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topic: Wills Wing

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Fixing Carbon Fiber Base Tubes »

Tue, Nov 15 2022, 1:33:10 am GMT

Haven't heard if Wills Wing is selling them any more

carbon fiber|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T3

I had a crack in my Wills Wing T3 carbon base tube so I had Gregg Ludwig take it in to The Frame Doctor for me as he lives right near by and was hauling it back to Florida for me from Casa Grande, Arizona and the Santa Cruz Flats Race.

https://www.facebook.com/FrameDoctor911/

Joey Robison is the Frame Doctor:

This is my base tube:

Click the picture above to see the much higher resolution version.

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Go long in Texas 2022 »

Thu, Aug 18 2022, 1:39:47 am GMT

Alexandra "Sasha" Serebrennikova|Cowboy Up|Flytec|Go long in Texas 2022|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Icaro|James Race|Jon Irlbeck|Ken Millard|Larry Bunner|Makbule Baldik Le Fay|Mark Moore|Masayuki Takeo|Matt McCleskey|Mick Howard|Moyes|Rich Reinauer|Rick Mullins|Robin Hamilton|Tiki Mashy|USHPA|Wills Wing|XC

The original stated intent of the Go Long Texas event was to offer pilots of all experience levels the opportunity to fly simple cross country flights in what are some of the best conditions on the planet starting from the Texas Gulf coast. The event is not set up as a competition between pilots, rather a challenge for each pilot to fly their furthest, seeking personal best (PB) flights in a supported environment of camaraderie. This year’s event had 31 pilots flying over the week from July 17-24th from Cowboy Up Hang Gliding base in Wharton, Texas. The event was a spectacular success! The raw statistics:

178 launches and only 12 re-lights, mainly pilots choosing to take a short flight or for equipment issues. Pretty much everyone that wanted to get underway on an XC did. Every time, every day

  • 31 pilots, 27 Personal Best flights, 6 pilots each with 2 PB’s during the week
  • 11,822 total miles flown
  • 52 flights > 100 miles
  • Site record (241 miles) broken 3 times during the week and is now 308 miles
  • No Safety incidents, accidents
  • 31 super happy pilots and Organizers

Weather Conditions

The conditions were consistently good through the week with high pressure dominating Central Texas and provide a generally SW-SSE flow through the flying area. There is also a historic drought across the State that has for sure helped with soaring conditions. Wind speeds were mostly moderate during the week at typically 8-14mph along the course line. Early morning cloud streets were present pretty much every day we flew and with consistent lift and fairly high TOL at 4000’agl+ by 1200 hrs. Base rose during the day and further north on the course line reaching over 8,000’msl most days and up to 9,500’ on the best days. Lift was big, fat and consistently strong on most days – 600-800fpm was “normal”. With the dry ground and strong daily heating (temps > 100°F for most of the day), it was possible to fly in thermal till sunset. Probably after sunset too.

The “Stories”

With so much flying and downwind distance flown, most of the pilot interaction happened in the morning pilot meetings. There were endless great stories from the previous day’s flying. Pilots like Maria Alexandra and Takeo making their first cross country flights on Falcons. Ken Millard “I’ve been trying to fly a hundred miles for the last 10 years and yesterday I went 162 miles”. Ken then went 220 miles a day later. He even went again on the Sunday after the event had closed with no arranged retrieve driver to crack off another 200 miles. And he got back to Wharton the same day! James Race similarly hadn’t done a hundred miler and still hasn’t. But he did go over 200 miles, but yet that hundred miler still eludes him. Even the elder gentlemen got into this – both Larry Bunner and Robin Hamilton getting new hang gliding PBs at 289 and 308 miles respectively.

Rich Reinauer had 5 flights totaling 878 miles and almost 33 hours airtime. He broke his PB twice (244, 256 miles) and had the site record twice. One of the key organizers of the event, Matt McCleskey, got his first 100 miler and then had a second long flight where he flew back north to his hanger in Navasota to park his T3 with his Kit Fox. Jon Irlbeck, a Sports class hero from GL2021 for his threepeat on PBs at that event (and namesake of the Jon Irlbeck Award for multiple PBs at the GL event), could alas manage only a couple of >100mile PBs this year. Jon did have a late evening breakdown where the local State Trooper offered assistance, brought water and carefully checked in on Jon till he was picked up. Yes, this is Texas.

For the aforementioned Jon Irlbeck award, it was close between the 6 pilots each with 2 PBs but after the duration PB tie-breaker, James Race was the recipient of the handsome carbon full face helmet sponsored by Icaro. Our other award of the smart grey Flytec jacket went to Mick Howard for outstanding sportsmanship.

Thanks to:

A big thanks to key organizer Tiki Mashy, Cowboy Up and the volunteers Sahaar Moghtader, Makbule Baldik, Matt McCleskey, Read Bixby, Masayo Eda, Takeo Eda, Mark Moore and Henry Wise that set up and kept the event running flawlessly.

Our Tug Pilots were Rick Mullins, Gregg Ludwig and Tiki, providing perfect, fast tows into the Texas morning skies. A big thanks to Tiki and these gentlemen.

We are also grateful for all of our drivers. They probably didn’t realize what they were getting themselves into when they signed up for this event with long retrieves pretty much every day. The latest return to base was around 4:30 am from close to the Oklahoma state line… There were no real vehicle dramas and the one time we had a vehicle issue, other pilots immediately set out to help retrieve the pilots involved and get the vehicle fixed.

We had wonderful sponsor support for this growing event – everything from T-shirts to helmets and even great deals on new gliders. Sponsors were Flytec, Icaro, Moyes, USHPA and Wills Wing. Many, many thanks.

See ya next year.

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Wills Wing USA Delivery

Fri, Apr 1 2022, 5:10:48 pm MDT

From Fly Mexico

Fly Mexico|Wills Wing

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Wills Wing down tubes

Wed, Mar 30 2022, 2:57:09 pm MDT

Can I get some down tubes with that toilet paper?

Wills Wing

We just got the notice that Wills Wing is shipping a stock of down tubes to the US this week.

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Pilotle

Mon, Mar 14 2022, 7:11:50 pm MDT

Almost every day

game|Wills Wing

Gerry writes:

Tormod Helgesen (a Wills Wing dealer in Norway) plays the game almost every day, and almost always gets the right answer.

https://OzReport.com/pilotle.php#content

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Andrew rerepresents the data

Thu, Feb 3 2022, 7:58:23 pm MST

Pivot tables

Andrew Vanis|Europe|insurance|Wills Wing

"Andrew Vanis" «andrewvanis»

I was curious about the representation so put together these pivot tables.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SM9mjcR8YHk49yji6oZbPMHto5A5IBRb-Vh7RIjvUCA/edit?usp=sharing

Surprised that the land of Moyes at 250 pilots has 1/10 of the USA pilots 2600 - and we couldn't hold onto Wills Wing. No wonder their insurancerate is higher than our high insurance rates.

Germany has more pilots than all of the USA, like 50% more. Europe represents almost 60% of the pilots in the world. If Germany was separated from Europe the top three would be Europe, Germany, North America.

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Hang Gliding Instruction in North Carolina

Mon, Nov 22 2021, 8:31:30 am MST

4000 tandems

aerotow|Craig Pearson|Facebook|instruction|Moyes Delta Gliders|North Wing|picture|scooter|tandem|Thermal Valley Hang Gliding|towing|video|Wills Wing

Craig Pearson «craig» writes:

We own and operate Thermal Valley Hang Gliding and operate in Lenoir NC. Our website is http://www.thermalvalley.net . We are on Facebook and Instagram and have been in business since 2011. We primarily aerotow tandem discovery flights but teach aerotowing, foot launching, and scooter towing. We have flown nearly 4000 tandems and are Wills Wing, Moyes and North Wing authorized dealers (although Wills Wing dealership status is unknown for now).

www.thermalvalley.net

https://www.facebook.com/thermalvalley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ika0wJDgjYs

https://youtu.be/2yJZTbQMiqk

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Wills Wing in Valle

Fri, Oct 22 2021, 3:08:10 pm MDT

The sail loft

Daniel Vélez Bravo|Wills Wing

We are making great progress with the factory setup in Valle de Bravo! The cutting table is in, the sail loft is looking great, and we have the mill ready to start making downtubes again soon!

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A few thoughts on the new⁢ Wills Wing »

Tue, Jun 8 2021, 9:22:08 am MDT

It's about time

Steve tells me that business is up better than it has been in the last five years. Is this a rebound from the pandemic?

For the last decade I've been saying to Steve that they have to get out of Southern California. There is no way that they can afford to stay there. The rents are just too high. We're here in Boise, Idaho and the crush in the marketplace from people moving out of California is causing an acute housing crisis here and not only here.

Wills didn't leave Southern California for a lot of good reasons, mainly because all the people that worked there, lived there. The company is its skilled workers including Mike, Linda and Steve. That didn't mean that there wasn't an accounting coming sometime in the future.

Generational change is coming. You can't just have a company age out. You need to involve younger, newer people in the manufacturing process. You need to engage in technology and skill transfer. That is what will be happening in Valle.

This is a great time to make this change while it is still possible to engage to skills and technology transfer.

Steve says that it has been difficult to hire people in Southern California even when they are offering $10/ hour MORE than folks would get at Starbuck's, which is apparently where they prefer to work.

We look forward to hearing more from Steve about everything that brought about these changes and how things are going as they get further into the transition.

Wills Wing⁣ Dealers »

Sat, Mar 13 2021, 7:41:53 am EST

Dealing with the locals

Wilotree Park

http://digiflyusa.com/ (well, Pedro and Maria Garcia) and Paradise Airsports, https://www.paradiseairsports.com/, both right here at Wilotree Park, https://www.wilotreepark.com/ are both Wills Wing dealers. It's great to have local dealers available.

Wills Wing⁣ Face Shield »

Thu, Jan 14 2021, 7:28:25 am EST

Their contribution to social distancing

Wilotree Park

https://www.Wills Wing.com/product/medical-ppe-face-shield/

I purchased a couple of these to support Wills Wing in their efforts to help with the pandemic. But I had another use for them:

I'm whacking down all the weeds by the lake at Wilotree Park and it is a messy job requiring not only a string trimmer (2.7 mm), but a blade to cut through the thick stalks on some of the weeds.

Stingers

January 6, 2021, 9:14:12 pm EST

Stingers

Wills Wing

gear|Wills Wing

Our new Carbon Fiber Stingers are here! These are made with 100% Carbon Fiber Prepreg at our production facility here in Orange, California.

The T3 Carbon Fiber Stinger has the same geometry as the previous model, but features a reinforced tip and embossed "whoosh" logo.

The 42mm Carbon Fiber Stinger is all new! It features the same tip shape as the T3 version but tapers to fit the smaller diameter kneel of the Sport 3 and U2.

Both are lighter then the stock 7075 Aluminum version.

They are available as stand alone parts or as upgrades for new glider purchases.

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Glider Flight Testing and Tuning

June 11, 2019, 7:09:28 MDT

Glider Flight Testing and Tuning

Wills Wing

Wills Wing

https://www.willswing.com/glider-flight-testing-and-tuning

In order to be able to effectively tune your glider and evaluate tuning changes, it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of flight test methodology and to conduct a thorough flight test of your glider before you make changes and again after each change to evaluate the effect of the change. We therefore begin with a discussion of flight testing.

The information presented here supplemental to the flight testing and tuning information in your glider’s owner’s manual, so review that information as well. You can find Wills Wing manuals at https://www.willswing.com/support/manuals/

Wills Wing Merry Christmas

Mon, Dec 24 2018, 1:14:46 pm GMT

The whole gang almost

Christmas|Wills Wing

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2015 Forbes Flatlands »

Thu, Jan 8 2015, 8:15:54 am EST

Zac Majors wins the Forbes Flatlands, continuing the tradition of non Moyes gliders winning there

Øyvind Ellefsen|Attila Bertok|Forbes Flatlands 2015|Gordon Rigg|Jamie Shelden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Steve Blenkinsop|Trent Brown|Tullio Gervasoni|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

http://www.forbesflatlands.com/results.html

Task 6:

# Name Nat Glider SS ES Time Total
1 Attila Bertok Hun Moyes RX 5 14:00:00 16:13:01 02:13:01 966
2 Steve Blenkinsop Aus Moyes RX 3.5 13:45:00 16:11:22 02:26:22 857
3 Jonny Durand Aus Moyes RX 3.5 13:45:00 16:12:43 02:27:43 855
4 Geoff Robertson Aus Moyes RX 3.5 13:45:00 16:12:15 02:27:15 846
5 Tullio Gervasoni Ita Wills Wing T2C 13:45:00 16:12:40 02:27:40 838
6 Kato Minoru Jpn Moyes RX 3.5 14:00:00 16:22:40 02:22:40 835
7 Jochen Zeischka Bel Moyes RX 4 13:45:00 16:16:57 02:31:57 815
8 Jon Snr Durand Aus Moyes RX 4 13:45:00 16:16:40 02:31:40 802
9 Oyvind Ellefsen Nor Moyes RX 3.5 14:00:00 16:26:00 02:26:00 799
10 Trent Brown Aus Moyes RX 3.5 13:45:00 16:17:29 02:32:29 785

Looks like Attila took away a hundred points by going fast and starting later.

Final:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Usa Wills Wing T2C 144 5046
2 Jonny Durand Aus Moyes RX 3.5 4974
3 Gordon Rigg Gbr Moyes RX 3.5 4946
4 Jonas Lobitz Nzl Moyes Rs 3.5 4905
5 Jochen Zeischka Bel Moyes RX 4 4890
6 Trent Brown Aus Moyes RX 3.5 4860
7 Olav Opsanger Nor Moyes RX 3.5 4754
8 Attila Bertok Hun Moyes RX 5 4746
9 Christian Voiblet Sui Aeros 4693
10 Olav Olsen Nor Moyes RX 3.5 4660

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/forbes-flatlands-last-task.html

But, with the expectation of overdevelopment, they called a shortish (for Forbes) task to the south and then east, thinking that most would take the first start. Most did, but not all. Atilla hung back and took the second start. Jonny apparently wanted to wait (as he wasn't able to leave the start circle right on time), but worried about the forecast storms and went on ahead with most everyone.

All the drivers sped to goal and watched the sky for storms and for the coming leaders. Blenky, Jonny and Atilla were the first three in (I think in that order), but with Atilla taking the second start and the others on the first. We watched several pilots come in over the next 15 minutes wondering what might have happened to Zac in first place. After 16 minutes, with probably 15 pilots between him and the first in, Zac finally made it - together with Gordon (in second place overall and Jonas in third). It was a nail biter for everyone at goal - and probably for those watching the trackers from abroad. In the end there were probably 35 at goal. And, by the way, the overdevelopment never reached us.

2015 Forbes Flatlands »

January 7, 2015, 8:19:58 EST

2015 Forbes Flatlands

Task 5, Zac moves strongly into the lead

Attila Bertok|Filippo Oppici|Forbes Flatlands 2015|Gordon Rigg|Jamie Shelden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Steve Blenkinsop|Trent Brown|Tullio Gervasoni|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

http://www.forbesflatlands.com/results.html

http://www.flytrace.com/tracker/map.aspx?group=280

http://flyingjochen.blogspot.com/

Task 5:

# Name Nat Glider Dist. Total
1 Trent Brown AUS Moyes RX 3.5 112.2 918
2 Attila Bertok HUN Moyes RX 5 104.7 875
3 Jochen Zeischka BEL Moyes RX 4 103.9 871
3 Zac Majors USA Wills Wing T2C 144 104.0 871
3 Tullio Gervasoni ITA Wills Wing T2C 103.9 871
3 Steve Blenkinsop AUS Moyes RX 3.5 103.9 871
3 Yasuhiro Noma AUS Moyes RX 3.5 103.9 871
3 Olav Opsanger NOR Moyes RX 3.5 103.9 871
3 Kato Minoru JPN Moyes RX 3.5 103.9 871
3 Gordon Rigg GBR Moyes RX 3.5 103.9 871

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/forbes-flatlands-task-5.html

Although there was no talk of thunderstorms in the forecast (at least not that I heard), as I got about halfway to goal in the car, I could see a big cell that appeared to be just to the west of goal.

It quickly became quite widespread and I got the text message that the task was stopped. Many came down and landed near the turn point before the gust front hit.

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Zac Majors USA Wills Wing T2C 144 4331
2 Gordon Rigg GBR Moyes RX 3.5 4248
3 Jonas Lobitz NZL Moyes RS 3.5 4190
4 Jonny Durand AUS Moyes RX 3.5 4126
5 Christian Voiblet SUI Aeros 4100
6 Trent Brown AUS Moyes RX 3.5 4075
7 Jochen Zeischka BEL Moyes RX 4 4074
8 Olav Opsanger NOR Moyes RX 3.5 4057
9 Olav Olsen NOR Moyes RX 3.5 3971
10 Filippo Oppici ITA Wills Wing T2C 3907

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2015 Forbes Flatlands »

January 6, 2015, 6:26:24 pm EST

2015 Forbes Flatlands

Task 4, Zac still in first, along with Jonny he is tied for first place

Filippo Oppici|Forbes Flatlands 2015|Gerolf Heinrichs|Gordon Rigg|Jamie Shelden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Phil Schroder|Trent Brown|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

http://www.forbesflatlands.com/results.html

http://www.flytrace.com/tracker/map.aspx?group=280

http://flyingjochen.blogspot.com/

Task 4:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Zac Majors USA Wills Wing T2C 144 04:31:03 975
2 Jonas Lobitz NZL Moyes RS 3.5 04:44:50 905
3 Jonny Durand AUS Moyes RX 3.5 04:42:26 870
4 Olav Olsen NOR Moyes RX 3.5 04:43:15 862
5 Glen Mcfarlane AUS Wills Wing T2C 04:51:32 858
6 Christian Voiblet SUI Aeros 04:47:25 829
6 Phil Schroder AUS Airborne Rev 04:47:25 829
8 Gijs Wanders NED Icaro 05:01:48 789
8 Gordon Rigg GBR Moyes RX 3.5 04:53:33 789
10 Filippo Oppici ITA Wills Wing T2C 04:54:32 784

Attila drops from first to fifteenth landing early on task 4.

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Zac Majors USA Wills Wing T2C 144 3459
1 Jonny Durand AUS Moyes RX 3.5 3459
3 Gordon Rigg GBR Moyes RX 3.5 3369
4 Jonas Lobitz NZL Moyes RS 3.5 3318
5 Gerolf Heinrichs AUT Moyes RX 3.5 3288
6 Christian Voiblet SUI Aeros 3226
7 Olav Olsen NOR Moyes RX 3.5 3208
8 Jochen Zeischka BEL Moyes RX 4 3193
9 Olav Opsanger NOR Moyes RX 3.5 3177
10 Trent Brown AUS Moyes RX 3.5 3149

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/forbes-flatlands-task-4.html

Looooong task and a long day overall. They called a 258km task out to the west (toward Hay). The drive along course line takes you through almost nothing, just lots of Australian outback. Drivers were warned at the briefing to fuel up anyplace we saw an open station. It's not unheard of for teams to sleep in their cars after a late retrieve waiting for the gas station to open up in the morning. That may have been the fate of the team of Christian/Blenky/Glen as their driver arrived at goal with 1/3 a tank of fuel - which wouldn't have been enough to make it back to the nearest fuel at West Waylong (haven't heard yet this morning though).

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2015 Forbes Flatlands »

Sat, Jan 3 2015, 8:12:35 am EST

Pilots are super fast to goal

Øyvind Ellefsen|Attila Bertok|Filippo Oppici|Forbes Flatlands 2015|Gordon Rigg|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Steve Blenkinsop|Tove Heaney|Trent Brown|Tullio Gervasoni|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

http://www.forbesflatlands.com/results.html

Task 3:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Attila Bertok Hun Moyes RX 5 02:25:56 989
2 Jonny Durand Aus Moyes RX 3.5 02:25:45 987
3 Len Paton Aus Moyes RX 4 02:28:01 948
4 Gordon Rigg Gbr Moyes RX 3.5 02:28:22 935
5 Tullio Gervasoni Ita Wills Wing T2C 02:28:38 927
6 Filippo Oppici Ita Wills Wing T2C 02:28:45 923
7 Olav Opsanger Nor Moyes RX 3.5 02:29:01 915
8 Steve Blenkinsop Aus Moyes RX 3.5 02:29:10 912
9 Trent Brown Aus Moyes RX 3.5 02:29:28 905
10 Glen Mcfarlane Aus Wills Wing T2C 02:30:28 888

It didn't work out for Zac starting at the second gate at 2 PM. The first 16 in started at 1:45 PM. Jonny was first in but didn't have as many leading points at Attila.

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Attila Bertok Hun Moyes RX 5 2650
2 Jonny Durand Aus Moyes RX 3.5 2587
3 Gordon Rigg Gbr Moyes RX 3.5 2576
4 Olav Opsanger Nor Moyes RX 3.5 2555
5 Zac Majors Usa Wills Wing T2C 144 2482
6 Trent Brown Aus Moyes RX 3.5 2429
7 Jonas Lobitz Nzl Moyes Rs 3.5 2410
8 Christian Voiblet Sui Aeros 2395
9 Oyvind Ellefsen Nor Moyes RX 3.5 2360
10 Olav Olsen Nor Moyes RX 3.5 2344

Blenky at goal:

Photo by Jonny.

Photo by Glen.

Cloud streets to goal. Photo by Tove.

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2015 Forbes Flatlands »

January 2, 2015, 6:14:38 pm EST

2015 Forbes Flatlands

Day Two Results

Attila Bertok|Conrad Loten|Forbes Flatlands 2015|Gerolf Heinrichs|Gordon Rigg|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Moyes Litespeed RX|Trent Brown|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

http://www.forbesflatlands.com/results.html

Task 2:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Zac Majors USA Wills Wing T2C 144 02:39:42 999
2 Jochen Zeischka BEL Moyes Litespeed RX4 02:43:22 935
3 Gordon Rigg GBR Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 02:49:22 874
4 Jonas Lobitz NZL   02:56:23 799
5 Trent Brown AUS Moyes RX 02:58:17 770
6 Jonny Durand AUS Moyes RX 02:59:18 741
7 Conrad Loten NZL   03:11:01 735
8 Christian Voiblet SUI Wills Wing T2C 03:11:34 726
9 Guy Hubbard AUS Moyes RS 03:12:22 720
10 Lukas Bader GER Moyes RS 03:12:24 713

The task:

No Dist. Id Radius
(meters)
1 0.0 km FORBE 400
2 SS 9.6 km FORBE 10000
3 56.7 km MARSDE 400
4 107.1 km TYAGON 20000
5 ES 162.1 km STOC15 400

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Zac Majors USA Wills Wing T2C 144 1700
2 Attila Bertok HUN Moyes RX 5 1661
3 Jochen Zeischka BEL Moyes RX 4 1648
4 Gordon Rigg GBR Moyes RX 3.5 1641
5 Olav Opsanger NOR Moyes RX 3.5 1640
6 Jonny Durand AUS Moyes RX 3.5 1600
7 Gerolf Heinrichs AUT Moyes RX 3.5 1587
8 Christian Voiblet SUI Aeros 1549
9 Olav Olsen NOR Moyes RX 3.5 1539
10 Jonas Lobitz NZL Moyes RS 3.5 1530

Vicki gets this shot:

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2015 Forbes Flatlands »

Thu, Jan 1 2015, 7:35:11 pm EST

33 in goal

Øyvind Ellefsen|Attila Bertok|Forbes Flatlands 2015|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.forbesflatlands.com/results.html

Task 1 results updated:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Attila Bertok Hun 02:36:59 967
2 Olav Opsanger Nor 02:38:19 931
3 Gerolf Heinrichs Aut Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 02:43:17 883
4 Olav Olsen Nor Moyes Rs 02:52:29 868
5 Jonny Durand Aus Moyes RX 02:39:59 860
6 Len Paton Aus 02:41:44 840
7 Christian Voiblet Sui Wills Wing T2C 02:48:38 825
8 Oyvind Ellefsen Nor Moyes Litespeed Rs 4 02:48:42 823
9 Glen Mcfarlane Aus Moyes RX 02:42:54 821
10 Gijs Wanders Ned 02:58:36 807

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2015 Forbes Flatlands »

January 1, 2015, 8:40:16 EST

2015 Forbes Flatlands

Good to see Gerolf competing

Attila Bertok|Forbes Flatlands 2015|Gerolf Heinrichs|Gordon Rigg|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Moyes Litespeed RX|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.forbesflatlands.com/results.html

Task 1:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Attila Bertok HUN   02:36:59 974
2 Gerolf Heinrichs AUT Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 02:43:17 900
3 Jonny Durand AUS Moyes RX 02:39:59 871
4 Len Paton AUS   02:41:44 850
5 Christian Voiblet SUI Wills Wing T2C 02:48:38 837
6 Glen Mcfarlane AUS Moyes RX 02:42:54 829
7 Gijs Wanders NED   02:58:36 828
8 Gavin Myers AUS Moyes LSS 03:01:53 808
9 Harrison Rowntree AUS   03:02:18 795
10 Gordon Rigg GBR Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 02:55:56 781

Zac hasn't been scored yet.

Task 1:

No Dist. Id Radius
(meters)
1 0.0 km FORBE 400
2 SS 4.6 km FORBE 5000
3 71.1 km CANOWI 400
4 118.8 km MOLONG 5000
5 ES 135.1 km MANI15 200

A number of of pilots haven't been scored yet.

There are six sport class pilots also.

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Wills Wing Merry Christmas

December 22, 2014, 9:32:07 EST

Wills Wing Merry Christmas

A see through Christmas

Wills Wing

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Wills Wing has a secret

December 11, 2014, 7:23:38 EST

Wills Wing has a secret

It's hard to keep something like this quiet for long.

Facebook|photo|Wills Wing

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Wills Wing T2C batten tension

December 5, 2014, 9:15:20 CST

Wills Wing T2C batten tension

Tuning

Wills Wing

Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.willswing.com/pdf/pdf_man.asp?theModel=T2

Batten tension

The outboard most batten on each wing is tensioned by looping the batten string over the notched end of the batten twice. The remaining battens are all fitted with lever tips. The outboard batten with strings should be adjusted quite tight for maximum sail cleanliness.

On the battens fitted with lever tips, it is important to adjust the lever tips to set the right batten tension. The lever action makes it easy to have the battens set too tight. Batten tension is best judged by noting at what point the batten begins to tension the sail as you pivot the lever tip down into its locked position. This is the point at which chordwise slackness begins to be pulled out of the sail, the high point of the batten begins to make a prominent ridge in the top surface, and a noticeable increase in resistance is felt in pivoting the tip downwards.

On any battens inboard of the crossbar junction, this point should not come until the lever tip is within no more than the last 20 to 30 degrees of travel before becoming straight. On battens outboard of the crossbar junction, this point should come when the lever is between 30 and 40 degrees of straight. To lengthen the batten, simply unscrew the batten tip shank from the batten, to shorten the batten screw the tip further in. Each three turns changes the length of the batten by 1/8 of an inch.

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UVPXB

November 24, 2014, 10:01:20 PST

UVPXB

The material used in the new Wills Wing U2

Wills Wing

http://www.dimension-polyant.com/en/Laminate_Racing_2_4_1.php

DIMENSION-POLYANT has developed the PXB Polyester line based on our very successful PX Polyester warp oriented fabrics. The custom black fiber coating will increase the UV properties of the Polyester fiber in an efficient weight-to-strength radial construction. As with our standard PX styles, the weight ranges will step up in 5000 denier per inch increments on the warp, from 5000 DPI to 20000 DPI. The fill DPI also increases as the warp count goes up to address the higher overall loading across the sail. DIMENSION-POLYANT‘s patented X-PLY® further addresses off angle loading for the highest stability available in an economic fabric.

No information here yet: http://willswing.com/features/sailcloth.asp#ODL06

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A new see through king posted glider

November 21, 2014, 8:50:57 PST

A new see through king posted glider

Wills Wing U2

Wills Wing

U2 with the new UVPXB laminate.

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Cross Country Alpha

November 19, 2014, 9:26:23 PST

Cross Country Alpha

Majo goes with Rudy

Wills Wing

My first flight after two months without flying, I flew the Alpha from Wills Wing, very good for climbing, but the best part, it was the first time that I didn't land on the primary landing field and went to the secondary over 7km away. Thanks to Rudy Gotes who convinced me to follow him and led me along the way.

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No big Wills Wing Days at Wallaby in 2015

November 3, 2014, 7:41:21 PST

No big Wills Wing Days at Wallaby

The west coast this year

Steven "Steve" Pearson|Wills Wing

Wills Wing is not holding their big party, demo days at Wallaby Ranch in 2015. Instead that will take place at the Andy Jackson Flight Park on the west coast, near Wills Wing, and where they do all their test flying.

Steve Pearson is planning on flying out with a few demos to the east coast at some point.

He writes:

Florida Demo Days 2015: Thursday, April 16th - Saturday, April 18th, 2015

Held at Wallaby Ranch

Event will include: Selection of demo gliders (availability based on pre-event requests), Wills Wing factory representative available for Q&A/Demos/glider delivery. We’ll be offering free shipping on any gliders purchased for delivery at the event, courtesy of Wills Wing and our co-sponsor Wallaby Ranch. Wallaby Ranch will also be putting on the usual evening parties and live music entertainment.

Summer Demo Days

November 3, 2014, 7:41:03 PST

Summer Demo Days

Lookout, July 2nd through the 5th

Facebook|Wills Wing

https://www.facebook.com/events/946944055335162/

Selection of demo gliders, Wills Wing factory representative available for Q&A/Demos/glider delivery. We’ll be offering free shipping/delivery on any gliders purchased for delivery at the event. Thursday, July 2nd - Sunday, July 5th.

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2015 Southern California Demo Days »

November 3, 2014, 7:39:28 PST

Southern California Demo Days

Wills Wing, April 30th through May 2nd, 2015

Facebook|Southern California Demo Days 2015|Wills Wing

https://www.facebook.com/events/733953316642279/

Held at Andy Jackson Airpark -- Co-Sponsored by the Crestline Soaring Society ( CrestlineSoaring.org facebook.com/CrestlineSoaring ) and the Cross Country Ranch. Event will include: Fleet of demo gliders, dinner Friday and Saturday night, Instructional Clinics, and more! Additional demo flights available before/after the event. Check back soon for additional information, including lodging, pre-registration, event programs, etc. at www.WillsWing.com facebook.com/WillsWing. Thursday, April 30th - Saturday, May 2nd, 2015

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Instant VG improvement

October 20, 2014, 8:24:16 MDT

Instant VG improvement

The pulley needs replacement

Jonathan Dietch|Kraig Coomber|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Wills Wing

Jonathan Dietch <<nmerider>> writes:

A few days ago, the VG on my T2C 144 started going all clunky after about the 10th pull on the rope. It got progressively worse with each iteration but only when I'd pull on tension and not when I'd back off. I had no clue what was causing this and after I landed I assumed it was the cover bag tied in front of the X-bar joint impinging on the floating VG pulley. However, this seemed less than believable since I have done hundreds of such flights with no incidents. My T2C airframe was built in 2009, and I am well into the 380-hour range of the second after retiring the first sail with 500 hours on it.

I decided it was time to replace the rear VG rope and inspect the right-hand control bar leg for possible snags or twists. When I removed the stainless bushing from the corner bracket I got a surprise. The little ball bearing had all of the balls on one side of the race which explained the eccentric action when I'd pull tension. It then fell apart and I took the photo with my cell phone. I replaced the bearing with a spare that had 200 hours on it from another glider and the next flight yielded lower VG friction than at any time in the past 400 hours.

I ran into Steve Pearson at Andy Jackson and mentioned all of this. He told me something to the effect that he replaces his every few hundred hours and that these are stock bearings that can be purchased in small quantities as low as $2 per bearing. Longer lasting ceramic versions can be picked up for a lot more money. After some researching it appears the standard designation is something like R1810ZZ which produces the same size bearing that Wills Wing lists as 20P-1270 in its price list. I bought four on FleaBay for $6.56 ppd. These are also commonly used in R/C helicopters and may be found at some hobby retailers.

Meanwhile, an inspection of all the Delrin ball bearing pulleys revealed that most of these had around 4X the amount of play as a new pulley. I will be replacing 7 more pulleys shortly. My T2C 144 airframe has roughly 890 hours and most of the VG pulleys are the originals. It works great with the newer corner bracket pulley but the last thing I want is another jam in flight.

No way I'm spending $50 on boutique pulley when I can buy steel versions for $1.75 each then just swap 'em every few hundred hours. I need to get off my ass and do more frequent and thorough periodic maintenance anyway. Pearson's running joke with me is that I'm about the only Wills Wing customer who replaces equipment before it goes obsolete because I wear it out first.

I have scary stories about pilots who didn't inspect and replace critical parts and knew better. I don't want to have any stories like these to tell. I prefer a boring life however I have had more potentially great X/C flights blown because of some teeny tiny maintenance failure on my part. I had good flights but lost great flights at least two dozen times due to this typical slacking.

I just found a good deal on ceramic hybrid bearings for the corner bracket:

http://www.bocabearings.com/bearing-inventory/Radial-Bearings/6771/0-3125x0-5000x0-1562-YCWK18102YSNB2

These are fully sealed for dirty environments and so I bought a set of 4 for $17.89 including postage.

And they make a low-friction version for the more finicky pilot: http://www.bocabearings.com/bearing-inventory/Radial-Bearings/15667/xx-SW1810COS7AF2

The latter kit includes two grease-filled and two oil-filled bearings. I feel safer with grease even though the quantity of oil is probably miniscule, I just don't want oil near my glider or harness.

The grease needs to be broken in but that's for R/C race cars and I doubt the drag from the grease will even be noticed by a pilot whether it's been broken in or not. After I test my new Boca ceramic hybrid bearing I will report back.

Meanwhile I have all new pulley to install for the rest of the VG system. It will be fun to see if I even notice any difference or not. My friend left his Lightspeed with Kraig Coomber for a VG system pulley overhaul and I am anxious to hear how he likes the result of that transformation.

2015 Team Challenge results

Wed, Oct 15 2014, 9:53:35 am MDT

They flew for five days

Dennis Pagen|Flytec USA|Lookout Mountain Flight Park|Mike Barber|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Mitch Shipley|Ollie Gregory|Tennessee Tree Toppers|Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2015|video|Wills Wing

Ollie Gregory «Ollie Gregory» writes:

TC 2014 was a blast. Had five flyable days with someone soaring all of them. The seminars were amazing with Dennis Pagen, Mike Barber, Mitch Shipley, Eric Carden, Maria and Pedro Garcia helping us out. We had fun and flew a lot. It was light on several days, as it often is this time of year, but we had plenty of flying and many pilots got out for some impressive task completions. Our A pilot to B or C pilot ratios were one to one this year which really helped with the cross country coaching and mentoring efforts.

The excellent video launch clinics and landing seminars again proved to be the most important thing we do to keep pilots flying safely. The rest is all gravy! The soaring and XC seminars were super this year with the pros tag teaming most of them. The karaoke and awards parties were the most fun ever! Hope more people come out next year. We will do a better job of promoting TTT Team Challenge in 2015. This exceptional event is held at the fabulous Tennessee Tree Toppers club in Dunlap TN, hang gliding capital of the East.

The results were tabulated using a unique scoring program which looks at TEAM scores equating 1000 for a perfect day. Fair no matter the team makeup. Thank you Eric Carden for figuring this all out.

Thanks to Flytec USA, Wills Wing, Lookout Mountain Flight Park, Moyes USA and our most generous TTT member, Kip Stone for all the support.

Hope we have a crowd next year.

1 Clowns & Jokers 844
2 Wind DumbyZ 635
3 Blind Squirrels 610
4 Altitude Deficit Disorder 385
5 Critical Mass 382
6 Sky High 223

Forbes 'Big Spring' Floater Comp October 2014

October 5, 2014, 8:19:41 MDT

Forbes 'Big Spring' Floater Comp October 2014

Last day

Conrad Loten|Rohan Taylor|Trent Brown|Wills Wing

Task 3:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Andrew Luton Airborne Fun 190 01:06:52 832
2 Conrad Loten Moyes Malibu 188 01:20:55 819
3 Nils Vesk Moyes Malibu 188 01:21:05 813
4 Micheal Tomlinson Airborne Fun 190 01:26:21 766
5 Rohan Taylor Moyes Malibu 2 188 01:44:38 717
6 Bruce Wynne Moyes Malibu 2 188 01:27:11 711
7 Luke Browne Moyes Malibu 188 01:54:03 652
8 Alastair Bramwell-Davies Wills Wing Falcon 01:38:28 647
9 Chris Rolfe Moyes Malibu 2 188 01:48:58 614
10 Steve Docherty Moyes Malibu 2 188 01:50:38 596
11 Gabriel Toniolo Seedwing Funky 17 01:51:15 593

Final Score:

# Name Glider Total
1 Andrew Luton Airborne Fun 190 2362
2 Steve Docherty Moyes Malibu 2 188 2302
3 Trent Brown Moyes Malibu 188 2071
4 Conrad Loten Moyes Malibu 188 1976
5 Alastair Bramwell-Davies Wills Wing Falcon 1702
6 Micheal Tomlinson Airborne Fun 190 1698
7 Nils Vesk Moyes Malibu 188 1586
8 Howard Jones Northwing Freedom 170 1581
9 Bruce Wynne Moyes Malibu 2 188 1579
10 Rohan Taylor Moyes Malibu 2 188 1550

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Forbes 'Big Spring' Floater Comp October 2014

October 4, 2014, 8:31:59 MDT

Forbes 'Big Spring' Floater Comp October 2014

Day Two

Alan Bond|Conrad Loten|Trent Brown|Wills Wing

http://williamolive.com/forbes-big-spring/comp%2520results%25202014.html

Day Two:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Andrew Luton 02:25:34 993
2 Alan Bond Wills Wing Falcon 4 02:41:25 897
3 Steve Docherty Airborne Fun 02:51:41 868
4 Chris Czajkowski 03:12:54 811
5 Chris Rolfe Moyes Malibu 2 188 03:19:31 799

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Steve Docherty Airborne Fun 1702
2 Trent Brown 1633
3 Andrew Luton 1525
4 Howard Jones NorthWing Freedom 170 1433
5 Alan Bond Wills Wing Falcon 4 1206
6 Conrad Loten 1147
7 Hoss Tefali Moyes Malibu 188 1081
8 Chris Czajkowski 1067
9 Richard Hughes 1053
10 Alastair Bramwell-Davies Wills Wing Falcon 1048

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Forbes 'Big Spring' Floater Comp October 2014

October 3, 2014, 9:24:36 MDT

Forbes 'Big Spring' Floater Comp October 2014

Single Surface Competition - day one

Trent Brown|Wills Wing

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Trent Brown 00:46:19 998
2 Howard Jones Northwing Freedom 170 00:57:50 836
3 Steve Docherty Airborne Fun 01:03:03 824
4 Alastair Bramwell-Davies Wills Wing Falcon 00:59:59 794
5 Micheal Tomlinson 01:00:52 734
6 Luke Browne Moyes Malibu 188 01:02:26 721
7 Richard Hughes 01:34:09 638
8 Nolan Bear Wills Wing Falcon 3 01:29:04 630
9 Brad Porter 01:20:27 618
10 Ai Fukutomi Moyes Malibu 166 01:22:31 607

http://williamolive.com/forbes-big-spring/day-one-task_result_2014-10-03_%2820141003-1942%29.html

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2014 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Sun, Sep 21 2014, 4:55:00 pm MDT

Ends with a bit of a whimper

Øyvind Ellefsen|Bill Soderquist|Brian Porter|James Stinnett|Joe Bostik|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014|Wills Wing|Zac Majors

Øyvind Ellefsen|Bill Soderquist|Brian Porter|Chris Zimmerman|James Stinnett|Joe Bostik|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014|Wills Wing|Zac Majors

Øyvind Ellefsen|Bill Soderquist|Brian Porter|Chris Zimmerman|James Stinnett|Joe Bostik|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

Øyvind Ellefsen|Bill Soderquist|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Zimmerman|James Stinnett|Joe Bostik|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

Øyvind Ellefsen|Bill Soderquist|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Zimmerman|James Stinnett|Joe Bostik|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

Øyvind Ellefsen|Bill Soderquist|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Arai|Chris Zimmerman|James Stinnett|Joe Bostik|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

http://soaringspot.com/scfr14/

http://soaringspot.com/scfr14/results/flex/daily/day5.html

Last day with no one at goal:

1. Michael Bilyk Usa Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 44.0km 589.69
2. Oyvind Ellefsen Nor Moyes Rs 3.5 42.9km 579.69
3. Larry Bunner Usa Will Wing T2C 144 42.4km 574.96
4. Joe Bostik Cze Wills Wing T2C144 42.4km 574.69
5. Bill Soderquist Usa Moyes Rs 3.5 41.7km 564.73
6. Rudy Gotés Mex Moyes RX 3.5 41.6km 562.70
7. Mitch Shipley Usa Wills Wing T2C 144 40.7km 546.35
8. Chris Arai Usa Wills Wing T2C 154 39.8km 528.52
9. Kraig Coomber Usa Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 39.2km 516.29
10. Robin Hamilton Usa Moyes RX 3.5 37.9km 490.73

Overdevelopment (as forecast) puts shading all over and a bit of rain to the south of the course line. The day ends up shaded and weak.

The final results:

1. Kraig Coomber Usa Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 4371.35
2. Robin Hamilton Usa Moyes RX 3.5 4320.71
3. Michael Bilyk Usa Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 4235.36
4. Jon Durand Aus Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 3961.66
5. Olav Opsanger Nor Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 3885.14
6. Zac Majors Usa Wills Wing T2C 144 3697.50
7. Bruce Barmakian Usa Wills Wing T2C 136 3691.22
8. Rudy Gotés Mex Moyes RX 3.5 3573.95
9. Chris Arai Usa Wills Wing T2C 154 3275.58
10. James Stinnett Usa Wills Wing T2C 144 3138.43

The Moyes men clean up.

Cory Barnwell wins sport class with a bit of strategy starting early in the open launch and getting out on the course before it gets shut down.

http://soaringspot.com/scfr14/results/club/daily/day5.html

http://soaringspot.com/scfr14/results/club/day-by-day.html

Brian Porter hangs on to win the Swift class after a scare from Chris Zimmerman.

http://soaringspot.com/scfr14/results/open/total/day5.html

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2014 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 18, 2014, 9:31:33 pm MST

2014 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 3, cu's galore

Belinda Boulter|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Arai|Flytec 6030|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

http://soaringspot.com/scfr14/

The remnants of the hurricane left the area leaving behind enough moisture that we had good looking cu's starting around 9:30 am and lasting all day. The forecast is for the moisture to hang around for a few more days so perhaps we'll have more cu's on Friday and Saturday.

With light to no winds in the forecast, cu's, cloud base maybe up to 7,000' and moderately good lift we called a task back and forth for 60 miles:

The sport class had a smaller version of this task.

We started launching at 12:30 PM with the first start window at 1:50 PM. The lift was light at first but as we got higher it improved until we were all above 6,000' just staying out of the cu's. We would find 200 to 300 fpm near cloud base, nothing to suck us up into the cloud.

Not much of a start at 1:50 as we got low, so almost everyone came back and found much better lift and took the 2:10 start time. There were cu's every where on the course.

I was high next to Zac and we raced as fast as possible to the Casa Grande mountain but the lift there was piss poor. We were working junk when my vario died. Turns out I had created the perfect storm to cause the battery to be flat.

I had installed a 16 GB SD card that also serves as a wifi server in my Flytec 6030 (allowing me to transmit track logs to my phone where they can be emailed to the scorekeeper). The server portion turns off after 5 minutes to keep the battery from being drained if it doesn't hook up with a client. But, I had placed my phone in my boot and turned it on to run the Livetracker24 app with the phone plugged into an add on battery. Previously I had used a dedicated tracker24 but Belinda was complaining that it would die after an hour.

But I had mistakenly left the wifi setting turned on on the phone so that the phone and the wifi server on the SD card in the 6030 were communicating and keeping the wifi server running and running down the battery.

With the 6030 dead I headed back toward the Francisco Grande hoping to get there high enough to land and leave my glider set up. I landed about a kilometer short and hiked the glider back.

Meanwhile pilots who weren't fooling around with wifi servers in their 6030's were out on the course and doing well. We got to see Kraig, then Bruce, then Robin all come in far ahead of the other pilots.

All and all a great flying day after two days of not flying.

# Pilot Team Glider Total
 
1. Kraig Coomber USA Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 2874.23
2. Robin Hamilton USA Moyes RX 3.5 2853.87
3. Michael Bilyk USA Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 2669.18
4. Rudy Gotés MEX Moyes RX 3.5 2524.98
5. Jon Durand AUS Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 2494.27
6. Olav Opsanger NOR Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 2431.27
7. Bruce Barmakian USA Wills Wing T2C 136 2388.53
8. Matt Barker USA Wills Wing T2C 144 2309.79
9. Zac Majors USA Wills Wing T2C 144 2308.08
10. Chris Arai USA Wills Wing T2C 154 2267.69

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Composite raked tips »

September 17, 2014, 6:39:25 MST

Composite raked tips

For the latest Wills Wing T2C

Steven "Steve" Pearson|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Yon Bárcena <<hangglidingdevices>> sends these for Steve Pearson and I to try out. They look good and flexible:

Hopefully we'll get to see on Friday and/or Saturday.

2014 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 16, 2014, 2:24:24 pm MST

2014 Santa Cruz Flats Race

After two days

Dustin Martin|James Stinnett|Kraig Coomber|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014|Wills Wing|Zac Majors

Dustin Martin|James Stinnett|Kraig Coomber|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

Dustin Martin|James Stinnett|Kraig Coomber|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

Chris Arai|Dustin Martin|James Stinnett|Kraig Coomber|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

http://soaringspot.com/scfr14/

1. Robin Hamilton Moyes RX 3.5 1875.36
2. Kraig Coomber Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 1874.23
3. Michael Bilyk Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 1839.52
4. Jon Durand Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 1701.51
5. Rudy Gotés Moyes RX 3.5 1684.46
6. Olav Opsanger Moyes RX 3.5 Technora 1644.77
7. Chris Arai Wills Wing T2C 154 1581.40
8. Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 1538.76
9. Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2C 144 1492.31
10. James Stinnett Wills Wing T2C 144 1480.66

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Chris Arai is back

September 13, 2014, 11:54:51 MST

Chris Arai is back

Flying with his Tangent flight instrument

Chris Arai|Wills Wing

Chris Arai|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Chris Arai|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

And a Wills Wing T2C 154:

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Technora sails

September 12, 2014, 7:46:01 MDT

Technora sails

Does it matter whether you use a Technora/Carbon laminate for the trailing edge or PX 15?

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Wills Wing

Jonny Durand test flew this one on Thursday:

Wills Wing test flew these on Thursday:

So what are the reasons for and against a full Tehnora laminate sail?

Discuss "Technora sails" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Star Thistle

August 28, 2014, 8:51:04 MDT

Star Thistle

Labor Day weekend

PG|USHPA|Wills Wing

www.RVHPA.ORG

Labor Day Weekend Aug 29 - Sep 1 2014 38th Annual Fly-In

Gather at Fiasco Saturday 8am Pilot Registration for a great Fly-In!

Hosted by: RVHPA, Cascade Paragliding Club, Longsword Vineyard, Fiasco Winery

Woodrat Mountain is the location to be at this Labor Day weekend for the 38th Annual Star Thistle Fly-In. Not only have both north and west top launches been groomed to perfection, but with the BLM, we have added enlarged parking and an "Airhead" toilet!

Featuring new competition events: Open Distance, Out & Back, Team XC, spot and duration too…

Cool TROPHIES! Saturday and Sunday evenings @ Fiasco Winery LZ

LIVE MUSIC, DANCING and FUN with FRIENDS FUND RAISING, DINNERS, RAFFLE PRIZES, GREAT TROPHIES!

Sponsored by: FLYTEC, WILLS WING, THERMAL TRACKER, FIASCO, GLIDERCOM, FLYMASTER, USHPA, LONGSWORD, CASCADE PG CLUB, TORREY PINES, KITTY HAWK KITES, SUPER FLY, MPH SPORTS

AUG 30 - 31 STARTHISTLE FLY-IN 2014! 38th Annual Fly-In in southern Orego

Complete schedule at http://RVHPA.ORG  Contact Dave Palmer at <FiascoDave>

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Moyes customer support?

August 22, 2014, 7:57:54 MDT

Moyes customer support?

Discounts on replacement sails?

Belinda Boulter|Facebook|Kraig Coomber|Wills Wing

Belinda Boulter|Facebook|Kraig Coomber|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Belinda Boulter|Facebook|Kraig Coomber|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

I believe that it has been amply established that Moyes had a problem with some of their sail material: http://ozreport.com/18.138#0. I have seen a number of examples. It turns out that Belinda saw a pilot at the 2014 Big Spring Nationals gluing fiber strands back to his Moyes sail. I asked him about this. Eduardo Panuco wrote:

My sail is the Code Zero from Moyes. The carbon fibers are exposed and coming out. I asked Moyes about this problem and they told me to glue them back with Loctyte glue, the flexible version.

Belinda says that Eduardo told her that he couldn't afford to buy a new sail.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/118763844883239/permalink/680731618686456/

Jerry Furnell: Thanks for posting Davis. I too read the Moyes blurb and thought... really? What a weird way to announce it. As an Australian I'd prefer to support Moyes, but I have recently ordered a new Wills Wing T2C instead of an RX simply because all the older Moyes/Airborne sails in my club are delaminating and Queensland sunshine demands UV protection.

My question is, don't these pilots deserve new sails from Moyes at no cost? The first article linked to above states that Kraig Coomber said there was a manufacturing defect. Shouldn't there be a recall and a cost free replacement?

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Short Pack

August 19, 2014, 7:40:27 MDT

Short Pack

Leaving on a jet plane

Alejandro Isaza|Wills Wing

Alejandro Isaza <<alejandroisaza>> writes:

I want to follow on Dieter Meyer post (a friend from Guatemala), with this message to encourage Hang Gliding manufacturers to redesign hang gliders.

I think very much the same as Dieter does and I am also worried, because it is getting more and more difficult to carry a hang glider on airlines. It is difficult to to carry them on airports and even more for the airlines to accept them. I have heard many stories about pilots who have not being able to load their gliders on airplanes, to the point that is getting discouraging to travel at all with a hang glider.

I had to leave my hang glider in Rome once as the airline did not take it. I was lucky not to loose it because others pilots traveling the next day were able to load it in a another airline.

The truth is that a packed glider is still to big to be carried as luggage around airports (perhaps the longest luggage you will see in a airport) and the longest to load on a plane. They raise many eyebrows in airports and airline counters, not to mention the passengers behind you in the line at the counter as you fight !! With attendants to get your glider aboard.

I do want to send a message to hang glider manufacturers urging them to redesign hang gliders so they can be packed to a much shorter size to be able to carry them anywhere even if it takes more time for the pilot to assemble it.

I don't design hang gliders and don't know the difficulties about it, but I think that if the length of a packed glider can be shorten 1 more meter they would be better accepted by airlines. I see no problem shortening the keel by disassembling the last part of it. Can the crossbars be attached to the leading edges much forward? So that the wing tips can be made longer and thus when disassembled shorten all ? Can crossbars be made in more sections? Wings in more sections? Detachable crossbars? There has to be a good design to solve this problem.

This is important for our sport !!! And is one of the great things hang gliders have. The fact they can be carried anywhere to fly at different places around the world. Otherwise we will be confined to fly only at our local sites and sites close by and not be able to attend to international competitions.

So please hang glider manufacturers (WILLS WING, ICARO, AEROS, MOYES, BAUTEC, AIRBORNE, etc) get into it and design hang gliders so they can be more easily carried and accepted in all airlines. If you do, you will surely make a good improvement to our sport, get a big applause from us and most important bigger sales.

Discuss "Short Pack" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2014 British and French Hang Gliding Nationals and Chabre Open Class 1

Sun, Aug 17 2014, 8:59:15 am MDT

A total of three days of flying

British Nationals 2014|Chabre Open 2014|Chabre Open 2014 Class 1|French Nationals 2014|Gordon Rigg|Moyes Litespeed RX|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://bhgcresults.wikidot.com/2014-nationals:results

Third and last day:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Antoine Boisselier Fra Icaro Laminar 02:20:03 983
2 Carl Wallbank Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5T 02:20:34 956
3 Dan Vyhnalik Cze Aeros Combat GT 02:21:45 940
4 Grant Crossingham Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 02:22:41 939
5 Petr Benes Cze Aeros Combat 09 02:22:15 924
6 Mario Alonzi Fra Aeros Combat GT 02:23:16 912
7 Malcolm Brown Gbr Wills Wing T2C 02:24:19 892
7 Gordon Rigg Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5T 02:23:54 892
9 Christian Voiblet Sui Wills Wing T2C 02:28:42 882
10 Gijs Wanders Nld Wills Wing T2C 02:30:47 848

Final:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Antoine Boisselier Fra Icaro Laminar 2720
2 Mario Alonzi Fra Aeros Combat GT 2696
3 Grant Crossingham Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 2642
4 Gordon Rigg Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5T 2569
5 Carl Wallbank Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5T 2512
6 Balazs Ujhelyi Hun Moyes Litespeed RS4 2450
7 Dan Vyhnalik Cze Aeros Combat GT 2255
8 Anthony Stephens Gbr Aeros GT 13.5 2233
9 Vlastimil Bartas Cze Aeros Combat GT 2217
10 Christian Voiblet Sui Wills Wing T2C 2197

Discuss "2014 British and French Hang Gliding Nationals and Chabre Open Class 1" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Thanks to the Sponsors of the 2014 Big Spring Nationals

August 12, 2014, 7:39:05 MDT

Thanks to the Sponsors of the 2014 Big Spring Nationals

We could not do it without their support.

cart|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Larry Bunner|Quest Air|Russell "Russ" Brown|Steve Kroop|USHPA|weather|Wills Wing

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

First, the City of Big Spring:

This includes the Big Spring Convention and Visitors Bureau which provided the welcome dinner for all the pilots, drivers, and quests as well as the welcome baskets. The city is our major sponsor and makes all the local support possible.

The city owned McMahon-Wrinkle Airport and Jim Little, the airport manager, who provided the hangars, taxi ways, headquarters, pilots' meeting area, lounge, coffee, free ice cream dispensary, internet access for weather and task calling, golf cart parking and porta potty locations: http://www.mybigspring.com/pages/airport

The local committee that organizes all the support provided by the city, airport and local sponsors (see below), Especially Terry Wolford an Pascal Odom who drove cart retrieval.

The Comanche Trail Municipal Golf Course that provides the golf carts that are used to help pilots to the launch and to retrieve all the carts: http://www.mybigspring.com/pages/golf_course

Essentially all the local support makes it so we just show up with the tugs (provided by Quest Air, Russell Brown and Lori Brown, Mick Howard, and Gregg Ludwig) and run the show.

Blue Bell Ice Cream for their free ice cream during the competition:

Culligan bottled water (provided ice cold to all the pilots and helpers):

The local Alon oil refinery that provided $500 in prize money:

Steve Kroop provided the tee-shirts and $700 in Flytec prizes for the pilots:

Wills Wing provided ten hats and shirts:

Moyes provided three tee-shirts:

The USHPA provided three tee-shirts, two vests and a USHPA logoed bag:

Larry Bunner provided three Covert tee-shirts.

The volunteers who also made it possible to keep the pilot fees reasonable:
Mike Atkinson, Kim Braswell, Chris Cheney, Will, Kim Story, and Kim Wachenheimer.

Without these freely provided resources the competition would have been much more expensive.

2014 British and French Hang Gliding Nationals and Chabre Open Class 1

Mon, Aug 11 2014, 4:27:02 pm MDT

Day 2 - Monday

Andreas Olsson|British Nationals 2014|Chabre Open 2014|Chabre Open 2014 Class 1|French Nationals 2014|Gordon Rigg|Moyes Litespeed RX|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://bhgcresults.wikidot.com/2014-nationals:results

Monday:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Mario Alonzi Fra Aeros Combat GT 02:35:21 803
2 Grant Crossingham Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 02:45:01 764
3 Antoine Boisselier Fra Icaro Laminar 02:43:09 762
4 Carl Wallbank Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5T 02:46:53 741
5 Andreas Olsson Swe Wills Wing T2C 02:48:09 740
6 Steven Blackler Gbr Moyes Litespeed Rs 02:46:49 737
7 Anthony Stephens Gbr Aeros GT 13.5 02:49:33 732
8 Vlastimil Bartas Cze Aeros Combat GT 02:49:49 725
8 Dan Vyhnalik Cze Aeros Combat GT 02:48:49 725
10 Gordon Rigg Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5T 02:50:32 720

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Mario Alonzi Fra Aeros Combat GT 1788
2 Antoine Boisselier Fra Icaro Laminar 1740
3 Grant Crossingham Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1706
4 Gordon Rigg Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5T 1679
5 Balazs Ujhelyi Hun Moyes Litespeed RS4 1637
6 Carl Wallbank Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5T 1559
7 Anthony Stephens Gbr Aeros GT 13.5 1435
8 Steven Blackler Gbr Moyes Litespeed Rs 1415
9 Vlastimil Bartas Cze Aeros Combat GT 1380
10 Dan Vyhnalik Cze Aeros Combat GT 1318

Discuss "2014 British and French Hang Gliding Nationals and Chabre Open Class 1" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2014 British and French Hang Gliding Nationals and Chabre Open Class 1

Mon, Aug 11 2014, 6:13:19 am MDT

Together

British Nationals 2014|Chabre Open 2014|Chabre Open 2014 Class 1|French Nationals 2014|Gordon Rigg|Moyes Litespeed RX|Richard Lovelace|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://bhgcresults.wikidot.com/2014-nationals:results

Sunday:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Mario Alonzi Fra Aeros Combat GT 01:54:51 985
2 Antoine Boisselier Fra Icaro Laminar 01:54:52 978
3 Gordon Rigg Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5T 01:56:26 959
4 Grant Crossingham Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:56:31 942
5 Balazs Ujhelyi Hun Moyes Litespeed RS4 01:56:37 936
6 Gianpietro Zin Fra Icaro Laminar Z 02:08:20 846
7 Carl Wallbank Gbr Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5T 02:08:12 816
8 Glen Mcfarlane Aus Wills Wing T2C 02:16:07 813
9 Oliver Chitty Gbr Aeros Combat GT 02:09:54 807
10 Francois Isoard Fra Wills Wing T2C 02:14:31 786
11 Richard Lovelace Gbr Wills Wing T2C 02:18:09 752

Discuss "2014 British and French Hang Gliding Nationals and Chabre Open Class 1" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

My 2014 Big Spring Nationals experience

August 11, 2014, 6:07:22 MDT

My 2014 Big Spring Nationals experience

What pilots say about their flying in Big Spring

Belinda Boulter|Chris Zimmerman|Facebook|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Quest Air|Robin Hamilton|US Nationals 2014|weather|Wills Wing|Zac Majors

Brian Patrick writes:

Last year at this time I had not had a single cross country flight in a hang glider. Flying with much better pilots and competing has helped me learn more and fly more than I could imagine! Tennessee Treetoppers Team Challenge is coming up and if you are a new hang 3 or close to it, then attending is a must! Here is why.

My 2013/2014 progress

Sept: Team Challenge: cross country distance 7 miles, 9 hours of flying, and 17 flights

October: Quest Air Intro to Sport Comp: cross country distance 34 miles, 6 hours of flying, 8 flights

May: Americus competition camp: cross country distance 68 miles, 8 hours of flying, 5 flights

August: 2014 Big Spring Nationals: cross country distance, 255 miles, 20 hours of flying, 11 flights

I had an amazing week this week setting 2 personal bests, 54 and 71 mile flights, looked down at the world from 12,000 feet, 4 and a half hour lengths. Finished at the bottom of the pack in sport class, but you have to start somewhere!

10,000 ft cloudbase, 5 hours and over 50 miles of flying over the last 2 days.

Matt Christensen writes:

What a week of flying! Despite a couple days of poor decisions, I finished the week out with just over 17 hours of airtime and 332 miles flown. I made goal 4 days, including a 104.4 mile task, the longest ever achieved in the Sport Class. Although I decked it early on two tasks, I managed to claw back into 3rd...Sorry Alfredo, the results weren't updated. It was a super close competition, with only 15 points separating 2nd - 4th place. If you weren't here, you missed out on a great week of flying!

Patrick Pannese writes:

Big Spring 2014 was a great time with many epic flying days with some very talented pilots! It was an opportunity to increase my skills and at the same time have fun!

Cory Barnwell writes:

The last day is done and I made goal! Over 50 miles! What an awesome competition! I had so much fun! Can't wait until next year. Thanks so much to Kip Stone for letting me use his U2. I had a great time flying it. Maybe someday I will have one of my own.

Matt Barker writes:

What an amazing week of flying in Big Spring, TX this past week. I was on task committee with Zac and Larry. We had awesome weather which allowed us to call 1116 Km's (693.5 mi) worth of tasks!! Love Texas flying!!!

Stoked to fly 208 KM (129.5mi) to goal with my boys today. Zac crushed it and came in first on his WW T2C 144 with the UV Technoraramafragilisticexpealidocious sail of Awesomeness.

Alfredo Grey writes:

Best flight in my life (so far) 169km!!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=855184024494686&set=o.222192914465270&type=2&theater

Zac Majors writes:

Texas skies, 207km task and I'm 1st! But that's nothing compared to the 6 sport class pilots who flew their 1st 100 mile flights!

I had a rough day, made goal, but had to dig out of a deep hole. Congrats to Davis for the day win on his T2C

Majo Gularte writes:

Yesterday was an AWESOME day in the Big Spring competition, I had a lot of fun chasing the race with Frances Mikus Barker, my favorite pilot Zac Majors won the day , the boys on my team made it to goal on a great position Kevin, Mitch Shipley, Robin Hamilton, my favorite girl pilot (only girl on the comp) made it to goal in an amazing 6 hours flight Linda Salamone and my favorite pilot from the spot class won the day Cory Barnwell I'm so proud of u guys!!!

Eduardo Panuco sends a picture of part of the Mexican team:

Rodrigo Alva had to miss the last couple of days:

Derreck Turner writes:

Well it's finished, after a week in Texas flying our wings off, the results are official I got 2nd place and only 11 points from 1st. Zac won by winning 3 of the 7 task and flying incredibly, it came down to less than a minute after 7 days If any of my fellow pilots ever thought about seeing what competition is like, they really should come to Texas, Big friendly sky's are sure to put a smile on your face.

David Proctor writes:

Now that we are on the road from the US Nationals at Big Spring I have to send out a special THANK YOU to Belinda and Davis for putting this event on again. I know this is a lot of work, so thanks guys. Another big THANK YOU to Russell and Lori for bringing all the dragonflies. And Gregg Ludwig for bringing his trike. The tug pilots extraordinaire and volunteers. And the people of Big Spring for allowing us to come fly. Thank you all. I hope you are all crazy enough to do it again next year.

Wills Wing writes:

Congrats to Zac for winning big Spring 2014 in a closely contested last day with Derreck Turner. Zac, Chris Zimmerman and Davis combined for 5 of 7 daily wins. Big Spring continues to deliver extraordinary racing including a 105 mile task for Sport Class pilots. Congrats to David Williams (U2 145) for winning the sport class.

Mike Bylik and Kendrick Ja'Mal Stallard send:

Smashed out 208k flight. Only the finest food to celebrate!

Cindy Hughes writes:

My boyfriend is awesome! 1st place yesterday!

Linda Salamone writes:

I have the most amazing team here in Texas. They waited hours for me to get into goal and were so incredibly happy to see me there after everyone already packed up and left. They packed up my glider and bought dinner- what can I say? I totally lucked out. Thank you Mitch Shipley Kevin Dutt, Robin Hamilton, Majo Gularte. That was so great after a tough slog into goal. I'm still in a state of disbelief that I actually made it in. I'm icing my shoulder now and praying for a rest day!

Davis sends a picture of the finger that was used to pull the VG line, many many times:

2014 Big Spring Nationals »

August 10, 2014, 9:49:40 CDT

2014 Big Spring Nationals

Day seven, task seven

Bruce Barmakian|Dragonfly|Greg Kendall|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Moyes Litespeed RX|Robin Hamilton|US Nationals 2014|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

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

http://soaringspot.com/2014bsn/

http://airtribune.com/bigspring2014/blog#!day_7

Replay: http://airtribune.com/play/279/2d

With the scores very tight after six days of flying the task committee had to call a real and difficult task while still making the retrieves reasonably quick to get us back in time for the closing awards at 11 PM.

They decided on a zig and a zag up to Lamesa:

This is how tight things were:

The totals after six tasks:

1. Turner Derreck USA Moyes Litespeed S5 4969.05
2. Majors Zac USA Wills Wing T2C 144 4813.33
3. Bilyk Michael USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 4761.94
4. Barmakian Bruce USA Wills Wing T2C 136 4719.77
5. Hamilton Robin USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 4709.43
6. Straub Davis USA Wills Wing T2 - 144 4693.75
7. Opsanger Olav NOR Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 4579.74

I held on on tow and Jonny Thompson dragged me to a 400 fpm thermal to the west of the airport. Later he would thermal the Dragonfly with the engine off from 2,000' to 10,000' where he had to get down because he was not dressed for 42 degrees. (I wore 6 layers each day and had the hood from the Flytec speed sleeves on).

The wind was 16 to 18 mph out of the south southeast so the last leg would prove to be a bit difficult. Of course, the point was to find strong lift, get high and overcome the wind.

We were able to start again near cloud base. Zac, again was a little higher and soon got out in front of me. There wasn't much good lift until we got close to Ackerly, the first turnpoint, twenty nine kilometers past the edge of the start cylinder. Zac and Greg Kendall were circling above me and although the lift was not as strong as I expected (it averaged 400 fpm) we had a good reason to stay there waiting to get high enough to make it to the next widely spaced cu. Derreck and Bruce came in under me and we hung there until I left first at 10,000'.

I wasn't at all concerned with flying with any one as there were plenty of cu's ahead and I wanted a chance to catch Zippy ahead. The next thermal was much better and averaged almost 800 fpm. I saw 1000+ fpm on the vario for long stretches. Nice and smooth also.

I caught a brief glimpse of Bruce in the next thermal then lost him for the rest of the flight. Derreck came under me for the next couple of thermals and I ran away from him as fast as I could but appreciated the help finding the better cores as he was not too far below me.

As I approached the 35 km radius turnpoint cylinder there was plenty of strong lift and Derreck came in under again. I found the better core and out climbed him taking the turnpoint south (upwind) of the non optimized course line and much further south of the optimized course line (to keep myself upwind on the last leg).

I went back toward where I got up but to the north where there were still good cu's and didn't find the lift I had been in. Derreck would take a little bit more southerly route and find stronger lift.

There was a set of clouds perpendicular to the winds along half the course line toward Lamesa. I got under them 30 km from goal. I was 5 km ahead of Derreck but he was 2,500' higher after taking the turnpoint. He got 2 km ahead as we topped out in separate thermals 20 km from goal at 10,000'.

I was a little more cautious getting into goal and came in third after Zac and Derreck.

Zac won the day and the meet (by 11 point) by flying fast and getting to goal 11 minutes faster than Derreck. Twenty pilots in goal so the wind didn't cause all but a couple of pilots a problem on the last leg.

2014 Italian Nationals »

August 10, 2014, 9:00:53 CDT

2014 Italian Nationals

Final results

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Italian Nationals 2014|Moyes Litespeed RX|Suan Selenati|Tullio Gervasoni|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Website : VoloLiberoMonteCucco.it
Result on : http://goo.gl/I8foKj

Finals:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 ALEX PLONER ITA ICARO LAMINAR 4475
2 CHRISTIAN CIECH ITA ICARO LAMINAR 4311
3 SUAN SELENATI ITA WILLS WING T2C 3891
4 VALENTINO BAU ITA ICARO LAMINAR 14.1 3658
5 TULLIO GERVASONI ITA WILLS WING T2C 3502
6 ANTON MORODER ITA ICARO LAMINAR 3443
7 ROLAND WOEHRLE GER MOYES LITESPEED RX 3214
8 JOSEF BOSTIK CZE WILLS WING T2C154 3205
9 PEDRO L. GARCIA MORELLI ESP WILLS WING T2C P 144 3203
10 ELIO CATALDI ITA MOYES LITESPEED RX 3120

Discuss "2014 Italian Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2014 Brasilia »

Sun, Aug 10 2014, 9:00:38 am CDT

The final results

Brasilia 2014|James Stinnett|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Wills Wing

Finals:

http://www.abvl.com.br/compes/competicao-2/RESULTADOS/

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Tom Weisenberger Aut Moyes RX 3.5 Tecnorama 4597
2 Jonny Durand Aus Moyes Ls RX 3.5 Technorama 4477
3 Rafael Strohschoen Do Mello Bra Moyes RX 4249
4 Glauco Pinto Bra Icaro 2000 Laminar 4237
5 David Brito Filho Bra Wills Wing T2-C 4189
6 André Wolf Bra Moyes Litespeed 4187
7 Eduardo Fernandes Da Silva Bra Wills Wing T2-C 4059
8 Alvaro Sandoli Bra Wills Wing T2-C 136 4039
9 Eduardo Jacintto Oliveira Bra Wills Wing T2-C 4019
10 James Stinnett Usa Wills Wing T2-C 3884

Discuss "2014 Brasilia" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2014 Big Spring Nationals »

August 10, 2014, 0:48:35 CDT

2014 Big Spring Nationals

Final results:

Bruce Barmakian|Chris Zimmerman|Jeffrey "Jeff" Lawrence Bohl|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Moyes Litespeed RX|Robin Hamilton|US Nationals 2014|weather|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

The final results after seven days of flying with almost perfect weather (open class):

1. Majors Zac USA Wills Wing T2C 144 5810.98
2. Turner Derreck USA Moyes Litespeed S5 5799.22
3. Bilyk Michael USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 5541.6
4. Hamilton Robin USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 5494.16
5. Straub Davis USA Wills Wing T2 - 144 5452.01
6. Barmakian Bruce USA Wills Wing T2C 136 5385.81
7. Opsanger Olav NOR Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 5248.21
8. Salgado Erick MEX Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 4836.42
9. Shipley Mitch USA Wills Wing T2C 144 4817.51
10. Zimmerman Chris USA Wills Wing T2C 144 4634.3

Sport Class:

1. Williams David USA Wills Wing U2 145 5048.13
2. Barnwell Cory USA Wills Wing U2 160 4226.29
3. Christensen Matt USA Wills Wing U2 160 4214.92
4. Grey Alfredo MEX Icaro Orbiter 4211.06
5. Williams Michael USA Wills Wing Sport 2 4202.63
6. Pannese Patrick USA Wills Wing U2 145 3345.3
7. Bohl Jeffery USA Wills Wing Sport 2 3109.47
8. Weitman Jim USA Wills Wing T2C 144 2697.9
9. Morris Brian USA Airborne Shark 144 2093.03
10. Gonzalez Alejandro GUA Wills Wing U2 145 1383.63
11. Kannard Jeff USA Wills Wing U2 160 1077.87

More about the competition soon.

2014 Big Spring Nationals »

August 9, 2014, 0:56:43 CDT

2014 Big Spring Nationals

Day six - 208 km task

Chris Zimmerman|US Nationals 2014|Wills Wing

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

http://soaringspot.com/2014bsn/

http://airtribune.com/bigspring2014/blog#!day_6

Replay: http://airtribune.com/play/278/2d

Wills Wing pilots at Big Spring:

Photo by Frances Mikus Barker.

The dry line yesterday at goal:

Much thicker dry line today at Littlefield.

No wimpy sport class task today. The task committee sent them 168.5 km (105 miles) to Levelland and six pilots made it there  with five personal bests. The open class was sent an additional 40 km to Littlefield, for a 208.6 km (129.5 miles) task. Tasks average about 100 miles in Big Spring.

The forecast was for strong winds out of the south and while it was reasonably light on launch, in the air the winds were indeed strong, varying between 10 and 26 mph.

Cu's were forming half an hour before we launched so the sky was inviting to all the pilots, especially the sport class pilots who chose as a group to launch first. We quickly climbed to 10,000'. It wasn't long after that that we were hanging close to cloud base at 10,700'.

Most of us took the first clock as we could see the over development up to the northwest right about where our goal was northwest of Lubbock. There were plenty of cu's up north so we raced to connect the dots. Zippy was out in front and high just dolphin flying for the first 30 km before he had to stop for weak lift.

Although I left at cloud base I was a little lower than Bruce and Zippy and took almost 800 fpm back to cloud base on the first thermal, I found weak lift low after that until I got to the south end of the runway at Lamesa, 70 km from Big Spring. I was on my own after the first few thermals.

The lift was strong after Lamesa and it was easy to deviate from the course line to find good lift under the best looking clouds. In one thermal I averaged over 800 fpm to over 12,000'. Zac said he was getting between 300 and 500 fpm. I found plenty much stronger than that.

Again I pretty much ignored the course line and just flew in the general direction but making sure to go to the good clouds to tank up.

As I approached Levelland the cu-nmb activity to the west and northwest was obvious with a dark wall to the north of the goal. To the west there were cu's just on the east side of the shaded area. To the east of the course line there was full sun with some nice looking cu's. I decided to take the eastern route and get under the cu's.

I went to the first one and didn't find much. I found little at the next small one and then a little along what looked like a lift line straight to the north. But there was not enough to keep me up so I headed for the much better looking cloud to the north right along the same line.

The lift turned to sink and I raced hard with a 26 mph tail wind going for the cloud, which was also running away from me at 26 mph. I zoomed along getting closer and closer to the ground thinking that I was not going to find the lift when at 500' AGL going well over 60 mph across the ground I found the lift under the good cloud.

I climbed out at 350 fpm and easily made goal, the fifth pilot in. Mitch came in under me as I climbed up and found the same lift that I was in.

As we were breaking down out gliders, the gust front hit bringing cool air and a scramble to get the gliders broken down. There were still pilots coming in. The gust front hit them in the air turning a 26 mph tail wind into a 30 mph head wind. The front looped Derreck's glider in the air. Chris Zimmerman says that he almost looped.

Despite the head wind more pilots made it in, including those who took the last start time.

2014 Brasilia »

Wed, Aug 6 2014, 7:54:30 am CDT

Jonny comes back

Brasilia 2014|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Wills Wing

http://www.abvl.net/resultados-brasileiro-de-asa-brasilia-2a-etapa/

Results Day 3:

# Name Nat Glider Time Distance Total
1 Jonny Durand Aus Moyes Ls RX 3,5 Technorama 02:56:49 127.27 1000
2 Rafael Strohschoen Do Mello Bra Moyes RX 03:00:03 127.27 968
3 David Brito Filho Bra Wills Wing T2-C 03:20:47 127.27 905
4 Glauco Pinto Bra Icaro 2000 Laminar 03:47:24 127.27 851
5 Carlos Niemayer Bra Aeros Combat 1302 120.31 738
6 AndrÉ Wolf Bra Moyes Litespeed 116.10 717
7 Tom Weisenberger Aut Moyes RX 3,5 Tecnorama 110.26 679
8 Eduardo Fernandes Da Silva Bra 108.43 664
9 Jose Guilherme Lopes Lessa Bra 103.33 643
10 Sergio Galvani Bra Ww T2-C 103.73 637

Discuss "2014 Brasilia" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2014 Brasilia »

Tue, Aug 5 2014, 3:53:00 am GMT

Day two

Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli|Andre Wolf|Brasilia 2014|David Brito Filho|Glauco Pinto|Max Turiaco|Michel Louzada|Wills Wing

http://www.abvl.net/resultados-brasileiro-de-asa-brasilia-2a-etapa/

Results Day 2:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Tom Weisenberger Aut Moyes RX 3,5 Tecnorama 01:38:20 894
2 Michel Louzada Bra Ww T2-C 144 01:39:27 827
3 Eduardo Jacintto Oliveira Bra Ww T2-C 01:39:39 808
4 Max Turiaco Bra Ww T2-C 01:40:11 806
5 Glauco Pinto Bra Icaro 2000 Laminar 01:40:40 794
6 Alvaro Sandoli Bra Ww T2-C 136 01:41:30 784
7 David Brito Filho Bra Wills Wing T2-C 01:42:19 759
8 Marcio Rosadas Bra Moyes RX 3.5 01:43:28 749
9 Rafael Strohschoen Do Mello Bra Moyes RX 01:43:32 747
10 AndrÉ Wolf Bra Moyes Litespeed 01:43:44 743

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Tom Weisenberger Aut Moyes RX 3,5 Tecnorama 1884
2 Eduardo Jacintto Oliveira Bra Ww T2-C 1702
3 Michel Louzada Bra Ww T2-C 144 1662
4 Alvaro Sandoli Bra Ww T2-C 136 1658
5 Glauco Pinto Bra Icaro 2000 Laminar 1649
6 David Brito Filho Bra Wills Wing T2-C 1564
7 Marcio Rosadas Bra Moyes RX 3.5 1531
8 Rafael Strohschoen Do Mello Bra Moyes RX 1511
9 Max Turiaco Bra Ww T2-C 1459
10 Mario Andre Felske Bra Moyes RX 3.5 1423

Discuss "2014 Brasilia" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2014 Brasilia »

Mon, Aug 4 2014, 2:06:14 pm GMT

Campeonato Brasileiro Asa Delta

Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli|Brasilia 2014|David Brito Filho|Glauco Pinto|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Michel Louzada|Wills Wing

Results Day 1: http://www.abvl.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/OPEN-2014-08-03.html

http://www.abvl.net/resultados-brasileiro-de-asa-brasilia-2a-etapa/

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Tom Weisenberger Aut Moyes RX 3,5 Tecnorama 01:47:54 1000
2 Eduardo Jacintto Oliveira Bra Ww T2-C 01:54:21 895
3 Alvaro Sandoli Bra Ww T2-C 136 01:56:03 871
4 Glauco Pinto Bra Icaro 2000 Laminar 01:56:06 858
5 Marcelo Andrei Gomes Da Rocha Bra Ww T2-C 01:56:47 848
6 Eduardo Fernandes Da Silva Bra 01:57:51 840
7 Michel Louzada Bra Ww T2-C 144 01:57:22 839
8 Jonny Durand Aus Moyes Ls RX 3,5 Technorama 02:00:10 811
9 David Brito Filho Bra Wills Wing T2-C 01:54:30 809
10 Fabio Tomaz Bra Moyes Ls 5 02:01:41 792

Tom and cookie:

Discuss "2014 Brasilia" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2014 Big Spring Nationals »

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

Sport Class pilots go big

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

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

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

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

Discuss "2014 Big Spring Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wills Wing Alpha »

July 31, 2014, 8:30:19 MDT

Wills Wing Alpha

Why

Joe Greblo|record|Steven "Steve" Pearson|weather|Wills Wing

Steven Pearson <<Steve>> writes:

I was just reading the Alpha thread on the OzReport forum and I thought you might be interested in the conversations that motivated me to start development and why I think products in this category are long overdue.

If we could reduce the training time to become proficient enough for a first high flight by 25% then we could retain a significantly higher number of prospective pilots. This is especially the case in areas of the country with seasonal and irregular weather patterns. In many cases, obtaining the last day of training before solo takes weeks or months when you consider the constraints of weather, work, family, money, and other scheduling issues. This of course is compounded by longer delays leading to remedial and recurrency training.

Pilot skills and hang glider technology have evolved far beyond what most of us even imagined in the early years of the sport. Consider the mind-boggling cross country distances, the format and task selection a modern hang gliding contest, the monster loops and rolls in aerobatics, and the extraordinary airworthiness and controllability of the modern hang glider. Somehow that progress has unfairly diminished the simple but remarkable achievement of simple free-flight, like launching from a modest mountain site and gliding to a controlled landing below. I would argue that this event alone challenges the imagination and life experience of many non-pilots and is worthy of celebration. Who among us doesn't remember their first high flight, or even the first time our feet left the ground for the briefest interval?

In 2011, John Harris at Kitty Hawk Kites hosted an event in associated with "Soaring 100" to commemorate Orville Wright's soaring record of 9 min 45 second which was unmatched for the following 10 years. A number of distinguished pilots and designers from the early years of hang gliding contributed some fun and interesting presentations. Ken de Russy talked at length about the merits of the standard Rogallo which as we all know was neither the first foot launched aircraft or the most airworthy but was unquestionably the catalyst for the dynamic and exponential growth of hang gliding in the 70's.

In fact, hang gliding has done nothing but diminish in participation since that time. There are innumerable reasons for that decline but the point I'm trying to make is that the attraction and joy of free-flight is unrelated to performance. We often have the expectation that more performance will result in better experiences when more often there is an inverse correlation. In my experience, dune gooning on a small sandy ridge on a single surface glider (and similar activities) is as much fun as racing a competition task on a high performance glider. As much as I enjoy flying T2Cs, I wouldn't give up hang gliding if I was restricted to lower performance hang gliders nor do I think I'd have any less fun.

The apex of the decline of hang gliding was the early 80s when the only model that Wills Wimng produced (like many of our competitors) was certainly more challenging than a T2C. We learned a little in the following years with the introduction of the easier to fly Sport model in 1986 and more significantly the development of the Falcon starting in 1993. A few years ago, Joe Greblo told me that the Falcon 3 had too much performance. I was dismissive at first but that's a difficult position to hold against the experience of someone like Joe. My first thought was to 'de-tune' the Falcon but that does nothing to address the essential requirement for more damping and more forgiving behavior in pitch. The easiest way to increase damping is to increase the mean cord and that also, with the constraints of weight and airworthiness, leads to lower aspect ratios which have the additional advantage of a lower lift-curve slope and associated wider angle of attack range.

Perhaps the most unexpected outcome of the Alpha development is that it's so fun to fly. Climbing with a T2, at the same turn rate but half the radius is really fun as are many other experiences like being relatively unconcerned where you land or what the wind conditions are. I think it's fair to say that the Falcon has been a significant factor in new pilot development and pilot retention over the last twenty years. I often said that we could and should do more in those areas and I'm hopeful that the Alpha will deliver some of those expectations.

Czech pilots need gliders at the SCFR

July 28, 2014, 8:57:12 MDT

Czech pilots need gliders at the SCFR

Two Wills Wing TC2's

Wills Wing

Josef Bostik <<raceww>> writes:

I am looking for two gliders to rent for the Santa Cruz Flats Race. Peter Tucek and Jiri Gut from Czech Republic want to attend. They are both excellent and experienced competition pilots. T2C144's are preferable, or one 144 and one 154 will suffice.

Discuss "Czech pilots need gliders at the SCFR" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wills Wing Alpha »

July 25, 2014, 11:44:27 pm MDT

Wills Wing Alpha

Wills puts it up on their web site

Wills Wing

http://willswing.com/prod2.asp?theClass=hg&theModel=alpha

The Alpha is a new model that looks and flies like a lower aspect ratio Falcon (less wing span, more area), and is intended for flight schools and for pilots who value light weight, convenience, slow flying and easy take-off and landing above other performance attributes. The Alpha 180 has about the same span as a Falcon 4 145 but more area than a Falcon 4 170. The Alpha 210 has about the same span as a Falcon 4 170, but more area than a Falcon 4 195.

The Alpha 180 uses the same F360 size control bar as the Falcon 4 145, and the Alpha 210 uses a new F364 control bar size between that of the Falcon 4 170 and Falcon 4 195.

The Alphas fly very slowly, and are very docile and easy in handling, take-off and landing, and yet they have exceptionally good soaring performance – better in fact in very light lift and small thermals than a Falcon. Unlike the Condor, the Alpha is a fully airworthy, utility class glider, and can be flown in any reasonable flying conditions, and purchased by new students or experienced pilots. The Alpha is a better first purchase glider for most new pilots than a Falcon, and almost as easy for first training flights as a Condor. In some ways the Alphas are easier for students than the Condor, because they are smaller gliders, and therefore easier to ground handle if there is wind. The Alpha’s launching speed is not quite as slow as the Condor 330, but it is noticeably slower than a Falcon.

The initial response to the Alpha from instructors and new pilots has been extremely enthusiastic.

Discuss "Wills Wing Alpha" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2014 Non Europeans

July 18, 2014, 12:29:10 pm MDT GMT-0600

2014 Non Europeans

Task 4

Alexandra "Sasha" Serebrennikova|Facebook|Konstantin Lukyanov|Moyes Litespeed RX|Non-Europeans 2014|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.arangoiti2014.com/en/competition/results

Task 4:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Daniel Martin Mota ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 01:41:09 994
2 Pedro Luis Garcia Morelli ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 01:47:24 927
3 Blay Jr Olmos Quesada ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 01:47:33 920
4 Eneko Paez Maicas ESP Moyes Litespeed RX 3 01:47:52 911
5 Joel Miron ESP Wills Wing T2C 136 01:49:24 898
6 Konstantin Lukyanov RUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:54:32 853
7 Francois Isoard FRA Wills Wing T2C 144 01:56:42 845
8 Emmanuel Felix-Faure FRA Aeros Combat GT 13.2 01:56:35 843
9 Alexandra Serebrennikova RUS Moyes Litespeed S3 01:57:03 837
10 Antonio Letón Carrasco ESP Aeros Combat 09 GT 13.2 02:00:08 822

Cumulative:

# Name   Nat Glider Total
1 Pedro Luis Garcia Morelli M ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 3888
2 Blay Jr Olmos Quesada M ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 3456
3 Alexandra Serebrennikova F RUS Moyes Litespeed S3 2998
4 Francois Isoard M FRA Wills Wing T2C 144 2948
5 Emmanuel Felix-Faure M FRA Aeros Combat GT 13.2 2868
6 Jose Antonio (Ako) Abollado Amo M ESP Aeros Combat GT 12,7 2783
7 Daniel Martin Mota M ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 2758
8 Benito Rodríguez González M ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 2708
9 Antonio Letón Carrasco M ESP Aeros Combat 09 GT 13.2 2668
10 Laurent Thevenot M FRA Wills Wing T2C 144 2638

Alexandra has moved into third place. This is the highest placing so far of any women in a major hang gliding competition in years. Last day canceled, so she is the top placing women in a long time.

https://www.facebook.com/arangoiti2014?ref=hl&ref_type=bookmark

Carbon in many forms

July 18, 2014, 8:34:04 MDT

Carbon in many forms

Terry Reynolds writes about ancient history.

Terry Reynolds|Wills Wing

Terry <<terryreynolds2>> writes:

The pre-TR3 prototype, with see-through Technora sailcloth, flew in the 1996 Nat's at Dinosaur, 18 years ago.

From http://ozreport.com/18.129.2:

"Carbon airframes have a long history. UP was certainly the pioneer with their carbon Spider in ~1978. The subsequent damage issues associated with that prototype made us very caution (sic). Nevertheless, we evaluated a carbon Raven in 1979 and abandoned that when a market survey didn't support the option price. Much later, the restructured UP was again the first to offer a popular production carbon airframe”

I, and I dare say virtually everyone else, never heard of the Spider glider until the above article in the recent Oz Report. I designed the TRX just for me to fly in the 1991 Worlds in Brazil. UP was in a state of chaos then and made me president, gave me one third of the company and $10,000 to build the glider I was building anyway. I wasn't looking for a job and after the Worlds, and after crashing a TRX into the power lines in the 1991 Tennessee East Coast Championships, I left UP. They had the certified TRX 160 design and the drawings for the TRX 140 (which evolved into the Predator after much fine work and improvement by John Heiney). I think they built a lot of both of them.

Also, from http://ozreport.com/18.129.2:

“...but carbon wasn't widely adopted (maybe not adopted by manufacturers, but several hundred pilots adopted carbon TRX’s starting in 1991) until LaMouette introduced the topless carbon crossbar followed by simultaneous following releases by WW, Icaro and Moyes."

Yes, La Mouette produced the uncertified “Topless” first. However, the first HGMA certified topless was the TR3 (TR3 155: 4/16/1997 HGMA Certificate ID 970416-01), followed by WW (Wills Wing Fusion ID 970416-02) and Moyes (Moyes CSX4 ID 970416-03). This was all at the same HGMA meeting at Mark West’s home. They just happened to let me go first.

Discuss "Carbon in many forms" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2014 Non Europeans

July 17, 2014, 8:49:26 MDT

2014 Non Europeans

Alexandra Serebrennikova doing very well

Alexandra "Sasha" Serebrennikova|Non-Europeans 2014|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.arangoiti2014.com/en/competition/results

After three tasks:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Pedro Luis Garcia Morelli ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 2960
2 Blay Jr Olmos Quesada ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 2534
3 Jose Antonio (Ako) Abollado Amo ESP Aeros Combat GT 12,7 2304
4 Benito Rodríguez González ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 2290
5 Ataúlfo J Fernández Montero ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 2168
6 Alexandra Serebrennikova RUS Moyes Litespeed S3 2157
7 Francois Isoard FRA Wills Wing T2C 144 2099
8 Emmanuel Felix-Faure FRA Aeros Combat GT 13.2 2022
9 Laurent Thevenot FRA Wills Wing T2C 144 1986
10 Blay Snr Olmos Ramos ESP Moyes Litespeed RS 3,5 1903

Can't we just all fly together?

July 17, 2014, 8:40:08 MDT

Can't we just all fly together?

And land together?

PG|record|Wills Wing

<<record>> sends:

FAI hasratified the following Class O (Hang Gliding and Paragliding) South-American record:

Type of record : Straight distance
Course/location : Tacima (Brazil) - Santa Quiteria (Brazil)
Performance : 531.2 km
Pilot : Glauco Pinto (Brazil)
Hang Glider : Laminar / Icaro 2000
Date :15.10.2013
Previous record : 494.8 km (26.01.2012 - André Wolf, Brazil)

FAI hascancelled the following Class O (Hang Gliding and Paragliding) South-American record:

Type of record : Straight distance
Course/location : Tacima (Brazil) - Santa Quiteria (Brazil)
Performance : 531.00 km Pilot : Eduardo Waller de Oliveira (Brazil)
Hang Glider : T2 / Wills Wing
Date :15.10.2013
Current record : 531.2 km (15.10.2013 - Glauco Pinto, Brazil)
Reason for cancellation: Better performance achieved on the same day

Discuss "Can't we just all fly together?" at theOz Report forum  link»

Laminates

July 13, 2014, 7:41:29 MDT

Laminates

UV films to stop their degradation

Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Oleg Bondarchuk|PG|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Wills Wing

Most high performance gliders use laminated sailcloth (commonly referred to as Mylar), a sandwich of polyester film, tafetta, scrim, and/or unidirectional fibers. Hang glider manufacturers purchase laminated sailcloth from Dimension-Polyant GmbH, Sailcloth Technology, http://www.dimension-polyant.com/en/Company_7.php, Porcher (http://www.porcher-sport.com/en/produits/paragliding.html), Contender, Bainbridge, and perhaps other companies. You'll find the materials here: http://www.dimension-polyant.com/en/Laminate_Racing_2_4_1.php.

Wills Wing explains why they use laminated sailcloth on their T2C's here: http://willswing.com/features/sailcloth.asp

Laminated sail materials using polyester film have been used for many years in hang glider sails. The original inspiration for the use of these fabrics was an attempt to achieve superior performance by using a lower stretch material that was still relatively light in weight. In high performance hang gliders, limiting spanwise twist is a key component of performance, and twist is generally controlled by sail tension. The disadvantages of the polyester film fabrics have been that the reduced elasticity under load has generally resulted in "stiffer," less responsive handling qualities, and that the polyester laminated fabrics have been, historically, not as durable or long lasting as woven fabrics. The current generation of laminated fabrics are vastly improved over those of even ten years ago, however it is still generally the case that a premium woven fabric will outlast even the best laminated materials.

Laminated sailcloth degrades in sunlight. Steve Pearson at Wills Wing writes:

When new, the structural properties of the same laminates, but with or without an additional UV film, are the same.  But, with UV exposure, laminates without UV films (on top) degrade.

There’s no easy correlation between the lab tests and results in the field. In my experience, I would say that 300 hours UV lab was comparable to a glider that was flown and exposed continuously though a season in Florida, Big Spring, Owens, Forbes type conditions. After 300 hours of UV exposure the outer layer of non UV film was brittle but not fractured.

The UV exposed sample starts letting go at .05 in/in strain and completely fractures by .1 in/in strain, or at about half the strain (and strength) of the unexposed film. Only the outer layer of film is fractured and the remaining 3 layers of scrim, film and taffeta continue to support load.

300 hrs of lab UV exposure correspond to about 150 hrs of airtime and associated setup in a high UV environment (as above). At that point the outer layer of film has lost 50% of its original strength. At 300 hours of airtime and exposure in a high UV environment (two seasons), the outer layer of most conventional laminates without UV film are fractured and beginning to delaminate.

In lab tests, after 300 hours of UV exposure, laminates with UV film (again on top) are as good as new.

Laminates with UV film is available from Dimension-Polyant, but according to Steve Pearson, you have to order a custom laminate, with a premium price for custom construction and another premium for the UV film. He states that as far as he can tell only Wills Wing uses UV film on their laminates. I have asked Moyes (Gerolf), Icaro (Christian), and Aeros (Oleg) if they use laminates with UV film. See below.

As a hang glider pilot it would seem to me that I would want a sail with UV film on the top (unlike recent sails that were sewed for Highland Aerosports where the UV film got placed on the bottom).

Wouldn't you want to know if the sailcloth used on your glider was topped with UV film? When I asked Steve about this, he wrote:

These are the problems I started trying to solve twenty five years ago.

Until we made the first UV film laminates we recommended woven materials for recreational gliders that were used in hi-UV exposure climates. It’s rare for a laminate film glider to last more than 300 hours (maybe in low UV Europe or northern latitudes). Woven gliders last twice that long. UV-film laminates seem to do even better than woven sailcloth.

There is a long history of the progression of laminate construction that gradually improved durability and structural performance from the first practical laminate “Surfcote” which was simply a layer of taffeta to one layer 1.5 mils – 2 mils of film, to the current state of the art with 4-5 layers, high-strength fibers and UV film.

Oleg Bondarchuk <<aerosint>> writes:

We've started using Porcher NCV laminates with UV protection film more than ten years ago for all our trike wings and Combat hang gliders (http://www.aeros.com.ua/structure/hg/cbt07_en.php). A bit later we have started using PX laminates with UV protection film for our Combats and Discuses. We are still using NCV with UV protection for our trike wings and PX with UV protection for Discuses and for some Combats.

We have been asking Dimension-Polyant about ODL laminate with UV protection, but they wouldn't sell it to anyone except Wills Wing, because of exclusive contract with them for selling this laminate. At the moment we are in process of getting UV protected laminate from Dimension-Polyant.

Steve Pearson writes:

I wasn’t aware that Dimension-Polyant was restricting sales of custom laminates with UV film. I was asked several years ago by Dimension-Polyant for permission by another company to use a custom laminate configuration that we were purchasing and I told them that they were free to share our configurations with anyone. I would certainly extend that approval to Aeros, Moyes and Icaro.

You have to distinguish between “UV protection” which is incorporated into almost all laminates in the adhesive and UV film. Dimension-Polyant laminates all have “UV protection” but none except their custom D4 laminates have UV film.

There is no visible distinction between the films. UVODL06 and ODL06 are identical looking. ODL06 has “UV protection”. UVODL06 is far superior with respect to UV deterioration but otherwise the two are structurally identical.

Steve Pearson on Wills Wing Innovations

July 3, 2014, 6:24:19 MDT

Steve Pearson on Wills Wing Innovations

Responds to Gerolf

Bill Moyes|Gerolf Heinrichs|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Terry Reynolds|Wills Wing

Steven Pearson <<Steve>> writes:

Gerolf Heinrichs writes: Wills is not exactly famous for being innovative. They have copied everything Moyes and Icaro have developed in the topless glider era, and currently they benefit from a low US dollar for their selling success.

Gerolf should know better but maybe he's forgotten a few of the features that I introduced and that he copied and applied to the Litespeed. In fairness, many of these features were already part of his Laminar that was the basis of the initial Litespeed so maybe Gerolf isn't aware of their origin. For anyone who disputes that the following features are essential to "the topless glider era", I challenge them to develop a glider without them or to list comparable technologies aside from those by Thevanot. The three people who come to mind when I think about the modern hang glider are Roy Haggard, Tom Price and Gerard Thevanot. The innovations by those three and the following are 95% of a T2.

There are certainly a few non-essential features of the T2 that relied on innovation from others. Two that come to mind are the curved tip configuration developed by Bob Trampeneau and more recently the raked tips introduced by Icaro. I was particularly impressed by the Icaro raked tips since I had almost given up on solutions to improve the aerodynamic penalty associated with the pointed planform of 'curved tips' which is the reason I was so reluctant to adopt them initially. I honestly can't think of anything developed by Gerolf that's part of the T2 or any other model that we produce.

The (inflight adjustable) VG system is certainly essential and I'm not sure who to attribute that to. I think Bob Trampeneau released the first production glider but others also had prototype systems on their gliders.

Enclosed keel from the Wills Wing HP, one of the most copied gliders in history. Before that, all of our competitors had tall keel pockets. When Bill Moyes saw the HP in 1984, all he could say to me was "it will never climb mate". Within a few years and ever since, every high-performance glider has had the same configuration.

7075 tubing in the 1986 Sport (Gerolf's first glider). The Sport was not the first hang glider to use 7075 tubing but the first with now industry standard 42/44/50/52/60/62 mm tubing and the first by a major manufacturer. Without question, it was the overwhelming success of the Sport and HP-AT that compelled every else to adopt it with Moyes being last (pushed by Gerolf) by over 15 years.

Carbon airframes have a long history. UP was certainly the pioneer with their carbon Spider in ~1978. The subsequent damage issues associated with that prototype made us very caution. Nevertheless, we evaluated a carbon Raven in 1979 and abandoned that when a market survey didn't support the option price. Much later, the restructured UP was again the first to offer a popular production carbon airframe but carbon wasn't widely adopted until LaMouette introduced the topless carbon crossbar followed by simultaneous following releases by WW, Icaro and Moyes. I don't recall Gerolf having any part of these products.

The kingpost hang system, prototyped on the Duck in 1983 and introduced on the 1986 Sport. Without a kingpost, this becomes a hang-T. Elevated hang systems are essential for reducing pitch and roll pressures and everyone uses them. Before the kingpost hang, others used "pitchys" and French connections.

Stepped leading edges with crescents using larger diameter 60/62 in front and smaller 50/52 in the rear, introduced on the HP-AT and later copied by Moyes, Icaro, Aeros and others. Oh, all our airframe plans have been published in our owners manuals for others to copy since 1978. I haven't seen a frame plan in anyone else's manual.

Sprogs. Gerolf freely admits that I designed this system, which is self-evident since Moyes and everyone either buys the brackets from us or has made their own copies.

Shear ribs. On gliders with over 50% double surface, you either need a lot of straight battens to support bottom surface shape (as we all did in the past) or the configuration that I designed where the top surface battens prevents the bottom surface from blowing down at high speed. In addition to the weight savings, shear ribs add many other aerodynamic and stability advantages that cannot be replicated with battens. I shared many details of shear rib shaping related to longitudinal stability with Gerolf over 10 years ago.

Carbon high-performance control bar. I'm a bit surprised that Gerolf forgot about this since he personally (and other Moyes/Icaro pilots) bought one from me. Many firsts with this structure including manufacturing technology (pre-preg carbon, consolidated in a closed mold at 110C and 100 psi (7x vacuum pressure)), the machined hardware junctions which were copied in castings by Aeros and Icaro and much later a derivative by Moyes, the airfoil which was wind tunnel tested at less than 1/4 of the drag other downtubes, and the toed-in, canted down angles of the downtubes and basetube which I initially implemented in our early welded-steel bars in 1983. Incidentally, our detailed wind-tunnel results were posted on our website long before Moyes developed their derivative.

Technora sailcloth. Almost a first for Wills Wing except that Terry Reynolds used them on the TR3 years before I reintroduced them after overcoming my apprehension about the cost/performance ratio. I could write pages about this alone. It's not 6oz. As Gerolf says. UVODL06 is less than 4 oz. (165 gms/m) and UVODL04 is 3.2 oz, (135 gms/m). We haven't used inexpensive 'PX' in years because UVODL06 is far stronger at a fraction of the weight. The carbon reins on the UVODL04 sail are much stronger still. Why would I consider a heavier and weaker laminate like PX15 for the trailing edge except to save money? The latest Moyes Technora option, while certainly a major improvement over Code Zero, is still a substandard option because of conventional Mylar film with half the lifespan of UV film. We're still the only manufacturer with UV film which lasts twice as long as any other film independent of the fiber type, polyester, PEN, Kevlar, Technora or Carbon. Oh, and as far who was the first to use laminates in hang gliding sail, it was Duck Boone followed by me in 1979.

WW was also the first to use spanwise sail cuts to optimize the orthotropic sail material structural properties to the sail plan form. First with the WW XC in 1977 and subsequently in every WW glider since the Harrier in 1980 when I figured out how to shape a spanwise sail with pre-cambered battens

The first CNC sail cutter (1993). While this isn't a glider innovation, it's an essential tool in the development and production of modern hang glider sails and we invested in this technology long before others.

Gerolf just pushes lie after lie. He says about Wills Wing "they benefit from a low US dollar for their selling success." In fact, the producer of the Moyes machined fittings in China contacted me and quoted me far lower prices than I can produce them on our CNC in house at Wills Wing. I offer this because Gerolf is fond of suggesting that Wills Wing gliders are produced in China when he knows that to be untrue at the same time as he sources fabricated components from there! His premium "Code Zero" costs less than half of the cost of the standard no-extra-cost UVPT laminate on the T2C. If you compare the cost of manufacturing in southern California to Australia, you won't find a difference.

Our gliders cost less because I'm at Lookout doing demos over the 4th of July weekend instead of taking the summer off for flying tours in the alps. Check the test fly sticker on the T2s around you--in the vast majority of cases it will say 'SP' or 'MM', just one more indication of who cares most about the products delivered to their customers.

The 2014 Worlds - updated scoring

Problems fixed

The 2014 Worlds - updated scoring

July 2, 2014, 1:44:11 pm MDT

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Alexandra "Sasha" Serebrennikova|Chisato Nojiri|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet|Julia Kucherenko|Moyes Litespeed RX|Suan Selenati|Wills Wing|Worlds 2014|Yoko Isomoto

http://dca.ffvl.fr/hg2014/index.php/en/page-results-2014/pageukclass5result

ATOS cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Grabowski GER Atos VR 14 4358
2 Kirchner GER Atos VR 4261
3 Friedl AUT Atos VR10 4127
4 Mayer AUT Atos VR 4039
5 Selenati ITA Atos VR 3837
6 Parcellier FRA Atos VR 3828
7 Geppert AUT Atos VR 3827
8 Meissl AUT Atos VR 3683
9 Kosaka JPN Atos VRS 3579
10 Hollidge GBR Atos VR 10T 3463

Women cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Isomoto JPN Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 3765
2 Dieuzeide-Banet FRA Moyes Llitespeed RX3 3755
3 Schwiegershausen GER Moyes Llitespeed RX3 3700
4 Kucherenko RUS Aeros Combat 3558
5 Nojiri JPN Aeros Combat 09 3428
6 Petrova RUS Aeros Combat 12,8 GT 3364
7 Serebrennikova RUS Moyes Litespeed S3 2995
8 La Nube COL Wills WingT2C 2951
9 Walbec FRA Wills Wing T2 136 2930
10 Rigg GBR Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 2308

The 2014 Worlds - day eight

Only the Swift/Archaeopteryx make it to goal

The 2014 Worlds - day eight

July 1, 2014, 4:46:08 pm MDT

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Alexandra "Sasha" Serebrennikova|Chisato Nojiri|Christian Pollet|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet|Julia Kucherenko|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Suan Selenati|Wills Wing|Worlds 2014|Yoko Isomoto

Women Task 5:

# Name Nat Glider Dist. Total
1 Schwiegershausen GER Moyes Llitespeed RX3 56,07 647
2 Dieuzeide-Banet FRA Moyes Llitespeed RX3 54,63 637
3 Serebrennikova RUS Moyes Litespeed S3 49,72 588
4 Petrova RUS Aeros Combat 12,8 GT 49,15 581
5 Walbec FRA Wills Wing T2 136 46,73 551
6 Kucherenko RUS Aeros Combat 46,38 546
7 La Nube COL Wills WingT2C 46,27 543
8 Isomoto JPN Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 39,56 447
9 Nojiri JPN Aeros Combat 09 36,60 416
10 Rigg GBR Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 29,66 350

http://corinnaflies.blogspot.de/2014/07/task-5-semnoz-85km-around-3-turnpoints.html

A tough, stable day today with a base barely higher than 1800m gave us a late launch and a hard time in the air. We could take off at 3pm, and the race started at 3.30,...

It won't be a high scoring day though because nobody made goal today. Rain tomorrow, but a good day on Thursday hopefully.

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Isomoto JPN Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 3765
2 Dieuzeide-Banet FRA Moyes Llitespeed RX3 3755
3 Schwiegershausen GER Moyes Llitespeed RX3 3700
4 Kucherenko RUS Aeros Combat 3558
5 Nojiri JPN Aeros Combat 09 3428

Sport Task 5:

# Name Nat Glider Dist. Total
1 Kovacs HUN Aeros Discus C 15 35,96 321
2 Alonzi FRA Aeros Discus C 15 32,26 299
3 Mathurin FRA Moyes Litesport 4 29,73 283
3 Pollet FRA Moyes Litesport 29,81 283
5 Masalimov RUS Aeros Discus C 29,21 277
5 Ujhelyi HUN Aeros Discus C 14 29,08 277
7 Zin FRA Icaro Mast'r 28,87 274
8 Honings NED Icaro Orbiter styl-plus 26,73 248
9 Fernandez Montero ESP Wills Wing Sport 2 155 26,41 245
10 Doeland NED Seedwings Spyder 26,18 240

No cumulative yet.

ATOS Task 5:

# Name Nat Glider Dist. Total
1 Kirchner GER Atos VR 112,64 918
2 Grabowski GER Atos VR 14 110,79 906
3 Friedl AUT Atos VR10 109,26 896
3 Mayer AUT Atos VR 109,39 896
5 Parcellier FRA Atos VR 106,56 870
6 Selenati ITA Atos VR 106,14 865
7 Yamamoto JPN Atos VR10 106,10 862
8 Meissl AUT Atos VR 105,63 858
9 Hollidge GBR Atos VR 10T 101,26 791
10 Raumauf AUT Atos VR10 100,82 784

No cumulative yet.

Swift/Archaeopteryx Task 6:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Ruhmer AUT Aeriane Swift Light 02:48:11 1000
2 Hediger ARG Ruppert Archaeopteryx 02:55:33 888
3 Bott FRA Aeriane Swift Light 02:56:21 860
4 Cox SUI Bright Star Swift 03:00:20 828
5 Maag SUI Aeriane Swift Light 03:20:16 697
6 Porter USA Aeriane Swift 03:29:55 665
7 Ruppert E SUI Ruppert Archaeopteryx 03:40:18 582

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Ruhmer AUT Aeriane Swift Light 5661
2 Cox SUI Bright Star Swift 4784
3 Bott FRA Aeriane Swift Light 4680
4 Hediger ARG Ruppert Archaeopteryx 4519
5 Ruppert E SUI Ruppert Archaeopteryx 4165
6 Porter USA Aeriane Swift 3307

The 2014 Worlds - day seven

June 30, 2014, 4:44:40 pm MDT

The 2014 Worlds - day seven

The scoring

Alexandra "Sasha" Serebrennikova|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet|Julia Kucherenko|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Wills Wing|Yoko Isomoto

Alexandra "Sasha" Serebrennikova|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet|Julia Kucherenko|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Wills Wing|Worlds 2014|Yoko Isomoto

http://dca.ffvl.fr/hg2014/index.php/en/page-results-2014/pageukclasssportresult

Women Task 4:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Kucherenko RUS Aeros Combat 01:37:39 952
2 Walbec FRA Wills Wing T2 136 01:43:03 873
3 Dieuzeide-Banet FRA Moyes Llitespeed RX3 01:43:39 848
4 Schwiegershausen GER Moyes Llitespeed RX3 01:46:28 815
5 Serebrennikova RUS Moyes Litespeed S3 01:46:47 807
6 Isomoto JPN Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 01:46:24 798
7 Rigg GBR Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:50:33 766
8 Petrova RUS Aeros Combat 12,8 GT 01:50:05 749
9 Burlachenko UKR Aeros Combat 12 GT 02:04:52 635
10 Sakurai JPN Aeros Combat 09 02:09:08 604

There are errors in the task scoring.

Cumulative:

Not out yet.

Sport Task 4:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Alonzi FRA Aeros Discus C 15 01:04:12 755
2 Zin FRA Icaro Mast'r 01:04:36 740
3 Salvenmoser AUT Seedwings Skyrunner XR 01:08:32 685
4 Woehrle GER Moyes Litesport 4 01:11:22 654
5 Fernandez Montero ESP Wills Wing Sport 2 155 01:11:47 644

Cumulative:

Not out yet.

Swift/Archaeopteryx Task 5:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Ruppert E SUI Ruppert Archaeopteryx 02:37:54 1000
2 Ruhmer AUT Aeriane Swift Light 02:54:54 817
3 Cox SUI Aeriane Swift 02:55:26 796
4 Bott FRA Aeriane Swift Light 03:06:20 714
5 Obweger AUT Aeriane Swift Light 03:07:39 711

Cumulative:

Not out yet.

ATOS Task 4:

Not ready for prime time yet.

Discuss "The 2014 Worlds - day seven" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Safety in Annecy?

June 25, 2014, 12:25:24 pm MDT GMT-0600

Safety in Annecy?

Mike Meier wonders about the focus

CIVL|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Mike Meier|weather|Wills Wing|Worlds 2014

Mike Meier <<Mike>> from Wills Wing writes:

From the Oz Report – June 25th, 2014 – The 2014 Worlds – Day ONE (originally from Corinna's blog):

It was very difficult and intimidating at times to fly around the course, because we had to cross the lake of Annecy twice very low. I barely got up to 1500m today, which is about 1000m above the goal. With not many safe landing options on course and a significant northerly wind hitting the valley, it was a fight to to this short sounding task.

I was lucky to get a really nice landing, while two other guys got badly injured. Luckily Doc Arnold Nadlinger had also landed in that field and looked after those guys immediately (broken pelvis and femur, the other one had an open arm fracture). When I arrived, the ambulance was already there, taking the guys to hospital. Alain, a very friendly guy of the organization team, helped me after the landing, as the wind was howling through with up to 30km/h.

From the December 18th 2007 CIVL Pitch Testing Sub-Committee report, describing “typical” competition conditions:

…the varied conditions of competition—sometimes strong winds, crossing long distances with few landing fields, operations where thunderstorm or cloud suck avoidance may be imperative, crowded thermals where handling is a premium…

Has it occurred to anyone in CIVL over the last seven years that perhaps micromanaging, within ½ of one degree, competition pilots decisions about where to set their sprogs may not be the most effective thing they could be doing to improve competition safety?

The point being, I guess, that it seems that whether we’re talking about Valle de Bravo or the valleys of Europe, the biggest dangers to competition pilots seem to be coming from decisions made by competition directors about sites, tasks and weather, and not about any documented problems with glider stability. And yet, it seems that measuring sprogs is about the only thing that CIVL has put any time or effort into.

The serious landing accidents have been described by the organizers:

A British ATOS pilot and a French Sport pilot. They landed behind big trees with a quite strong wind, so it was dodgy conditions.

A quick guide to glider prices

June 23, 2014, 7:43:11 MDT

A quick guide to glider prices

Just comparing the Wills Wing T2C and the Moyes Litespeed RX

Wills Wing

Moyes Litespeed RX|Wills Wing

Moyes Litespeed RX|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Moyes Litespeed RX|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Prices in the US.

http://willswing.com/prod2.asp?theClass=hg&theModel=T2

http://moyesusa.com/downloads/Moyes_USA__May_2014_Retail_Price_List.pdf

Wills Wing T2C   Moyes Litespeed RX
T2C $8,785 RX Comp/carbon base $10,800
ODL4 $375 Technora ?
Carbon stinger $270 Carbon keel* $634
Keel fairing $90 Keel fairing ?
Carbon inserts $0 Carbon inserts $348
$9,520 $11,782
* More carbon than just a stinger

Previous price comparisons: http://ozreport.com/12.60#1, http://ozreport.com/12.061#3, http://ozreport.com/12.069#4, http://ozreport.com/12.071#2, http://ozreport.com/12.098#2

The Litespeed RX is available in configurations with additional carbon bits.

Discuss "A quick guide to glider prices" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Fly Brazil with Dustin

Mon, Jun 16 2014, 7:03:22 am MDT

Dustin Martin will lead tours to Andradas

Dustin Martin|Wills Wing

Dustin Martin «Dustin Martin» writes:

After teaching at many cross country clinics in the past, and spending the last ten years part-time in Brazil, I've decided to combine the two experiences. Starting in mid-October I am offering full-service tours/cross country clinics at a site close to Sao Paulo. Included are airport transfers, hotel, breakfast, gliders, rides to launch, cross country retrievals, radio-guided cross country flying, etc.

The clinic portion of the tour is aimed at intermediate pilots, but the tours are open to all pilots of intermediate or greater experience.

The most difficult part of hang gliding tourism is glider transport. I will have a fleet of crispy, new or nearly new Wills Wing gliders on site for your use.

Check out my website for details and contact me with any questions.

www.FlyWithDustin.com

Discuss "Fly Brazil with Dustin" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2014 East Coast Championship

Day 7 and final results

Sat, Jun 7 2014, 9:27:48 pm EDT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat GT 15|Aeros Combat L|Aeros Discus|Airwave Vision Pulse|Bob Filipchuk|Brian Boudreau|Bruce Barmakian|Charles Allen|Cory Barnwell|Dana Harris|Dan Lukaszewicz|Dave Proctor|Davis Straub|East Coast Championships 2014|Felix Cantesanu|Greg Dinauer|Greg Sessa|Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Hugh Mcelrath|Icaro Laminar Z8|J.D. Guillemette|Jim Messina|Joe Schmucker|John Claytor|John Dullahan|John Waters|Knut Ryerson|Michelle Haag|Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litespeed S|Moyes Litesport 4|Richard Elder|Richard Milla|Soraya Rios|Tom McGowan|Tom Mcgowan|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Sport 2|Wills Wing T2C|Wills Wing Talon|Wills Wing U2

http://soaringspot.com/ecc2014/

Task 7:

1. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 02:26:13 1000
2. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 02:26:22 994.02
3. Charles Allen Icaro Laminar Z8 12.8 02:40:06 837.19
4. Tom Mcgowan Moyes Litespeed 03:34:53 546.85

Final Totals:

1. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 136 4913.06
2. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 4560.29
3. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 3821.55
4. Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed S4 3037.99
5. John Waters Aeros Combat L 15 3026.09
6. Jim Messina Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 2953.45
7. Charles Allen Icaro Laminar Z8 12.8 2941.23
8. Bob Filipchuk Aeros Combat GT 15 2397.18
9. Dave Proctor Wills Wing T2C 154 1449.28
10. Tom Mcgowan Moyes Litespeed 967.38
11. John Claytor Wills Wing Talon 160 276.18

Task 7 Sport:

1. Hugh Mcelrath Wills Wing Sport 2 01:39:20 1060
2. Brian Boudreau Wills Wing Sport 2 155 01:43:18 980.21
3. Dana Harris Wills Wing Sport 2 155 02:17:47 660.81
4. Cory Barnwell Airwave Vision Pulse 02:21:01 640.73
5. Soraya Rios Wills Wing Sport 2 135 02:29:32 592.70
6. Richard Elder Wills Wing Sport 2 03:00:45 468.69

Final Sport:

1. Felix Cantesanu Aeros Discus 3798.89
2. Hugh Mcelrath Wills Wing Sport 2 3519.46
3. Cory Barnwell Airwave Vision Pulse 3258.15
4. Brian Boudreau Wills Wing Sport 2 155 3044.54
5. Dana Harris Wills Wing Sport 2 155 2810.15
6. Richard Milla Wills Wing Sport 2 2804.88
7. Knut Ryerson Wills Wing Sport 2 2440.09
8. Soraya Rios Wills Wing Sport 2 135 2417.55
9. Richard Elder Wills Wing Sport 2 2203.56
10. Greg Sessa Wills Wing U2 1982.97
11. Michelle Haag Wills Wing Sport 2 135 1156.05
12. John Dullahan Moyes Litesport 4 649.96
13. Dan Lukaszewicz Wills Wing Sport 2 482.98
14. Joe Schmucker Wills Wing Sport 2 175 462.76

2014 East Coast Championship

Fri, Jun 6 2014, 10:05:41 pm EDT

Day 6 results

Bruce Barmakian|Davis Straub|East Coast Championships 2014|Greg Dinauer|Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Jim Rooney|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://soaringspot.com/ecc2014/

Task 6:

1. John Waters Aeros Combat L 15 02:14:42 1000
2. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 136 02:15:32 978.17
3. Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed S4 02:17:16 950.20
4. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 02:18:44 930.39

Cumulative:

1. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 136 4480.06
2. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 3554.50
3. John Waters Aeros Combat L 15 2960.56
4. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 2814.15
5. Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed S4 2625.56

Sport Task 6:

1. Felix Cantesanu Aeros Discus 01:07:41 1000
2. Richard Milla Wills Wing Sport 2 01:23:53 853.96
3. Brian Boudreau Wills Wing Sport 2 155 01:45:46 604.35
4. Cory Barnwell Airwave Vision Pulse 01:47:48 589.60
5. Dana Harris Wills Wing Sport 2 155 01:52:02 565.89

Cumulative:

1. Felix Cantesanu Aeros Discus 3505.20
2. Cory Barnwell Airwave Vision Pulse 2630.59
3. Richard Milla Wills Wing Sport 2 2621.79
4. Knut Ryerson Wills Wing Sport 2 2239.95
5. Dana Harris Wills Wing Sport 2 155 2163.17

Cory at goal. Photo by Jim Rooney.

2014 East Coast Championship

Thu, Jun 5 2014, 7:44:24 pm EDT

Day 5 results

Bruce Barmakian|Davis Straub|East Coast Championships 2014|Greg Dinauer|Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Jim Messina|John Simon|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://soaringspot.com/ecc2014/

Task 5:

1. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 136 53.1km/h 57.9km 768.08
2. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 50.3km 514.75
3. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 38.3km 430.69
4. Bob Filipchuk Aeros Combat GT 15 34.2km 392.93
5. Jim Messina Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 31.4km 360.87

Cumulative:

1. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 136 3501.89
2. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 2624.12
3. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 2500.81
4. Jim Messina Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 2082.34
5. John Simon Aeros Combat L 15 1960.56

Sport Task 5:

1. Hugh Mcelrath Wills Wing Sport 2 52.7km/h 32.7km 630.62
2. Soraya Rios Wills Wing Sport 2 135 18.8km 372.38
3. Cory Barnwell Airwave Vision Pulse 18.2km 366.58
4. Dana Harris Wills Wing Sport 2 155 17.2km 353.40
5. Felix Cantesanu Aeros Discus 15.7km 310.89

Sport Cumulative:

1. Felix Cantesanu Aeros Discus 2505.20
2. Knut Ryerson Wills Wing Sport 2 2041.19
3. Cory Barnwell Airwave Vision Pulse 2040.99
4. Hugh Mcelrath Wills Wing Sport 2 1867.84
5. Richard Milla Wills Wing Sport 2 1767.83

2014 East Coast Championship

Wed, Jun 4 2014, 11:12:57 pm EDT

Day 4 results

Bruce Barmakian|Davis Straub|East Coast Championships 2014|Greg Dinauer|Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Jim Messina|John Simon|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://soaringspot.com/ecc2014/

Task 4:

1. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 136 02:03:30 970.79
2. John Simon Aeros Combat L 15 02:11:53 842.67
3. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 02:14:04 818.92
4. Jim Messina Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 02:16:39 792.69
5. Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed S4 02:23:59 726.58

Cumulative:

1. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 136 2733.81
2. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 2109.37
3. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 2070.12
4. John Simon Aeros Combat L 15 1902.01
5. Jim Messina Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 1721.48

Sport Task 4:

1. Felix Cantesanu Aeros Discus 00:59:51 34.0km/h 34.0km 945.23
2. Knut Ryerson Wills Wing Sport 2 29.0km 708.45
3. Brian Boudreau Wills Wing Sport 2 155 29.0km 707.84
4. Dana Harris Wills Wing Sport 2 155 18.1km 501.78
5. Soraya Rios Wills Wing Sport 2 135 16.1km 471.86

Cumulative:

1. Felix Cantesanu Aeros Discus 2194.30
2. Knut Ryerson Wills Wing Sport 2 1938.38
3. Cory Barnwell Airwave Vision Pulse 1674.41
4. Richard Milla Wills Wing Sport 2 1471.39
5. Brian Boudreau Wills Wing Sport 2 155 1369.92

2014 East Coast Championship

Tue, Jun 3 2014, 6:42:09 pm EDT

Day 3 results

Bruce Barmakian|Charles Allen|Davis Straub|East Coast Championships 2014|Greg Dinauer|Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Jim Messina|John Simon|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://soaringspot.com/ecc2014/

Task 3:

1. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 47.1km 819.22
2. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 144 41.7km 756.78
3. Charles Allen Icaro Laminar Z8 12.8 37.5km 696.97
4. Jim Messina Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 37.4km 695.37
5. Bob Filipchuk Aeros Combat GT 15 35.7km 660.95
6. John Simon Aeros Combat L 15 21.4km 373.28
7. Dave Proctor Wills Wing T2C 154 18.2km 331.34
8. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 17.3km 318.52
9. Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed S4 15.8km 292.07

Cumulative:

1. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 144 1763.01
2. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 1726.84
3. Charles Allen Icaro Laminar Z8 12.8 1288.90
4. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 1251.20
5. John Simon Aeros Combat L 15 1059.34
6. Bob Filipchuk Aeros Combat GT 15 1006.23
7. Dave Proctor Wills Wing T2C 154 968.66
8. Jim Messina Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 928.79
9. Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed S4 890.23

Sport task 3:

1. Knut Ryerson Wills Wing Sport 2 00:41:59 29.6km 795.94
2. Hugh Mcelrath Wills Wing Sport 2 25.4km 555.13
3. Cory Barnwell Airwave Vision Pulse 18.4km 456.73
4. Felix Cantesanu Aeros Discus 19.2km 443.57
5. Soraya Rios Wills Wing Sport 2 135 14.8km 384.38

Sport Cumulative:

1. Felix Cantesanu Aeros Discus 1208.52
2. Cory Barnwell Airwave Vision Pulse 1189.42
3. Knut Ryerson Wills Wing Sport 2 1128.40
4. Greg Sessa Wills Wing U2 1076.77
5. Hugh Mcelrath Wills Wing Sport 2 924.27

2014 East Coast Championship

Mon, Jun 2 2014, 6:39:55 pm EDT

Day 2, we stop the task due to poor launch conditions

Bruce Barmakian|cart|Charles Allen|crash|Davis Straub|East Coast Championships 2014|Facebook|Greg Dinauer|Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Jim Messina|John Claytor|John Simon|video|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

The forecast was for good lift - 700-800 fpm, like the first day, but even less likelihood of cu's, and strong winds - 12 knots out of the south southwest. And other than the fact that we didn't find much lift, the forecast was pretty much right on. No cu's, and a wind 9 to 12 mph out of the south.

The problem is that there is no good location to launch in a south wind. We set up to launch to the west with a strong cross wind. The first launches looked fine, but the conditions up above were not exciting with no cu's, lots of wind, and numerous pilots landing after short flights. Only Dave Proctor was able to stay up at first.

Red shows the launch direction. The runway is at 300°.

Then we spotted Joe Shmucker, who had dribbled north out of the airport and was now low in the next field and attempting to head back and make it to the airfield. With all of us watching we tried to determine if he could get over the thin line of low trees on the north side of the runway. It could go either way.

Joe kept going toward us and the trees. I asked him later and he wasn't even thinking about the fact that he was pushing into a head wind. He didn't see that there was a problem.

As he got closer to the trees he finally realized that he wasn't going to make it. He turned and was rotored into the ground. The glider was pancaked with Joe still on the base tube. A broken keel to go along with the down tubes and base bar. There is a nice video and I hope that he posts it.

After Joe was pulled out from under his glider with a face full of mud, we lined up to get launched. I had a bit of trouble getting off the cart despite the high angle on the cart. Greg and Jim Messina said later that they also had problems launching.

I was pulled right to a thermal and with another pilot got right up to 2,700'. When that quit I chased the thermal down wind and got back to 2,500' with three other pilots. We were two kilometers down wind. Bruce was way down below us. We were working zero lift at 2,500' and quickly drifting away from the airfield.

I saw Bruce heading back (or what looked like it) and headed back to see if there were any pilots who got towed up behind us (including Greg) thermaling. Turns out there weren't any and soon we all found ourselves landing. We lined up to go again.

As we waited there John Claytor launched and crashed as his upwind wing came up and spun him around.

Two of the safety committee members (Greg and Jim) got together and recommended that launch be suspended. I then got together with Greg and Jim Messina (Felix was a few hundred yards away) and they decided to spot the task. It was one hour after the first start time, so the day counted. But it didn't count for much.

http://soaringspot.com/ecc2014/

Task 2:

1. Dave Proctor Wills Wing T2C 154 12.5km 9.58
2. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 5.0km 6.23
2. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 144 5.0km 6.23
2. Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed S4 5.0km 6.23
2. Charles Allen Icaro Laminar Z8 12.8 5.0km 6.23
2. John Claytor Wills Wing Talon 160 5.0km 6.23
2. Bob Filipchuk Aeros Combat GT 15 5.0km 6.23
2. Jim Messina Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 5.0km 6.23
2. John Simon Aeros Combat L 15 5.0km 6.23
2. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 5.0km 6.23

Cumulative:

1. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2C 144 1006.23
2. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 932.67
3. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 907.62
4. John Simon Aeros Combat L 15 686.06
5. Dave Proctor Wills Wing T2C 154 637.32
6. Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed S4 598.16
7. Charles Allen Icaro Laminar Z8 12.8 591.93
8. Bob Filipchuk Aeros Combat GT 15 345.28
9. John Claytor Wills Wing Talon 160 254.49
10. Jim Messina Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 233.42

Launch video here.

2014 East Coast Championship

Sun, Jun 1 2014, 8:20:40 pm EDT

Results from day 1

Bruce Barmakian|Charles Allen|Davis Straub|East Coast Championships 2014|Greg Dinauer|Highland Aerosports Flight Park|John Simon|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://soaringspot.com/ecc2014/

Task 1:

1. Bruce Barmakian Wills Wing T2°C 144 01:31:05 1000
2. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 01:34:17 926.44
3. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 01:35:51 901.39
4. John Simon Aeros Combat L 15 01:51:27 679.82
5. Dave Proctor Wills Wing T2C 154 02:12:34 627.74
6. Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed S4 02:03:03 591.93
7. Charles Allen Icaro Laminar Z8 12.8 02:07:11 585.69

The Flytec Americus Comp Camp »

May 15, 2014, 8:40:05 pm EDT

The Flytec Americus Comp Camp

Rain

Terry Reynolds|Wills Wing

The last day, Thursday, of the competition was rained out. It got very nice late in the afternoon here in Americus, Georgia (what a beautiful place), but it was overcast and misting until noon.

Terry Reynolds, who hasn't flown in five years, won the competition on his new Wills Wing U2. The results should be available later on the Soaring Spot.

The 2014 Flytec Americus Cup begins on Sunday. Practice days Friday and Saturday.

Discuss "The Flytec Americus Comp Camp" at the Oz Report forum   link»

New Japanese women's distance record

May 12, 2014, 5:50:35 pm EDT

New Japanese women's distance record

Flying far on a small island

record|Wills Wing

Wills Wing writes:

Syuko Uchida flew 166km on her T2C-136 on April 26th from Mt. Ashio to the north border of Fukushima province setting the new Japanese Female Distance Record.

Discuss "New Japanese women's distance record" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The Flytec Americus Comp Camp »

May 11, 2014, 8:29:30 pm EDT

The Flytec Americus Comp Camp

Old dogs, new tricks

Flytec 6030|Glen McFarland|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Quest Air|Steve Kroop|Terry Reynolds|weather|Wills Wing

Terry Reynolds is here flying a brand new Wills Wing U2. He was flying well but forgot that there was a second turnpoint. Couldn't figure out why he wasn't getting the happy sound when he crossed and then recrossed the goal cylinder. New Flytec 6030 also.

Steve Kroop from Flytec USA says that 6030's are selling like they always have, which is well, due to the reduced price, $1,100. Even with the 7000 series in the oven (and taking its own sweet time to bake as is to be expected from new electronic items).

Overcast and some sprinkles on the first day, Saturday. Got my four person team in the air first. No one made the turnpoint which was merely 3.5 km away. Got half the team a second flight. Numerous pilots didn't get to launch at all as the rain picked up.

Lesson - be ready. No lollygagging.

Day two, better conditions, the sky full of cu's. Southwest winds at 8 mph. A mere 22 km task (just to shake the cobwebs out for these guys). Got my new team (the instructor/coach rotates) first to launch (five students). Had to crack the whip a bit.

One pilot lost his new radio (just purchased from Quest Air) from 2,000' over the grass part of the airport. I took off after everyone on the team launched. Found good lift right away and circled up. At least one team member nearby and circling. Lift gave out and went north away from the airport to find 100 fpm an a hawk underneath. Another team member joins me. The radios aren't working. Cory, the first team member that I flew with couldn't make it out as far as we went and had to land back at the airport.

We climb up to cloud base at 3,600' (3,200' AGL) as the lift improves to 400 fpm. I send the student off toward the first turnpoint and fly back 5 km to the airport. Find zero sink as now all my other students, but one have landed. I have them get in line ASAP to launch again, but after everyone gets a tow. Brian, from Lookout, the student who was with me in the good climb, heads off to the turnpoint and makes it and back to the airport, but lands there.

I work around the airport with Glen McFarland coming in under me. It is just barely enough to stay up in. We searched around and around and then he heads northwest away from launch while I head for a cu's toward launch. Nothing there and I land. He hangs out waiting for his students.

We wait while the last team, Jonny's team, launches and then almost everyone relaunches. Cory flying a Vision Pulse was circling in 50 fpm at the east end of the airport. I pinned off early again and head for the small gaggle over there. The lift improved. We worked together toward the first turnpoint at Hodges Hobbies where we are camping with the Oz Report World Headquarters. Cory lands heading toward the turnpoit.

Plenty of pilots around to scout out the lift as one lands at the putting green field at the turnpoint but the rest of us work our way up slowly in the weak lift. Mitch and Zac come over under and we all climb up. I can't spot any of my students. Brian will land at Hodges after his second launch. Alfredo already landed at Hodges from his first launch.

We head back toward the airport and I'm high over Zac and Mitch who have to start scratching low on the south east corner of the airport as I head toward a new cu. I get nothing and fly back toward Mitch and Zac. I find poor lift upwind of them below them and entice them over to the better then they've got lift. We all climb back up slowly as the lift improves to over 4,000' to almost cloud base.

We head off for the last turnpoint. Mitch is in contact with his students but apparently Zac is not as he heads to the turnpoint and then goes on final to goal. Mitch stays behind waiting for students. Before I make the turnpoint, the 6030 says I have the goal back at the airport with 1,250'. As soon as I get the turnpoint, it says I have it by 500'. Within a minute the altitude at goal value goes to 900'.

Perhaps a few students made the task, but I'm not sure. Tomorrow I make a presentation on the weather.

The camp is going well with an intense discussion about the 6030. A lot of clutter to cut through. Mitch is leading the discussions. The instructors are coaching their team members. We have downloaded the coaches 6030 settings to the students' 6030's to help them out.

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Wills Wing Alpha Facebook Page

May 5, 2014, 7:17:29 EDT

Wills Wing Alpha Facebook Page

Mark Dowsett's page

Facebook|Mark Dowsett|Wills Wing

Mark Dowsett <<mark>> writes:

I have started a WillsWing Alpha Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WillsWingAlpha

Wills Wing has asked that is just be used to share the public's experiences with the Alpha and NOT ask for technical support on Alphas through the page. I agree that it is best to contact them directly with those inquiries - they are too busy building more gliders to monitor the page for customer support!

I am just curious to hear other instructors' comments about how their training programs are improving with the use of the Alphas. Our season up here in Canada is just barely starting and we haven't had any students on them yet.

If you 'like' the page, you can tag "WW Alpha" in your posts and pictures.

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2014 Wills Wing Demo days video

April 25, 2014, 8:43:01 EDT

2014 Wills Wing Demo days video

See all your friends

video|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Demo Days 2014

http://youtu.be/NSK8com3CrU

The Wills Wing Alpha

April 22, 2014, 8:53:03 EDT

The Wills Wing Alpha

Finally, Steve tells us what's up with this new glider

Facebook|Steven "Steve" Pearson|USHPA|video|Wills Wing

Steven Pearson <<Steve>> writes:

The Alpha is a new model that looks like a lower aspect ratio Falcon (less wing span, more area), and is intended for flight schools and for pilots who value light weight, convenience, slow flying and easy take-off and landing above other performance attributes. The Alpha 180 has about the same span as a Falcon 4 145 but more area than a Falcon 4 170.

The Alpha 210 has about the same span as a Falcon 4 170, but more area than a Falcon 4 195. The Alpha 180 uses the same size control bar as the Falcon 4 145, and the Alpha 210 uses a control bar size between that of the Falcon 4 170 and Falcon 4 195.

The Alphas fly very slowly, and are very docile and easy in handling, take-off and landing, and yet they have exceptionally good soaring performance – better in fact in very light lift and small thermals than a Falcon. Unlike the Condor, the Alpha is a fully airworthy, utility class glider, and can be sold to new students or experienced pilots.

The Alpha will be a better first purchase glider for most new pilots than a Falcon, and almost as easy for first training flights as a Condor. In some ways they will be easier – because they are smaller gliders, they are easier to ground handle if there is wind.

Their launching speed will probably not be quite as slow as the Condor, but it will be very close. The minimum flying speed on the Alpha 180 is within 1 mph of that of the Condor 225, and the minimum flying speed on the Alpha 210 is within 1 mph of that of the Condor 330, and almost 2mph slower than that of the Condor 225.

Since the Condor is only approved for flight within a few feet of the ground, anyone who is going to progress beyond the first day of training will need to be able to adapt to launching something other than the Condor, and the Alpha is, by far, the easiest next step, and quite a bit easier in every respect than a Falcon.

Specification Alpha 180 Alpha 210
Area (ft2) 180 210
Span (ft) 28.2 31.2
Aspect Ratio 4.4 4.6
Glider Weight (lbs) 46 51
Hook-In Weight (lbs) 120-200 150-280
Optimum Body Weight (lbs) 120-150 150-220
USHPA Rating 2
Vne (mph) 45
Va (mph) 39
Vms (mph) 17
Vd (mph) 34
Length (in bag) (in) 215 228
Break-down (in) 147 160
Suggested Retail $3,675

The video here.

Mario Luppa at Wallaby

April 17, 2014, 7:48:42 EDT

Mario Luppa at Wallaby

What could be more fun?

USHPA|Wills Wing

Mario Luppa <<marioluppa>> writes:

Malcolm, Laurie, Linda, Mitch, RJ, Mike, Linda M., Mike, Steve, all of my friends overseas as promised while I was at Wallaby, as soon as I got back to Italy after the Wills Wing demo days I wrote an article about the experience I had at Wallaby and, more quickly than expected, it has been already published on the FIVL monthly Magazine VOLO LIBERO (FIVL is the ITALIAN USHPA). Even the front page has an image of my U2 up in the Wallaby Skyes.

I spoke highly about the Ranch, the Wills Wings, the Instructor of the year 2014, the landing clinics .... about Linda and her trailer .... RJ and his Tandem with Arik .... and I have invited Italian pilots to travel with me to Wallaby for the same event in 2015 ..... to learn to aero-tow .... and more. I specifically mentioned the patience of the Guru and designer of Wills Wing HG .... changing my VG lines in the mud :-)! Thank you Steve and Mike for so many advice and technical explanations.

http://ozreport.com/docs/248_esecutivo_mario2.pdf

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Dalby Big Air Hang Gliding 2014

April 9, 2014, 8:42:14 EDT

Dalby Big Air HG 2014

Lenny wins

Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|John Smith|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Moyes Litespeed RX|Rohan Taylor|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2014/

Task 3:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Len Paton Moyes Litespeed RX 4 01:50:40 999
2 Guy Hubbard Moyes Litespeed RS 4 01:51:08 976
3 Steve Blenkinsop Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:51:32 958
4 Sam Prest Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:52:20 942
5 John Smith Moyes Litespeed S 5 01:52:36 932
6 Conrad Loten Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:53:24 920
7 adam stevens Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:53:35 918
8 Rod Flockhart Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 01:53:56 907
9 Rohan Taylor Moyes Litespeed RS 4 02:02:57 824
10 Tim Osborn Moyes Litespeed S 5 02:04:25 814

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Steve Blenkinsop Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 2384
2 Guy Hubbard Moyes Litespeed RS 4 2347
3 adam stevens Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 2317
4 John Smith Moyes Litespeed S 5 2314
5 Conrad Loten Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 2252
6 cameron tunbridge Wills Wing T2C 154 2096
7 Jon snr Durand Moyes Litespeed RX4 2013
8 Rohan Taylor Moyes Litespeed RS 4 1976
9 Len Paton Moyes Litespeed RX 4 1962
10 Tim Osborn Moyes Litespeed S 5 1951

Dalby Big Air Hang Gliding 2014

April 8, 2014, 8:25:49 EDT

Dalby Big Air HG 2014

Curt wins task 2

Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|Curt Warren|Grant Heaney|John Smith|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Moyes Litespeed RX|Nick Purcell|Rohan Taylor|Steve Blenkinsop|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2014/

Task 2:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Curt Warren Moyes Litespeed RX 4 01:41:17 1000
2 nick purcell Moyes Litespeed RS 4 01:44:32 939
3 Steve Blenkinsop Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:45:49 919
4 Jon snr Durand Moyes Litespeed RX4 01:45:50 913
5 Glen Mcfarlane Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:46:02 908
6 Rohan Taylor Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 01:46:02 907
7 adam stevens Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:46:44 892
8 Conrad Loten Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:47:21 878
9 John Smith Moyes Litespeed S 5 01:47:33 876
10 Grant Heaney Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:48:11 869

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Curt Warren Moyes Litespeed RX 4 1508
2 Steve Blenkinsop Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1426
3 adam stevens Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1399
4 John Smith Moyes Litespeed S 5 1382
5 Guy Hubbard Moyes Litespeed RS 4 1371
6 Conrad Loten Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1332
7 cameron tunbridge Wills Wing T2C 154 1322
8 Jon snr Durand Moyes Litespeed RX4 1208
9 Grant Heaney Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1164
10 Rohan Taylor Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 1152

Kathryn.

Dalby Big Air Hang Gliding 2014

April 7, 2014, 8:40:47 EDT

Dalby Big Air HG 2014

Billo rescores day one

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|Curt Warren|John Smith|Konrad Heilmann|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|William "Billo" Olive|Wills Wing

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|Curt Warren|John Smith|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|William "Billo" Olive|Wills Wing

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|Curt Warren|John Smith|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|William "Billo" Olive|Wills Wing

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2014/

Original scoring: http://ozreport.com/18.66#9

# Name Glider Last
Dist.1
Alt.2 Dist.3 Total
1 Adam Parer Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 37,66 1081 48,47 480
2 cameron tunbridge airborne rev 14.5 37,79 1039 48,18 478
3 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed S 5 37,71 972 47,43 472
4 Tim Osborne wills wing u2 37,68 955 47,23 470
5 Curt Warren Moyes Litespeed RS4 37,75 926 47,01 469
6 Conrad Loten Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 35,51 1093 46,44 461
6 adam stevens airbone rev 13.5 37,78 874 46,52 461
6 Steve Blenkinsop Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 37,74 878 46,52 461
9 John Smith Moyes Litespeed S 5 37,69 746 45,15 438
10 Frank Chetcuti Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 37,47 753 45,00 436

The new version of the FS scoring program allows one to score a distance based on your altitude when the task was stopped.

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Dalby Big Air HG 2014

April 6, 2014, 8:15:25 EDT

Dalby Big Air HG 2014

Day one, a thunderstorm

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Curt Warren|John Smith|Kathryn O'Riordan|Konrad Heilmann|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|Wills Wing

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Curt Warren|John Smith|Kathryn O'Riordan|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|Wills Wing

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Curt Warren|John Smith|Kathryn O'Riordan|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|Wills Wing

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2014/

# Name Glider Dist. Total
1 Guy Hubbard Moyes Litespeed RS 4 23,76 121
2 Steve Blenkinsop Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 21,12 113
2 Curt Warren Moyes Litespeed RS4 21,13 113
2 cameron tunbridge airborne rev 14.5 21,14 113
2 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed S 5 21,08 113
2 adam stevens airbone rev 13.5 21,14 113
2 Tim Osborne wills wing u2 21,07 113
8 Adam Parer Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 21,07 112
8 John Smith Moyes Litespeed S 5 21,04 112
10 Frank Chetcuti Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 20,82 111

Task stopped due to a thunderstorm.

Kathryn O'Riordan took this shot after landing:

Adam Stevens gets this shot:

Day two, the ground is too wet for aerotowing.

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Wills Wing Demo Days video

April 4, 2014, 7:52:31 EDT

Wills Wing Demo Days video

Rafael Arcos sends this video from last week

Rafael Arcos|video|Wills Wing

http://youtu.be/8PfmyFJn40A

US Sport Class Raffle

March 30, 2014, 8:40:27 EDT

US Sport Class Raffle

Last day

Quest Air|Wills Wing

Flytec 6030|Quest Air|Wills Wing

Stephan Mentler <<stephmet>> writes:

For those of you who donated and are entered into the raffle, thank You. For the rest of you procrastinators, you have until noon eastern standard time (Quest Air time) to donate – stop procrastinating - the paypal link is below. Tell your friends. We have non-hang glider pilot prizes to include dune lessons and a tandem flight. Your odds of winning a 6030 are still looking pretty good. We also have lot more prizes available (read below). Prizes will be allocated according to the order in which the names are draw - in other words if your name is picked 1st you get first choice of the available prizes, second gets second choice, and so on. A $25 donation gets you entered into the raffle. The list of prizes are:

Flytec USA. Flytec Sweat Shirt Flytec Sonic.  Flytec Flight Computer Model 6030 (top of the line $1,249.00 flight instrument)

Wills Wing.  Three WW sweet shirt hoodies Ten WW T-Shirts

Moyes. USA Moyes speed sleeves

Kitty Hawk Kites.  Contour HD camera Hang Gliding Dune Lesson for two at Jockey's Ridge State Park N.C.

Quest Air. Two separate Intro Tandems and Quest Air embroidered Polo/Golf shirt

Blueye. A pair of Blueye Sun Glasses

Instinct Windsports. Camera pole and camera mount

As a side note Jim Zeiset of Monarch Mfg. has committed to matching the funds raised by this raffle up $2500.00 (thank you Jim). Jim has done so much for the sport of hang gliding since the early 1970’s we think you should show him how much we appreciate him by helping spend his hard earned money on the 2014 US National Sport Class Team’s trip the the World Championship in Annecy, France.

Here is the link to the PayPal site.

UPDATE: The drawing will take place in the afternoon or evening on April 1st as originally planned.

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Raining on the Wills Wing Demo days

March 29, 2014, 7:26:09 pm EDT

Raining on the Wills Wing Demo days

Poor conditions all week and ending on worse conditions

Wills Wing

Here comes the thunderstorm, rain, and tornado watch at 12:44 PM on Saturday:

Rain heavily through the night and now the next storm hits Saturday afternoon. Overcast and/or windy all week. Bits of rain until a lot of rain Saturday morning.

The week before was good and next week looks good also. So unfortunate for these guys.

Photo by Diane McKenzie who states that the wind blew the tent down.

The front came through and the sun came out at 6 PM.

Measuring for prototypes

March 29, 2014, 11:11:32 EDT

Measuring for prototypes

Did they think this through?

CIVL|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://ozreport.com/18.055#0

From the new prototype rules (as found in the local rules for the pre-Worlds):

Prototypes are allowed in test competitions (Cat. 2), but not in the World Meet (Cat. 1). The new prototype control rules have been adopted and will be in effect for the World Meet in 2015.

Prototypes are gliders that are outside the manufacturer’s tolerances of specifications or construction plans as published.

Measurement tolerances will be those provided by the manufacturer or .05% (.0005 times the length). Battens must be as true to the glider’s published pattern as possible.

I was able to sit down with Steve Pearson in the Oz Report World Headquarters and discuss at some length this new prototype measuring rule. He referred to batten length, casually mentioning that he doubted that the T2C batten chart was accurate enough to be used as a template to measure actual battens against, at least not to .05%.

You might note that all but two of the battens on the T2C and other gliders are adjustable. This presents a problem right away, as which length are we talking about. But it doesn't stop there.

So I made a measurement of my most outboard adjustable Wills Wing T2C 144 batten. It's hard to get a "good" measurement of the batten with a steel tape measure as it has to bend around the curvature of the batten and it is difficult to get it to bend just right. So there is quite a bit of slop in the measurement to begin with so remember that when I publish here the lengths I measured with spurious precision.

The batten length is 45.1875 inches which precisely equals: 147.763 mm (that was a conversion, not measured with my MM steel tape measure).

The foot/inch steel tape measure seemed to measure 45 3/16" (thus the decimal value above).

Let's assume for a moment that this is the Wills Wing specified length (this assumption won't matter for the purposes of our example).

If I want the batten length to be within .05% of the length we'd find this distance to be: .02259375 in (about 1.4 64th's of an inch) or .0028694075 mm.

Now, unfortunately, the measurement was made with the flip tip end rotated 180 degrees. When I rotate the tip so that I can install the batten it is out of tolerance. No matter which way I turn it it is either too long or too short. (I assume that this is the case as Steve Pearson tells me it is. My measurement device is too crude to be able to measure the distance difference between the two half rotations but I'm following Steve in that it is greater than .02259375 inches.)

Now the current CIVL prototype rule requires that measurements be able to distinguish lengths within .05% of the "published" lengths. This would suggest that that is going to be too difficult.

Bob at Wallaby

March 28, 2014, 11:02:11 pm EDT

Bob at Wallaby

Before the Wills Wing demo Days

Bob "Skydog" Grant|Wills Wing

http://www.skydogsports.com/hg-1/2014-March-WW.htm

Winter Returns

March 26, 2014, 9:11:49 EDT

Winter Returns

It's Florida cold in Florida

Quest Air|Wills Wing

It was down to 42 degrees this morning with winds at 14 mph gusting to 21 mph at around 9 AM. The cold front is bringing heavy snows to the northeast.

It was quite windy yesterday keeping all of us on the ground. More winds today until late in the afternoon.

I assume that the folks at Wills Wing Days are finding other things to do.

Discuss "Winter Returns" at the Oz Report forum   link»

iPad and iPhone color picker for Wills Wing

March 24, 2014, 8:32:19 EDT

iPad and iPhone color picker for Wills Wing

From Andrew Morse

Dustin Martin|Facebook|Owen Morse|photo|Wills Wing

Owen Morse couldn't be more proud of his brother's work.

Choose the colors and sail materials for your new Wills Wing glider, experiment with different combinations and email your final choice to your WW dealer to get your order started

At the Apple App store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/willswing/id836001829?mt=8

Owen writes:

For those of you paying attention, there is an Easter egg hidden in this app. I call it the "dustin martin" Easter egg. Dustin suggested that the app have a button that when clicked, would generate and display all possible color combinations for a particular glider model. Depending on the number of panels, that could easily exceed 40 million combinations! Instead, if you quadruple tap the screen, a single random color combination will be displayed. It's fun, give it a try! It can help inspire some interesting designs, as well as confirm your intuition that certain colors should never be seen together!

Andrew is working on an Android version now.

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Flying this Wills Wing T2C 144

March 22, 2014, 5:49:22 pm EDT

Flying this Wills Wing T2C 144

In trade for Oz Report advertising

Quest Air|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

I get to fly this glider from Wills Wing in trade for a years worth of Oz Report advertising. Took it for a spin on Saturday (the fourth day in a row of fabulous conditions). Actually the wind was a little strong (15 mph) out of the west (not my favorite direction here). It was a very fast ride to cloud base at 4,400' but by the time I got there I was over Claremont.

Looks good for Sunday with lighter winds like the previous days.

Discuss "Flying this Wills Wing T2C 144" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Aeros Winter Race 2014

Fri, Mar 21 2014, 11:32:34 pm EDT

Task 3

Joseph Salvenmoser|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Robert Reisinger|Thomas Weissenberger|Wills Wing

Joseph Salvenmoser|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Oleg Bondarchuk|Robert Reisinger|Thomas Weissenberger|Wills Wing

Joseph Salvenmoser|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Oleg Bondarchuk|Robert Reisinger|Thomas Weissenberger|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Joseph Salvenmoser|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Robert Reisinger|Thomas Weissenberger|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Joseph Salvenmoser|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Oleg Bondarchuk|Robert Reisinger|Thomas Weissenberger|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.aerosrace.blogspot.com/

http://hg.sffa.org/aeros_wr/

Task 3:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Thomas Weissenberger Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 01:32:10 524
2 Matjaz Klemencic Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 01:35:55 471
3 Roland Wöhrle Moyes RX 3.5 01:36:27 463
4 Oleg Bondarchuk Aeros Combat C 12.7 01:36:53 456
5 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes  RX 3,5 01:38:41 440
6 Vanni Accattoli Wills Wing T2C 154 01:39:26 435
7 Franc Peternel Wills Wing T2C 01:38:03 417
8 Manfred Trimmel Wills Wing T2C 01:43:37 403
9 Roman Colner Airborne Rev 13.4 01:46:36 399
10 Robert Reisinger Wills Wing T2C 01:47:29 390
11 Iztok Jarc Aeros Combat GT 13,5  black Pearl 01:50:59 384
12 Günther Tschurnig Icaro Z9 14.1 01:59:30 342
13 Endre Kovács Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5 02:17:37 287
14 Evangelos Papakostas Wills Wing T2C 144 02:40:24 216

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Thomas Weissenberger Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 1406
2 Oleg Bondarchuk Aeros Combat C 12.7 1372
3 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes  RX 3,5 1356
4 Roland Wöhrle Moyes RX 3.5 1335
5 Vanni Accattoli Wills Wing T2C 154 1327
6 Franc Peternel Wills Wing T2C 1310
7 Matjaz Klemencic Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 1239
8 Iztok Jarc Aeros Combat GT 13,5  black Pearl 1172
9 Roman Colner Airborne Rev 13.4 1147
10 Manfred Trimmel Wills Wing T2C 1062

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