 LAMB, James AIR Atos VR 02:38:59 862
9 STRAUB, Davis AIR Atos VR 02:39:03 859

Totals:

Place Name Glider Total
1 POSCH Johann AIR Atos VR 2117
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR 1945
3 BROWN Russell AIR Atos VR 1892
4 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR 1785
5 LAMB James AIR Atos VR 1783
6 GILES David AIR Atos V 1584
7 BUNNER Larry AIR Atos VR 1562
8 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR 1533
9 TJADEN Paul AIR Atos VX 1279
10 GREGORY Oliver AIR Atos VX 1241
11 BOWEN Campbell AIR Atos VX 955
12 DUTT Kevn Aeros Phantom 893
13 GLEASON Ron AIR Resume C/V 846
14 STUMP Mark AIR Atos V 790

The first nine flex wings within three minutes and eleven seconds of each other:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 BONDARCHUK, Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 02:10:36 976
2 HAZLETT, Brett Moyes Litespeed S4.5 CAN 02:10:39 969
3 HAMILTON, Robin Moyes Litespeed S4 GBR 02:10:43 963
4 DURAND, Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 02:11:55 935
5 BLOOM, Phill Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 02:12:51 919
6 WARREN, Curt Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 02:12:53 915
7 MATHURIN, Didier Moyes Litespeed S4 FRA 02:13:37 903
8 BAJEWSKI, Jorg Moyes Litespeed S5 DEU 02:13:38 901
9 PALMARINI, Jean-Franqois Aeros Combat L FRA 02:13:47 896
10 CAUX, Raymond Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 FRA 02:14:36 885

Totals:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 2030
2 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed S4.5 CAN 2004
3 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 1922
4 HAMILTON Robin Moyes Litespeed S4 GBR 1769
5 MATHURIN Didier Moyes Litespeed S4 FRA 1745
6 CARTER Kevin Wills Wing Talon II 154 USA 1710
7 DE LA HORIE Geffroy Aeros Combat L FRA 1650
8 WARREN Curt Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 1601
9 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 1572
10 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 1570

2005 Big Spring Open »

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Big Spring Open 2005|Blue Sky|Bubba Goodman|Campbell Bowen|Chris Zimmerman|David Glover|Davis Straub|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|James Lamb|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mike Barber|Paul Tjaden|Phill Bloom|photo|Robin Hamilton|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|Vince Endter

Sat, Aug 20 2005, 4:00:00 am EDT

A soft day with cu-nimbs under the blue sky.

The scores

The photos

The flight

More on the flex wings: http://jonnydurand.blogspot.com/ http://skyout.blogspot.com http://kagelites.blogspot.com, and http://xckevin.blogspot.com.

We woke up Saturday to a very dark day. There was a thick middle layer of clouds with plenty of low lying cumulus scud whipping by at 30 mph. It sure didn't look like we would be flying, and the RUC along with Dr. Jack indicated that we wouldn't have any lift at 4 PM.

None the less we went out to the airport and the day was slightly improving with a bit of sunlight filtering through the multiple layers of clouds. The RUC is updated around 9 AM CDT, and the lift forecast improves markedly to 500 FPM at 4 PM with a good chance of over development, due to the sunlight hitting the ground and creating the lift.

The task committee had to come up with a task given the forecasted conditions, in spite of how un inspiring it looked at 10 in the morning. We called a 46 mile down wind to La Mesa given the 20 mph average winds at 10 that are supposed to drop off to 12 mph at 4 PM.

We called for a late start at 1:30 PM given the satellite photos showing blue to our south coming our way. Around noon we began to see the blue as the upper level clouds open up to our south, but cu-nims started to develop under the blue. At the airport it was still dark and overcast. We postponed the launched a half hour.

At the last minute we postponed the launch 15 minutes as Kraig Coomber reported no lift and then took off in the dark with the sunshine five miles to our south and the cu-nimbs ten miles to our southeast.

I was second off behind Vince. Drug to 3,000 AGL 2.5 miles out, I continued on for another 4.5 miles to the south against a seven mph head wind to get to a cloud and see if I can find any lift. There was zero sink there so I glided down wind back to just south of the airport to hook up with Russell over a bit of a landfill and climbed from 900' AGL to 1,500' AGL. At least we were still in the air. It was dark all around.

After not finding any lift under a cloud to the west, we spent the next ten minutes climbing at 15 fpm. Russell and Paul Tjaden landed and I spent another ten minutes climbing at 100 fpm. Russell was towed to the thermal next to me and we finally got to 5,300' at 200 fpm. It was time to get on course, half an hour after the last start time.

Campbell Bowen had already gone down having gone north and not made it out of the start circle. Danny Mallet and Vince Endter had given up and landed back at the air field to break down. The cu-nimb to the east had closed down the launch, but there were ten flex wings in the air with us and we were finally feeling good.

The sky was blue to the north and over us with a few cu's just to give us something to shoot for. We got on our way and we were ready for a great flight leaving the vast majority of the flex wings behind, but flying with the best ones.

After all that work (and it was great fun) we then heard on the radio that David Glover had called the day for both classes. It was confusing given that the conditions on course were great, and all he had to do was keep the launch closed as all the folks in the air were happy to be there and happy to be going on course. Dustin Martin didn't hear that the task was called and flew to La Mesa in an hour.

David needs to be more disciplined regarding these kinds of decisions or let someone else make them. The rules for the Worlds don't allow the meet director (only the safety director) to make this decision and only for conditions on the course line. The launch director/safety director can close the launch (which was already done).

We all landed safely back at the airport and had broken down in time to avoid the rain. The towns folks got to see us land, at least.

The task committee worked hard to get a task that was workable given the forecast. We chose a perfect task that could be done within the very narrow time window. Flex wing pilots chose not to launch when conditions were weak, but this did not stop rigid wing pilots from going up and working the lift that was available. There was plenty of time for most of the flex wings to get off and up in the air before the cu-nimb came close.

All our good work and hard thinking came to naught when the tasks were called erroneously. There certainly was no need to call the rigid wing task. When I asked David about this, he just said he made a bad call.

On Sunday it rains hard all day. West Texas is becoming Wet Texas.

The Results:

Rigids on the last day:

Place Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR 03:40:09 151.3 1000
2 BOWEN Campbell AIR ATOS VX   147.0 752
3 LAMB James AIR Atos VR   146.8 751
4 BROWN Russell AIR Atos VR   141.7 728
5 BUNNER Larry AIR Atos VR   134.3 686

Finals for Rigids:

Place Name Glider Total
1 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR 5033
2 POSCH Johann AIR Atos VR 4268
3 BROWN Russell AIR Atos VR 4061
4 LAMB James AIR Atos VR 3713
5 BUNNER Larry AIR Atos VR 3563
6 ENDTER Vincent AIR Ato VR s 3345
7 TJADEN Paul AIR Atos VX 3313
8 BOWEN Campbell AIR ATOS VX 3177
9 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos V 2761
10 MALLETT Denny AIR Atos VX 2744

Last day for Flex Wings:

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 02:57:13 1000
2 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed S4 03:02:22 948
3 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed S4 03:08:39 911
4 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 03:10:44 896
5 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed S4 03:05:36 890
6 ZIMMERMAN Chris Wills Wing T2 144 03:20:32 856
7 GOODMAN Bubba Wills Wing T2 144 03:19:32 837
8 HAMILTON Robin Moyes Litespeed S4 04:07:30 724
9 KENDALL Greg Moyes Litespeed S4 04:09:10 720
10 LEHMANN Pete Wills Wing Talon 150  128.0 643

Totals for Flex Wings:

Place Name Glider Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 4600
2 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed S4 4441
3 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed S4 4300
4 HAMILTON Robin Moyes Litespeed S4 4128
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed S4 4027
6 COOMBER Kraig Moyes Litespeed S4 3585
7 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 3539
8 GOODMAN Bubba Wills Wing T2 144 3313
9 BURICK Carl Moyes Litespeed S4 3282
10 ZIMMERMAN Chris Wills Wing T2 144 3272

NTSS »

Mon, Aug 15 2005, 11:00:00 am EDT

The US pilot ranking after the Big Spring Open

Bo Hagewood|Bruce Barmakian|Bubba Goodman|Campbell Bowen|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dennis Pagen|Dustin Martin|George Stebbins|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|James Lamb|Judy Hildebrand|Kari Castle|Kevin Carter|Lauren Tjaden|Lisa Verzella|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Oliver Gregory|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown

The women:

13 VASSORT Claire 1013
19 Castle Kari 823
25 SALAMONE Linda 694
50 PERMENTER Raean 269
61 VERZELLA Lisa 164
66 TJADEN Lauren 141
78 HILDEBRAND Judy 85

The first six women pilots (there are seven in the table above) form the US Women's National Team and get to fly in the Worlds in May at Quest Air. The draft rules allow a women's team of six with six additional individual pilots.

The rigid wing pilots:

1 Straub Davis 1552
2 ENDTER Vincent 1307
3 GLEASON Ron 1246
4 LAMB James 1149
5 Brown Russell 1138
6 Yocom Jim 1091
7 Bowen Campbell 1087
8 BARMAKIAN Bruce 855
9 GREGORY Oliver 713
10 TJADEN Paul 624
11 STUMP Mark 597
12 BUNNER Larry 536

The first six pilots form the US rigid wing team for the Worlds at Quest Air in May. The second six can fly in the Worlds as individuals (according to the draft rules).

The flex wing pilots:

1 Barber Mike 1925
2 Martin Dustin 1922
3 CARTER Kevin 1863
4 Volk Glen 1831
5 BLOOM Phill 1766
6 Warren Curt 1741
7 Williams Paris 1721
8 ZIMMERMAN Chris 1524
9 LANNING Tom 1394
10 Goodman Bubba 1321
11 PRESLEY Terry 1098
12 BURICK Carl 1089
13 VASSORT Claire 1013
14 KENDALL Greg 958
15 Stebbins George 949
16 Williams Michael 924
17 Pagen Dennis 861
18 ZABO Shawn 855
19 Castle Kari 823
20 Hagewood Bo 822

The flex wing pilots will not have a Worlds until 2007 (in Big Spring) and so their ranking this year doesn't matter so much. They get to use their best two flights from this year when determining their ranking at the end of 2006.

http://davisstraub.com/Glide/2006class1ntss.htm

http://davisstraub.com/Glide/2006class5ntss.htm

NTSS »

Tue, Aug 2 2005, 4:00:03 pm EDT

The US pilot ranking before the Big Spring Open

Bo Hagewood|Bruce Barmakian|Bubba Goodman|Campbell Bowen|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dennis Pagen|Dustin Martin|George Stebbins|Glen Volk|James Lamb|Kari Castle|Kevin Carter|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Oliver Gregory|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown

Rigid:

1 Straub Davis 1370
2 Yocom Jim 1091
3 ENDTER Vincent 1071
4 Brown Russell 1058
5 GLEASON Ron 1051
6 Bowen Campbell 975
7 LAMB James 887
8 BARMAKIAN Bruce 855
9 GREGORY Oliver 713
10 STUMP Mark 597

Flex:

1 CARTER Kevin 1863
2 Martin Dustin 1838
3 Warren Curt 1741
4 Williams Paris 1394
5 BLOOM Phill 1390
6 Barber Mike 1384
7 Volk Glen 1308
8 LANNING Tom 1273
9 Goodman Bubba 1150
10 ZIMMERMAN Chris 1125
11 PRESLEY Terry 1098
12 Pagen Dennis 861
13 Williams Michael 842
14 Castle Kari 823
15 Straub Davis 811
16 VASSORT Claire 808
17 HAYWOOD John 787
18 Stebbins George 786
19 SLOCUM Jack 770
20 Hagewood Bo 690

NTSS Ranking »

Wed, May 4 2005, 5:00:03 pm EDT

After the US Nationals and the South Florida International

Bo Hagewood|Bruce Barmakian|Bubba Goodman|Campbell Bowen|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|George Stebbins|Glen Volk|James Lamb|Kari Castle|Kevin Carter|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Oliver Gregory|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|US Nationals

Rigids (this year determines who gets to represent the US at the Worlds at Quest next year) :

1 Straub Davis 1344
2 Yocom Jim 1091
3 ENDTER Vincent 1071
4 GLEASON Ron 1051
5 Bowen Campbell 975
6 Brown Russell 973
7 LAMB James 887
8 BARMAKIAN Bruce 855
9 GREGORY Oliver 713
10 STUMP Mark 597

Flexies (doesn't matter that much when determining who goes to the 2007 Worlds in Texas):

1 CARTER Kevin 1863
2 Martin Dustin 1838
3 Warren Curt 1741
4 Barber Mike 1384
4 BLOOM Phill 1384
6 Volk Glen 1308
7 LANNING Tom 1271
8 ZIMMERMAN Chris 1125
9 PRESLEY Terry 1098
10 Williams Paris 1069
11 Goodman Bubba 915
12 Castle Kari 823
13 Straub Davis 811
14 VASSORT Claire 808
15 HAYWOOD John 787
16 Stebbins George 786
17 SLOCUM Jack 770
18 Williams Michael 739
19 Hagewood Bo 690
20 BURICK Carl 689

Full rankings found https://ozreport.com/compPilotRankings.php.

2005 Flytec Championship, day nine

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Muller|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kari Castle|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|photo|Ron Gleason|US Nationals

Sat, Apr 23 2005, 5:30:00 pm EDT

A front and rain.

Flytec Championship

The last day of the US Nationals was called on account of a forecast for rain and wind. The rain showed up, but the wind didn't.

Rigid final results:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 5806
2 GRICAR Primoz Aeros Phantom SVN 4807
3 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 4533
4 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 4449
5 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 4366
6 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 4265
7 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 4195
8 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 3904
9 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 3806
10 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 3448

Flex final results:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 5540
2 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 5505
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 5491
4 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 4943
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 4827
6 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 4735
7 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 4557
8 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 4544
9 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 4502
10 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 4436

Kari Castle was doing well in twelfth place until she went down early on the last day, still she managed to be the US Women's National Champion and beat the current Women's World Champion. Kari loved flying in Florida (much better than Greifenburg). She was flying the Moyes Litespeed S4 that I was flying in Australia in January.

Flytec Championship photos.

2005 Flytec Championship, day eight

Why did they want a short task? Well, the sea breeze for one thing.

Flytec Championship

2005 Flytec Championship, day eight

Fri, Apr 22 2005, 4:00:00 pm EDT

Øyvind Ellefsen|A.I.R. ATOS VR|Bruce Barmakian|Campbell Bowen|Chris Muller|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|Jacques Bott|James Lamb|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason

The rigid wing flight and task

The forecast was for a twenty percent chance of rain after 4 PM, so we want to get every one back by then. I also forecasted a sea breeze, given the light west winds, and the Windcast showing what looks like convergence up the middle of the state. Pilots expressed the feeling that they were a little tired from the three hour task (plus one hour in the start circle) the day before, so a two and a half hour task sounded better.

Given the desire for a smaller task, we chose a run up and down highway 33 with a 64 mile task for the flex wings and 77 miles for the rigid wings. The cu's weren't happening when we rigids started to launch at 12:15, but after half an hour they began to appear nearby.

The flexies seeing the lack of clouds postponed their task 45 minutes. We rigids found the clouds and started our task on time. Soon the clouds were every where and we raced around the course. Our first turnpoint was at the intersection of highway 33 and the Turnpike north of Quest then back to the northeast corner of the Green Swamp and highway 50, down to I4 and 27, then back to Quest.

It was a nine mile glide to the second turnpoint after we got up at 700 fpm over the landfill just south of the Turnpike. Down to 1,400' I followed Bruce and a couple of other pilots into the Green Swamp to hit the lift than got us out of this hole. Primoz and Robert got away from me and were out in front.

With Ollie and Jacques in tow I headed southeast toward Wallaby Ranch, finding at first strong lift to 6,500', then weak lift under one thick black cloud after another. I only took a few turns under each cloud before I continued on looking for better lift. Twenty four miles later I finally found a strong core just past the intersection at 27 and I4 under a few wispies. Three miles out from the turnpoint I came in just under Primoz and Robert, but didn't find any lift there.

The gliders over Wallaby were a draw, for the leg back to Quest, and as I had no one who was flying with me, I chased after these guys to find that they were turning in nothing useful. Pushing west I finally got over a sunny spot with a nice black cloud over me that was working. After climbing I pushed northwest and found one more black cloud to 5,800' and went on glide from 15 miles out at 14:1 with an 8 mph cross wind.

It looked like there was a convergence line ahead paralleling highway 33 on the west side, so I got under it to got a little less sink or a little lift while gliding. It was enough to get me in.

Today Paris leaving early on the first clock won the day but not by enough to catch Jonny and Oleg. Oleg was second and had enough points to move ahead of Jonny into first place. Kevin Carter has been flying with wheels as he has a bad knee from an earlier bad landing and has to walk with a cane (yesterday it was crutches).

Rigids:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 Endter Vincent Air Atos Vr Usa 02:39:28 1000
2 Straub Davis Air Atos Vr Usa 02:42:52 929
3 Barmakian Bruce Air Atos Vr Usa 02:44:41 898
4 Parcellier Thierry Air Atos V Fra 02:50:46 838
5 Almond Neville Air Atos V Gbr 02:51:07 828
6 Bott Jacques Air Atos Vr Fra 02:52:29 812
7 Gleason Ron Air Atos Vr Usa 02:57:58 770
8 Chopard Patrick Helite Tsunami Fra 02:58:03 767
9 Bowen Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + Usa 03:04:56 723
10 Lamb James Air Atos Vr Usa 03:21:40 634

Rigid cumulative:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 Reisinger Robert Air Atos Vr Aut 4812
2 Barmakian Bruce Air Atos Vr Usa 4711
3 Almond Neville Air Atos V Gbr 4605
4 Bott Jacques Air Atos Vr Fra 4518
5 Endter Vincent Air Atos Vr Usa 4497
6 Yocom James Air Atos Vr Usa 4323
7 Straub Davis Air Atos Vr Usa 4095
8 Gricar Primoz Aeros Phantom Svn 3875
9 Gleason Ron Air Atos Vr Usa 3590
10 Bowen Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + Usa 3483

Flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 Williams Paris Aeros Combat L Usa 01:56:59 963
2 Bondarchuk Oleg Aeros Combat Ukr 01:55:16 929
3 Carter Kevin Aeros Combat Usa 01:55:57 907
4 Olsson Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 Swe 01:56:31 895
5 Haywood John Aeros Combat L Usa 02:04:47 868
6 Durand Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 Aus 01:58:16 866
7 Zabo Shawn Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 02:06:15 851
8 Anderson Johan Wills Wing T2 144 Zaf 02:01:06 834
9 Kendall Greg Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 02:09:50 818
10 Ellefsen Oyvind Moyes Litespeed 4 Nor 02:02:35 809

Cumulative flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 Bondarchuk Oleg Aeros Combat Ukr 5539
2 Durand Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 Aus 5503
3 Williams Paris Aeros Combat L Usa 5491
4 Bloom Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 Usa 4938
5 Martin Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 Usa 4823
6 Olsson Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 Swe 4733
7 Muller Chris Wills Wing T2 Can 4553
8 Volk Glen Moyes Litespeed Usa 4541
9 Barber Mike Moyes Litespeed Usa 4498
10 Carter Kevin Aeros Combat Usa 4434

2005 Flytec Championship, day seven

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Campbell Bowen|cart|Chris Muller|Davis Straub|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Dustin Martin|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jim Lamb|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|Tim Denton|weather

Thu, Apr 21 2005, 4:00:00 pm EDT

Ring around the swamp.

Flytec Championship

The flight and task today.

The weather models and the weather gods get it together for today, which we greatly appreciate. The National Weather Service local forecast (from some model) and the RUC model (that Dr. Jack uses) disagreed on the top surface temperature (79 degrees for Jack and 84 for the NWS). I liked the NWS number so went with that value. Therefore I predicted stronger lift and higher cloud bases than BLIPSPOT showed, and sure enough, that's what we got.

Cloudbase was over 5,000' at 1 PM and over 6,700' later in the day (around 4 PM). Dr. Jack called for nice coherent thermals, and sure enough they were perfect. At one point four of us were in a thermal going up at 1,800 fpm (according in Robert Resinger's instrument, mine showed 1000 fpm).

The clouds were predicted to be about 2,000' thick and they were about that. They were also quite plentiful starting early. We also got going 45 minutes earlier with long tasks to take advantage of the great conditions forecast for the day.

Both the flex wings and the rigid wings were tasked to go around the Green Swamp with different turnpoints and start times to keep them separated. The task for the rigids was a little over 90 miles and for the flexies a little over 80 miles.

The cu's formed early and the pilots got excited. The pilot Le Mans run across the runways to the setup area was especially grueling as it was much further than the case for the last few days. We opened  launch at 12:15 PM, so there was no time to waste.

The rigids got off quickly and after working some light lift, I joined the pilots who got hauled up after me and we climbed quickly to cloudbase at 5,000'. We (most of the pilots) actually drove south to the edge of the 15 mile entry start circle too early and had to find lift one mile within the circle. Luckily at 10 minutes before the second start time we were able to drive two miles back upwind to the north (the wind is 5 mph out of the north) to get under a very inviting cloud that sucked us back up to 5,500'.

I played a little trick. Most of the pilots were hanging out at the south end of the cloud just outside the start circle staying out of the cloud. I hung back to the north and went back under the cloud four minutes before the start time. I climbed up under the cloud to get above the pilots at the edge of the cloud. I was able to stay out of the cloud and get two hundred feet over every one else.

At 1:15 we all took off with Robert in the lead (flying faster). I had the imperial view two hundred feet over a dozen or so rigid wing pilots all just behind Robert. My strategy of following Robert (he didn't have the yellow jersey today so it was harder) seemed to be the preferred strategy. Or it was Robert's strategy to lead.

I've mentioned before how important getting into a good position at the start is in competition. I had the perfect position.

He found the first thermal six miles out and we regained the 2,000' that we had all lost on the glide. Robert took off a little over my head and I followed closely behind while the others were not following as fast.

Robert took a couple of turns in a thermal that I didn't notice as having much lift and continued through. Robert and I continued on a nine mile glide to the turnpoint at Dean Still and Rockridge Road. He came in five hundred over my head and continued to the west toward the next turnpoint over the Green Swamp.

I found 600 fpm just south of the intersection to 6,000' and headed west toward the slow burning swamp fire in the Green Swamp. What's this I see? There was Robert down below me turning in the smoke of the fires. I joined him and we slowly climbed up as blackened bits flew passed us.

We worked together in light lift under lots of clouds to catch up just before the Clinton turnpoint with Jim Lamb and Tim Denton who started at 1 PM. The lift was light until we got north of Dade City to find the strongest lift of the day with Brian Porter and Bruce Barmakian joining us. I was lower as we climbed out in the strong lift. I followed a mile behind at 6,700'.

I raced to catch up and caught Bruce about 7 miles out from the thermal right at his altitude. Robert was still 500 feet higher with Brian (who decided to stick with him). Within a mile Robert and Brian were showing another thermal and I joined them. Bruce came over lower, didn't find it and continued on getting very low.

The clouds were lined up to Coleman our next turnpoint, 33 miles from Clinton and the lift was plentiful as I raced to keep Robert and Brian in sight. Every one else was left behind. The cu's thinned out at Coleman, and it was a bit of a struggle to jump from thermal to thermal to the Turnpike and 33 intersection. I kept spotting Brian and Robert so I was feeling good.

With a northwest wind it was an easy glide back to Quest.

Not long after we landed the flexies came in from their task. Dustin was first in, with Jonny getting the bag once again.

Primoz had trouble with his control frame falling into pieces on the cart. According to Regina he seems to be having trouble landing the Phantom. I saw him take out one of his aluminum down tubes today (the one that replaced the damaged carbon fiber one) and the control frame was pretzeled. Primoz got a late start as he replaced his down tube and came in fast.

Rigids:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 03:00:43 1000
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 03:04:48 927
3 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 03:12:25 855
4 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 03:19:43 799
5 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + USA 03:23:21 771
6 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 03:29:14 727
7 RUEHLE Felix AIR Atos VR DEU 03:30:18 718
8 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 03:40:23 710
9 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 03:31:14 709
10 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 03:35:40 682

Cumulative Rigids:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 4812
2 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 3820
3 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 3778
4 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 3701
5 GRICAR Primoz Aeros Phantom SVN 3519
6 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 3498
7 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 3238
8 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 3166
9 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 2958
10 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 2827

Flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat L UKR 02:48:02 962
2 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 02:49:45 922
3 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 02:49:46 919
4 ROTOR Nene Wills Wing T2 144 BRA 02:50:21 909
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 03:02:03 890
6 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 03:02:44 878
7 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 02:53:07 875
8 BARRETT Scott Airborne Climax2 13 AUS 03:03:37 863
9 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 03:04:38 852
10 HEANEY Grant Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 03:05:54 831

Brett is Australian and Canadian.

Cumulative Flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 4636
2 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat L UKR 4609
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 4527
4 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 4218
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 4076
6 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 3844
7 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 3838
8 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 3782
9 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 3750
10 ANDERSON Hakan Aeros Combat L13 SWE 3561

The weather is so fine as Jonny Durand shows in his photo:

2005 Flytec Championship, day six

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Brett Hazlett|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Muller|Davis Straub|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Dustin Martin|Felix Ruehle|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jim Lamb|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Nichele Roberto|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Robert Reisinger|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|weather

Wed, Apr 20 2005, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Under called on a great day, but that makes most happy.

Flytec Championship

Today's flight and rigid wing task

The day started with thick clouds covering the sky until mid morning. This made the pilots wary. I knew from the forecast that these clouds would go away and the day would be sunny.

Dr. Jack, using the RUC (Rapid Update Cycle) model, called for a day like any other here recently with lighter winds (5 mph) out of the southeast, and maybe a cloud or two unlike the previous days where we saw nothing but wispies. The National Weather Service mentioned cirrus again, as we've had for the last two days. But there was a fly in the ointment.

The FSL chart completely disagreed with the RUC model. It called for cunimbs,and strong lift (even though the local forecast showed no rain). The winds on the FSL chart also rotated ninety degrees from northeast on the ground to southeast at 6,000' cloud base. But we were seeing light southeast on the ground.

Given the conflict in the models, the task committee called for a task that was 20% longer than the day before hoping for a three hour task. The winds in the launch field were switchy with a few bad tows.

Later in the morning the cirrus began to disappear and it looked like it would clear off completely. The satellite also showed this with clearing to the west.

The cu's were forming nicely and thickly throughout the sky (give that one to the FSL model) and this was very inviting. The winds were light. Lots of pilots wanted to launch early so I had to wait a bit to get launched. The lift over the field was not that great and all the lift we found in the start circle was weak. Jim Lamb was pulled way north, found 700 fpm, unlike the rest of us, and climbed to cloudbase immediately. He had to come back and hang with the rest of us who worked less than 100 fpm to get to cloud base. The clouds looked great, but it felt like they were faking it. The lift was so weak we struggled to get to cloudbase at 5,200'.

We were five miles north of Quest at the edge of the start circle. The course line was to our west.  It was unclear what would happen at 1:45 the first start time. A few people headed out. I headed out then came back. More people headed out. I followed Robert Reisinger as he headed out, as my strategy for the day was to stick to Robert. Then he turned around and came back. Now there were only three of us left out of the main gaggle: Robert, Ron Gleason, and me.

We promptly fell down to 3,000' before we found 200 fpm (what luck) at the same spot we started with the original gaggle. As fifteen minutes slipped by we climbed back up to 4,800', all three of us very near each other in altitude. It looked like everyone else took the early start clock. We were feeling pretty darn smart.

Felix Ruehle, who was on top at 1:45, also turned around after going out a bit, but didn't find any lift and had to land back at Quest and relaunch fourteen minutes after the last start time. He would be on his own after that.

At 2 PM we headed off together spreading out to help each other find the lift. With the mostly weak lift that we'd experienced we were not expecting much out on the course. We quickly caught up with a couple of stragglers from the earlier clock. 

The lift wasn't all that great. I was gliding and climbing with Robert, but Ron couldn't glide with us. Something is wrong with his setup. Robert and Ron will swap gliders in the morning and do some side by side comparisons to get to the root of the problem.

I had no worries staying with the Robert all the way to the turnpoint as we caught one pilot after another. The lift wasn't strong at all, but we were moving quickly from thermal to thermal.

Finally, after the turnpoint 34 miles north northwest of Quest at Savana air strip, I found the first good core and climbed from 2,600' at 600 fpm with Robert twenty feet over my head. I lost track of him in this thermal and I was on my own to get back home. Ron Gleason took a different line and met us there.

A few miles out from the turnpoint there was a cloud street paralleling the Florida Turnpike heading back toward Groveland. I got under it, climbed up fast and road that sucker all the way home. Johann Posch and Ron Gleason as well as a few others followed behind.

After I landed I found out that we weren't the only ones to take the later clock. The others were hiding more on the course line to our west. Robert apologized for not finding better lift. The others had a much better run down to the turnpoint than we did. Robert would pick this day to go slower (well, it wasn't that bad).

Rigids today:

Place Name Glider Nation Start Time Total
1 GRICAR Primoz Aeros Phantom SVN 14:00:00 02:05:02 948
2 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 14:00:00 02:05:55 913
3 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:07:07 890
4 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 13:45:00 02:17:34 877
5 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:10:28 847
6 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 13:45:00 02:19:55 844
7 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:10:51 839
8 BROWN Russell AIR Atos V USA 13:45:00 02:20:28 826
9 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 14:00:00 02:14:50 800
10 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 14:00:00 02:14:54 796
11 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:16:45 778

Rigid cumulative:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 3812
2 GRICAR Primoz Aeros Phantom SVN 3139
3 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 3110
4 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos C GBR 2979
5 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 2974
6 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 2928
7 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 2643
8 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 2529
9 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 2239
10 BUNNER Larry AIR Atos V USA 2166

Oleg Bondarchuck on an Aeros Combat won the day taking the second start time coming in first thirty seconds in front of Kevin Carter also on an Aeros Combat, who took the first start time. A couple of Wills Wing pilots made the top ten today with Nick in second. Jonny grabbed the bag at the finish line for the third day in a row, coming in third. He won one hundred dollars grabbing the bag on the first day.

Kevin hyper extended his leg on landing, so we'll see what happens tomorrow. Russell Brown broke a couple of toes before the meet and is still flying.

Paris Williams after not flying for a while, is doing very well.

The task for the flex wings was shorter at 60 miles. They flew northwest out to Coleman, south back to the top of the Green Swamp, north again to Center Hill and then 12 miles southeast to Quest.

Flex wings:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 01:51:35 957
2 NICHELE Roberto Wills Wing T2 144 CHE 01:53:48 908
3 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 01:53:57 903
4 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 01:54:25 892
5 ZANETTI Marcelo Moyes Litespeed S5 USA 01:54:26 889
6 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 01:56:45 860
7 BAJEWSKI Joerg Moyes LS 4.5 DEU 01:57:57 841
7 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 02:07:06 841
9 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 01:58:06 838
10 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 01:58:17 832

Flex wings cumulative:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 3752
2 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 3647
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 3602
4 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 3534
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 3186
6 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 3096
7 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 3078
8 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 2971
9 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 2918
10 BAJEWSKI Joerg Moyes LS 4.5 DEU 2869

As you can see from the times above, the tasks were under called given the great conditions. The clouds were much better than we thought at first. There was no over development. There were no cunimbs. Here's the BLIPSPOT for 4 PM at Groveland that I called up after I got back:

Dr. Jack is calling for zero lift at 4 PM and a high level of convergence and no surface heating (shade). The height of the -3 at 120 feet. In fact it was beautiful, sunny, warm, cu's every where. Pilots were piling into goal. Sixty flex wings made it back. All but one rigid wing made it back.

Here's the satellite photo showing cu's well up into Georgia:

Joerg Bajewski sends this photo from the air over Quest:

2005 Flytec Championship, day five

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Muller|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jim Rooney|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Mike Barber|Nichele Roberto|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|photo|Ron Gleason|sailplane|US Nationals|weather

Tue, Apr 19 2005, 5:00:00 pm EDT

We braved the east winds and the cirrus and go south east for an out and return.

Flytec Championship

Monday's flight and task

Tuesday flight and task

The weather service called for east south east winds at 8 to 10 mph (here in Groveland) all the way up to cloud base at 5,800'. Here's what we got:

We on the task committee (Jonny, Curt and I) wanted to do a two hour task to balance the three hour one the day before so we sent the rigid wings on a 60 mile out and return to Gore (spot on highway 27 south of Interstate 4), and the flexies 50 miles out and back to an intersection southwest of Wallaby Ranch. We made the first leg an upwind leg because we wanted to stay away from the weaker areas to the north which suffer from cooler air coming off the big lakes up that way (there are lakes every where, here in Florida).

We separated the  rigid wings and flexies by at least a half an hour and sent them on separate courses so that there was no special help for the flexies who took the first start time.

There was plenty of cirrus around but wispy cu's were forming underneath it just like during the last two days. Pilots wanted to get going early so that they wouldn't get shut down as the sun got lower and therefore behind the cirrus to the west.

Bruce Barmakian was off first this day which was good as he got a trike, and I, right behind him, got a tug. Jim Rooney, flying the tug, whipped me around in a tight circle right right over the launch area and as we came around again, Primoz was taking off underneath me. Unfortunately he had a tug with a four stroke engine and they powered right through us. I was trying to hold on so that I could get let off above Primoz. I signal to Jim to follow Primoz, but Jim waved me off 500 feet below him. Shucks. It will stay that way all day.

There was lift right away and after climbing to 4,600' I forced the issue and headed east, trying to bring as many as I could with me as far as east as possible inside the start circle. I'd heard talk about taking the early start (cirrus is the issue) so I wanted to get east as far as possible as quick as possible. So now we know why Bruce was off early.

A bunch of us got together near the start circle circumference at 4,800' at 1:48 so it just seemed natural to leave and not wait around. Ron Gleason and I took first off with Primoz above and just behind us. We were heading for highway 27 to get the upwind part of this leg over early.

There were about eight pilots in the group. I took chances as the clouds in front looked good, and I found good lift, but the guys behind me caught up quickly and Primoz was on top along with a VR pilot (Ron at first). We found 700 fpm near 474 and got to 5,600'. This was a real core (unlike most of the lift) and it was great to just put the VR up on a tip and go up fast.

Primoz and the VR lead us out to 27 and we were finding lots of cu's as we headed south. I glided side by side (right next to each other) with Neville for a few minutes and we didn't notice any difference between the VR and the V in glide. Who knows.

I went out in front at the intersection of 27 and I4 to find better lift over the former Baseball City and three or four pilots came and joined me. Primoz went out in front south along 27 along the west side. We climbed to 4,800' and I headed out along the east side of 27, upwind and nearer the clouds (or so I think). It was light sink for a couple of miles to four miles out and it looked good when suddenly the bottom fell out.

I was racing to get out of the sink toward a pond that looked like it had a monster devil coming out of it. It turned out to be an aerator fountain. Rounding the turnpoint sinking fast all the way I was down to 1,400' when I finally got to the clouds and spent the next ten minutes climbing out of that hole as I drifted west and then forced my way back east to the highway.

We had a great close knit group of six pilots going down to the turnpoint but all that was gone now (at least for me). I spotted a couple of stragglers and used them to spot the next two thermals south and east of Wallaby for me. The cirrus had come over and that just added to the sense of woe.

I saw the guys I was with now just ahead of me north east of Wallaby next to 27. I raced in under them at 1,400' and climed at 500 fpm. The sun was out here and the cu above me was inviting as was the sailplane next to me.

I left early and raced six miles in light sink chasing the four pilots in front of me to south of 474. After a few miles of racing and watching the glide paths of the pilots four miles ahead I saw Brian Porter turning in his Swift and I came in under him over a burnt field. It was fourteen miles back to Quest, but this was all it would take to get there given the cross tail component of the wind and the strong lift. I flew through the next thermal catching Ron Gleason and kept it at 50 mph (or more) the rest of the way in bright sunlight with lots of hits of lift.

Meanwhile the flexies were on their route to our west. No interference between the flexies and the rigids today. Most flex wing pilots left early to try to avoid having to the deal with the late cirrus, but their first start time was 2:30, 45 minutes after most of the rigids had left.

It wasn't too long after we came into goal that the flexies started arriving with Jonny Durand in the lead.

Rigid wing results:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 01:46:39 955
2 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 02:06:28 800
3 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 02:08:35 770
4 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 02:16:40 702
5 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 02:16:47 695
6 PARCELLIER Thierry AIR Atos V FRA 02:17:57 681
7 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 02:20:25 660
8 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 02:20:43 654
9 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 02:28:58 568
10 BUNNER Larry AIR Atos V USA 02:32:26 546

Cumulative:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 2900
2 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 2270
3 BOTT Jacques  AIR Atos VR FRA 2136
4 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 2126
5 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 2079
6 PARCELLIER Thierry AIR Atos V FRA 1940
7 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 1766
8 LANSER Pascal  Tsunami FRA 1592
9 BUNNER Larry AIR Atos V USA 1477
10 LUCZYNSKY Thomis AIR Atos VX DEU 1464

Flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 01:46:57 981
2 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 01:47:01 972
3 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 01:47:19 958
4 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 01:49:43 913
5 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 01:52:38 876
6 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 01:52:39 872
7 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 01:52:43 868
8 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 01:55:55 834
9 NICHELE Roberto Wills Wing T2 CHE 01:56:46 823
10 ANDERSON Hakan Aeros Combat L13 SWE 01:58:18 808

Cumulative flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 2849
2 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 2760
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 2754
4 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 2689
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 2436
6 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 2281
7 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 2239
8 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 2237
9 ANDERSON Hakan Aeros Combat L13 SWE 2093
10 ZIMMERMAN Chris Wills Wing Talon 140 USA 2091

The US Nationals slide show with Chris Muller's loop from 150 feet. The set of photos here.

The Wills Wing Team:

2005 Flytec Championship, day four

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Muller|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Dustin Martin|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Neville Almond|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom

Mon, Apr 18 2005, 4:00:00 pm EDT

Winds out of the east so we go south and back.

Flytec Championship

The call was for winds at 10 mph out of the east today, so the task committee decided to go for a task that was cross wind in both directions. We sent the pilots 33 miles south to the Winter Haven airport and back to Quest.

I'm off first again and find light lift to the northeast of Quest to 4,000'.  With the wind forecast (along with the prediction of no or very few clouds, and 500 fpm lift), my tactic is to try to get as far up wind as possible. I find a good line of clouds and soon find myself three miles upwind of highway 33 with most pilots to my west. I've got wisps of cu's to tell me where the lift is, so it's pretty safe.

I'm almost at the edge of the 5 mile start circle and as I wait for the start clock to turn 2 PM, six more rigids come over and join me just before it opens. As we head off I keep an upwind line and watch Neville Almond to my right. I take a couple of turns and Primoz and a couple of other ATOS pilots join continue with Neville to my west. I continue south southeast and find another better core as the four pilots now in front continue diving toward highway 474 eleven miles out from Quest, and getting low.

I continue to work to the south east toward highway 27 to get under the clouds and hopefully stay upwind all the way to the turnpoint south of I 4. Another AIR ATOS VR pilot joins me and we head south along 27 over Wallaby. Not finding any lift in the blue I have to head south west to get up again.

The turnpoint at Winter Haven is surrounded by lakes, and I am able to keep upwind of it and get high enough to come in and take the turnpoint and find lift to get out of there. I see the four pilots in the lead just downwind of me before I get to the turnpoint, but they are higher and get ahead of me.

After making the turnpoint I notice that cirrus clouds have come in and cut down the solar heating. I take anything I can find then head north to find Mark in the Swift turning in crummy lift by the juvenile prisons north of I 4. I move ahead and become Mark' sniffer dog finding all the next thermals for him.

With weak lift and dark ground it is slow and tricky heading north of 33. The flex wing pilots behind us also took 27 north and then headed back to 27 to get better lift going back.

Just north of Dean Still Road I catch up with Chris Muller, and an ATOS pilot.  Together we start finding lift and and helping each other out as we move north. At the Seminole Lake Glider Port, we're eleven miles out and almost 5,000' high as we go on glide. Chris will take a few more thermals and I'll have to take a few turns when I'm two miles out and down to 900'. Mark will just glide in. Chris will come in third in flex wings, just behind me.

I was slow getting killed by the shade. Twenty one out of eighty flex wings pilots made it to goal. Many went down by the turnpoint.

Flex wings day one:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris  Aeros Combat L USA 01:56:43 997
2 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 02:08:58 870
3 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 02:07:30 831
4 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 150 SWE 02:14:37 830
5 ROTOR Nene Wills Wing T2 BRA 02:07:37 827
6 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 02:07:44 823
6 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 02:15:05 823
8 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 02:09:49 807
9 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 02:17:53 803
10 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 02:25:39 74

Flex wings day two:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 02:48:36 1000
2 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 02:49:10 981
3 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 02:55:28 920
4 SCHWIEGERSHAUSER Corinna Moyes Litespeed DEU 02:56:12 910
5 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 02:54:41 883
6 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 02:54:59 877
7 BAJEWSKI Joerg Moyes LS 4.5 DEU 03:05:50 852
8 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 150 SWE 03:19:53 758
9 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 03:26:46 729
10 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 03:37:09 690

Overall flex wing:

Place Name Glider Nation T1 T2 Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 997 877 1874
2 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 870 1000 1870
3 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 823 981 1804
4 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 831 883 1714
5 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 150 SWE 830 758 1588
6 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 807 729 1536
7 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 823 687 1510
8 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 803 690 1493
9 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 487 920 1407
10 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 747 642 1389

Rigids (the results from the second day aren't up on the Flytec web site so I've published the overall score):

Place Name Glider Nation T1 T2 Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 971 974 1945
2 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 691 820 1511
3 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos C USA 858 612 1470
4 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 700 734 1434
5 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos C GBR 775 656 1431

Winning and Losing in Big Spring, part 3 »

Wed, Aug 25 2004, 2:00:01 am EDT

You're low, you're slow, there's guys on the ground below, it's time to climb in anything as it drifts you back away from the next turnpoint, besides the air is friendly and its temperature pleasant.

Big Spring 2004|Brett Hazlett|Curt Warren|Jim Lamb|Mark Poustinchian|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|US Nationals 2004

There are times when everything seems to be going wrong. Of course, while flying you don't have the complete picture so it is very hard to know for sure how well you are doing relative to everyone else. You just know that things have become quite difficult and you are wondering if the effort is worth it. Maybe it's the fast guys on the ground below you (hmmm, not likely).

The task on the second day of the US Nationals required flying back upwind against a wind that was quite a bit stronger than had been predicted, under cloud bases much lower than predicted, in lift much lower than predicted. The only hope was that things would get better as the day went on.

Mark Poustinchian put himself in a deep hole by heading out on his own after getting a good start getting higher than anyone else in the first thermal. He was in the same position I was the day before when I got high over Mark and Bruce and went off on my own, but on this day we had a much more difficult task. Just the kind of day you would like to have some help from your comepetitors.

Mark went off on his own and went down soon after the turnpoint at LaMesa where we had to turn around and head back into the wind, i.e. where the going got tough. Putting himself out of first place meant that later he would have to claw his way back to get into contention.

After catching and leaving Bruce behind before the turnpoint, I was also on my own and in trouble heading south under what looked like a cloud street. I searched far and wide getting down to 1,000' AGL, after an easy run forty three miles to the turnpoint, before I slowly climbed out in the worst lift of the flight so far drifting back toward the turnpoint. To add insult to injury when I pushed forward again I joined a poor thermal with Curt Warren and a few other flex wing pilots who had started thirty minutes behind us. Even though they were on their way to the turnpoint it felt hopeless.

I continued to fly on my own after leaving this thermal, going back and forth and getting low numerous times and only finding poor lift to get me out of these repeated holes that I found. I was not encouraged and had to keep doing self talk to keep myself going.

Finally, after an hour, I found a good thermal and climbed up to join Brett Hazlett, Phill Bloom, Curt Warren, and Jim Lamb. Jim was flying an AIR ATOS VX, and I knew that he generally flies slowly, so it looked like I was really in big trouble.

Jim went out a head while the rest of us continued to turn in the thermal that he left too early. I couldn't see why Jim made this error. After a few minutes of climbing higher I was easily able to catch Jim and come in over him before he got to the next thermal. He was clearly flying too slowly and had greater drag than I.

I pushed ahead pulling the flex wing pilots behind and below me finding better lift and flying faster than them. Jim was soon on the deck and landing by the second turnpoint.

The day had completely changed and everything was much stronger and better. Still I had to make the decision to race sideways to get under a cloud to find lift before a final glide.  My final decision was to continue to climb in strong lift and come into goal way too high, given all the uncertainly I had faced throughout the flight.

Ron Gleason won the day after he started fifteen minute behind and hooked up with Kraig and Paris. But, given not making goal the day before he was in no position to challenge for the lead. Bruce came in an hour later, dropping him further back.

After the second task I was in first place. It was a great place to start from. I would now need to think about how other pilots were doing relative to me.

Mark Poustinchian had made a crucial and characteristic mistake. He'd gone off on his own and the odds caught up with him. Sure I'd been on my own at least as much as him, but I was more cautious when on my own. I didn't race ahead, but slowed down when it got tough.

Alex and Christian flew fast and together. They doubled their chances because they were cooperating and could therefore afford to fly faster, with less caution. When Alex was flying in Florida without Christian in Florida, he was often flying with David Chaumet his fastest competitor there.

Competition in hang gliding relies on cooperation. This is true no matter what kind of competition that you have. I've flown on my own in many competitions and especially in the Chelan Cross Country Classic, but this is most often true because there were few pilots who could keep up with me. With higher level competitors, you find yourself with more gliders in your neighborhood (or way ahead).

(To be continued.)