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topic: Brett Hazlett

196 articles, page:  1 

2017 Canadian Paragliding Championship

Sat, Jul 29 2017, 8:30:24 pm MDT

Four tasks in seven days

Brett Hazlett|Canadian PG Championships 2017|PG

http://canadiannationalspg.weebly.com/results.html

http://canadiannationalspg.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/3/11236077/overall_open.pdf

Brett Hazlett wins by seven points out of 2796.

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Source II

June 21, 2017, 8:11:53 MST -0600

Source II

Brett Hazlett

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett|video

https://vimeo.com/219390822

I had reached this peak only once. For years I found it impossible. Suddenly, twice in a month. Sharing the experience with good friends made it a perfect day!

The Halkomelem name for the peak, Theeth-uhl-kay, means "the source" or "the place from which the waters spring". For the Sto:lo, the peak is the "mother mountain" or old woman overlooking her children dwelling in the valley. Lady Peak, to the south is the old woman's dog. Cheam, the official name of the peak, is the Halkomelem word for "wild strawberries".

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Anticipation

April 4, 2017, 7:33:50 EST -0400

Anticipation

Here comes the sun

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

This maddening, numbing, winter. Dim days, frigid nights, ceaseless rain. Espresso to face another day, wine to face another night. An altered state taking over, I cling to sanity by a single thread. One morning, the Sun returned.

https://vimeo.com/211145362

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Crème brûlée

September 15, 2016, 8:18:45 MST

Crème brûlée

Saint-André-les-Alpes

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> sends:

https://vimeo.com/182788631

Filmed during the paragliding world cup in Saint-André-les-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, France.

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Lost in the Garden

August 29, 2016, 9:27:50 MST -0600

Lost in the Garden

The Lions

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

https://vimeo.com/180429335

'Just a short flight, I won’t need water.’, I thought. My backyard site, Grouse Mountain, produced unexpectedly magical evening air which offered an exploration of the deeper valleys, far from roads and landing fields. I had a rare close up view of Crown Mountain and even the base of The Lions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lions_(peaks)

The return to civilization was tense, for a time, when I faced a headwind lower in a valley. With only steep rock faces and a sea of evergreen below me, I breathed deeply, and focused on finding lift. 'You're not there, you're here. Fly this.', I reminded myself.

In challenging situations, I sometimes begin to fantasize about being in a less challenging situation than to give all my attention to what is happening now. How did this happen? Why am I here? Why am I low? I don’t want to be here. All useless thoughts.

I descended into a narrow gully. Still, my anxiety was fading, I was noticing the beauty around me and taking in the sensations. I was no longer running for the exit, resisting the situation, wishing for something to be different. I was relaxed and therefore more able to manage the risks I had created.

Patiently, I focused on improving my position, gradually. After some time, I realized I had a good chance to reach the main valley. I was enjoying the flying so much that I hadn't noticed the transition from trapped to free. I was always free.

Such euphoria to fly over this beautiful and rugged terrain, smile at how absurd it is that humans can do this just for fun, return from this remote paradise, land in a familiar field with children playing, covered in lush grass, close to home, and replay the magic in my mind as I leave across a dew covered field, as the Sun sets.

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Castle in the Clouds

April 22, 2016, 11:08:52 pm EST -0400

Castle in the Clouds

Paragliding World Cup in Brazil

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

Filmed during the 2016 Paragliding World Cup in Castelo, Espírito Santo, Brazil.

https://vimeo.com/163851845

We overflew the most ancient lands on Earth - enormous monoliths, high plateaus, Pandoran jungles - against a distant view of the Atlantic.

This was the best that racing paragliders can be: Racing with good friends in raging thermals, convergence zones, endless glides, and never flown before tasks, while receiving generous Capixaba hospitality.

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Brett Bouncing »

November 26, 2015, 8:15:51 PST

Brett Bouncing

Hill side launch sites are not optimized

http://www.xcmag.com/2015/11/falling-full-article-from-xc165/

Launch conditions had deteriorated. For some time it was blowing down, steadily. I moved to the other side of the mountain, to launch from a turn-around in the highway, but into the wind. Past the shallow highway was a cliff. The exit past the cliff had obstacles: a tree on the left and a rock outcropping on the right. The wind became light, perhaps 3km/h. I went for it, got airborne, but missed the exit, hitting the tree on the left with my body, past the edge of the cliff.

Falling. Just one thought in my mind: Not like this. The speed was terrifying, the impacts brutal. The terrain was steep and despite the impacts I wasn’t slowing. On the fourth impact I suddenly came to a stop – my glider grabbed a small tree.

I was lying on my side. My helmet had released from my head. I listened as it bounced, skipped, and spun down the mountain, until I could no longer hear it. Dirt and gravel continued to slide past me as I lay on my side, struggling to breathe. I closed my eyes and focused on breathing. Slowly, deliberately, shallowly.

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Brett's back

July 6, 2015, 7:53:17 MDT

Brett's back

And competing

Blue Sky|Brett Hazlett|video

Blue Sky|Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

Nine months ago, in September 2014, I was lying on the side of a ten-thousand-foot desert mountain in Turkey, unable to move, struggling to breath. People rescued me, people I knew, people I didn’t. Alone in a Turkish hospital, watching the shadows of objects in my room arc across the floor from dawn to dusk, each day, for weeks, in agony and gratitude, I thought about how death is easy, surviving is difficult. One morning, a bird landed on my window sill, sang for a few moments, then flew away. From that moment, I felt an intense resolve.

For five months, I was unable to walk. Each day, hours of excruciating physiotherapy and training. Pain was my shadow. When I was alone at night, I cried. Then, slowly, steps. Gently. Inside I screamed in rage. More months, winter passed.

I started flying again. Tentatively. Many flights later, on this day, I realized that I was physically and mentally ready to compete again. It was a simple flight with friends: a bright blue sky, beautiful mountains, and rough thermals. With new next-level flying and filming gear, for the first time in over a year, I felt motivated to film again.

https://vimeo.com/132627735

Soundtrack: High As We Might Be by Kalpataru Tree from the album All Things Passing

https://kalpatarutree.bandcamp.com/album/all-things-passing

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Gordon Rigg⁣'s graph updated »

Sun, Mar 23 2014, 7:40:44 am EDT

With more PWC flights

Brett Hazlett|Facebook|Gordon Rigg

Gordon writes:

Here is an illustration of track logs for the PWC (green) and the Hang gliding pre-worlds (red) in Valle de Bravo Mexico. I've deleted the previous picture which did not show all the PWC tasks! Thanks Brett Hazlett, I did you guys a bit of an injustice.

A Walk in the Garden

November 13, 2013, 8:02:25 PST

A Walk in the Garden

Evergreens

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

As the sun descended upon the horizon and shadows grew long, I left on a flight deep into hidden valleys, over a sea of evergreen and rock. A few moments alone to clear my head, in this ordinary paradise.

https://vimeo.com/79071674

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Lost Horizon II

September 27, 2013, 7:34:06 MDT

Lost Horizon II

Looking sideways

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

Araxá, Minas Gerais, Brasil. A sea of red earth, vast blue skies. Among the clouds, I chase the horizon. Lost, out-of-reach, the horizon taunts me. But I stretch: https://vimeo.com/75459444

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Brett Hazlett at the Paragliding Worlds

August 1, 2013, 8:46:25 CDT

Brett Hazlett at the Paragliding Worlds

Bulgarian Rhapsody

Brett Hazlett|PG|PG Worlds 2013|video

https://vimeo.com/71459558

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

Alpine plains, convergence lines, and mega gaggles at the 13th FAI World Paragliding Championship.

13th FAI World Paragliding Championships are now finished

July 29, 2013, 7:15:37 CDT

13th FAI World PG Championships are now finished

Cheating?

Brett Hazlett|competition|PG

http://airtribune.com/13-fai-world-paragliding-championship/results

Nicole writes:

Well after two weeks the Paragliding Worlds in Sopot are over. Unfavorable north wind led to many cancelled days but the pilots still managed to get in five tasks. (Apparently there was a north-facing alternate site but it had last-minute airspace issues due to a nearby NATO military exercise, bad timing!)

Canada's own Brett Hazlett came in 39th overall (out of 146) which is an awesome result given the caliber of the field. Congratulations on your achievement and hope you enjoyed the flying, scenery, and cultural experience of Bulgaria!

http://www.aprendeavolar.com.mx/blog/the-dark-side-of-the-world-paragliding-championships

The thing that most of us will remember it for is a bit of cheating that was going on during the comp.

The first thing that we encountered was cloud flying.

...This cloud flying we sorted out very fast.

Another major problem appeared when we saw that some pilots were flying much faster than other pilots on speed bar – obviously faster than the speed the gliders were certified for. It became quite annoying in the final glide to lose precious seconds and minutes just because they did something to their gliders.

2013 Rat Race »

July 2, 2013, 8:33:07 CDT

2013 Rat Race

The results

Brett Hazlett

Brett Hazlett|Rat Race 2013

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

http://www.flyxc.org/files/Race_Cumulative_Serial4.html

It was a fantastic week of flying at Woodrat and really good practice for the World Championship to race with the best Americans and a pretty good Swiss pilot too! Ten days of rest and we will all be leaving for Sopot, Bulgaria.

http://para-sopot2013.com/information.php?type=schedule

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Baixo Guandú

April 30, 2013, 7:18:52 EDT

Baixo Guandú

PWC

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> sends:

https://vimeo.com/64935993

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Paragliding World Cup

April 15, 2013, 8:32:42 EDT

Paragliding World Cup

Latest version starts this weekend

Brett Hazlett|James Bradley|PG

http://pwca.org/node/13655

http://www.hipoxia.com.br/pwc2013/

Speaking (as we have lately) of Brazil, James Bradley sends:

Dancing around rock monoliths and rain showers in light conditions, getting help from vulture swarms, before the PWC in Baixo Guandu. With Brett Hazlett. First task Sunday. The forecast is looking better, i.e. dryer.

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Sea Gull

April 9, 2013, 7:30:58 EDT

Sea Gull

It's all flying

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

https://vimeo.com/63542956

This is a visual story about a boy's imagination becoming a man's reality.

When I was a boy, I often lay in the sand and watched sea gulls soaring invisible waves of air flowing over the houses, walls, and buildings along the beach. Many years later, quite by surprise, I found myself soaring those invisible waves, looking down at the sand that I used to lay in, and reflecting upon the bitter sweetness of time passing. All during this twenty kilometre out-and-return flight, along the coast of Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brasil, with a paraglider.

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Hawaiian cloud forest

March 20, 2013, 9:11:55 EDT

Hawaiian cloud forest

Close to the cliffs

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

http://vimeo.com/62028115

A dreamy 50 km cross country paragliding flight from the Makapu'u Lighthouse on the island of Oahu, Hawai'i and along the cloud forest, Wao Akua, or realm of the Gods, in the Ko'olau range, filled with dense jungle, steep cliffs, and rare plants. Gentle air lifted me close to the thousand-metre-high cliffs to be immersed in the atmosphere of mist shrouded giant fern and intoxicating Pandoran jungle sounds.

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Test flying Moyes RX's in California

December 18, 2012, 7:57:29 PST

Test flying Moyes RX's in California

Lying horizontal and putting your hands out in front of you

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> sends:

Kraig and I spent a week together test flying RX's in California. In the process I rediscover the meaning of velocity.

https://vimeo.com/55803135

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Brett's latest paragliding video

September 18, 2012, 6:33:55 MST

Brett's latest paragliding video

Lost Horizon

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett writes:

Some things only happen once. https://vimeo.com/49524008

www.flyingthevoid.blogspot.com

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Airspace in Idaho?

August 21, 2012, 8:19:31 MDT

Airspace in Idaho?

Pilots go long, but it doesn't count

Brett Hazlett

http://www.nicolemclearn.com/2012/08/sun-valley-pwc-august-20.html

http://pwca.org/results/results/t_6_16_1.htm?ts=120821031313

The Hailey class D airspace is south of Ketchum and Mount Baldy. It is the only airspace that could possibly pose even the slightest problem for pilots but somehow fourteen pilots got in it. The penalties were severe. Brett Hazlett and Bill Belcourt were zeroed, for example. The two pilots who flew the longest distances were zeroed.

Pilots got as far as 175 km out of 195 km.

http://www.pwca.org/

Later track log analysis reduced the number of infractions to seven.

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Into Grizzly Country

August 15, 2012, 5:46:35 pm MDT

Into Grizzly Country

From Brett Hazlett

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett|video

https://vimeo.com/47579023

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Oahu

June 14, 2012, 7:06:14 CDT

Oahu

Brett Hazlett dreams and flies

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett|video

https://vimeo.com/43748436

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Huffington Post posts Brett Hazlett's video

February 9, 2012, 9:31:28 PST

Huffington Post posts Brett Hazlett's video

Sorta main stream media

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/paragliding-world-cup-superfinal-mexico-video_n_1262914.html

PWC Superfinal video

February 8, 2012, 9:20:59 PST

PWC Superfinal video

Brett's work up

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

After 1000+ km, 50+ hours, turbulence, low saves, and racing with friends at full bar, the Superfinal is over! Here's the video: https://vimeo.com/36382604.

They all bunch up in Valle de Bravo

February 3, 2012, 10:05:00 PST

They all bunch up in Valle de Bravo

Unlike in hang glider comps, the pilots all come in together

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/node/2005

http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/node/2005/390

http://andre-comps.blogspot.com/

Yes, there was at least one reserve if not two thrown yet again today. Jack Brown, USA, I think.

From: http://biggovtsucks.blogspot.com/

Official PWC site
Organiser's website
Paragliding World Cup TV
Pilot list
Live tracking
Taskboards
Live Leaderboard
Retrieve map
Results: Task 1 | Task 2 | Task 3 | Task 4 | Task 5 | Task 6 | Task 7 | Overall
Task Tracklogs: Task 1 | Task 2 | Task 3 | Task 4 | Task 5 | Task 6
Task Animations: Task 1 | Task 2 | Task 3 | Task 4 | Task 5| Task 6
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/ParaglidingWCup
Nicole McLearn | Brett Hazlett | Nicky Moss | Andre Rainsford | Gin Team Blog

Brett in Hawaii

December 22, 2011, 12:42:41 pm GMT-0500

Brett in Hawaii

Hiking and flying

Brett Hazlett|video

http://vimeo.com/34014823

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Paragliding Magic

November 29, 2011, 8:42:48 PST

Paragliding Magic

In Brazil

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> writes:

http://vimeo.com/32750970

The magical skyscapes of Carmo do Rio Claro, Minas Gerais, Brasil, as seen from a paraglider

This is a magical lost place that I discovered in Brazil last month. When I leave this complicated life, wherever I find myself, I will recreate the lakes and sky of this place with pure consciousness and fly there for eternity. After some time I may forget where I am, to which I will remind myself, 'Somewhere you once were.'

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New FAI/CIVL web site design

November 14, 2011, 8:51:40 PST

New FAI/CIVL web site design

It's been hard to find articles on this site for ever

Brett Hazlett|CIVL|Fred Wilson|PG|video

http://www.fai.org/hang-gliding-and-paragliding

It's been a difficult site to navigate in for as long as I can remember (but then it is difficult to find a specific article in the Oz Report out of the 10's of thousands there). This is the second major change that it has gone through. Just try to find the results of the recent CIVL Bureau meeting.

Fred Wilson <<ftlwilson>> is not happy and writes:

Cor Blimey but the new FAI + CIVL Website is a mess or what? http://www.fai.org/.  Missing documents and broken files everywhere you look. Slow, slow loading. Exasperatingly difficult and time consuming searches to find even the most simplest files.. Scads of drop down lists and files you cannot link to directly.

Why oh why on earth would they move every last single file into an entirely new folder on their website? It will take them years to repair all the links at this rate, if ever. Can anyone suss out what software the site is built with? It will be on my banned list for life for sure!

Their new FAI TV Channel looks like a promising idea though: http://www.youtube.com/airsportschannel

We should petition to get http://www.JeanBaptisteChandelier.com video Runaways added: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo0apv6jwM0  - a glimpse into the total Joy, Passion, Beauty and Exhilaration that is free flight as a sport.

Not to mention Brett Hazlett's masterpiece http://www.vimeo.com/29700177

Think of the first time visitor dropping into this mess. Some young hotshot that wants to get into the Category 1 (or Category 2) game as an organizer (or competitor.) Pretend you are him or her and try to see how long it takes you to compile the vital links. Tear your hair out frustrating, and I know exactly what to look for. What about the poor guy that does not have a clue?

I went looking for the document that tells you how to apply for Category 2 sanctioning. I couldn't find it, until I wrote to Loiuse Joselyn, who is the volunteer in charge of the CIVL web site content. Thanks Louise.

Fred continues later:

Less than a day after pointing out the error, the link is up. http://www.fai.org/civl-events/organising-events. Still no quick find for the Organizers agreement, is it possible they junked it? Built in elsewhere now?

http://www.fai.org/fai-documents has improved dramatically just today.

The new web site looks like a big improvement and I hope that all the little problems get cleared up soon.

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Brett tells the tales of Brazilian cross country flying »

November 9, 2011, 7:59:52 PST

Brett tells the tales of Brazilian cross country flying

Low and over the forests

Brett wraps it up in northeastern Brazil.

http://flyingthevoid.blogspot.com/2011/10/x-sertao.html

I felt relaxed, despite the low base and drifting over large areas of unlandable terrain. There was only one tense situation when I could not quite clear the far side of the biggest plateau at 110 km. I setup to land and was searching for a wire that had to be somewhere, harness unzipped, when I hit something that felt good enough to commit to, over 2 km of forest at the edge of the plateau. But the thing disappeared when I had lost my field so I dove with the wind, over the plateau edge, but it lead me into a long valley, filled with trees. I stretched myself across the valley, to ride the ridge at the far windward side, enough to fall over to the other side.

A downwind lee side shaded dive for a few minutes into uninhabited bush land later and I was circling back to base. The wind had weakened further to only 15 km/h cross tail. Base was now at 1800 m AGL.

Discuss "Brett tells the tales of Brazilian cross country flying" at the Oz Report forum   link»

GoPro⁣ Video of the Day on Facebook »

Tue, Nov 1 2011, 10:27:44 am PDT

Somewhere in that mess of Facebook

Brett Hazlett|Facebook|GoPro|video

Brett Hazlett|Facebook|GoPro|video

Brett Hazlett «Brett Hazlett» sends:

"We like your video so much we made it Video of the Day on Facebook. http://facebook.com/goprocamera. See the video: http://vimeo.com/29700177

22,000+ views so far.

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Going for World Records in Brazil

October 24, 2011, 9:08:51 pm MDT

Going for World Records in Brazil

First attempt

Brett Hazlett|record

Brett Hazlett in North Eastern Brazil attempting world records. He writes:

http://flyingthevoid.blogspot.com/2011/10/x-sertao.html

Launched at 8 am, left launch at 8:54 am, landed early at 3:45 pm (I'll explain later), and flew 310 km, through 3 states. This is the furthest I have flown a hang glider and is sufficient to break the FAI National (Canada) straight distance record.

http://bretthazlett.tk/

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Going for World Records in Brazil

Going for World Records in Brazil

Hang gliding and paragliding

Brett Hazlett|PG|record

Brett Hazlett is going to North Eastern Brazil attempting world records. He writes:

Blog: www.flyingthevoid.blogspot.com
Livetracking: http://bretthazlett.tk/
The first attempt is planned for this Saturday

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GoPro⁣ Photo of the Day »

Wed, Oct 12 2011, 10:39:48 pm MDT

Brett high near Casa Grande

Brett Hazlett|Facebook

Brett Hazlett|Facebook|GoPro

Brett Hazlett «Brett Hazlett» sends:

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Brett's video of the Santa Cruz Flats Race

September 28, 2011, 8:43:15 MDT

Brett's video of the Santa Cruz Flats Race

The whole meet

Brett Hazlett|video

http://vimeo.com/29700177

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Too close for comfort

September 26, 2011, 7:35:39 MST

Too close for comfort

Brett Hazlett and the jets

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett|video

http://vimeo.com/29545354

In the first second. Pause the video to see the Harrier jets fly through a gaggle north of Estrella.

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Band music

September 26, 2011, 7:33:44 MST

Band music

Clouds

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett <<bretthazlett>> sends:

http://vimeo.com/28881115

Brett on a paraglider in the clouds.

Discuss "Band music" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race - final results »

Mon, Sep 26 2011, 8:32:16 am MDT

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The results

Alex McCulloch|Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Brett Hazlett|Charles Allen|Chris Zimmerman|David Gibson|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Gary Solomon|Glen Volk|Greg Dinauer|Greg Kendall|James Stinnett|Jeff Chipman|John Hesch|Jonathan Dietch|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Patrick Kruse|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2011

http://santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com/

# Name Glider Total
1 Jeff Obrien Ww T2C 144 4247
2 Dustin Martin Ww T2C144 4158
3 Mitch Shipley Ww T2C 144 3713
4 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 3584
5 James Stinnett Ww T2C 144 3579
6 Robin Hamilton Moyes Litespeed RS4 3552
7 Glen Volk Moyes RS3.5 3484
8 Brett Hazlett Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 3204
9 Josef Bostik Ww T2C 154 3151
10 Chris Zimmerman Ww T2C 154 3089
11 Larry Bunner Ww T2C144 2872
12 David Gibson Ww T2C 144 2855
13 Davis Straub Ww T2C 144 2825
14 Ben Dunn Moyes RS3.5 2688
15 Matt Barker Ww T2C 144 2536
16 Patrick Kruse Ww T2C 144 2395
17 Bill Soderquist Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 2389
18 Rudy Gotes Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 2035
19 Bob Filipchuk Aeros Combat L 15 1966
20 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed S4 1942
21 Olav Olsen Ww T2C 144 1925
22 Charles Allen Icaro Laminar Z8 1908
23 Ricker Goldsborough Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 1865
24 Konrad Heilman Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 1854
25 John Hesch Moyes RS4 1555
26 Jochen Zeischka Moyes Litespeed S4 1539
27 Alex Mcculloch Ww T2C 153 1506
28 Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed 4S 1465
29 Jeff Chipman Moyes Litespeed 4S 1446
30 Mike Branger Ww T2 155 1348
31 Jonathan Dietch Ww T2C 144 1239
32 Markus Venturini Ww T2 150 1090
33 Jay Devorak Moyes Litespeed 4S 986
34 Efren Fierro Ww T2C 144 693
35 Bill Reynolds Aeros Combat L 13 652
36 Rodrigo Russek Moyes Litespeed S4.5 638
37 Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat L-13 445
38 Alex Cuddy Moyes Litespeed RS4 411
39 Matt Dittman Moyes Litespeed S4 65
39 Gary Solomon Icaro Laminar MR700 14.1 65

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2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race - results for day three »

Wed, Sep 21 2011, 8:37:34 am MDT

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race

A low scoring day

Ben Dunn|Brett Hazlett|Charles Allen|Chris Zimmerman|David Gibson|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|James Stinnett|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2011

http://santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com/

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Dustin Martin Ww T2C144 02:38:17 684
2 Jeff Obrien Ww T2C 144 02:39:47 663
3 Glen Volk Moyes RS3.5 02:46:03 635
4 Chris Zimmerman Ww T2C 154 03:18:28 554
5 Ben Dunn Moyes RS3.5 03:21:30 550
6 Larry Bunner Ww T2C144 462
7 Mitch Shipley Ww T2C 144 453
8 Ricker Goldsborough Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 411
9 Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed 4S 398
10 Charles Allen Icaro Laminar Z8 362
11 David Gibson Ww T2C 144 355
12 Davis Straub Ww T2C 144 346
13 Robin Hamilton Moyes Litespeed RS4 291
13 Josef Bostik Ww T2C 144 291
15 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 290
16 James Stinnett Ww T2C 144 288
17 Brett Hazlett Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 231
18 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed S4 229
19 Bob Filipchuk Aeros Combat L 15 222
20 Rodrigo Russek Moyes Litespeed S4.5 198

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2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race - totals after two days »

September 20, 2011, 9:29:32 MST

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Landing out hurts

Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Brett Hazlett|David Gibson|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|James Stinnett|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Mitch Shipley|Patrick Kruse|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2011

Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Brett Hazlett|David Gibson|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|James Stinnett|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Patrick Kruse|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2011

Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Brett Hazlett|Chris Zimmerman|David Gibson|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|James Stinnett|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Mitch Shipley|Patrick Kruse|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2011

Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Brett Hazlett|Chris Zimmerman|David Gibson|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|James Stinnett|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Patrick Kruse|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2011

# Name Glider Total
1 Jeff Obrien WW T2C 144 1797
2 Dustin Martin WW T2C144 1730
3 James Stinnett WW T2C 144 1667
4 Brett Hazlett Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 1631
5 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 1593
6 Josef Bostik WW T2C 144 1551
7 Robin Hamilton Moyes Litespeed RS4 1478
8 Mitch Shipley WW T2C 144 1459
9 Larry Bunner WW T2C144 1375
10 Ben Dunn Moyes RS3.5 1263
11 Chris Zimmerman WW T2C 154 1257
12 Glen Volk Moyes RS3.5 1158
13 Davis Straub WW T2C 144 1124
14 David Gibson WW T2C 144 1089
15 Rudy Gotes Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 1065
16 Matt Barker WW T2C 144 957
17 Patrick Kruse WW T2C 144 923
18 Olav Olsen WW T2C 144 897
19 Bill Soderquist Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 836
20 Ricker Goldsborough Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 779

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2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race - day two, task two »

September 19, 2011, 6:38:42 pm MST

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Weak lift away from the launch (and early in the launch)

Brett Hazlett|Dustin Martin|Joe Bostik|Kraig Coomber|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2011

The task:

http://santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com/

With a forecast similar to Sunday the task committee called a task that they knew would allow pilots to avoid the green areas that proved to be so soft on Sunday. They also wanted to get pilots up on the mountains north of Picacho Peak and let them run the range to the second turnpoint making it easier to get back to the Francisco Grande.

Pilots weren't as lackadaisical today getting ready to launch. In fact there was a long line before the launch opened. We forced the ATOSes and Swifts to launch early and the flex wings were lined up behind them. The rigids starting launching at 11:45.

Unfortunately the lift was quite weak at noon and it was a struggle to stay up. Nothing like when I launched 56 minutes after noon on Sunday and immediately found good lift and climbed to over 7,000'. Everyone was huddled together and not venturing out to find if there was better lift some place else, because we were all too low.

As the hour and fifteen minutes elapsed toward the first start time the lift began turning on slowly. At first we were able to get almost 200 fpm around 1 PM. Then we found a little over 200 fpm and by the time the third start time cam around we were able to climb to 8,000' where as we had been stuck below 3,000'for the first half hour.

A good sized bunch of us took the 1;45 clock and headed for the little range south of Casa Grande. I got out in front as usual and found a strong thermal, 400 fpm on average, to over 9,200', before we got to the range. We then picked up the pace and came into the hills to join Dustin and Bunner.

Dustin and I headed out after a couple of turns but I was soon out ahead again flying fast. It is lonely out in front and I need to slow down a bit here in Casa Grande to stay with others. After a seventeen kilometer glide down to 3,000' AGL I hooked another 400 fpm thermal that took me back to 7,500'. As it broke up I headed out toward the turnpoint looking for O'Brien who was now working weak lift just in front of me.

Unfortunately I didn't see him and kept going not finding lift for 16 kilometers. I went under two circling gliders that had started half an hour earlier but there was nothing but sink below them and I landed.

Jeff worked the weak lift and got up slowly over my head with the two gliders that I had gone to. Dustin behind also worked his way up. Pilots were working very weak lift where I went down for a long time.

Once they got high they headed for the range, were able to get up and then make it back to Francisco Grande.

Brett Hazlett flying a Moyes Litespeed was able to nip Joe Bostik for the win today. Kraig Coomber was third, with Dustin then O'Brien. Then a long wait for the rest of the goal finishers. Bunner made it by 20 meters.

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2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race - top twenty results from day one »

September 19, 2011, 8:07:53 MST

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Eight pilots in goal

Brett Hazlett|Chris Zimmerman|David Gibson|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Greg Dinauer|James Stinnett|Jeff Chipman|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Patrick Kruse|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2011

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26822852/SCF2011/Results/T1/Flex_T1.html

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 James Stinnett USA WW T2C 144 998
2 Davis Straub USA WW T2C 144 902
3 Jeff Obrien USA WW T2C 144 899
4 Mitch Shipley USA WW T2C 144 865
5 Dustin Martin USA WW T2C144 822
5 Robin Hamilton USA Moyes Litespeed RS4 822
7 David Gibson USA WW T2C 144 800
8 Larry Bunner USA WW T2C144 769
9 Chris Zimmerman USA WW T2C 154 645
10 Brett Hazlett CAN Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 640
11 Kraig Coomber USA Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 627
12 Olav Olsen NOR WW T2C 144 596
13 Josef Bostik USA WW T2C 144 582
14 Glen Volk USA Moyes RS3.5 551
15 Rudy Gotes MEX Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 530
16 Bob Filipchuk USA Aeros Combat L 15 485
17 Ricker Goldsborough USA Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 468
18 Jeff Chipman USA Moyes Litespeed 4S 461
19 Greg Dinauer USA Aeros Combat L-13 450
20 Patrick Kruse USA WW T2C 144 432

2011 Flytec Race and rally »

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 10:10:19 am PST

Over subscribed, six over the fifty pilot limit

Allen Stanish|André Wolfe|Ben Dunn|Brett Hazlett|Campbell Bowen|Charles Allen|Chris Zimmerman|Curt Warren|Davis Straub|Dean Funk|Dustin Martin|Erick Vils|Filippo Oppici|Flytec Race and rally 2011|Glen Volk|Greg Chastain|Jack Simmons|James Stinnett|Jeff Shapiro|Joe Bostik|John Chambers|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Julia Kucherenko|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Lauren Tjaden|Mike Glennon|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Nick Purcell|Ollie Gregory|Patrick Kruse|Raul Guerra|Roberto Nichele|Robin Hamilton|Tom Lanning|Zac Majors

http://flytecraceandrally.wordpress.com/

Tom Lanning
Jochen Zeischka
Curt Warren
Dave May
Dustin Martin
Filippo Oppici
Kraig Coomber
Jonny Durand
Roberto Nichele
Dean Funk
Mark Frutiger
Alex Cuddy
Larry (Killa Bee) Bunner
Ricker Goldsborough
Mitch Shipley
Davis Straub
Mike Glennon
Joe Bostik
Ollie Gregory
Patrick Kruse
Jeff Shapiro
Greg Dinaur
Allen Stanish
Charles Allen
Bill Reynold
Kathryn O’Riordan
Zac Majors
Glen Volk
Carl Wallbank
Lauren Tjaden
Brett Hazlett
Andre Wolf
Derreck Turner
Jim Prahl
Linda Salamone
Jim Ramsden
Chris Zimmerman
Ben Dunn
James Stinnett
Kris Grzyb
Erick Vils
Cedrick Vils
Greg Chastain
Kevin Carter
Raul Guerra
Francesco Rinaldo
Campbell Bowen
Nick Purcell
Jonathan Kinred
Robin Hamilton
John Chambers
Julia Kucherenko
Francois Veronneau
George Adams
Jack Simmons
Eduardo Oliveira

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Pay up for the⁢ 2011 pre-Worlds »

Tue, Jan 12 2010, 5:43:01 pm AEDT

Just a few more days to send in the money

Flavio Tebaldi|Pre-Worlds 2011

Flavio Tebaldi «Flavio Tebaldi» writes:

I would like to remind you that in order to confirm your place please pay and send the organisation the payment receipt no later than the17th January. Confirmed pilots whose receipt of payment does not reach the organizers by 17th January, will be moved to the bottom of the waiting list. All other pilots accepted afterwards, will have 10 days to pay the registration fee before their place is reallocated to another pilot.

pre-Worlds - update »

Sun, Jan 3 2010, 8:49:03 am AEDT

150 out of 250

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Pre-Worlds 2011|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

The preliminary pilot list has been updated with the latest WPRS rankings. You'll find it here: http://www.cucco2011.org. Click Pilot Info, then Pilots List. If your name is on the list you have until January 17th to pay your entry fees in order to hold your place on the list.

As of Sunday night there are 150 pilots listed: 145 male, 5 female. Gliders: 58 Moyes, 38 Aeros, 23 Wills Wing, 21 Icaro, 5 Airborne, 3 Laminar, 1 Aeros, 1 unspecified.

  • ARG: Marcelo Chaves
  • AUS: Jonny Durand, Steve Blenkinsop, Cameron Tunbridge, Rod Flockhart, Bruce Wynne, Trent Brown, Neil Petersen, Tony Lowrey, Richard Heffer
  • AUT: Manfred Ruhmer, Thomas Weissenberger, Robert Reisinger, Michael Friesenbichler, Manfred Trimmel, Wolfgang Siess, Günther Tschurnig, Christl Elmar, Christian Tiefenbacher
  • BEL: Michel Bodart
  • BRA: Michel Louzada, Alvaro Sandoli (Nene Rotor), Jose Lessa, Konrad Heilmann, Eduardo Oliveira, Alexandre Trivelato
  • CAN: Brett Hazlett
  • COL: Mike Glennon, Eitan Koren
  • CZE: Radek Bares
  • DEN: Nils Dalby, Bo Klint, Johnny Christiansen, Jens Henrik Badsberg
  • ECU: Raul Guerra, Rafael Arcos
  • ESP: Blay Jr Olmos Quesada, Pedro Garcia Morelli, Daniel Martin Mota, Jose Antonio Abollado, Lucio Nelli
  • FRA: Mario Alonzi, Gianpietro Zin, Luis Rizo-Salom, Antoine Boisselier, Laurent Thevenot, Eric Mathurin, Eric Wyss, Fabien Agenes
  • GBR: Carl Wallbank, Gordon Rigg, Bruce Kavanagh, David Shields, Richard Lovelace, Dave Matthews, Anthony Stephens, Gary Wirdnam, Graham Phipps, Nigel Bray
  • GER: Gerd Doenhuber, Lukas Bader, Corinna Schwiegershausen, Tim Grabowski, André Djamarani, Markus Ebenfeld, Roland Wöhrle, Stefan Boller, Christian Zehetmair, Joerg Bajewski, Hans Kiefinger, Konrad Schwab, Monique Werner
  • GUA: Giovanni Vitola, Jose Herrarte, Dieter Meyer, Rolando Mansilla, Mario Leon
  • HUN: Attila Bertok, Endre Kovács, Attila Kis, Zsolt Balogh
  • IRL: Shaun O'Neill, Geoffrey McMahon, Philip Lardner, Justin Beplate, Kenneth Hickey
  • ISR: Amir Shalom, Ron Wiener, Yaron Levin
  • ITA: Alex Ploner, Christian Ciech, Elio Cataldi, Davide Guiducci, Tullio Gervasoni, Anton Moroder, Arturo Dal Mas, Filippo Oppici, Paolo Rosichetti, Fabrizio Giustranti, Sergio Bernardi, Suan Selenati, Edoardo Giudiceandrea, Vanni Accattoli
  • JPN: Koji Daimon, Hiroshi Suzuki, Takahiro Matsumura, Shogo Ota, Keita Kokaji
  • LTU: Justinas Pleikys
  • NED: Mart Bosman, Martin Van Helden, André Disselhorst, Joost Eertman, Erik Van Keulen
  • NOR: Vegar Hansen, Petter Peikli
  • POL: Dariusz Perenc, Sebastian Olifiruk
  • RUS: Vladimir Leuskov, Artur Dzamikhov, Anton Struganov, Natalia Petrova, Julia Kucherenko, Maxim Usachev, Oleg Andreev
  • SLO: Primoz Gricar, Stanislav Galovec, Iztok Jarc
  • SUI: Roberto Nichele, Christian Voiblet, Francis Gafner, Chrigel Kuepfer, Carole Tobler, Beat Howald
  • SWE: Hakan Andersson, Joakim Hindemith
  • TUR: Tugrul Yilmaz, Halil Caner Atilgan, Kamil Demirkan
  • UKR: Dmitriy Rusov, Pavel Yakimchuk, Sergey Semenov, Dmytro Teteretnyk
  • USA: Zac Majors, Dustin Martin, Jeff O'Brien, Davis Straub, Jeff Shapiro, Derreck Turner, Ben Dunn

pre-Worlds - who's going? »

Sat, Jan 2 2010, 6:58:31 pm AEDT

150 out of 250

Ben Dunn|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Pre-Worlds 2011|Ubaldo Romano|Wills Wing T2C|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Worlds 2023|Zac Majors

The best guess so far: http://www.cucco2011.org/test_romano/ Click Pilot Info, then Pilots List. Based on December 2, 2009, WPRS ranking, will change when January ranking is available. US pilots chosen to go to the pre-Worlds, so far:

Zac Majors, Wills Wing T2C-144
Dustin Martin, Wills Wing T2C-144
Jeff O'Brien, Wills Wing T2C (144 or 154)
Davis Straub, Icaro Laminar MR1000
Jeff Shapiro, Wills Wing T2C-144
Derreck Turner, Moyes Litespeed S5
Ben Dunn, Moyes Litespeed

Each nation gets up to five pilots independent of WPRS ranking. If more than five pilots from one country apply for the pre-Worlds, then the top five in that nation as per their January 2010 WPRS ranking are allowed in. When all those nations' slots are taken (some nations won't have five slots because less than five pilots pre-registered from that nation, for example, Turkey), then the remaining slots are available by WPRS ranking to the pilots who pre-registered.

Turns out a lot of pilots from Italy pre-registered and they have a lot of good WPRS rankings, and so fifteen pilots are coming from Italy. Derreck Turner and Ben Dunn got in with their WPRS rankings. Many US pilots did not.

Everyone has to get their entry fee in with ten days (January 17th) or they go to the end of the line. Starting on the 17th, pilots are chosen for the now empty slots by pre-registration date.

The actual five man teams will be decided at the competition.

Update: The January WPRS ranking it up and the pilot list will be updated soon.

Brett Hazlett »

December 23, 2009, 9:03:57 PST

Brett Hazlett

Racing around

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett wrote:

"... why I was so keen to fly Torrey. Well, I've wanted to fly Torrey for the last 16 years. Ever since I first saw a photograph of a modern hangglider on the cover of Hanggliding and Paragliding Magazine, sometime in 1993. It was John Heiney flying upside-down on an all-carbon airframe black and rainbow UP TRX 140, high over Torrey Pines. That image will remain preserved in my mind in HD, forever.

As we packed up I suddenly realized that John Heiney was breaking down right next to us so I made sure to go over and shake his hand.

http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/2009/12/torrey-pines.html

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Brett Hazlett helmetless in Brazil

December 22, 2009, 7:08:05 PST

Brett Hazlett helmetless in Brazil

EN 966

Brett Hazlett|CIVL|video

Brett wrote:

Here is a recent PG video from Brazil using an ankle mounted GoPro HD.

I responded

Nice disclaimer given the recent CIVL action re helmets.

He wrote back:

Yes, I know. Ironically, I just upgraded to a EN 966 certified helmet; part of growing up, I guess. I'm going to hang up my carbon shell sticker holder on a wall somewhere or use it as a salad bowl, for real.

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Kagel

December 11, 2009, 8:10:30 PST

Kagel

Brett likes it.

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett|video

http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/

Brett Hazlett <bretthazlett> writes:

Kraig and I had a fun day out testflying at Kagel recently. I brought the GoPro Hero HD cam that I had just picked up for a little filming. The footage turned out alright, for a first try. Smooth thermals and some ridge racing were just what I was in the mood for. I like that place.

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Over 200 pilots sign up for⁢ 2011 pre-Worlds »

Fri, Nov 6 2009, 8:58:57 am PST

The limit is 150

Pre-Worlds 2011|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Worlds

http://www.cucco2011.org/

Apparently hang gliding is not dying at the level of World competitions (or at least pre-Worlds) The Italian based pre-Worlds is over subscribed already, just a few days after opening the registration to the waiting list. The local regulations state:

Registration will open on 2nd November 2009. Priority will be given to national teams of up to 5 pilots per country.

Places will be allocated starting from 7th January 2010 to pilots on the waiting list.

Allocation will be based on WPRS ranking on 1st January 2010 followed by order of registration for any unranked pilots.

As from 7th January, all confirmed pilots will have ten days time in which to pay the registration fee, in order not to lose their priority position in the pilot list.

Therefore, confirmed pilots whose receipt of payment does not reach the organizers by 17th January, will be moved to the bottom of the waiting list.

All other pilots accepted afterwards, will have 10 days to pay the registration fee before their place is reallocated to another pilot.

Bridal Falls

June 11, 2009, 9:04:31 EDT

Bridal Falls

Next to the mountains

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett|PG|video

Brett Hazlett sends:

Here's a 4 min (~200MB) video mostly in 720P of the Bridal Falls site near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I was just visiting over the weekend and scored a really fun and kinda rare flight to climb to the peak of Mount Cheam (2100m), which is the highest peak in the valley. 'Cheam' means wild strawberries in a native language.

www.bretthazlett.blogspot.com  or http://www.vimeo.com/5067866

Paragliding @ Bridal Falls from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo.

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Sprogs - The Movie »

March 16, 2009, 8:31:29 EDT

Sprogs - The Movie

Where we see that the sprogs are not in play

Andreas Olsson|Brett Hazlett|CIVL|Dustin Martin|Mike Meier|Quest Air|sprogs|video

Sprogs-The Movie

In this video you will see the inside of Dustin's sail and the sprogs as they react to Dustin speeding up. When the VG is loose, you only see the inboard sprog. The cable is loose, which tells you that the sprog isn't doing anything other than sitting there.

Then Dustin pulls the VG on full and you can see both sprogs, although the cable on the outboard sprog is hard to see. You do have to work at seeing it.

You'll notice that the cable on the inboard sprog is loose, although not as loose as it was under no VG. You'll also notice that it gets a little looser as Dustin speeds up. The cable on the outboard sprog is the same, but this is hard to see.

It is easier to see the movement of the loose outboard sprog cable near the end of the video where Dustin goes from 40 to 115 kph.

The point of all this?

1) Pilot education. This is what your sprogs are doing when you are flying fly. There is no need to wind down your sprogs. They are not interfering with your flying fast. Also your sprogs are not interfering with thermaling if you have some VG on when thermaling

2) Sprog Committee education. We don't want them to think:

"...but they [sprogs] only come into play when we fly at very low angles of attack (usually with half or more VG pulled and the bar at least to our waist)."

3) We are interested in being technically correct with any recommendations or rules that might be made by governing bodies. Since all the designers we have spoken with have said the idea of doing sprog measurements is without merit, we wanted to be sure that this idea was taken seriously.

Andreas Olsson «andreas.t.olsson» writes:

Probably someone with greater understanding of aerodynamic than me should explain this, but anyway, this is how the "generally accepted" theory for what you see in the film goes.

A modern hang gliding profile has a rather high negative pitching moment. You can think of this as the faster we fly the more the sail wants to "twist up" which is exactly what you see in the film. (A side note: to compensate for this negative pitching moment of the profile we have a twist in the sail: the tips of the glider flies at a lower angle of attack than the root). Probably a profile of a modern hang glider in VG tight configuration has a negative pitching moment in the range -0.05 to -0.10

If I got the numbers right (and it was some time since I did this). Very, very roughly at 20 m/s already the twisting load from the negative pitching moment corresponds to 75% of the load that the pilot puts on the glider. In other words, already at 20 m/s it is like if we are flying with a pilot weighting in at 175 Kg instead of 100 Kg. This twisting force from the negative pitching moment adds load on the frame, causing the LE to bend backward, and then the trailing edge comes up. Note: there is also profile drag acting to "pull" the LE back more directly, but this force is rather low in comparison (it is more intuitive to understand though).

So what for the situation with zero G?

Personally I think that the trick is really to understand what happens in the moment when the glider unloads due to turbulence. This is a dynamic situation, and is a little bit difficult to reason about without using differentials (i.e. dCm/dL), but I give it a try (sorry if it turns out incomprehensible).

So lets think about the situation where Dustin speeds along at 100Km/h, VG tight and there being a little bit of slack in the cables of his sprogs as we see in the film. He is in a steady state situation and everything is fine. Suddenly he enters a downdraft (turbulence) and his hang loop goes slack. The glider is now very suddenly flying in more or less a zero G situation.

Two things will happen during this very short period of time:

a) The sail will unload because it no longer needs to support Dustin's weight. This will cause the trailing edge to come down on the sprogs. The glider now has less twist in it and it will want to continue pitching over - which is bad. The more slack Dustin had in his sprog cables to start with the more the trailing edge can come down. Personally I adjust my sprogs to have less slack in the cable full VG than Dustin has - ideally the cables would just come tight at 55 Km/h.

B) because Dusting is hanging in front of the aerodynamic centre of gravity of the glider, as Dustin's hang loop goes slack he actually stops "pulling down the nose" of the glider. This is a good thing because it causes the glider to pitch up again.

So, we have two forces battling each other:

1) If (a) and (b) are balanced not much will happen - the side wires will go slack but the glider will continue. There is no sudden force on the basetube pushing back in your hand. Such a glider is a pleasure to fly because the base bar feels solid in your hands and it is very confidence inspiring even in rough air.

2) If (a) is just a tiny bit bigger that (b) the glider is still safe, but the basetube will tend to push back as we enter turbulence (it will "hunt"). This is uncomfortable if it becomes too pronounced, but probably not too unsafe because of the inertia of the system.

3) If (a) is a bit bigger than (b) we can get a sort of a "luff dive" where we follow a free falling path until the glider decides if it should go upside down or recover. If you ever experience these kind of "free falling feeling" for more than a split second this is a very strong hint that your glider needs higher sprogs.

4) If (a) completely overcomes (b) the glider will fly down and intersect the free falling path of the pilot. A very lethal scenario.

I believe this would be a reasonable explanation for a high speed tumble situation. This is probably what DHV try to measure at the test vehicle at zero G. I have been as far as point (3) above on Brett Hazlett's old glider from Florida flying at King Mountain, Idaho. I was not enjoying it and I will never repeat it.

So far so good. The problem is that if we look at the recent tumbles of Seppi Salvenmoser, Andreas Orgler, and Richi Meier this is probably not the best explanation model. If I have understood correctly all of them were flying slow VG tight in thermals. This is not a high speed tumble situation as discussed above. It is instead a situation that is more complicated and, I believe, the relevant explanation model has more to do with pitch dampening and the aerodynamic work required for the glider to pitch over.

In other words, higher sprogs would (I believe) have had little effect on preventing these tumbles. The major determining factor (I believe) would be choosing to fly VG tight rather that VG loose. But honestly, I am really out in deep water here with my very limited understanding of the mechanisms involved. I am not even sure these situations could be easily analyzed - we will need someone with empirical data and a long experience. As it happens Mike Meier at Wills Wing has both. And he has mentioned (maybe) writing up an article on his findings. I hope he does because to me this would represent the best way forward on the sprog-setting issue.

Now, don't get me wrong: I am all for some sort of regulation of the sprogs, especially to avoid the ultra-low uninformed settings some people are flying with. But if we are concerned with avoiding tumble related accidents maybe there are more efficient ways forward:

1) Continued and improved education of pilots on when not to fly VG tight.

2) Continued and improved education of pilots on how the sprogs work (like more of the very good film we already saw from Dustin and Davis), and why there is no point in lowering them beyond a certain point.

3) Continued and improved sprog measurement during the comp. (Public results, but not enforced settings)

Gerolf has held a number of seminars on the subject, which has been good. The measurement of the sprogs was much appreciated by many pilots. An additional thing would be to put together a full instructional video of "real comp. Gliders/real life films" like the one Davis and Dustin has made so that it is not just "all talk". The educational sessions could be made even more informative by playing with models in smaller workshops. Yet an additional idea would be for CIVL to provide a little camera kit for (voluntarily) filming inside people's sail. I think there is no better cure for the "I need lower sprogs disorder" than seeing your sprog cable lying loose and completely useless inside the sail. Dustin might agree. Further ideas include building a Wiki-tumble-database where all tumble related incidents could be gathered for analysis.

To me, all of these proposals represents better ways to prevent the actual tumbles than enforcing certified sprog settings. That is not to say it should not be done, but only relying on enforcing certified sprog settings alone would seem like a poor idea indeed.

To make the educational aspect work properly, more and better educational material needs to be produced. Preferably both informative, entertaining and professionally produced. Can CIVL provide funding? Are there national funds available to apply from for producing such safety-related material (it would after all not only benefit comp pilots)?

Dustin wrote last Thursday:

It's unlikely you could accurately determine that exact sprog departure level with a plumb since all the wings are so different. I think CIVL should give each pilot a sweet SLR camera to stick in their wings so we can all find that spot on our own wings. And we can keep the camera. Probably cheaper than all the employees they will have to hire to police our happy asses.

Brazilian Nationals

Wed, Oct 15 2008, 8:25:55 am PDT

The last contest of the 2008 Nationals

André Wolfe|Brazilian Nationals 2012|Brett Hazlett|Erick Vils|weather

Erick Vils «erick» writes:

Brazilian NATs began last Sunday (12/oct) at Carmo do Rio Claro, MG, Brazil .

The first task (Sunday), bad weather and just Andre Wolf at Goal.

Task 2, Monday 13/oct, a "133km race to the Goal" with many pilots at Goal.

Task 3, Tuesday, a 83km triangle and, again, many at Goal.

Picture and blog post: http://blog.vils.com.br/2008/10/carmo-do-rio-claro-segunda-feira-se-lei.html

Brett's Blog with more pictures: http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/2008/10/brasil.html

Brett Hazlett «bretthazlett» writes:

I'm in Carmo do Rio Claro flying the last stage of the Brazilian Nationals. We had a 2-day Super Race just before as well. I'll be blogging but not exactly reporting at: www.bretthazlett.blogspot.com and there's the Super Race site and the Vils Brother's site at: http://superrace2008.blogspot.com/ and http://blog.vils.com.br/.

Discuss "Brazilian Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

The final day - Santa Cruz Flats Race

April 27, 2008, 7:52:02 PDT

Day seven SCFR

What happened?

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

The flex wing results.

The rigid wing results.

The Swift result.

The blogs of pilots here:

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://www.goflyxc.com/

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The last day:

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

The final results:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No one makes goal - Santa Cruz Flats Race

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

Day six SCFR

Not even Brian Porter

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

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

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

The flex wing results.

The rigid wing results.

The Swift result.

The blogs of pilots here:

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://www.goflyxc.com/

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Andre on day one SCFR

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

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

The flex wing preliminary results.

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

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

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

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

What about wing loading?

April 16, 2008, 6:43:02 PDT

Wing loading

We know that higher wing loading makes for a better glide ratio at higher speeds

Brett Hazlett|USHGA

Long long ago (when I was a lot smarter) I wrote a few articles for the USHGA Hang Gliding Magazine about how ballast (and weight overall) affects your glide performance. They became available on Mark Forbes' Hang Gliding Magazine DVD's. They were just JPEG's on the DVD inside of the Adobe PDF format. Using Acrobat 8.0 I copied the pages from the articles and placed them up on the Oz Report web site (it's called repurposing) as JPEG's. They are accessible through thumbnails here.

These articles provide the background to a discussion of the effect of weight on glide performance. What we do know is that heavier pilots (like Attila and Balasz) have an advantage with a better glide ratio when going on glide, but perhaps a bit of a disadvantage when thermaling.

I looked at all the gliders and sizes shown in the previous articles and determined first which models would give me a wing loading of 2 pounds per square foot. The optimum wing loading proposed by the manufacturers was generally in the neighborhood of 1.8 pounds/square foot (it varied considerably), but I considered the optimum competition wing loading to be somewhat higher.

I then ranked the gliders that met this criteria by their span (in meters). They are as follows:

10.4 -Aero Combat L 13
10.3 - Moyes RS 3.5 (I need little ballast)
10.1 - Icaro Z9 13.2
10 - Moyes S 3.5 (I need a small amount of ballast)
10 - Airborne C4 - 13.5
9.8 - Wills Wing T2 - 144

So these are the gliders in span order than would give me 2 pounds/square foot. You would have to calculate which gliders would work for you and your hook in weight.

I then looked at which gliders I could fly and get 2 pounds/square foot if I added up to twenty pounds of ballast but no more than that (and often quite a bit less).  I then again ranked them by their span (in meters):

10.7 - Aeros Combat L 14
10.5 - Icaro Z9 14.1
10.4 - Moyes RS 4
10.4 - Moyes S 4.5
10.4 - Airborne C4 - 14
10.1 - Icaro Z9 13.7
10.2 - Wills Wing T2 - 154
10 - Moyes S 4

Have I done this correctly? Are spans comparable across these gliders?

Of course, these last three articles don't address the issue of climb rate and handling. Brett Hazlett writes:

But amongst similar designs span costs handling, so many choose to fly 'short' to enjoy flying more. Fair enough. The advantages of span are obvious on special days but mostly they are quite subtle. Still, this can be decisive in winning a competition. Handling, on the other hand, or rather the lack of handling is felt all damn day.

What to do about the handling issue is a matter of personal choice. You can go for ease with a short span but your performance will usually suffer to some degree unless you find ways to overcome the span effect with other effects. There are many. Generally, though, you should fly with as much span as you're willing to fly with. Going big with the span and having a ballast system is the most versatile.

Read both his articles here and here.

Hang Glider Performance

April 14, 2008, 7:50:33 PDT

Performance

What can we say about performance?

Brett Hazlett

Let's start somewhere. Let's look at glide performance. You want a glider that will have the best glide ratio and the "best" glide speed. The best glide speed will vary. The best glide speed between thermals may be slower than the final glide speeds (it depends on tactics). You'd like a glider that would have a better glide ratio at all "higher" speeds.

Let's start here: http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10475&start=3 Brett Hazlett writes:

However, from a pure performance perspective, after lots of tuning, test flying and geek sessions on my computer, I have come to a simple conclusion.

Span = Performance

Take a look at his whole article. And his follow up articles.

Let's look at the spans:

Wills Wing T2 144 154
32.3' 9.8m 33.5' 10.2m
 
Airborne C4 13 13.5 14
31.5' 9.6m 32.8' 10m 34.1' 10.4m
 
Moyes RS 3.5 RS 4
33.7' 10.3m 34.1' 10.4m
 
S3 S3.5 S4 S4.5 S5
31.8' 9.7m 32.8' 10m 32.8' 10m 34' 10.4m 34' 10.4m
 
Aeros Combat L 12 13 14 15
32.8' 10.0m 33.9' 10.4m 35.1' 10.7m 35.1' 10.7m
 
Laminar Z9 12.6 13.2 13.7 14.1 14.8
32.3' 9.8m 33.1' 10.1m 33.1' 10.1m 34.6' 10.5m 34.6' 10.5m

Each span for each model is given in feet and then meters. If we were to look at just span as the determinant of performance (and again read Brett's article, which makes the very necessary qualification that this does not necessarily apply across different designs) then we would rank the gliders as follows:

10.7 - Aeros Combat L 15, Aeros Combat L 14
10.5 - Laminar Z9 14.1, 14.8
10.4 - Moyes RS4, S5, S4.5, Airborne C4-14, Aeros Combat L 13
10.3 - Moyes RS 3.5
10.2 - Wills Wing T2 - 154

Have I done this correctly?

I'll get more into the issue of span, aspect ratio and wing loading going forward. Of course, the pilot can't make his/her choice just on the basis of span, otherwise hang gliders would have spans of 15, 18, or 20 meters (although there are obvious practical considerations here).

Tin Cup

April 14, 2008, 7:21:26 PDT

Tin Cup

Is it span?

Brett Hazlett|Davis Straub

Brett Hazlett|Davis Straub


We hear from Brett Hazlett over at the Oz Report forum and take a look at how what he says applies across the board. Another Moyes pilot, the World Champion, chimes in also.

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Steven Pearson on hang glider quality and innovation

April 9, 2008, 8:12:33 PDT

Innovation

Steve from Wills Wing says, Gerolf, not so fast

Bill Moyes|Brett Hazlett|Steven "Steve" Pearson

Steven Pearson «Steve» writes:

I can't help but feel that the comments from Vicky, Gerolf and Steve Moyes are somewhat misleading and unfair, especially if they are intended to suggest that Moyes is the only company to innovate in hang gliding design, and that everyone else is merely copying.

As a matter of history, Moyes did not introduce carbon tubing to hang gliding. UP flew and extensively tested an all-carbon Spider in 1979, WW subsequently made a carbon leading edge Raven which we considered putting into production, and most notably UP and its successor companies produced several generations of all-carbon production gliders well before the first Litespeed.

Most major manufacturers introduced carbon cantilevered crossbar systems following the LaMouette Topless. Wills Wing, Acme Glider Company, and Moyes certified their first topless gliders at the same HGMA meeting. To the best of my knowledge, only Wills Wing has proof tested every carbon spar that we have every produced, a practice that, although expensive, is the only practical way to guarantee the integrity of a composite component. Our spars are made with 100 deg C, aerospace quality pre-preg.

Wills Wing introduced the first carbon pre-preg, high-temperature high-pressure closed-mold, competition control bar, which Gerolf, Bill Moyes, Brett Hazlett, and many other Moyes pilots purchased before Moyes developed their own competition bar. This bar also features a very low drag airfoil section which I designed for this application, with wind tunnel tests that have been posted on our website for many years.

It also featured innovative aerodynamic corner fittings unlike anything that had been available previously. Low drag control bars also require adjustments to the downtube and basetube angles which I first made to our competition bars in 1982 long before any other similar configurations existed.

Altogether, there is no basis for suggesting that our experience with carbon composites is less than that of Moyes, or that we copied their components.

As further examples of innovation, Wills Wing fought convention (and economy) for many years as the only major manufacturer to produce 7075 airframes, long before Moyes adopted 7075. The now industry-standard leading edge configuration with a large 62/60mm front leading edge reduced to a 52/50 rear leading edge was developed by Wills Wing.

As far as I know, Wills Wing is the only manufacturer who has operated an in-house sail-loft since 1973. Our sail loft has been under my direction continuously since 1977. I made my first Mylar sail in 1980 and Wills Wing was the first manufacturer to use Polyant PX style Mylar laminates which were subsequently adopted by Moyes. Wills Wing is the only manufacturer who has developed a laminate with a special UV resistant polyester film on the outer layer which is unprotected by internal UV coatings.

Wills Wing was the first company to certify a production model using the fabric shear ribs system that is essential today to the stability and handling of high percentage double surface gliders.

Wills Wing first proved the effectiveness of the internal keel configuration that has since been adopted by every other manufacturer. When Bill Moyes first saw the HP1 he told me, "It will never climb, mate".

Wills Wing certified production gliders using the since widely adopted kingpost hang system when Moyes was using French-connections to reduce pitch and roll pressure.

Wills Wing introduced the cable supported, universal joint, leading-edge bracket outboard sprog system when other manufacturers, including Moyes, had over-the-crossbar systems.

Wills Wing is the only manufacturer who has owned and operated an aerodynamic test vehicle continuously since 1980.

Wills Wing was the first manufacturer to install a CNC sail cutting system. We've subsequently installed a CNC 3-axis machining center to optimize the design and strength of our hardware. Certainly choices like this are more expensive than purchasing cast fittings and other outsourced solutions, but they are examples of our commitment to producing the highest quality products.

Moyes has earned a well-deserved reputation for many years as a leader in international competitions, and as a result many competition pilots in recent years have chosen Moyes gliders. Over the same period, Wills Wing has chosen to allocate our resources across a broader spectrum of products and services for the hang gliding community, from primary training gliders like the Condor through many generations of high performance intermediate gliders like the Sport 167 (which even Gerolf owned) and to support many other essential and beneficial industry programs that go beyond mere product development.

Today, more and more competition pilots are choosing the Wills Wing T2 or T2C for competition, having seen for themselves (and reported to us) that the T2 and T2C compare very favorably in quality and competitive performance with anything else available. Most competition pilots do not choose based on price, but based on what glider they feel will give them the best overall competitive performance.

The ability to save a substantial amount of money on even a fully loaded T2C, when compared to some other brands, is a nice bonus, but is probably not the determining factor for most pilots who purchase this class of glider with the intent to compete at a world class level. For performance minded recreational pilots, where that last fraction of a percent in performance that the more exotic carbon component options offer may not be as important, we see a lot of pilots choosing to save even more by purchasing the lower priced T2 over the T2C. We're excited about the increasing sales of both of these models, and happy to be able to offer a top quality competition class glider at a lower price.

Performance = span

January 12, 2008, 4:32:34 AEDT

Span

Brett Hazlett writes that from a pure performance perspective...

Brett Hazlett

Brett Hazlett

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10475&start=3

I've spent a lot of time thinking about glider sizes and have competed on every size from Moyes (3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5) and yet I can't say I've made up my mind on the best size for me (78kg bare). I do notice slight changes in my flying style depending on the size I'm flying but some of that is due to the particular setup that I'm trying out. Mostly, I just try to take advantage of the strengths of the size/setup and minimize losses from its weaknesses.

Overall this seems to make the size I'm flying pretty independent of my score at a competition or my chances of staying up on a light day. For example, a bigger glider might float better but I can work closer to the trees in a small glider.

However... from a pure performance perspective, after lots of tuning, test flying and geek sessions on my computer, I have come to a simple conclusion.

Span = Performance

Discuss Span at the Oz Report forum   link»

Pre-Worlds registration

January 10, 2008, 8:57:27 pm GMT+1100

Pre-Worlds

Some pilots on the waiting list are in.

Brett Hazlett|Bruce Kavanagh|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Mart Bosman|Richard Lovelace|Robin Hamilton|Scott Barrett|Zac Majors

http://www.chabre2009.com/index.php?page=/compRego/pilot_list.php

This morning emails went out some notifying pilots on the waiting list for the pre-Worlds that they have been accepted. Jeff Shapiro from the US is accepted. Also Zac Majors, Robin Hamilton, Hans Kiefinger, Mart Bosman, Bruce Kavanagh, Richard Lovelace, Brett Hazlett, and others.

Jonny Durand didn't pay in time, so he's not in. The only pilot from Australia who's in is Scott Barrett.

Canadian Thanksgiving

October 17, 2007, 12:28:00 pm EDT

Thanksgiving

Fun at Mueller's

Brett Hazlett|video

Brett Hazlett «bretthazlett» writes:

Thanksgiving dinner at Muller hill was a classic, as always! Check my first video editing attempt of the flying fun! http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/.

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2007 Worlds - why is Moyes so successful? »

August 24, 2007, 9:24:51 MDT

Worlds

One big family

Attila Bertok|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Brett Hazlett|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Robert Reisinger|Rob Kells|Scott Barrett|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Tomas Suchanek|Worlds 2007

Moyes hasn't had a World Champion since Tomas Suchanek in 1995 (Manfred from Icaro had a monopoly for six years and then Oleg came along). Now they have Attila Bertok and the top three places on the podium with Robert Reisinger and Gerolf Heinrichs, the Moyes glider designer. In spite of this lack (and now abundance) Moyes has been very successful in competition with their glider well represented. In fact in many competition the Moyes gliders dominated the top spots. Why is Moyes so successful?

First of all Gerolf has designed a very competitive glider. The differences between the top of the line competition topless gliders is very slight, so as long as you have a glider that is as good as any of the other top gliders then you can let the differences between pilot skills become the deciding factor.

Second, Gerolf is a very good pilot, obviously from his third place finish at the Worlds, as well as a charismatic figure. Having your designer be an elite level pilot sends a huge message. Unfortunately, that message can be that it is the pilot not the glider, as it has often been in the case of Icaro and Aeros. So it takes more than that.

Third, the way you get around the identification of the top pilot/designer as the reason that the glider does well is to have the glider flown by lots and lots of pilots. This was not the case with the Icaro and earlier with the Aeros Combat gliders (although this is much less true now). With fewer pilots flying them, it appeared as though it was more Manfred and Oleg rather than the glider that determined how well they did (but, of course, I would argue that this is always the case).

Fourth, of course, I have illustrated a chicken and egg problem. How do you get many pilots to fly your glider in the first place so that pilots don't automatically assign the success of the glider to the elite pilot?

Fifth, Moyes has a strong family tradition. A strong extended family tradition. A family tradition that reaches out and incorporates many others into the family and gives them that family feeling, that feeling of belonging to a very special family/club.

Who has been to every Worlds - Molly and Bill Moyes (and until this Worlds, Steve Moyes has flown in every Worlds, and won one). Their dedication to the sport was highlighted at the Worlds on the last night to a standing ovation. A very important symbol and one felt by all the pilots there. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?

Bill and Molly are the patriarch and matriarch of a large and extended family and three of their children run Moyes Delta Gliders while Bill runs Bailey-Moyes Dragonflies. Pilots from around the world have over the years been brought into the company to help build the gliders. Think Brett Hazlett, Kraig Coomber, Jonny Durand, Attila Bertok, Mikki Fiesenbichler, and many others.

Moyes has built loyalty among the most promising new pilots giving them a helping hand and supporting them early. This willingness to bring others into the family is part of the family tradition. There is always room for one more, includign Gerolf and Bobby Bailey, and many many others..

Can you think of one other "company" that was at the Worlds in such force? Rob Kells and Steven Pearson from Wills Wing were there (separately), but how can they compete with the Moyes family (including Vicki - who heads up Moyes marketing)? Rob and Steve provide great support, but they are just being outgunned. Kraig Coomber (the main designer of the Moyes Matrix harness) from Moyes USA was there helping other pilots as well as flying very well.

Airborne had their designer, Scott Barrett. Who was there from Aero and Icaro? Their gliders were there, but I wasn't aware of any other presence.

The attraction of the Moyes family/company/brand is huge. Pilots have the feeling that the Moyes glider is superior, or if not superior, at least as good as any of the other gliders there. They feel that you can't go wrong with the Moyes RS. (Actually Attila flies the older S model as he likes to fly the big mode - S5, and there isn't an RS-5 - for obvious reasons, if you think about it.)

The Moyes family makes you feel part of a big friendly superior family/club even if you aren't the top most pilot around. It is just something that they have learned from being such a family for years and it is natural for them to extend it to others. Marketing by being one big happy family.

If you are not part of that family, you are just missing something. So Moyes attracts many more pilots than other manufacturers (at least at these elite level competitions) and that gives everyone the feeling that the glider is superior as the superior pilots are flying the glider. And that solves the chicken and egg problem.

2007 Lumby Air Races »

Thu, Jun 14 2007, 6:07:53 pm EDT

Lumby

Women pilots rule

Fiona Katay|Clayton Brauer|Christine Nidd|Brett Hazlett|Kamron Blevins|Lumby Air Races 2007|PG|Randy Rauck|record|Richard Lovelace|Nicole Mclearn|Morgan Hollingsworth|Jim Orava

Randy Rauck «Randy» writes:

The second annual International Open Lumby Air Races finished off Sunday June 10th with 2 complete rounds in all four classes of Hang Gliding and Paragliding to make it a valid and fun contest. Good skill and excellent judgment was required to win these races.

$5000.00 in cash, many prizes and trophies were awarded. The Lumby Air Force Flying Club would like to thank all the pilots for showing up and the sponsors and volunteers that made the event such a great success.

Hang Gliding Open

Winner - Brett Hazlett - Canada - Moyes Lightspeed
Second – Richard Lovelace – England – Stealth Combat
Third – Clayton Brauer – Canada – Moyes Lightspeed

Hang Gliding King Post

Winner - Christine Nidd – Canada – Wills Wing Sport 2
Second - Fiona Katay – Canada – Wills Wing Sport 2
Third – Kamron Blevins – USA – North Wing Freedom 170

Paragliding Open

Winner – Nicole Mclearn – Canada –
Second – Morgan Hollingsworth – Mexico
Third – Jim Orava – Canada

Paragliding Standard

Winner - Annelies Browne - Canada
Second – Brett Yeates- Canada
Third – Keith Riemersma – USA

Friday, June 8th, the sun returned after four days of overcast and rain during the Hang Gliding Nationals. The two months previous to the nationals was a record drought with hardly any moisture and excellent flying conditions. Brett Hazlett, set the pace by completed five laps around the 14 km triangle course Friday in record time. This flight also declared him Canadian National Champion for the 7th consecutive year!!! The Lumby Days crowds looked to the sky in amazement as the thirty five plus colorful gliders raced around and around the valley directly over town.

Saturday morning was not looking great so a spot landing contest was called and $800.00 in cash was awarded to lift the pilots spirits. A Greek food feast was enjoyed in the hanger at the Lumby Airpark just before Sazacha Redsky was called in to honor the rain with some songs while playing slide guitar and harmonica. She was joined by Mexican Sun Goddess Maia Hollingsworth. Three bands, Basic, The John Noren Band and Munro, rocked the hanger until almost 2am while pilots and friends danced for the sun! It must have worked because Sunday morning the sky cleared and the race was back on!! Brett was able to hang onto his lead with 3 more laps while others flew numerous flights to improve their positions. The rule was best flight counts. The L.A.F. plan to award $10,000.00 for the limited entry 2008 Lumby Air Races.

For more information on flying around Lumby go to www.LumbyAirForce.com

Discuss "2007 Lumby Air Races" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Attila number 1

February 9, 2007, 10:39:07 AEDT

Ranking

It's Australia if you want to be at the top

Adam Parer|Andreas Olsson|Attila Bertok|Brett Hazlett|Chris Jones|CIVL|Corinna Schwiegershausen|David Seib|Davis Straub|Gerolf Heinrichs|Joseph Salvenmoser|Kraig Coomber|Oleg Bondarchuk|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|Robert Reisinger|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|Scott Barrett|Thomas Weissenberger

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

rank name nation points
1 Attila Bertok Hungary 302
2 Jon jnr Durand Australia 300
3 Gerolf Heinrichs Austria 285
4 Oleg Bondarchuk Ukraine 282
5 Mario Alonzi France 269
6 Michael Friesenbichler Austria 262
7 Bruno Guillen France 260
8 Andreas Olsson Sweden 255
9 Balazs Ujhelyi Hungary 246
10 David Seib Australia 238
11 Robert Reisinger Austria 230
12 Lukas Bader Germany 213
13 Adam Parer Australia 211
13 Steve Moyes Australia 211
15 Brett Hazlett Canada 202
16 Oliver Barthelmes Germany 200
17 Kraig Coomber Australia 191
18 Joseph Salvenmoser Austria 184
19 Fabien Agenes France 183
20 Rohan Holtkamp Australia 182
20 Scott Barrett Australia 182
22 Raymond Caux France 180
23 Chris Smith USA 174
24 Corinna Schwiegershausen Germany 173
25 Carl Wallbank UK 172
26 Chris Jones Australia 171
27 Jon Gjerde Norway 168
28 Thomas Weissenberger Austria 164
29 Olav Opsanger Norway 161
30 Len Paton Australia 157
69 Antoine Boisselier France 96
69 Davis Straub USA 96

Flytec Championship Registration

January 15, 2007, 7:25:02 AEDT

Flytec

Check your registration

Brett Hazlett|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|George Stebbins|Gerolf Heinrichs|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jamie Shelden|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Oliver Gregory|Quest Air

Brett Hazlett|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|George Stebbins|Gerolf Heinrichs|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jamie Shelden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Oliver Gregory|Quest Air

Brett Hazlett|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|George Stebbins|Gerolf Heinrichs|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jamie Shelden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Oliver Gregory|Quest Air

http://ozreport.com/11.004#1

http://ozreport.com/11.002#1

Regular registration opens January 15th, 4 PM, EST (January 16th, 8 AM, AUSEDT)

Jamie Shelden «jamie» writes:

I have heard that some people are confused about whether or not they are registered for the Flytec Championships. Apparently some people thought that if they were on the early registration list, they were already registered. This is not the case. Those on the early registration list are the ones that are able to register now (everyone else must wait until the 15th). Everyone must actually go to the Flytec site and fill out the registration form (http://flytec.com/Events/2007/Flytec_Championship/Registration.htm)

So, here is a list of the pilots that are currently registered for the competition:

  • Alonzi, Mario
  • Bajewski, Joerg
  • Bott, Jacques
  • Bunner, Larry (rigid)
  • Carter, Kevin
  • Caux, Raymond
  • Coomber, Kraig
  • Del La Horie, Geoffroy
  • Durand, Jonny
  • Gerard, Jean-Francois
  • Giles, David (rigid)
  • Gregory, Oliver (rigid)
  • Guillen, Bruno
  • Hazlett, Brett
  • Heinrichs, Gerolf
  • Lanning, Tom
  • Loveland, Richard
  • Mathurin, Didier
  • Olssen, Andreas
  • Palmarini, Jean-Francois
  • Prahl, Jim
  • Salmone, Linda
  • Slocum, Jack
  • Smith, Chris
  • Stebbins, George
  • Stinnett, James (rigid)
  • Straub, Davis
  • Turner, Derreck
  • Volk, Glen
  • Yokum, Jim (rigid)
  • Zanetti, Macelo
  • Zimmerman, Chris

Discuss Flytec at the Oz Report forum

Big Spring - Personal Bests »

August 9, 2006, 0:06:25 CDT

Big Spring

The single surface goal is made.

Big Spring 2006|Brett Hazlett|Campbell Bowen|Jim Yocom|weather

The flight and task on the HOLC and on Google Maps/Earth

Results.

The National Weather Service was calling for a thirty percent chance of rain. As it blew up on the day before with only a twenty percent chance of rain, we are very concerned about the possibility of flying near huge cu-nimbs once again. After a vigorous discussion in the task committee we decided to go back to the Brownfield airport, downwind and away from Big Spring. We had a secondary task to the west if it blew up to our north, but a task that would be cross wind for 70+ miles.

The south wind was indeed strong enough, 10 mph below cloud base, but 16 mph near cloud base. The lift was weak once again near the airport but picked up right away when we went north. I got let off under Jim Yocom, but didn't find what he was circling in and went south to find better and really did go south, having to work much less than 100 fpm to get back up again. This left me a little below my compatriots at the start.

We started launching a half hour earlier than on the first two days, at noon, and the clouds over the town started quite a bit later than on the previous days. It looked like there was less chance of over development than was forecast.

As we headed out on course there were no signs of over development unlike on the previous day and the sky was dappled with cu's. As soon as we left the area of the airport the lift improved significantly and we were in race mode right away.

There was no overdevelopment all day and it took a little under two hours to go 76 miles. Campbell Bowen won the day in rigids. He was out in front all alone the whole way.

Brett Hazlett won the pre-Worlds, with 70+ pilots at goal. Brett took the second clock and almost caught the few pilots who took the first one. Attila was right behind him.

Greg Brown was the only single surface glider to make goal at La Mesa, about half the distance of the pre-World task.  Adrian Van der Reit won the sport class. Seven sport class pilots made goal in La Mesa. Looks like we need longer tasks all the way around.

São Paulo State Championship

Wed, May 17 2006, 3:18:32 pm EDT

São Paulo

Staying up in a big glider.

Brett Hazlett

http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com

Brett Hazlett «bretthazlett» writes:

Just got back from the São Paulo State Championship, in Brazil.

I'm just loving my Moyes Litespeed S4.5!

Had a great time at the US Nats and Flytec Championship, finishing 2nd at those meets. Then after winning the comp in Brazil, despite many pilots wanting to buy my glider, I didn't want to let her go!

I'm 77kg and seem to be the lightest comp pilot around on a 4.5. The glide at 50-65km/h is competitive with the best gliders that I've flown against, and at 70-80km/h I've noticed an advantage. But the super plus for me is how easy it has been to stay high in the gaggles this year- it leaves a smile on my face every time.

Everyone is flying small and heavy these days, so nobody notices how poorly they are climbing. These days I have so much confidence down low because I know that almost anything will keep me in the air. I'm happy to launch first and am not worried about landing at all. I've watched really good pilots slowly lose grip of the lift and land short of goal while I've been able to persist long enough to make it through.

One top pilot said my glider's climb is 'incredible'. Having a glider like that is worth so much, not just at a comp but even on a lazy Sunday at the hill!

This is the best glider that I've ever had; if gliders never change again I'll be perfectly happy!

Discuss "São Paulo State Championship" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Cross Country Clinic in Canada

May 1, 2006, 9:40:52 EDT

Clinic

If you really want a leg up in your competition or cross country flying.

Brett Hazlett|Dustin Martin|Scott Gravelle|weather

Scott Gravelle «scottgravelle» writes:

Dustin Martin and Brett Hazlett will be holding a competition/cross country clinic in Vulcan Prior to the Canadian Nats. The Clinic is based of of the highly successful clinic that both Bret and Dustin taught this spring in Florida

The Dates are June 13-16

Cost: $350.00 (Canadian) plus tows

To Register send a e-mail to «scottgravelle» to reserve your spot (only 6 available)

The clinic will consist of four days of learning and flying. The team sizes are limited to just three pilots per coach. The clinic will encompass a four day "Training Competition" incorporating both general XC and competition XC skills. This includes learning and refining GPS navigation, using the radio, perfecting XC technique, improving outlanding skills, and practicing towing skills.

Pilots will be grouped in teams of three with similar wings and skills to foster consistent group flying. Each pilot will have the opportunity to fly with both Brett and Dustin so you can experience a variety of techniques. This is an opportunity for pilots of all abilities and all glider types to take their flying to the next level. Expect you head to be filled with as much information as you can handle

Agenda

- Optional AM landing clinic sessions
- Morning seminars on weather, thermalling, GPS use, route planning, XC skills, landing, towing, tactics, etc.
- Midday XC tasks. These will be flown as a group tailored to the needs, skills, and equipment of the students.
- Optional late afternoon landing clinic session Evening GPS scoring, flight analysis, and debrief.

Location

The competition clinic will take place at the Vulcan Alberta airport.

You should bring:

Glider
Harness w/Parachute
Helmet
Flight instrument
GPS
Radio w/headset
Recommended: Wheels, Hydration system

Discuss Clinic at the Oz Report forum

Flytec Championship »

April 23, 2006, 11:43:00 pm EDT

Flytec, finals

Oleg and Johann win the meet

Brett Hazlett|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Oleg Bondarchuk|Quest Air

Corinna is the women's champion. You can find the results here: Scores.

It was a very tight race at the top of the flex wing competition with Brett Hazlett and Jonny Durand just behind Oleg.

Discuss Flytec, finals at the Oz Report forum

The Flytec Championships 2006, day 5, task 4

Ring around the Green Swamp

Flytec, day 5

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

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

Scores

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

On Wednesday thirty two gliders follow Jonnie here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jacques Bott gets fitted for lead. Photo by Timothy Ettridge

Thirteen of fourteen ridge wings make goal:

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

Totals:

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

Flex wings (40+ in goal):

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

Totals:

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

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

Flytec Results

Nine rigids in goal within three minutes and seven seconds

Results

April 20, 2006, 5:57:17 EDT

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

Task 3:

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

Totals:

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

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

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

Totals:

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

GAP parameters »

April 19, 2006, 9:45:23 pm EDT

GAP

The hubbub calms down

Brett Hazlett|Jim Yocom|Quest Air|Ron Gleason|weather

http://ozreport.com/10.075#2

Once you are use to getting A's, it's a shock to get a C. The cry for all A's (we're all above average) continued through the first two days of the Flytec meet, but has died down now. I don't see a great disappointment with the GAP parameters as set here at the Flytec meet, but maybe there are some that continue to harbor resentment. But I think that in general we are having such a great time that it is hard to really be upset about a few meaningless points.

I did notice that Jonnie thought I was responsible for the GAP parameters for flex wings at the Flytec meet. Since I'm not, I wonder how he got this information. I am responsible for the GAP parameters for the rigid wings. I suggested to David 75 miles and 3 hours after consulting with Ron Gleason and Jim Yocom.

Here's my response to Brett Hazlett's complaints:

Here's what the GAP authors say (in red, and Brett in blue):

NominalTime: equivalent in time to NominalDistance. It is the fastest elapsed time, below which the task should be devalued. It can be considered as the time necessary for the fastest pilot to fly the NominalDistance. (In the Alps for National competitions, it is generally suggested at least 2 hours). There is no penalty for having the fastest pilot take longer to complete the task.

I consider 25 mph to be the actual average speed of the winning pilot. The GAP authors recommend a minimum time of 2 hours. That corresponds to fifty miles. Set the minimum at 2.5 hours and that corresponds to 62.5 miles.

To get a fair competition task, you should normally have pilots in goal and pilots need to be in the air for a period of time so that the competitors make a series of different decisions, thereby sorting out the best pilots from the good ones.

Set nominal task distance at 30 miles and assume 25 mph, and you get a task that is a little more than an hour, like the two days of flying at the Florida Ridge. Much less difficult tasks than you would think would be worth 1000 points.

The NominalDistance parameter is the minimum distance that would still result in a good task worth 1000 points. NominalDistance ties in with NominalTime, and these two parameters need to be considered together.

That is they are tied together by the expected speed of the fastest pilot.

The suggested distances are not mandatory, as what makes a good minimum task length depends on the terrain, the weather that would normally be expected for the duration of the competition and, quite important, the level of skill that you would expect from the pilots in the competition.

I hope that explains why I think that there is a contradiction between what the authors say and what their formula actually does.

At Quest we need to consider that sometimes we will need to fly against a strong crosswind -because we can't fly East- and therefore we may fly only 40 miles crosswind in 2.5 hours. In this case, the day will still be a good comp day, in that it is a good day to compare pilot performance, and therefore should be 70-100% valid.

I interpret this to mean that we should consider the actual accomplishments of all the pilots at past Quest meets. And that the nominal task distance should be set at the average of the distance flown by all those pilots. This would include days with cross wind tasks.

GAP doesn't deal well with wide variability in the flight conditions from day to day. It uses an average for all the days of the competition. Days that are difficult due to conditions, but still a good test of pilot skills, are under valued by the GAP system. That is one reason that the actual GAP parameters that meet directors have used have been lowered from the recommended values. Pilots complain when they did well on a hard day but GAP didn't give them their due recognition.


If we use parameters that are too large, the problem that can happen is that 1-2 days in the week of flying will be over-weighted, despite the more average days being good flying days to compare skill/decisions.

And if we use parameters that are too low then there is no differentiation between various days. Perhaps that is okay, but that is not what the GAP authors indicate should be the case.

The recommended GAP parameters are 50-70 km and 2 hours. 70 km = 43.5 miles, the actual value used in previous Flytec meets. I recall that two hours was the previous value used in the Flytec meets, although it had no effect on the first day of the 2006 Flytec meet.

On the first day if the past GAP parameters used at the Flytec meet were used for that day it would have been worth a little less than 400 points (instead of 300). No one complained about the GAP parameters used in the Flytec meets previously.

I agree that the first day was a good test of pilot skills and that pilots should be rewarded handsomely. But the GAP system and the GAP parameters used in previous Flytec meets didn't do this. What is the difference now?

You can see their issues at their blogs linked to above.

Oh, by the way, day 4, task 3, 1000 points for the flex wing guys and 974 points for the rigid wing guys. But, really, do we really care that much?

Discuss GAP at the Oz Report forum

US Nationals - Day and Task 1 »

April 9, 2006, 0:00:36 EDT

US Nats

20-25 mph winds

Brett Hazlett|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|Jacques Bott|James Tindle|Jamie Shelden|US Nationals

Brett Hazlett|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|Jacques Bott|James Tindle|Jamie Shelden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|US Nationals

Brett Hazlett|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|Jacques Bott|James Tindle|Jamie Shelden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|US Nationals

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

Results start here: http://events.dowsett.ca/ Click "Score will be posted here."

Windy, so what? This is southern Florida, and wind is not a great concern (for another opinion see here: http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/). As long as you start early in the day before it gets too rowdy at launch, you'll find the air is a lot less of a problem then your experience at other places would lead you to believe.

I've always loved coming to fly at the Florida Ridge as the thermal are soft, the sky full of cu's, the landing fields every where, and the flats of the Everglades can handle the winds without creating nasty turbulence. Still we were all concerned about the winds, but James Tindle, the Safety Director and owner of the Ridge, was in charge of launch and he said it was a go.

With weak lift at 12:20 in the 20 mph how could there be too much turbulence? My first task was to find some better lift and when I did it was a slow climb out of the park as I and the others who launched after me (I was the first pilot to actually get launched as Brett broke a weak link) drifted quickly to the north. Yes, that means that pilots weren't exactly pushing to launch at noon when the launch opened.

The cu's had started early and the wind had already swung around from south southeast to south southwest. It was averaging about 21 mph, but the thermals were very pleasant to fly in and soon I was waiting around at cloud base for the last start time at 1:30 PM. The start circle was a 15 km (9.32 miles) exit circle around the flight park, big because of the high winds.

Curt Warren signaled to me to go with him at the second start time, but I couldn't figure out if he wanted to go then or wait so I didn't go with him. He was quite fast on his own and may have won the day. I don't have the

At this point the task was to stay out of the clouds and head further west of the course line to be able to get a downwind run at the first turnpoint. Racing to get out from under a cloud before it swallowed me up, I got a little lower than the folks around me and downwind of the start circle so I had to go back (as did every one else) to get the last start time, but I was low enough that I had to work weaker lift with Jonnie Durand, Brett Hazlett and a couple of other flex wing pilots soon after getting out on the course. (the four ridge wing pilots are flying the tasks with the flex wings.)

There are cu's every where, but the lift is better over the drier areas below and we are climbing over a swamp. We finally find a dry hot spot and climb back up to cloud base at 4,900' and head toward the first turnpoint thirty miles out from the Florida Ridge and northwest of Lake Okeechobee. Our 75 mile task will take us to the north northeast, but to keep us away from the areas with few or no roads we've got turnpoints along the main highways. We've never gone this way before and it is beautiful, open, inviting.

Taking the first turnpoint just south of Brighton, as the Lycos airstrip with the 25 mph winds at 225 degrees, it's a quick 15 miles to the Okeechobee airport. I notice ground speeds of 70 mph. Jonny takes a line to my south, Brett is right behind me, and I've caught back up with Campbell Bowen, but Jacques Bott is still out in front and not seen.

Making the turn at the airport means the start of a 30 mile cross wind leg to the goal, a small grass field east of Yeehaw Junction. I saw two flex wings turning out to the north northwest and raced across the 246 degree wind to find the lift between them. One had to turn and head back to the last turnpoint at the airport as I pushed north northwest to keep upwind of the course line and get under the next set of clouds.

Down to 2,000' I worked my way upwind to find the core and get in line for a downwind run to the goal. I was on my own now having left Brett, Jonny and Campbell behind. Once under the clouds again, it was easy to pick the next thermal, climb high enough and glide the 13 miles into goal with plenty of altitude over the trees.

Most of the task was over open fields except for an early swamp near Fish Creek, an inlet to the lake. There were trees coming into the goal and on the down wind side of the course line waiting to intimidate those who didn't force their way upwind after the second turnpoint. I was fortunate enough to have the leading edge of the clouds just on the west side of the course line as I headed north.

The winds were 26 mph over the goal and landing in the field next to the goal was pretty exciting for every one. I kept up hand on the base tube until the very last second.

On the way home we notice a six foot gator crossing the road. My truck was carrying an Ecuadorian, a Frenchman, and a Ukrainian, this was a great sight for the international tourists. We stopped at the side of the road, and the gator did not appreciate that, and scurried over to the other side to get in the other canal.

Discuss US Nats at the Oz Report forum

2006 Canadian Nationals »

April 3, 2006, 1:22:02 pm EDT

Cdn Nats

A few more slots opened up with additional resources.

Brett Hazlett|Canadian Nationals 2006|Dustin Martin|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Scott Gravelle

Scott Gravelle «scottgravelle» writes:

After the first 15 days of registration for the Canadian Nationals we were over subscribed with 45 pilots. All of the initial foreign spots were filled when Jonny Durand signed up to take the last spot. Thanks to Bart and Tiki at Cowboy Up we have secured enough tugs so everyone will be flying. With the tugs that are coming now we can handle at least 5 more pilots, so no one is on the waiting list any more. Register at http://events.dowsett.ca if you would like to join Brett Hazlett, Dustin Martin Kraig Coomber, Chris Smith and Jonny racing around the skies on the Canadian Prairie.

Brett and Dustin will be hosting a comp cross country clinic the week before the nats in Vulcan. The dates for the clinic are June 13th-16th and you can expect something very similar to the Team Flytec clinic that they are both doing this week in Florida.

There will be three students per instructor and you will have the opportunity to learn the skills and tactics from 2 of the worlds best. The cost for the clinic is $350.00 Canadian or $300.00 Us plus tows. There are only six spaces and 3 are already full so let me know ASAP. To register for the clinic drop me a line «scottgravelle». or send me a private message through http://events.dowsett.ca. I am leaving for Florida Sat morning and will be away from my computer for a few days, but I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Discuss Cdn Nats at the Oz Report forum

Quest Air goes nuts

April 1, 2006, 7:20:51 pm EST

Quest Air

Way, way too much fun in the air

Brett Hazlett|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|Dustin Martin|Kevin Carter|Quest Air|record|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|weather

Did I mention that Quest Air was packed? Well, I didn't know what I was talking about. I should have waited until the weekend. There must have been fifty to sixty pilot here today, a good number of them attending the competition clinic with Kevin Carter, Brett Hazlett, Curt Warren, Dustin Martin, and Conrad Lotten. It kicked off today to get folks ready for the US Nats at the Florida Ridge, which starts next weekend.

I'd never seen the wire rope line tie downs used outside a competition, but they were packed with gliders today. The tug pilots were kept busy all day.

I called a 76 mile FAI triangle around the Green Swamp, that's where all the cu's are. Four ATOS pilots took up the challenge, Ron Gleason, Russell Brown, Campbell Bowen, and I. We all worked together and got ourselves around in not so great hurry at 27 mph.

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

The Florida flying weather has really turned on. The winds were light as could be today and the cu's started early. It sure seems that we will be doing record breaking tasks at the upcoming meets.

The flights on Saturday on the HOLC.

Millennium Cup - final

Sun, Feb 26 2006, 1:38:23 pm EST

Millennium

Dustin wins

Brett Hazlett|Dustin Martin|Millennium Cup 2006

http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/

Task three:

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 Russek, Rodrigo Moyes Litespeed 01:37:11 1000
2 Gotes, Rudy Moyes Litespeed 01:51:09 817
3 Martin, Dustin Wills Wing T2 01:57:43 752
4 Segura, David, 4 Moyes Litespeed 01:57:55 745
5 Olazabal, Alejandro Icaro 07 02:01:46 707
6 Salgado, Erick Aeros Combat 02:02:15 694
7 Rohlfs, Aldo Icaro Laminar 02:03:49 690
8 Obregon, Gustavo Moyes Litespeed 02:08:14 656
9 Fierro, Efren Moyes Litespeed 02:11:23 625
10 Segura, Jose Moyes Litespeed 02:29:45 525

Final results:

Place Name Glider Total
1 Martin, Dustin Wills Wing T2 2648
2 Gotes, Rudy Moyes Litespeed 2496
3 Segura, David Moyes Litespeed 2470
4 Hazlett, Brett Moyes Litespeed 2244
5 Rohlfs, Aldo Icaro Laminar 2166
6 Salgado, Erick Aeros Combat 1764
7 Segura, Jose Moyes Litespeed 1499
8 Russek, Rodrigo Moyes Litespeed 1391
9 Olazabal, Alejandro Icaro 07 1368
10 Obregon, Gustavo Moyes Litespeed 1276
11 Lascurain, Manuel Wills Wing T2 1255
12 Fierro, Efren Moyes Litespeed 1195
13 Montes, Pedro Aeros Stealth 1062
14 Mendez, Gerardo Aeros Stealth 669
15 Milmo, Daniel Moyes Litespeed 490
16 Van Seeters, Leon, Moyes Litespeed 476
17 Hernandez, Marcos Moyes Litespeed 425
18 Gelfen, Russ Wills Wing U2 355
19 Atilano , Alvaro Icaro Laminar 248
20 Gotes, Jose Maria Moyes Litespeed 0
20 Gutierrez, Francisco Moyes X-Easy 0
20 Marroquin, Mauricio Moyes Litespeed 0

Discuss "Millennium Cup - final" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Millennium Cup Results - Day 2

Fri, Feb 24 2006, 9:15:26 pm EST

Millennium

Brett and Dustin again

Brett Hazlett|Dustin Martin|Millennium Cup 2006

Place Name Glider Total
1 Hazlett Brett Moyes Litespeed 1511
2 Martin Dustin Wills Wing T2 1431
3 Segura David Moyes Litespeed 1294
4 Gotes Rudy Moyes Litespeed 1270
5 Rohlfs Aldo Icaro Laminar 1095
6 Salgado Erick Aeros Combat 797
7 Segura Jose Moyes Litespeed 750
8 Lascurain Manuel Wills Wing T2 678
9 Montes Pedro Aeros Stealth 645
10 Olazabal Alejandro Icaro 07 518

Day Two results here.

Brett's Blog.

Discuss "Millennium Cup Results - Day 2" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2006 Millennium Cup »

Thu, Feb 23 2006, 8:11:45 pm EST

They are hang gliding in Valle

Valle

Brett Hazlett|Millennium Cup 2006

Brett Hazlett «bretthazlett» got his blog going at http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/

Discuss "2006 Millennium Cup" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Florida Nationals

February 2, 2006, 5:38:28 pm PST

Florida Ridge

The US Nationals are being held in Florida this year

Brett Hazlett|CIVL|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Oleg Bondarchuk|US Nationals

http://events.dowsett.ca/2006/ushgnats/reg

http://www.thefloridaridge.com/pages/news.php

The organizers of the US Nationals are currently in the process of applying for CIVL Category 2 sanctioning. Oleg will be there as he always has been, as well as Glen Volk, Dustin Martin, Brett Hazlett, and Bo. as well as other top pilots. It will be another great competition and a lot of fun.

There will also be a Sport Class and Single Surface Class competition held at the same time. If you are new to competition come on down and join us for a great time. Enter the Sport Class and win some great prizes.

Discuss Florida Ridge at the Oz Report forum

Fun in Brazil

Wed, Nov 2 2005, 5:00:06 am EST

Brett after the Brazilian Nationals

Brett Hazlett

Brazil

http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/

Brazilian Nationals

Mon, Oct 10 2005, 8:00:00 pm EDT

Final results from five rounds

Betinho Schmitz|Brazilian Nationals 2012|Brett Hazlett|Leonardo Dabbur|Moura Morrison|Rob Kells

http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/

http://www.abvl.com.br/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=20

 http://www.terminalx.com.br/campeonato

The pilots and their gliders:

Pilot Name Glider
GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA Moyes Litespeed S 3.5
ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI Wills Wing T2
CARLOS SCHMITZ Moyes Litespeed S 3.5
MICHEL LOUZADA Moyes Litespeed S 4
HAZLETT BRETT Moyes Litespeed S 4
CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER Aeros Combat L
GERALDO MAGELA DA SILVA Moyes Litespeed S 4
MARCELO FERRO Moyes Litespeed S 5
MARCIO ROSADAS Moyes Litespeed
LEONARDO DABBUR Wills Wing T2
DORIVAL AGULHON Moyes Litespeed S 5
KLAUS KOCH Wills Wing Talon
ALDO XAVIER Moyes Litespeed
MARCELO MENIN Moyes Litespeed

Results from the fifth task:

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER Carlinhos Aeros Combat L 01:51:42 999
2 LEONARDO DABBUR Maskara Wills Wing T2 01:52:30 973
3 ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI Nene Rotor Wills Wing T2 01:52:40 961
4 GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA Guga Moyes Litespeed 01:52:48 951
5 MARCELO FERRO Ferro Moyes Litespeed 01:53:28 938
6 CARLOS SCHMITZ Betinho Schmitz Moyes Litespeed S 02:19:01 725
7 KLAUS KOCH Klaus Koch Wills Wing Talon 02:19:33 719
8 CLAUDIO RISTITSCH Onça Moyes Litespeed 02:22:20 696
9 ALLAN DE MOURA MORRISON Allan Wills Wing T2 02:24:19 682
10 HAZLETT BRETT Brett Moyes Litespeed 02:24:53 676

Totals:

Place Name Glider Total
1 ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI Nene Rotor Wills Wing T2 4843
2 CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER Carlinhos Aeros Combat L 4607
3 CARLOS SCHMITZ Betinho Schmitz Moyes Litespeed S 4566
4 LEONARDO DABBUR Maskara Wills Wing T2 4492
5 GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA Guga Moyes Litespeed S 4473
6 MARCELO FERRO Ferro Moyes Litespeed 4179
7 HAZLETT BRETT Brett Moyes Litespeed 4169
8 MARCIO ROSADAS Marcinho Moyes Litespeed S 3865
9 KLAUS KOCH Klaus Koch Wills Wing Talon 3826
10 MICHEL LOUZADA Louzada Moyes Litespeed S 3637

I'm sure that Rob Kells and all the folks at Wills Wing are excited to see this outcome. This is most unusual with three Wills Wing gliders in the top ten (that's why it's news). Betinho is ranked number one in Brazil. Looks like we've got three competitive gliders here.

Brazilian Nationals

Fri, Oct 7 2005, 8:00:00 pm EDT

Four rounds, total (apparently)

Betinho Schmitz|Brazilian Nationals 2012|Brett Hazlett|Dustin Martin|Leonardo Dabbur|Moura Morrison

http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/

http://www.abvl.com.br/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=20

 http://www.terminalx.com.br/campeonato

The pilots and their gliders:

Pilot Name Glider
GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA Moyes Litespeed S 3.5
ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI Wills Wing T2
CARLOS SCHMITZ Moyes Litespeed S 3.5
MICHEL LOUZADA Moyes Litespeed S 4
HAZLETT BRETT Moyes Litespeed S 4
CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER Aeros Combat L
GERALDO MAGELA DA SILVA Moyes Litespeed S 4
MARCELO FERRO Moyes Litespeed S 5
MARCIO ROSADAS Moyes Litespeed
LEONARDO DABBUR Wills Wing T2
DORIVAL AGULHON Moyes Litespeed S 5
KLAUS KOCH Wills Wing Talon
ALDO XAVIER Moyes Litespeed
MARCELO MENIN Moyes Litespeed

78 KM third task (those who made goal):

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI Nene Rotor Wills Wing Talon 02:02:10 997
2 CARLOS SCHMITZ Betinho Schmitz Moyes Litespeed S 02:02:16 982
3 CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER Carlinhos Aeros Combat L 02:16:00 891
4 LEONARDO DABBUR Maskara Wills Wing T2 02:19:47 863
5 KONRAD HEILMAN Conrado Moyes Litespeed 02:59:43 743

Totals after three tasks:

1 ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI Nene Rotor Wills Wing Talon 2958
2 CARLOS SCHMITZ Betinho Schmitz Moyes Litespeed S 2921
3 CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER Carlinhos Aeros Combat L 2766
4 GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA Guga Moyes Litespeed 2638
5 LEONARDO DABBUR Maskara Wills Wing T2 2620
6 HAZLETT BRETT Brett Moyes Litespeed 2530
7 GERALDO MAGELA DA SILVA Lalado Moyes Litespeed S 2425
8 MARCELO FERRO Ferro Moyes Litespeed 2342
9 MARCIO ROSADAS Marcinho Moyes Litespeed S 2308
10 KLAUS KOCH Klaus Koch Wills Wing Talon 2237

Fourth task (96.6 KM, 1:25:00):

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 HAZLETT BRETT Brett Moyes Litespeed 01:25:00 963
2 MICHEL LOUZADA Louzada Moyes Litespeed 01:25:37 933
3 ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI Nene Rotor Wills Wing Talon 01:25:56 924
4 CARLOS SCHMITZ Betinho Schmitz Moyes Litespeed S 01:26:02 920
5 MARCELO FERRO Ferro Moyes Litespeed 01:26:18 899
5 LEONARDO DABBUR Maskara Wills Wing T2 01:26:20 899
7 MARCIO ROSADAS Marcinho Moyes Litespeed S 01:26:41 885
8 GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA Guga Moyes Litespeed 01:26:47 884
9 ALLAN DE MOURA MORRISON Allan Wills Wing T2 01:26:57 870
9 KLAUS KOCH Klaus Koch Wills Wing Talon 01:27:03 870
11 GERALDO MAGELA DA SILVA Lalado Moyes Litespeed S 01:27:37 863
12 DORIVAL AGULHON Doriva Moyes Litespeed 01:28:23 850
13 CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER Carlinhos Aeros Combat L 01:28:27 842
14 ALDO XAVIER Cruel Moyes Litespeed 01:28:50 834
15 DUSTIN MARTIN Dustinho Wills Wing T2 01:30:02 821

Totals after four tasks:

Place Name Glider Total
1 ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI Nene Rotor Wills Wing Talon 3882
2 CARLOS SCHMITZ Betinho Schmitz Moyes Litespeed S 3841
3 CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER Carlinhos Aeros Combat L 3608
4 GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA Guga Moyes Litespeed 3522
5 LEONARDO DABBUR Maskara Wills Wing T2 3519
6 HAZLETT BRETT Brett Moyes Litespeed 3493
7 GERALDO MAGELA DA SILVA Lalado Moyes Litespeed S 3288
8 MARCELO FERRO Ferro Moyes Litespeed 3241
9 MARCIO ROSADAS Marcinho Moyes Litespeed S 3193
10 MICHEL LOUZADA Louzada Moyes Litespeed 3150
11 KLAUS KOCH Klaus Koch Wills Wing Talon 3107
12 MARCELO MENIN Menin Moyes Litespeed 2957
13 ALDO XAVIER Cruel Moyes Litespeed 2937
14 KONRAD HEILMAN Conrado Moyes Litespeed 2786
15 DUSTIN MARTIN Dustinho Wills Wing T2 2781

Brazilian Nationals

Thu, Oct 6 2005, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Bad weather again?

Brazilian Nationals 2012|Brett Hazlett|Leonardo Dabbur|weather

http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/

http://www.abvl.com.br/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=20

 http://www.terminalx.com.br/campeonato

The pilots and their gliders:

Pilot Name Glider
GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA Moyes Litespeed S 3.5
ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI Wills Wing T2
CARLOS SCHMITZ Moyes Litespeed S 3.5
MICHEL LOUZADA Moyes Litespeed S 4
HAZLETT BRETT Moyes Litespeed S 4
CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER Aeros Combat L
GERALDO MAGELA DA SILVA Moyes Litespeed S 4
MARCELO FERRO Moyes Litespeed S 5
MARCIO ROSADAS Moyes Litespeed S
LEONARDO DABBUR Wills Wing T2
DORIVAL AGULHON Moyes Litespeed S 5
KLAUS KOCH Wills Wing Talon
ALDO XAVIER Moyes Litespeed
MARCELO MENIN Moyes Litespeed

Brazilian Nationals

Wed, Oct 5 2005, 3:00:00 pm EDT

Another short task, 91.4 km, two hours.

Betinho Schmitz|Brazilian Nationals 2012|Brett Hazlett|Leonardo Dabbur|Roberto Nichele

http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/

http://www.abvl.com.br/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=20

 http://www.terminalx.com.br/campeonato

Pilots and their gliders:

Pilot Name Glider
GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA Moyes Litespeed S 3.5
ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI Wills Wing T2
CARLOS SCHMITZ Moyes Litespeed S 3.5
MICHEL LOUZADA Moyes Litespeed S 4
HAZLETT BRETT Moyes Litespeed S 4
CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER Aeros Combat L
GERALDO MAGELA DA SILVA Moyes Litespeed S 4
MARCELO FERRO Moyes Litespeed S 5
MARCIO ROSADAS Moyes Litespeed
LEONARDO DABBUR Wills Wing T2
DORIVAL AGULHON Moyes Litespeed S 5
KLAUS KOCH Wills Wing Talon
ALDO XAVIER Moyes Litespeed
MARCELO MENIN Moyes Litespeed

Day three:

1 GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA 997
2 MICHEL LOUZADA 980
3 ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI 977
4 CARLOS SCHMITZ 971
5 CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER 955
6 HAZLETT BRETT 941
7 GERALDO MAGELA DA SILVA 928
8 KLAUS KOCH 922
9 MARCIO ROSADAS 910
10 MARCELO FERRO 897

Totals after two rounds:

GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA Guga Litespeed 1992
ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI Nene Rotor WillsWing T2 1960
CARLOS SCHMITZ Betinho Schmitz Litespeed 1938
MICHEL LOUZADA Louzada Litespeed 1935
HAZLETT BRETT Brett Litespeed 1893
CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER Carlinhos Combat L 1873
GERALDO MAGELA DA SILVA Lalado Litespeed 1817
MARCELO FERRO Ferro Litespeed 1774
MARCIO ROSADAS Marcinho Litespeed 1774
LEONARDO DABBUR Maskara Wills Wing T2 1754
DORIVAL AGULHON Doriva Litespeed 1743
KLAUS KOCH Klaus Koch Wills Wing T2 1731
ALDO XAVIER Cruel Litespeed 1620
MARCELO MENIN Menin Litespeed 1601
ROBERTO NICHELE Nick Wills Wing T2 1498

No flying today

Gliders in the meet: twenty one Moyes, eight Wills Wings, two Aeros, one Laminar, and five unknown.

Brazilian Nationals

Tue, Oct 4 2005, 6:00:00 pm EDT

Web Cam

Brazilian Nationals 2012|Dustin Martin|Leonardo Dabbur

Brazilian Nationals 2012|Brett Hazlett|Dustin Martin|Leonardo Dabbur

http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/

http://www.abvl.com.br/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=20

The first day was not flown. The results of the second day (10/3/05):

1 GUSTAVO DE ARAUJO SALDANHA 995
2 ALVARO FIGUEIREDO SANDOLI 983
3 CARLOS SCHMITZ 967
4 MICHEL LOUZADA 955
5 HAZLETT BRETT 952
6 LEONARDO DABBUR 928
7 CARLOS ROBERTO NIEMEYER 918
8 GERALDO MAGELA DA SILVA 889
9 MARCELO FERRO 877
10 DORIVAL AGULHON 869

If the Brazilian scorekeepers would just put out the results in the HTML format with the glider type column (the standard Race output format) I would be able to publish the glider names along with the pilot names. I get the feeling that Brazilians don't want to publicize glider manufacturers.

Dustin Martin came up 0.3 km short of goal. The task was very short with Guga (the first pilot) getting there in 1:39:44 and Brett in fifth, 1:16 behind. Dorival's time for tenth was 1:45:00. The task was only 84.2 km.

Octavio Fiães «ofiaes» writes:

You can see now live the take off area at Brazilian Nationals at Andradas. Every day from 11 am to 2 pm Brazilian time (-3 UTC) at http://www.terminalx.com.br/campeonato. Just log on (name/email) and watch live.

Discuss Brazilian Nationals at the Oz Report forum

Brazil Nationals

Fri, Sep 30 2005, 6:00:02 pm GMT

About to start

Brazilian Nationals 2005|Brett Hazlett

Brett has some good stories of getting to Brazil here: http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com/

www.abvl.com.br

Discuss Brazil at the Oz Report forum

Oz to Brazil

Tue, Sep 20 2005, 1:00:02 pm EDT

Brett Hazlett gets the call.

Brett Hazlett

Brett Hazlett

Brett Hazlett «bretthazlett» writes:

I was just put on a mission for Moyes. My charge is to fly the last meet of the Brazilian Nationals series in Andradas. First, I have to spend a week in Sydney to build a badass-glidezilla-mofo of a glider, then take the long trek to Brazil. For pics and updates, check out: http://bretthazlett.blogspot.com.

Discuss Moyes at the Oz Report forum

Moyes Results

Mon, Aug 29 2005, 12:00:00 pm EDT

Winning in Brazil

Brett Hazlett|Corinna Schwiegershausen|David Seib|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Martin Harri|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|Vicki Cain

Vicki Cain «vicki» writes:

We’ve had some great results from the Northern summer competition season this year. Here’s a list of achievements from around the globe for the past few months.

Congratulations to all the Moyes Boys and Girls!

Special thanks to Jonny. After winning the US Open we sent him to Brasilia glider less, as his glider was snapped up after the comp in Texas. We sent a replacement sail from Australia that he fitted to a spare frame of Nixon’s just in time for the start of the comp! Special congratulations to Guga for his consistent effort over the 7 day meet to snatch the win on the last day, and for being the latest addition to our list!

Guga

June 2005:

1st Seppi Salvenmoser – Litespeed S 3.5 - Bavarian Open
1st Martin Harri – Litespeed S 4 - Swiss Open
1st Brett Hazlett – Litespeed S 4 - Canadian Nationals
1st Gerolf Heinrichs – Litespeed S 4 - Pre-Europeans

July 2005

1st Olli Barthelmes – Litespeed S 4 - German Open
1st Corinna Schwiegershausen – Litespeed S 3.5 - German Open – Women’s
1st Gerolf Heinrichs – Litespeed S 4 - Nordic Open
1st Nils Henden – Litespeed S 4 - Norwegian National Champion
1st David Seib – Litespeed S 5 - Spanish Open

August 2005

1st Jon Durand Jnr. - Litespeed S 4 - US Open-Big Springs, Texas
1st Seppi Salvenmoser – Litespeed S 3.5 - Austrian Open/National Championships
1st Guga Saldanha – Litespeed S 3.5 - Brazilian Nationals - Brasilia

Missing Some WPRS points?

Wed, Jul 13 2005, 9:00:01 pm EDT

Did you turn in your FAI Sporting License number?

FAI Sporting License

Øyvind Ellefsen|Chris Muller|CIVL|David Glover|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Øyvind Ellefsen|Chris Muller|CIVL|David Glover|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet|Tove Heaney|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Øyvind Ellefsen|Chris Muller|CIVL|David Glover|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet|Jacques Bott|Tove Heaney|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Øyvind Ellefsen|Chris Muller|CIVL|David Glover|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet|Jacques Bott|Kevin Carter|Tove Heaney|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Øyvind Ellefsen|Brett Hazlett|Chris Muller|CIVL|David Glover|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet|Jacques Bott|Kevin Carter|Tove Heaney|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Øyvind Ellefsen|Brett Hazlett|Chris Muller|CIVL|David Glover|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet|Jacques Bott|James Lamb|Kevin Carter|Tove Heaney|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Øyvind Ellefsen|Brett Hazlett|Chris Muller|CIVL|David Glover|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Francoise Dieuzeide-Banet|George Stebbins|Jacques Bott|James Lamb|Kevin Carter|Tove Heaney|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

David Glover «davidhglover» writes:

Right now only the pilots on the following list will receive points for the 2005 Flytec Championship. We requested multiple times at the pilot meeting for pilots to show us their FAI License. These are the only pilots that we received information from. Many top pilots and world champions, who I am sure have an FAI Lic.enses, may want to contact Paula at FAI/CIVL < «paula», if you want points for the 2005 Flytec Championship.

No action needed if your name is below:

ALMOND Neville, ANDERSON Anders, ANDERSON Hakan, BOTT Jacques, CARTER Kevin, CHOPARD Patrick, DIEUZEIDE-BANET Francoise, DOLWIN Craig, ELLEFSEN Oyvind, GRICAR Primoz, GUERRA Raul, HAZLETT Brett, HEANEY Tove, HINDEMITH Joakim, LAMB James, LANNING Tom, LANSER Pascal, MARTIN Dustin, MATHURIN Eric, MULLER Chris, NEIDEMAN Markel, NICHELE Roberto, OLSEN Olav Lien, PARCELLIER Thierry, STEBBINS George, STRAUB Davis, WINKELMANN Bernard

Discuss "Missing Some WPRS points?" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Brett's spread sheet »

Wed, May 18 2005, 1:00:06 pm EDT

Problems with server

https://ozreport.com/9.107#0

http://davisstraub.com/Glide/winganalysis.xls

Discuss sink rates at the Oz Report forum

Sink rate

Mon, May 16 2005, 2:00:00 pm EDT

The minimum speed goes up as the cord length goes down.

Brett Hazlett

Brett Hazlett

Brett Hazlett «bretthazlett» writes:

Late last year I looked into the effect of span on minimum sink rate, particularly during circling flight. I thought it would be just a little weekend project, but it blew up in my face, and I still haven't finished! What I noticed, at least for level flight, was not intuitive.

If you hold the span of a glider constant, and then progressively decrease the chord length, the minimum sink rate improves, but this new sink rate occurs at a higher airspeed.

This ignores Reynolds number effects, and any changes in the twist distribution from removing chord length.

I've worked on a spreadsheet (here). It's nothing fancy, but probably not over-simplified. Another interesting thing is that the speed polar of the higher aspect ratio wing (constant span) lies above the original polar at all speeds!

Discuss sink rate at the Oz Report forum

2005 Flytec Championship, day seven

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Campbell Bowen|cart|Chris Muller|Davis Straub|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Dustin Martin|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jim Lamb|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|Tim Denton|weather

Thu, Apr 21 2005, 4:00:00 pm EDT

Ring around the swamp.

Flytec Championship

The flight and task today.

The weather models and the weather gods get it together for today, which we greatly appreciate. The National Weather Service local forecast (from some model) and the RUC model (that Dr. Jack uses) disagreed on the top surface temperature (79 degrees for Jack and 84 for the NWS). I liked the NWS number so went with that value. Therefore I predicted stronger lift and higher cloud bases than BLIPSPOT showed, and sure enough, that's what we got.

Cloudbase was over 5,000' at 1 PM and over 6,700' later in the day (around 4 PM). Dr. Jack called for nice coherent thermals, and sure enough they were perfect. At one point four of us were in a thermal going up at 1,800 fpm (according in Robert Resinger's instrument, mine showed 1000 fpm).

The clouds were predicted to be about 2,000' thick and they were about that. They were also quite plentiful starting early. We also got going 45 minutes earlier with long tasks to take advantage of the great conditions forecast for the day.

Both the flex wings and the rigid wings were tasked to go around the Green Swamp with different turnpoints and start times to keep them separated. The task for the rigids was a little over 90 miles and for the flexies a little over 80 miles.

The cu's formed early and the pilots got excited. The pilot Le Mans run across the runways to the setup area was especially grueling as it was much further than the case for the last few days. We opened  launch at 12:15 PM, so there was no time to waste.

The rigids got off quickly and after working some light lift, I joined the pilots who got hauled up after me and we climbed quickly to cloudbase at 5,000'. We (most of the pilots) actually drove south to the edge of the 15 mile entry start circle too early and had to find lift one mile within the circle. Luckily at 10 minutes before the second start time we were able to drive two miles back upwind to the north (the wind is 5 mph out of the north) to get under a very inviting cloud that sucked us back up to 5,500'.

I played a little trick. Most of the pilots were hanging out at the south end of the cloud just outside the start circle staying out of the cloud. I hung back to the north and went back under the cloud four minutes before the start time. I climbed up under the cloud to get above the pilots at the edge of the cloud. I was able to stay out of the cloud and get two hundred feet over every one else.

At 1:15 we all took off with Robert in the lead (flying faster). I had the imperial view two hundred feet over a dozen or so rigid wing pilots all just behind Robert. My strategy of following Robert (he didn't have the yellow jersey today so it was harder) seemed to be the preferred strategy. Or it was Robert's strategy to lead.

I've mentioned before how important getting into a good position at the start is in competition. I had the perfect position.

He found the first thermal six miles out and we regained the 2,000' that we had all lost on the glide. Robert took off a little over my head and I followed closely behind while the others were not following as fast.

Robert took a couple of turns in a thermal that I didn't notice as having much lift and continued through. Robert and I continued on a nine mile glide to the turnpoint at Dean Still and Rockridge Road. He came in five hundred over my head and continued to the west toward the next turnpoint over the Green Swamp.

I found 600 fpm just south of the intersection to 6,000' and headed west toward the slow burning swamp fire in the Green Swamp. What's this I see? There was Robert down below me turning in the smoke of the fires. I joined him and we slowly climbed up as blackened bits flew passed us.

We worked together in light lift under lots of clouds to catch up just before the Clinton turnpoint with Jim Lamb and Tim Denton who started at 1 PM. The lift was light until we got north of Dade City to find the strongest lift of the day with Brian Porter and Bruce Barmakian joining us. I was lower as we climbed out in the strong lift. I followed a mile behind at 6,700'.

I raced to catch up and caught Bruce about 7 miles out from the thermal right at his altitude. Robert was still 500 feet higher with Brian (who decided to stick with him). Within a mile Robert and Brian were showing another thermal and I joined them. Bruce came over lower, didn't find it and continued on getting very low.

The clouds were lined up to Coleman our next turnpoint, 33 miles from Clinton and the lift was plentiful as I raced to keep Robert and Brian in sight. Every one else was left behind. The cu's thinned out at Coleman, and it was a bit of a struggle to jump from thermal to thermal to the Turnpike and 33 intersection. I kept spotting Brian and Robert so I was feeling good.

With a northwest wind it was an easy glide back to Quest.

Not long after we landed the flexies came in from their task. Dustin was first in, with Jonny getting the bag once again.

Primoz had trouble with his control frame falling into pieces on the cart. According to Regina he seems to be having trouble landing the Phantom. I saw him take out one of his aluminum down tubes today (the one that replaced the damaged carbon fiber one) and the control frame was pretzeled. Primoz got a late start as he replaced his down tube and came in fast.

Rigids:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 03:00:43 1000
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 03:04:48 927
3 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 03:12:25 855
4 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 03:19:43 799
5 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + USA 03:23:21 771
6 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 03:29:14 727
7 RUEHLE Felix AIR Atos VR DEU 03:30:18 718
8 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 03:40:23 710
9 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 03:31:14 709
10 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 03:35:40 682

Cumulative Rigids:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 4812
2 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 3820
3 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 3778
4 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 3701
5 GRICAR Primoz Aeros Phantom SVN 3519
6 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 3498
7 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 3238
8 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 3166
9 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 2958
10 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 2827

Flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat L UKR 02:48:02 962
2 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 02:49:45 922
3 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 02:49:46 919
4 ROTOR Nene Wills Wing T2 144 BRA 02:50:21 909
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 03:02:03 890
6 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 03:02:44 878
7 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 02:53:07 875
8 BARRETT Scott Airborne Climax2 13 AUS 03:03:37 863
9 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 03:04:38 852
10 HEANEY Grant Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 03:05:54 831

Brett is Australian and Canadian.

Cumulative Flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 4636
2 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat L UKR 4609
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 4527
4 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 4218
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 4076
6 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 3844
7 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 3838
8 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 3782
9 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 3750
10 ANDERSON Hakan Aeros Combat L13 SWE 3561

The weather is so fine as Jonny Durand shows in his photo:

2005 Flytec Championship, day six

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Brett Hazlett|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Muller|Davis Straub|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Dustin Martin|Felix Ruehle|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jim Lamb|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Nichele Roberto|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Robert Reisinger|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|weather

Wed, Apr 20 2005, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Under called on a great day, but that makes most happy.

Flytec Championship

Today's flight and rigid wing task

The day started with thick clouds covering the sky until mid morning. This made the pilots wary. I knew from the forecast that these clouds would go away and the day would be sunny.

Dr. Jack, using the RUC (Rapid Update Cycle) model, called for a day like any other here recently with lighter winds (5 mph) out of the southeast, and maybe a cloud or two unlike the previous days where we saw nothing but wispies. The National Weather Service mentioned cirrus again, as we've had for the last two days. But there was a fly in the ointment.

The FSL chart completely disagreed with the RUC model. It called for cunimbs,and strong lift (even though the local forecast showed no rain). The winds on the FSL chart also rotated ninety degrees from northeast on the ground to southeast at 6,000' cloud base. But we were seeing light southeast on the ground.

Given the conflict in the models, the task committee called for a task that was 20% longer than the day before hoping for a three hour task. The winds in the launch field were switchy with a few bad tows.

Later in the morning the cirrus began to disappear and it looked like it would clear off completely. The satellite also showed this with clearing to the west.

The cu's were forming nicely and thickly throughout the sky (give that one to the FSL model) and this was very inviting. The winds were light. Lots of pilots wanted to launch early so I had to wait a bit to get launched. The lift over the field was not that great and all the lift we found in the start circle was weak. Jim Lamb was pulled way north, found 700 fpm, unlike the rest of us, and climbed to cloudbase immediately. He had to come back and hang with the rest of us who worked less than 100 fpm to get to cloud base. The clouds looked great, but it felt like they were faking it. The lift was so weak we struggled to get to cloudbase at 5,200'.

We were five miles north of Quest at the edge of the start circle. The course line was to our west.  It was unclear what would happen at 1:45 the first start time. A few people headed out. I headed out then came back. More people headed out. I followed Robert Reisinger as he headed out, as my strategy for the day was to stick to Robert. Then he turned around and came back. Now there were only three of us left out of the main gaggle: Robert, Ron Gleason, and me.

We promptly fell down to 3,000' before we found 200 fpm (what luck) at the same spot we started with the original gaggle. As fifteen minutes slipped by we climbed back up to 4,800', all three of us very near each other in altitude. It looked like everyone else took the early start clock. We were feeling pretty darn smart.

Felix Ruehle, who was on top at 1:45, also turned around after going out a bit, but didn't find any lift and had to land back at Quest and relaunch fourteen minutes after the last start time. He would be on his own after that.

At 2 PM we headed off together spreading out to help each other find the lift. With the mostly weak lift that we'd experienced we were not expecting much out on the course. We quickly caught up with a couple of stragglers from the earlier clock. 

The lift wasn't all that great. I was gliding and climbing with Robert, but Ron couldn't glide with us. Something is wrong with his setup. Robert and Ron will swap gliders in the morning and do some side by side comparisons to get to the root of the problem.

I had no worries staying with the Robert all the way to the turnpoint as we caught one pilot after another. The lift wasn't strong at all, but we were moving quickly from thermal to thermal.

Finally, after the turnpoint 34 miles north northwest of Quest at Savana air strip, I found the first good core and climbed from 2,600' at 600 fpm with Robert twenty feet over my head. I lost track of him in this thermal and I was on my own to get back home. Ron Gleason took a different line and met us there.

A few miles out from the turnpoint there was a cloud street paralleling the Florida Turnpike heading back toward Groveland. I got under it, climbed up fast and road that sucker all the way home. Johann Posch and Ron Gleason as well as a few others followed behind.

After I landed I found out that we weren't the only ones to take the later clock. The others were hiding more on the course line to our west. Robert apologized for not finding better lift. The others had a much better run down to the turnpoint than we did. Robert would pick this day to go slower (well, it wasn't that bad).

Rigids today:

Place Name Glider Nation Start Time Total
1 GRICAR Primoz Aeros Phantom SVN 14:00:00 02:05:02 948
2 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 14:00:00 02:05:55 913
3 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:07:07 890
4 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 13:45:00 02:17:34 877
5 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:10:28 847
6 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 13:45:00 02:19:55 844
7 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:10:51 839
8 BROWN Russell AIR Atos V USA 13:45:00 02:20:28 826
9 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 14:00:00 02:14:50 800
10 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 14:00:00 02:14:54 796
11 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:16:45 778

Rigid cumulative:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 3812
2 GRICAR Primoz Aeros Phantom SVN 3139
3 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 3110
4 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos C GBR 2979
5 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 2974
6 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 2928
7 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 2643
8 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 2529
9 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 2239
10 BUNNER Larry AIR Atos V USA 2166

Oleg Bondarchuck on an Aeros Combat won the day taking the second start time coming in first thirty seconds in front of Kevin Carter also on an Aeros Combat, who took the first start time. A couple of Wills Wing pilots made the top ten today with Nick in second. Jonny grabbed the bag at the finish line for the third day in a row, coming in third. He won one hundred dollars grabbing the bag on the first day.

Kevin hyper extended his leg on landing, so we'll see what happens tomorrow. Russell Brown broke a couple of toes before the meet and is still flying.

Paris Williams after not flying for a while, is doing very well.

The task for the flex wings was shorter at 60 miles. They flew northwest out to Coleman, south back to the top of the Green Swamp, north again to Center Hill and then 12 miles southeast to Quest.

Flex wings:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 01:51:35 957
2 NICHELE Roberto Wills Wing T2 144 CHE 01:53:48 908
3 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 01:53:57 903
4 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 01:54:25 892
5 ZANETTI Marcelo Moyes Litespeed S5 USA 01:54:26 889
6 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 01:56:45 860
7 BAJEWSKI Joerg Moyes LS 4.5 DEU 01:57:57 841
7 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 02:07:06 841
9 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 01:58:06 838
10 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 01:58:17 832

Flex wings cumulative:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 3752
2 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 3647
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 3602
4 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 3534
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 3186
6 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 3096
7 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 3078
8 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 2971
9 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 2918
10 BAJEWSKI Joerg Moyes LS 4.5 DEU 2869

As you can see from the times above, the tasks were under called given the great conditions. The clouds were much better than we thought at first. There was no over development. There were no cunimbs. Here's the BLIPSPOT for 4 PM at Groveland that I called up after I got back:

Dr. Jack is calling for zero lift at 4 PM and a high level of convergence and no surface heating (shade). The height of the -3 at 120 feet. In fact it was beautiful, sunny, warm, cu's every where. Pilots were piling into goal. Sixty flex wings made it back. All but one rigid wing made it back.

Here's the satellite photo showing cu's well up into Georgia:

Joerg Bajewski sends this photo from the air over Quest:

2005 Flytec Championship, day five

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Muller|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jim Rooney|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Mike Barber|Nichele Roberto|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|photo|Ron Gleason|sailplane|US Nationals|weather

Tue, Apr 19 2005, 5:00:00 pm EDT

We braved the east winds and the cirrus and go south east for an out and return.

Flytec Championship

Monday's flight and task

Tuesday flight and task

The weather service called for east south east winds at 8 to 10 mph (here in Groveland) all the way up to cloud base at 5,800'. Here's what we got:

We on the task committee (Jonny, Curt and I) wanted to do a two hour task to balance the three hour one the day before so we sent the rigid wings on a 60 mile out and return to Gore (spot on highway 27 south of Interstate 4), and the flexies 50 miles out and back to an intersection southwest of Wallaby Ranch. We made the first leg an upwind leg because we wanted to stay away from the weaker areas to the north which suffer from cooler air coming off the big lakes up that way (there are lakes every where, here in Florida).

We separated the  rigid wings and flexies by at least a half an hour and sent them on separate courses so that there was no special help for the flexies who took the first start time.

There was plenty of cirrus around but wispy cu's were forming underneath it just like during the last two days. Pilots wanted to get going early so that they wouldn't get shut down as the sun got lower and therefore behind the cirrus to the west.

Bruce Barmakian was off first this day which was good as he got a trike, and I, right behind him, got a tug. Jim Rooney, flying the tug, whipped me around in a tight circle right right over the launch area and as we came around again, Primoz was taking off underneath me. Unfortunately he had a tug with a four stroke engine and they powered right through us. I was trying to hold on so that I could get let off above Primoz. I signal to Jim to follow Primoz, but Jim waved me off 500 feet below him. Shucks. It will stay that way all day.

There was lift right away and after climbing to 4,600' I forced the issue and headed east, trying to bring as many as I could with me as far as east as possible inside the start circle. I'd heard talk about taking the early start (cirrus is the issue) so I wanted to get east as far as possible as quick as possible. So now we know why Bruce was off early.

A bunch of us got together near the start circle circumference at 4,800' at 1:48 so it just seemed natural to leave and not wait around. Ron Gleason and I took first off with Primoz above and just behind us. We were heading for highway 27 to get the upwind part of this leg over early.

There were about eight pilots in the group. I took chances as the clouds in front looked good, and I found good lift, but the guys behind me caught up quickly and Primoz was on top along with a VR pilot (Ron at first). We found 700 fpm near 474 and got to 5,600'. This was a real core (unlike most of the lift) and it was great to just put the VR up on a tip and go up fast.

Primoz and the VR lead us out to 27 and we were finding lots of cu's as we headed south. I glided side by side (right next to each other) with Neville for a few minutes and we didn't notice any difference between the VR and the V in glide. Who knows.

I went out in front at the intersection of 27 and I4 to find better lift over the former Baseball City and three or four pilots came and joined me. Primoz went out in front south along 27 along the west side. We climbed to 4,800' and I headed out along the east side of 27, upwind and nearer the clouds (or so I think). It was light sink for a couple of miles to four miles out and it looked good when suddenly the bottom fell out.

I was racing to get out of the sink toward a pond that looked like it had a monster devil coming out of it. It turned out to be an aerator fountain. Rounding the turnpoint sinking fast all the way I was down to 1,400' when I finally got to the clouds and spent the next ten minutes climbing out of that hole as I drifted west and then forced my way back east to the highway.

We had a great close knit group of six pilots going down to the turnpoint but all that was gone now (at least for me). I spotted a couple of stragglers and used them to spot the next two thermals south and east of Wallaby for me. The cirrus had come over and that just added to the sense of woe.

I saw the guys I was with now just ahead of me north east of Wallaby next to 27. I raced in under them at 1,400' and climed at 500 fpm. The sun was out here and the cu above me was inviting as was the sailplane next to me.

I left early and raced six miles in light sink chasing the four pilots in front of me to south of 474. After a few miles of racing and watching the glide paths of the pilots four miles ahead I saw Brian Porter turning in his Swift and I came in under him over a burnt field. It was fourteen miles back to Quest, but this was all it would take to get there given the cross tail component of the wind and the strong lift. I flew through the next thermal catching Ron Gleason and kept it at 50 mph (or more) the rest of the way in bright sunlight with lots of hits of lift.

Meanwhile the flexies were on their route to our west. No interference between the flexies and the rigids today. Most flex wing pilots left early to try to avoid having to the deal with the late cirrus, but their first start time was 2:30, 45 minutes after most of the rigids had left.

It wasn't too long after we came into goal that the flexies started arriving with Jonny Durand in the lead.

Rigid wing results:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 01:46:39 955
2 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 02:06:28 800
3 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 02:08:35 770
4 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 02:16:40 702
5 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 02:16:47 695
6 PARCELLIER Thierry AIR Atos V FRA 02:17:57 681
7 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 02:20:25 660
8 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 02:20:43 654
9 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 02:28:58 568
10 BUNNER Larry AIR Atos V USA 02:32:26 546

Cumulative:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 2900
2 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 2270
3 BOTT Jacques  AIR Atos VR FRA 2136
4 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 2126
5 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 2079
6 PARCELLIER Thierry AIR Atos V FRA 1940
7 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 1766
8 LANSER Pascal  Tsunami FRA 1592
9 BUNNER Larry AIR Atos V USA 1477
10 LUCZYNSKY Thomis AIR Atos VX DEU 1464

Flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 01:46:57 981
2 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 01:47:01 972
3 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 01:47:19 958
4 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 01:49:43 913
5 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 01:52:38 876
6 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 01:52:39 872
7 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 01:52:43 868
8 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 01:55:55 834
9 NICHELE Roberto Wills Wing T2 CHE 01:56:46 823
10 ANDERSON Hakan Aeros Combat L13 SWE 01:58:18 808

Cumulative flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 2849
2 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 2760
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 2754
4 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 2689
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 2436
6 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 2281
7 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 2239
8 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 2237
9 ANDERSON Hakan Aeros Combat L13 SWE 2093
10 ZIMMERMAN Chris Wills Wing Talon 140 USA 2091

The US Nationals slide show with Chris Muller's loop from 150 feet. The set of photos here.

The Wills Wing Team:

Hookin and bare butt weights

Mon, Mar 21 2005, 3:00:08 pm EST

Getting the wing loading right.

Brett Hazlett

Looking at the charts on the Wills Wing and the Moyes web sites I noticed that there is quite a lot of overlap for recommended hook-in weights across glider sizes.

Specification  Talon 140   Talon 150   Talon 160 
Area (ft^2) 144 154 160
Span (ft) 32.3 33.5 34
Aspect Ratio 7.4 7.5 7.2
Glider Weight (lbs) 74 76 78
Hook-In Weight (lbs) 140-220 160-240 180-280
Optimum Body Weight (lbs) 140-170 170-200 200-240

The hookin weights for the 3.5 and the 4 are the same. The 4.5 and 5 have the same hookin weights. No word yet on what weights will be used for the 3.0.

  Litespeed S 3.5 Litespeed S 4 Litespeed S 4.5 Litespeed S 5
Area 13.4 sq.m
144 sq.ft.
13.7 sq.m
147 sq.ft.
14.1 sq.m
152 sq.ft.
14.6 sq.m
157 sq.ft.
Span 10 m
32.8 ft
10 m
32.8 ft
10.4 m
34 ft
10.4 m
34 ft
Aspect Ratio 7.5 7.3 7.6 7.4
Glider Weight * 33.6 kgs
74 lbs
33.6 kgs
74 lbs
34.5 kgs
76 lbs
34.5 kgs
76 lbs
Optimal Pilot Weight 70 kgs
154 lbs
75 kgs
165 lbs
85 kgs
187 lbs
90 kgs
198 lbs
Hook-In-Weight 68-109 kgs
150-240 lbs
68-109 kgs
150-240 lbs
75-120 kgs
165-265 lbs
75-120 kgs
165-265 lbs

Brett Hazlett wrote (https://ozreport.com/9.062#2):

At 86kg bare weight, you're at the high end of the 4 and the low end of the 4.5.

Hmmm, looking at the chart above, and it seems I'm that I'm just a kilo high for the 4.5. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the 4 so much. Maybe Brett was thinking about this range: LSS3.5 <70kg LSS4 70-80kg LSS4.5 80-90kg LSS5 >90kg.

Still it looks like at 220 lbs hookin weight I was fine, even for the 3.5. Maybe that is what Brett meant.

The new Moyes Litespeed S

Fri, Mar 18 2005, 3:00:02 pm EST

Competition proven at the 2005 Worlds.

Attila Bertok|Brett Hazlett|Conrad Loten|Icaro 2000|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr

http://moyes.com.au

Brett Hazlett «bretthazlett» writes:

The LSS3.5, LSS4, LSS4.5, and LSS5 have been finalized, with the LSS3 on the way. All sizes have a very similar racy feel. From our experiences at the Worlds, they are equally competitive, so you can choose your size purely by your weight. If you fly with the same wing loading as another pilot on a different size, your performances should match.

Attila Bertok on his new 5, and Steve Moyes and Dave Seib on their new 4.5s, demonstrated repeatedly that they could keep up with the best S4 pilots, on the fast inter-thermal glides at the Worlds. This is great news for the 90+kg guys out there; the new 5 can handle your weight!

I heard that Conrad Loten bought my Worlds glider, and has been raving about how much he loves the glider. I couldn't agree with him more! He has been out of the comp scene for about a year (maybe a little more) and yet he just tied for 1st with Jonny Durand Jr., at the recent NSW State Titles.

Looking towards the tips, the undersurface is cleaner, and blends seamlessly to the top surface, which is almost flawless. Gerolf spent endless hours obsessing over the most subtle details of the sail, and worked closely with the sail loft to improve the manufacturing process. The result is beautiful gliders with incredible flight consistency.

The base glider is a solid package, but if you like carbon, there are numerous options to choose from- outboard leading edges, dive struts, and carbon battens.

These parts not only save weight and improve roll rate, but the new super-stiff carbon dive struts also contribute to the enhanced pitch stability.

The high speed glide is impressive- both in terms of performance, and pitch consistency.

The new wing seems to favour a shallower thermaling style - which I prefer. I found myself climbing better then ever.

One day at the Worlds in Hay, I went back for a later start, against a 30km/h wind. Hit the start at only 140m above the ground and found something. It was windy, so down low the thermal was broken up, and barely big enough to turn in. My glider responded immediately and rolled fast, allowing me to follow the elusive surges, without stalling a tip. Soon I was at cloudbase, in the cool air, and smiling. If my glider wasn't so easy to fly, I might have been packing up in the heat and dust, alone.

Another day we flew until sunset without making goal. The combination of late-day climb performance and glide to fight the headwind, brought me the closest to goal. This glider gives me the feeling that I could climb in almost anything. It's hard to describe what is making it climb so well, but I think the new tips have something to do with it. When you are low and desperate, you can throw the glider around in broken patches of lift and get away with it. When it's light and smooth, you can keep your bank shallow, relax, and just go up.

Once you hit base and are cruising at 80km/h, you'll see the glider goes flat (near 10:1) and keeps up with anything. It's so much fun to cruise at those speeds, but sometimes you'll miss the next one, and have to get up from low. That's when you'll be especially happy on this wing!

I asked Brett:

I flew the 4 this year because from my experience last year the 4.5 was too big for me in the sense of handling. I felt on that glider that it was handling me instead of the other way around.

I really liked flying the 4 this year and as you can see from the IGC files of Steve Moyes and I on the last day at Deni, there was no difference in sink rate between him on the new 4.5 and a heavier me on the older version  4.0.

Are you saying in here that I should consider going back to the 4.5 as it has a better climb rate than the 4? Are you saying that the new 4.5 has better handling perhaps equivalent to the 4 than the 4.5 I flew a year ago?

Brett responded:

At 86kg bare weight, you're at the high end of the 4 and the low-ish end of the 4.5.

The new 4.5 has a higher effective aspect ratio than last year, now similar to the 4. You would climb better on the new 4.5, especially in the light stuff, as long as you could control it effectively. Since last years' 4.5 felt big to you, and you like the current 4, I would stay with the 4. Handling wise, the 4 and 4.5 are about the same, with the same wing loading.

I'm 77kg  and almost decided to fly the 4.5 this year. If I were your weight, I definitely would. But it's a personal thing, the first priority is being happy with the handling. The differences in wing loading we are talking about here, are small, and make more difference to the handling than the climb rate. All the gliders have essentially the same aspect ratio, so just fly the one you enjoy more.

For slightly better handling, the carbon tip wands, and carbon outboard leading edges make the most difference. However the handling difference is fairly small, easily noticeable when I test fly gliders back-to-back at Stanwell, but easily forgotten if I fly just one glider. If you don't mind spending the money, they're fun to have. The inboards also make a small difference, but they may be too expensive to be worth it, and may not even be available.

(editor's note: Take note of what Brett is claiming here. He's saying that over the full range of Moyes Litespeed S's you can expect the same performance with the same wing loading. I haven't heard a hang glider manufacturer ever make this claim before (but then I do have a short attention span). It would be very cool if they indeed accomplished this, and also it would be very hard to know for sure, precisely.

You'll also notice what an incredible size/weight range they have for their Litespeeds. No other manufacture has five models (well, one is still being worked on) for their top of the line glider. Icaro has four sizes. Wills wing has two.

It has always been thought that there is one size that really works, the one that fits the designer. The others are often thought of as after thoughts. It looks like Gerolf and his associates have worked hard to create gliders across a wide arrange of weights and sizes.)

WPRS - the Europeans »

Thu, Feb 17 2005, 1:00:02 pm EST

How the European Championship counts.

WPRS

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Attila Bertok|Brett Hazlett|CIVL|Gerolf Heinrichs|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Oleg Bondarchuk|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Rank Pilot Country Euro Oz Us/flytec
1 Bondarchuk Oleg Ukraine * * *
2 Alonzi Mario France * * *
3 Hazlett Brett Canada * *
4 Coomber Kraig Australia * *
5 Durand Jon Jnr Australia *
5 Heinrichs Gerolf Austria * *
7 Bertok Attila Hungary * *
8 Boisselier Antoine France * *
9 Barthelmes Oliver Germany * *
10 Moyes Steve Australia *
11 Ploner Alessandro Italy *
12 Holtkamp Rohan Australia *
13 Reisinger Robert Austria * *
14 Caux Raymond France * * *
15 Gerard Jean Francois France * * *
16 Guillen Bruno France * * *
16 Seib David Australia *
18 Carter Kevin Usa *
19 Bader Lukas Germany * *
20 Warren Curt Usa * *

The table above gives the top twenty ranked pilots after three major CIVL sanctioned competitions in Australia including the Worlds. The pilots are ranked using their best finishes in their best top four meets. All the European pilots have the Category I European Championship as one of their top flights. No top twenty pilots outside Europe have points from the European Championships counting for their ranking.

This chart shows that non European pilots have a chance to rank high when the Worlds is held outside of Europe. The Europeans have their chances with the European Championships and don't need to have the Worlds in Europe.

Discuss "WPRS - the Europeans" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Flytec Team Cross Country Clinic

Fri, Feb 11 2005, 8:00:00 am EST

Learn from the top pilots how to go cross country just before the US Nationals.

Brett Hazlett|Chris Muller|Curt Warren|Dustin Martin|Kevin Carter|Quest Air|US Nationals

Curt Warren « fly» writes:

WHAT: The Flytec Team Clinic

WHO: Curt Warren, Kevin Carter, Dustin Martin, Brett Hazlett, and Chris Muller

AND 20 client/students

A relaxed, fun, affordable clinic for the intermediate pilot wanting to improve on any or all aspects of flying a Cross Country competition task.

Thermaling, lines to fly, speeds to fly, restricted landings, Variometer functions, GPS, track logs, start gates, final glides.

EACH DAY: Morning discussions/ground school, task selection with strategy, then each instructor will team up with a group of four (rotating each day) students. The instructor will assist the four students, flying on the same radio channel, helping them get to GOAL. The students will download GPS and be scored to better understand the system. But it's not a competition. After the flying, we'll all debrief.

WHEN: Sunday April 10th through Wednesday April 14th, 2005

WHERE: Quest Air, Groveland, FL

REQUIRED: Vario, GPS, 2 meter radio with headset/push to talk, glider, harness.

HOW MUCH: $200 plus tows. Retrieve for "out landings" will not be provided, but can be arranged.

WHY: Because the first Flytec Team Clinic (two years ago) went off GREAT.

This clinic will fill up. Email and Paypal ($100) me to hold a spot or email me with any questions.

Discuss Flytec Team Clinic at the Oz Report forum