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topic: Greg Kendall (84 articles)

Our most recent 2022 Supporters/Subscribers

Tue, Mar 15 2022, 1:07:08 am GMT

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Tue, Sep 28 2021, 8:50:00 pm MDT

What a great competition

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Almost every one had an extremely fun time flying in Casa Grande last week. Six days out of seven were flown. It was great that we didn't fly the one day that we didn't. Rain on the day after. Rain on the day before.

Really enjoyed the day that we flew in the weakest conditions. Really enjoyed the day Zac and I climbed so high and just finished much faster than anyone else.

Task calls were very appropriate for the limited number of hours of daylight in late September.

We had great support from the volunteers especially at the launch. Launch conditions were excellent.

Scoring was very rapid and it was taking place remotely in Colombia. The trackers worked great after the first day (don't know what caused the problem on the first day).

You can review the races here: https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-2021/blog__day_7 with Replay.

Day seven is quite interesting: https://airtribune.com/play/5526/2d

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Sat, Sep 25 2021, 11:33:56 pm MDT

Day 7, task 6, narrative

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

The task:

My flight:

I hang on this time behind Bobby Bailey and he finally flies straight and to a turning pilot. I join up and there is a reasonable amount of lift around (less than 200 fpm). The pilots climb up together and we get to 6,300' a couple of times before taking the second clock at 2:15 PM. We are all outside the start cylinder and have to go back to get the second start time.

We all head out together and there are little bits of lift here and there but not much worth turning in. I make a few turns then head for Casa Grande Mountain and not finding anything there keep going east to the spot where I found good lift before when I came in second for the day. We've got an north northwest wind, the same as on that previous day, and I'm looking to get away from the hill, sort of in the lee and over some clear looking field.

At 1,600' AGL I find the lift and climb to 6,600' drifting in a 9 mph north northwest wind toward the first turnpoint. I nick the turnpoint and head southwest toward the Baker turnpoint. The few pilots that I see are quite a ways below me.

I quickly find more lift and climb to 6,500' before it gives out. I find good lift again and climb to 6,700' in a 15 mph northwest wind. The lift has been easy to find and the climbs, while not great, are plenty strong enough. I want to be high going into the hills before Baker.

I can see three gliders ahead lower than me but near the turnpoint and climbing, or at least circling. At the base of the hills I stop to get as high as possible climbing to 6,100' before heading into the turnpoint. A few pilots in front are turning a bit lower than I. I don't see Robin higher.

I hit the turnpoint and climb to 5,800' and then head north with Pete Lehmann just to my west. I had seen two pilots heading north very low as I came into the turnpoint. Probably Zac and Phil.

I'm heading into a 9 mph north northwest wind but it looks good ahead with wide open fields that look like they are hot. But, the sink is bad, averaging 400 fpm down, with spots of 900 fpm down.

I turn east to get out of the sink and out of Indian territory, but it does no good. I'm looking all over but soon find myself on the ground with Tyler right behind me.

Robin got to 7,600' at the second turnpoint and was down to 1,500' AGL heading north. He didn't get any substantial lift until he got to Arizona City. He was the only one to make it to goal.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day 7, task 6 results

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

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

Task 6 (open):

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

Final:

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day 6, task 5 results

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

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

Task 5 (open):

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

Cumulative:

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Day 6, task 5

Fri, Sep 24 2021, 9:14:50 pm MDT

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

After the gust, the upper level clouds covered the sky. The pilot briefing was postponed twice to 12:30 PM from 10:30 AM. The clouds were still there but there was a little bit of blue way off to the east.

The task committee has tasks for both classes and after significant discussion about whether there would be any lift, Jamie says the task is on with a late launch. I have to setup my glider and get out there quickly.

The Sport Class launches first and soon they are all on the ground. Open class pilots are reluctant to launch once again after they see no one sticking.

A few of us get in line and I line up behind Robin Hamilton. It is already after the first start clock at 3:30 PM.

Bobby Bailey pulls me up and find lift just to the west. He makes some quick turns, the line goes slack and then the quick link breaks when the line goes tight again. I'm off at 844' AGL on a very weak day.

But, Bobby had been turning because there was lift there so I went to find it right away and starting climbing at 63 fpm with a 10 mph wind out of the west pushing me down the course line.

Went back up wind after climbing to 1,250' AGL drifting toward the resort. Found nothing but sink, went back east to get in the same line I had been in and found 6 fpm. Five minutes later I was able to move a little to the south and found 50 fpm climbing to 1,600' AGL

By now a few other pilots came and joined me and we just circled and circled drifting down the course line. We continue circling and climb to 1,900' AGL. We drift 9.5 km and take 50 minutes. It's 4:31 PM and the sun is getting close to the clouds in the west.

With the wind blowing at 10 mph out of the west northwest another pilot, likely to be Konstantin, and I head out. I'm able to find 100 fpm and four pilots join me. Heading out again I find 20 fpm to 1,800' AGL with the pilots still following.

After that there is not much as we stretch it out past the intersection of I8 and I10. Robin, Phil and I land in the same field.

Willie Dydo went out earlier and got the furthest on his own. Tyler got to ten kilometers past us. The sun was behind the clouds at this point.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Fri, Sep 24 2021, 11:37:52 am MDT

Gust front in the morning on Friday

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|weather

Five of us were out by the launch area standing by our gliders as the gust front came through. Lasted probably fifteen minutes.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Thu, Sep 23 2021, 5:31:20 pm MDT

Day five, no task, day is cancelled

competition|Greg Kendall|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|video

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

JD was measuring the south wind at 14 mph gusting to 22 mph. Lots of blowing dust in the field, which is quite discouraging. No pilots were willing to launch (other than Bill Bennett). Lots of task and launch time changes to no avail. That doesn't even count the cu-nimb that was forming over the second turnpoint (which the task and safety committees weren't noticing).

Meet director cancels the day as it gets later and later.

Bill Bennett launches after the day is canceled.

Note about the third task.

Replay, https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-2021/blog__day_3, shows that it was the fact that Zac and I climbed to over 9,000' that determined the outcome for that day.

Zac left a gaggle east of Casa Grande mountain where he was at the bottom to come joined Pete Lehmann and I climbing faster to his south. Four pilots (excluding Greg Kendall, who took an earlier clock) were out ahead of us and high and doing well. While they got to the turnpoint first and headed back before we did, we were able to climb the highest 4 km before the turnpoint. This gave us a big advantage.

Phil and Tyler got stuck low coming back. We were 500 to 1000 meters higher than Simon and Hamilton. Soon only Simon was ahead and he got a bit low east of the mountain coming back. We came into the south end of the mountain high and quickly climbed. Robin was just to our east but not climbing nearly as well.

We climbed to over 2,500 meters and went on final glide to goal while everyone else was working to get up or stay up.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Wed, Sep 22 2021, 9:40:23 pm MDT

Day four, task four, results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Kendall|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Kendall|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

Greg Kendall|John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

competition|Greg Kendall|John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

competition|Greg Kendall|John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

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

Task 4 (open):

# Name Glider Distance
(km)
Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 70.89 820.1
2 Greg Kendall Moyes RX 3.5 54.69 702.6
3 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 54.10 699.5
4 Ric Caylor Moyes RX5 Pro 54.13 698.4
5 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 54.02 697.2
6 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 52.75 680.6
7 Jd Guillemette Moyes RX3.5 51.60 662.1
8 Ian Snowball Moyes RS4.5 47.64 592.9
9 Rob Cooper Wills Wing T2C 40.79 518.7
10 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 40.06 514.6

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 977.8 988.7 927.1 820.1 3714
2 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 766.7 930.0 573.5 699.5 2970
3 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 843.0 917.0 776.6 423.9 2961
4 Greg Kendall Moyes RX 3.5 457.5 489.0 845.1 702.6 2494
5 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes Litespeed RX 672.5 832.3 763.4 211.0 2479
6 Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann Wills Wing T2C-154 739.6 566.6 732.3 410.5 2449
7 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 984.8 200.1 577.8 512.0 2275
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 794.9 253.3 886.8 226.0 2161
9 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 727.3 568.6 139.8 697.2 2133
10 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 295.2 510.0 795.3 514.6 2115

Neither Sport or Open Class pilots make goal.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Wed, Sep 22 2021, 6:47:03 pm MDT

Day four, task four, narrative

John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

The Task:

With the wind blowing 11 mph out of the south southeast at launch the task committee, at the last minute, changes the task to first send us out to the northwest to the edge of the mountains north of the sailplane port at Estrella, west of Maricopa and then back to the hotel when the winds are forecasted to lighten up.

Having learned their lesson the Sport Class pilots are happy to let us Open Class pilots go first and check out whether there is any lift or not. I launched sixth and Jim Prahl drug me around the sky not finding much and I worked -30 pm after pinning off at 2000' AGL. I leave that to find actual lift that overcomes my sink rate downwind to just south of the launch. 132 fpm is what I'm happy to be in.

Most of the thermals over the next hour in the start cylinder average less than 100 fpm, but I'm finally able to climb to 6,000' along with John Simon and Zac. Half a dozen pilots are near the top of the low stack and a few more are scrounging down below. Pilots are spread out looking around for better lift but little is to be found.

Unfortunately I was at 6,000' four minutes before the first start clock and lose 800' before the start gate opens and I head out. I'm following three pilots so it looks okay. I quickly find 100 fpm and climb to 5,500' before it peters out.

Heading to the northwest with John Simon and Jeff Galvin nearby I keep searching and not finding anything. Down to 300' AGL west of the stock yards I hit some lift and start turning. Jeff lands below me and John Simon is just as low in the next field to the north.

A few turns and the lift goes away no doubt pushed to the northwest toward the power lines at the edge of the field. I don't see John working his way up in the field on the other side of the power lines. Soon I have to land making a safe and graceful return to earth.

It isn't long before we see a gaggle of four pilots circling right up over us. Another pilot lands with us and then Willie Dydo comes in at 300' and proceeds to climb up and out. Another pilot lands in the field to our north.

Looking from our balcony on the sixth floor of the hotel I don't see anyone at goal. The Sport Class also had an out and return task to the southeast. I saw one Swift that looks like it made it back.

So close (this is where the guys out front get low for the first time):

I'm at 280' AGL finding lift, but not enough. Zac and John find lift north of the highway and climb up.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Wed, Sep 22 2021, 1:16:09 am MDT

Day three, task 3, Results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Dinauer|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Dinauer|Greg Kendall|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Dinauer|Greg Kendall|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

Greg Dinauer|Greg Kendall|John Simon|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 977.8 988.7 927.1 2894
2 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 843.0 917.0 776.6 2537
3 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 766.7 930.0 573.5 2270
4 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes Litespeed RX 672.5 832.3 763.4 2268
5 Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann Wills Wing T2C-154 739.6 566.6 732.3 2039
6 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 794.9 253.3 886.8 1935
7 Greg Kendall Moyes RX 3.5 457.5 489.0 845.1 1792
8 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 984.8 200.1 577.8 1763
9 Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12 722.1 509.3 470.1 1702
10 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 295.2 510.0 795.3 1601

Four Sport Class pilots make it back to the hotel, Leonardo, Tim, LJ, and Sujeta, her first competition and first goal.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Tue, Sep 21 2021, 9:50:13 pm MDT

Day three, task 3, preliminary results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Kendall|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Kendall|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

Greg Kendall|John Simon|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Time
(h:m:s)
Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 01:32:06 927.1
2 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 01:35:23 886.8
3 Greg Kendall Moyes RX 3.5 01:58:12 845.1
4 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 01:50:27 795.3
5 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 01:52:52 776.6
6 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes Litespeed RX 01:53:26 763.4
7 Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann Wills Wing T2C-154 01:57:24 732.3
8 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:30:05 577.8
9 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:30:39 573.5
10 Gennadiy Khramov Wills Wing T2C 02:54:01 484.1

Four Sport Class pilots make it back to the hotel, Leonardo, Tim, LJ, and Sujeta, her first competition and first goal.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Tue, Sep 21 2021, 7:53:45 pm MDT

Day three, task 3, narrative and preliminary results

competition|Greg Kendall|John Simon|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

The Task:

The Sport Class wanted to go before the Open Class today and they had a 12:30 PM launch time with the first start clock at 1 PM and a total of six start clocks. The Swifts would launch first before the Sport Class and the Open Class would launch after the Sport Class.

The Swifts and the Sport Class pilots were all towed up and they promptly all landed back at the launch area. This set the tone for the next couple of hours. Only a few Sport Class pilots wanted to relaunch right away and the Open Class pilots were reluctant to get going after seeing how no one was sticking.

The task committee shortened the Open Class task given that no one was launching and pushed back the start time fifteen minutes to 2:15 PM with four start times. The launch cylinder had been reduced to 3 km given the forecast for light winds. This proved not be that great an idea, at least for some of us.

The Open Class launch was open starting at 1 PM (or maybe 1:15) but only a couple of Sport Class pilots were willing to be towed. They quickly landed back at launch. Finally around 2 PM, Bill Bennett launched in Open Class and that finally got other pilots to consider the possibility. With an open launch and many pilots still reluctant to go, I launched third or fourth with Bobby Bailey towing. One tug, the 914 tug from Whitewater with Johnny Thompson towing, was out of commission.

Bobby tried his tight spiral (not that tight) on me and then must have seen some pilots thermaling up a few kilometers to the southeast and drug me over to them. It was nice to see pilots actually climbing. Bobby had reported earlier that no one was getting above their tow height.

The four of us climbed to 4,400' before the lift gave out and Greg Kendal, at least, headed out on the course. He might have the second clock as I was on tow at the first start clock at 2:15 pm.

A few of us went back to the northwest and hooked up with some light lift and a couple of extra pilots at about 1,300' AGL just southwest of the launch. It averaged less than 100 fpm.

With a 9 mph northwest wind we drifted back to the southeast as the third start time approached. At 2:45 PM (the third clock) I was still at less than 4,000' and getting close to the edge of the start cylinder. A few pilots had already drifted outside the cylinder. I was with two other pilots.

I moved over and was working 50 fpm as I crossed the start cylinder still drifting. Still at less than 4,000' I moved east half a kilometer, one kilometer outside the 3 km start cylinder and found 330 fpm, the best lift so far by a wide margin. Three of us worked it.

I was able to climb to 6,700' with two pilots just below me, 2.34 km outside the 3 km start cylinder. I sure was wishing we had a 5 km start cylinder at that point as I didn't want to go back to take the last clock from that far out. I took off at 15:02 for the Casa Grande Mountain.

Stopped for a few turns in 230 fpm as I passed three pilots who had been out ahead and then out to the mountain after a 13 km glide and a lot of sink right along its western edge. Found rough lift on the eastern side of the mountain that was rough at first with a north northwest wind at 5 mph.

At 300+ fpm I climbed up to 8,000' with Zac coming in below me, but climbing up to me. We headed out to the east southeast toward the turnpoint. I had only two very light layers on, a thin thermal shirt and speed sleeves, but the air was quite pleasant if a bit cool.

We quickly found more lift and then climbed at over 350 fpm to 9,100' just 4 km from the turnpoint. We turned back into the head wind (10 mph) found a little bit of lift then found 400 fpm again on the east side of Casa Grande mountain to 7,900' which made of a safe and easy glide 20 kilometers into goal even against a 10 mph north northwest head wind.


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

Task 3: open:

# Name Glider SS Time
(h:m:s)
Lead.
Points
Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 14:45:00 01:32:06 33.0 927.1
2 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 14:45:00 01:35:23 31.0 886.8
3 Greg Kendall Moyes RX 3.5 14:15:00 01:58:12 92.7 845.1
4 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 14:45:00 01:50:27 36.2 795.3
5 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 14:45:00 01:52:52 36.6 776.6
6 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes Litespeed RX 14:45:00 01:53:26 31.4 763.4
7 Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann Wills Wing T2C-154 14:45:00 01:57:24 23.8 732.3
8 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 14:45:00 02:30:05 22.1 577.8
9 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 14:45:00 02:30:39 21.7 573.5
10 Gennadiy Khramov Wills Wing T2C 15:00:00 02:54:01 484.1

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Tue, Sep 21 2021, 9:57:48 am MDT

Day three, task 3

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Live Tracking: https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=4085

Replay: https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-2021/blog__day_3

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Mon, Sep 20 2021, 9:01:49 pm MDT

Day two, task two

Butch Peachy|competition|Greg Dinauer|John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

Play Back: https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-2021/blog__day_2

Open class task:

Not much of a flight:

Johnny Thompson tows me up again right after the Swifts and a couple of early birds at 12:37 PM. The lift is still weak near the hotel so I have to go west to hook up with the Swifts and other pilots and even there it's less than 200 fpm to 5,700' MSL. Lots of thermaling in little more than zero.

At about 7 or 8 minutes before the second clock at 1:45 PM the pilots around me northeast of the hotel head toward the edge of the start cylinder I'm thinking that it's too early and head the other direction to find much better lift than the zero we were giving up on. I climb to 5,800' and then head for the northeast edge of the cylinder.

As I fly to get out of the start cylinder I see a few pilots flying back, some of them quite low, so it looks like they are going back for the third or fourth clock. I keep going and find about eight pilots a thousand feet below me trying to get up three kilometers outside the start cylonder. Now I have a quandary.

I'm high with one other pilot who left the start cylinder with me. My desire is to just forget these guys down low cause I'm positive that there is much better lift just a few kilometers further along. But do I really want to leave eight other thermal finders and go out alone? I spend 10 minutes not climbing circling over these guys who aren't climbing either. Then we find 95 fpm and climb to 4,900'.

Finally, as I watch the pilots from the third clock come in low under us, I've had it and head out leading toward where I had previously thought there was much better lift. The pilots I'm with are not helping at all.

I find 267 fpm near the northeast end of the Casa Grande air field and climb to 5,400'. Of course, the other pilots joined me.

I lead out again and find over 300 fpm to 5,100' just before the first turnpoint at Signal Peak. My hangers ons join me.

I lead out again taking the turnpoint and heading for the foothills to the south. I've got a 6 mph head wind and I go for the hill sides that should gather the thermals. I stop for 100 fpm for one turn but I'm thinking that there is better lift a bit further in. I'm wrong.

Got fooled by the 300+ fpm lift in the previous thermal so I was not ready to take 100 fpm.

It's all sink the rest of the way down the hills to the flats and a premature landing.

Zac took the fourth clock and he was first to goal. Phil Bloom and John Simon who took the third clock came in right behind him. Konstantin Lukyanov from Russia was the last pilot into goal.

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

Task 2

# Name Glider Time
(h:m:s)
Distance
(km)
Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:31:02 83.71 988.7
2 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:46:53 83.71 930.0
3 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 02:47:39 83.71 917.0
4 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes Litespeed RX 03:19:26 83.71 832.3
5 Jeff Chipman Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 80.73 725.7
6 Butch Peachy Moyes RX 3.5/S4 78.36 701.1
7 Ian Brubaker Wills Wing T2C 67.85 632.6
8 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 58.29 568.6
9 Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann Wills Wing T2C 154 58.10 566.6
10 Jason Boehm Wills Wing T3 56.71 561.5

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 1967
2 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 1760
3 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1697
4 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes Litespeed RX 1505
5 Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann Wills Wing T2C 154 1306
6 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 1296
7 Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12 1231
8 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1185
9 Jeff Galvin Wills Wing T3 154 1181
10 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 1048

Leonardo Ortiz was the only Sport Class pilot at goal on day one. Leonardo and Tim Delaney were the only two Sport Class pilots at goal on day two.

Chris Zimmerman is out with a blown motor on his Swift, so only two Swifts left. Greg Chastain won day two and is in the lead overall.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Mon, Sep 20 2021, 11:22:32 am MDT

First Task Play Back

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Day One Play Back:

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-2021/blog__day_1

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Sun, Sep 19 2021, 10:57:09 pm MDT

First Task Results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

competition|John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

competition|John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

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

Task 1 (open class):

# Name Glider SS Time
(h:m:s)
Lead.
Points
Time
Points
Total
1 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 14:30:00 01:41:41 87.0 409.6 984.6
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 14:30:00 01:41:42 91.7 409.2 977.4
3 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 14:15:00 02:01:06 93.1 281.2 841.0
4 Jeff Galvin Ww T3 154 14:30:00 01:58:41 72.3 294.7 812.6
5 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 14:15:00 02:09:06 102.4 238.4 792.1
6 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 14:15:00 02:08:29 89.5 241.6 789.4
7 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 14:30:00 02:05:30 68.9 257.4 763.7
8 Ian Snowball Moyes RS4.5 14:30:00 02:05:27 39.5 257.6 738.1
9 Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann Wills Wing T2C-154 14:30:00 02:08:34 63.8 241.2 736.2
10 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 14:30:00 02:08:55 54.1 239.4 723.8

No results for sport class yet.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Sun, Sep 19 2021, 10:49:34 pm MDT

Day 1, task 1

Brian Porter|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

The task and my flight:

There is a 5 km start cylinder around the launch at the Francisco Grande Hotel airfield (desert). The first leg is about over the Casa Grande airfield to a 2 km cylinder around Signal Peak. Signal Peak is under the 8,000' bottom of the Phoenix Sky Harbor Class B air space, so you don't want to be too high.

The second leg is to the tiny paved airfield at Sarita to the east southeast out in the flats, 400 meter cylinder. Next head north over a bit of no man's land to the intersection at Magma, which is also under the Phoenix airspace. Finally back to a sort of empty field that might have had a dirt air field years ago at Valley.

The forecast was for strong southwest winds aloft which might make getting back to Valley a bit of trouble. Forecast also said no cu's , but there are plenty around. I'm assuming that the heavy rain yesterday softened the lift near the hotel.

Robin Hamilton decides to launch later so I'm first to launch in order but behind two early birds and three Swifts. Two Swift pilots (Brian Porter and Steve Morris) are in France for the new Swift 3 so we don't have our five Swift Pilots. Chris Zimmerman is flying a motorized Swift with a gas motor.

Jonny Thompson tows me up to 2,000' AGL on the four stroke Dragonfly and there is light lift around. I'm able to climb to 4,500' (3,200' AGL) but not more than that. Others seem to be able to get higher but that's as high as I get over the next hour.

Towed up at 1:15 PM, I take the second clock at 2:15 PM at 2300' AGL and head northwest toward the Casa Grande airfield. I'm basically alone.

I quickly find the best lift so far at 270 fpm and climb up to 5,000' MSL. Heading to the cu's to the north of the airfield I find 370 fpm and climb to 7,000'. I'm almost 3 km north of the course line (going for the clouds) and heading for Phoenix airspace.

I nick the turnpoint at Signal Mountain below the airspace and head down south along the foothills toward more cu's. Finally I hit the lift at 1,300' AGL over the hillsides and climb at over 400 fpm to 7,900' (way out from under the airspace) with JD hanging around.

No more mountains to fly as we head off toward Sarita to the east. I'm 2km south of the course line now. There are some cu's out there so it doesn't look so bad, but I'm not expecting at much as I just got at the west facing hill sides with a westerly 5 mph wind.

I take 100 fpm just before Sarita and nick it at 3,300' AGL before heading north toward Magma. There are bigger cu's over Coolidge a little west of the course line, but smaller cu's ahead to the north. I see Zac Majors from the third clock catch up with me as I pass by Coolidge. A few other pilots also. John Simon who started at the second clock also is just a few hundred feet below.

I work 200 fpm east of Coolidge and then head off north to the east of Zac at his elevation at 5,500'. It's a ten kilometer glide before we find 150 fpm with Zac just above me and I'm down to 1,000' AGL.

Zac and Tyler Borradaile work better lift just to my east as I work 150 fpm to 4,700'. I made an attempt to find better lift on the peak just to the northwest given the west wind but that didn't work out as Tyler and Zac found better lift drifting to the east under the same cu that I was under. They just hung there as Zac (at least) knew that they were in first place and didn't need to take any chances or rush out ahead as goal wasn't that far away).

I quit the 150 fpm and headed north seeing that there were cu's and sunlight ahead. Nothing seemed to work whenever I turned in lift so I got to the Magma turnpoint at 2,200' AGL and headed south, with a line of cu's ahead of me.

Finally I hit 260 fpm just south of the cotton fields (I thought that they didn't have any water this year as the Colorado River is so far down and they are the least senior water rights holders) around the turnpoint. That lift got me to 5,200' about 4,000' AGL and with 13 km to goal the race was on.

Arrived with three pilots on the ground. Looks like thirteen pilots made goal.

Results should be out soon. Daniel Velez in Colombia is doing the scoring remotely.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Sat, Sep 18 2021, 5:44:57 pm MDT

Are the monsoons still here?

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|photo

Jamie Shelden|photo|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Photo by Jamie Shelden

Heavy rains today, the day before the start of the SCFR. Rain in the desert. Will the field be passable?

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

July 25, 2021, 12:07:01 pm MDT

Number of pilots allowed has risen from 24 to 45

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

Looks like that means that Bobby's and April's tugs are coming out with Jim Prahl from Wilotree Park.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

July 15, 2021, 5:59:13 pm MDT

Forty one pilots registered and paid

Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race

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

Looks like we'll have enough pilots to have the tugs brought out from Wilotree Park. Likely we'll also have Gregg Ludwig and his super trike also.

2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 25, 2021, 8:57:36 pm MDT

Forty five pilots have registered

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

Thirty eight have paid (and I assume committed to coming to the competition). With four more paid (and committed), then the tugs are going to be coming out from Wilotree Park. If all forty five want to come there will need to be an additional tug, which is very possible.

All thirteen of the Sport pilots have paid. Twenty three of the twenty seven registered open class pilots have paid. It sure looks like there will be forty two at least that will pay and commit to coming to the competition.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 22, 2021, 11:16:26 pm MDT

Five Swift pilots have registered

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

Two have paid and committed. What's up with the other three?

If they all come I think that that would be the biggest Swift competition in the US ever.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 21, 2021, 8:48:01 pm MDT

42 pilots have registered

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

Now, forty two pilots have registered for the SCFR including four Swift pilots, thirteen sport class pilots and twenty five open class pilots. To bring out two tugs from Wilotree Park, Jamie says that she needs to have forty two pilots registered and paid.

Thirty one pilots have paid. Eleven pilots haven't paid.

Jamie writes:

Entry Fees: The entry fee for the competition is $275 (does not include tow fees) if paid by August 1st. After August 1st, $375. Entry fees are required in full to complete your registration and to secure your entry.

So we'll probably know by August 1st who is committed to coming to the SCFR. You might also want to make your room reservations.

She also writes:

We will initially accept only 24 pilots and they will be accepted in the order of payment of registration fees. If we fill up with 24 paid participants, additional pilots will only be accepted after we have at least 18 more (for a total of 42) confirmed. Once a total of 42 pilots have registered, we can then accept all 42 and confirm the tugs from Florida once all 42 pilots have paid their registration fees.

Personally I think that there is a bit more flexibility and we could do okay with thirty or so pilots and actually with more than forty two, but those arrangements haven't been finalized yet. It depends, again, on how many pilots commit to coming and the tugs from Wilotree Park will definitely not come out unless forty two have committed.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 16, 2021, 8:26:37 MDT

Race to Register and Pay

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

To secure your slot in the SCFR you need to register and pay Jamie Shelden at <<jamie>>. Just like the race for the first twenty four slots, there is now a race for the next eighteen with two pilots already secured and ten on the waiting list. But being on the waiting list means nothing. Crossing the finish line before others means getting in your payment of $275 before the number of pilots goes to eighteen paid in addition to the twenty four already confirmed.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 15, 2021, 7:08:58 MDT

Francisco Grande reservations

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-2021/blog/accommodation-at-the-francisco-grande-resort

Accommodation at the Francisco Grande Resort

Please make sure to reserve your room at the Francisco Grande as soon as possible. Individual reservations must be made as follows: Individuals must identify themselves as part of Santa Cruz Flats Race, and provide us with guest name, type of room, check-in and check-out dates. Any requests for special arrangements must be made at the time of this call. The Francisco Grande Hotel and Golf Resort toll free reservations line is 1-800-237-4238.

After August 1, the resort releases any unused rooms in our block, so if you wait until after that date, there may not be anything left.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 14, 2021, 4:46:34 pm EDT

24 pilots confirmed, 25 pilots paid.

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

Jamie has written previously:

We will initially accept only 24 pilots and they will be accepted in the order of payment of registration fees. If we fill up with 24 paid participants, additional pilots will only be accepted after we have at least 18 more (for a total of 42) confirmed. Once a total of 42 pilots have registered, we can then accept all 42 and confirm the tugs from Florida once all 42 pilots have paid their registration fees.

I take that to mean that 18 (now 17) additional pilots need to register and pay before Jamie will call for the tugs from Wilotree Park. You pay by sending $275 to <<jamie>> after you register.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 14, 2021, 12:50:02 pm EDT

Register and pay the entry fee ASAP

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

Check and see how many pilots are confirmed. On Monday morning there were 31 registered, but 42 need to be registered and paid to bring the tugs from Florida. Twenty two pilots were confirmed on Monday morning, so two "open" slots left.

See Jamie's requirements re registration and payment here: https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-2021/info/details

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 7, 2021, 8:04:36 pm MDT

Registration to open on Friday

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

Jamie says that registration will open on Friday, June 11th at noon Pacific Daylight Time.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 7, 2021, 3:01:59 pm MDT

Register and pay next week

April Mackin|COVID|Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

"Jamie Shelden" <naughtylawyer> writes:

We're really happy to be organizing the Santa Cruz Flats Race again this September after a year off due to COVID. But, I wanted to explain the tug situation so everyone understands how registration and payment will work this year. Thanks to Sonora Wings, we have two dragonflies in Casa Grande. If we have no more than 22-24 pilots, we’ll be covered with these local dragonflies. However, if we have more than 24 pilots register, we will need to bring tugs from out of the area. This is where the issues start. Bob Bailey and April Mackin are able to transport two dragonflies from Florida via trailer. This requires removing the wings and carefully packing them into a trailer and driving them across the country to Casa Grande. Bob and April have done this nearly every year that we have held the event and we are eternally grateful. Here’s the hitch though: the cost of driving the trailer out to Arizona is the same if we put one tug or two tugs in it and that cost is extremely high. What this means is that it is only cost effective to pack up the trailer and bring 2 dragonflies. Bringing just one would make towing very very expensive.

So, we are in a situation where we can have either two or four dragonflies at the Santa Cruz Flats Race, but not three. If we have 42 people register, pay and commit to attend, all is great. But, if we have only 30, the tow fees to each pilot would be prohibitively expensive. With this in mind, it is critical that pilots register, pay registration fees and commit to participate no later than one month before the start of the competition.

When registration opens in about a week, we will initially accept only 24 pilots and they will be accepted in the order of payment of registration fees. If we fill up with 24 paid participants, additional pilots will only be accepted after we have at least 18 more (for a total of 42) confirmed. Once a total of 42 pilots have registered, we can then accept all 42 and confirm the tugs from Florida once all 42 pilots have paid their registration fees.

I realize this is complicated, but we don’t want to wait until the week before the competition starts to determine how much tow fees will be and we don’t want to risk having more than 24, but fewer than 42 pilots because that would make tow fees in excess of $550/person.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 1, 2021, 10:36:36 MDT

Jamie Shelden is going back to Casa Grande

Jamie Shelden|Risk Retention Group|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|USHPA

The competition will be held September 19th through the 25th. The USHPA and the RRRG consider Jamie to be a worthy and reliable meet organizer.

Be prepared for high rental car rates and airlines making up for pandemic era loses.

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Supporting the Oz Report »

March 19, 2021, 8:08:13 EDT

Supporting the Oz Report

Too new PHP causing Oz Report problems.

Davis Straub|Gary McIntire|Glen Volk|Oz Report

Davis Straub|Gary McIntire|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|Oz Report

Thanks to Tom Nejames, Jean-Pierre Delage, Doug Engler, John Clendenon, and Barney Hallin.

Thanks to Gary McIntire, Mike Harrington, Glen Volk, Greg Kendall and Bernard Garvey who all sent money in the mail.

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As you know, all we are asking for is a subscription payment of $20/year.

Seems simple enough. Like most content on the internet, you get to read the Oz Report for free. The trouble for us, not you, is that there are not enough hang glider pilots in this world to make advertising pay for our web hosting costs.

Please, help us out. Support something that you find useful so that it can continue to be there for you.

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Investigating and Reporting

October 1, 2019, 9:55:41 MDT

Investigating and Reporting

It started innocently enough.

Belinda Boulter|Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Elena Filonova|Facebook|Flytec 6030|Gordon Rigg|Greg Kendall|Jamie Shelden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber

https://ozreport.com/23.190.2

I do not recall how I found out about this issue. Jamie Shelden, the meet director and organizer probably told me about it. I received what I thought was Jonny Durand's Flymaster tracker track log in the morning on Friday the 20th for the task on Wednesday the 18th. I didn't look at the file using Notepad but rather displayed it on SeeYou and subsequently published the screen captures showing the difference between it and his 6030 the track log. If I had looked at the IGC file from what I thought was the Flymaster tracker using Notepad I would have seen that it was actually a "copy" of that file taken from the Airtribune web site.

I had already heard that there was no Live Tracking on the Flymaster Live Tracking web site for the Santa Cruz Flats Race. I also knew (but didn't connect) the fact that Belinda could follow the race on XCGuide with the group number that would normally be used on the Flymaster Live Tracking web site.

Daniel Velez, the remote scorekeeper, then informed me that there was another case of a missed turnpoint from the Wednesday task that needed to be corrected with the pilot's flight instrument. The track log that Daniel had showed him missing the last turnpoint so Daniel got Jamie to have Greg Kendall send in his track log from his 5030.

On Saturday the 21st, the last task after two days of not flying when there were high winds, we got two bogus track logs that required track logs from pilot's flight instruments be sent to Daniel, mine and Kraig Coomber's.

https://ozreport.com/23.193

Both Daniel and I were still referring to the track logs that he was downloading from the Airtribune web site as Flymaster tracker track logs, when in fact they were "copies" of the track logs from the Flymaster web site, and it would appear later not very good copies.

Not only were there missing track log points there was also the weird altitude values from the Airtribune tracklog points which got further above the track log points from the pilots' flight instruments the higher the pilot got. That still doesn't make any sense.

With this height discrepancy really bothering me (and apparently no one else except the always perceptive Gordon Rigg) I decided to look further into it. 

https://ozreport.com/1569588107

I was beginning to suspect that something was wrong with the Flymaster trackers.

That's when I checked out my Flymaster track logs from the 2019 Big Spring Nationals against my 6030 track logs. I checked three flights. They were all identical. Whoa.

Finally I decided to look at the track log files using Notepad. Whoa again. The Flymaster tracks were certainly producing different designators for the trackers in the track logs from the SCFR. I still didn't get it but I was getting warmer.

After thinking about what was right in front of my face I thought to ask whether the track logs for the SCFR were coming from the Airtribune site and not the Flymaster web site. I was just hard for me to believe that this would actually be the case. I asked Daniel.

By the time he replied that they were indeed taking the track logs from the Airtribune web site I had already concluded that was the case.

I followed the data and kept looking and looking again and despite not just figuring it out when perhaps it should have been obvious I finally found enough clues to take me in the right direction and away from my preliminary and incorrect assumptions.

So I was left with the task of getting access to the Flymaster Live Tracking web site to download the actual Flymaster tracker track log files for the SCFR. So far that's not going very well. I've reached out to Jamie, Daniel, Brett, and even Kate who was our scorekeeper at the Big Spring Nationals and obviously did it right. I just want to confirm the theory that the actual Flymaster tracker's track logs don't have the drop out problem. Kate has told me that she didn't experience any dropouts during the Big Spring Nationals.

Finally on Monday morning I was able to get access to the Flymaster track logs on the Flymaster server for the Santa Cruz Flats Race. Crisiano at Flymaster was the one who gave me the final clue that I needed to be able to login to the correct account. After that it was trivial to download the files and check out the Flymaster tracker track logs against the Airtribune track logs.

The Flymaster tracker track log did not have the dropouts that the Airtribune tracks had. I had remembered that Brett had told me and others not to use the Airtribune track logs for scoring purposes only for Live Tracking. The problem was not placement of the trackers in the harnesses. Even Kraig Coomber's tracker worked just fine even though it was placed underneath his carbon back plate.

Elena Filonova wrote to me to say:

When you download the track log from Airtribune it is reprocessed by it and filters out baro data.

That explains the different altitude values displayed in the previous articles. Here is an example of the baro track from Jonny Durand's flight from the Flymaster tracker vs. the baro (now GPS) track from the Airtribune web site:

The blue line is the GPS altitude. Since you as the pilot are making decisions about how high you can go if you are flying under airspace based on your baro altitude, you might want to be sure that the scorekeeper is using your baro altitude and not GPS altitude to determine if you infringe on airspace or not.

When I get ready to launch I set my baro altitude at the GPS altitude of the launch site. This is easy to do with the Flytec 6030.

All this is traced on these two Facebook threads:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/118763844883239/permalink/2421537051272562/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/118763844883239/permalink/2414056872020580/

Where are you packing your tracker?

September 27, 2019, 6:44:08 MDT

Where are you packing your tracker?

Not in the hang glider we suppose

Greg Kendall|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr

Jonny - "On the side of my harness to avoid the back plate never had an issue until this comp."

Kraig - "Above my lower back below the carbon back plate." "First time I've flown with one for scoring. That was the most convenient pocket I had available."

By below, he means under the carbon back plate.

Davis - behind my neck, in the small pocket in the harness, only some cloth between it and the hang glider. Also never heard of any problems before.

Greg Kendall - by his ankles.

Too high

September 27, 2019, 6:41:47 MDT

Too high

The discrepancy is proportional to altitude gain

competition|Davis Straub|Facebook|Flytec 6030|Greg Kendall|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Volirium P1

Jonny Durand's track Log:

This is a display using SeeYou and the "altitude" chart which is supposed to display barometric altitude. When I use SeeYou to display "GPS altitude" both instruments give the same values.

The red line is the Flymaster tracker. The blue line is his Flytec 6030. I've already shown that my Flytec 6030 and my Volirium P1 give the same results.

https://ozreport.com/23.193

I've also shown the the Flymaster tracker's track log shows a higher value than Greg Kendall's Flytec 5030.

https://ozreport.com/23.193#2

This is Kraig Coomber's track log:

The blue line in this case is the Flymaster tracker. The red line is his Flytec 6030.

I have track logs from four pilots. Two from the third task and two from the last task. Some of the IGC file can be found here: https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2019/results. Also there is an on-going discussion here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/118763844883239/permalink/2414056872020580/

I reviewed some of my other flights at the SCFR and saw the same pattern.

I then checked out some of my flights in Big Spring.

The Flymaster Trackers and the Flytec 6030 produced the same values. Here is an example:

So why are the Flymaster trackers working correctly in Big Spring but not at the SCFR?

My Flymaster tracker in Big Spring:

AXFMSFP Flymaster Live, V1.0, S/N 226405
HFFXA010
HFPLTPILOT:Davis Straub
HFGTYGLIDERTYPE:
HFGIDGLIDERID:
HFDTM100GPSDATUM:WGS-1984
HFCIDCOMPETITIONID:101
HFCCLCOMPETITIONCLASS:
HOSITSITE:Big Springs-US
HFGPS:UBLOXNEO6
HFPRSPRESSALTSENSOR:NA
HFRFWFIRMWAREVERSION:202g
HFRHWHARDWAREVERSION:1.0R2
HFFTYFRTYPE:FLYMASTER,LIVE

My Flymaster tracker at SCFR:

AXYYAAA
HFDTE210919
HFFXA500
HFPLTPILOTINCHARGE:Davis Straub
HFGTYGLIDERTYPE:
HFGIDGLIDERID:
HFDTM100GPSDATUM:WGS-1984
HFRFWFIRMWAREVERSION:0.4
HFRHWHARDWAREVERSION:
HFFTYFRTYPE:Airtribune Logger
HFGPSAirtribune
HFPRSPRESSALTSENSOR:
HFCIDCOMPETITIONID:101

Greg's Flymaster tracker at SCFR:

AXYYAAA
HFDTE210919
HFFXA500
HFPLTPILOTINCHARGE:Greg Kendall
HFGTYGLIDERTYPE:
HFGIDGLIDERID:
HFDTM100GPSDATUM:WGS-1984
HFRFWFIRMWAREVERSION:0.4
HFRHWHARDWAREVERSION:
HFFTYFRTYPE:Airtribune Logger
HFGPSAirtribune
HFPRSPRESSALTSENSOR:
HFCIDCOMPETITIONID:222

Jonny's Flymaster tracker at SCFR:

AXYYAAA
HFDTE180919
HFFXA500
HFPLTPILOTINCHARGE:Jonny Durand
HFGTYGLIDERTYPE:
HFGIDGLIDERID:
HFDTM100GPSDATUM:WGS-1984
HFRFWFIRMWAREVERSION:0.4
HFRHWHARDWAREVERSION:
HFFTYFRTYPE:Airtribune Logger
HFGPSAirtribune
HFPRSPRESSALTSENSOR:
HFCIDCOMPETITIONID:21

Is the score keeper taking the data from the Airtribune web site for the SCFR and not from the Flymaster web site? Does this also explain the drop outs? We know that the source of the data for the Airtribune web site is the Flymaster web site and we know that there are problems getting the data from one web site to another.

We also know that the meet organizers were unable to get the Flymaster Live Tracking working for the SCFR.

That's Hang Gliding For You

September 26, 2019, 9:23:49 MDT

That's Hang Gliding For You

Zac is aggressive, and sometimes it doesn't work for him

Greg Kendall|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Oleg Bondarchuk|Zac Majors

These are the main elements of the story on the last day of the 2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race. Zac Majors has been leading the competition going into the last day. He will fly aggressively on the last day as he has all week and not just try to keep over the guys closest to him in the competition.

Here is the start of the task for most pilots at the second start clock (actually at 14:20:05). Zac is the blue arrow at 8,800', I'm the red arrow at 5,400', and standing in for Jonny, Oleg, Kraig and others, is Tyler, the green arrow, at 9,300'. The top finishing pilots all flew together for the most part so Tyler is a good stand in for all of them.

At 14:31 Tyler and Zac make the first turnpoint, a 5 km cylinder around Signal Peak.

Tyler (and friends) is at 8,300', Zac at 7,000'. I'm 5 km behind climbing at 4,600'.

At 14:45:37, 25 minutes after the start at 14:20, Zac finds a strong thermal averaging 590 fpm, just north of Casa Grande Mountain and just south of the I8 freeway. He is three kilometers ahead of Tyler (and friends) at 5,900'. Tyler is at 6,800' and I'm 9 kilometers behind Zac at 5,100'.

Tyler (and friends) misses the lift as he passes right under Zac at 5,800' while Zac is 7,700' and climbing. Zac climbs to 8,300' before heading south for the mountain. Meanwhile Tyler has reached the north end of the mountain at 5,300'

At 14:53:33 Tyler finds 225 fpm at 4,200' over the mountain as Zac passes over him without stopping at 7,200'.

At 15:05:57 Zac continues south until he finds 285 fpm at 2,400' (1,000' AGL). He is 8 kilometers ahead of Tyler who is thermaling at 140 fpm at the south end of the mountain at 5,200'. I'm just getting to the north end of the mountain at 5,400', 5 kilometers north of Tyler, after thermaling up at 300 fpm near where Zac got up north of the mountain. I will soon find strong lift half way down the ridge line.

At 15:17:40 Zac finds 485 fpm at 3,300'. I've climbed to 9,300' and am heading south toward the Sunland turnpoint. Tyler is heading south just north of Arizona City at 4,900'.

At 15:23:45 as Zac climbs up just 2.4 kilometers north of the Sunland turnpoint, Tyler and about four others get stuck at a little over 4,000' over Arizona City as I fly over them at 6,700'.

At 15:29 Zac climbs to 6,800' and then takes the Sunland turnpoint along with Greg Kendall who started 20 minutes earlier. I'm a little less than 3 kilometers behind but down to 4,300'. Tyler is still over Arizona City at 5,900'.

At 15:41:26 Tyler and a little later Jonny finds 400 fpm from 6,600'. Jonny finds 600 fpm just to Tyler's (and friends) west. I'm stuck north of the turnpoint searching for better lift which I'll find in a few minutes. Zac is turning in 180 fpm at 4,200' and is 15 kilometers ahead of Tyler 11 kilometers up the last leg.

Tyler climbs to 10,200' by 15:50:50. At 3,500' I find 360 fpm one kilometer south of Tyler. Zac is 20 kilometers ahead of Tyler but at 3,100' climbing at 70 fpm.

Given their extraordinary altitude Tyler and friends go on final glide from 30 kilometers out. Only Kraig has to take a few more turns up the final leg. Zac doesn't get up and lands 7 kilometers short of goal. I thermal up to 8,200' but that is not enough to make it to goal as I headed north (not north northwest toward goal) to get up over the mountain again but don't climb to an adequate height to make it in as the lift is much weaker than when I got to the mountain heading south.

Further Altitude Differences

September 25, 2019, 8:33:43 pm MDT

Further Altitude Differences

Again up to a 500' difference

Greg Kendall

These are Greg Kendall's two tracks, one from the Flymaster Tracker and one from his 5030. There are consistent with all the other altitude graphs that I have presented in this issue, where the Flymaster track shows a higher altitude on the SeeYou "altitude" chart, which is supposed to display barometric altitude.

The red line is the Flymaster Tracker. The SeeYou "GPS altitude" graph shows the GPS altitudes to be the same for both instruments.

Discuss "Further Altitude Differences" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Flymaster trackers dropping out

September 25, 2019, 9:58:04 MDT

Flymaster trackers dropping out

They aren't perfect devices, so we need your backup

Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Flytec 6030|Foundation for Free Flight|Greg Kendall|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|record

On the same day, but at a different turnpoint, Greg Kendall also experienced his Flymaster tracker missing a turnpoint, just as Jonny's Flymaster tracker did.

Here are the two track logs, one of the Flymaster Tracker and one from Greg's 5030.

Let's take a little closer look:

The red line track is from his 5030 and the blue is from the Flymaster tracker.

Daniel Velez, the remote scorekeeper, finds the missing data from the Flymaster tracker:

Actually there is 1 minute and 06 seconds of missing info that the tracker had an "invalid" reception (as I understand) so it didn't recorded a position on the IGC file during that period.

B2131023259416N11127605WA0000001540
B2131033259424N11127594WA0000001539
B2132093259986N11127490WA0000001387

B2132103259996N11127494WA0000001386

On the last day my Flymaster tracker quits recording data on my final glide to just short of goal. It stops when I'm a little over 3,000'. The red line is the Flymaster Tracker:

It was fortunate that Daniel caught this problem as it wasn't obvious unless you looked at the altitude data. Pilots might consider this if they see a result that shows you short of where you thought you landed. Daniel caught this before we saw any preliminary data.

Note that the Flymaster tracker also consistently records a higher GPS altitude than the 6030's barometric altitude, even though they start at the same altitude:

Your Flymaster tracker might show you going into airspace, while your 6030 shows you below the floor of the airspace. You might want to check with the scorekeeper if you find yourself penalized for air space infringements that your 6030 showed you avoiding.

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 22, 2019, 6:21:32 MST

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race

A win by one point

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

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

Tyler Borradaile wins the 2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race.

Fourth task:

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

Cumulative:

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

Sport Class:

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

Cumulative:

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

Swift Class:

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

Cumulative:

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

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race

A too short task - the results

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

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

Task 3:

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

Cumulative:

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

Sport Class:

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

Cumulative:

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

Swifts:

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

Cumulative:

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

Zac Majors is the 2018 US National Champion

September 24, 2018, 12:22:30 pm MDT GMT-0600

Zac Majors is the 2018 US National Champion

This is my calculation and I don't think that it is official

Ben Dunn|Bruce Barmakian|competition|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|Ian Snowball|Jeff Chipman|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Quest Air|Robin Hamilton|Wayne Michelsen|Zac Majors

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race results:

Pos Name Score Points
1 Robin Hamilton 3810 660
4 Zac Majors 3607 568
5 Dustin Martin 3604 567
7 Phil Bloom 3145 495
8 Davis Straub 2964 466
9 Kevin Dutt 2962 466
10 Mitchell Shipley 2829 445
11 Ben Dunn 2637 415
12 Patrick Pannese 2556 402
13 John Simon 2523 397
14 Kipp Stone 2499 393
15 Greg Kendall 2359 371
16 Wayne Michelsen 2307 363
17 Larry Bunner 2197 345
18 Kevin Carter 2194 345
20 Glen Volk 2144 337
21 Bruce Barmakian 2053 323
22 Jeff Chipman 1933 304
24 Sergey Kataev 1145 180
25 Mick Howard 1102 173
26 Austin Marshall 1087 171
27 ian Snowball 965 151
28 Luke Waters 894 140
29 Kevin Kernohan 795 125
30 Bill Bennett 654 102
31 Alex Tatom 405 63

The Pos column is the results of the race. The score column is the pilot's score the 2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race. The points columns is the NTSS points from the competition.

https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2018/results/task3767/comp/open-class

Partial results from the 2018 Big Spring Nationals:

Pos Name Score Points
2 Davis Straub 2327 387
4 Robin Hamilton 2316 386
5 Larry Bunner 2305 384
7 John Simon 2170 361
8 Derrick Turner 2134 355
9 Zac Majors 2074 345
10 Kevin Carter 2023 337
11 Kevin Dutt 1880 313
12 Nathan Wreyford 1828 304
13 Glen Volk 1810 301

https://airtribune.com/2018-big-spring-national-series/results/task3576/comp/open-class

Results from the 2018 Quest Air Nationals.

https://ozreport.com/22.127#0

https://airtribune.com/2018-quest-air-national-series/results/task3172/comp/open-class

The top five finishers for the 2018 US National Championship:

Zac = 551 + 568 = 1,119

Robin = 386 + 660 = 1,046

Davis Straub = 387 + 466 = 853

Phil Bloom = 355 + 495 = 850

John Simon = 437 + 361 = 798

The procedure for determining the US National Champion:

A pilot's National Champion ranking is based on his/her total NTSS points accumulated in their best two US “National Championship Event” competitions for the current year.

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Task 6:

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

Final Results:

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

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

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

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

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The weakness after the rain storm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Task 4:

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

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

Cumulative:

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

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

Only two Sport Class pilots got outside the start cylinder.

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Day 3 Results

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

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

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

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

Task 3:

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

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

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

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

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

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 17, 2018, 6:22:12 MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 1 results

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

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

Task 1:

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

2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://airtribune.com/santacruzflatsrace2016/results

Task 1:

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

Task 1 sport:

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

2015 Santa Cruz Flats Race - day 4 »

September 17, 2015, 7:05:28 MST

2015 Santa Cruz Flats Race - day 4

The results

Brian Porter|David Gibson|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Fred Kaemerer|Greg Kendall|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Moyes Litespeed RX|Paul Voight|Ryan Voight|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2015|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

Task 4:

# Name Glider Time km/h Distance Total
1 Pedro Garcia Wills Wing T2C 154 01:51:19 42.7 81.41 986
2 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:51:23 42.7 81.41 969
3 Olav Opsanger Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:51:24 42.6 81.41 960
4 Jonny Durand Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 01:51:37 42.6 81.41 948
5 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T2C 144 01:52:33 42.2 81.41 925
6 Tyler Borradaile Wills Wing T2C 01:53:21 41.9 81.41 912
7 Wolfgang Siess Wills Wing T2C 154 01:53:17 41.9 81.41 911
8 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2C 144 01:53:05 42.0 81.41 906
9 David Gibson Wills Wing T2C 144 01:53:28 41.9 81.41 895
10 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144     81.01 622
11 Josh Woods Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5     80.74 604
12 Ryan Voight Wills Wing T2C 144 (2011)     76.80 578
13 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 03:09:48 25.0 81.41 564

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Pedro Garcia Wills Wing T2C 154 3175
2 Jonny Durand Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 3081
3 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 2925
4 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T2C 144 2899
5 Olav Opsanger Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 2869
6 Tyler Borradaile Wills Wing T2C 2764
7 David Gibson Wills Wing T2C 144 2711
8 Wolfgang Siess Wills Wing T2C 154 2701
9 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 2614
10 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2C 144 2546

Fred Kaemerer leads Peter Cairns in the ATOS class. Brian Porter has the overall lead in the Swift class. Floyd in the Goat leads in the Goat/Super floater class. The Sport class is not fully scored yet.

2015 Santa Cruz Flats Race - day 2 »

September 15, 2015, 7:19:51 MST

2015 Santa Cruz Flats Race - day 2

Results - Steve Pearson wins the day

Bruce Barmakian|competition|David Gibson|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Greg Kendall|Jeffrey "Jeff" Lawrence Bohl|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Moyes Litespeed RX|Paul Voight|Ryan Voight|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2015|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2015scfr/results

https://airtribune.com/2015-santa-cruz-flats-and-mark-knight-memorial/results/task1038/day/class-1

Task 2:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Steven Pearson Wills Wing T2C 144 50.73 538
2 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 48.61 533
3 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 45.54 497
4 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T2C 144 43.62 480
5 Ryan Voight Wills Wing T2C 144 (2011) 38.43 440
6 David Gibson Wills Wing T2C 144 37.96 437
7 Olav Opsanger Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 37.92 436
8 Robert deGroot Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 36.15 418
9 Felix Cantesanu Aeros Combat Carbon 12.7 35.10 405
10 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 34.50 396

Cumulative:

1 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T2C 144 1381
2 Pedro Garcia Wills Wing T2C 154 1373
3 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1371
4 Olav Opsanger Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1328
5 Ryan Voight Wills Wing T2C 144 (2011) 1274
6 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 1256
7 Jonny Durand Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 1235
8 David Gibson Wills Wing T2C 144 1234
9 Wolfgang Siess Wills Wing T2C 154 1141
10 Steven Pearson Wills Wing T2C 144 1127
11 Josh Woods Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1120
12 Robert deGroot Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1119
13 Tony Armstrong Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1118
14 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 1110
15 JD Guillemette Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1081
16 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1044
17 Kenneth Andrews Wills Wing T2C 144 1031
18 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2C 144 1029
19 Jeffery Bohl Wills Wing T2C 144 1021
20 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 154 996

Steve Pearson and Ryan Voight were by far the last pilots to go out on the course. Larry Bunner was early and almost went down at the second turnpoint but found 1,500 fpm over a power station.

Bruce Barmakian won the day in the Swift category. All the Swifts made it into goal with their triangle task. Bruce is in the lead overall.

Most of the Sport Class didn't fly given the launch conditions with nearby virga earlier.

It's not clear what's up with the Goat/Super floater class.

2015 Santa Cruz Flats Race - day 1 »

Mon, Sep 14 2015, 8:57:00 am MDT

Results

Øyvind Ellefsen|David Gibson|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Gerry Pesavento|Greg Dinauer|Greg Kendall|Jeffrey "Jeff" Lawrence Bohl|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Moyes Litespeed RX|Patrick Kruse|Paul Voight|Ryan Voight|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2015|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

There is a glitch on the Airtribune server, so the results aren't on-line yet.

Class 1:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Pedro Garcia Wills Wing T2C 154 01:35:40 1000
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 01:40:55 911
3 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T2C 144 01:41:09 900
4 Olav Opsanger Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:41:36 891
5 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:42:26 873
6 Tony Armstrong Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:42:37 864
7 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2C 144 01:42:34 860
8 Josh Woods Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:43:30 855
9 Jonny Durand Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5 01:44:48 840
10 Oyvind Ellefsen Moyes Litespeed Rs 4 01:43:44 837
11 Ryan Voight Wills Wing T2C 144 (2011) 01:44:56 832
12 Tyler Borradaile Wills Wing T2C 01:47:37 803
13 Wolfgang Siess Wills Wing T2C 154 01:47:40 799
14 David Gibson Wills Wing T2C 144 01:48:37 795
15 Kenneth Andrews Wills Wing T2C 144 01:53:11 755
16 Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 01:56:48 729
17 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 154 01:58:52 718
18 Patrick Kruse Wills Wing T2C 144 01:56:33 717
19 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 01:57:48 712
20 Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat 12.7 C 02:01:42 699
21 Grant Emary Wills Wing T2C 02:07:05 668
22 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 02:05:40 649
23 Gerry Pesavento Wills Wing T2C 144 02:07:52 646
24 Jeffery Bohl Wills Wing T2C 144 02:07:16 645
25 Steven Pearson Wills Wing T2C 144 02:21:54 587
26 Jim Weitman Will Wing T2C 144 430
27 Cory Barnwell Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 394
28 Robert Degroot Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 388
29 Jay Devorak Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 344
30 Alfredo Grey Wills Wing T2C 329
31 Michael Williams Wills Wing Sport 2 152
32 Mike Jefferson Wills Wing T2 144 21

Scoring issues with Sport class, no Class 4 reports yet, ATOS class not fully reported, some missing from open class.

2014 Big Spring Nationals »

August 10, 2014, 9:49:40 CDT

2014 Big Spring Nationals

Day seven, task seven

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

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

http://soaringspot.com/2014bsn/

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

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

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

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

This is how tight things were:

The totals after six tasks:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2014 Big Spring Nationals »

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

Day two

Big Spring Nationals 2014

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

http://soaringspot.com/2014bsn/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See the tasks and the scores at the links above.

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

2014 Big Spring Nationals »

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

Gregg Ludwig's trike

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

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

Gregg Ludwig «Gregg Ludwig» writes:

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

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

2014 Big Spring Nationals »

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

Sport Class pilots go big

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

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

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

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

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

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

June 2, 2014, 7:27:38 EDT

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

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

Big Spring Nationals 2014

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

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

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

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

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

Discuss "$300 payment due by June 8th for the Big Spring Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2014 Big Spring Nationals now up on CIVL calendar

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

International Finance

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

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

Nicky «Nicky» writes:

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

Discuss "2014 Big Spring Nationals now up on CIVL calendar" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2013 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

July 19, 2013, 12:20:54 pm CDT GMT-0500

2013 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Time to get a hotel room and register now

Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Greg Dinauer|Greg Kendall|Jamie Shelden|Jim Yocom|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Patrick Kruse|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2013|Terry Reynolds

http://SantaCruzFlatsRace.blogspot.com/

Jamie Shelden <<naughtylawyer>> writes:

The Francisco Grande Golf Resort will be putting our reserved rooms back into general circulation on August 1st. So, if you're coming to the Santa Cruz Flats Race this year (September 15-22) hurry up and reserve your room now. You don't need to pay for the room in advance - but you have to call and reserve it. While you're at it, hop on the website and register for the comp as well - SantaCruzFlatsRace.blogspot.com.

Pilot list:

  • Davis Straub
  • Greg Kendall
  • Joakim Hindemith
  • Ricker Goldsborough
  • Jim Yocom
  • Glen McFarlane
  • Chris Zimmerman
  • Markus Venturini
  • Dustin Martin
  • Terry Reynolds
  • Greg Dinauer
  • Rudy Gotes
  • Jonny Durand
  • Olav Olsen
  • Larry Bunner
  • Patrick Kruse
  • Dave May

Discuss "2013 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Big Spring competition pilots

Mon, May 21 2012, 8:42:30 am EDT

Who has signed up so far?

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.

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race - final results »

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

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The results

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

http://santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com/

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

Discuss "2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race - final results" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race - results for day three »

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

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race

A low scoring day

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

http://santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com/

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

Discuss "2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race - results for day three" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Tin Cup - What does $20 or more really say?

March 24, 2011, 8:34:19 EDT

Tin Cup

Scare and I ask for your help with this enterprise

David Thompson|Davis Straub|donations|Greg Kendall|Quest Air


It says that we appreciate the news that we get from or through the Oz Report. It says that the Oz Report serves a useful function in our lives. It says thanks for the effort that you two put into keeping the Oz Report coming out five days a week (in email format) and live all the time on the internet (with fifteen years of archives).

Twenty dollars is a token of appreciation. It isn't going to make us rich, we lose money on the Oz Report. It's a hand shake and a strong look in the eye. It's a recognition that not everything is given to you because your mother loves you.

Do you appreciate us? Do you want to tell us you do? Send a little token appreciation our way. You'll feel better for having done it.

Thanks to Greg Kendall, Gary McIntire, and David Thompson for sending in physical checks or cash.

Please, help us out. Support something that you find useful so that it can continue to be there for you.

You can send $20 or more for a yearly subscription/donation. To pay for your subscription with your credit card or PayPal account:

If you’d rather just send a check for $20 (US Dollars, only please) or more, please feel free to do so. The mail gets forwarded to me wherever I’m at.

Payable to:

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These are our supporters (if you are not on the list and have donated to the Oz Report, email me and I'll make sure that you are recognized): http://ozreport.com/supporters.php. Some of you who I've missed in the past did write to me and made sure I knew just how important the Oz Report was to them. If I've missed you, please do tell me.

Come over to the Oz Report support web page and sign up to support us: http://ozreport.com/support.php. Or click here:

The 2008 US "nationals," day 7

August 23, 2008, 9:02:50 pm PDT

Nats

Zippy wins the day and the meet.

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|David Gibson|Gerry Pesavento|Greg Kendall|Jeff O'Brien|US Nationals 2008|weather|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

Results here.

http://hang6.blogspot.com
http://westcoastbrit.blogspot.com/

Jeff O'Brien was second for the day and for the meet. Dave Gibson came in third.

With a forecast of south southwest winds up high, and climbs to 17,000' we headed back to Sugar Hill. It was supposed to be 90 degrees on the ground so the hot weather was finally going to return.

There was a reasonable wind at launch when we got up there so it looked like we would have no delays on launch waiting for cycles to come through. The task that was called was an out and return up the west side of the Warner Range to Tague Butte then back to Black Cap above Lakeview then to Hunters Hot Springs Resort, our headquarters and where most of us are camped. It looks like reasonably difficult task.

Jeff and I got off early, about an hour before the Race Start at 2 PM. I climbed up right away in good lift and called Jeff over to the better thermal. We got to 3,000' over launch but the air was quite turbulent and unpleasant. We had a hour to go of this.

I headed way south (5km) into the wind to get away from the hill and hopefully into smoother lift, but while I found strong lift, it was not smooth. I was getting bounced around and not liking it. What I didn't know was that Jeff was also not too happy about the turbulence. Others expressed similar sentiments later after the task was complete.

This unpleasantness continued on and no matter where I went if I found lift I was not enjoying myself. This was taking a toll.

I got down to 2,000' above launch and headed back over to launch, where there were a number of pilots just scraping over launch, while half a dozen were about 2,000' over me further to the north. At eight minutes before the start window opened at 2 PM suddenly I flew into a big fat thermal that was going up at 700 fpm. It was smooth. This was great. Why hadn't this happened before?

This thermal was just the ticket and I took it to 13,000' just as the start window opened. It was still going up well when I turned and headed out to be the first one on the course line. This made no sense of course as I could have stayed in this nice thermal and let other folks get out in front and show me the way.

But by this point I had been traumatized by all the previous turbulence and wasn't thinking clearly, if thinking at all. I ran fast toward the range to the north not worrying about what was ahead, just hoping for better. As I fiddled with my zipper, suddenly it split open on my chest and now I was flying without the extra support of a closed zipper.

I just kept heading up the range waiting for a reasonable thermal, not worried if I landed or not. I was more than happy to land if I didn't find something that I was happy to turn in. All I found was broken lift. I just wasn't looking that hard. I wanted the pain to be over.

I found a nice alfalfa field and put it down. Belinda was right there.

Jeff was low further up in the hills and hanging on. The going was slow and folks were dropping out just behind me. Jeff said he got to Black Cap just at launch level. It was 24 km to the turnpoint.

Just before the turnpoint Jeff got down very low but drifted over some hot rocks that turned into 800 fpm. He was about to land and Belinda was figuring out how to get to him. Bill was just below him on the ground.

He got back up and Zippy was high over his head at the turnpoint. The leg back to Black Cap was into the wind, but Zippy made it high and got into goal ten minutes before Jeff.

# Name Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 4304
2 Jeff O'Brien Wills Wing T2 154 3976
3 David Gibson Wills Wing T2 144 3611
4 Bill Soderquist Moyes Litespeed S4 3570
5 David Scott Moyes Litespeed 4 3205
6 Ben Dunn Moyes Litespeed 3082
7 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed S4 2972
8 Bruce Bousfield Moyes Litespeed 2474
9 Scott Huber Icaro Laminar 700 2424
10 Gerry Pesavento Moyes Litespeed LS4 2405

Santa Cruz Flats Race, day three »

Tue, Apr 22 2008, 11:19:35 pm PDT

Day three SCFR

We call too long a task again, but six make it to goal

André Wolfe|Chris Zimmerman|dust devil|Dustin Martin|Greg Kendall|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2008

The flex wing results.

The rigid wing results.

The Swift results.

The blogs of pilots here:

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://www.goflyxc.com/

The RUC forecast, which hasn't been doing all that well, called for a bit more lift, climbs to 10,000', and light winds. So the task committee gets excited again and calls a 70 mile triangle, like the first day, but a bit bigger.

The day turned out weaker than forecast and only six flex wing pilots, made it back to goal. Only two of the rigid wings (and, of course, Brian, on the Swift - commenting when he got to goal, that it was hard and that no flex wing would make it).

Lift was good at first and we got over 6,000' right away. While at first it looked like we'd start at the first start time, it turned out to be a false start and many pilots went back for the second time. We were circling just south of the airport (not controlled airspace).

A bunch of us headed off at 1:45 PM east toward the intersection at Valley. Down to 1,000'I found lift over a dust devil and a bunch of us were there for the ride up.

It was basically easy to get to the first turnpoint (see the results for the task), and then we headed south twenty two miles toward Eds south of Interstate 10. This is the leg were most (3/5th's) of the pilots went down.

The lift was weak and sporadic. Pilots were spread out. We struggled as we headed south. I was in contact with Jeff Shapiro so we flew together most of the way.

Three quarters of the way south Jeff got low and headed into a powerful looking dust devil having a hard time with it. I could see the dust devil from a long ways off and when I got there at Jeff's altitude the lift was weak even though the dust devil appeared powerful.

We took off when the bad lift got worse. Then things really got bad. A pilot who was with us but lower landed after we went on glide and I was bit over 300' above him working unorganized heat coming off the bare field where he was soon breaking down.

The lift was there, and a bit more than zero, so I stayed with it, ready to land with this unfortunate pilot at any minute. Jeff was just west of me in weak lift, but I was too low to get to him.

I slowly climbed out of this imminent landing and started looking for better lift as I got over 200' AGL. I saw a small feed lot just south of the freeway that looked black. Going over it and searching I found the lift that I had been hoping for and climbed to 7,200'.

Rounding the turnpoint, I was able to catch up with Jeff Shapiro. Dustin Martin was just over our heads, Chris Zimmerman was nearby and so was Greg Kendall. Jonny was just a few miles ahead.

The lift was weak and disorganized and while it helped us move along it didn't get us up much. Jeff was able to get over the nearby hills and landed three miles short of goal.

Andre Wolf also had a few low saves, one down to 500', and went on to win the day, once again.

Discuss "Santa Cruz Flats Race, day three" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Hang On in Woodrat - Jonny wins

Sun, Jul 29 2007, 11:09:31 am EDT

By 13 points out of 5400

Hang On

Dave Scott|Dustin Martin|Greg Kendall|Hang On Woorat 2007|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Patrick Kruse|Tom Pierce|Zac Majors

http://hang6.blogspot.com/

http://www.vip2comp.com/?q=node/50

Jeff O'Brien writes:

Looks like I beat Jonny by 81 points today, however the totals are just thirteen points apart.

Jonny 5410
Jeff O'Brien 5397

Then:

Zac Majors 3rd.
Tom Pierce (Atos)
Rob Burgis
Dustin Martin
Dave Scott
Jeff Shapiro
Patrick Kruse
Greg Kendall

That rounds out the top ten.

.3% Close margin.

Discuss "Hang On in Woodrat - Jonny wins" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

US WPRS flex wing Ranking

January 31, 2006, 0:04:27 AEDT

US WPRS

Just American pilots

Dustin Martin|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Mike Barber|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Kari Castle|Mike Barber|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Kari Castle|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Greg Kendall|Kari Castle|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Greg Kendall|Kari Castle|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Rank Points Pilot
9 233 Carter, Kevin
26 174 Martin, Dustin
37 145 Warren, Curt
47 116 Straub, Davis
133 48 Lanning, Tom
135 47 Castle, Kari
168 35 Smith, Chris
215 24 Scott, David
248 20 Kendall, Greg
325 13 Barber, Mike
325 13 Hagewood, Robert, (Bo)

Discuss US WPRS at the Oz Report forum

2005 Big Spring Open »

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

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

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

The scores

The photos

The flight

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Results:

Rigids on the last day:

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

Finals for Rigids:

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

Last day for Flex Wings:

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

Totals for Flex Wings:

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

NTSS »

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

The US pilot ranking after the Big Spring Open

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

The women:

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

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

The rigid wing pilots:

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

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

The flex wing pilots:

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

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

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

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

2005 Flytec Championship, day eight

Why did they want a short task? Well, the sea breeze for one thing.

Flytec Championship

2005 Flytec Championship, day eight

Fri, Apr 22 2005, 4:00:00 pm EDT

Øyvind Ellefsen|A.I.R. ATOS VR|Bruce Barmakian|Campbell Bowen|Chris Muller|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|Jacques Bott|James Lamb|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason

The rigid wing flight and task

The forecast was for a twenty percent chance of rain after 4 PM, so we want to get every one back by then. I also forecasted a sea breeze, given the light west winds, and the Windcast showing what looks like convergence up the middle of the state. Pilots expressed the feeling that they were a little tired from the three hour task (plus one hour in the start circle) the day before, so a two and a half hour task sounded better.

Given the desire for a smaller task, we chose a run up and down highway 33 with a 64 mile task for the flex wings and 77 miles for the rigid wings. The cu's weren't happening when we rigids started to launch at 12:15, but after half an hour they began to appear nearby.

The flexies seeing the lack of clouds postponed their task 45 minutes. We rigids found the clouds and started our task on time. Soon the clouds were every where and we raced around the course. Our first turnpoint was at the intersection of highway 33 and the Turnpike north of Quest then back to the northeast corner of the Green Swamp and highway 50, down to I4 and 27, then back to Quest.

It was a nine mile glide to the second turnpoint after we got up at 700 fpm over the landfill just south of the Turnpike. Down to 1,400' I followed Bruce and a couple of other pilots into the Green Swamp to hit the lift than got us out of this hole. Primoz and Robert got away from me and were out in front.

With Ollie and Jacques in tow I headed southeast toward Wallaby Ranch, finding at first strong lift to 6,500', then weak lift under one thick black cloud after another. I only took a few turns under each cloud before I continued on looking for better lift. Twenty four miles later I finally found a strong core just past the intersection at 27 and I4 under a few wispies. Three miles out from the turnpoint I came in just under Primoz and Robert, but didn't find any lift there.

The gliders over Wallaby were a draw, for the leg back to Quest, and as I had no one who was flying with me, I chased after these guys to find that they were turning in nothing useful. Pushing west I finally got over a sunny spot with a nice black cloud over me that was working. After climbing I pushed northwest and found one more black cloud to 5,800' and went on glide from 15 miles out at 14:1 with an 8 mph cross wind.

It looked like there was a convergence line ahead paralleling highway 33 on the west side, so I got under it to got a little less sink or a little lift while gliding. It was enough to get me in.

Today Paris leaving early on the first clock won the day but not by enough to catch Jonny and Oleg. Oleg was second and had enough points to move ahead of Jonny into first place. Kevin Carter has been flying with wheels as he has a bad knee from an earlier bad landing and has to walk with a cane (yesterday it was crutches).

Rigids:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 Endter Vincent Air Atos Vr Usa 02:39:28 1000
2 Straub Davis Air Atos Vr Usa 02:42:52 929
3 Barmakian Bruce Air Atos Vr Usa 02:44:41 898
4 Parcellier Thierry Air Atos V Fra 02:50:46 838
5 Almond Neville Air Atos V Gbr 02:51:07 828
6 Bott Jacques Air Atos Vr Fra 02:52:29 812
7 Gleason Ron Air Atos Vr Usa 02:57:58 770
8 Chopard Patrick Helite Tsunami Fra 02:58:03 767
9 Bowen Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + Usa 03:04:56 723
10 Lamb James Air Atos Vr Usa 03:21:40 634

Rigid cumulative:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 Reisinger Robert Air Atos Vr Aut 4812
2 Barmakian Bruce Air Atos Vr Usa 4711
3 Almond Neville Air Atos V Gbr 4605
4 Bott Jacques Air Atos Vr Fra 4518
5 Endter Vincent Air Atos Vr Usa 4497
6 Yocom James Air Atos Vr Usa 4323
7 Straub Davis Air Atos Vr Usa 4095
8 Gricar Primoz Aeros Phantom Svn 3875
9 Gleason Ron Air Atos Vr Usa 3590
10 Bowen Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + Usa 3483

Flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 Williams Paris Aeros Combat L Usa 01:56:59 963
2 Bondarchuk Oleg Aeros Combat Ukr 01:55:16 929
3 Carter Kevin Aeros Combat Usa 01:55:57 907
4 Olsson Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 Swe 01:56:31 895
5 Haywood John Aeros Combat L Usa 02:04:47 868
6 Durand Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 Aus 01:58:16 866
7 Zabo Shawn Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 02:06:15 851
8 Anderson Johan Wills Wing T2 144 Zaf 02:01:06 834
9 Kendall Greg Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 02:09:50 818
10 Ellefsen Oyvind Moyes Litespeed 4 Nor 02:02:35 809

Cumulative flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 Bondarchuk Oleg Aeros Combat Ukr 5539
2 Durand Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 Aus 5503
3 Williams Paris Aeros Combat L Usa 5491
4 Bloom Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 Usa 4938
5 Martin Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 Usa 4823
6 Olsson Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 Swe 4733
7 Muller Chris Wills Wing T2 Can 4553
8 Volk Glen Moyes Litespeed Usa 4541
9 Barber Mike Moyes Litespeed Usa 4498
10 Carter Kevin Aeros Combat Usa 4434

The old Tin Cup »

Thu, Mar 11 2004, 7:00:00 pm EST

Thanks for all your great help.

Hal Hayden|Riker Davis|Scott Smith

Greg Kendall|Hal Hayden|Riker Davis|Scott Smith

Scroll down to near the bottom of this issue to see how to support the Oz Report or click here.

Thanks to: Scott Smith, Hal Hayden, Greg Kendall, Riker Davis,  Bruce Rhymes, Gerard Lamarche, Tommy Thompson, Scott M Tucker and some comments from them:

You provide a great international link for all of us air junkees. Keep up the Great Work on your Oz Report.

Thanks for your efforts - I check the Oz Report whenever I can. Here's a modest donation.

I've been out of work for 9 weeks with a broken ankle. Reading back issues of the Oz Report was very informative! Here's a few bucks to help you out. If I had go-zillions of dollars, I'd send you 25 grand and a few cases of my favorite bourbon :-)



Discuss the Tin Cup at the Oz Report forum

Magic Wallaby

Tue, Apr 25 2000, 9:00:04 am GMT

Andre Wolf|Wallaby Open 1999

Andre Wolf writes:

I came here last year to fly the Wallaby Open expecting just another normal hang gliding competition. What I found was much more. The atmosphere of the Ranch amazed me. I simply felt as if I had found the best place on earth to be. The friendship and happiness were immediately contagious. My first thought was that I could never miss this meet from then on. I also remembered something I read about the Ranch: “You may never want to leave.”

This year these thoughts have even grown inside me. I feel that, in years to come, when I shall retire from competition I will still find myself a one-man comp and for sure it will be Wallaby. Even later, when I could not fly anymore, I would like to be here to help people feel all these emotions that I am feeling now.

At last I would like to address Malcolm a few words and I think I will be speaking on behalf of everybody here in this meet, especially all the Brazilian pilots and families. Malcolm, thank you for creating this little paradise and sharing it with us. Thank you, Malcolm, for all you have been doing for the sport of hang gliding. But above all, thank you Malcolm for being this nice and gentle host we all know that you are.

Discuss "Magic Wallaby" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Gibbo spins his own tale

Fri, Mar 10 2000, 3:15:01 pm GMT

Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mary Ellen Fennessey|Mike Eberle|Russell "Russ" Brown|Sarah Bowman|Steve Kroop|Wallaby Open 1999

Mark Gibson, <GIBBOGEAR1@aol.com>, writes:

March 9, 2000, was the day the Georgia boarder was finally crossed!! Flying my spaceship (Ghostbuster) near cloud base looking down at the St. Mary's River was a very special moment for me.

(editor's note: Perhaps Gibbo is remembering ruefully another space ship that took away first place from him on the last day of competition at the 1999 Wallaby Open.)

I'm so busy now in my Trike shop that I'm only able to get out and fly on 100+ mile looking days and so many other pilots can shoot for it daily, luck would be on my side today though!

Mike Eberle arranged a small Ghostbuster get together at Quest Air and 4 of us showed up. I was of course a little late. Mark P, Campbell Bowman and Steve Kroop were already set up and preparing their harnesses. I begged them to wait so we could fly together, but they just laughed at me.

The day was looking so awesome by now that all of us thought we had an honest chance of making the border. Mike Eberle put his money where his mouth is and announced he would pay $1000 dollars to every GB that made the crossing today. Hmm, $1000. Steve Kroop (Flytec man) upped the pot with $300 or a new map GPS for the pilot who used a Flytec vario. Wow, lets go!!!

Quest Air has been getting a large share of the long flights this summer, because pilots are able to get on the unseasonably dry plains north of the flight park earlier, and thus can fly on the fastest part of the course line longer. We were taking off a little before noon and the clouds to the north look like 3:00 PM!

(editor's note: These plains are usually known as swamps.)

I launched last, but quickly caught the other GB's after getting released in a 800fpm boomer straight to cloud base. I pull in the flaps and go on 45mph glide…wow I'm already flying faster then best glide and its not even noon? Slow down Gibbo, I warn myself don't get to excited this early and bomb out!!!

Campbell and I break away a bit, he's in a bit of a racing mood too, so our S2F stays high. We make time to Ocala only getting to 1500 agl once and on more then a few occasions flying wing tip to wing tip in 800 fpm lift right to cloud base (Love the sound of my screaming Flytec!) On one climb we both whited out at the same time. My last view of Campbell he was letting off flaps and retracting them preparing for a dive to the NW. I was doing the same and diving for the NE.

(editor's note: Campbell and Gibbo are big boys, and have the ballast to outrun the other two featherweights.)

After Ocala, Campbell and I split up, he takes a route pretty much over I-75 slightly to the west. I choose to fly even more to the west under a nice line of clouds. When I get to them I'm a little late and they have spread out shadowing the ground. I end up making a real slow climb from 1200 agl back to cloud base.

(editor's note: In a southwest wind Gibbo has positioned himself for a downwind run to the Georgia border.)

I get some good air after this slow point and find myself SW of Gainesville at the beginning of a convergence line that is directly on course to the Georgia finger. For the next 60 miles I pretty much stay between 6100 and 4500 ft! As I'm cruising, I keep looking back to see if any other pilots are making it too, but the clouds are drying up behind me as fast as the are forming ahead. I'm finally fast enough to stay on the front edge of the convergence, unlike so many other attempts when I missed it and bombed out in the blue.

I ask my Dad, Albo, to get ahead of me and check out the LZ's across the state line because on the map it looks like only trees. He reports palmettos and slash piles for LZ's - not really desirable for a carbon space ship!

Luck would continue for me though and I would stay pretty high until St. George, Georgia, at this point I'm down to 2000 ft and its blued out every where. I start searching for a LZ. To the NW of town I spot a green field, awesome! When I get there, of course, there's a power line running right thru the middle of it, well beggars can't be choosey. I pull on the flaps and set up for landing gently touching down 140 miles form Quest and at the top of the Georgia finger!

Awesome!!! Getting the record now means I can work in peace while cloud streets are forming over my shop! ha-ah. I would like to thank all the guys that make my flying possible: Mike Eberle and the guys at Flight Designs for building and supplying me with the most advanced rigid wing on the market today (GhostBuster), Steve Kroop for the best and most reliable Vario/GPS combination and the coolest bracket (Flytec), and Russell Brown for the bitchin' 914 tug and awesome flight park (Quest).

Discuss "Gibbo spins his own tale" at the Oz Report forum   link»

World Team ranking – 2000 and 2001 »

Fri, Sep 24 1999, 10:00:02 pm GMT

Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Bubba Goodman|Butch Peachy|Campbell Bowen|Chris Arai|David Sharp|Davis Straub|Dennis Pagen|Denny Mallet|Dustin Martin|Gary Davis|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|Jamie Shelden|Jamie Sheldon|Jersey Rossignol|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|Jon Borton|Kari Castle|Larry Tudor|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Bennett|Mark Bolt|Mark Gibson|Mark Mulholland|Mike Barber|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Nancy Smith|Nelson Howe|Paris Williams|Ramy Yanetz|Reto Schaerli|Ryan Glover|Slade Kennett|Steve Rewolinski|Tip Rogers|USHGA|Wayne Sayer|World Team ranking

I've placed the current version of the US World Team rankings up on my web site. They may or may not be available from USHGA. You can find them at http://www.davisstraub.com.

Here are the top ten Class II pilots for the 2000 World team.

0in0in 0in">
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1

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Porter Brian

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

565

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

2

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Sharp David

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

526

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3

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Straub Davis

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

312

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

4

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Zeiset Jim

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

268

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

5

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Posch Johann

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

186

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

6

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Yanetz Ramy

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

150

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

7

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Gibson Mark

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

90

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8

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Mallet Denny

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

60

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

9

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Borton Jon

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

32

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10

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Bowen Campbell

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

13

Here are the top twenty Class I pilots for the 2000 World team.

0in0in 0in">
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1

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Lee Jim

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

1754

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2

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Barber Mike

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

1642

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

3

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Arai Chris

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

1394

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

4

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Williams Paris

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

839

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

5

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Glover Ryan

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

828

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

6

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Gibson Mark

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

686

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

7

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Kennett Slade

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

686

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

8

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Rossignol Jersey

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

639

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

9

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Volk Glen

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

630

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

10

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Tudor Larry

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

583

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11

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Bennett Mark

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

509

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

12

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Howe Nelson

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

487

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

13

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Peachy Butch

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

450

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

14

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Martin Dustin

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

449

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

15

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Castle Kari

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

427

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

16

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Pagen Dennis

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

390

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

17

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Shipley Mitch

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

360

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

18

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Barmakian Bruce

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

273

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

19

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Goodman Bubba

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166

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20

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Rewolinski Steve

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

162

The current rankings for the 2001 World team include only the best two meet scores in 1999. The rankings are as follows:

Here are the top ten Class II pilots for the 2001 World team.

0in0in 0in">
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1

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Porter Brian

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

432

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2

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Sharp David

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

288

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3

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Straub Davis

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

270

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

4

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Posch Johann

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

186

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

5

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Zeiset Jim

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

180

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

6

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Gibson Mark

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

90

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

7

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Yanetz Ramy

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

45

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8

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Bowen Campbell

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

13

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

9

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Rogers Tip

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

5

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

10

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Sheldon Jamie

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

4

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

10

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

Yocom Jim

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

4

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

10

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

Mulholland Mark

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

4

Here are the top twenty Class I pilots for the 2001 World team.

0in0in 0in">
0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

1

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Lee Jim

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

940

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

2

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Barber Mike

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

638

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

3

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">
Arai Chris
0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

571

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

4

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Volk Glen

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

497

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

5

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Williams Paris

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

482

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

6

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Glover Ryan

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

466

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

7

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Rossignol Jersey

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

405

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

8

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Martin Dustin

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

371

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

9

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Pagen Dennis

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

339

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

10

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Castle Kari

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

256

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

11

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Rewolinski Steve

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

140

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

12

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Shipley Mitch

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

135

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

13

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Davis Gary

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

98

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

14

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Bolt Mark

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

97

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

15

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Barmakian Bruce

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

94

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

16

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Schaerli Reto

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

81

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

17

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Goodman Bubba

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

69

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

18

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Sayer Wayne

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

52

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

19

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Smith Nancy

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

45

0in 0in 0in; height:12.75pt">

20

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

Kendall Greg

0in 0in 0in;height:12.75pt">

37

Discuss "World Team ranking – 2000 and 2001" at the Oz Report forum   link»

US pilot ranking

Fri, May 7 1999, 10:00:01 pm GMT

Aaron Swepston|Andrew Pryciak|Bob Kranz|Bob Mackey|Bo Hagewood|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Bubba Goodman|Buddy Cutts|Bud Melaney|Butch Peachy|Campbell Bowen|Carol Sperry|Chris "Hawkeye" Giardina|Chris Arai|Chris Filer|Claire Pagen|Craig Woodward|Dave Seaberg|David Sharp|Davis Straub|Dean Funk|Dennis Harris|Dennis Pagen|Denny Mallet|Donn Denman|Don Netlow|Duncan McBride|Dustin Martin|Eric Beckman|Eric Shiever|Floyd Frontis|Gary Davis|George Stebbins|Gerry Pesavento|Glen Volk|Greg Dinauer|Greg Kendall|Jack Simmons|Jamey Meier|Jamie Shelden|Jamie Sheldon|Jersey Rossignol|Jim Lee|Jim Yocum|Jody Lazaro|Johann Posch|John Beckley|John Ryan|John Sylvia|Jon Borton|Jon James|Jon Lindberg|Jose Pereyra|Judy Hildebrand|Kari Castle|Kelly Harrison|Ken Brown|Kerie Swepston|Kerry Lloyd|Kim Albarran|Larry Costanza|Larry Tudor|Laszlo Babarcsik|Lisa Verzella|Marion Moody|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Bennett|Mark Bolt|Mark Gibson|Mark Grubbs|Mark Mulholland|Martin Gruber|Mike Barber|Mike Degtoff|Mike Eberhardt|Mike Glennon|Mike Zidziunas|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Nancy Smith|Nathan Whelchel|Nelson Howe|Nick Kennedy|Nick Thomas|Paris Williams|Patty Cameron|Peter Welch|Ramy Yanetz|Reto Schaerli|Richard Burton|Robert Lane|Rob Kayes|Ron Roose|Russell Brown|Russ Locke|Ryan Glover|Simon Kurth|Slade Kennett|Steve Lee|Steven Desroches|Steve Refsell|Steve Rewolinski|Steve Stubbendick|Tim Denton|Timothy Washick|Tip Rogers|Tom Webster|Tracy Tillman|Tyson Richmond|USHGA|US Nationals|Wayne O'Sick|Wayne Sayer|William Vogel|Zac Majors

Now that the Wallaby Open and US Nationals have been completed, the competition pilot ranking has changed to reflect the results of these meets. Pilots can use the current ranking to gauge the point value of attending further meets.

To view the results in more detail, or to download the Excel 95 spread sheet that is used to calculate these results, go to http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/2000wtss.htm. These are preliminary results and they await any corrections from Russ Locke, USHGA competition chairman.

US pilot ranking for the year 2000 World Team, as of May 8th, 1999:

Class II:

1 Porter Brian 565
2 Sharp David 517
3 Straub Davis 312
4 Zeiset Jim 230
5 Posch Johann 186
6 Yanetz Ramy 150
7 Gibson Mark 90
8 Mallet Denny 60
9 Borton Jon 32
10 Bowen Campbell 13
11 Sheldon Jamie 8
12 Richmond Tyson 6
13 Rogers Tip 5
14 Yocom Jim 4
14 Mulholland Mark 4
16 Hagewood Bo 3
16 Denman Donn 3
18 Beckman Eric 2
19 Filer Chris 1

Class I:

1 Lee Jim 1796
2 Barber Mike 1741
3 Arai Chris 1274
4 Williams Paris 874
5 Glover Ryan 870
6 Volk Glen 696
7 Rossignol Jersey 688
8 Gibson Mark 686
9 Kennett Slade 686
10 Tudor Larry 583
11 Bennett Mark 517
12 Howe Nelson 487
13 Peachy Butch 450
14 Pagen Dennis 445
15 Castle Kari 441
16 Martin Dustin 419
17 Shipley Mitch 391
18 Barmakian Bruce 300
19 Goodman Bubba 166
20 Bolt Mark 165
21 Schaerli Reto 164
22 Netlow Don 151
23 Davis Gary 98
24 Harrison Kelly 83
25 Rewolinski Steve 80
26 Sayer Wayne 73
27 Smith Nancy 65
28 Refsell Steve 65
29 Lee Steve 64
30 Seaberg Dave 56
31 Ryan John 52
32 Pagen Claire 51
33 Kendall Greg 47
34 Pryciak Andrew 36
35 O'sick Wayne 34
36 Yocum Jim 33
36 Majors Zac 33
38 Frontis Floyd 31
38 Simmons Jack 31
40 Denton Tim 30
40 Pereyra Jose 30
42 Cameron Patty 27
43 Shiever Eric 24
44 Kayes Rob 23
45 Stubbendick Steve 22
46 Kennedy Nick 21
46 Brown Ken 21
46 Pesavento Gerry 21
46 Tillman Tracy 21
50 Lane Robert 20
51 Welch Peter 19
51 Eberhardt Mike 19
51 Kranz Bob 19
54 Dinauer Greg 18
54 Sperry Carol 18
56 Meier Jamey 17
56 Glennon Mike 17
56 Beckley John 17
59 Gruber Martin 15
59 Bowen Campbell 15
59 Kurth Simon 15
62 Sylvia John 14
62 Sturtevant Cj 14
62 Lloyd Kerry 14
65 Burton Richard 13
65 Lindberg Jon 13
67 Cutts Buddy 12
67 Giardina Chris 12
67 Mackey Bob 12
67 Funk Dean 12
67 Lazaro Jody 12
72 James Jon 11
73 Whelchel Nathan 10
73 Woodward Craig 10
75 Hildebrand Judy 9
75 Harris Dennis 9
75 Swepston Kerie 9
75 Moody Marion 9
79 Webster Tom 8
79 Vogel William 8
79 Swepston Aaron 8
82 Thomas Nick 7
82 Brown Russell 7
82 Degtoff Mike 7
85 Washick Timothy 6
85 Albarran Kim 6
87 Grubbs Mark 5
87 Verzella Lisa 5
87 Locke Russ 5
87 Desroches Steven 5
87 Williams Mike 5
92 Stebbins George 4
92 Mcbride Duncan 4
94 Costanza Larry 3
94 Roose Ron 3
96 Melaney Bud 2
96 Zidziunas Mike 2
98 Babarcsik Laszlo 1

Discuss "US pilot ranking" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Dave Sharp's ATOS report

Tue, Apr 20 1999, 4:00:04 am GMT

ATOS|David "Dave" Sharp|Exxtacy|George Ferris|Peter Radman|Wallaby Open 1999

Dave Sharp is flying the ATOS in the Wallaby Open. He also works for Altair, the US distributor. He previously was the US factory pilot for the Exxtacy. He both flies the ATOS as a job and represents the ATOS throughout the US.

Here is his report on his experience so far:

So I've been holding off just a bit to tell everyone about this awesome new wing. I wanted to at least get some air time before hand. I can happily report that it should more than meet everyone's expectations.

We managed to get the Atos cleared from customs a day before the meet started. I was down in Miami at 10pm pried open the beefy wood box and found everything in tact with no damage with only one problem NO Sail ?.

I drove back to Quest to crash for the night, (2:30 am)

Saturday morning I met up with Peter Radman we both left for the Ranch right away hoping and praying Felix who arrived that night would have the sail. He did and we assembled the Atos at Quest in a hanger out of the pouring rain.

Felix test flew it, then I got to fly. Next George Ferris who drove 1200 miles just to check it out got to take her for a ride. I've been flying the Atos now for 3 days and have about 10 hours.

First the glider is really 73 pounds, The Carbon Fiber work is very slick. Felix uses a little different carbon fiber fabric on the D-tube the result is lighter and stronger and easier to work on.

The Atos is a foot or so shorter in pack down than similar wings. First you insert a foot long section of 7075 with a carbon fiber rib attached to it then you insert a fiberglass wand that plugs into a delron fitting.

The ribs swing out but stay internal and Felix has designed a very clever and simple pinky size cam that you can tension with the flick of a finger.

The spoilers and flaps attach directly to the sail with Velcro, no spoiler or flap sleeves. At first I did not like the idea of having to peel them on and off BUT you don't have to THEY STAY ON. You just fold over the sail and they lay on top of the glider, VERY NICE.

The sail work is very clean no proto type here !. The aspect ratios is incredible 12:1 and must be the sexiest hang glider out there.

Flying : off the cart it tracks very well with good pitch feed back. The control bar is several inches closer than what I was used to which I like as opposed to way out in front of my helmet. Bar Pressure is a little more than my last glider but I had no problem going 70 mph.Roll is slightly different , a sharp input will give a quicker roll when desired but normal type Exxtacy like handling can be expected.

Stall speed is a mile or two higher, and the glide is a little better with flaps on but still much less than a high performance hang glider. Flare feel is the same but is much lighter when you do the final push out. Glide is about what is claimed, I am consistently seeing a steady walk away from last years rigid wing models. Sink rate is the same but every day I'm getting more dialed into and finding my self on top more often.

In a few week I will be going up to Altair and we will be making an on line manual to show more details. Look for it on the Altair web page.

I have lots of photos of the ATOS , and will be publishing them soon. Even photographic evidence of the weight – 73 pounds.

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Wallaby Open results

Mon, Apr 19 1999, 4:00:01 am GMT

Wallaby Open 1999

Class II

This is my guess as to the results of day two. The preliminary results given to me by the scorekeepers appear to have a number of errors.

Dave Sharp
Felix Ruhle
Mark Gibson
Davis Straub
Jim Zeiset

Cumulative:

Mark Gibson
Dave Sharp
Davis Straub
Felix Ruhle
Brian Porter

Class I:

Oleg Bondarchuck
Jim Lee
Andre Wolf
Manfred Ruhmer
Dustin Martin
Allan Barnes
Ryan Glover
Sandy Dittmar
Kari Castle
Mike Barber

Cumulative:

Manfred Ruhmer
Oleg Bondarchuck
Jim Lee
Dustin Martin
Kraig Coomber
Ryan Glover
Kari Castle
Mike Barber
Sandy Dittmar
Paris Williams

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Practice day for Wallaby Open rained out

Sat, Apr 17 1999, 4:00:00 am GMT

Wallaby Open 1999|weather

It has finally rained in central Florida after more than three months of drought. We have had only one day of rain since we arrived here in mid-January. Forest fires were breaking out over the last few weeks, some destroying homes. Sun 'n Fun, the big air show in Lakeland, FL, just 30 miles from here, was partially evacuated on Wednesday due to a fast moving fire that threatened them from the west.

It has rained here at Wallaby Ranch about 2 inches in the last hour, and we are on the southern edge of the rain clouds as shown below:

Over most of the United States the skies are clear, but when we get to Florida, the radar and satellite photos show a much different story:

Those of us who have been here for a while are celebrating the rains, and look forward to getting rid of the haze which built up a bit over the last week. We expect slower going the next few days with the wetter ground, but with light northwest winds, we should be flying toward the drier areas.

The rains stop in the afternoon and a number of test flights are taken before dusk.

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Watch the race at home or work

Fri, Apr 16 1999, 4:00:01 am GMT

Wallaby Open 1999|US Nationals 1999

The Wallaby Open and the Nationals will be netcast live, so that you will be able to track the race (at least the top five pilots and maybe the top fifteen). While the web site won't be active until Sunday afternoon (Eastern Daylight Savings time, which is 4 hours ahead of Zulu time), you can check it out in advance. You'll find it at http://www.wallaby.com/wallabyopen.

We are hoping that all the glider manufacturers tune in on their computers to see how their boys (and girls) are doing. Of course, the race results will also be published every day at the same site.

Please tell other people about this live netcast and have them tune in to see what is going on. It won't be the be all and end all of live hang gliding competition coverage, but it will be a start.

Also enter the contest at http://www.1800hangglide.com to win a Flytec vario. If you have read previous issues of the Oz report, you should have a pretty good idea of who will place well in the Class I category.

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One slot left for the Wallaby Open

Tue, Apr 6 1999, 4:00:03 am GMT

Wallaby Open 1999

There is only one slot left available for the Wallaby Open. Apparently the Nationals are just about completely full also. Here’s whose coming to the Wallaby Open:

1. Zweykmeyer, Josef
2. Wolfgang (Austria)
3. Alden, John
4. Arai, Chris
5. Barber, Mike
6. Bezenover, Jose
7. Bolt, Mark
8. Bowen, Campbell
9. Cameron, Patty
10. Castle, Kari
11. Coomber, Craig
12. Cutts, Buddy
13. Davis, Gary
14. de Silva, Francisco
15. Funk, Dean
16. Furrer, Vince
17. Gibson, Mark "Gibbo"
18. Glennon, Mike
19. Glover, Ryan
20. Goodman, Bubba
21. Gotez, Rudy
22. Hagewood, Bo
23. Hamilton, Robin
24. Hildebrand, Judy
25. Jaramillo, Nicolas
26. Kendall, Greg
27. Kennedy, Nick
28. Lee, Jim
29. Martin, Dusty
30. Mulholland, Mark
31. Pagen, Claire
32. Pagen, Dennis
33. Porter, Brian
34. Posche, Johann
35. Rhumer, Manfred
36. Rizo, Carlos
37. Rizo, Luis
38. Rogers, Tip
39. Rossignol, Jerz
40. Rowleski, Steve
41. Ruhle, Felix
42. Sayer, Wayne
43. Scarli, Reto
44. Schmit, Betinho
45. Sharp, Dave
46. Shipley, Mitch
47. Simmons, Jack
48. Smith, Nancy
49. Straub, Davis
50. Thevenot, Gerard
51. Volk, Glen
52. Welch, Peter
53. Williams, Paris
54. Wolf, Andre
55. Yocom, James
56. Zeiset, Jim
57. Meier, James
58. Warren, Steve
59. Bondarchuck, Oleg
60. Nenno

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Getting ready to come to ⁢Wallaby »

Sun, Apr 4 1999, 6:00:00 pm EDT

Mike Barber|record|Wallaby Open 1999|Wallaby Ranch

John "Ole" Olson|Mike Barber|record|Wallaby Open 1999|Wallaby Ranch

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Mike Barber|record|Wallaby Open 1999|Wallaby Ranch

John "Ole" Olson|Mike Barber|Patty Cameron|record|Wallaby Open 1999|Wallaby Ranch

John "Ole" Olson|Mike Barber|Patty Cameron|record|Wallaby Open 1999|Wallaby Ranch

If you are coming to the Wallaby Open on April 18th, or just to the Ranch in general, you should be prepared to really enjoy your time here. The Ranch is a bit big and its great to have a bicycle to get around from the pole barn/kitchen to the hangers and over to your trailer or tent. If you have a bicycle, bring it with you.

One custom mod that will make life just that much better, is to equip your bicycle (for the time you are here) with comfort pedals. Comfort pedals let you bicycle in the nude (at least as far as your feet are concerned).

Here’s a shot of the feet on comfort pedals, and the pedals themselves. Just $6.95 a pair.

There is a full-scale kitchen and restaurant (pole barn) at the Ranch now. Currently two meals a day are served, but there will be three meals served each day during the Wallaby Open (hopefully pilots will miss lunch).

Jeremy, the Ranch chef, now has two assistants, in order to handle the big load coming up. Meals are by donation. It is hoped and expected that you will like the meals enough to pay $5.00 per person per meal. You can pay any time and will be asked when you check out what you think that you owe for meals.

This arrangement is extraordinary, and it relies on people appreciating the food (which is great, by the way) and pitching in to pay for it. The kitchen is handling up to 40 meals a day now and will be doing more soon. Jeremy goes out and buys food in $500 chunks.

I sometimes get the feeling that Malcolm is not running the Ranch as a business and that he just enjoys feeding people and making sure that they have a good time. Please help out if you want to eat here.

Those of us on site are practicing for the upcoming meets by flying proposed triangles and out and return tasks (unless it looks like a record day). Today Patty Cameron had her best flight ever, a 50 mile triangle from Wallaby to Clermont, Quest and back. Here’s a shot of Mike Barber up close as we head back for the Ranch after making it to Gator, Quest and back.

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Wallaby Open turnpoints – the list

Sun, Apr 4 1999, 5:00:05 am GMT

Wallaby Open 1999|waypoints

You can cut and paste the following lines (starting with Datum) into a text file on your computer and use Waypoint+ to open and read the file and then upload it into your Garmin.

Datum,WGS84,WGS84,0,0,0,0,0
WP,DM,LEEWAR, 29.050640108, -82.0193299942,03/21/1999,13:04:51,DAVIS
WP,DM,COLEMA, 28.486730014, -82.0391101122,03/21/1999,13:04:51,DAVIS
WP,DM,471-50, 28.333120054, -82.0328300215,03/21/1999,13:04:51,DAVIS
WP,DM,17-92 , 28.063740003, -81.3868000746,03/21/1999,13:04:51,RYAN
WP,DM,27-192, 28.208361578, -81.4044029262,03/21/1999,13:04:51,14-FEB-99 18:30
WP,DM,27-474, 28.222172809, -81.4103059318,03/21/1999,13:04:51,14-FEB-99 18:39
WP,DM,27-544, 28.048497629, -81.3898224380,03/21/1999,13:04:51,19-FEB-99 20:18
WP,DM,27-547, 28.094685268, -81.3840256479,03/21/1999,13:04:51,19-FEB-99 20:46
WP,DM,27-I4 , 28.140158367, -81.3903921392,03/21/1999,13:04:51,19-FEB-99 20:57
WP,DM,33-474, 28.225761604, -81.4940069463,03/21/1999,13:04:51,14-FEB-99 18:55
WP,DM,33-DS , 28.155086470, -81.4949950721,03/21/1999,13:04:51,14-FEB-99 19:54
WP,DM,471-98, 28.148938847, -82.0334356811,03/21/1999,13:04:51,19-FEB-99 17:55
WP,DM,557-I4, 28.109400940, -81.4464867856,03/21/1999,13:04:51,19-FEB-99 17:14
WP,DM,AVON , 27.354959893, -81.3165884759,03/21/1999,13:04:51,30-DEC-97 04:4!
WP,DM,BOK , 27.561079978, -81.3467200264,03/21/1999,13:04:51,RYAN
WP,DM,CEDARK, 29.080698586, -83.0288120534,03/21/1999,13:04:51,30-DEC-97 05:01
WP,DM,CHALET, 27.570429254, -81.3597795513,03/21/1999,13:04:51,30/DEC-97 04:40
WP,DM,CHERYL, 28.402861428, -82.0523098495,03/21/1999,13:04:51,29-DEC)97 23:26
WP,DM,CRYSTL, 28.520921540, -82.3445311572,03/21/1999,13:04:51,30-DEC-97 04:56
WP,DM,DS-ROK, 28.155504894, -81.5751298215,03/21/1999,13:04:51,14-FEB-99 20:17
WP,DM,DUNELN, 29.038028932, -82.2263583925,03/21/1999,13:04:51,30-DEC-97 04:58
WP,DM,FANTA , 28.100665522, -81.4843799617,03/21/1999,13:04:51,14-FEB-99 20:58
WP,DM,GATOR , 28.375461054, -81.4817986038,03/21/1999,13:04:51,18-MAR-98 00:52
WP,DM,INVERS, 28.485332918, -82.1878504541,03/21/1999,13:04:51,30-DEC-97 04:59
WP,DM,OCALA , 29.102150893, -82.1335485961,03/21/1999,13:04:51,17-MAR-18 03:22
WP,DM,PLACID, 27.151109862, -81.2479797151,03/21/1999,13:04:51,17-MAR-98 03:12
WP,DM,QUEST , 28.321120572, -81.5076314952,03/21/1999,13:04:51,14-FEB-99 19:23
WP,DM,RANCH , 28.151906443, -81.4108852889,03/21/1999,13:04:51,14-FEB-99 16:45
WP,DM,RIVER , 27.462981033, -81.1153294589,03/21/1999,13:04:51,31-MAR-98 17:09
WP,DM,ROK-98, 28.115831804, -82.0006859090,03/21/1999,13:04:51,14-FEB-99 20:26
WP,DM,WAUCLU, 27.308318424, -81.5292286422,03/21/1999,13:04:51,17-MAR-98 03:10
WP,DM,WILARP, 29.212811327, -82.2836793449,03/21/1999,13:04:51,30-DEC-97 04:35
WP,DM,WIMAMA, 27.395675826, -82.2622045066,03/21/1999,13:04:51,08-SEP-97 21:49
WP,DM,ZHILLA, 28.134559977, -82.0954499796,03/21/1999,13:07:04,MIKE
WP,DM,ZHILLC, 28.131619991, -82.0917100079,03/21/1999,13:08:41,MIKE
WP,DM,98-301, 28.194630009, -82.1125699833,03/21/1999,13:09:22,MIKE
WP,DM,75-50 , 28.314010019, -82.1423999865,03/21/1999,13:10:10,MIKE
WP,DM,TWOJJS, 28.271189994, -82.1246800061,03/21/1999,13:12:48,MIKE
WP,DM,SG4 , 28.170720010, -81.4039999913,03/21/1999,13:17:17,RYAN
WP,DM,SG3 , 28.155480000, -81.4585599951,03/21/1999,13:16:39,RYAN
WP,DM,SG2 , 28.130469977, -81.4337200072,03/21/1999,13:16:00,RYAN
WP,DM,SG1 , 28.155969989, -81.4338400025,03/21/1999,13:14:31,RYAN
WP,DM,UMATIL, 28.553909995, -81.3910199773,04/01/1999,14:39:14,RYAN
WP,DM,MIDFLA, 28.507880020, -81.3780599792,04/01/1999,14:39:53,RYAN
WP,DM,AGRO , 27.396320009, -82.1734999988,04/01/1999,14:40:25,RYAN

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Netcasting the Wallaby Open

Sun, Apr 4 1999, 5:00:04 am GMT

Duncan McBride|Kevin Frost|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Russell "Russ" Brown|Wallaby Open 1999

Over the last few days the Automated Pilot Tracking System (Oz Reports # 19 and #20) has been put to good use as Albo has been tracking right under us. Using one minute intervals works well, and now we’ll try two minutes. The system has been so successful that Albo is ready to buy one to track Mark (Gibson) at the Worlds in Italy

There is a small possibility that the Wallaby Open, and/or the Nationals will be Netcast with pilots using APTS to report their positions to a central computer at headquarters. We’ll see how far this effort gets.

Russ Brown has a few thoughts on these type of systems:

Maybe you guys will help me brainstorm a little thing that's been bopping around in my head. I mentioned it to Duncan McBride a couple months ago and now Ken Rosenberger has asked about it. We've got this capability in APRS to have our position picked up by any nearby digipeater that is "Igate" (internet gate) equipped. Then your icon is displayed on a US map atwww.aprs.net. If you zoom in on an area, thewww.aprs.netmaps are served from Mapblast.com. Other technical details onwww.aprs.netcan be found by searching the APRSSIG archives atwww.tapr.org.

Anyway, say we get our infrastructure all set up. Say every HG site in the country had an Igated digipeater (actually that would come in very handy if it were also hooked into the site's wind talker, but that's another subject) and everybody could log onto the internet on Sat night to view the log file of their favorite mailing list personality, sort of like what Davis has posted athttps://OzReport.com/Ozv3n17.htm.

To get fancy, you could use a product like Delorme 3D Explorer to deliver say, a real-time pilot's view of Pete Lawrence flying up the Owens Valley. Or you could see if Kevin Frost lands in the bomb range. You could go over the back of Frisco with David Taylor and second guess all his flight decisions. Hmm… I guess we'd need a cloud cover overlay from the weather service to second-guess all his flying decisions.

But now for the brainstorming part… If all these disparate, digitally-equipped pilots would want to compete against each other in a "Saturday Cyber League" of sorts, what would the handicap rules be? I was thinking maybe to get soundings from weather service sources nearest each competitor and then handicapping each flight as to thermal tops/cloudbase, tailwinds, strength of lift, etc. Also type of glider could be handicapped. These standings could be calculated instantly and the leader would have bragging rights for a week.

Whaddya think? I think Florida would be the ideal place to kick off a Cyber League since the state is already blanketed with Igated digipeaters and has at least one glider-mounted TH-D7A. The consistent topography in Florida would also make scoring easier, maybe start off with just a glider handicap. Maybe Kenwood could sponsor this and make it really cool.

And:

I plan on flying this Saturday but probably won't go XC since I haven't flown since Xmas (I re-injured a muscle below my scapula). I'll set my TH-D7A to 144.390 (call sign KB6LUD), set my SSID to "small aircraft" and set my path to RELAY,WIDE. I should easily hit one of the 2 IGated digipeaters in the LA Basin. Hey, I've got a 5000 foot antenna :-)

According tohttp://www.aprs.net/aprserve.dcc.htmlthe data is not purged for 12 hours so we should be able to race home and see our last position. The "Client connection" paragraph onhttp://www.aprs.net/aprserve.dcc.htmlprobably holds the key to gathering nationwide data that the Cyber League could use for scoring purposes. Know any programmers? Steve Dimse is a great guy, he would probably offer tech help.

Then, he reconsiders:

WARNING… Don't tune into 144.390 with your glider's GPS unless you want all your waypoints overwritten!! You can disable the NMEA input from the GPS to prevent this.

I think he means NMEA input to the GPS.

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Wallaby Open turnpoints

Sun, Apr 4 1999, 5:00:03 am GMT

Wallaby Open 1999|waypoints

I’ve put up the official list of Wallaby Open turnpoints/goals on my web site. You’ll find it at http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/wallabyopenturnpoints.zip. Just click this link to download it to your computer.

You’ll need to unzip it (http://www.winzip.com). It is in Waypoint+ (http://www.tapr.org/~kh2z/Waypoint/) format. If you download Waypoint+ (which is a terrific piece of freeware), you can upload the turnpoints into your Garmin 12 or III or whatever. You’ll need a Garmin/serial cable (http://www.blue-hills-innovations.com/products.htm#data).

I’ve also included a text version of the turnpoints below.

The turnpoint checking software to be used at the Wallaby Open and the Nationals will download your track log and your waypoints, including any that you created with Mark, and Enter during the flight. This is an example of what your flight will look like to the person viewing it on the computer:

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US Nationals »

Wed, Mar 17 1999, 5:00:02 am GMT

G.W. Meadows|Quest Air|Wallaby Open 1999|US Nationals 1999

G.W. is going to be putting on quite a show up at Quest Air, right after the Wallaby Open. If you are thinking about flying in these meets, you had better sign up very soon. Because these are tow meets, there will definitely be a limit to the number of participants. Just because you sign up for one, doesn’t mean you will necessarily be able to go to the other.

You can sign up for the Nationals at http://www.justfly.com, and for the Wallaby Open, go to http://www.wallaby.com (there is no on-line sign up capability there).

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GPS turn point verification at the competitions »

Tue, Feb 16 1999, 4:00:04 pm GMT

GPS|Wallaby Open 1999|US Nationals 1999

We are working hard at setting up the Wallaby Open and the US Nationals for GPS use. GPS turnpoint verification will be the order of the day, but we want to make sure that it works for every one.

Previously pilots used their GPSs to tell them when they got close to the physical turnpoint. Now they will be using their eye sight (and their GPSs) to tell them when they get near the virtual turnpoint. The GPS indicated turnpoint is the turnpoint. Hopefully it will be very close to the physical turnpoint.

I suggest that pilots take every opportunity to practice making virtual turnpoints.

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The Wallaby Open »

Sun, Jul 5 1998, 7:56:19 pm EDT

cost|Wallaby Open 1999|weather

The Wallaby Open dates are April 18th-24th. This is the week after Sun 'n Fun (April 10-17th). JC Brown is now the meet director. Malcolm is the meet organizer. The cost is $250. See www.wallaby.com for snail mail address. E-mail is «gloverdh».

BTW, there are money prizes at the Wallaby Open. $3000, $1500, $500 for 1st, 2nd, 3rd in Class I. None for Class II, but I guess if you can afford a Class II glider, who needs money. :-) I asked Malcolm about the weather and he didn't want to talk about it because he didn't want to jinx it. It's been too good for a month now. Last year with El Nino, it rained every day in the Winter.

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