Oz Report

At the time the longest task in the World called and made

Big Spring 2008

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Campbell Bowen|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|James Stinnett|Jeff O'Brien|Jim Yocom|Kent Robinson|Kraig Coomber|Zac Majors

Task 2, 2008-08-03, flexible

Task 2, 2008-08-03, rigid

Hello Jet men

Actual flying

Jeff O'Brien|video

https://youtu.be/_VPvKl6ezyc

https://youtu.be/dFCQJ5sYGtI

Thanks to Jeff O'Brien.

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KEEN to Learn Video

Nepal

Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|video

Cloudbase Foundation <<cloudbasefoundation>> writes:

http://www.outsidetelevision.com/video/dispatches-keen-learn

In the Spring of 2013 Jeff Shapiro, Jeff O'Brien, and Nick Greece met with Isabella Messenger, Prem Bahadur Kunwar, and a group of fantastic students who would go on to become the first class at the KEEN to Learn Program in Pokhara, Nepal. The Cloudbase Foundation has gone on to hire Prem as the in-country manager for Nepal and he now spearheads several amazing development programs ranging from cleaning up the environment to food programs at schools.

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The Cloudbase Foundation

Nepal Project

Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro

http://thecloudbasefoundation.org/site/the-cbf-and-keen-partner-for-education-in-nepal/

CBF Members Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro and Nick Greece will be in Pokhara Nepal this week to check in on the Cloudbase Foundation's Nepal Project with Keen Footware as the partner. Jeff and Jeff will be flying Hang Gliders, a rare site in Nepal. Read details of the project started by Isabella Messenger at the URL above.

Tell us about the challenges these kids in Pokhara face….

To help me organize a proposal for KEEN, Bella briefed me on the numerous challenges the kids face. Most of the children there– especially those from the poorest families—have trouble procuring things that we consider basic. The poorest families can usually only afford to send their kids to school until they are old enough to be useful workers at home or elsewhere.

A couple of the kids she is trying to help come from the lowest caste of society—the Dalit. She said that in modern Nepal there is an effort to eliminate caste discrimination through affirmative action. In that spirit, there are some positions in the university and the government reserved for them.

I recognized her description from what I have seen in my own travels to poor communities in Asia. My own experience helped to fuel the fire, for sure. We hope that, wherever we can, we will offer some unexpected hope for some hard working kids.

Who are some of the kids who will receive scholarships?

Bella carefully chose five children. All easily fit the criteria of both needing the help and having the motivation to make use of higher education. Two of the girls are aged 11 and 12. She told me that despite being top students, they would not be allowed to continue their studies past 8^th grade because it’s still typically considered a waste of funds to educate girl in their village. This scholarship money will now give them the opportunity.

We will also be assisting a 14-year old boy who is only able to attend school four days a week because he must help his parents earn money for his education. KEEN to Learn will enable him to attend full time.

In Pokhara, pilots have long been concerned about kids who skip school in order to earn money packing gliders in the LZ. Will KEEN to Learn address this problem?

This situation in the landing zone illustrates a dilemma that families face all over Asia: the struggle between getting by day-to-day versus getting an education that creates greater earning potential in the long run.

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Will the Competition Committee follow the rules or not?

Who will be the sixth "man" on the US National team going to the Worlds?

(Forbes airfield, Australia)

Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Mitch Shipley|Paris Williams|PG|Robin Hamilton|USHPA|Zac Majors

You can find the background on the issue of choosing the US National Team for the 2013 Worlds here:

http://ozreport.com/16.154#0

http://ozreport.com/16.161#1

http://ozreport.com/16.161#3

http://ozreport.com/16.165#0

http://ozreport.com/16.167#0

http://ozreport.com/16.168#3

http://ozreport.com/16.168#4

http://ozreport.com/16.192#0

If you waded through the material above you'll see that my argument was that the rules were in error and the SCFR should count for choosing the US National team. The Competition Committee members (and Paris Williams, at least partially) originally made the argument that they should stick to the rules. Now if the Competition Committee follows the inclination of their chairman they are about to go back on the stick-to-the-rules argument and go with the convenient and arbitrary choice, using the interim rankings prior to the SCFR.

Robin Hamilton has challenged the Competition Committee to make the decision about who is on the team based actually on the rules. He has shown that he was not correctly credited with points from the 2010 SCFR and has argued that the rules mean that the 2010 competitions should be counted. If so he would be on the US National team (in the fourth spot).

Criteria (from the rules) for selecting team members are as follows:

1. For international team competitions that begin between April 1^st and September 30^th, the ranking used shall be the annual race-to-goal rankings as of January 1^st in the year that the competition takes place, unless specified otherwise by the CC.

2. For international team competitions that begin between October 1^st and March 31^st, the ranking for selecting the team shall be the annual race-to-goal rankings adding in the results from sanctioned competitions that occur between January 1^st and 4 months prior to the start of the international team competition.

Item 2 is clear in the context of item 1. Any confusion that remains would pertain to the definition of "Pilot rankings" so if we look at that section from the rules:

Pilot Ranking

The USHPA maintains a pilot ranking for each class of Race-to-Goal competition based on objective measurement of a pilot's proven ability to compete against other pilots of proven competitive ability. The purpose of these rankings is to:

· Select pilots for U.S. National teams that will fly in international competitions such as the FAI World Championships.

· Determine the validity of the year’s Race-to-Goal competitions (see Participant Validity section)

· Encourage U.S. hang glider and paraglider pilots to participate in competitions and earn points through their participation.

Rankings are calculated once each year on January 1^st, for classes 1 through 5 and each pilot will retain their ranking through the end of the year. A pilot's ranking is based on his total points accumulated in his best four meets from the two years immediately previous to the ranking year. No more than two meet results may be considered from the first year in the two-year cycle. No more than 2 foreign meets may be used in the 2-year cycle. All pilots who compete in sanctioned meets will receive competition points, except invitational meets will not count towards U.S. competition points.

Simplified: The World meet is in January 2013 so 2012 annual rankings are used (meets from 2010 and 2011) adding in results from Jan 2012 through Aug 2012.

In a six person team and excluding the pilots that have declined their spot, the five pilots that have already been notified would be the ones making up the team. If Robin is added then the six person team is according to the rule as written.

The Competition Committee will meet by conference call today (Monday) to determine who is on the team. At least three Competition Committee members are committed to sticking with the actual rules. The rest, who knows?

The US National Champion won't be going to the Worlds

Because the US National Championship doesn't count

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Ben Dunn|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Greg Dinauer|James Stinnett|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Paris Williams|Robin Hamilton|Tom Lanning|US Nationals|Zac Majors

Here is what I think is likely the order in which pilots have been and are being chosen to be on the five or six member US National team to go to the Worlds in 2013 at Forbes, Australia:

In addition, Linda Salamone and Jamie Shelden will go as the female pilots. (Because of the severe restrictions on the number of pilots allowed to fly in the 2013 Worlds, women pilots will in fact take up slots that would have otherwise gone to national team pilots. It is not their personal fault that this is the situation.)

Above is the US ranking prior to the 2012 Santa Cruz Flats Race.

Here are the results of the US Nationals that don't count for the US National team:

I believe that neither Ben, nor Chris, nor Greg, nor Dustin, nor Glen would go to Forbes any way. I could be wrong on that.

This is the US ranking after the Santa Cruz Flats Race:

Jeff O'Brien wouldn't go to Forbes.

41 Linda Salamone
67 Jamie Shelden.

2012 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The task committee calls a short enough task

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Jeff O'Brien|Kraig Coomber|Robin Hamilton|Ryan Voight|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|weather

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Jeff O'Brien|Kraig Coomber|Paul Voight|Robin Hamilton|Ryan Voight|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|weather

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Greg Dinauer|Jeff O'Brien|Kraig Coomber|Paul Voight|Robin Hamilton|Ryan Voight|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|weather

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Greg Dinauer|Jeff O'Brien|Kraig Coomber|Paul Voight|Robin Hamilton|Ryan Voight|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|weather

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Greg Dinauer|Jeff O'Brien|Kraig Coomber|Paul Voight|Robin Hamilton|Ryan Voight|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|weather

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Flytec 6030|Greg Dinauer|Jeff O'Brien|Kraig Coomber|Paul Voight|Robin Hamilton|Ryan Voight|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|weather

http://tinyurl.com/davisspot

http://www.livetrack24.com/tracks/username/davisstraub

SPOT Tracks: http://tinyurl.com/scfr2012

Results here.

Some members of the task committee were not pleased with my comments about them overcalling the tasks in the article above. But I pressed them somewhat harder today to have a task that brings more pilots back to goal. I was shooting for a 70 km triangle, but we compromised on a 79 km triangle.

I think in general that the task committee was calling too long tasks (except the second day) given the length of the day here in September in Casa Grande. We don't start the task until 1:40 PM (or 2 PM or 2:20), which would be 2:40 PM in an state with daylight savings time. The lift dies around 5 PM, so two hour tasks are appropriate here. All the tasks, other than day two have been much longer (in time and distance). Hopefully the next task committee here will remember that they just can't expand the task to meet their idea of what a proper task is, but will confine the tasks to race tasks that last two hours.

I'm just support for the task committee, and the task committee makes its own decisions, but I do have a voice and I'm sorry that I just wasn't pushing harder for shorter tasks.

The weather forecast was pretty similar to what we've seen here every day but the second day, with no cumulus humilis clouds, very light winds (we've had them every day). The lift would again be weak to begin with around noon and get much better around 2 PM. The XCSkies models (NAM and RAP) are completely incorrect when it comes to calculating the lift (1,100' to 1,200 fpm) every day, so I've given up on them and just use the FSL t-skew (RUC2 model) to get a idea of where the lower inversion will be and when it will lessen. I also get the winds from FSL.

When the extra sunlight and heat (104 degrees, five degrees warmer than normal) on the ground we still have pretty decent lift, and it gets a lot better over a little higher ground.

There were cumulus mediocris in the area shading some parts of our course line, but we weren't worrying about the lift.

I took off at 1:15. The first clock was 1:20 and the last one at 2:40 PM. We added a few extra start times to allow for the fact that one of the tugs was down. Obviously I was not going to make the first clock.

I pinned off at 1,100' AGL in light lift with a few pilots around. It was nice to see that there wasn't just one thermal. The lift was weak as normal but it was no hassle to climb to 4,400'. When the lift slowed down I headed east toward four or five pilots turning about 4 kilometers east of the launch area.

The lift was weak there also but I was at the bottom of the thermal with no one to bother me. The wind was 2 MPH, so it was easy to stay inside the start circle, so I just hung in there. The rest of the pilots left except for Matt Barker and we just stayed in the lift by ourselves and in the perfect position to start when ever we wanted.

As we climbed up over 4,500' many of the pilots who were circling well to the west of us came in under us. The lift was pleasant and without any interference I could thermal as tight as I wanted. As 2 PM approached I saw Rich and Nils go for it. I figured I was on top of the thermal with two other pilots out in front of me, so why not take this clock and let the others follow.

We worked some weak lift on the way to the Casa Grande Hills on our way to the first turnpoint at Arizona City. I was thinking of going back, but the others continued so I went with them.

I found 300 fpm at the south end of the hills and Nils and Rich joined me along with Miller in an ATOS. That was the lift that really got us going as it took us to 6,000'. The turnpoint was to the southeast.

It was nice to find 300 fpm right at the turnpoint, very convenient. Rich headed off to the east of the course line, which I couldn't figure out. Nils stayed behind as I glided toward the black rough low hills before the next turnpoint at Baker to the south west. Rich came in under me as I turned in lift before I got to the hills, but he was now much lower.

I glided over to the hot rocks and found 250 fpm from 3,500'. Rich was really low behind me and I think that I saw him land. Nils came in under me, Miller was way behind. I climbed to 4,500' and then pushed further into the hills to get better lift. But what I got was 900 fpm down.

Finally I had to run away from the high ground to get out closer to the flats in case I didn't find anything. Fortunately down to 2,800' there was 250 fpm that got me to 5,400'. Miller came and joined me. I lost track of Nils and Rich.

I raced over to get the 3 kilometer radius turnpoint and came back to the lift. I lost Miller and climbed back to 5,000' before heading to the no mans land back on the hills to the north. I was ready to run back to the landable and roaded areas to the east if I got flushed again, but on the sunny (west ) side I found 400 fpm to 8,100'. This was the last leg and the numbers were positive for goal thirty kilometers to the north back at the Francisco Grande.

There were still some little  black hills ten kilometers further to the north that I wanted to hit before I went on final glide. The lift there was only 200 fpm, but it got me back to 7,700' twenty kilometers from the goal. I was alone and had been for a while.

I went on best glide, not willing to pull in the bar unless I was in sink. The 6030 said I had it by 2,000', but that kept dropping as I continued on. There was no lift worth turning in, so I just kept the glider at best glide continually watching the vario screen.

I came in with 580' and got to swoop over the hotel to the entertainment of the spectators including Belinda. I was second in right after Pedro. It sure was nice to have a day off yesterday.

The sky was filling up with high thin clouds, and more cumulus mediocris. It got darker and darker as pilots from the later clocks started coming in. Zac had landed before the Baker turnpoint. Dustin landed a few kilometers short. Jeff O'Brien made it in as did Robin Hamilton.  Matt Barker, in third place, landed just short, to his annoyance. Nils landed a little after I did.

The last task:

Total

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2012 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Ben Dunn and Dangerous Dave make goal, I take a rest day

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Chris Zimmerman|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Jeff O'Brien|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Paul Voight|Robin Hamilton|Ryan Voight|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|Zac Majors

http://tinyurl.com/davisspot

http://www.livetrack24.com/tracks/username/davisstraub

SPOT Tracks: http://tinyurl.com/scfr2012

Results here.

The forecast was for better conditions than the day before, but still weak until 2 PM, but no mid or high level clouds to reduce the radiation. A five knot wind out of the northwest.

Jonny Thompson towed me right up a little before 1 PM and dropped me in a nice thermal that turned on and allowed us to climb to 4,400' seeing 20 second average rates of over 500 fpm. It looked like the day was going to be much better earlier than forecast.

But than that stopped. I went on a six kilometer glide searching for the next bit of lift before finding 35 fpm. Then 100 fpm which soon turned into 45 fpm to 4,000'.

It was one big ugly gaggle in weak lift. I tried to stay down just to keep away from other pilots. Finally I decided to run away from the stress and head back to the launch area as this thermal was already taking us out of the start cylinder and not getting us very high, and there were way too many pilots in it.

Gliding back I was 2.5 kilometers from the launch area and at 2,700', in 50 fpm. But the best part was that I was by myself. Dangerous Dave followed me, probably not liking the gaggle all that much, but hit a little bump and got a bit higher, so he wasn't bothering me as we had the area to ourselves.

The others were slowly climbing outside the start circle and few if any were in a position to take the 1:40 PM start clock as conditions were still weak. There was a nine mph northwest wind and I was climbing so slowly that I was almost back out at edge of the start cylinder at barely over 3,000'.

I headed back toward the launch area, but now with a thousand feet less than my first attempt to get there. I had been hoping to go back and relaunch. Now I was down to 600 feet AGL, 1.8 km from the launch, and 1.4 km from the area where I needed to get to to relaunch. I found 13 fpm and hung on.

Unfortunately I again drifted away gaining very little and wasn't able to get back for a relaunch, landing short.

Meanwhile the race was on for the stupidly long 124 km task (why the task committee insisted on a long task, in spite of Zac telling them that pilots wanted a shorter task, I do not know). The first turnpoint was 40 kilometers to the southeast to Eds. Pilots would fly over the Casa Grande hills and as forecasted get to 11,000'. This was a great altitude for just nearby small hills.

The second leg was up the mountains further east giving pilots the chance to get up better there. O'Brien said that it was rough 300 fpm and the same gaggle was there as had been the case from the beginning of the flight.

Once pilots got the second turnpoint at Cactus they were to head twelve kilometers to Valley turnpoint in a effort to put them in the dry areas north of Casa Grande for the leg back to the Francisco Grande. By then the short day was getting late. Soon Zac and Filippo were on the ground. Zippy was tweeting.

Dustin, Jeff an a few other pilots shaded to the north of the course line to get over the hills. That strategy didn't work out for them. I assume that Ben and Dave went straight along the course line back.

Jeff landed fifteen minutes before sundown and I was out there to get him having rested in the afternoon.

Task 6:

Total:

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2012 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The high level clouds, that weren't in the forecast, call for some uncertainty in the task

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Glen Volk|Greg Dinauer|Gulgong Classic 2012|Jeff O'Brien|Kraig Coomber|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|Zac Majors

http://tinyurl.com/davisspot

http://www.livetrack24.com/tracks/username/davisstraub

SPOT Tracks: http://tinyurl.com/scfr2012

Results here .

We saw the clouds early in the morning. There was a disturbance to our south in Mexico where the forecast called for rain and thunderstorms. The local forecast and soaring forecasts don't take these clouds into account, so we have to be a bit careful in choosing a task.

It looked like there would be some good lift, although quite weak and low early, before 2 PM, due to the lower inversion that would gradually lessen. There would not be any cu's in the area, but if the clouds that we saw in the morning didn't block the sun too much, it would get to 102 and that hot plate on the ground would let us get high.

The task committee called a 81 kilometer triangle in the hopes of getting most of us back to the Francisco Grande, irrespective of the uncertainty in the forecast. We'd head south over dry ground to Sunland, then north northeast to a spot on Interstate 10, then northwest back to a spot six kilometers beyond the hotel and then back to the hotel.

Right after the Swifts and ATOSes launched we could tell that the day was weak and low. They were only getting at most 2,000' over launch. This slowed everything down as no one wanted to launch. It took another half hour before pilots basically had to start launching.

When we got into the air it was still weak. For the first twenty minutes after I was pulled up I slowly lost altitude until I was down to 1,700'. Then I and almost everyone else finally found a thermal that was slightly better than 100 fpm. The problem was indeed the middle level clouds that were shading the ground right along our course line and near launch. They were the thickest clouds in the sky and really cut into the lift.

But as we hung on in light lift the clouds were dissipating and moving to the west opening up our course line to direct sun light and giving us a little boost. We found a thermal at 117 fpm that drifted us slowly out of the start cylinder after 2 PM. We left at 5,200' and  raced back at 2:20 to get the last start time and then raced back to our thermal and climbed back to 5,300' before gliding out on our first leg.

I went out early following Fillipo and Ricker toward the hills south of Casa Grande. Ricker and I and I think Robin or Kraig didn't find anything until we got to the south end of the hills and then worked 165 fpm in broken lift back to 4,800'. Dustin, Jeff, Greg, Filippo and others came in under us after working poor lift east of the hills.

Ricker, Robin, Kraig and I found a 175 fpm thermal that was drifting at eight mph toward the south just to the west of the turnpoint. We started at 3,200' and I left the thermal at 5,200' to go back and get the turnpoint, which was only about half a kilometer away. I then headed out in front northeast toward the next turnpoint cross wind to the nine mph northwest wind.

Out in front I found the best thermal of the day so far, 400 fpm at 3:15 PM, fifty five minutes into the task. I climbed to 6,200' and at about the top of the thermal Robin, Kraig, and Filippo came and joined me at my altitude. Dustin and Jeff were stuck back at the turnpoint. Zac was out ahead having taken the second clock.

The four of us headed for the next turnpoint which by then was only eight kilometers away. We stopped for a 180 fpm thermal, and then proceeded to the turnpoint. We were all together at the same altitude and working together. It this point I made a slight error that cost me dearly.

I saw Rich Cizauskas, who started earlier, turning higher a quarter kilometer up the course line and went to him, but he immediately stopped and pressed forward. I went back to my buddies, but they were now 200' over my head. This made all the difference later.

We all pressed ahead after a few turns and with Rich found a strong thermal two and a half kilometers up the course line. It was 300 fpm and it got me to nine thousand feet as it drifted us back downwind of the turnpoint. Lots of other pilots came in way low below us, including Jeff and Dustin.

When I was at 8,500' Kraig, Robin and Filippo left heading up the course line. I had the opportunity to follow them below them, but as I did I found more lift and hung around for another 500'. I lost track of them and was on my own as I headed out. I should have just waited for the pilots below me to catch up. It was getting late as I left the thermal at almost 4 PM and the day shuts down early here on real sun time.

It was a tough slog against the ten mph headwind. I found 300 fpm south east of the hills south of Casa Grande to get to 8,300' but that wasn't enough to get me back around the course. Robin, Kraig and Filippo made it around together to finish first, third and fourth, with Zac at second.

Task 5:

Robin Hamilton moves decisively into the lead.

Totals:

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2012 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The morning of day five, and before task five

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

dust devil|Jeff O'Brien|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012

http://tinyurl.com/davisspot

http://www.livetrack24.com/tracks/username/davisstraub

SPOT Tracks: http://tinyurl.com/scfr2012

Results will be here later.

Jeff O'Brien takes this photo of a dust devil near launch on Wednesday.

The view from over 12,000' looking back toward goal at the Francisco Grande hotel. Photo by Jeff O'Brien. Note that we were at the top of the inversion.

Matt Barker's track as he turtled. Photo by Ricker Goldsborough.

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2012 Santa Cruz Flats Race

We went back to the mountain

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Ben Dunn|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Flytec 6030|Glen Volk|Greg Dinauer|James Stinnett|Jeff O'Brien|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012

http://tinyurl.com/davisspot

http://www.livetrack24.com/tracks/username/davisstraub

SPOT Tracks: http://tinyurl.com/scfr2012

Results will be here later.

O'Brien's photo of Dustin over the mountains northwest of Casa Grande, north of the Estrella airfield from Tuesday. Phoenix is in the background,

Matt Barker landing out on Tuesday not long before sunset.

Glen Volk on task committee was anxious to get us back on the mountains again after we got the good lift there yesterday, so the task committee came up with a out and return task to the mountains and back without all the extra turnpoints that kept us away from home base at the Francisco Grande yesterday.

The forecast was similar to the day before, with no clouds in the forecast for the flats, but some likely over the mountains, light winds and it looked like better lift later in the day than Tuesday. We could get to 12,000' if we went to the mountains.

We moved the launch open earlier to give everyone a chance to get the first start clock, but as predicted the lift was light and low at first (the FSL t-skew showed that it would improve later). But everyone stayed up, although the tows were a bit longer, and those of us who got to launch later found slightly better conditions.

The lift was only 150 fpm for the longest time. I launched a little after 1 PM and it wasn't until 2 PM that we finally found a decent climb. At that rate we were again forced to take the last start clock at 2:20 PM. But we had climbed to 9,400'. The glide to the 5 km entry start cylinder brought us down to 7,600' and we glided 20 kilometers before we found the first thermal, just east of Maricopa.

The lift was weak and low as were transited Maricopa and made our way to the mountain. Dustin and Jeff were just ahead. I was hanging with Fillipo, and Zac had started earlier and was struggling on his own.

I pushed ahead toward the mountain range at 4,000', a little higher than the day before over the area with only  few dirt roads abutting the mountain side. As I got close I found strong lift and Fillipo joined me. I heard from Jeff that there wasn't much lift along the range, so we stayed in our strong, 500 fpm, lift to 7,400', which put us high over the mountains.

As we raced down the range, Fillipo and I could see Jeff, Greg Dinauer, and a few other pilots far below struggling to get back up on the sunny side below the tops. We took the turnpoint and came back to join them in strong lift that put us just below them, with Zippy three or four thousand feet below us.

We all (other than Zippy) stayed in that thermal until it got us to 12,300'. The 6030 was telling me that we had goal made from there, by over a thousand feet at best glide, but it was 45 kilometers away. The winds were light at 2 mph out of the northwest, a slight tail wind.

When the lift finally got weak and broken I took off behind Fillipo. Jeff and Dinauer were still a hundred feet or so over my head. As I went on glide my ground speed went from 40 mph to 24 mph, with my air speed at 39 mph. Up at the top of the inversion there was a head wind of 14 mph, as forecasted. The FSL t-skew called for a strong east south east wind right at the inversion and only there. And we hit it directly as we headed west southwest.

My 6030 went bananas as my height above goal went from over 1000' to minus 6000'. It was relying on the current wind measurement (which you can override manually) to calculate my L/D to goal (about 6). I couldn't figure it out for a while then I remembered the forecast and Dustin came on the radio saying that he saw a 20 mph head wind.

The head wind stopped as I got below 10,000', but that head wind really made life difficult. It was a long way to goal and we weren't sure that we would get any lift on the way back. I had told pilots that I thought that they could make it back from the mountain to goal if they left with 12,000'. Now it looked a lot more difficult.

Things improved out on the flats, but it was still a twenty two kilometer glide until we found the first lift. Fillipo had been out in front and getting low. I had lost track of him. But I suddenly saw him to my left climbing over the Wal-Mart on the southeast corner of Maricopa. I and all my friends joined him as we climbed up from 5,000' to 6,200' at 130 fpm. The 6030 was saying that I could get to goal, just barely, and we had a 4 mph tail wind.

Matt Barker was just next to me and my altitude. Jeff and Greg just 200 feet above me. Ricker in front and lower. Fillipo a little higher. We went on glide to goal with it showing 15 to 1 to make it and a positive number for best glide.

Jeff, Greg, and Fillipo made it in. Jeff just barely. Then really barely Ricker and Matt crashed it in at the radius of the cylinder. I landed 1.2 km short of the cylinder radius, but had a nice landing. Matt turtled the glider and Ricker came in sideways.

A fun day, a little disappointing on the final glide. Great to get out to the good lift and great to have some of it in the valley and before we got the mountains. Dustin landed short as I believe Zac did also.

Task 4:

Total:

2012 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day three, task three, Tuesday

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Brian Porter|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Dustin Martin|Greg Dinauer|Jeff O'Brien|Joe Bostik|Kraig Coomber|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012

http://tinyurl.com/davisspot

http://www.livetrack24.com/tracks/username/davisstraub

SPOT Tracks: http://tinyurl.com/scfr2012

Results will be here later.

Mike Bilyk's photo of Jeff O'Brien, followed by Joe Bostik and Matt Barker on Monday.

I looked at the XCSkies and Dr. Jack forecasts and to me no matter what they say about 1,100 fpm to 1,200 fpm lift it looked like a weak day much like the first day, and not at all like the second day. I accepted the forecast for light winds (which matched what we were seeing from our balcony). I didn't see much of a chance for cu's in the valley, but possible over the mountain.

The main issue would be the low inversion that would be quite definite at noon at 5,200' and would gradually become less drastic during the day but would be enough to keep us from getting high, again out in the valley around Casa Grade. It just did not look like we would get up to the higher inversion unless we went to the mountains.

In spite of my sour news the task committee called a task a little longer than the first day, and as you recall no flex wing made it in to goal on that first day. The nice aspect of the task was that it took us to the mountain range north of the Estrella glider port, which got us to 15,000' last year and allowed pilots to get back to goal without any lift in the valley on the way home. Today it looked like we could get to 11,000' or maybe 12,000' on the range.

As I had forecasted (looking at the FSL t-skew) the lift was capped at less than 6,000' and the climbs were quite weak around the launch area and to the north toward the 5 km entry start cylinder at Bon, an intersection just before the Phoenix Regional airfield, which, btw, isn't near Phoenix. We were searching or gaggling up, or bouncing around waiting for something good to come along. It didn't.

It really did us no good to try to wait out the poor lift because it never got any better.  Most of us left at the last start clock at 2:20. It would have been better to be on the course at 1:40 so that we would have had a chance to complete the task before the lift gave out as the sun headed south (actually west).

We all started off low, less than 5,000' and headed up the highway to the northwest toward Maricopa. We found weak lift and slow climbs to less than 5,000', just as we had ever since we launched. The lift was smooth enough to be pleasant, but we just were not getting up.

After a 150 fpm climb over Maricopa I headed west from 4,200' along the highway toward the Estrella airfield. Seven kilometers later I was down in 1,900', 700' AGL. I was trashing about not able to keep up with the lead pilots, who weren't doing all that well either just in front of me.

I felt a little tiny piece of lift over a field north of the highway that had already captured one pilot and would soon be home to a couple more. With Alex McColluh just a few feet over my head I started turning in light sink searching around for something more useful. After ten minutes I was down to 400' AGL before I actually was able to connect to something positive and I slowly worked it as it improved (or actually as I found the better portions of it) and after a total of twenty five minutes of just holding on to give myself a chance I was able to drift away from the field at 3,600'.

The field was next to the east/west highway, but my  task turnpoint was to the north past the mountain range rising up quickly behind me. I was still low going toward the range and was in full search mode trying to find a little something that would get me a bit higher on the flanks of the rocky ridges before I left the fast rising desert floor. I had a plan to land back on the floor if I got low, but it would have been down hill in little to no wind and as I approached the hill sides I noticed that they were full of large standing cactus which would have proved interesting. Of course, there was only a rough dirt road any where nearby.

I found a little bit of lift and drifted further toward the rocky outcroppings and then finally committed to going in close to them at 900' AGL. Fortunately, there was indeed lift where there was supposed to be on the sunlit rocks and I started climbing at 200 fpm. Starting at 2,500' I was low on the sides of the mountain and it took a while to get over the ridge line at 4,000'. I scooted further north below ridge height to find better lift and was rewarded with again 200 fpm, but a better shot at the ridge top.

Once on top of the ridge the lift kept increasing and it wasn't long before I was in a 600 fpm smooth core to 9,700' slowly drifting north a mere kilometer away from the 45 kilometer radius turnpoint cylinder. I went and tagged it, came back and climbed under a very nice cu to 10,900'. I knew that there would be little to no lift back out in the valley after 4:30 PM, so the point was to get as high as possible as this would be the last thermal for the day. It was a lot cooler up there.

I went on a straight glide toward the turnpoint into light winds gliding at best L/D. My hope was the no one would make goal so that fact that I was way behind them would not matter. It was a 40 kilometer glide to the last turnpoint and I could see that I I needed a little more than an extra 3000' if I wanted to make goal. It was done last year from 15,000', but I knew that I couldn't make it from 11,000'.

Fifteen kilometers out from the turnpoint I noticed O'Brien, Matt Barker, Greg Dinaur, and Robin Hamilton way to the east of me on a parallel glide just slightly above me also heading for the turnpoint. I was shocked to see them as I felt I had gotten way behind. Eight kilometers from the turnpoint at Interstate 8 and Stanfield exit, I came in a couple of hundred feet under them. They were turning in zero sink.

I didn't find much and went on glide getting to within five kilometers of the turnpoint. Robin and O'Brien, and I assume Matt landed near the turnpoint getting the furthest for the day. Other pilots had tried to use the small hills to the right of the course line for additional lift, and as was the case last year they didn't find any.

Brian Porter made it in in his Swift. Bruce Barmekian was about a mile short. Brian left the mountains at 9,000' with his instrument telling him he could make it to goal. Bruce left with 10,500', but like some other misguided pilots didn't take the direct route to the turnpoint, but shaded to the left to search for lift in the hills.

Day three:

Totals:

2012 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The morning of day three, task three, Tuesday

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Jeff O'Brien|Joe Bostik|Kraig Coomber|Patrick Kruse|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|Zac Majors

http://tinyurl.com/davisspot

http://www.livetrack24.com/tracks/username/davisstraub

SPOT Tracks: http://tinyurl.com/scfr2012

Results will be here later.

There are nice fuzzy creatures out here in Arizona, not just in Texas:

Photo by Patrick Kruse.

Jeff O'Brien is in the lead, followed by Joe Bostik and Zac Majors. Kraig Coomber wasn't able to get here for the first day. Alex McCulloh started early on Monday and was penalized 151 points.

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2012 Santa Cruz Flats Race

A strong, light wind, high cloud base day for the second task

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

dust devil|Jeff O'Brien|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|Wills Wing

dust devil|Jeff O'Brien|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

dust devil|Jeff O'Brien|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

The forecast was similar to yesterday, other than the possibility of cumulus clouds. Again 1,100 to 1,200 fpm lift at 2 PM with top of lift at 11,00'. The winds were forecasted to be lighter than Sunday at four to five knots out of the northwest at 4,000' at 2 PM.

The FSL sounding (T-skew) using RAP data was predicting clouds at eleven to twelve thousand feet over us, but the XCSkies (NAM and RAP) were calling for those clouds to be around us, not over us. Later (after our 10 AM task committee meeting) the updated XCSkies forecast predicted cu's over us at 11,000'.

The task committee set an out and return task to the east, but when the cu's started popping (which is an extremely rare event for us at the SCFR), they changed to task to take us out and return to the south southeast, eighty eight kilometers overall. They were trying to reduce the task time down to two hours given the short days here (like Sunday) and not wanting to keep us out on task for almost four hours in weak lift, as they did on Sunday.

Despite the similar forecast the conditions proved to be much different. Pilots immediately climbed to cloud base at almost 8,000' at six to seven hundred fpm right off tow. There was a nice cu right over launch and another one right at the edge of the start cylinder to the southeast. Launching early I was quickly at cloud base after I pinned off over a dust devil (that I didn't see).

Most pilots had moved to over the gravel pit where the next cu was located, but I really didn't want to go there as it was too early to hang out right next (or a little past) the edge of the start cylinder. Finally, as the cu's over launch disappeared I was forced to head to the next cu and get back up to cloud base. We still had a wait as the cu drifted out of the start cylinder and the lift dissipated.

I headed back to some pilots under wispies back east of launch, but it took a while to find the good stuff and I had lost 3,000'. I noticed a pilot turning not too far from me and sure enough I was soon back in 600 fpm. As we climbed up all the pilots who had been out near the edge of the start cylinder came back in underneath. I hit cloud base one minute after the 1:40 PM start window opened and decided to go for it.

I figured that I was high, there were plenty of cu's along the course line, and it was likely that they would dry up as the day progressed so might as well use them now while the lift could be seen. Clouds and other pilots are similar in their marking capabilities. Also I'd get lots of leading points.

I was out on my own but quickly hooked up with Pedro Garcia and Alex McCulloh, all three red with white strips Wills Wing T2C 144's. We would fly the rest of the task together, spreading out on each glide.

The lift was strong with the climb rates mostly averaging 500 fpm or better. There were some substantial cu's and a few wispes as we headed south. The next start clock wasn't until twenty minutes later, so it would be hard for the following pilots to catch us, especially with the light winds and strong lift.

It took just two thermals to get the turnpoint at the intersection at Sunland, and one more to get the far south turnpoint at Baker. Strong sink as we pushed back north from Baker but Alex found a good one in the hills between Baker and Sunland and we were soon again at 8,700'. As we headed back toward Sunland we could see the pilots from the second start heading toward us much lower.

We stopped for some weak lift at the Sunland turnpoint coming back, which probably just slowed us down. We could see little wispies forming on the west side of Arizona City and we found 500 fpm there again. Down to 3,000'AGL south of Casa Grande on the west side of the little range we worked 200 to 300 fpm to get high enough to feel comfortable going to goal. That probably slowed us down a bit there also.

The pilots behind us found better lift going back to Sunland and got high and decided to run straight back to goal without stopping. They made up almost twenty minutes on us with that maneuver as we stopped twice.

I had been climbing well bumping up into Alex and Pedro whenever I came in under them (often I was leading). But in the last thermal I missed the lift a little as there wasn't a super strong core that I could take advantage off and twirl in up tight, so they got a little out in front of me.

It was a quick shot from 15 kilometers out into goal. Zippy came in under me just off the deck to beat me in. He had taken the second clock, so we were a bit slower than we needed to be. A little too cautious, the three of us.

Over fifty percent of the field in goal. Two hour task time or less. So we in thr task committee under estimated the day.

This was the first time that we headed to the south southeast, southwest past Sunland. Nice little hills over there that produced good lift.

Jeff O'Brien takes a nice photo of the cu's that we got on Monday.

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2012 Santa Cruz Flats Race

We're off for the first day

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Dustin Martin|Jeff O'Brien|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2012

http://tinyurl.com/davisspot

http://www.livetrack24.com/tracks/username/davisstraub

Results should be here. Don't expect immediately updated automatically scored results like one gets with SeeYou and Soaringspot.

With a forecast for strong lift and seven to nine knot northwest winds (at 4,000' at 2 PM, XCSkies, NAM and RAP), the task committee called a 94 kilometer triangle to the east to the turnpoint at Houser just before the substantial mountain range, then south to Eds, a little dirt airfield and back along Interstate 10 to Francisco Grande. We were supposed to be able to get to eight or nine thousand feet.

The ATOSes and Swifts (and one Millennium) were sent off at 12:15 to show us that while there was lift it didn't go very high. Jeff O'Brien launched in the open flex wing launch after the rigids got their fifteen minutes and I waited around for the ordered launch as did Dustin, Zippy and most others.

The lift was quite slow and would continue to be that way all day. The winds were light enough that we only slowly drifted just outside the five kilometer exit start cylinder. We didn't get high enough until the second start time at 2 PM, a mere 3,300' AGL. We being pretty much every one.

We headed off east south east south of the course line kind of drifting toward the little mountain range to the south of Casa Grande. I saw a few pilots get close to the range but not get much. So when I found 200 fpm to the northwest of the range I hung in it sending a signal for all the rest of the pilots who were nearby to come join me.

After that it was low and slow with only one thermal averaging over 200 fpm and heights between 2,000' and 3,000' AGL, as we worked our way east getting just north of the Eloy jump zone.  We were way south of the course line which wouldn't have put us near the jump zone if we hadn't had such weak conditions and gone to the little mountain range to help us find lift (which really didn't work out that well at the range itself). Some pilots came a little too close to sky divers.

I was in search mode seven kilometers west from the turnpoint at Houser, an intersection just before the hills. Two kilometers out I found 300 fpm at 2,000' AGL and climbed to 4,500' AGL. There were half a dozen pilots nearby. The hills were off our course line to the east and I didn't notice anyone heading into them to pick up some lift.

We headed southwest toward the turnpoint at Eds airfield south of the Interstate. No lift and I was down to 1,600' AGL before I got under a couple of pilots marking the lift to my west. The northwest head wind was eleven mph and the climb rate was 175 fpm. It had been a low and slow day, now it was a low and slow day into a head wind. Oh, well.

I and others drifted back as I climbed to 3,600' AGL before heading off to get the turnpoint and then raced for the dry field between the flooded rice fields (in the desert) to find some lift. I was down to 1,000' before I joined up with the nice thermal markers that were the pilots ahead of me. Dustin Martin came in under me and I soon noticed that I had caught back up with Jeff O'Brien. Headwinds will do that for you.

Now it was back and forth as we would climb in weak lift (less than 200 fpm) and be pushed back over where we came from, but we slowly eked our way forward northwest toward the Francisco Grande along the Interstate as the lift gradually improved. Southeast of Eloy we found 300 fpm, oh the joy, combined with lighter winds (8 mph).

West of Eloy we scored big time with 260 fpm to 5,400' AGL, our best thermal of the day. That led, for me, to a twelve kilometer glide to the windward side of the little range south of Casa Grande where we started this particular flight. I could see three pilots out in front of me and Jeff and Dustin plus a few others to my north paralleling me. I headed for the south end of the range hoping to get in front of it and run it all the way to the north to see if I could find a thermal that would get me to goal.

The three pilots ahead of me stopped just before the top of the ridge line and took weak thermals getting blown back quickly to the east. I was just to their south so I continued west to get around the range and then headed north looking for lift on the windward side.

I found 18 fpm, so after a few turns to see if that would turn into anything, I again headed north along the spine looking for a better thermal. I had already jumped way out in front of what I thought was the lead gaggle (probably wasn't) and was hoping for one good thermal to get me to goal and let me win the day.

No such luck and I just glided west into the wind which decreased as I got closer to the ground and landed short. Pilots got closer than I, but only the two Swifts made it into goal.

Jeff O'Brien's picture of the gliders stacked next to the Francisco Grande hotel.

Overall, a fun day in friendly lift. I really appreciated having my best landing of the year in no wind. Big skinny Whoosh wheels, but no need for them today on landing other than knowing that if things didn't go well they would be there is help save the shoulder.

Hopefully results will be out soon.

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2012 Big Spring Championships

Kraig Coomber wins the competition

(Big Spring, Texas, USA)

Big Spring Championships 2012|Chris Zimmerman|Jeff O'Brien|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Moyes Litespeed RX|Robin Hamilton|Vicki Cain|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Vicki Cain <<moyes>> writes:

Kraig Coomber from Moyes USA, and flying a Moyes RX3.5 won the 2012 Big Spring Championships.

His consistent flying enabled him to take the title with a comfortable 277 point lead.

Kraig’s writes: At 83 kilos I've been really happy with my RX3.5. I was planning on getting an RX4 at first but now that I've flown the 3.5 in Florida and here in Texas, I'm 100% content with it. It climbs as good if not better than anything out there and glides as well as you would expect. The big bonus is that it handles like a toy!

Full results can be seen here: http://soaringspot.com/2012bsc/results/flex/day-by-day.html

2012 Big Spring Championships

The last day

(Big Spring, Texas, USA)

Big Spring Championships 2012|Bill Soderquist|dust devil|Glen Volk|Jeff O'Brien|Joe Bostik|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Russell "Russ" Brown|weather|Zac Majors

It's been an incredible competition and we had fun every day. The weather was amazing and the lift was so strong and smooth.

The forecast for Saturday was for strong winds (10-11 knots) out of the south, with strong lift, but maybe no clouds, but if clouds, a few wispies at best.

The task committee was late in forming so Larry Bunner and I came up with a 113 kilometer cross wind task, that would get us back to Big Spring (by driving from Lamesa) in time for the awards. This did not sit well with Glen Volk when the task committee finally formed as he was eager for a big task, three to four hours for the winner. We had called a 200 kilometer task the day before, but that one was stopped.

So the task committee with a little help came up with a Z task (which you can find at the Soaring Sport URL above), 163 kilometers, with all legs cross wind in strong wind, and the last leg straight cross wind. A real man's task.

The sky was almost complete cu free was I launched fourth at 12:51. I pinned off at 1,200' in 200 fpm and climbed to 6,000' but no higher. Yes, not only would we be flying with few or no cu's, but the cloud base would be low and the wind would not be our friend.

The start cylinder proved to be difficult as those of us in the air struggled to stay up. Jonny launched and landed and had to go again. Bill Soderquist had three launches.

The strong wind kept us forcing our way upwind to stay near the air field incase things went pear shaped, as they did for a number of pilots. An hour into it, Zac Majors mentioned that he was getting 300 fpm over the terminal and I raced toward him finding 300 fpm north of the hangars and near the prison. The thermal quickly filled up with twenty more pilots some not that high above the prison.

This time things were better and we climbed to 7,800'. With seven minutes to go before the first clock, and I was sure to take the first clock on this long task. I left the thermal when the lift gave out. Zac had already headed south west to get way back upwind and be prepared to take a later start. I headed off into the blue in that direction which would also put me closer to the cylinder edge as the start window opened.

Two minutes before the window opened and three kilometers from the cylinder edge I spotted a wispie to the northwest toward the first turnpoint and the cylinder edge. I headed for it alone.

I got there just as the start window opened to find 400 fpm, the strongest lift so far. Zac was way to the south. I told Jeff and Zac what I had found as I quickly climbed to 7,900' and other pilots came in below. I drifted outside the start cylinder four minutes after it opened and went on glide at cloud base. I was alone and in front, with Larry Bunner also starting but way below me. I left a number of pilots climbing behind me, including Jeff.

I raced to the northwest to get over a dust devil and under a cloud, but north (downwind) of the course line by four kilometers. It worked at 400 mph and I was alone and out in front and going fast. Jeff was waiting for the next clock and Zac for the third.

I headed west and then had to work 200 fpm searching for better as the dust devil disappeared into a green field. After getting to 7,300' I headed west northwest to get under the wispies near the turnpoint. I was rewarded with 600 fpm 8,500'. This got me quickly to the first turnpoint. I had covered 50 kilometers in less then fifty five minutes in the cross wind.

There was a good looking set of cu's to the northeast of the turnpoint, again downwind of the course line, but I needed to get up from 6,000'. It was 400 fpm as Larry Bunner came in under me. This thermal got us to 9,400' and we headed out to the east to get upwind of the course line. I was reading 20 mph wind speed out of the south, although SeeYou shows 15 to 18 mph.

Larry drifted back to the north in the next thermal at 280 fpm, but I pushed forward and found 370 fpm. Joe Bostik and Eduardo Oliviera came in under me and we all climbed to 8,200'

We worked weak lift just past the highway between Lamesa and Big Spring, then Joe and I found strong lift (500 fpm) over the oil patched further east and off the cultivated fields.  Eduardo continued off to the south and we lost track of him. Larry came in under us but was too low to continue on with us.

Joe and I were now a couple and the next thermal with a nice cu was 600 fpm to 9,000'. Not only that but we found a good line of lift and for the next eight kilometers we only lost 500'. We were only eight kilometers from the turnpoint and 8,500' and cruising.

Joe shaded to the right, upwind a bit as I headed directly for the turnpoint. The next eight kilometers were not nearly as the previous eight as we lost 3000'. Joe didn't bother with the turnpoint but headed to a spot two kilometers past it. I saw him beginning to turn and raced to get under him. I had made the turnpoint with 3,000' AGL and still had plenty of altitude.

The sink was big and when I came under Joe I just couldn't find what he was in. While Joe was getting 400 fpm up, I found 60 fpm up that I lost as I quickly drifted to the north. I landed north of the turnpoint.

Joe was able to gain a couple of thousand feet, and then move west to get in a weak thermal that drifted him way to the north and away from the straight west leg, until it turned into 600 fpm and made it possible to get to goal. Larry worked a bunch of thermals in the last fifteen kilometers to the turnpoint and made it with 9,000', making it significantly easier to make it back west to goal at Lamesa. He was the first pilot into goal.

Eduardo made it back to within four kilometers of the goal. Jonny won the day, starting with the third clock and coming in sixteen minutes after Larry. He said that the second leg was hard, but Larry and I and Joe and Eduardo found it to be easy.

Jeff O'Brien came behind me taking the second clock and came in one minute before Jonny. Zac landed way short not making the first turnpoint. Glen Volk landed 30 kilometers past the first turnpoint.

Last Year Zac and I finished first and second in this competition. This year I was 21^st and Zac was 22^nd. We each won one of the tasks. Things can change quickly in hang gliding.

On the first two days I didn't have the VG working with the wheels that I had on my base tube. The VG is my most important tool for going as fast as possible. Finally I bit the bullet and drilled two new holes to move the cleat on my borrowed glider.

On the fifth day I flew with Jeff's aluminum base tube as I had cracked my carbon fiber one and flew without wheels. Russell Brown repaired the base tube overnight and I got to fly it with wheels on the last day.

I was quite happy with my flying on the last two days especially. Catching the lead gaggle on day six to win the day was great. Flying fast for the first two legs on the last day was also great and I just missed a thermal.

It looks like we'll come back to Big Spring (in August and not July) as even when the weather isn't perfect it is great.

2012 Big Spring Championships

Day Four

(Big Spring, Texas, USA)

Big Spring Championships 2012|Derrick Turner|dust devil|Greg Chastain|James Stinnett|Jeff O'Brien|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Robin Hamilton|Zac Majors

http://soaringspot.com/2012bsc/

http://tinyurl.com/bigspringspot

Pictures:

https://picasaweb.google.com/HGChicago/USNationalsDay1
https://picasaweb.google.com/HGChicago/USNationalsDay2
https://picasaweb.google.com/HGChicago/USNationalsDay3

The winds were stronger this morning than yesterday but it looked like there might be a chance that they would die down, or that at least we would go fly anyway. So the task committee at Larry Bunner's urging called a late task right from the beginning:

Here are the winds in mph during the relevant periods on the 25^th (today) and on the 24^th (yesterday):

The wind did back off and we had no problems carrying/flying the gliders down to the south end of the hangars to our regular launch spot. We left the hangar around 1:15.

The launch window opened at 2:15, an hour and fifteen minutes later than normal. This was great because the cu's showed up about an hour later than normal, so the pilots were happy. Also we got all the pilots together to clear out the hangar and that made for an atmosphere of "we can do this."

We are doing ordered launch just like at the Race and Rally (and pre-Worlds). The lines were swapped today so 21 through 44 went first and 1 through 20 next.

Because we were starting later in the day the lift was already super good at the airfield and pilots were pinning off low making for a faster launch altogether. I pinned off at 800' AGL and was in great lift, taking that thermal to 7,700' after launching tenth.

There were five pilots in the thermal with me as we drifted to the northeast in a 14 mph southwest wind. The task was to the northwest to a turnpoint at Lamesa and then to the airfield at Thoka, total of 118 kilometers. The late task start called for a shorter task, but the task committee wanted a cross wind task, and as the forecast was for southwest winds, this filled the bill.

Matt Barker and I stayed with the thermal while the rest of the pilots, including Dave Gibson, headed back to the airfield. I couldn't figure out the point of doing that and we found another thermal nearby that got us to 9,600'.

I was hoping to get started early but I realized that heading west might be a good option. I had been looking for cu's in that direction and when little ones started popping I headed due west to get under them. Matt followed and we found light lift, but we were high and we could wait for a few start gates. They were ten minutes apart starting at 3:10 PM.

As I moved west I could see Derrick Turner and James Stinnett circling under a dark cu north of the some shallow lakes about 14 kilometers west of the airport. The start circle was 15 kilometer wide to help us deal with the winds, which were forecasted to be up to 22 knots southwest at 8,000'.

I raced over to them and finally found the good stuff, 900 fpm, but half way up the thermal the 3:30 PM window opened and Derreck and James headed out. I wanted to go with them, so I climbed up to over 10,500' and headed out behind them. They were heading west northwest toward the good looking clouds, so I was willing to head off with them. Lamesa was still to our northwest and the wind was from the southwest.

After a couple of thermals I could see a small rain shower between me and the turnpoint. But unlike on the first day there was no lightning and the cloud was much smaller with lots of cu's all around it. It certainly looked like it was possible to go around the rain, but I wanted to go upwind of it so that I wouldn't get caught by the rain as it pushed downwind. This meant more pushing upwind to the west.

As I approached the south end of the area that was shaded by the rain cloud I saw either Derreck or James head straight north for it seeing a big dust devil just on the east side of the shade. I decided to continue northwest and get under the cu's on the upwind side of the rain cloud. The rain was very isolated and stopped and started a few times.

Finally I found good lift under some cu's over shaded ground just to the southwest of the rain. That allowed me to get high enough to plow through the sunlit areas west of the rain (although I did hit a little bit of rain and watched a rainbow to my east and below me), toward more cu's to the northwest of the rain.

I found 400 fpm under those cu's southwest of Lamesa and had been on a great arc around the rain cloud and upwind and now drifted in the thermal right toward the turnpoint. As I looked at the turnpoint from my vantage point twenty kilometers away it did not look like an area of good lift. No decent looking cu's nearby.

After I got up I headed for some more cu's to the west of Lamesa with the idea that I would get high before going to the turnpoint. Forcing myself to go upwind a bit in a 21 mph head wind was not pleasant, but I found 300 fpm, which while weak, was needed to fulfill my criteria to getting high enough to get around the turnpoint without endangering myself.

At 9,600' I headed cross wind to the east to get the turnpoint and sure enough there was nothing near the turnpoint. I headed north from there seeing five pilot way below me (I was at 8,000') and a couple circling ahead. I went to their thermal, but it was worthless (at least at my elevation), so I kept going after a turn and went to the next cu's. I could see a dust devil ahead, but a little too far away to be a good candidate.

I scooted under a cu and after a bit of a search found a little over 300 fpm, again, not great but adequate. This thermal was enough to get me to goal. I pulled the bar in from 25 km and flew at 50 mph.

Kraig Coomber came in just before me, but started half an hour later. He took the direct route along the course line, got low past the turnpoint, but got up very quickly, found better lift than I on the last thermal and raced to goal.

Greg Chastain was the first pilot in, and the only pilot to have started at the first start time at 3:10 PM. He will take a lot of the arrival points. James and Derreck were in before me. Derrick and James, I believe, were almost as fast as Kraig following the round about route that I also took. They got there twenty six minutes earlier and will have arrival points over Kraig.

The leader after two days, Robin Hamilton and Jonny Durand went down near the turnpoint as did Zac Majors. That will shake up the standings, putting Kraig in first and Jeff O'Brien in second.

Jeff came in just before me, but started ten minutes later. He took the direct route finding strong lift to 12,000' before Lamesa and not getting low after that.

2012 Big Spring Championships

Day One

(Big Spring, Texas, USA)

Big Spring Championships 2012|David Glover|Jeff O'Brien|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|weather

Jonny Durand writes:

First day of Big Spring comp started with a 100km triangle. I was leading out early and got low before the first turnpoint 33 kilometers northwest of Big Spring and most everyone caught me or flew over me. Then rounded the turnpoint and I was catching back up after hitting a 1,000fpm climb to 12,000ft.

Not long after I left that I had a 737-800 nearly hit me crossing behind me 100m off my wingtip. It was one of the most scariest things I have ever seen from my hang glider. I flew almost all the way to the ground shaking before hitting a low save (600 ft agl) 800m before the last turnpoint south of Stanton. By the time I hit 12,000ft again I had drifted 10 kms backwards to the north and the others who were above me managed to get turnpoint and fly back to goal. I was about 40 minutes behind the winner which was Jeff O'Brien. I'm happy to have made goal and still be alive with six days to go.

The forecast was for no lift later in the afternoon to our north and west, which indicated to us that there would most likely be shading in these areas from over development. The task committee decided on a smaller FAI triangle, 99.6 km, to the northwest, south and then back to Big Spring. You can find the task as well as the provisional results  here. The idea was to stay away from the OD and get back in time before it got too crazy.

The launch opened at 1 PM, but it seemed to me that the sky wasn't telling us it was ready for us yet. Usually we have lots of cu's around by 1 PM, and there were only scattered mid level clouds which were coming off a low pressure centered to our east. I waited to go but Jeff O'Brien launched early.

It was a struggle for the early guys and I didn't launch until 1:45, fifteen minutes before the first start window. The last start window was at 2 PM. I pinned off early at 1,000' AGL in what I thought was stronger lift than it turned out to be. I struggled for a few minutes, but then found a steady 100 fpm. Soon I found myself with Jeff O'Brien and all the other pilots who had launched earlier. They hadn't found much, but now the lift was improving and I was in it as everyone came over to where we were climbing, now at 200 fpm.

The lift kept improving , all of us kept searching out the better bits and we all kept climbing until at about 2:30 we were over 9,000' and taking the last start window a little late. The forecast said that we would get to 12,000', at 40 degrees Fahrenheit but later in the day. We were all together and on our way to the west north west to Lenorah.

It was a sixteen kilometer glide to the next thermal. I had six pilots just ahead of me that I was keeping an eye on. The group to the north found 400 fpm and that got us going, seeing that we could indeed find a thermal away from the airfield. There were a few mid level clouds around and a scattered cu or two, so we felt that we could find lift.

Ten kilometers to the next 400 fpm thermal and that got us around the turnpoint and headed into the wind toward some tall cu's that showed plenty of shade under them.  They seemed to line up right toward our turnpoint south of Stanton.

Nine kilometers south of the turnpoint we hit a massive thermal that averaged 700 fpm. I climbed to 11,500' before pulling out of the strong lift. On the way to it I had been flying straight in 300 fpm lift watching the wind mils below me indicate a line of lift right where I was flying.

I was flying without gloves, but it just didn't seem to be a problem even that high up. There were plenty of cu's ahead.

I watched the Southwest Airlines plane fly just in front of me about a mile away. It was at my altitude, about 10,500'. I assume that it was going into the Midland-Odessa airfield. Someone from that airfield called the meet director, David Glover, and mentioned that we seemed to be getting a little too high. Actually getting over 10,000' here in Big Spring is a bit rare.

Off to the left back toward Big Spring a cu-nimb had been developing. It looked to be right on our course line from the second turnpoint back to Big Spring. There were other spots of over development to the north and just to the west of the course line to the south to the second turnpoint.

As I got to within ten kilometers to the second turnpoint I saw two lightning strikes on what looked to be our course line back to Big Spring. I have flown in a lot of weather here around Big Spring, but I don't fly into developing storms with lightning. I'll fly next to them and away from them, but not into them. I'm the last person to want to stop a day.

I decided that it was not prudent to fly the last leg of the triangle. I was racing fast to the second turnpoint assuming that I would land there and then the rain started off to my right in two locations near to the course line. Now it seemed that I was between two possible gust fronts.

I turned around and flew back to the north to the Stanton airfield and landed there as quickly as I could.

Other pilots decided that they could deal with the over development and that maybe it wasn't growing, which is what I felt was quite possible given the forecasts that I had presented to the task committee. Zac raced ahead as the cu-nimb flashed to our left.

Jeff O'Brien held back and worked his way around to the north of the storm and made it to goal, probably first, but the track logs are screwed up. Larry Bunner who was a little behind me said that he found 1000 fpm on the gust front from the rain and used that to get quickly to goal.

A number of other pilots seeing what they faced spiraled down and landed to be safe. They have requested that the task be stopped at 3:40 PM, the time of the second lightning strike. We'll see if that takes place. The task would still be scored with pilots getting their points from their position at 3:40 PM.

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Rocking, but not up

Can't stay up without holding onto something

(Highland Aerosports, Ridgely, Maryland, USA)

Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Jeff O'Brien|video|Wills Wing

http://youtu.be/pfhfzZdx0vs

There is apparently no way to rock up and get vertical in my Wills Wing Covert harness. I'm thinking that the slider is at the top of its extent, but it may not be. I try to rock up vertical twice to get in a position where I can stay up without having to hold onto anything, not onto the down tubes nor the base tube.

But I can't keep upright without holding myself up on the uprights. Having to hold myself up means that I can't loosen my grip on the downtubes and feel for the glider going to trim. I can't relax my grip.

Also the back of the harness comes up and hits the back of my helmet. This despite the fact that I have tightened leg straps. You can see this in the video.

Jeff O'Brien seems to deal with his my doing a push up on the base tube and not transiting to the down tubes until he is ready to flare.

Who has signed up so far?

(Big Spring, Texas, USA)

Big Spring 2012|David Glover|Davis Straub|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|Jeff O'Brien|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Robin Hamilton|Tom McGowan

David Glover «David Glover» sends a list of he registered pilots so far::

Markus Venturini, Dave Proctor, Tom McGowan, Randy Brown, Michael Bilyk, Ricker Goldsborough, Eduardo Panuco, Peter Kane, Greg Kendall, Mario Andre Felske, Glen Volk, Jay Devorak, Miguel Molina, Derreck Turner, Kraig Coomber, Jonny Durand, Eduardo Oliveira, Glauco Pinto, Davis Straub.

Robin Hamilton and Jeff O'Brien will be signing up. We expect many others who haven't signed up yet.

Competing, flying, thinking and reviewing

This time I go down.

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, AZ, USA)

competition|Dustin Martin|Jeff O'Brien

Monday, September 19^th, the second day of the Santa Cruz Flats Race started off slow with weak lift and pilots just holding on in lift less than 50 fpm right after they were let off tow. The lift was weak for a good long time but after a while it slowly began to improve. After more than an hour in the air we found almost 200 fpm a little after 1:30 PM that got us to 8,000', plenty high.

A good bunch of us were southeast just outside the five kilometer start cylinder and we went back in to take the 1:45 start time. This time it was five kilometers to the first strong thermal of the day at 400 fpm to over 9,000'. It looked like the day had turned on finally and that we had a clear short paralleling Interstate 10 over dry areas (as the task committee had planned) with plenty of lift.

We went right over the Casa Grande mountains and it looked good ahead but it was a seventeen kilometer glide to the next thermal and I was down to 3,000'. Again I had left Dustin way behind and got out in front of the other pilots. Jeff O'Brien was just a few kilometers behind.

I found good lift averaging 400 fpm and told Jeff and Dustin where I was and what the lift was. Jeff was three kilometers north of me and kept going until he was six kilometers ahead and working light (119 fpm) lift. I talked to him on the radio but U could quite understand his location. I heard something .4 twice, and didn't get that it was 4.4 kilometers to the next turnpoint. He was 2,500' lower than me.

I headed out at 7,200' but passed by Jeff two kilometers to his south without seeing him. I should have called again to get a read on his position. Again I was out alone with Dustin ten kilometers behind and no help on the radio. I took the turnpoint with 3,500' AGL but with no sign of lift after a ten kilometer glide.

Another four kilometers of gliding and down to 2,000' AGL I saw two gliders who started earlier circling over a big dry area two kilometers to my south east. I headed directly for them and went under them. I found nothing but big sink apparently missing the lift by 250 meters (further south).

Jeff came along three minutes later and found the 75 fpm lift just south of where I landed. More pilots came along and worked weak lift in the area where I had landed. It was just a hard slog in this region.

With just enough altitude Jeff was able to get over to the Newman Mountains and find 400 fpm getting to over 8,700'. After that is was easy to make it back to Francisco Grande with the help of a few 200 to 400 fpm thermals that Jeff stayed in only momentarily.

I'm beginning to see a pattern here. Getting out in front, flying fast into weak conditions, not hooking up early enough with other pilots. Perhaps I should be a little more patient. There was really only one weak section and I could have called Jeff again and hooked up with him. I gambled and lost.

Discuss "Competing, flying, thinking and reviewing, part 2" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Competing, flying, thinking and reviewing

Use this as a model about how to think about your own competition flying

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, AZ, USA)

competition|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|James Stinnett|Jeff O'Brien|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Mitch Shipley

competition|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|James Stinnett|Jeff O'Brien|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley

competition|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|James Stinnett|Jeff O'Brien|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley

I'll start off looking at Sunday, September 18^th, the first day of the Santa Cruz Flats Race. I did well on that day coming in second ahead of the eventual winner, Jeff O'Brien and behind James Stinnet. Even though I did well in the end there were a number of mistakes that I made and I put myself in danger of landing.

The pilots were all together and high, over 8,000', for the 1:45 PM start five kilometers southeast of the Francisco Grande. The lift had been strong and consistent and on this first day it looked like we would have good conditions for the task. Within three kilometers after we left the start circle we found 400 fpm and then after another three kilometer glide we found another thermal averaging 400 fpm and we were back at 8,000'. The day did indeed look very promising as we headed over dry desert toward Arizona City, a very dry looking town.

I was in full race mode pulling in the bar to get up to almost 50 mph racing to the next thermal and putting myself out in front of the other pilots. I would have to glide seventeen kilometers and passed Arizona City before I found 300+ fpm. Glen Volk was quite a bit behind me but quite a bit higher when he saw that I had found the lift and came in 1,500' over me to join me in the thermal. I never saw him after leaving the start cylinder.

I was at the northwestern edge of a large cultivate area filled with multiple green fields, many quite wet. I would have to thread my way through the fields trying to stay over the dry ones, but still head toward the turnpoint to the southeast. I couldn't see any other pilots although James Stinnett was not too far away and of course Glen was high over my head. Jeff O'Brien was nine kilometers back. I was happy to be on my own, but filled with trepidation as the right path ahead was unknown.

After carefully nurturing weak lift, I was 3,000' AGL when I rounded the turnpoint first with Glen just behind me and 1,000' over my head. Stinnett was four kilometers behind and no higher than me, but I didn't see him. I was nervous being this low but there were dry fields ahead and I was racing for them. But I was racing at 10 to 15 mph slower than when I had started after the first two strong thermals. The thermals had been much weaker in the cultivated areas and I was just carefully tiptoeing through that area without pushing it. Still I was in the lead as everyone else had also slowed down. This was nerve racking.

Seven kilometers north of the turnpoint and down to 400' AGL and desperate I found a tiny bit of lift that turned into a thermal that later averaged 170 fpm. I was certainly going to stay with anything that I found. Glen was unseen two kilometers to my east, 1,800' higher climbing 50 fpm faster.

Glen got out ahead as he was higher and had climbed faster and headed for the Newman mountains to the north northeast. I climbed to 6,200' as James and Jeff came in 1,400' below me for my first glimpse of other pilots. I went racing to the hill behind Glen, again without seeing him.

As I came to the edge of the mountains Glen was four kilometers ahead climbing, unseen by me and Jeff and James were four kilometers behind, all of us at about 5,000'. Glen was climbing at 280 fpm over the range.

I pushed into the mountain sides but didn't find the lift and headed back out to a point further north where Jeff O'Brien (and Dustin) caught up with me. Glen was 5000' over our heads having successfully climbed up over the peaks as we searched for the lift at 1,500' AGL. Stinnett was behind us at 1,000' higher. I followed Jeff and Dustin back into the mountains and this was a key for me, hooking up with other pilots and not pushing out ahead but going back for better lift.

Glen having climbed up high headed out to get the turnpoint just on the west side of the mountain range. But as he headed back toward Francisco Grande on his own, far ahead, he would not find the lift and would have to land. Stinnett came in 1,000' over Jeff and I and we could see him above us as we climbed up. We soon left Dustin below as he missed the best part of our climb.

Stinnet left with almost 9,000', 2,000' over our heads as Jeff and I continued to climb with Mitch Shipley. The three of us left seven kilometers behind Stinnett about five hundred feet lower. It seemed to me, other than Stinnett, we were in the lead as I had never seen Glen and also didn't know that he had landed.

Stinnett took a more direct route by himself while Jeff and I detoured to the Casa Grande hills for that little bit of extra lift as we left Mitch behind. Given the fact that he was already seven kilometers ahead of us, James was able to come in fifteen minutes ahead of Jeff and I.

Jeff played a safer game than I did not pushing way out in front of the other pilots. He stayed with other pilots the whole way. Glen went out on his own as he was way ahead and he just had some bad luck. Stinnett stayed with other pilots and then got ahead at the Newman mountains and had good luck going back to goal.

I stayed with Jeff and Mitch after hooking up with them at the mountains as I wanted help after getting low out in front. Glen had been able to use me as a guide dog staying above me until he found so much better lift that he got way ahead and was on his own.

I could have played it much safer and not raced out ahead at high speeds at the first of the race, but waited to fly with others and stay high. I'm apparently wired to be impatient and want to get out in front and lead the pack, much to my detriment, as the second day would show.

Discuss "Competing, flying, thinking and reviewing, part 1" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

USHPA ranking for 2012

Only your best two meets from 2011 count

(USHPA headquarters)

Ben Dunn|Chris Zimmerman|CIVL|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Greg Dinauer|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Paris Williams|Robin Hamilton|Rob Kells|USHPA|US Nationals|Zac Majors

The ranking will be as of January 1^st, 2012:

http://ushpa.aero/compresults.asp

Notice that the Rob Kells Meet, the Santa Cruz Flats Race, the Big Spring US Nationals, and the Flytec Race and Rally are the meets that counted in 2011 (you can click on the many links above). No non US meets brought any points to this ranking despite their high value (600 NTSS points). There is always a trade off of high value versus tough competition. These domestic meets should also be important in 2012. The Santa Cruz Flats Race and the US Nationals in Big Spring attract high valued US pilots without bringing in high valued international pilots who reduce one's chances to grab 660 points as Jeff O'Brien did this year at the Santa Cruz Flats Race.

The Florida meets are always high valued as international pilots attend (it's cheap to fly from Europe and the Americas and there aren't conflicts with meets near them). The Santa Cruz Flats Race attracts California pilots as it takes place seven driving hours from Los Angeles, so you can expect good pilots there. Big Spring has the best, strongest, and most consistent conditions with substantial community support, so it is also attractive to many US pilots.

Dustin won the Brazilian Nationals (one of the three meets that count for the Nationals) in August, but likely because of continuing political conflicts in Brazil with respect to CIVL/FAI payments, the Brazilian pilots (and Jonny Durand) didn't bring enough NTSS points to the competition (500) to give Dustin enough points (550) to surpass his 587 points from the Santa Cruz Flats Race. The Forbes Flatlands was not counted at all despite being worth 600 points (due to the high level of the competition).

Will it be worth it for US pilots to go to Forbes for the pre-Worlds at the Forbes Flatlands if they are going there basically for the NTSS points? The US has three competitions worth 600 points and in 2012 we could easily have four. It is much less costly to go to these competitions then to go overseas. It is more difficult to get the highest number of points at an international competition due to the competition from other high level pilots.

Of course, there are other good reasons to go to Forbes for the 2012 pre-Worlds including practicing flying there in anticipation of flying there during the Worlds in January, 2013.

USHPA 2011 ranking

Joe and I tied for sixth

(USHPA headquarters)

Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Greg Dinauer|Jeff O'Brien|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Paris Williams|Patrick Kruse|USHPA|Zac Majors

http://ushpa.aero/compresults.asp

Jeff O'Brien on waves

Fluids

Jeff O'Brien

Here.

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Jeff O'Brien on 2mm wires

Not for aerobatics

(Sigillo,+Italy)

Bill Soderquist|CIVL|Jeff O'Brien

http://www.willswing.com/blogs/PilotBlogs/tabid/38/EntryId/307/-Thicker-is-better.aspx

I believe that Bill Soderquist was flying a Moyes glider and of course, he was doing aerobatics. As I recall he hadn't replaced his wires in a while. He wrote:

I had thought just before launch that these wires are looking a little bad and reminded my self to keep the speeds down as to better handle the loads.

I'm not clear on what glider Dave Sheilds was flying.

Section 7A (The CIVL Sporting Code) states:

12. 3.1 Structural Cables

Minimum diameter of any structural external wire cables is 1.9 mm or 5/64 inches.

The earlier reports, pictures and discussion of the accidents last year here. Some additional pictures here.

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Mon, Aug 1 2011, 11:18:08 am EDT

The tumble at the Worlds

Two years on 2 mm wires

(Sigillo,+Italy)

Jeff O'Brien

First of all, the pilot was Markus Ebenfeld, from Germany, flying an Icaro Z9.

Second, Markus loves to do aerobatics and was doing a wing over putting additional load on his air frame when his right side wire failed.

Third, Markus was flying with two year old the thin thin wires, 2 mm. These wires are not to be flown on an hang gliders that are used for aerobatics. They are thinner than the thinnest wires that you can get with your Wills Wing racing version of the T2C. Thin wires are supposed to be replaced every season.

Fourth, the wires broke first at the edge of the nico then an instant later on the inside of the nico as the first breaking wires transferred the load to the remaining wires.

Aerobatics + thin wires + old wires = glider ripped into two pieces, but pilot basically unhurt after throwing chute.

Photo by Jeff O'Brien.

2011 World Championships

Beautiful sky, all blue, then cu's just before noon. Light winds, too.

(Sigillo, PG, Italy)

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Flavio Tebaldi|James Stinnett|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|PG|Wills Wing T2C|World Championships 2011|Zac Majors

http://www.cucco2011.org/

(You can find the results in PDF format here. I would have published them more but the format is even worse than the standard PDF format. Of course, with more than two days of results I would have been more encouraged to publish the results. Note to meet directors, don't want your results published in the Oz Report? Keep publishing them in PDF format.)

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

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://klemencicmatjaz.blogspot.com/

As Flavio Tebaldi pointed out at the closing ceremony that gathered us all in the park in Sigillo, Saturday was a real Montecucco flying and competition day, at least for those paraglider pilots that we could see above launch. It was the only day during the last two weeks where there weren't clouds in the sky early in the morning, coming from incoming instability and perhaps rain. For once the winds were light and the cu's, when they formed, were not being blown apart.

Didn't look like it over developed later, but we were long gone on our way to Rome. Some pilots stayed back in order to fly Montecucco.

The Italians were very happy with Alex Ploner in first, Christian Ciech in second (very very close to Alex) and Elio Cataldi in fifth, for a first place Italian team effort. (Those three Italian pilots were the only ones to score for the team.)

Derreck Turner had the best single result for the American team, nineteenth on the second task.

Again let me point to all the results found at the first URL above in this article.

Overall US standings:

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Sat, Jul 23 2011, 1:36:49 am EDT

2011 World Championships

Finally, we fly

(Sigillo,+Italy)

Belinda Boulter|Dustin Martin|James Stinnett|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|World Championships 2011

Belinda Boulter|Dustin Martin|Flytec 6030|James Stinnett|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|World Championships 2011

With the forecast for southwest winds three knots less than yesterday we head to Mount Subassio just above Assisi an hour to the southeast of Sigillo. The launch is even flatter than Montecucco and the hill rounder which allows us to launch in winds that would make it difficult at Montecucco.

We get there a bit late and don't have perfect setup spots and in fact set up in a line that will become over-crowded later.

Subassio looks south west out over a wide open and flat valley and the task is thankfully called up and down the valley and not over the back over less landable areas back toward Sigillo. It's a fairly long task given that the winds will still be a factor of 120+ km. The first leg takes us thirty two kilometers right into the wind.

I launch third in our line which turns out to be the right move as it turns into a madhouse later with little discipline and lots of confusion. Jeff's Flytec 6030 freezes up on him after he launches and he'll have to top land and get the loan of another vario and use his Garmin Gecko for the route. Caroline, a German free flyer, helps him out back to launch pulling out fence posts to get him through the fences.

Launching consists of a trot into the light winds on the flat slope and after a few steps you are airborne. The lift is plentiful and smooth and from the 4,000' launch it doesn't take long to get to 6,400' and cloudbase. The cloud bottoms are dark and the ground shaded out front and we go searching in the valley to get up wind around the 32 km start circle.

There is air space out in the valley and I turn just before it not finding much out there and head back downwind to the hills. There are lots of pilots in the air now, but the lift is weak. I can't make it all the way back to cloudbase before the start at 2:30. I'm just above Zippy as we head south maybe 500' below the highest pilots. Not a good start.

Zippy turns back to take a later clock as I keep on course shading more toward the valley to try to stay under some nice looking clouds in the sunshine and upwind more on course line. The ridge line is downwind of the course line.

This strategy doesn't work as pilots nearer the ridge find the lift first and those of us out in the valley have to run to them as we aren't getting up. Even on the hill side the lift is sparse and broken. It is a struggle, at least for me. I'm low and at one point head back out to the valley to get under a cloud to get back up. I'm quickly far behind the leaders.

James Stinnett and I are the only Americans to take the first clock and James is struggling along with me. It takes a while but finally I find good lift and work to a spot where the clouds and the hot hill side come together to produce enough lift to get back to cloud base. I'm deep into the hills, twelve kilometers from the turnpoint, a large castle at the bottom of the hills, directly up wind. There are a bunch of us trying to get high enough to make the glide to the turnpoint.

Finally we push into the wind and just keep gliding hoping to stay high enough to get the turnpoint and get back to the hills facing west. I'm down to 3000' when I get to the castle, but miracle of miracles there is a little bit of light lift there. I jump on it and drift with it back toward the hills. I can see a number of pilots low and landing beneath me.

Derreck and James are down as I leave the lift and glide to a pilot getting up over vineyards on the hill side. It's 500 fpm and Jeff O'Brien comes in low under me. He has just knocked his little Garmin Gecko out of its friction fit holder and seen it fall to the valley below. No points for Jeff today.

The race back to the second turnpoint near the launch takes one fourth the time that it did to get down to the first turnpoint. Jeff and I find 700 fpm and then glide at 100 fpm down back to the launch. I find 500 fpm next to the turnpoint just over Zippy. Jeff Shapiro is struggling low by the turnpoint.

Jeff, Zippy and I push out into the valley toward the turnpoint sixteen kilometers to the south west. The headwind is eighteen mph. There is a large mass of back bottomed clouds above us but sunshine and no cu's at all at about half way on the course line to the turnpoint and back toward the next one.

We can find weak lift under the black clouds but the wind is so strong that we lose almost more than we gain in height. I go back and forth twice before getting back to cloud base and heading out from twelve kilometers toward the turnpoint.

The wind is too much and when I see that I'm not going to make the hill top turnpoint I find the biggest field on the flats four kilometers from turnpoint and land in strong winds. Dustin, Jeff, Zippy and Larry landed nearby. O'Brien decided just to land at the goal in order to be able to tell Belinda where he was as he didn't have a GPS in English.

Twenty two pilots made goal. Primoz won the day. See here: http://www.cucco2011.org/

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Thu, Jul 21 2011, 8:58:24 am EDT

2011 World Championships

Lots of wind on the launch, very light in the LZ

(Sigillo, Italy)

Belinda Boulter|Jeff O'Brien|weather|World Championships 2011

I'm confused. Belinda, the Jeff's and I got to launch early, starting out from the Alba Rosa at 9:30 AM. The GFS forecast was for thirteen knots of southwest wind at 4,000' at 2 PM. We set up and I started measuring the winds on launch. Launch is around 3,000'. The winds were seventeen mph, gusting to twenty mph.  There were some times when I wasn't measuring that the gusts were higher.

The local rules state that:

The maximum wind speed in which a task shall be flown is 40km/hr (including gust readings). This shall be measured at the weather station on Mount Cucco.

The weather station is 100 to 200 feet behind where I was making my measurements. It apparently was making readings over forty km/h (twenty five mph).

The task was cancelled without a task briefing. After that about half the pilots flew. The launches were for the most part wire launches with wire men and maybe a nose man. Pilots immediately went up after getting out a few hundred feet. Cloud base was a couple of thousand feet or more over launch. I only saw one slightly dodgy launch.

Ashanta (small young girl) had wind dummied earlier. She had been unwilling to fly in strong winds when we were at the Alpen Open last month. She got low and then thermalled up and landed on top long before the task was cancelled.

The pilots who flew got up to cloud base without any problem. There certainly was plenty of wind but it looked very smooth. Pilots were able to fly very fast (over the ground) into the wind, so it couldn't have been too strong. Pilots were thermaling up way out in the valley, so there must have been something other than ridge lift. There were clouds streets coming into and over launch from the southwest. The task committee had called a task that would have kept us out where the pilots were high and thermaling up.

I broke down as did everyone on the US team other than Jeff O'Brien. Driving down the hill I noticed that the winds were light. When we got to the LZ, the winds were very light. There were half a dozen pilots there. The valley was perfectly flyable and the day look great.

So my question is, why didn't the people who fly here (and I assume who were on the safety committee) know that the wind speed at launch was not an indication of how safe the flying was? Are they unaware of the difference in conditions between the hill side and away from the hill side? What was their main concern? Launching? The launches were wire launches but other than one they looked perfect. Smooth. There was only a small gust factor. Were they afraid that some pilots couldn't launch in these conditions?

A great looking day wasted. Perhaps they should have put out a number of wind dummies and received reports from the valley and the LZ. Maybe they should have set it up to easily offer wire launches. Maybe they should have raised the value of the wind speed allowed at the launch weather station.

We had to turn around and lay the gliders down because they were getting beaten up by the wind on launch.

Discuss "2011 World Championships" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wills Wing Crew brought in to test fly in winter

Too many off shore days

(Andy Jackson Flight Park, San Bernardino, CA, USA)

Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Jeff O'Brien|record

Jeff O'Brien reports here.

It's below zero tonight at home, but I was able to escape to the 70's and sun this past weekend. A convergence of flying friends.

Italian team member Filippo Oppici dug himself out from record snow in Boston to try on a new glider and harness courtesy of WW. Shapiro drove out of meat locker Missoula, Zippy sauntered from Santa Barbara, and Dustin ah-hem from Brazil.

The USHPA NTSS ranking (thanks to the early Australia meets)

It won't stand

(Forbes airfield, Australia)

Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Larry Bunner|USHPA|USHPA NTSS ranking|Zac Majors

http://ushpa.aero/competition/ntss1/index.php

Getting ready for the 2013 Worlds.

Hang glider balance mobile

A little friend

Jeff O'Brien

http://www.officeplayground.com/Glider-Balance-Mobile-P1547.aspx

Bring the thrill and excitement of gliding through the air right to your desk with the Glider - Balance Mobile. Just give the hang glider a gentle push and watch it glide around in circles. Then, imagine that you're outside and looking down at the Earth on your own hang glider. When you need some stress relief, give the glider another push for a quick pick-me-up. You may find yourself playing with this miniature hang glider all day long. Balance Mobiles are fun kinetic desk toys for your workspace.

Thanks to Jeff O'Brien.

Discuss "Hang glider balance mobile" at the Oz Report forum   link»

USA team in Montecucco

Thanks to Flavio Tebaldi

(Sigillo,+Italy)

Ben Dunn|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Flavio Tebaldi|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Zac Majors

Ben Dunn|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Flavio Tebaldi|Jack Simmons|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Zac Majors

Taken in the square in the center of town right after the awards ceremony:

Jeff Shapiro, Dustin Martin, Jeff O'Brien, Zac Majors, Ben Dunn
Jack Simmons, Davis Straub, Derrick Turner.

Discuss "USA team in Montecucco" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2010 pre-Worlds at Montecucco

Final results

(Sigillo,+Italy)

Ben Dunn|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Manfred Ruhmer|Pre-Worlds 2010|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

The US Team final results:

Manfred, Jonny, and Mario, first, second, and third.

Italian, Austrian, and French teams, first, second and third. US tenth.

US team members won two out of four days.

2010 pre-Worlds at Montecucco

Fly or Die

(Sigillo, Italy)

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Ben Dunn|Christian Ciech|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Davide Guiducci|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Flytec 6030|Francesco "Franco" Rinaldi|Franco Rinaldi|Icaro 2000|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Manfred Ruhmer|Pre-Worlds 2010|Suan Selenati|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

http://www.cucco2011.org/
Wills Wing pilots' blog
Jamie Shelden blog /task tweets here
Jamie's tweets
Jonny Durand's blog here.
Corinna's Sky here
Rod Flockhart

The flight and task.

Cloud base was below launch as it had been most of the day as we drove up. The temperature dropped to 16 degree Celsius by the time we got to launch. It looked like a leisurely setup was in process.

I set up and then went around talking to various folks. Heather scowled at me from a distance. Most everyone was in a buoyant mood after two days of not flying and it looked like we would be flying. We just had to wait for the cloud base to lift.

The pilot briefing was postponed twice to 1 PM. The task and safety committee meeting was dragging on. As the cloud base lifted a cu-nimb formed behind launch. Would the cloud base be too low or would the lift be too powerful?

The task committee called an 81 km task up and down the range, with the last turnpoint out where I had recommended, after  a few days previously they put the northern turnpoint back over unlandable territory. It was great to see that after thirty pilots claiming that that turnpoint placement was unsafe, the meet director, Franco Rinaldi, insisted that they not use it for this task.

I decided to launch early. We had an hour and a half before the start gate. I went up to the front of the line but let a couple of pilots get in front of me. When Alex Ploner decided to go in front, I decided to launch after him. I got to miss all the later hassles at launch.

The wind was from the north northwest, but it was coming up the south west face very lightly. You could see the cloud shadows racing crosswise to the launch from clouds only two thousand over launch. I went further down the hill to launch, and had a nice long run and a sweet launch into light lift. There were already pilots turning out in front of me.

I worked my way south as we had thirteen to fourteen kilometers to go to get to the edge of the five kilometer start cylinder. There was lift all along the way to cloud base, and I had to pull in hard at one spot to be sure to stay under 6,000'. When we got south far enough along the ridge we were away from the air space so we could relax and not worry about it.

Pilots were flying on the ridge within the five kilometer start cylinder then coming back to six or seven kilometers out and getting back to cloud base at about 6,500'. We were just waiting around, but to our north there was a cu-nimb and rain was dropping 10 km north of launch. It would later rain on launch. We had a turnpoint back at launch.

The cu-nimb built as we waited just outside the start cylinder. Soon we were on the last cu's on the edge of the cu-nimb. It had suppressed all the other cu's closer to it. The minutes were ticking down as we waited to head south which was free of cu-nimb activity. Another cu-nimb formed east of launch and it was dropping rain also.

The safety committee was busy on the radio discussing stopping the task. It was very close. It could have gone either way. But the south looked good and the cu-nimb was still to our north. Lots of pilots were very concerned that they would soon be sucked up by the approaching cu-nimb.

I headed back into the hills two kilometers outside the start cylinder to get back to cloud base but at about eight minutes before the start window opened I noticed that a couple of pilots were getting up upwind further out into the valley and a bit closer to the start cylinder. I pushed out up wind, got into the lift and began to climb in a perfect location, right at the edge of the start circle. In fact a quarter of each circle that I did was in the start cylinder.

My timing could not have been more perfect. I was right on the start cylinder climbing at an average of 500 fpm and just as I got to cloud base at 6,800', the start window opened. I was just outside the start cylinder and went in sixteen seconds after the start window opened at cloud base.

As I raced ahead I saw Jonny just to my left and Manfred just to my right. We had all just been at cloud base.

We found a little bit of lift with Dustin at nine kilometers from the edge of the start cylinder after getting the first turnpoint at the center of the five kilometer start cylinder and then further down the course toward a mountain side five kilometers. Jonny was finding a slightly better line than me and out gliding me and everyone else. Jonny, Dustin and Manfred with me just below them came into the hill side and found 400 fpm. Everyone else was behind and below.

We showed everyone the lift and climbed up above the hillside and were working our way to cloud base. The two Jeff's with a dozen other pilots had stopped behind us, but I told them what was ahead. They came over and found 800 fpm 400 feet south of our 400 fpm and we flew over to the top of them.

At cloud base at 7,500' it was a quick run a few kilometers to the south to get the second turnpoint and then head north. I had lost a few spots but was running well in the top ten. We came back near to the spot where we got up previously, but I didn't see any good lift so kept going. There were plenty of markers coming the other way out ahead.

I could see out in front of me that the whole valley was dark, shaded by the cloud cover. The cu-nimb by launch was gone or would soon be. There was now rain on the west side of the valley to my left. It didn't look like there would be much lift along the western facing flanks of the eastern hillsides of the valley, with all the shading.

I headed a couple of kilometers further west than most of the leading pilots going for a dark isolated cu that I saw a pilot who was heading south turning under. This looked like the last cu before the uniform dark sky and shaded ground. I figured that getting high under that cloud might be a good idea because we might not make it to goal.

I climbed to 7,000' and then headed up the range. There were lots of pilots below me as I passed them and just kept gliding looking for some lift. I figured with it so dark I would have to take much weaker climbs. My next climb averaged 150 fpm.

The lift was weak along the ridge line in the dark, but I did find spots of 150-200 fpm. I worked my way north finding lift here and there and gliding in zero sink when I didn't find lift. I had gliders around to help spot the lift.

The sun came out near the launch and the lift got much better. The next turnpoint was the launch and I found 300 fpm by the towers just before launch and climbed to 5700'. I was just outside airspace. I could see on my 6030 that I had goal made but just barely through the next turnpoint. I went on glide along the ridge tops toward the cemetery just out in the valley. As I got close to the turnpoint I could see the pilots in the lead gaggle a ways below on final glide.

I hit the turnpoint, when back to the ridge line, now below the top and hugged the hillside most of the way going back to goal at the standard LZ in Sigillo. It was great to finally make it into goal at this contest. 98 pilots joined me.

After the second and furthest south turnpoint Dustin flew straight for over thirty kilometers hoping to find one good thermal to get him to goal. He landed at goal without making the last turnpoint.

Jeff O'Brien outraced Manfred and Christian to win the day. That makes two days out of four that Americans won the day. Jeff Shapiro was in sixteenth.

USA TEAM on the last day:

Last day:

Wills Wing Demo Days in Switzerland

In August

(Interlaken, Switzerland)

calendar|Jeff O'Brien|PG|Roberto Nichele

Jeff O'Brien writes:

Roberto Nichele, a.k.a. "Swiss Nick" will have a full lineup of Wills Wing gliders to demo beginning in August 2010. Nick flies throughout Switzerland, most often in scenic Interlaken. A breathtaking Mecca for outdoor activities and a great opportunity to see and fly the latest Wills Wing offerings.

Gliders offered for demo:

T2C 144 ,T2C 154, U2 160, U2 145, Sport 2 135, Sport 2 155, Falcon 3 170

From Nick: "The Swiss hang gliding federation has started a project called, "hang gliding revival" and has several schools involved in the effort. In addition, there is quite a strong interest in hang gliding from paraglider pilots."

A calendar of demo events to follow as interest is generated.

Contact Nick:
e-mail: <roberto.nichele>
phone: +41792853117
website: http://willswing.ch (under construction)

Wills Wing T2C - 144, 154

The slight differences

(Wills Wing Factory, California, USA)

Jeff O'Brien|Wills Wing T2C

Jeff O'Brien thinks hard about his experiences with the Wills Wing T2C-154 and compares it with the T2C-144.

http://www.willswing.com/blogs/PilotBlogs/tabid/38/EntryId/291/144-vs-154.aspx

The Flytec Race and Rally

Yulia above the clouds

(Williston, FL)

Belinda Boulter|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|photo|Timothy Ettridge|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

http://westcoastbrit.blogspot.com/

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010frr/

Timothy Ettridge <<timothyettridge>> writes:

It's Yulia above Moultrie, from her flight after the last task was cancelled (Moultrie Municipal Airport is visible below her).

Once she got below the clouds, she saw she wasn't going to be able to penetrate back to the field, so she opted for the field directly below her, as there was nothing but forest behind her. A few seconds observation, however, revealed that she wasn't even going to make that field, as she was drifting backwards over the ground. Pulling on full VG and stuffing the bar as much as she could, she only then merely held her position over the field; just upwind of the forest.

It was only once she was down to a hundred feet that she actually moved forward a bit and into the center of the field.

"Good thing the day was cancelled," she said when I went to pick her up.

By the way, I have a strong opinion about who should get the credit for these kind of photos. I merely strapped my GoPro onto to her upright just before she took off, nothing more. Yulia made the flight and the view. When I see Mark Watson photo credits for the shots of Jonny in the morning glory cloud, I always feel inclined to give him something far less than credit. Good grief. All he did was strap his camera on Jonny's glider. Jonny created the moment, not Mark.

So Yulia gets the credit, I'd say.

While there is almost nothing but forest behind (north of) the airfield, if you go .6 km west, it is all open fields.

Filippo Oppici <<oppicif>> writes:

I would like to thank you, Belinda and ideally through you, all the people I've met at the Flytec Race and Rally. Jamie in first place, Steve, all the tug pilots and the people involved in the daily organization, but also all the competitors and friends that have helped me and make me feel welcome and as I was at home. It's been a real pleasure spending this week with you all and flying with you!

The Flytec Race and Rally

It blew in Moultrie

(Williston, FL)

Belinda Boulter|Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Joe Bostik|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|photo|Quest Air|weather|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

http://westcoastbrit.blogspot.com/

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010frr/

The forecast for Moultrie, Georgia was for a thirty percent chance of thunderstorms before 2 PM. To me that meant that the conditions would improve after 2 PM, and that if we could wait that long we would be rewarded with good conditions. The wind forecast was for twelve to sixteen knots the average wind throughout the boundary layer, out of the south.

It had rained hard the previous day and night and there were low clouds throughout the morning as we prepared the task of 120 km to Americus, Georgia. We could tell from the satellite photos that the overcast clouds were to our west so that the sky was blue above the low cumulus clouds. That held out a promise of better conditions if we could only wait.

The wind was brisk on the ground but not overwhelming. The field is huge and the tree line almost half a mile away to the south. We all were waiting for the clouds to rise and for breaks to appear between the cu's so that we could have some sun on the ground.

I got into the launch line and was quickly followed by Daniel Velez and Jeff O'Brien. We weren't willing to launch just yet as we would be blown outside the 10 km start cylinder before the first start time, and the clouds hadn't broken up quite enough yet, and there was a promise of better conditions. The launch opened at 1:30 PM with the first start time at 2:30 and the last at 3 PM. As we waited I was hoping that we were pulling a squeeze play forcing the pilots to launch by waiting for the time before the last start time to get too close.

Then the task committee wrecked that play adding two more start times as pilots weren't willing to even join us in the launch line.

Derreck joined us in the line and moved to the front to tow. Jeff O'Brien set to go after him then Daniel and me. Derreck was pulled up and the tow was rowdy. He also pinned off low. Then Jeff O'Brien took off and had even a rougher tow, flopping around quite a bit under his glider. But he held on and the tow smoothed out.

Daniel seeing the first two tows didn't want to tow next. I went instead. I had a perfectly smooth tow and the tug pilot and I went racing after Jeff. Jeff was towed up way above cloud base, maybe over 3,000', but I pinned off at cloud base at about 2,5000' and went to a nearby cloud to find light lift.

The air was quite pleasant and the lift nice. I could see that the winds were about 20 mph out of the south. Jeff came back to join me after not finding lift above cloud base and turned in the weak lift that I was in.

Having not really gained anything and drifting quickly, I headed west for about 600 meters to a forming cu and found 400 fpm to cloud base. Jeff was a kilometer down wind under a dark cloud but not climbing well.

While Jeff and I were drifting away from the airfield, Derreck was on the ground after a difficult landing. He reported the difficult conditions that he found.

The safety committee suspended launch after watching our three launches. Then they stopped the task.

At cloud base and enjoying the air and having some of the best lift that I had experienced in the competition, I checked out the fields down wind. Cloud base was only 2,500'but there were plenty of cu's ahead and it looked good to me. I was feeling confident as I would be flying with Jeff. Then Belinda called with the news about the task being stopped.

I could understand why that would be a case given the strong winds and the two launches that didn't look so good (although the pilots did well and controlled their launches). I flew back to the airfield and had an exciting if uneventful landing.

Joe Bostik and Yulia launched after the task was stopped to get in a little flight. Joe landed back at the field next to the gliders. Yulia got tossed around in the back side of the thermals and was excited when there didn't seem to be any air for her glider to fly in. Then she noticed that she was going backwards below cloud base at 12 km/h when her air speed was 40 km/h into the wind.

She couldn't make it back to the airfield and landed in a big open field on the way toward town.

We held the prize giving at a restaurant at 4:30 PM and Jonny won his seventh out of seven meets in 2010. Dustin was a mere nine points behind and Zippy not far behind him. Check out the scoring page above.

The Flytec Race and Rally was a competition that tested the pilots' skills and decision making. Not a single task was easily made. Filippo Oppici stated on the day that he almost made goal going south toward Avon Park, that this was the first time that he had flown 100 km without finding a thermal.

We flew the first day toward a massive front under gray skies and only Dustin and Jonny made goal. Jonny had to save himself from 800' over a swamp.

The second and third days I flew but the winds were too strong for a real task. On the fourth day, four flex wing pilots made it to goal with many top pilots dropping out in weak conditions along the way.

On the fifth day there were no cu's, a low top of the lift (except at a large fire), very weak thermals inside the start cylinder, and a cross wind there. The lead gaggle stayed together until the very end as everyone needed everyone else to be able to get to goal.

On the sixth day, the clouds predominated except right at launch and there was sunshine only for a small part of the race. Grey clouds, shade, and approaching rain cut the task in half. And on the last day, well it was too windy to safely carry out a task.

I did get to fly everyday and for that I was thankful.

All the pilots had a good attitude and no one whined or complained about the conditions. They all knew that it was a very good test of pilots' skills and we all had fun together. Jamie Shelden did a great job as the meet organizer and meet director.

We started the Flytec Race and Rally from the Florida Ridge and right from the get go we had to deal with difficult to forecast (and deal with) weather conditions. I worked very diligently to be able to have us make the right decision and that turned out to stay at the Ridge and run the task and still have the time to make it to Quest Air with the tugs before the front hit. And it hit hard.

We didn't have the option of continuing on to Moultrie that night as the tugs wouldn't be able to make it from Quest Air to Moultrie Georgia the next morning. We didn't have the option to go to Williston as we can only tow out of there in a south or north wind and the wind was forecasted to be strong west and even stronger west up at Moultrie.

On Monday the task committee called at task to the northeast. Our plan was to fly the task and then drive to Moultrie to fly in the west winds that were forecasted to be a little lighter than the previous day in Moultrie. We had everything packed up to go to Moultrie. It would still be tough for the tugs to get there in one hop, but with two they could get there in time to tow the next day.

We were not able to hold a task on Monday at Quest Air given the high winds. Three of us flew, but the day was called due to difficult launch conditions. Once we were back (or still) at Quest Air, going to Moultrie didn't seem like a good option. It was now much later in the day and no one was pushing for that.

The next day the task committee called an impossible task given the west winds (which turned out to be as strong as on Monday), and we were committed as a group to going to Moultrie or to Greystone 100 km to the north if we could get permission to launch out of there. We already knew that the next day would require us to fly to the south given the northwest winds.

After we were again not able to hold a task at Quest Air given the west winds, we all met again and there was about a half and half split about whether to now drive to Moultrie. We didn't make any decision given this impasse, but soon found out that one of the tugs was down, so that indicated that we should stay at Quest and get it fixed.

The next day the task was to the south, which meant that we would again be stuck at Quest Air if we wanted to head north as again the drive would be difficult from Avon Park.

On Thursday we took off from Quest Air and had a great task to Williston where we spent the night. With a south wind predicted for the next two days we had laid out a task from Williston to Moultrie and another from Moultrie to Americus. It looked good.

After a blue day all day and all the way from Quest Air to Williston it was an unpleasant surprise to see all the clouds blackening the sky at Williston and the rain the next morning. Then after we got to Moultrie and set up for the last task we found that the winds were too high for a task, on a day that forecasted much lighter winds at Moultrie than were forecasted for Moultrie back on Monday and Tuesday. That is, even if we would have gone directly to Moultrie on Sunday night (almost impossible driving from the Ridge), we would not have been able to fly at Moultrie Monday and Tuesday, if the forecasts were accurate.

Did we do the best that we could under the circumstances? Did we make the best decision given hindsight? Maybe someone has some evidence either way.

The Flytec Race and Rally

It rains, we fly

(williston, FL)

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|weather|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

http://westcoastbrit.blogspot.com/

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010frr/

After a day and a task of no cu's we wake in Williston to a morning with a sky full of clouds and rain threatening. We drive through a squall on the way to the airfield where many of our gliders are already setup as we didn't have to break down from the night before. The gliders were behind a locked gate and fence and we had pilots camped out by them.

The sky looks ominous and very uninviting. But there are sun breaks now and then, so it could be okay. There are high clouds as well as as low lying cu's. Dark clouds predominate. Here is what it looks like at 12:30:

We were up near the Georgia border and the goal for the day was 118 km from Williston to Live Oak just south of interstate 10.

We push back the launch time to 1 PM and the start time to 2 PM to 2:30 PM. We are hoping for better weather. We also shorten the task from Moultrie, Georgia (231.5 km) to Live Oak at 118 km.

I'm off fourth with Bobby towing me. He takes me to the south end of the grass strip to a tree line at the southwest side of the field and in between our field and the paved air strip. There is lift there so he comes around again in a very tight circle. I really can't turn that fast so I pin off at 1,200' in no lift and have to go land again.

Pilots are not eager to launch so the line is short and I'm back and in the air soon. I get towed high, 2,600', but there is nothing around. I search until I'm down to 1,000' and then find zero sink at the end of the runway, just where Bobby and I went through it before.

The lift averages 85 fpm as I climb to almost 2,000'. That would have been fine but half a dozen other pilots who were in the air and much higher than me come and join me at almost my same elevation and basically wreck the thermal for me. The wakes are just a pain to deal with.

Jeff O'Brien leaves the thermal just below me and heads south to get under the rigid wings who are high. I don't see anyone turning down there so I don't go with him. There are a couple of pilots turning a kilometer to the north so I get in under them. I don't want to be at the same elevation as anyone else.

The pilots in priority haven't even launched yet and there is a light rain at launch. The thermal I'm in is very light and I only climb to 2,000' and now I'm four kilometers north away from the launch area and the wind is 11 mph out of the south. I really put myself in a trap heading down wind.

The pilots above me head to the west to the sun, but three of us don't find the lift and land 6.5 km from the start.

The late launching pilots work lift very slowly south of the launch area. We see them come over our heads low and slow as they work whatever they can. The sky looks positively terrible.

The lead pilots are able to make about half the distance to goal before being stopped by a large forest. We made up the goal at the last minute and didn't have an opportunity to check the route for forests.

We all get together for dinner at the Old Mexican restaurant and triple the number of people at dinner there. Everyone has a great time thinking about the day. It has been raining here and on the course line.

This is basically the only rain in the south east this evening. It covers our whole course line today.

Tomorrow the rain chance is now 20%. It was zero this morning for Moultrie. At least we are finally in Georgia.

Preliminary results have Jonny nine points ahead of Dustin. Not all the track logs have been turned in.

The Flytec Race and Rally

A sweet day flying to the northwest and finally in the Rally

(Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA)

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Joe Bostik|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Lucas Ridley|Quest Air|Rich Lovelace|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

http://westcoastbrit.blogspot.com/

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010frr/

With a light east wind, the task call was 109 km to Williston to the northwest, if only to get out and on the Rally part of this Race and Rally. We got stuck at Quest Air with two days of strong west winds which pinned us against airspace from Orlando, and one day of northwest winds which sent us back in the wrong direction. Finally we've made out way out of Quest Air and are spending the night in Williston.

The RUC and NAM forecasts were not in sync (as per usual) other than for the wind speed and direction. It was supposed to be east south east below the inversion at about 10 mph. The lift looked to be maybe 400 to 500 fpm, but the height of the lift looked low and it sure didn't look like there would be cu's in spite of the fact that they were forecast by the RUC.

At 12:30 the sky looks uninviting. Alex Cuddy goes up and finds lift low but we call him back down so that we can add two start times to the task. We don't start launching until well after 1 PM, with the last start time at 2:30 PM.

Once in the air the main task is staying up. There are no cu's. The wind is out of the east and the climbs are very weak. Pilots are spread out in numerous small gaggles, all not doing so well.

We gradually drift to the northwest area of the start cylinder as the last start time approaches. The highest I've been is 3,000' and when its time to go I'm only at 2,700'. There are pilots out ahead a bit higher.

The lift is instantly better as we head north. I climb to 3,600' with Joe Bostik who started fifteen minutes earlier. One gaggle is to the north up highway 33 and another is to the west a bit. I glide the five kilometers to the west gaggle and find good lift. The day is already much better.

All the pilots are in sight and I fly north to climb to over 4,000' south of the turnpike. There are a number of pilots nearby and I watch them as I also keep an eye on the main gaggle of maybe ten pilots a few kilometers to the north. They mark good spots to go to to get back up even after they have left.

Northwest of Wildwood and down to 1,600' I run to a spot at the lead gaggle has left. Another pilot joins me finds a better core and we climb up to 3,500'. It's feeling like a good day, but a blue day. You've got to search for the lift.

We head over to Interstate 75 just southeast of a large housing development. We work 200 fpm up here to get high enough to cross the development if need be as there are few small landing spots inside it. Maybe a high school field or two.

I make it across with Lucas Ridley and another pilot but get low on the other side in a huge cultivated area under the lead gaggle. Down to 700' I head for the northeast corner of the field and see a bird in action. I feel the lift and hang on for dear life. I'm being blown back over a forest but I can make it back out to the field if I lose the lift. There is a big fire a few kilometers to the west and I'm drifting toward it.

I climb up high enough to make it over the forest and the next housing development and then I find even better lift over the forest and climb to 4,100'. I can spot a pilot flying over the fire itself.

On my own after the low save, and now not able to spot the lead gaggle in the smoke I take a seven kilometer glide to a new small development that has a lot of exposed sand and ponds. I search around for the lift coming off the sand and finally find it in the northern section of the development down to 1,000'. The good lift gets me to 4,400' as four pilots come in under me two of them quite low.

After another seven kilometer glide I start searching at 2,800' not as willing to wait until I'm really low again and not having an obvious thermal producer ahead. I head east a little over drier looking areas as Rich Lovelace joins me.

We work 100 fpm then move to 230 fpm that gets us over 4,000' sixteen kilometers from goal. That seems like enough for me. I go on glide and Rich follows and then heads a bit to the west while I keep going straight. I hit some good lift, stop for a few turns and then rush into goal.

Goal is pretty crowded by the time that we get there, but it is great to get there at all after the first few days of this competition. We are able to leave our gliders set up as they are behind a locked gate. I stake mine down and cover it with my sail cover.

Check out the scores. Different folks won the day. Dustin still in the lead, Jonny, then Zippy. Some folks are unhappy not making goal.

The Flytec Race and Rally

A tough day with no cu's and plenty of cirrus

(Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA)

Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jim Yocom|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Quest Air|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

http://westcoastbrit.blogspot.com/

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010frr/

In the morning it didn't look good in the forecasts nor in the sky. The lift was predicted to be between 300 and 500 fpm, with a strong inversion at 3,200'. Thankfully the wind would be light on the ground and a bit stronger at the inversion at 9 knots, with stronger northwest winds above the start of the inversion.

I was hauled up after a few pilots were in the air and found 150 fpm to 3,400', which I thought was pretty good considering the milky white sky and the brisk wind out of the west northwest at 10 mph, half of the previous two days, thankfully. The next two thermals were less than 100 fpm, but then I was able to find 180 fpm as I battled against the west wind to stay close to the launch and close to the other pilots who would be launching after me. This was definitely a day to stay close to your buddies.

An hour into the flight and about ten minutes before last the start time at 2 PM, I find 370 fpm that will eventually get me over 4,000'. Most of the pilots have gaggled up southwest of Quest Air and are waiting for the last start time.

As the last start time approached a number of us head southwest to try to drive upwind a bit on the west side of highway 33. The goal is to the south 109 kilometers to Avon Park. We find 200 fpm that gets us back to 3,100' and gives us a pretty good view of those struggling downwind of us. It is obviously a difficult day with the mostly west wind.

We find a thermal with lots of help from our friends about every three kilometers. We need the thermals to be closely spaced as we aren't going to get very high and we aren't being helped by the winds. I find a thermal upwind of a gaggle and bring them altogether as they see a higher climb rate, 260 fpm.

With so many pilots around the thermal is quite unpleasant to fly in. The other pilots are disturbing the air and making it difficult to turn in tight circles. I leave one thermal a bit early just to get away from the other pilots.

South of 474 I come in over Zippy but find only 20 fpm. I keep searching around but there is no core and I'm drifting at almost the bottom of a gaggle heading over the Branson lands which make for difficult retrieve. I head upwind for one of the dry fields, as the dry fields worked for me in the last thermal. These don't and I land at highway 33 with Derreck Turner coming in behind me.

Daniel Velez is down five kilometers back having taken the first start time on his own and not finding anything useful. Jim Yocom in his ATOS is down just one field back up toward Quest. The Jeff's just arrived at Oz Report World Headquarters. Shapiro landed parallel to Wallaby and O'Brien at Fantasy of Flight. Jonny, Zippy, Carl, Lovelace, Dustin, and a few others were forty kilometers out from goal.

Four flexies and two rigids at goal. Carl first, then Zippy, Dustin and Jonny. Miller Stroud and Ollie are the ATOS pilots at goal. Results later tonight.

The Flytec Race and Rally

Back and forth into the wind

(Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA)

Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Dustin Martin|Facebook|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Quest Air|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

http://westcoastbrit.blogspot.com/

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19703

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

http://ozreport.com/twitter

http://facebook.com/ozreport

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010frr/

The west wind returned today, as strong as ever, but we started with the expectation, re-enforced by our efforts to have an upbeat attitude, that things would be safe at launch. Everyone's emotions were out of control yesterday, but today we were able to keep them in check, at least at the start, so that a bunch of us could get into the air.

But the problem was for some reason unfathomable to me who watched it happen, the task committee wasn't willing to let us head down wind under 6000' airspace. They wanted us to go cross wind perhaps hoping that the wind wouldn't be so strong. Talk about believing your own propaganda.

The launch conditions were as benign as possible for a west facing launch so I was ready to go early and got in the launch line, but let others go around who wanted to get off first. After a couple of weaklink breaks and three or four pilots getting into the air, I got pulled up easily into 19 mph winds.

It took a while heading north to find the east west line of lift and when I started circling at 2,100' everyone else in the air, by this time maybe six additional pilots, joined me. We all circled up together at 200 to 300 fpm as we drifted east of highway 33 toward Clermont, the wrong direction totally.

It was obvious that the winds were too strong for us to get any where near our goal at Greystone airfield east of Ocala, 87 kilometers to the north northeast. We kept finding lift, but going in the wrong direction. A few pilots went north a kilometer to past highway 50, but they weren't doing any better.

After a while the futility of this exercise sunk in to everyone. Down below the launch was shut down. Some of the tugs pilots were saying that the air was rough coming out of the field. I found the air to be just fine up above.

Finally it was time to come down and see what the story was. It turns out that the task was stopped (although that didn't matter a bit). The furthest anyone got was Daniel Velez at 7.1 km, not even outside the start circle (but beyond the 5 km minimum distance). He received three points and those of us who flew and landed back at the flight park got two points.

I want to commend everyone for taking things much less emotionally today. It was a pleasure to be at launch and a pleasure to interact with the safety and task committees and other personnel. Everyone was professional and level headed.

The glasses didn't help

On the first day of the Flytec Race and Rally

(Florida Ridge, Florida, USA)

Jeff O'Brien|Joe Bostik

Joe Bostik and Jeff O'Brien:

Discuss "The glasses didn't help" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The Flytec Race and Rally

Contagion

(Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA)

Dustin Martin|Facebook|Flytec 6030|Flytec Race and Rally 2010|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Quest Air|record|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

http://westcoastbrit.blogspot.com/

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

https://OzReport.com/twitter

http://facebook.com/ozreport

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010frr/

Why is it that the weak link is the one making decisions? Why is it that the person with the least experience is the one deciding if competition pilots should be free flying?

The forecast was for moderate to strong winds in the afternoon, although it was perfectly pleasant in the morning as forecast. The winds were supposed to come out of the west which makes for a difficult task call, but the task committee decided to send pilots sixty seven kilometers to the northeast if the winds were over 15 mph. On the first day of the Flytec Race and Rally I recorded 18 mph winds. That was perfectly pleasant, of course.

We all line up at the east end of the field near the trees so that those susceptible to such things can hear the engines roar. The tug pilots are flying around reporting that things are pretty reasonable, although some think marginal. There are cu's nearby getting closer and closer. The forecast is for good lift, but a difficult task as we have to do a bit of cross wind to get around Lake Apopka.

The chattering classes are having trouble and making trouble for themselves talking everyone into a frenzy about the wind. Jeff O'Brien is ready to go but they postpone the task for half an hour, which is not a bad thing as the cu's aren't quite here yet. We get Jeff to launch to show us what the launches look like to see if it is safe getting out of the field. He has a perfectly smooth launch. Still the chattering classes are worried about the other guys, not letting the other guy decide for himself.

The launch window opens and I suit up and roll out to launch. No one tries to stop me. Bobby is ready to yank me up in the air. Bobby guns the airship and we are above the three line within a few seconds. There is no drama, no sudden "air pockets." Nothing but a perfectly smooth launch. I can see Jeff racing out in front of me into the wind, just having a good time getting low and then getting back up again.

I search around find some lift and climb out at 300 fpm. Pete Lehmann has been hauled up and finds similar lift to the north west of Quest Air. Jeff is circling up. The lift is smooth and the air feels good. My Flytec 6030 measures 19 mph wind consistently.

Then I hear on the radio that one of the flight park managers has stopped all towing so that there can't be any free flights. Reminds me of another flight park owner who had similar issues with competition. It's all so emotional. I can't remember a time when a competition pilot killed himself at the flight park towing into 19 mph winds.

Some pilots can't figure out why the decision to not allow free flying on a spectacular looking day. Seems that should be up to the pilot.

Tomorrow it looks like the winds back off by about a third. Hopefully the frenzied atmosphere will not prevail and rational decision making with return.

Discuss "The Flytec Race and Rally - Day 2" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Perfect timing

(Florida Ridge, Florida, USA)

Campbell Bowen|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Facebook|Flytec Race and Rally 2010|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jim Yocom|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Quest Air|record|Richard Lovelace|weather|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

https://OzReport.com/twitter

http://facebook.com/ozreport

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010frr/

While Saturday had originally looked like a possible record day in Florida with the winds two days out forecasted to be straight up the state and into North Carolina, when it came to the actual day, there was this big front that was killing people in Mississippi and was heading into Georgia on Saturday stopping the lift at the border with Florida. And in the morning on Saturday it just didn't look that great for lift with a few scattered low cu's and cirrus covering most of the state coming from the front. The froint extended down through the Gulf of Mexico and sent out a wave of clouds over southern Florida late in the day. Still Campbell Bowen was able to fly forty miles on his ATOS VXR, and he was the only one to make an attempt.

The approaching front made for a conundrum. First, would conditions in south Florida allow for a task on Sunday? Second, would the Dragonflies be able to get to Quest Air before the front arrived, or at least far enough north where they could be protected from the storm as it passed through so that they could be ready to go the next day at Quest Air? Would it be better to send the tugs north at 8 AM to get to Quest before the front got there and just abandon the first day of the competition? That was the dilemma I was faced with on Saturday night looking at the weather forecasts.

They actually showed a soarable day in south Florida on Sunday, with a low cloudbase (less than 3,000') and strong south southwest winds that would take us around the west side of Lake Okeechobee. Of course they showed the approaching front and they showed it coming fast enough to cause us problems even with a short task.

The next morning I was looking at the forecasts soon after 7:30 AM. Now it looked like the front wouldn't get to Groveland until after 3 PM. The forecast for south Florida was similar to the night before, with maybe an average 15 mph wind out of the southwest. But the tug pilots were reporting thirty mph at 800' at 8 AM. I could see Dana, Linda Salamone's daughter, and new solo pilot, flying backwards in her Falcon until she got low enough to get out of the high winds.

While we were now comfortable keeping the tugs at the Florida Ridge for the task, before sending them north, with the high overcast, rapidly moving scuddy cu's at 1,500', and the tug pilot's report of high winds, there were few pilots who were enthusiastic about our chances of flying. I was already setup from the night before and my glider was in the staging line ready to go. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and we had gone long distances on days that looked like this before. Still there were many pilots who thought that this was an exercise in futility.

The launch opened at noon and we had five start windows ten minutes apart starting a 1 PM. Given the conditions pilots were reluctant to get started. They knew that they would be well advised to stick with their flying buddies. The start cylinder had a ten kilometer radius. The winds seemed to have died down and it wasn't at all unsafe at launch nor all that windy.

I waited for three pilots to launch: Jim Yocom, Richard Lovelace, and Mitch Shipley before I took off. There was a bunch of pilots in the launch line just behind me, so I figured I would see a lot of pilots in the air. We could see Jim Yocom turning just to the east of the field at cloud base at about 2,600', so it looked like there was lift, even though the sky was thick with cu's that were shading the ground.

I had the tug pilot drag me over to Jim and Richard who were both turning, and sure enough there was lift and we were all just below cloud base. Mitch was way down below us, so that was no help. The next pilot pulled over to us was Pete Lehmann, but he headed straight back to the launch area. So, so much for help from others.

The wind was blowing 14 to 18 mph out of the south southwest. The lift was so light and the sky so dark and the ground so shaded that we had no way to get back to the flight park or hook up with any other pilots. I had made a bad decision to not let five or six more pilots start in front of me. We three were on our own.

It was unfortunate that Jim had been hauled to the east as we really needed to start from the west side of the flight park to stay as far as possible away from the lake. Richard found a bit of lift over a gravel pit a kilometer to the east and even though I did not want to go at all in that direction I had to go where the lift was. Jim and I did not find it and were soon down to 750' just west of Moore Haven. I found a small thermal that averaged 50 fpm and stuck with it for six kilometers as it drifted me out into the bad side of the levee that surrounds Lake Okeechobee.

I was back to 1,700' with Richard on the ground just to my north and Jim soon to be on the ground just north of him. I had to head a bit back to the west to stay on the safe side of the highway that runs west around the levee. I didn't find any lift and landed with Richard.

The sky had opened up for the last five to ten minutes of my flight and there was sunshine on the ground and better defined cu's, but too far away for me to get to from my low altitude. When Richard had landed there was nothing but shaded ground. Now as we watched other pilots, mostly to our west, get high and keep going downwind in the much better looking conditions we wondered why we hadn't waited half and hour.  The day had much improved in a short period of time.

Ten minutes later we saw Jeff Shapiro fly low over our heads heading north down the highway. Apparently he would soar the levee for a couple of kilometers and then land in waste deep water near a local alligator. He was apparently able to keep his instruments dry, but lost his radio in the breakdown field.

O'Brien landed near the start circle as did Derrick Turner. The task was 67 kilometers and Dustin Martin and Jonny Durand were the only pilots to make goal. Dustin was much faster starting ten minutes after Jonny and getting there ten minutes ahead of him. Lots of pilots made it at least 50 kilometers. Daniel Velez and Zac Majors were the closest to goal at the Okeechobee airfield.

Given how bad it looked before we launched and how many sour pusses we had it was great to get off a task in the restricted time slot that we seemed to have. The Dragonflies were able to make it to Quest Air and get into the hangar hours before the thunderstorms hit about night fall. Pilots hung out in the club house and Jamie downloaded flights.

It would be very hard to be camping at Quest Air on Sunday night. The place is flooded, the thunder is loud, the rain is thick and there are tornados in north Florida, as well there should be.

With a brisk southeast wind we head downwind and cross wind

(Florida Ridge, Florida, USA)

Campbell Bowen|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Facebook|Flytec 6030|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jim Yocom|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Ollie Gregory|PG|Rob Kells|Rob Kells Competition 2010|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

https://OzReport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19703

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

https://OzReport.com/twitter

http://facebook.com/ozreport

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010rk/ They'll be up later, maybe not until the morning.

A great day to finish the Rob Kells Competition. We had wonderful soaring conditions and we got to see a whole new part of the state.

The forecast was for 10-15 mph east southeast winds turning south as we went to toward the west coast and to the north. The task committee's idea was to head off in that general direction. We also wanted to send the Sport Class off on a long task, sort of making it an open distance task for them, although giving them a chance to make goal.

The task setting turned into a bit of a nightmare as we changed the task three times to deal with different issues that came up as we got new information about the goals (there were 160 gyrocopters at one proposed goal) and we had two turnpoints with the same name (when it was shortened by GPSDump) and one of them was used for the last iteration of the task, so that caused more confusion.

We finally decided on a 125 km dogleg task to the northwest with a turnpoint south of Wachula, then a leg to the northeast back toward Avon Park to a little grass strip out there. The Sport Class didn't have to take the turnpoint.

Shapiro and I took the second start clock along with Jonny, Larry Bunner, as well as Jim Yocom, Ollie Gregory, and Campbell Bowen on ATOSes. I was a few hundred feet below them at the start but went soon after they did. I just let them get a little in front of me so I could see how they went. Dustin, Zippy and Jeff O'Brien would take the next clock which was the last clock. Jeff started at 800' at the flight park when the bell rang for the start at the 5 km start circle radius.

We were at the first turnpoint on highway 29 fourteen kilometers away in eighteen minutes, so with a tail wind we were moving pretty fast considering that we had to thermal in that time period also. I had left the start circle at 3,400' but climbed to 4,200' before the first turnpoint. The guys in front were within reach.

The next thirty kilometers took thirty minutes including three climbs over 4,000' one to 4,700' as we crossed some areas that would have made for difficult retrieves, I was hoping that the Sport Class guys who would be coming along later would do alright. We saw a paraglider land below us. I was just behind the leading pilots.

After a ten kilometer glide I was down to 2,300'out over a cultivate field that was a long ways away from any paved road. Yocom and Campbell had gone ahead as had Shapiro, Jonny and a few others. They were getting lower and lower and I was looking for lift. I found it over the cultivated field that they had all gone through without stopping.

It only averaged 250 fpm, but I could see the pilots in the lead in front of me getting lower and smaller as I climbed up. There was no reason to hurry to them. Larry Bunner came and joined me then went ahead to the lead pilots just as it turned on to 400 fpm. I could see half a dozen vultures far below me climbing up so I had a pretty good idea that this was the place to be as I watched all the pilots ahead spread out and struggled. Ollie came over and joined me in the thermal.

Topping out at 4,700' I moved forward to get over Jonny, Shapiro, etc. Shapiro had climbed up so I teamed up with him and he and I in the lead of the flex wing pilots took off after Ollie and Campbell in the lead with their ATOSes. We lead (following the ATOSes) for the next 34 kilometers hitting a couple of thermals but mostly on glide.

For the last twelve kilometers Jonny came and joined us after we climbed up to 4,600' coming in just over our heads. We went on glide with him. I had been gliding and climbing with Shaprio, not losing anything to him in either mode. Now I glided with Jonny for twelve kilometers, again, not losing anything to him.

Olli, who we were actually beating on glide, found the next thermal when we all decided to head west a bit to get under the clouds that we had flown next to for most of the last 34 kilometers. The lift for me was only 250 fpm as it was broken and I had a more difficult time getting in it. Derrick Turner was right below me, and Jonny and Shapiro climbed better above me. They headed out for the turnpoint five kilometers to the north before I could get up to them. I was still able to get to 4,500' but it didn't seem nearly as great as when Shapiro and I were leading the flexies (following the rigids). I was below Jonny and Shapiro now.

The next leg was thirty kilometers to the northeast and the wind had not turned south but was southeast as it had been all day. It had been right down out course line and now we were confronted with a difficult leg as the final leg, as it is supposed to be.

I had problem right away finding reasonable lift. I had been finding good lift the whole flight and now there wasn't any to be found, for me anyway. Shapiro and Jonny were finding it, but when I went to where they were there was no lift down below them for me.

A third of the way into the leg I finally found 300 fpm that got me to almost 4,000'. Jim Yocom was around and so was Larry Bunner. Dustin had caught up with Shapiro taking a route east of the course line.

A thermal almost two thirds of the way down the course line only got me back to 2,000' and it was drifting us downwind of the course line. Larry says that there were five pilots high over our heads, but that must have been Jonny, Dustin, Shapiro, etc., as if they were high, they could have easily gone to goal at that point.

Giving up on this weak thermal, I pushed to go over a large burning area, but there was no lift as the strong winds pushed the heat back away from the course line. I pushed ahead toward goal and toward some landable fields and maybe a chance for lift under a few scraggly clouds. Down to 800' I found bits and pieces of 200 fpm in lift that averaged 47 fpm. There were birds nearby that helped me see the lift a bit, but the thermal was telling me where it was and where it was drifting by sucking me toward it. I listened to that more than to the birds.

I was drifting out over a large field, maybe three to five miles on a side. I didn't want to go down and have to carry my equipment out, so that was extra incentive to stay in the thermal as well as to keep an eye on the roads if I fell out of it.

At 1,600' I got into lift that averaged 250 fpm. That was a lot more like it. I knew I was getting out of this hole now. I had drifted seven kilometers downwind of the course line. Larry and Ricker Goldsborough came over a joined me in the thermal when they saw that I had hooked a good one.

At 3,600' and 11 kilometers from goal I went on glider in a crossing wind. The 6030 said I had it no problem. Larry joined me and we raced to goal.

About ten pilots made goal. Dustin won that day with the later start time. Shapiro may have come in second. At the moment it looks as though Jonny may have won the meet. We'll know when Jamie has enough to eat and can do the down loads and get them to me.

A big out and return in a light wind

(Florida Ridge, Florida, USA)

Bobby Bailey|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Facebook|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Rob Kells|Rob Kells Competition 2010|weather|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

https://OzReport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19703

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

https://OzReport.com/twitter

http://facebook.com/ozreport

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010rk/

Today's task and flight

The weather got back to the reason why we come here to south Florida, the absolutely softest soaring and cross country tasks. With a forecast for cloud base between 500' and 6000', cu's, light northerly winds, and lift at 500-600 fpm, we were ready for a big (125 km) out and return task (tomorrow we can go to the northwest, maybe to the beach). We also called a good 45 km task for the sport class to the east and then south, the task that they couldn't do the day before.

We launched the sport class guys first, but it was too early for a bunch of them and they had to relaunch again after the open class. Their time starts when they cross the start cylinder, so it doesn't matter so much when they launch. We try to make it as easy as possible on them.

I was off early again as per usual and I did pin off from Bobby Bailey at 1,000'. It was weak down low but I managed to climb out to cloud base at almost 4,500' with the lift getting progressively better as I got higher. I spent the next hour quietly at cloudbase waiting for everyone to get ready to go at the last start clock.

Fifteen minutes before the last start clock the lift gave out and we all spread out to find the next thermal. I went one direction toward some thermaling pilots and others went the other direction to a cloud. That turned on and now I was down at 3,000' with pilots 1,500' over my head as the time ticked down and the lift was weak. Jesus, why did I spend all that time and get nothing in return? Of course, it was completely pleasant up there and I didn't have to wait in line.

I was low at the start so I couldn't go with the first high guys. Very disappointing. I had to struggle to get back into the game, and it would be very hard to catch the fastest guys.

The first turnpoint was off to the west northwest on highway 29. The fast guys were out there quickly working a few thermals to make the 14 km. Being behind I could see thermals and gaggles ahead and that let me catch up with pilots who started higher. I hooked up with Larry Bunner and half a dozen other pilots and we found strong lift after the first turnpoint which made for a fast glide into the second turnpoint. Past the turnpoint, Larry and I got down to 2,000' being out in front, but found some good lift with help from the pilots behind us and climbed to over 5,500'.

I could hear Dustin, Shapiro, O'Brien, and Zippy seven or eight kilometers out in front and went on a long fast glide to try to get close to Shapiro. Gliding fourteen kilometers in eleven minutes I came to the spot where Shapiro had reported the lift. I found it after a couple of minutes searching and it got up to 800 fpm to almost 6,000'. Jeff was just up the road three kilometers so I had moved quickly to get as close as possible.

It was then a glide to the far turnpoint to the west and I got within less than four kilometers I saw Julia leading the pack and coming back quickly. Followed by Jonny, O'Brien, and four or five others. There was some lift at the turnpoint, but not strong enough to hang out in for long so it was a six kilometer glide down to 2000' to get under the cu's and back in the lift. There were a couple of pilots around to help including Konrado.

I scooted southeast over to the cu where Steve Larson was turning in his green Exxtacy. That was 400+fpm and got me to over 5,000'. I knew it would be a long glide to the next cu's so I wanted to get as high as possible.

I went on glide with Larry Bunner co-incidentally just off to the north. I headed east northeast to get under some clouds and he headed east southeast for something that I didn't see if anything.

I came in under the weak looking cu's, low but didn't find anything. Konrado blew by heading east and I decided to join up with him as two is better than one. We were down to 1,500'. He found the lift quite a ways away from the road, so I was happy that he did and we slowly climbed out as we drifted toward the next turnpoint.

I left with him just above me and we got the turnpoint and headed out over a difficult retrieval area at less than 2,000'. He flew through some lift and didn't stop. I stopped as I wanted to at least be able to be retrieved. The lift was only 200 fpm, but it got me high enough that I knew that I could make the next road. I saw Konrado get lower and lower and then I lost sight of him.

Derrick Turner came in under me and I figured well at least I would have someone to fly with making it back in difficult conditions. I was hearing from the boys that they were getting close to goal and we weren't that far back.

Derrick and I flew over to Konrado who had indeed gotten very low and was working himself back up in a good thermal. We joined him and finally the good lift came up to us and we climbed above him to 5,400' before heading toward the last turnpoint. Three pilots came in way below us. Derrick and I spread out, him to the right of the clouds me under the first set but him under the next set. Konrado took a route further to the west to head for some other clouds that he saw building.

Derrick and I loss lots of altitude not finding any lift, but taking the turnpoint and then heading west down highway 78 with no or few cu's nearby to give us any guidance to where the lift was and down to 2,200'. Konrado in the meantime found convergence or something like that, flew south and then over to the turnpoint with little lost of altitude and then continued on toward goal.

Derrick and I struggled in zero sink hoping for something to turn on. Then Derrick decided to risk it and head south over the canal. I followed then found some good lift to the northeast of where he was turning. This was over 200 fpm, which at the time felt very strong. This got us high enough to make goal as we were only thirteen kilometers out.

Jonny was the first pilot in by about five minutes. Dustin, O'Brien, Shapiro and Zac came in a bit later. Zac got low on final five kilometers out and had to thermal back up.

Rob Kells Competition - Task 3

Bad timing

(Florida Ridge, Florida, USA)

Chris Zimmerman|Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Joe Bostik|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Patrick Kruse|Richard Lovelace|Rob Kells|Rob Kells Competition 2010|Tom Lanning|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19703

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

http://ozreport.com/twitter

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010rk/

Unlike the previous day where the forecast for thunderstorms was after 1 PM, today the forecast was for thunderstorms before 2 PM. What that meant was that a trough was pushing through from the northwest and would be through our area by 2 PM. After that things would clear up a bit. We knew this going into the task, but it didn't sink into the task committee (or me) that maybe we should call the task later in the day instead of launching at 12:30 PM and starting the task at 1:30 PM.

A pilot mentioned that maybe the Sport Class could go first today, so we let them go giving them half an hour to get into the air. Perhaps this wasn't the best day to go first, as they probably would have been much happier to start a few hours later.

It was looking pretty iffy at launch time. We gave the Sport Class half an hour to launch from noon to 12:30. There were lots of cu's around, but also lots of scuddy looking clouds, shaded areas, vertical development, but no rain or anything else dangerous looking. Almost all of them got up fine and stuck under the cu's.

Now the task committee called an out and return task of 85 km first to the east (downwind) and then south (cross wind). I reported that the forecast was for a reasonably breezy west wind (8 knots) so although I had come up with this task, along with half a dozen others, I wasn't too keen on it. Jonny went out side and said that the wind was light west southwest. It was in the field, but that was not the forecast for the wind going up to cloud base.

The Sport Class representative on the task committee also wanted to go down highway 31 to the south, and have the goal down there at our second turnpoint. I sure couldn't figure that out. Anyway that was the task setup for the day, and the day was looking real iffy.

Jonny, Zippy, and Richard Lovelace were meeting (sort of) in the staging line back from the head of the launch line trying to come up with an alternate task or get everything postponed. But the rigids were pushing ahead ready to launch right after the Sport Class guys and a few flex wings were right behind the first two rigid wings.

The task committee needed to actually meet at the front of the launch line to make the launch line stop and wait for their decision on the task, but they didn't and the pilots launched and that was that for the task calling.

The lift was good under the local cu's and pilots were getting up to cloud base and waiting for the first start clock at 1:30 PM. I got towed up to 2,400' under a big black cloud so it was easy to just hang on and get to cloud base and then work to stay out of the cloud. That cloud drifted in the brisk west wind and dissipated about eight minutes before the  start window opened, so the fifteen pilots under it had to go back to another cloud closer to the Florida Ridge and work much weaker lift and except for Carl and another pilot not get to cloud base or above it when the first start window opened.

We headed out anyway as conditions were deteriorating, with a patch of rain to the northeast. It took less than four minutes to get to the first turnpoint five kilometers away to the east. Nice to have the downwind leg first, I guess, but I could only wish for it to be a bit longer.

There was a nice thermal just to the east of the turnpoint, downwind, but it looked good. I got in it, Julia joined me at the same level and we climbed to almost 4,000'. Ahead to the south it did not look good. A number of pilots had just taken the turnpoint and headed south, but it looked very dark and not very lifty in that direction, so I wanted to get high first.

Patrick Kruse, James Stinnet and I headed cross and upwind after leaving the thermal. Julia headed south toward a gaggle that Zippy had reported on earlier. I could see that they were climbing slowly and drifting quickly off course to the east. I wanted to find lift to the west upwind.

I saw Joe Bostik low thermaling west of that gaggle and came in at his level and we thermalled up to 3,100'. Still we were drifting east at 12 to 14 mph, away from the south course line.

To the south was a stretch of shaded ground at least ten miles thick on our course line. Zippy was reporting weak to no lift as he dove in there. I headed west on the north side of the shaded area hoping for better lift under the fast moving cu's. But I didn't find anything. I then saw Joe and Tom Lanning turning a bit to the south under the dark cu's. I went to join them.

The lift there was basically zero or a little less. And again we were drifting far to the east. There was an orange grove below us, a sort of a subdivision in the swamp just to the south, and open fields far to the east. I saw that we weren't going to get up or go anywhere along the course line so I headed south over the subdivision, which was drier anyway, and found a nice field to land in free of trees and power lines and fences. Joe and Tom landed further east not making much headway if any on the course.

Zippy landed about a kilometer from me, Jeff Shapiro about a kilometer behind. We found Dustin and O'Brien about six kilometers further along.

As we were picking up O'Brien we could see Chris Zimmerman overhead at about 3,000' He, Richard Lovelace, and Larry Bunner had low starts and had struggled on the first part of the course. This meant that they were about an hour behind. The shaded area had cleared up quickly and a half hour after I landed the sky was blue overhead with puffy cu's.

Larry didn't get but a little further than Zac, but Richard came within ten kilometers of the second and furthest turnpoint and Chris was within five kilometers to win the day.

The day got very nice looking at 2 PM and we all wished that we had been patient and delayed the task until 2:30 PM. Of course at 12:30 PM it looked like we had better get going or the day would be over soon.

Rob Kells Competition - Task 2

We outrun the overdevelopment and heavy rains

(Florida Ridge, Florida, USA)

Campbell Bowen|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Mark Bolt|Rob Kells|Rob Kells Competition 2010|Zac Majors

The Blogs and Tweets:

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19703

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

Scores on-line: http://soaringspot.com/2010rk/

With a NWS local forecast for a thirty percent chance of thunderstorms after 1 PM, it would be tricky to call a task. The forecast for light winds would indicate that we should come back to the Florida Ridge, but the forecast for thunderstorms said don't come back. The RUC/Dr. Jack forecast showed a convergence with very light winds to the west.

Jeff O'Brien, who was on the task committee today, suggested going west then straight north for a 105 km task. We also came up with an out and return task in case we decided to call that. I am trying something different, with a new task committee of three pilots every day, a total of twenty one pilots on the task committee. They also meet one day on the safety committee. So far it has worked out well.

The sky was blue at 10:15 when the task committee met with a few low level cu's forming around us. It looked like a thoroughly pleasant day, and we would feel that way too if it wasn't for the forecast of thunderstorms.

As we got ready to launch at 12:15, the cu's were thickening up especially to the west. You could also see some vertical development in them. I had added an additional start time at 1:15 PM, just to give us more options and to get people launched as they had waited around on the first two days. Launch still took a while to get going. I was again the first flex wing off, with only two rigids in front of me, and I was off at 12:35.

There was plenty of lift, better than the previous day, and it was easy to climb up to cloudbase. Jeff Shapiro was soon up with me and Dustin as well, although we couldn't hear from him. It soon became an issue of staying out of the clouds at 3,200'. The lift was weak at 120 fpm but consistent.

I followed a Olli and Jim in their ATOSes to the northwest to get over the highway (80) and found weak lift near the edge of the start circle, something just to hang out in until the start clock showed 1:15 PM. Shapiro and then half a dozen other pilots joined us hanging out and waiting.

When it is time to go I'm the first to leave the gaggle at 3,000', which of course on a weak day can be a pretty dangerous move. All the pilots behind can follow your track and if it looks like you aren't doing that well, they can take a different line. Jeff shades to the left as I search under a cu. He finds 200 fpm first and I come in 400' below him finding only 125 fpm. He'll quickly work this advantage into a five kilometer move ahead of me as I struggle in the weak lift for the next few thermals.

The cu's to the west have thickened up and now much of the ground is shaded, although still sunny where we are. It is clear that there is OD in the vicinity. Still no rain nearby and the air in mellow.

We race west and I find some good lift working thermals with other pilots and getting back up to over 3,000', then to over 4,000'. We are on a track south of LaBelle over orange groves. We are plenty high so there is no need to be concerned about possible landing areas. The orange groves are shaded, there are solid cu's almost every where and as we head west we can see rain to the south far enough away not to be a concern.

We race down the Caloosahatchee canal finding lift under the dark clouds. The turnpoint is just ahead just as the river opens up into the bay at Fort Myers. We head north westerly to get the turnpoint at intersection of highway 31 and 78 away from the dark clouds that have been mostly just to our south as we raced west.

Jeff O'Brien and Zippy caught up with me before the turnpoint and Shapiro was still about five kilometers ahead. They had taken the second start time at 1:30 PM and got a better start than I did. We had all been in communication so they also knew what Shapiro and I were encountering and where so that they could jump gaggle to gaggle.

O'Brien was flying smooth and mellow, just taking it easy as he looked about for the best lift and the best line.

Out north of the turnpoint in the sun we come in under Shapiro and a few others, probably Dustin and Jonny. They are topping out over 4,000' as we search for the lift down below that they were just in. With about ten pilots you would think that we would find it but we don't. We flail around for a few minutes before one pilot is willing to take the risk and go north a bit and suddenly there it is. We climb at 400 fpm to 4,300'. The lift is getting stronger.

There are a good number of pilots around now as we race to track down the front runners who are only a few kilometers ahead. Zippy and O'Brien will track them (Carl, Jonny, Dustin and Shapiro) down before the goal. We are flying over large tracks of Cypress swamp with little to no landing areas so we are grateful for the good lift when we get to it. Everything down below is of course soaking wet from days of rain.

Thirteen kilometers out I find 400 fpm with Derrick and Alex Cuddy. They are just above me and head off first. Using them as a gauge to the sink and lift in front of me, I go on final glide fast with a slight head wind. We all land in the field next to the former air strip, which has been sold and has a power line through it. Eighteen pilots make goal. Jeff O'Brien won the day. Jeff Shapiro is in first place over all.

The Sport Class had a goal at our first turnpoint. They had more difficult conditions given the black clouds on the course line. They were there a little later than we were. Mark Bolt made goal in a Wills Wing U2. A number of pilot's in Sport Class had their personal best flights.

A bunch of the rigid pilots made goal also. Campbell Bowen is in the lead in that division. At one point half way up the last leg  I was flying with three ATOS pilots and no other flex wings. Seemed like I was able to stay with them as they weren't pouring it on.

It rained heavily back at the Florida Ridge, so it was good that we didn't try to do an out and return task.

Rob Kells Competition - The Blogs

Other pilot views

(Florida Ridge, Florida, USA)

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Rob Kells|Rob Kells Competition 2010|Zac Majors

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

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Wills Wing pilots - Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro, Dustin, Zac Majors

http://rich-lovelace.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

Rob Kells Competition - Task 1

The weather changes

(Florida Ridge, Florida, USA)

Campbell Bowen|Chris Zimmerman|Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jim Yocom|Joe Bostik|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Rob Kells|Rob Kells Competition 2010|weather|Zac Majors

The forecasts have been changing rapidly during each day. So we haven't paid much attention to them other than for the wind speed and direction. The RUC and NAM are way under calling the surface temperature relative to the NWS local forecast for the Florida Ridge, so if the NWS is right we are going to have better lift and a higher cloud base than the soarcasts are predicting.

With a forecasted north northeast wind at up to 20 knots through the boundary layer (top of the lift) we call a turnpoint to the southwest and then Imokolee airfield  to the south. We need to get over to an actual highway going south to make for a possible retrieve and we can't go any further south than Imokolee as we soon run into the Everglades for real (well, actually Big Cypress Swamp).

It's a short task but given the vast uncertainly in the weather, the limits on what we can do to the south, the huge tracts of difficult retrieve to our south (but not to our south southeast or south southwest) it is the best we can do. We would call some upwind legs if we thought that cloud base would be high or if the lift looked like it would be strong, but we don't know that and after a full day of rain and rain the day before we aren't looking to find crackin' thermals.

We also set a Sport Class task, a short one, just to the turnpoint for the open class. We are very concerned that Sport Class pilots will not stay away from the difficult to retrieve areas and I caution them to go against the north wind and stay as close to highway 80 as possible. Still some will end up where they will be unhappy with their ride home if and when it comes.

I launch along with the rigid wings who took their own sweet time about getting going. No one in the Open Class is all that excited either. I pin  off a little early in weak lift that is attractive enough to bring over Campbell Bowen and Jim Yocom in their exotic versions of the ATOSes, but which doesn't get very strong or get us very high.

I'm struggling along with Jeff O'Brien who got off early also, having to push back upwind to find lift and still stay in contact with the launch area. We both lose it and land and get yanked up a few minutes later. By then Jeff Shapiro and Jonny Durand have gone on course at the 1:30 PM start clock.

We both get good tows to a well marked thermal/gaggle two kilometers south of the Florida Ridge flight park. This is necessary but it's not great as we really want to stay as far north as possible against the north wind. The wind is averaging about 13 mph out of the northeast.

The lift is much better when you start higher up and O'Brien and I climb up and join Zac Majors. There is a line of small cu's coming at us from the northeast so we just jump forward and a little north to get under them and stay in the lift. We could leave at 1:45 PM from 3,500' but we wait for the 2 PM start gate at 3,200' and a bit further to the north, which makes it easier to stay upwind of the course line.

Zac leads out with Max, a Brazilian pilot next too him. I'm third with Derrick Turner. and Joe Bostik in tow. We head west northwest away from the west southwest course line to get to the nearest bank of clouds and stay away from the blue hole on the course line. The cu's are congested to our west and north.

Zac finds good lift to 3,900' as the wind pushes us down the course line just north and upwind of it. Zac and Max leave, then later Derrick and finally Joe and I. We see them head into the dark and get low so Joe and I head toward the light and the edge of the congested cu's to the south and stay higher. Soon we are high over Derrick but don't see Zac or Max. Jim Yocom is low and soon landing. Another ATOS pilot is low there also way below us but gets back up.

I find weak lift (50 fpm) and five or six of the pilots who started behind us come in under and join me including O'Brien. This only gets me to 3,000' so I move ahead.

Joe and Chris Zimmerman have gone ahead but are in the shaded area and low. I find 170 fpm just before the turnpoint and climb back to 3,300' before nicking the turnpoint and heading south. Zac is low at 800' and climbing slowly. Jeff is likewise.

I see a pilot in front of me turning wide turns, climbing slowly and drifting downwind. I make the mistake of not joining him, as all those behind me do, and don't find any more lift over the soaking wet fields.

Jeff Shapiro was the first into goal with Jonny Durand three minutes behind him, then Dustin. Zac, Joe,Julia, and O'Brien made goal, as did about ten pilots, a third of the field. The task was short (in time and distance) relative to the GAP parameters so it will be devalued. We knew before we started that it would be a less than 100% valid day.

Scores should be up late tonight. Jamie Shelden will start the downloads in half an hour and I'll do the scoring after that.

Lots of Pictures from the 2010 Wills Wing Demo Days

Jeff O'Brien takes lots of shots at Wallaby Ranch

(Wallaby Ranch, Florida, USA)

Jeff O'Brien

http://www.willswing.com/blogs/PilotBlogs/tabid/38/EntryId/250/Ranch-Tastic.aspx

It's great to see everyone having a great time.

Wills Wing Keels - not just aluminum tubes

They are polished and then anodized

(Wills Wing Factory, California, USA)

gear|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Wills Wing T2C

When you pull on the VG line the cross bars have to move back along the keel. There is a Delrin ring connected to the cross bar junction that slides along the keel when you move the cross bars back. You want that Delrin piece to slide as smoothly as possible. There are already plenty of forces pushing against you as you pull back on the VG line, so keeping the slider action as smooth as possible is important for pilot comfort and reducing pilot fatigue after many VG pulls.

Silly me, I thought that the keel was just a piece of aluminum tubing. I didn't think much about what Wills Wing (and I assume other manufacturers) might do to that tube to make sure that it was smooth and stayed that way. I just fly 'em, I don't build 'em.

I got interested in the keel tubing, when I looked at the new keel (that is being tested) that you'll find on some new Wills Wing T2C's (not on mine or Jeff O'Brien's, but on Jeff Shapiro's and a few others). They are black anodized, I thought to go along with the optional carbon fiber stinger. Yes, there are a few carbon fiber stingers out there in the testing phase (for strength and durability). I'll have some pictures soon.

But when I spoke with Wills Wing designer Steve Pearson, I got a short lesson in keel surfaces. Wills Wing first polishes the keels-to-be before it sends them out to be anodized. This is the first part of the smoothing process. There are three different anodizing processes that Wills Wing has used, one which they won't be using in the future.

There is Type II (clear), Type III (hard), and Bright dip (and others) anodizing. Almost all aluminum used in a glider is anodized other than some interior sleeves. You can read more about it here.

Anodizing increases corrosion resistance and wear resistance, and provides better adhesion for paint primers and glues than bare metal.

Wills Wing used to have its keels Bright dipped, but the company that was nearby them that used to do it is going out of business because it would be too costly to upgrade their operations to meet new environmental standards. This does not mean that anodizing can't be done in a way to meet these standards, rather that it can be too expensive to update existing facilities.

Wills Wing is having another company do Type II anodizing to its aluminum pieces, which was standard for most of them anyway. It is experimenting with Type III anodizing, and on the keel, also baking on a layer of Teflon as part of the anodizing process. The Type III anodizing makes for a nice slick surface to begin with (especially when combined with the initial polishing), and adding the Teflon layer just ups that even more.

But there are problems. Type III anodizing produces a very hard surface. So hard that it almost immediately destroys regular drill bits. Even very expensive carbide bits ($100/each) are quickly destroyed. So there are currently production problems, which need to be worked through to make this work.

Making something simple and easy to use, like a VG, is actually very complicated. It must be simple because the pilot has a lot of other things to think about when flying. It's nice to know that Steve Pearson is back there thinking about just how to make things simple.

Wills Wing Days at Quest Air

They have basically begun

(Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA)

Dustin Martin|Jeff O'Brien|Quest Air|Steven "Steve" Pearson

Steve Pearson and the Jeff's showed up Thursday night. Friday has been a day of recovery from the drive across the country. A few gliders have been setup on their control frames to dry out from the torrential rains that they drove through and came here last night.

Tim Ettridge is finishing up the new bathhouse. Russell has added two Dragonflies to the mix to make up four, pulling them out of the trailers that haul them across the country. Extra toilets have been brought in. Flowers have been arranged. The field has been in good shape all season and looks even better now. (There is a full time mower person here.)

The Jeff's have spent much of the day putting together their Wills Wing Covert harnesses, installing the Dustin Martin produced back plates. I got to try on Jeff O'Brien's harness and it is close to fitting for me.

Friday has been windy out of the west, 10 gusting to 20 mph. Looks like that will calm down for tomorrow, a forecasted sunny day. The chance of rain on Sunday is 50%.

Skiing and flying

What danger, he's got a parachute after all?

(Aiguille+du+Midi)

Jeff O'Brien

http://www.zapiks.com/speed-riding-antoine-montant-1.html

From Jeff O'Brien's blog.

Discuss "Skiing and flying" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wills Wing Demo Days

Covert available to try on

(Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA) (Wallaby Ranch, Florida, USA)

Dustin Martin|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Mike Meier|Quest Air|Steven "Steve" Pearson|weather

Mike Meier <Mike> writes:

A reminder that Wills Wing will be in Florida later this month for a full week of glider demos and other activities, starting at Quest Air from Saturday, March 27^th through Tuesday, March 30^th, and then on to Wallaby Ranch starting Wednesday, March 31^st through our annual dinner and party on Saturday night, April 3^rd. All are welcome for any part, or all of the week of activities.

Wills Wing designer Steve Pearson, and Wills Wing competition pilots Jeff Shapiro and Jeff O'Brien will be on hand throughout the week to provide demo rides, answer your questions about glider design, glider tuning, competition strategies, or anything else you want to ask about. Mike and Linda Meier from Wills Wing will also be on hand for the Wallaby portion of the event.

The new "Covert" competition harness, co-developed by Steve Pearson and Jeff Shapiro, will be available for you to look at, drool over, and maybe even try on, (depending on how closely your sizing matches the harnesses we'll have on hand). If you've been following the development of the harness on Jeff Shapiro's blog at http://willswing.com, you'll be anxious to get a look at this innovative design.

We also expect to have other informational activities available, such as tips and techniques for getting the most out of your flight instruments, questions and answers on glider certification, and possibly some fun, competitive flying tasks, depending on interest and time available. (The better the weather is, the more time we'll spend flying, and the less time we'll spend talking...)

Hope to see you there!

A secret: The Covert is here at Quest Air. Dustin has placed a new very heavy duty back plate in it. It is an amazingly cool harness. It isn't available for public viewing or trying on just yet, but I've seen it.

Just a few more days to send in the money

(Grotta, Monte Cucco, PG, Italy)

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 the17^th January. Confirmed pilots whose receipt of payment does not reach the organizers by 17^th 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.

150 out of 250

(Montecucco, Italy)

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 17^th 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

150 out of 250

(Montecucco, Italy)

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 17^th) or they go to the end of the line. Starting on the 17^th, 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.

Helping Children Wherever We Fly

A new classroom for the children

(Canoa LZ,+Ecuador)

Belinda Boulter|Jeff O'Brien|video

Jeff O'Brien started us on this path with this:

Then he inspired Ricker Goldsborough, who raised money among his friends in the Tennessee Treetoppers. Then more folks came aboard and by the time we went to Ecuador in late October Ricker and Jeff were able to present a substantial donation to both the medical clinic in Guayaquil and the school in Canoa. See here: Social Responsibility.

Coming back from Ecuador, Ricker set up a non profit foundation, the Cloudbase Foundation, to gather further funds from pilots and their friends to help children wherever we fly. The idea is to build a strong connection between the pilot community and local people helping children. Jeff O'Brien was very careful to find substantial local groups doing the kind of work that we want to help and can use the money to efficiently deliver services.

This month Belinda and I donated an additional $6,100 (on top of our previous $400 donation) to the James Dean Byrd Foundation to build a new classroom at the school in Canoa. We sent the money directly to them as it will take a few months for the Cloudbase Foundation to obtain its non-profit status. Ricker has collected additional funds that will go toward funding a teacher for a year ($3,000) and for the medical clinic.

Here is what the school administer wrote to us:

Just read of your commitment to the school. Jim is sitting beside me and we are overwhelmed. Thank you is such an inadequate phrase. This is an amazing donation. Of course, we will have the plaque as you described. And as Ken told you we plan to start building as soon as school finishes at the end of January. I will start ordering and buying the building materials right after New Years. Thank you so very much for making this possible and for helping our kids.

Each classroom has a plaque on it honoring those who donated to make the classroom possible. This classroom plaque will state:

Hombres Pajaro
Belinda and Davis

This plaque again makes clear the connection between the pilots who fly there at Canoa (and wherever), and the assistance that we offer to the children of Canoa. We want to continue to build community good will wherever we fly.

Consider what you can do to support Jeff, Ricker, and the Cloudbase Foundation as well as our specific efforts in Canoa and Guayaquil. Please take a moment to look at Jeff's video (all the way through) and read the web sites to see what we, all of us, are doing.

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The Flytec Race and Rally

Plenty of International pilots

(Florida Ridge, Florida, USA)

Dustin Martin|Flytec Race and Rally 2009|Jeff O'Brien|Rob Kells

http://flytecraceandrally.wordpress.com/pilot-list/

Thirty five pilots so far have signed up in December for a meet at the end of April. Still no Dustin or Jeff O'Brien.

Still no pilot list for the 2^nd Annual Rob Kells Memorial Competition. This is a great meet and you'll wnat to come to it to get ready for the Flytec Race and Rally.

Discuss "The Flytec Race and Rally - who has signed up so far" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Video of the year

Editor's choice

Jeff O'Brien|video

There is no comparison to this video, Jeff O'Brien's.

Social Responsibility

The Cloudbase Foundation

Other very cool videos:

Reader's choice?

Here are the links to the videos from this year: From YouTube and Vimeo

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Camera Mounts - the professional level

Jeff O'Brien reveals his secrets

camera|Jeff O'Brien

Jeff's Blog entry re camera mounts.

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David Aldrich in California

A Montage

(Andy Jackson Flight Park, San Bernardino, CA, USA)

Jeff O'Brien|video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCUD3_zMtsE

Thanks to Jeff O'Brien and David Aldrich.

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“Helping children where ever we fly.”

(LZ, Canoa, Ecuador)

Jeff O'Brien

Hombres Pajaro has a new official non profit foundation name and Ricker is moving ahead getting it all set up.

More information soon.

Jeff O'Brien reports that we have raised an additional $1,900 since we returned from Ecuador. All that money will go directly to the school and to the clinic in Ecuador.

Currently donations are accepted here: Donation to Birdmen helping in Ecuador.

The idea, of course, is that we, as a community of pilots, can provide help to children at the sites that we fly at. We are currently funding two projects, one of them the English school in Canoa, Ecuador. You can find out more about it here: Social Responsibility.

Discuss "Hombres Pájaro" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Wills Wing Demo Days at Quest Air Hang Gliding

March 27–30, 2010

(Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA)

Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Jeff O'Brien|Lauren Tjaden|Quest Air

Lauren Tjaden <tjadenhors> writes:

Is your mood headed south after the long winter? What if you headed south instead?

Wills Wing Demo Days will be soaring into Quest Air Hang Gliding from March 27 – March 30, 2010, providing you with the perfect excuse to ditch your jacket in the nearest snowdrift, catch a little sunshine and a lot of air time.

You’ll be able to:

• Fly your dream machine. The Wills Wing trailer will be stacked with demo-gliders, giving you ample opportunity to find one that’s a perfect match for you.
• Soar the Sunshine State’s legendary fat, soft thermals.
• Enjoy a plethora of parties, poker and pizza.
• Prove your piloting prowess. Informal contests -- including a spot landing contest, a duration contest and the ever-popular “Toss-the-Teddy” contest – will add to the flying fun.
• Meet your heroes, like U.S National team members Jeff Shapiro, Jeff O'Brien, Dustin Martin and Davis Straub.
• Relax in the sunshine. Non flying activities include swimming in Quest’s pool or lake, canoeing, relaxing in the hot tub or playing volleyball. And get this! Quest doesn’t charge membership or grounds fees.
• Save on shipping. Wills Wing can give your new glider a lift to Quest on their trailer, which will save you the cost and risk of shipping it. Don’t dilly-dally: this service is strictly on a first-come basis.
• Buy your dream machine. Most of demo gliders will be available for sale immediately after the Wallaby event. Do you smell a deal?

For more information call 352-429-0213, email <info> or check out the Quest website at: http://questairforce.com/index.html. Quest Air Hang Gliding is located at 6548 Groveland Airport Road, Groveland, FL 34736.

Short packing and unpacking a WW T2C

Jeff O'Brien shows you how to do it

Jeff O'Brien|video

The video here.

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The USHPA advertises the upcoming competitions

I asked the publications committee to display the button ads

(Embassy Suites, Austin, Texas, USA)

Jeff O'Brien|USHPA

A month or so I asked Steve Roti (volunteer web guru) and Urs Kellenberger (head the USHPA BOD publications committee) if they would put up the hang gliding competition ad buttons that I had Jeff O'Brien create for the Oz Report and for my efforts to promote the 2010 US hang gliding competitions. These ad buttons would serve the goal of promoting growth (well, at least of competition) so they fit right into the primary goal of the association.

Steve and Urs were enthusiastic about this possibility and it was approved by the Publications Committee and the USHPA BOD on Saturday. Steve had them in rotation immediately up on the web site at http://ushpa.aero. Thanks to all involved.

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Jeff O'Brien on flying in Canoa

It's all about the telephone poles

(Canoa LZ, Ecuador)

Dustin Martin|James-Donald "Don" "Plummet" Carslaw|Jeff O'Brien

His blog post.

Launch looking north. After town the north cliffs begin.

First there's the start: The minimum sink glide to the edge of the start cylinder is practiced over and over. The cylinder must be crossed within five seconds of the start time or you're playing catch up the entire race. This year we flew an exit start 1.5km away from launch. It's necessary to tarry in the clouds over launch to ensure maximum height heading out.

The dive: As you strain to keep your closest competitors in sight through the clouds, your vario signals you've attained the start and you confirm visually. Look right, look left as you bury the bar and feel the speed build. There is nothing to hold back. You've got 700ft. To literally burn as fast as you dare. On day one, I had an ear to ear grin as I looked at my airspeed to see 135kms per hour and Dustin off my wingtip plummeting just a bit faster.

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The limit is 150

(Grotta, Monte Cucco, PG, Italy)

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

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

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

As from 7^th 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 17^th 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.

Social responsibility

Ricker writes to his friends

(Canoa LZ,+Ecuador)

Belinda Boulter|Davis Straub|Jeff O'Brien|PG|video

Ricker Goldsborough <<gci>> writes:

It is departure day from Ecuador today and I have to say that I have strong and mixed emotions this morning. A good part of me wants to get home to what my brain thinks is normal life, but the other part is compelled to stay in Ecuador. The flying in Canoa is just that good. Not to mention that ridge racing is so much fun. However, the major emotional pull is on my heart as a result of being with the children. To be a part of such a wonderful thing is an honor and gives a new meaning to my life.

It is difficult to put to words the effects that we had on the school and mission here in Ecuador. To say the least would be to say we made a difference. But in fact we did so much more. You and some friends of mine that are outside the hang gliding and paragliding community donated over $4,500.00 allowing us to give both the Mission and the School hope. Our ongoing commitment will require your continued support and will constantly remind the public of our good nature.

Jeff O'Brien, Davis and Belinda, myself and others have decided to continue to support the Mission (Father Frank) by giving $500 each month to go towards medical supplies. In addition to this, we committed to give the school in Canoa $2900 now and an additional $3,100.00 by March of 2010 to build a new class room that will be named and labeled after hang glider (and paraglider) pilots. Additionally, we will provide them with one year's pay to staff this new class room of $3,000.00.  A total of $5,900.00 is needed by March 2010 to meet our commitment.

Belinda Boulter had the opportunity and took the time to further develop a very close and personal relationship with the school officials in Canoa resulting in our ability to qualify what we are doing. Many tears were shed when we announced to them our plan and handed them what money we had to offer at the time. Davis Straub (Oz Report) will be assisting in many ways and adds more to this than I can explain at this time. The mix of people and supporters is simply amazing.

James Dean Byrd crying as he receives the money from Ricker and Jeff.

The results of the commitment will raise the awareness of hang glider pilots around the world and set a good example for others to follow. However, the primary reason we are doing this is because it needs to be done and our hearts are drawn to do so.

I ask that you continue to support these commitments, but not by donating your own money. It is very important that you go to family and friends that are outside of the hang gliding community and ask for support. Let your hearts guide you along the way as we develop a new organization of hang glider pilots supporting children everywhere we fly. Please help us meet and exceed our commitments.

You can donate by clicking here: rgg1@charter.net with a credit card or PayPal.

I would love to see wide distribution of Jeff's video:

Jeff's video on YouTube.

http://vimeo.com/7092548

Jeff will be working on another video to document what we have done here in Ecuador. Jeff's first video is very powerful. It would be fantastic if it went viral. It is a great video to watch, very beautiful and moving. If these video links got passed around that would help. Accompanied by the link to the donations above. It would be great if you could help out by passing along this article.

Discuss "Social responsibility" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The 2009 Canoa Open

The final press release

(Canoa LZ,+Ecuador)

Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Fausto Arcos|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Kraig Coomber|Rafael Arcos|Raul Guerra|record

Jorge Andant <<jorgeandant>> writes:

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The 2009 Canoa Open

Wrap up

(Canoa LZ, Ecuador)

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro

• Jamie Shelden
• Jeff O'Brien
• Jeff Shapiro
• Alex Cuddy

The second and last day of the Canoa Open was run in slightly lower winds. Cloud base was again about 1,200'. In the start cylinder all the pilots were striving to get to cloud base at the edge. If you are eleven seconds off the edge of the start cylinder (as I was) you are already 300 meters behind. It is tricky getting to the edge at exactly the right time, but the top four pilots were there with Dustin in the lead.

This is what your altitude looks like at the start going from 1,200' to 500' as you cross a 1km wide gap in the hills:

The race was run between 120' and 600'. We had the same course as the previous day with a 4 KM run over the town, so that all the beach-goers could see us fighting it out. We would arrive back at the small ridge at 120', three quarters of the way down its face, then climb as we raced across it to launch level. We then left this little ridge to cross the next gap and again arrive at about 120' on the main ridge.

Dustin and Kraig averaged 41 mph throughout the course on the second day.

The prize-giving ceremony was bigger than the one at the 2009 Worlds in France. With a huge fireworks display, the Minister of Tourism here to present the awards, two musical acts, lots of media, hundreds of people from Canoa and tourists, an experienced announcer pumping up the audience, trophies for all the winners. This is the fourth time in a row that Dustin has won the meet.

It's hard for me to believe how much this little country without great financial resources puts into this little ridge race. And how much respect we as Hombres Pajaro get from the crowds and the country. Quite a contrast with the US.

Ten years ago Canoa was a sleepy fishing village with one hotel. Today maybe thirty small backpacker hotels. We stayed in the fanciest hotel in town for $50/night/room. Or about $20-$25/person/night.

The 2009 Canoa Open

Day two and final results

(Canoa LZ,+Ecuador)

Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Fausto Arcos|Jack Simmons|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Kraig Coomber|Raul Guerra|Wills Wing T2C

• Jamie Shelden
• Jeff O'Brien
• Jeff Shapiro
• Alex Cuddy

Final results for Open Class (the top ten out of twenty):

Final results for Sport Class (the top six out of eleven - total time for two days):

The 2009 Canoa Open

Day two preliminary results

(Canoa LZ, Ecuador)

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Kraig Coomber

• Jamie Shelden
• Jeff O'Brien
• Jeff Shapiro
• Alex Cuddy

Day Two:

1. Dustin Martin
2. Kraig Coomber
3. Jeff O'Brien
4. Jeff Shapiro

Overall:

1. Dustin
2. Shapiro
3. O'Brien
4. Kraig

Sport:

• Jamie Shelden by a long shot on the Moyes Litesport.

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Social responsibility

Presentation at the hotel

(Canoa, Ecuador)

Jeff O'Brien|PG

All the pilots here had a presentation today at our hotel to give $2,900 from monies received from pilots around the world to the English school. The money will go toward building a classroom (the total required for one classroom is $6,000) and paying the yearly salary for one teacher ($3,000). Obviously we haven't collected enough to pay for either of those two goals yet.

We envision a classroom with the sign on it saying: Donated by Hombres Pajaro (Birdmen). We need to raise an additional $6,000 to be able to have that sign and pay for the teacher for a year. We are hoping that hang glider and paraglider pilots will reach out to others to help these children and their school.

The women in blue on the left is Moya, administrator, $150/month part time salary. Ricker is shaking hands with James Dean Byrd, who started the foundation that supports the school. He has paid most of the teacher's salaries for two years. Jeff O'Brien is standing next to Ricker. The man in the white shirt next to Moya is Victor, the principal. He was working in the state school system for $600 as a principal (he is a Canoa native) but hadn't been paid in four months, so he quit. He never got his back pay. He works for $400/month at the school.

James Dean Byrd with the money from Jeff O'Brien. Moya reaching out to Ricker.

You can donate by clicking here: rgg1@charter.net with a credit card or PayPal.

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Wills Wing Demo Days at Quest Air

Enthusiastic support from Wills Wing and the new Quest Air management team

(Quest Air, Groveland, FL, USA)

Belinda Boulter|Dustin Martin|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Quest Air|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Wills Wing Demo Days 2010

Saturday, March 27^th through Tuesday, March 30^th.

Steve Pearson writes:

I'll have a full trailer of demos and I'm hoping that we can arrange some other activities in conjunction with the event. I'm pretty sure that Jeff Shapiro, Jeff O'Brien and, of course, Dustin will be there to help. I haven't talked to Davis but he's always very helpful too.

As a reminder, we have room on the trailer on a first-come basis for transporting new gliders which saves the shipping risk and expense. Most demo gliders will be available for sale immediately after the Wallaby event.

Belinda and I will be there in the Oz Report world headquarters helping out in any way possible.

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The 2009 Canoa Open

Day one - strong winds and a good race day

(Canoa, Ecuador)

Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Fausto Arcos|Jack Simmons|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|Kraig Coomber|Mike Glennon|Raul Guerra|Wills Wing T2C

• Jeff O'Brien
• Jeff Shapiro
• Jamie Shelden
• Alex Cuddy

The day started with sunshine and an off shore flow. The race didn't start until 4:30 PM, so there was plenty of time for the winds to turn around. By the time we got up to launch at 2:30 PM (after a day at the beach) we were surprised to find quite strong winds which made us think a moment about launch conditions.

After that moment, we got about the business of getting off the hill and getting ready for the race. The sun had been gone for a long time hidden behind thick grey clouds, with a cloud base of 1,200'. We could see the wind lines on the ocean shift from west to west southwest, straight in. It looked good. I placed the ten pounds of lead that I borrowed from Raul in my harness pocket.

The launches turned out to be a piece of cake and it took only a few minutes to get to cloud base. But the point was to stay low and practice the course for the next hour and a half. With the strong winds it was easy to complete the course.

The sketchy part was the leg over town. The main ridge gives way about a kilometer south of town. The task requires going over the middle of town and then back to that ridge. There is a small ridge where the lower takeoff is located and you do go over that going to town and coming back.

I checked out the altitude required leaving the ridge going over town and getting back to the ridge. It looked like 700' would be a safe bet, getting back with 300' after a four kilometer glide.

As the start time approached I headed back to the launch area and the highest cliffs which were producing the best lift. The pilots started to huddle together getting ready for the start, trying to get as high as possible. The cliffs were about 1.5 km from the edge of the exit start cylinder and our first leg was to the south.

In the last two minutes we headed to the edge of the start cylinder away from the lift and lost a little. Dustin and Jeff O'Brien stayed high at or slightly above cloud base. The rest of us were a bit lower, maybe 100' to 200' below cloud base. Some of us headed out toward the ocean to get a bit of a down wind run.

Dustin and O'Brien got the best start. I was 300 meters behind the edge of the start circle when the clock started, which is way too much. Shapiro was in third. Kraig peeled off not content to start 300' below Dustin and he went back for the second clock (there is no penalty for starting later as time is the only consideration.

We dove across the big gap to the next ridge and got down to 500' heading south. The pilots were spread out and racing hard. We stayed between 400' and 600'.

Coming back to the north I left the ridge south of Canoa at 580', less than the 700' that I felt comfortable with, but there were other pilots nearby, even if they were a bit higher. As I approached the soccer field in the center of town I started to turn, but turned 70 meters too early. I had to turn back around the other way to get the cylinder. Four pilots caught up with me on that maneuver.

Coming back to the small ridge at the lower takeoff I came in at 160' much lower than on any of the practice runs, but this was the real thing, so I put the wing close to the cliff and rode the lift up along the small hills and kept going. I was back down to 190' when I got back to the main ridge and the race began in earnest again.

Jeff Shapiro had passed Jeff O'Brien and was going after Dustin who was far ahead. We had a lap and a half to go for the 53 km race.

The winds were just right and the lift was good so there was no need to do anything except stay within the lift band and keep from getting too high. Some pilots were very fast (and some landed out):

There is a sport class here also, and they had a bit smaller race. The results are as follows for those who made the full course:

The 2009 Canoa Open

Day one turns into the third practice day

(Canoa, Ecuador)

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro

• Jeff O'Brien
• Jeff Shapiro
• Jamie Shelden
• Alex Cuddy

With a heavy overcast and a good wind the day starts with mist in the air. The start window is set to open at 4:30 PM so we don't go up the hill until about 2:30 PM. As we setup on the higher launch the mist gets a bit thicker and the gliders get covered with droplets. Cloud base is maybe 1,500'. The frigate birds are soaring above us.

The mist stops and we get ready to go with the start window opening moved to 5 PM. But before we can get off the hill the day is called (don't know just why). We all go flying anyway and do the task which calls for a long run over town without any lift. It's pretty exciting getting down to 200' (Jeff Shapiro and Dustin down to 80') over the power lines and the highway, before making it back to the hillside.

With the overcast and the lateness of the day it is dark and a bit hard to see the other competitors. Maybe that is the reason that the day was called.

Jeff O'Brien looked fast. Others also.

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The 2009 Canoa Open

The second practice day

(Canoa, Ecuador)

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro

• Jeff O'Brien
• Jeff Shapiro
• Jamie Shelden
• Alex Cuddy

The second day brought much lighter winds so we took off from the higher launch (about 500'). Even with the lighter winds there was lift and it was possible to get up a couple of hundred feet over soon after launch.

Despite the light conditions I quickly jumped over the big gap to the south. Once there I figured out fairly quickly that there was no ridge lift but there were thermals coming over the large flat area between the hills and the ocean. I started twirling it up and got much better height than when I was just ridge soaring through the thermals.

Most pilots just stayed on the main ridge that contains the launch which is closer to the ocean and had reasonable ridge lift. They didn't want to jump the gaps like they did yesterday. Alex landed out before re realized that the lift was thermal lift on the south ridge.

Jeff Shapiro was going fast again as was Dustin and Kraig. O'Brien seemed to be hanging back a bit and staying higher. Shapiro and Dustin would get down to 400' or so.

I jumped the gap a second time an hour later and it was still thermals. Kraig said that another hour later it got better. It is just so far back from the ocean that the thermals can "block" the wind or maybe the wind has died, but there is so much land that the thermals can form. You can see the cu's above the ridge.

It has been sunny here unlike most days that we were in Guayaquil. Started off overcast, then breaks up, then cu's from the thermals start over the hills and in front of launch (further south), then later the overcast comes back.

One crash on launch apparently from a local pilot who has a history of poor launches (and landings). Tried to push his way off launch by pushing out, stalled and smashed down into a hole to the right of launch. Knocked out cold. From the air he looked dead to me. He woke up after five or ten minutes and was helped up the hill. Broke his nose. He is in the hospital for evaluation. Dustin says he rammed hard head first into the hill side.

The place is filled up with pilots and this should be an exciting weekend.

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The 2009 Canoa Open

The first practice day

(Canoa, Ecuador)

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Kraig Coomber

• Jeff O'Brien
• Jeff Shapiro
• Jamie Shelden
• Alex Cuddy

It is good that we have two practice days here as the new pilots need to get accustomed to the site. Dustin is already aware of just how to fly here but Jeff Shapiro and Kraig Coomber and others (like me) need a refresher course in flying at the beach, especially this particular site.

Around 1 PM we went to the launch (there are two) nearest to Canoa, maybe a few hundred yards outside of town to the south up a dirt road. The launch is a little less than 300' above the beach/town area. There is a new small hotel (three stories) being built just behind the launch.

The launch is a rounded slope behind a steep face which drops down to the road into town. Plenty of room for all of us to set up. Some of the pilots went to the other higher launch about five kilometers south of town.

We will be racing on the hills that face the ocean. The hills are quite steep on the ocean side no doubt due to sloughing.  The hill heights range from about 300' to maybe 1000'. They are quite a ways back from the ocean itself, varying between maybe a quarter kilometer in most places to almost a kilometer twelve kilometers south of Canoa at the southern turnpoint.

The area between the hills and the water is dead flat with a wide sandy beach area right next to the water and the rest of the area in grass or scrub. There is plenty of room to land in the unlikely case that that becomes an issue.

The race course is from Canoa south almost to San Vincente. There are three gaps in the hills along the course line, the longest about a kilometer. You lose maybe up to 300' crossing the longest gap, and 100' on the shortest.

The hills sometimes have cliff faces although often they are rounded and covered in brush and trees. It is the near the end of the dry season now and everything looks brown and dead. There is a lot of variation in the height of the hills as you run the course, and one set of high tension lines that you've got to be sure to be above.

There is a big gap (maybe two kilometers) to the north of our low launch on the south side of Canoa for the river and delta area that make up Canoa itself. There are cliffs to the north and I had no problem getting to them from about 500' at launch. Unlike our course area, there is little to no beach area below the cliffs to the north of Canoa, just pounding surf.

The lift was good there and it was easy just to let the bar out and continually climb to 1,450' as I flew along the cliff line to nine kilometers north, getting up into the cu's forming just in front of the cliffs. This reminded me of flying at Redhead in Australia.

The Jeff's, Dustin and Kraig were flying very fast today. There may have been others going as fast but those were the ones that I was trying to keep up with, not successfully. Tomorrow, lead (I didn't bring mine), VG adjustment, hang height adjustment, and maybe a few other things. I'm flying with just my bicycle helmet, so no head pulley. We have one more practice day and then it begins for real. But first, social responsibility at the school, and then flying.

Discuss "The 2009 Canoa Open" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Social responsibility

We visited the James Dean Byrd foundation-supported school

(Canoa, Ecuador)

Belinda Boulter|Jeff O'Brien|PG

Belinda and I walked through the town this morning and it was pleasant enough with lots of school kids and small businesses. Asking directions at the cyber cafe we found our way to the English school that we (all of you hang glider and paraglider pilots) are supporting (PayPal here: rgg1@charter.net). The owner of the cyber cafe (I think he may have been the owner) had his little girl at the school (paying the $25/month tuition).

We had a great visit and everyone is going over to the school on Friday morning. The school is lovely with beautiful bamboo walled classrooms with concrete foundations and thatched roofs. There have been many donations and they have the money to build the next classroom (one for each year as the students progress). They teach kindergarten through the second grade now. They have some donated laptops and there were high school students working in the office as interns using them.

There is a government school just a block away and of course most of the kids in town go to that school, but this is a school where the kids that go there learn English. It costs about as much to attend the government-supported school as it does to attend the English school. Kids who attend the government school have to buy three uniforms (even if their parents are poor). The yellow shirts for the students at the English school are donated.

I visited all the classrooms and had fun with one class where I threw the small students in the air if they said to me "I want to fly." An extra English lesson.

I am very excited about the possibility that the world wide hang gliding and paragliding community (it was a paraglider pilot who knew about this school and told Jeff O'Brien about it) could have a huge impact on a school that is doing great work in the community. These kids are lovely and they appreciate the attention that they get in a loving school. If our community really takes on this project it will help out those in great need as well as show that our community really does have a sense of social responsibility and can focus that in areas where we are having an impact with our flying.

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Social responsibility

Our crew visits the poor areas

(Guayaquil,+Ecuador)

Jeff O'Brien

Hang glider pilots around the world have helped out those who work with the poor here. Jeff O'Brien reports on the trip that five of our pilots made into the poor area here.

The mission compound has a daycare that houses 65 children from age 0 to 4.5. The cost for the daycare is $4 per month. Most of the babies come from single mother homes.

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Day Two

(Guayaquil, Ecuador)

Dustin Martin|Guayaquil XC Championships 2009|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|record

• Jeff O'Brien
• Jeff Shapiro
• Jamie Shelden
• Alex Cuddy

The prospects for good flying conditions were bright Tuesday morning as we woke up to sunshine and cu's. When we got to the launch after noon it was coming in strong with good launch conditions so we were encouraged to get setup right away.

I was second off soon after John Hesch and found very light conditions that caused me to really eek it out along the hill sides working a little above zero. It took a while but finally I found a little something better and worked my way up to 1000' over launch (which is 1000' above the LZ) and over the ridge line to the east.

Now I had to wait for the others to get going. The idea was to go over the back to the north and into the interior of Ecuador. There would be a retrieval crew, but you wanted to stay with others to keep in touch. I had neglected to hook up my head set to my radio not having used it in a while, so I wanted to be sure to fly with others. Also I wanted the assistance of other pilots in finding thermals.

As I waited around at cloud base at 3,200' the others took off and finally I was joined by Dustin, Kraig, Alex, and a few others over the first set of towers to the east of launch. I wasn't sure anyone was going over the back as we were all dawdling about, but I kept my eye on Dustin and Kraig. When they decided to go I left at 3,400' with them, but a hundred feet lower (which I hate). I lost track of everyone else except Alex who was below and behind us.

A few kilometers over the back is a sprawling slum area of dirt roads and one room shacks. We had designated fields to land in if we didn't encounter any lift, but we found it right away under the thin cu's. It was pretty exciting climbing out over this huge densely populated area but it felt completely safe as we could see the fields nearby.

In what seemed like a few minutes we were past our three designated LZ's and heading out into the country along the river. The main highway was just on the left side of the river and the idea was to follow it.

Kraig found some good lift about twenty kilometers out from the launch and then Dustin found better. We climbed to over 4,000'. I was behind them now by about a kilometer but as high as I left just in the wispies. They headed northwest away from the river and toward the clouds.

It was a long glide and as I watched them ahead for any signs of lift I got lower and lower and began also checking out the possible landing zones. The area below was part of the delta and quite flat with lots of rice fields. You actually didn't want to land in the rice fields as they had water in them.

There was a sea breeze that came in as we headed past the twenty kilometer mark but I didn't notice it. There were light cu's ahead and the lift had been very consistent so far, so I was not concerned at first.

I didn't see Dustin or Kraig find anything before I got too low to keep searching and I went to land in what turned out to be a dry rice field. They did find something just upwind of where I landed about 40 km out from the start. The breeze was quite strong when I landed.

There was a sea breeze convergence just beyond where I landed. Dustin and Kraig found light lift back to 2,000' and then were able to get over to it. The convergence cloud soon became very obvious.

I got on the radio right away to Kraig (Dustin hadn't brought his radio so he was going to stick with Kraig) and made sure that he could relay my location to retrieval when he could get a hold of them. The field workers, who were working in the rice paddy next to me, came over and helped me break down the glider and carry it over to the wider dirt path/road.

There was a motorcycle driver passenger carriage on the path and we tied the glider down on top of it and the driver took me to the town a couple of kilometers away where I could wait on the main road for retrieval.

Pablito came with Alex who landed back at the third designated LZ and we headed off after Kraig and Dustin. This was the main road to the northwest that went to Canoa, so we will be traveling on it today (Wednesday) on our travel day. Lots of speed bumps in the towns as we passed through them.

Dustin land Kraig landed together about 80 to 90 kilometers out from the launch setting the new Ecuadorian Guayaquil distance record by surpassing Raul's 2004 record from Guayaquil of 40 km. They were one kilometer behind a locked gate on a large ranch, but we found the gatekeeper and road in to find them. They will split the $500 prize money that Raul put up for breaking the record.

As they got further away from Guayaquil the land rose. They landed next to a mountain range and in rolling hills. They had been flying the sea breeze convergence and getting high, Dustin to 5,700'. There were some field fires and they recalled seeing two separate fires with the smoke from each fire converging and marking the area of lift.

Dustin and Kraig break the Ecuadorian distance record

The press release translated from Spanish

(Guayaquil,+Ecuador)

Dustin Martin|Jeff O'Brien|Raul Guerra|record

Jorge Andant ORGANIZER writes:

DELTA WINGS Breaks Record FLIGHT OF ECUADOR

With success opened all the sports event "Birdmen 09" which is an international championship of hang gliders. Over 30 pilots from the United States, Australia, Canada, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador met in Guayaquil, Saturday and Sunday 24 and 25 October, for the first part of the agenda. The pilots tuned their equipment, while demonstrations were made to the public and the press in specially equipped facilities for the event, in the urbanization LZ 10.5 km up the road to the coast.

The Minister of Tourism, Verónica Sion, attended the fair to inaugurate the new Center for Free Flight Guayaquil, comprising the launch at "Bototillo" located at 305 meters in the hills of Chongón-Colonche and two airstrips in the LZ.

Typical food, music and narration from an announcer who reported on the development of the event, gave the weekend format, while the pilots gave away kites to children and the sponsors displayed their products in booths specially prepared.

On Monday and Tuesday, the pilots had a cross country competition. On Monday, the flight conditions were not good because it was very cloudy and there were no thermals.

This was used by several pilots in the United States team, who, led by Jeff O'Brien and Ricker Goldsborough, visited the mission of Father Frank, with poor children in the suburbs and made a donation of resources, previously collected from the community U.S. hang glider pilots, medicine and basic necessities.

On Tuesday 27 October, the pilots were rewarded by nature with ideal conditions for cross country flight. Taking off at 13:00 from the launch at "Bototillo," flying north of the province, separating in search of rising thermals to allow them to achieve maximum glide distance to clinch the trophy.

Already at 16.30, after the first hours of flight, pilots Dustin Martin (defending Champion from 2008) and Craig Coomber, Australian team, had already broken the record for gliding over Ecuador, set by the pilot Ecuadorian National Champion Raul Guerra, at 40 km. Flying north of the province's population they approached Pedro Carbo, using a "corridor of clouds" that allowed them to claim victory and a new flight record. Meanwhile, the logistics team followed them and ready to pick at their point of landing.

For on Wednesday 28, the "Birdmen 09" will have their reward in the Blue Room of the Olympic Committee, receiving the trophy three winners of the competition of "Cross Country" as well as the prize for the new national record flight on Ecuador consisting of $ 500. After that will they attend the press interviews, and then go to Canoa, Manabi, where they will race during the holiday of 31, 1 and November 2, giving a show to the public.

On Monday, 2 November the "Hombre Pajaro 09" will end with the grand final awards, concert and farewell party at the hotel "Wonderland" Canoa, Manabi.

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Ecuador on Sunday

The sun comes out, we fly again, and the crowds show up again.

(Guayaquil,+Ecuador)

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|video|Zac Majors

Dustin Martin|Jack Simmons|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|video|Zac Majors

Jeff O'Brien

Jamie Shelden

Alex Cuddy

What is the deal here in Ecuador? The crowds came out again to watch the hang gliding, both foot launched and aerotowed. Don't they know that there was at least one soccer game on? I guess because we are not too far from town, and they were serving beer and plenty of food, that we represented a pretty good way to spend an afternoon.

We also had some media with video cameras in the LZ and up at the launch. Dustin was asked by Manino (organizer) to perform some aerial ballet for the cameras and he happily obliged.

Instead of the usual overcast skies, we had a bit of sun (maybe 10% at first and much more later) mixed with the cu's. This made for up and down flying, nice thermals, but the two Jeff's went down early (second and third to launch). Raul in his new Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 and Matrix harness got off first and skyed out.

I waited until Dustin launched (fifth) and went right after him. He found 400 fpm to the left of launch (launch is 1000' above the LZ) and I just stayed in it while he used it to get high enough to do the show for the TV guys.

I got to 3,200' and was a bit worried about the cu's sucking me up as there were so few holes around. I found some sink to get down a bit away from the clouds then headed down the range. It took a second effort but I later hooked up with Jack Simmons after getting down to 800' and we flew to the east end of the ridge line to town for a little cross country excursion. Maybe the real thing tomorrow when the two day cross country competition begins.

Many pilots flew, some for not too long., I was able to get in a couple of hours again. The lift was extremely pleasant. There seemed to be plenty of places to land if one couldn't make it back to the designated LZ.

The Jeff's got pulled back into the air after Raul landed (I assume after being very happy that he stayed up as he watched them land). The whole US National team is here other than Zac Majors. Of course, numerous other US pilots and pilots from other countries including Colombia and Australia (Kraig).

From Ecuador's point of view, the more international pilots the better, because really they are the only ones with the authority and connections (through social media) to get the word out about the good flying here.

The sponsors (click above to see the actual sponsors).

Branding a country.

The LZ. These are not flags, so pay no attention to the wind direction that they would supposedly be showing.

The local Toyota dealer is a sponsor (we pay the insurance). The Americans have two trucks to use for whatever they need.

See the blogs for more pictures.

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Ecuador blogs

Two so far, more to come I'll bet, as they get time to write.

(Guayaquil,+Ecuador)

Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien

Jeff O'Brien

Jamie Shelden

Wireless in the room and $23/person/day in a "four star" hotel, at half price (as a sponsor).

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The first day is the day to rouse the press.

aerotow|beer|Canoa Open 2009|government|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Red Bull|trike|TV|Wills Wing T2

(Guayaquil, Ecuador)

On Saturday after most of the international pilots put their gliders together they headed over to the newly created official LZ to get interviewed by the assembled media and to get up the hill for the official opening of the launch and the new Guayaquil Center for Free Flight, just a few minutes from downtown Guayaquil. The opening was be presided over by the Minister of Tourism.

All the television networks were at the LZ and there were photographers snapping pictures from every corner of the field. I couldn't move without hitting one.

Raul wanted us to split up with half the pilots going up to the launch and the other half or so aerotowing behind his trike. I was borrowing Raul's Wills Wing T2 144 (actually renting it) and I set it up right away and got ready to be towed up. No reason not to go first.

The sky was overcast, as it is apparently almost all the time here. We are on the Pacific coast after all. Cloud base was a little over 2,000' with thin black cu's underneath the dark grey overcast skies. We had been told that this didn't matter, there would be thermals without direct sunlight.

With television cameras spread out all along the runway. Raul towed me up first long before the pilots up on launch took off. I pinned off at 1,800' and going over to the hillside next to the launch found that there was indeed plenty of light but sustained lift. The hills were covered with broad leaf trees that reminded me off Australia hillsides. A few trees stood out, the big bare open ones that are almost ready to release their "cotton" like balls of seeds.

After about half an hour Jeff O'Brien was pulled up and started wingovers above the launch to the delight (or at least attention) of the camera operators there. It looks like we'll have pictures spread out over all the newspapers and TV stations over the weekend (before the soccer starts on Sunday).

The sky filled up with pilots and given the fluffy conditions we all played around charging the launch and twirling about like guys who actually enjoyed playing in the air and playing for the cameras. Jeff O'Brien could just not be held back. No ridge lift, no winds, just thermals up and down the ridge as we played just above the trees and then circled up to cloud base.

After a couple of hours Jamie was high and went out front toward the Mangrove swamps. The river inlet was just a few hundred yards from the LZ and across the first bit of the river low lying fields spread out throughout the Mangroves. A dark cloud under the overcast was forming just over the LZ. When Jamie got there she started climbing. We glided away from the hill to join her away and sure enough there was 200 fpm back up to cloud base.

The LZ was filled with onlookers who had responded to the insistent TV ads, eating local food, sitting under the Red Bull tent, drinking Red Bull or beer. An enjoyable (media filled) day was had by all.

More on Sunday and then the Guayaquil cross country contest begins (and lasts for two days). On Wednesday we head for Canoa and the Canoa Open.

Ecuador

Good works and good hang gliding together

(Canoa, Ecuador)

Jeff O'Brien|video

Jeff O'Brien <<jeffobrien4>> writes:

I've made some key contacts down in Ecuador. I'm hooked up with a priest named Father Frank who does a very small donation by donation supply buy to supply some of the poorest in the slums around Guayaquil. Medicine, diapers, food, and helps locals get work documents, visas, etc.

Then there's a school in Canoa funded by the James Byrd Foundation.  http://JamesDeanByrdFoundation.org/

The working budget for the school per month is $2500. They bring in about $1000 and have a $1500 dollar deficit that's made up by donors. I've made a couple of contacts within the school. We're bringing down basic supplies like printer toner cartridges, white erase board markers, workbooks, etc.

You can make your donation via Paypal at: rgg1@charter.net

http://vimeo.com/7092548

Discuss "Ecuador" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Ecuador

Helping out along the way.

(Ecuador)

Jeff O'Brien|Keith Atkins|video

Ricker Goldsborough <<GCI>> writes:

This short film by Jeff O'Brien is sure to explain further what is difficult to put into words:

http://vimeo.com/7092548

I am pleased to announce that Jeff O'Brien, Kent, myself and a few others are going to Ecuador to fly in the Canoa Open Hang Gliding Race. Our trip begins with a departure from Miami, FL. On 10/23/09. This trip will be full of media attention, racing, road trips and lots of fun.

In addition to the hang gliding fun, Jeff O'Brien has committed to helping the children in the very poor areas that we will be traveling through. As a result of many deep conversations with Jeff, I have decided to assist him in raising money and forming a new non profit organization that will gathering goods to distribute to the children every where we go to fly. This upcoming trip will be the first of many attempts to help the less fortunate around the world.

To this end I humbly ask for your assistance. We are currently taking pledges for monetary donations to support this upcoming trip's goals. All funds will go towards the purchase of school supplies, shoes, medical items and life necessities. It is difficult to carry the needed items to Ecuador so our plan is to purchase them at the local stores and markets then hand carry them to the mission, schools and homes for the children. Please keep in mind that these children have very little and even a $10 dollar donation goes a long way. To date I have raised a total of $1,350.00.

If you would please contact me directly. We will share with you where your money was spent when we return. Jeff and I will be documenting our purchases and distribution of items on film so that you can see the good you've helped make possible, first hand our efforts.

Please Please Please do what you can to support our efforts and keep in mind that we will be doing this every where we go to fly. This will also help to establish our good reputation at home and abroad.

Thank you all for your financial support to date  in our effort to help the children in Ecuador.

We have been working hard to coordinate efforts and to insure that we provide the children with what they most need. To this end I have received a list of items to purchase and bring with us. Some of these items will be purchased here and then hand carried to the children. We really need your help in doing this so please make a donation now. 100% of all donations will be used for the benefit of the children, their church, and their school.

Very soon we will have a PayPal account that donations can be made directly and our formal non-profit organization information will be available so that the proper tax documents can be provided. Until then we will need your cash contributions ASAP. You can make your donation via Paypal at: rgg1@charter.net

I am going to go shopping for some of the needed items today. Among other needed items, the school has asked for children's educational and recreational DVD's. These DVD's will be going to the school for the younger children. If you have any to donate please send to me at the following address along with your monetary contribution ASAP : Ricker Goldsborough 4066 Willow Lane Madisonville, LA 70447.

We are scheduled to depart for Ecuador the morning of 10/22/09. The time is short and the need is great. Please help today!

We have raised a total $1,700.00 of the desired $10,000.00 for this trip.

Keith Atkins <<bluemonkeyglider>> writes:

Everyone who has not yet done so: Please consider supporting this laudable charity project by Jeff O'Brien, Ricker Goldsborough, and their South American contingent.

Ricker's paypal account is: rgg1@charter.net. You can make an immediate contribution quickly and easily.

For those of you have already contributed and those who may decide to do so, please post something on Flymail and the Oz Report forum about your contribution, your reasons for doing so, and why others should, too. This is a great opportunity to help people in real need and, at the same time, generate priceless good will for hang gliding and those of us who are so very fortunate to have discovered the sublime experience of soaring like a raptor. The more people who donate and talk about it on Flymail and the Oz Report forum, the more likely others will do the same.

This project gives each of us the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people without the basics we take for granted everyday and promote a positive impression of hang gliding and hang glider pilots. It's being delivered and monitored by people you know and trust, you can be a part of this for a mere monetary donation of any size you're comfortable with, and it feels good to give and to help others less fortunate than ourselves. Everybody wins!

If you think this is a worthy cause, please mass mail this message to all your hang gliding buddies and ask them to consider offering their financial support. Ricker, Jeff, and the others will be leaving for Ecuador on October 22, so they need your contributions ASAP.

Ricker and Jeff: I am sending you an additional $200 to go towards the expenses of your group. This will at least buy you all a few meals.

Discuss "Ecuador" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Do you agree with these proposed changes to the NTSS?

Let's take a look at the actual proposed changes.

(USHPA headquarters, Colorado Springs, CO, USA)

CIVL|Glen Volk|Jeff O'Brien|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Rob Kells|USHPA|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

One part of the CWG/LMR proposal is to count each entrant as bringing 1% or 6 points (assuming the maximum was 600 points). US NTSS ranked pilots bring additional points as per the chart below:

So the pilots ranked from one to five would bring an additional 18 points each. The total number of points brought would be the pre-meet value (or validity) of the meet. The final validity would of course depend on how the flying went.

Now a key difference between this NTSS system and the current one, is that foreign pilots are not counted other than as warm bodies, i.e. they get 6 points. Currently pilots with high WPRS points (from CIVL) bring lots of points to the meet in accord with their quality as competition pilots.

Do you agree that only US pilots should count in US meets in determining the value (pre-meet validity) of the meet?

Last year Jonny Durand Jnr and Carl Wallbank brought 90 of the 600 points to the Rob Kells Memorial meet and the 560 points of the Flytec Race and Rally. Should those meets be worth less because we wouldn't count their points brought to the meet under the CWG/LMR proposal?

Should not Glen Volk, Zac Majors, and Jeff O'Brien not get full credit for beating Jonny Durand Jr, who btw is currently ranked number one in the world? How about Jeff Shaprio, who beat Carl Wallbank?

More on the proposed changes in later articles.

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The LMR NTSS formula exposed

What difference does it make?

(USHPA headquarters, Colorado Springs, CO, USA)

Ben Dunn|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Rob Kells|USHPA|Zac Majors

Ben Dunn|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Rob Kells|USHPA|Zac Majors

The CWG/LMR proposal is to count each entrant as bringing 1% or 6 points (assuming the maximum was 600 points). US NTSS ranked pilots bring additional points as per the chart below:

Now the LMR proposal actually changes the maximum to 1000 points, but that makes absolutely no difference and it is easier to use the existing 600 points maximum to be compatible with results from the previous year (2008) which uses the 600 point maximum.

Foreign pilots are counted as warm bodies only, and only one foreign meet over two years counts.

Again, Dave Wheeler has graciously volunteered to determine what the outcome would be if this system was applied to the 2009 hang gliding competitions. This is the result of his analysis:

Most meet got fewer points, one got more, two stayed at the minimum. There was a general flattening out of the differences between meets, as about the same number of pilots attended them and the quality of pilots counted less.

So how did this affect the top ten in the NTSS ranking? Here's how:

The new ranking based on the LMR proposal:

Here is the original ranking:

Again not much has changed in the top ten.

So why are we going to all this trouble if it doesn't make any difference? Or you could ask, why are some meet organizers opposed to this particular part of the LMR proposal if it doesn't make any difference? Again the cream rises.

Well, it is a good thing that the top ten stays the same essentially, because that means our competition system is robust. We can make drastic changes to how we calculate who are the top pilots and it doesn't matter, the top pilots are the same top pilots. It's good that we can't jigger the system to choose those pilots whom we may favor for extraneous reasons.

But, of course, the question is would this new proposal bring in new competitors because it would be perceived, even if it isn't the case, as more egalitarian? Is perception enough to change reality?

Also, assuming that other meets spring up for whatever reason, do they now seem valuable because they can have about as many points as the "big" meets because presumably the warm bodies count for so much (although it is not clear that they do)?

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Changing the NTSS formula

Does it really matter that much?

(USHPA headquarters, Colorado Springs, CO, USA)

Ben Dunn|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|PG|Rob Kells|USHPA|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

Ben Dunn|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|PG|Rob Kells|USHPA|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

I've adopted the proposals first proposed by paraglider pilots for changing the NTSS points brought to a meet by NTSS ranked pilots in my proposed changes to the USHPA Competition Rulebook. You can find the proposed changes in this document. This is the proposed change:

1. Each competing pilot in the meet (a competing pilot is one who has duly registered and flown at least one competition day) who is NTSS ranked 80_th or higher brings points to the meet in accordance with the following schedule:

Pilots ranked 1_st - 15_th: 45 points
Pilots ranked 16_th - 30_th: 30 points
Pilots ranked 31_st - 45_th: 20 points
Pilots ranked 46_th - 60_th: 15 points
Pilots ranked 61_st - 75_th: 10 points
Pilots ranked 76_th- 80_th: 5 points

Previously it was:

Pilots ranked 1_st - 10_th: 45 points
Pilots ranked 11_th - 20_th: 30 points
Pilots ranked 21_st - 30_th: 20 points
Pilots ranked 31_st - 40_th: 14 points
Pilots ranked 41_st - 50_th: 9 points
Pilots ranked 51_st - 60_th: 6 points
Pilots ranked 61_st - 70_th: 4 points
Pilots ranked 71_st - 80_th: 2 points

In addition this change:

1. Foreign pilots are welcome and allowed in USHPA Sanctioned competitions.

Pilots ranked 1_st - 100_th: 45 points
Pilots ranked 101_st - 200_th: 30 points
Pilots ranked 201_st - 300_th: 20 points
Pilots ranked 301_st - 400_th: 15 points
Pilots ranked 401_st - 500_th: 10 points
Pilots ranked 501_st - 600_th: 5 points

Previously it was:

The NTSS ranking is made up only of U.S. pilots. However, the NTSS recognizes, for the purpose of points calculation, an equivalent foreign pilot's ranking according to the most current WPRS ranking with the top 20 places equal to the top 10 U.S. pilots and the WPRS ranking 21 through 40 equal to the NTSS 11 to 20 and so on up to WPRS 140 through 160 equal to NTSS 70 through 80.

As you can see my proposed change to the NTSS competition program involves giving NTSS ranking points to more pilots so that they bring more points overall to competitions that they attend upping the perceived value of those meets (and thereby encouraging others to attend).

Dave Wheeler, who volunteers to do the NTSS ranking on the USHPA, graciously volunteered to see what difference this proposal would have made in the 2009 meets. Here is the result of his analysis:

Here is how the overall validity of the 2009 hang gliding competitions changed under this proposal:

Here is how the top ten ranked at the end of the year (2009). First the new ranking under the new proposal:

Original top 10:

No change in positions, just an increase in the overall points and a bit more spread out. Ben Dunn came out worst.

So, under my proposal the cream still rises to the top, in exactly the same order, as it turns out. But the perception has subtly changed. Now smaller less well attended meets have higher relative value. The message for the future is that you might do well to attend these meets and gather points.

Also these meets may be perceived as having more value to pilots not yet in the top ten and therefore encourage their attendance. Overall, this proposal can be seen as tempering the "elitist" nature of the NTSS by spreading the points out more.

Next on the agenda, what does the LMR proposal due to the NTSS ranking?

Discuss "Changing the NTSS formula" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The 2009 Santa Cruz Flats Race

A few quick thoughts

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Alex McCulloch|Ben Dunn|David Glover|Dustin Martin|Facebook|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Kraig Coomber|Lucas Ridley|Robin Hamilton|Russell "Russ" Brown|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2009|Terry Reynolds|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

• The results will be here.
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Kraig Coomber, flying a Moyes Litespeed, won three days. Dustin Martin and Zac Majors each won one day, each flying Wills Wing T2C-144's.

Kraig Coomber, Robin Hamilton, and Derreck Turner, all flying Moyes Litespeeds placed retrospectively first, second and third.

Team flying was a big deal at this competition, with a group of southern California pilots flying together. Of course, the US National team (minus Jeff Shapiro) flew in radio contact and often together.

There was only one bad landing, Terry Reynolds, who broke his keel on the first day coming early off tow and trying to land back close to the launch, instead of just landing safely. No injuries, and no other problems. A very safe meet, as all the tow/flatland meets have been all year.

The US airspace data file from SeeYou/Naviter doesn't reflect changes in the definition of controlled airspace around Phoenix, which are less restrictive than previously. The new values can be found at http://skyvector.com. The data files from SeeYou/Naviter are based on the files in the OpenAir data format, see http://www.justsoar.com.

Lots of pilots who are new to competition showed up and really enjoyed themselves. This meet is seen as very friendly to pilots new to competition, with easy retrieves, great air conditions, large open landing areas, and amenities for the wife.

We all paid for a new asphalt runway. The organizers didn't earn any money from the meet. Meet organizers are earning little to nothing from these competitions.

We have another launch site nearby if there are east winds. We'll be ready to use it next year.

Pilots want to come back to the Francisco Grande next year. I'll have more details on this soon.

The 2009 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day Seven

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Alex McCulloch|Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|David Glover|dust devil|Dustin Martin|Facebook|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Lucas Ridley|Russell "Russ" Brown|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2009

• The results will be here.
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• Lucas' twitters
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• Jamie Shelden
• Her tweets
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• waypoints & tasks

The Santa Cruz Flats Race ended on a great note. As one new competition pilot said to me the last night, this was a great meet and venue for a the first time competition pilot, especially because it is very driver and wife friendly. We are all at the hotel (Belinda and I were actually a mile down the highway at an RV Park that charges only ten dollars a day).

I set a triangle task of 92 km from the asphalt runways at the Francisco Grande Hotel south east to the Sunland turnpoint, north east to the small airport at Sarita, then west back to the hotel. A full fledged task for the last day and no one would be more than half an hour away from the hotel.

The lift started slowly after noon and we just didn't get very high at first. We were kept to 2,500' (1,200' AGL) at first, then 3,000', then after forty minutes to 4,500'. After an hour the we started climbing well from 4,500' and twenty minutes later were over 8,000'. That day had finally turned on.

I was ready to go so took off first, but half a dozen of us were high and Zippy, Jeff, Kraig, Dave, Greg, Eduardo, and a few others started off also (Dustin and Derreck waited for the second start time). Jeff moved ahead when I stopped for some light lift. We followed and he found 600 fpm. Zippy was too far the left and missed it and kept going. We climbed to 8,600'. The day was looking like the best so far.

I spotted a small dust devil ahead and headed out in front again to catch it. We all got together again and climbed to 8,700'. The day was looking even better.

I took the lead again and making the turn we headed north west toward Sarita. Zippy was down below us. One more thermal and then we were just south of the freeway (I10) and the town of Eloy. Running into 400 fpm we climbed to 10,000'.

We now had to get around the sky diving spot at Eloy. We could see the jump plane flying above us to our north and most of us went west around the airfield.

After all the good lift we glided 13 km before we were down 5,000' and found 340 fpm, which started off weak and broken. We were only able to climb to 7,500 before we all headed out toward Sarita. Dustin and Derreck had caught us at this weaker thermal, finding even better lift behind us. Zippy also caught up in this thermal and I headed off with him. It was thirteen kilometers to the turnpoint.

The wind was directly cross out of the northwest as we headed northeast. Two kilometers short of Sarita we were down to 2,000' AGL with everyone else behind us. I stopped in light sink looking for something to turn on as Zippy continued.

As I circled and everyone else behind me searched around in the general area, Zippy made the turnpoint and headed west. We were watching and in contact with him.

Down to 1,400' AGL I made the turnpoint and again went searching for lift. Zippy, 2.5 km upwind to the west found some at 1,200' AGL. He didn't want to report anything at first, but later it would turn on there.

While he worked lift that turned into 250 fpm to our west, the rest of us worked weaker lift as we drifted east, downwind on the turnpoint and away from goal.

Zippy also drifted back to the turnpoint before heading out at 5,500'. The rest of us drifted further back and climbed more slowly.

We were working back up against a 9 mph wind and losing distance every time we started climbing. Zippy stayed out in front while the rest of us were 5 to 10 km behind him working similar weak lift.

Working slowly Zippy moved forward and was able to make it in first to goal. I landed 24 km short, Dustin was eleven kilometers ahead of me and Jeff O'Brien seven kilometers from goal. Derreck and Dave were also able to make it in.

We all had a great time at the Santa Cruz Flats Race and look forward to coming back next year about a week earlier. The air conditions here are wonderful. The ground conditions are perfect. We had only one poor landing, where the pilot broke the keel. No injuries. No scares. Lots of fun.

The 2009 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day Six

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Alex McCulloch|Ben Dunn|David Glover|dust devil|Dustin Martin|Facebook|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jim Yocom|Larry Bunner|Lucas Ridley|Russell "Russ" Brown|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2009

• The results will be here.
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• Jamie Shelden
• Her tweets
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Another great day in Casa Grande at the Santa Cruz Flats Race. We decided to call a triangular task even with a forecast of substantial east winds up high. A day with no cu's, of course.

We called a 92 km task, first to the northwest to the Estrella air field, then due south to the intersection of 84 and Interstate 8, then back to the Francisco Grande Hotel.

I was off after Dustin who found lift to the south of launch. I found weak lift over the golf course and stuck with it. While others searched around I stuck with it and soon climbed out to 5,700' high above the rest. But the lift stopped at 6,000' and after a while we were all up there at the top of the lift.

We tried going north to get up at the edge of the start cylinder but didn't find any lift. We had to come back and try again. It was hard to get above 5,500'. We flew around in the start cylinder for almost two hours finally getting up at the edge of the start cylinder just before 2 PM. As this was the first good lift we had had in a while, we all stayed in it and didn't go out on the course line until four minutes after the last start time at 2 PM.

We had all huddled up at the north edge of the start cylinder but we spread out heading to the northwest. Eight kilometers out we spotted Jim Yocom in the AIR ATOS climbing over a feed lot. This was indeed good lift and we got back to 6,500'.

Nine kilometers later we all joined together again and climbed to 6,000'. Not super high, but high enough. Derreck headed out toward the turnpoint fifteen kilometers away after tiring of fighting in gaggles with the other pilots. I followed as did the gang of a dozen.

Six kilometers from the turnpoint Derreck came over a small dust devil that was producing 500 fpm. We joined him and climbed to 7,000'. The five guys over me headed out and after gaining another thousand feet I joined them heading for the turnpoint. Derreck was out in front.

It was fifteen kilometers before we found lift again. One pilot had faded off to the west to get into the range of hills. The rest of the pilots in front of me stayed over the cultivated lands east of the course line heading for a small hill, which was working.

Derreck and I were lower by about two hundred feet) than the other five but got to the lift first. It was only 240 fpm. Derreck and I left together at 5,300' while those above us also went but higher, obviously.

We had a hard time finding lift after this hill. I faded west and Derreck went easterly after gliding seven kilometers. Derreck went over a small hill and found zero sink. I went over to join him. After five minutes we had gained two hundred feet to 1,600' AGL.

I spotted a small dust devil two kilometers to the east and went for it as Derreck drifted not gaining anything to the south toward the next turnpoint.

Down to one thousand feet over the very weak dust devil, I held on in lift that averaged 73 fpm for twenty minutes. It ran out at 4,200' and I had to head out over Sonora Desert type land looking at all the Saguaro Cactus. I didn't want to hit one.

Meanwhile Derreck was groveling toward the turnpoint not finding much lift but not going down fast. He finally found something at the hills just before the turnpoint and got up, but not high.

Down to 400' AGL over lots and lots of Saguaro, I was mapping out the possible routes through the bushes and trees and cactus for a landing. Still I was in 27 fpm, so I held on as I really really didn't want to land. Three minutes later I finally found a better core, lift that averaged 185 fpm.

As I struggled down below, I had heard that Kraig, Zippy, Dustin and Jeff had made the turnpoint and had climbed high, Jeff and Dustin to 7,000'. Fourteen minutes later I lost the lift at 4,600' and went to the turnpoint. I could see a glider turning near me but passed the turnpoint.

I came back under Larry Bunner but only found 100 fpm. I should have just stayed with it until it improved. I went further down the course, found 100 fpm, but lost it. I landed 20 km short soon thereafter in a nice open field.

Kraig, Dustin, Zippy, and Jeff were still on the course but getting close to the goal. Kraig won the day with Dustin in second. Derreck got low again and almost landed but held on in weak lift and was able to make it in late.

The 2009 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day Five

(Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona, USA)

Alex McCulloch|Ben Dunn|David Glover|dust devil|Dustin Martin|Facebook|Flytec 6030|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Lucas Ridley|Russell "Russ" Brown|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2009

• The results will be here.
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• Alex Cuddy
• Eric Donaldson
• Lucas Ridley
• Lucas' twitters
• Ben Dunn
• Alex McCulloch
• David Glover's tweets
• Russell Brown's tweets
• Jamie Shelden
• Her tweets
• Ricker Goldsboro twitters
• waypoints & tasks

With an east-northeast surface wind like the last two days but this time not too strong (and forecasted to last two more days) we headed up to the small GA airfield seven miles to the north west of the Francisco Grande Hotel to find a spot away from the trees and not in the rotor. The field was wide open and there was a nice packed dirt runway next to the main paved runway, so it was easy to launch there.

We don't have many waypoints to the west as that direction goes away from the nice cultivated fields around Casa Grande and puts us into the Saguaro cactus country (Sonora Desert). We had a few waypoints along the highway and one at the Gila Bend airfield. So we sent pilots on a short downwind task (70 km) thinking that the head wind would be 9 knots if we came back to the hotel.

Jeff and I were off early and climbed out west of the launch area. The task had a twenty nine kilometer entry start circle around the first waypoint, a radio tower out in the desert, and we started working our way north with Zippy. Larry Bunner joined up up with us.

The wind was about seven mph out of the northeast, so it was a slog going north and finding lift. But was had started early so we had plenty of time to get going. We wanted to get east-northeast of the first waypoint so that we could have a good downwind run to it. There were just the four of us together.

We decided to take the first start time as we were as high as we had been (7,000'), all of us together (we figured Larry would go with us), and we had a chance to grab the early arrival points. With four of us flying together we figured we had a good shot at helping each other find lift.

It turned out that Jeff O'Brien could hear us but didn't know that we couldn't hear him on the radio. Bunner was on another frequency. Zippy said that he was going at the first start time, I said that I would go with him, and all four of us started then.

We went on a sixteen kilometer glide without finding any lift. We stayed to the north of the obvious green areas and away from the cultivated fields to try to stay in the driest areas. Neither asphalt nor gravel pits worked out for us, and we turned south to check out the cultivated areas finally finding 200 fpm at 1,500' AGL.

This was a disaster. The whole point of leaving early was to get away from everyone else and get to goal first to get the extra points. Now we were low and in light lift in our first thermal on the course. Five minutes into it Zippy radioed that there was a dust devil upwind two kilometers to our southeast. We all headed for it. Of course, Larry didn't hear the news so was late getting to the party.

The dust devil wasn't that great but got us back to 5,300' at 300 fpm. The three of us together headed west over the small mountain range hoping to find lift on it. We left Larry groveling low in multiple dust devils.

We didn't find any lift on the hills, but again found 200 fpm beyond them as we got down to 2,300' AGL. Now were were in big trouble. Two weak thermals, not much out of a dust devil, not very high. We were having a hard time racing.

We were all climbing together, after Jeff came back to get in what I had. Back to 6,000' Zippy called on us to go ahead. We all did and quickly found better lift. I was 50 feet below them. After a few turns Jeff and Zippy go ahead but Zippy forgot to call me on the radio to tell me that they were heading out.

I climbed another 600', then went forward after I asked Zippy where they were and run into 600 fpm. This got me to 8,200'. I left this good lift to chase after Zippy and Jeff.

We were still out in front with no sign of pilots catching us from behind. We heard from Dustin that he had pushed too hard and was down just behind us. We were thinking that maybe things were bad behind us.

I came in under Jeff and Zippy but couldn't quite catch them even though I had had a good run behind them, and had climbed higher than they did. Climbing in a thermal just before the next set of mountains I saw Kraig Coomber and five buddies come in a few thousand feet below me. They had obviously started later. I was anxious to go.

I could have flown over to Kraig and just stayed above him, but I wanted to race ahead and get to goal first. Not a great idea. My 6030 did say that I had goal made, but it was still over twenty kilometers away, so that L/D business is pretty unreliable.

Jeff and Zippy were just ahead and I figured I could use them to spot thermals, but that didn't work out so well. Down to 1,500' twenty kilometers out, I stayed in whatever lift I could find until I could find the better core. It took a while to catch it as Jeff and then Zippy made it into goal. I finally got back up enough to go on final glide at up to 70 mph over the ground.

Kraig and his buddies (half a dozen of them it seemed) who had worked well together got in before me. Lots and lots of pilots made goal later.

Larry Bunner did get up in the third dust devil that he went to. He then went to the hills to the west and found 1000 fpm up, which got him quickly to goal.