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topic: Konrad Heilmann

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A few comments on JD's analysis

Fri, May 20 2022, 6:42:47 pm MDT

Why did he take the time to look at this issue?

cloud flying|Daniel Vélez Bravo|FAI Sporting Code|J.D. Guillemette|Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

JD writes:

The thing is I first reviewed the track logs from day one to see if my perception was correct. Turned out, I was wrong.

So then I looked at day 3 expecting to see Velez way above everyone by 1200' and cloud flying, that was the rumor. Instead, I saw him just a bit higher than others and presumably by himself in the blue. After reviewing the replay it changed my mind of what happened and felt I needed to point it out and squash the rumors.

Like JD I also looked at the pilot's track logs. I used SeeYou, which normalized the data, so that all the pilots altitudes were comparable. I was the pilot A in JD's map. I found cloud base to be 5,100'. I found that at his highest Daniel was at 5,236'. I also found that Daniel was over 4,000' to the east of pilots C/D, away from the cloud.

Should the 200 point penalty that Daniel received be rescinded and he be given the 10 point penalty as per CIVIL Section 7A rules?

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Cloud Flying »

Fri, May 20 2022, 6:40:21 pm MDT

A careful look at the data

cloud flying|Daniel Vélez Bravo|FAI Sporting Code|FS|J.D. Guillemette|Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

JD Guillemette writes:

My take on the Daniel Velez incident on Task 3 of the Wilotree National.

Daniel Velez was penalized 200 point on Task 3 for cloud flying and/or being too high above cloud base. Some estimates were that he had taken 1200ft unfair altitude advantage and he had an unfair advantage all the way to the 1st turn point.

I want to first say that I do not condone cloud flying, it’s dangerous, in violation of Federal Aviation Regulations and unsportsmanlike.

I have reviewed the replay of the pilot's track log IGC files from Airtribune and all the altitudes are the raw data as reported by the trackers and was the data used for scoring. Because the altitudes are not normalize , i.e. every pilot's launch altitude it not set to the actual GPS altitude which was the same for all pilots, there will be discrepancy if the same data is normalized with SeeYou, FS, or other programs due to altitude correction at launch.

To start the analysis we need to estimate cloud base. There were two clouds of interest that pilots were thermaling under. One cloud was near the edge of the start cylinder with Pilots A and B (among other) and another cloud to the Northwest with Pilots C and D (among others), please refer to the location map.

It’s difficult to determine the actual lateral boundaries of the clouds, but the center to center distance between the two thermaling groups is about 2.6km. Between time –00:08:04 (8 minutes before the start gate at 2 PM) and –00:06:28 pilot’s A and B maximum altitude was 1591m (5220’) and 1587m (5207’), we will assume that they were not cloud flying and this is the approximation of cloud A/B base. Between time –00:04:37 and –00:03:50 pilot’s C and D maximum altitude was 1535m (5036’) and 1543m (5062’), again assuming they were not cloud flying, we can assume this is the base of cloud C/D. There is already some degree of uncertainty of the cloud bases as they varied, but for sake of argument cloud base is between 1535m (5036’) and 1591m (5220’).

At time -00:01:25, Velez reached a max altitude of 1669m (5476’) at the location show on the map. He was right about equidistant between the two thermaling groups, and by his own admission higher than cloud base and not in the cloud with the cloud wall to his West. But how far to his West? Without knowledge of the actual lateral boundaries of the two clouds we don’t know for sure, but assuming a cloud diameters of 1km centered over the two thermaling groups, it’s mathematically possible that Velez was at least 2000’ laterally from either cloud. If so he may not have violated the Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) of 500’ under and 2000’ to side of a cloud.

At time -00:01:00 Velez stopped circling and proceeded to the edge of the start cylinder about 1km away. He crossed the start cylinder at Time +00:00:05 at 1595m (5233’) altitude. If we use the higher estimate of cloud A/B base (which was the cloud closer to the start cylinder) of 1591m (5220’), Velez started the race at 5 seconds past the first start gate at cloud base altitude, a near perfect start!

Between times +00:01:02 and +00:01:32 a large gaggle of pilots including pilots from cloud C/D crossed the start cylinder at altitudes ranging from 1231m (4039’) to 1325m (4347’). Velez was 900’ to 1200’ higher crossing the start cylinder than the following gaggle. This was the perceived “unfair advantage” Velez had taken.

However, Velez had an excellent start, right at the assumed cloud base altitude and 5 seconds after the 1st start gate, this was not an unfair start and any other pilot could have fairly started from the same position. The following gaggle had a bad start, headed for the start line from over 2km within the start circle, over a minute late, and giving up as much as 300m (984’) from their previous altitude. It wasn’t that Velez was too high, it was that they were low! If any pilots in that gaggle felt they had a poor start, they could have returned for the second start gate and tried for a better start. After all, isn’t that why there are more than one start gate, to try to get the best start you can?

It was also said that Velez took an unfair advantage prior to start by climbing to 1669m (5476’) which was between 134m and 78m (439’ to 256’) above the two cloud bases. But from the altitudes reported by pilots A/B and C/D trackers there was a variation in cloud bases and these two locations were over 1.3km from Velez’s position. Who is to say which cloud base altitude he was to reference? What if there a third developing cloud right above his location and he was under that base, would he now be below cloud base? Furthermore, the race starts at the start line, at the start time, Velez had timed it perfect and had no unfair altitude advantage since he was at cloud base altitude when he crossed the start line.

With regards to having an unfair advantage all the way to 1st turn point, at about time +00:23:53 and about half way to the 1st turn point Velez was with other pilots in a gaggle and no higher than anyone else. The author (Guillemette) and Velez left this climb at cloud base together at about the same altitude and were not the front runners. Additionally Velez was 3rd to reach the 1st turn point and at an altitude less than the two pilots in front of him and the two other pilots that made the turn point the same time he did. So any perceived unfair advantage he had to the 1st turn was a false claim.

FAI Sporting Code, Section 7A - 1st May 2022 (see 6.3) was also cited as the reason for the penalty. The key element cited from the rule is:

“Since it is against the law to climb up the side of a cloud above the transition level, this may not be an acceptable excuse for being higher than other pilots in the case of a complaint”.

But just what is the interpretation of this new rule? If we as pilots were crossing a “blue hole” and the nearest cloud is 10km away, is it saying we can not climb above the base of that cloud? Certainly not! What if the nearest cloud was 5km away or 1km (3000’)?

The text of the rule is “…climb up the side of a cloud…”, this implies that the pilot is in close proximity of the side of the cloud. If we look at the FAR, climbing up the side of a cloud would also be a violation. But what if the pilot is more than 2000’ from the side of the cloud as required by FAR? IMO, this new rule is moot in the USA since the FAR will not allow us to be more than 2000’ from the side of the cloud. We don’t know for sure since we don’t know the lateral boundaries of the cloud at that time, but Velez says he was 800m from the side of the cloud. As mentioned before, based upon the location of the two thermaling groups relative to Velez’s position, this supports Velez’s claim.

Furthermore, the cloud flying 1st offence penalty is 10 points (no warning). Although 10 points seems too small, keep in mind there is no warning, IMO the points are assigned to remove all doubt the pilot had a 1st offence. 2nd and 3rd offences are much stricter to strongly discourage cloud flying.

My point is there is very little hard evidence Velez did anything wrong or deliberately took an unfair advantage and in my opinion the 200 point penalty was excessive and could not be supported by fact or rule.

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2022 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Thu, May 12 2022, 9:00:34 pm MDT

Daniel Velez Bravo's analysis

Daniel Vélez Bravo|Davis Straub|Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

https://danielvelezbravo.wordpress.com/

Translated into English:

https://danielvelezbravo-wordpress-com.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Until the start of the championship and until the night I was sanctioned, we were aware that flying in a cloud consisted of completely disappearing inside a cloud, from the view of another pilot who was just below. Strictly speaking, it is what pilots call “white out” and it is that everything turns white in all directions, so there is no relationship with the ground or the sky. Under this criteria, I take it very seriously when I am in championships, to never fly in the clouds, and always make sure I am below or next to them, obviously getting as close as possible to gain the greatest advantage without losing sight of the ground or of the horizon. On day 3, 8 minutes before the start, I got much closer than expected to the base in a strong ascent and I had to retreat 800 meters to the side of the cloud, to make sure you don't get caught inside it. And just before the start, where I took the highest altitude and the best position, I was flying with the wall of a cloud to my west, but with more than 180° of open sky, down, up and east completely open and clear.

However, that night of the sanction, reviewing the rules of section 7 that regulates international sports aviation, we found an addendum of May 1, 2022 (that is, it began to be applied one day before the start of the championship) that it had a single strange mention that "climbing on the side of the cloud is illegal", and that mention was tied to the fact that this might not be considered an argument to be higher than the other pilots.

With this mention then, the evaluation committee reviews my situation and analyzes if I broke the rule by climbing higher than the base of the cloud, as I accepted in my interview, and they conclude that indeed, under the criteria of the FAI standard of the May 1, 2022, I did something wrong.

Now then the other part of the story appears: What is the sanction for this type of fault.

It turns out that the local regulations of the event did not have anything written about flying in clouds, so as Davis Straub noted, this gap must be filled with what section 7 says about it .

So, since I was indeed accused of flying in clouds, and I accepted that I used the side of the cloud to justify my additional height but that statement was not received, the director applied the sanction of flying in cloud, but unbelievably, and despite the fact that Davis Straub warned him, the sanction they applied of 20% of the points, which was not in the local regulations, nor was it supported by the international regulations, exceeded by 190 points the sanction for the first offense of flying in clouds, which is, as we copied above, only 10 points!

You don't have to be an expert then to see that my difference of 55 points with the first official place in the championship is nothing more than an improperly applied sanction, from a director who doesn't listen to reason or bother to sit down and talk with me, and that I was probably influenced by those who filed the cloud flight complaint(s) against me.

In summary: They applied a sanction 20 times more serious than the sanction defined for flying in clouds, and they did it without mentioning who reported me, nor being able to review or refute their reports, and despite the fact that the technical report with which they sanctioned me I was completely out of context. It was enough to have taken the time to review the animation in Ayvri, and see that I was not "thermalizing" inside the clouds as usually happens when there is really malicious flight in clouds (you see the pilot who continues to thermal in the same ascent as the others. And even if after that they wanted to insist on sanctioning me to make sure I stayed not just out of the clouds, but out of them.

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2022 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Sat, May 7 2022, 11:29:32 am MDT

Day six, canceled

Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

Morning Soaring Forecast for Saturday, May 7th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 8am. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 87°F. Windy, with a west wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

The sky is clear at sunrise with the clouds having gone further south.

Hourly morning and afternoon forecast: southwest wind at 7 am, 9 mph (actually there is no wind), 14 mph west-southwest at 10 am with gusting to 18 mph, at 1 pm, 17 mph west gusting to 23 mph, at 4 pm, west 18 mph gusting to 25 mph, afternoon cloud cover 29% decreasing to 13%, afternoon chance of rain 17% decreasing to 10%.

HRRR, 1 PM:

Surface wind: west slightly southwest 17 mph (24 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 520 fpm
TOL: 5,900'
CB: none
B/S: 3.4

HRRR, 4 PM:

Surface wind: west-southwest 16 mph (22 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 380 fpm
TOL: 4,300'
CB: none
B/S: 1.9

CAPE shows high chance of over development in the morning (9 am to 10 am) decreasing in the afternoon. This is contradicted by the clear sky that we see this morning.

What the sky looked like near noon:

We are north of the big cloud. There were plenty of cu's. The wind was strong out of the west. The task was the same as the day before (see above).

The winds recorded at Leesburg airfield at 10 are 13 mph gusting to 22 mph, and at 11 are 10 mpg gusting to 23 mph.

The final results are found here:

https://OzReport.com/26.68#1

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2022 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Fri, May 6 2022, 3:28:09 pm MDT

Day five, canceled

Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

The forecast for strong gusts, tight landing areas, no cu's were causes for canceling the task.

Morning Soaring Forecast for Friday, May 6th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

Sunny, with a high near 93°F. Light west-southwest wind increasing to 10 to 15 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: southwest wind 13 mph increasing to 17 mph gusting to 24 mph, cloud cover 17%, no chance of rain.

RAP, Noon:

Surface wind: southwest 11 mph (14 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 560 fpm
TOL: 4,400'
CB: none
B/S: 4.1

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: southwest 13 mph (21 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 600 fpm
TOL: 5,400'
CB: none
B/S: 4.2

CAPE shows very little chance of over development here or in the neighborhood but likely on the coasts.

SkewT shows slight chance of cu-nimb here.

58°F at CB.

The task:

Wilotree 10 km
Midflo 3 km
Zimmrr 400 m.

71 km

This is what the sky looked like this afternoon:

The winds at Leesburg Airfield:

06 15:53 SW 14 G 21
06 14:53 S 14 G 22
06 13:53 S 12

The task would have taken us over areas with few landing fields and lots of housing, trees, and wet lands. All the models showed 20-26 mph gusts along the course line with steady winds 13-15 mph all day long. If the winds had been out of the south, southeast, or north, that would likely have been doable.

Very Preliminary Soaring Forecast for Saturday, May 7th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS:

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 2pm. Mostly cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 87°F. Windy, with a west wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Hourly morning and afternoon forecast: west-southwest wind at 10 am, 15 mph gusting to 21 mph, at 1 pm, 18 mph gusting to 25 mph, at 4 pm, 20 mph gusting to 28 mph, afternoon cloud cover 19% decreasing to 9%, afternoon chance of rain 15%.

HRRR, 1 pm (surface temperature forecasted is 2°F lower than NWS forecast at 1 pm):

Surface wind: west slightly southwest 14 mph (25 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 0 fpm
TOL: 0'
CB: none
B/S: 0.0

HRRR, 4 PM:

Surface wind: west slightly southwest 17 mph (29 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 0 fpm
TOL: 0'
CB: none
B/S: 0.0

CAPE shows high chance of over development (2,300 J/kg).

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2022 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Thu, May 5 2022, 8:11:23 pm MDT

Day four, results

Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

https://airtribune.com/2022-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Open task:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Konrad Heilmann BRA Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 02:05:08 910.3
2 Robin Hamilton USA Aeros Combat 01:52:14 905.8
3 John Simon USA Aeros Combat C 12.7 01:52:24 898.2
4 Daniel Velez COL Wills Wing T3 02:11:44 849.8
5 Pedro L. Garcia USA Wills Wing T3 144 02:11:54 818.0
6 James Messina USA Aeros Combat 13.5 02:21:51 678.7
7 Raul Guerra ECU Icaro Moyes RX 02:40:26 669.6
8 Fabiano Nahoum BRA Icaro Laminar 14.1 02:39:52 659.9
9 Rich Reinauer USA Wills Wing T3C 02:47:48 616.9
10 JD Guillemette USA Tbd Tbd 02:52:38 594.2

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Robin Hamilton USA Aeros Combat 823.1 651.3 884.0 905.8 3264
2 Daniel Velez COL Wills Wing T3 984.3 574.8 800.0 849.8 3209
3 Pedro L. Garcia USA Wills Wing T3 144 857.4 534.8 872.1 818.0 3082
4 John Simon USA Aeros Combat C 12.7 765.7 603.5 686.8 898.2 2954
5 Mick Howard USA Moyes RX 3.5 841.8 369.1 785.3 253.3 2250
6 Mike Glennon COL Moyes SX 5 710.5 650.0 643.6 229.6 2234
7 Raul Guerra ECU Icaro Moyes RX 558.4 152.3 837.4 669.6 2218
8 James Messina USA Aeros Combat 13.5 672.7 509.0 333.8 678.7 2194
9 Konrad Heilmann BRA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Technora 782.4 50.8 375.2 910.3 2119
10 Peter Kelley USA Icaro Laminar 13.2 408.9 469.1 827.0 409.4 2114

Sport task:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Dean Funk M USA Moyes Gecko Pro 02:36:14 929.3
1 Tim Delaney M USA Wills Wing Sport 3 135 02:49:30 929.3
3 Thaise Caroline Galvan F BRA Moyes Gecko 03:41:30 653.0
4 Jon Irlbeck M USA Wills Wing U2 160 03:51:59 609.0

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Tim Delaney M USA Wills Wing Sport 3 135 933.1 48.8 377.7 929.3 2289
2 Thaise Caroline Galvan F BRA Moyes Gecko 704.3 30.2 879.2 653.0 2267
3 Dean Funk M USA Moyes Gecko Pro 550.2 59.1 559.9 929.3 2099
4 Leonardo Ortiz M COL Aeros Discus 996.9 59.2 634.3 272.6 1963
5 John Maloney M USA Wills Wing Sport 3 155 831.4 30.1 559.1 215.4 1636

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2022 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Thu, May 5 2022, 8:10:20 pm MDT

Day four, light winds and cu's

Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

Morning Soaring Forecast for Thursday, May 8th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 94°F. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: northwest wind 2 mph, cloud cover 19% increasing to 27% by 4 pm, 20% chance of rain after 5 pm

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: west-southwest 3 mph (3 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 620 fpm
TOL: 6,200'
CB: 5,700'
B/S: 10.0 (all models shows 10.0)

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: 4 mph west-southwest (5 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 660 fpm
TOL: 6,400'
CB: none (all the other models show cu's)
B/S: 10.0 (all models shows 10.0)

CAPE shows little chance of over development here or in the neighborhood.

SkewT show reduced chance of cu-nimb here.

53°F at CB.

The task:

Wilotree 8 km
Cheryl 1 km
Panolk 3 km
Cheryl 5 km
Baron 8 km
Wilotree 400m

78.7 km

We launched at 1 PM and I was off fourth behind a 583 powered tug with April at the controls. We are launching from the southeast corner with a west wind at about 3 to 5 mph. The first part of the launch went well and I came off the cart at the right speed and get right behind her without any issues. Then as we passed the slot for the east west runway I was thrown hard and up to the right. I was now way high on her as I got the hang glider back level. Thankfully she didn't release me and I was able to let her climbed up to me. The rest of the tow was without incident.

I was able to climb to 5,100' at cloud base before heading to the northwest with a dozen other pilots. I like being able to go over to Mascotte and stay inside the start cylinder, which gives us plenty of area to find lift. None the less we crowded up right against the edge of the start cylinder.

Pedro and I took off first from a light thermal just outside the start cylinder and headed into the blue hole going to the west-northwest toward Center Hill. Just north of the northwest corner of the nursery I found 15 fpm and Pedro joined me along with a few others that caught up with us for a few turns.

Finding this thermal to be ridiculous I made the decision to head for the cu to the southwest, west of the nursery. At almost the same time Pedro decided to head west. I don't know what he saw over there, but it looked blue to me.

I entered the thermal at 2,700' and climbed at an average of 99 fpm. I saw the pilots who instead of heading west-northwest headed west and they were about 2,000' over me just under the cu. Konrado, who would win the day, was among them. Plateauing at 3,200' I lost patience and headed north toward some small cu's.

Pedro was still gliding and soon was down to 700' AGL when he found a 245 fpm climb to 3,200' before heading on to the next thermal.

I came in under cu after cu but did not find enough lift to sustain a climb throughout a single turn. There were a couple of better looking cu's a bit to my west that I likely should have tried, but they were over a treed area and I was down to 2,000'. Finally I had to land just east of Center Hill.

I thought that I made the rational choice to head for the cu but it didn't work out. Pedro found the good lift from low.

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2022 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Wed, May 4 2022, 7:53:40 pm MDT

Day three, looks like a much better day

Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

The forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Wednesday, May 4th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 91°F. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east wind 3 mph at 1 pm turning to 5 mph northeast at 3 pm, cloud cover 30% increasing to 39% by 4 pm, chance of rain, 7% before 2 pm, then 33% until 4 pm, then 39%.

HRRR, 1 PM:

Surface wind: north 2 mph (4 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 6,700'
CB: 5,900'
B/S: 10.0

HRRR, 4 PM:

Surface wind: north 6 mph (7 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 620 fpm
TOL: 7,900'
CB: 7,700'
B/S: 10.0

CAPE shows some chance of over development here or in the neighborhood but very likely on the coasts.

SkewT doesn't show cu-nimbs

47°F at CB.

We didn't get any rain during the day, but a few exploded cu-mimbs on the west coast brought a bit of shade.

The task:

Wilotree 5 km
Fantsy 5km
DSROK 5 km
T47433 2 km
Wilotree 400 m

77 km

We launched at 1:10 PM after the Sport Class launch and started at 2 PM.

I asked everyone who saw it about my launch from the previous day and other than folks being amazed that I didn't kill myself I didn't get much help about what to do to avoid the problem. Then just before launch Mick Howard said that my back cradle was too low. He had tried "my" cart and disliked it. He wanted me to get on a different cart with a higher back cradle and therefore a shallower angle of attack.

I have been using this cart in this position (it's fixed) for two years, but it is only this year that I've run into this problem of the left wing dipping. It is clearly the case that the left wing is stalled or not flying while the right wing rises up. The issue was why, when this didn't happen before and now only with the 583 powered tugs, like Bobby's.

I towed behind Jim Prahl in a 914 powered tug today with the back cradle up. It all went smoothly like it is supposed to. I think what is going on is that I slightly changed my launched procedure this year. Instead of pulling in over the base bar with one tube held in my left arm and getting the protow release in front of the base bar, and then grabbing the other tube with my right hand, I have been grabbing both tubes and rocking up to get the release above the base tube. I likely haven't been pulling enough forward to get the stinger out of the cradle and launch angle reduced to where it would be if I had the higher back cradle.

So tomorrow I will go ahead and tow behind whoever comes to tow me with the adjusted cart with the higher back cradle.

I was the first to tow in the open class after one early bird and I quickly found 300 fpm to cloud base at 4,500' right over Wilotree Park. So the game of keeping out of the cloud commenced. I happily flew to a cu to the southeast to get up to 5,000' and just stay on the edge of the cu. at the edge of start cylinder.

I lost a few hundred feet getting the start time by getting back into the start cylinder and then getting to the first cu down the course line put me down to 3,400' south of Lake Erie and in a weak thermal up to 4,100'. Heading south I found 500 fpm to 4,800', now things were looking good, but half a dozen pilots were out in front and couldn't be seen. I was already just east of the Seminole Lake Glider Port and had a 5 mph north tail wind.

The next thermal was south of 474 and 33 and averaged 430 fpm to 5,100.' Derrick Turner and I were scorching the task hitting strong lift after the initial weak stuff. We flew over the sport class pilots who were bunched up low south of 474. The as we approached Dean Still there were half a dozen pilot low well below us heading south toward the Fantasy of Flight turnpoint. Whoa, we were high above the leading guys.

The lift over them was a weak 150 fpm, but there was no need to rush ahead. We climbed to 4,100' then I headed out with Daniel Velez to get the turnpoint. We turned around and headed back north to get under the next cu, but it was only 170 fpm to 4,100'. Daniel left but I didn't see him go. I headed on my own west to a cu but it was only 130 fpm to 3,300'.

Again on my own I headed north back toward Dean Still road and toward the 5 km turnpoint cylinder around Dean Still and Rockridge. I found 200 fpm just south of Dean Still, but still was only able to climb to 3,300'.

Inside the turnpoint cylinder heading toward cu's over the Famish turnpoint I was down to 1,600'. I worked 76 fpm to 2,000' and then went looking for better lift. I went searching all over looking for lift under cu's. I was in the cylinder for twenty minutes and down to 1,100' AGL over the Green Swamp I found 233 fpm that got me to 4,000' and on my way again.

It was almost 4 PM.

I headed into the Green Swamp to get under a good locking cu and got up at 230 fpm to 4,600'. Heading east-southeast to the next cu got me 250 fpm to 5,000'. These cu's were over sunlit fields. There was now shade to the north caused by the outpouring from a cu-nimb far to the west.

Fortunately there were cu's over the shaded ground as the cloud above wasn't that thick and I climbed to 4,600' after tagging the turnpoint at 474 and 33. There were plenty of cu's ahead and the shading was disappearing. I stopped for 200 fpm lift 11 km out from goal and came in with plenty of altitude.

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2022 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Wed, May 4 2022, 7:52:24 pm MDT

Day three, results

Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

https://airtribune.com/2022-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Open task:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Robin Hamilton USA Aeros Combat 02:21:50 884.0
2 Pedro L. Garcia USA Wills Wing T3 144 02:22:59 872.1
3 Raul Guerra ECU Icaro Moyes RX 02:20:14 837.4
4 Peter Kelley USA Icaro Laminar 13.2 02:34:23 827.0
5 Daniel Velez COL Wills Wing T3 02:09:31 800.0
6 Mick Howard USA Moyes RX 3.5 02:22:45 785.3
7 Davis Straub USA Wills Wing T3 144 02:53:42 715.7
8 Miguel Molina PRI Aeros Combat C 13.5 02:56:16 697.4
9 John Simon USA Aeros Combat C 12.7 03:00:23 686.8
10 Mike Glennon COL Moyes SX 5 03:10:00 643.6

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Daniel Velez COL Wills Wing T3 984.3 574.8 800.0 2359
2 Robin Hamilton USA Aeros Combat 823.1 651.3 884.0 2358
3 Pedro L. Garcia USA Wills Wing T3 144 857.4 534.8 872.1 2264
4 John Simon USA Aeros Combat C 12.7 765.7 603.5 686.8 2056
5 Mike Glennon COL Moyes SX 5 710.5 650.0 643.6 2004
6 Mick Howard USA Moyes RX 3.5 841.8 369.1 785.3 1996
7 Davis Straub USA Wills Wing T3 144 628.3 529.1 715.7 1873
8 Rob Cooper USA Wills Wing T2 393.2 806.0 642.1 1841
9 Peter Kelley USA Icaro Laminar 13.2 408.9 469.1 827.0 1705
10 Raul Guerra ECU Icaro Moyes RX 558.4 152.3 837.4 1548

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2022 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Tue, May 3 2022, 6:20:26 pm MDT

Day two, would we be able to have a task at all?

Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

The forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 89°F. Southeast wind around 5 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: southeast wind 7 mph, cloud cover 50% increasing to 60% by 4 pm, chance of rain 4% before 2 pm, then 34% until 4 pm, then 51%.

HRRR, 1 PM:

Surface wind: southeast 7 mph (8 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 600 fpm
TOL: 6,100'
CB: 5,300'
B/S: 10.0

HRRR, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east-southeast 4 mph (4 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 580 fpm
TOL: 6,600'
CB: 6,100'
B/S: 10.0

CAPE shows some chance of over development here or in the neighborhood but very likely on the coasts.

SkewT shows cu-nimbs don't develop if the high is 86°F.

50°F at CB.

There was a forecast for rain at Wilotree at 6 PM (didn't happen)

We woke up to a completely covered sky, thick gray clouds every where. It didn't look like that there would be any lift any where later.

The NWS hourly forecast (see above) showed at least 50% cloud cover all day and it was already 100%.

None the less the task committee came up with a task, the reverse of the Monday task with a few modifications to the size of the turnpoint cylinders.

Wilotree 8 km
Baron 4 km
Kokee 2 km
Wilotree 400 m

82 km

This task allowed us to stay in the area where there would be the least likelihood of over development and rain.

But there was a lot of doubt about whether that could happen. The Sport Class launched first at 12:40 pm and for the most part they were able to stick, but the conditions still looked very weak as the ground was completely shaded. We postponed the open launch for half an hour to 1:30 PM.

At ten minutes before the open launch the task committee decided to remove Baron from the turnpoints in the task, so it would be to Kokee and back, a 58 km task.

A bunch of open class pilots chose to launch later in the line so I was off early. Almost killed again towing behind Bobby Bailey. The glider went off to the left very hard right away. I held on even harder to the cart as I thought I was going to crash hard, but then realized that the cart was underneath me. The glider whipped around and I dropped the cart when I realized that I was flying. I'm so glad that I've trained myself to hold onto that cart no matter what.

I'm going behind Jim Prahl or Kacey from now on. I don't need to be this brave. The left wing never dips behind the powerful tugs.

There was a thermal right over the launch and of course Bobby wound his tug up tight, which is always a thrill, yet another one apparently, but I held on on the outside and despite the fact that we were in lift I wasn't going to let go until 2,000' AGL, the tow height limit for the competition.

Since we were already turning tight in a thermal I just continued climbing to cloud base at 3,800' and started playing the keep out of the mists game with Pedro Garcia and a few other pilots for about ten minutes with almost half an hour to go until the start window opened. As the lift died we chose to go to the northwest near the edge of the 8 km start cylinder. It it so much nicer to have this additional room when you've got to find the sparse lift.

The lift over Mascotte was weak and soon gave out. I headed for a brown field that had been cleared for development to the east. Other pilots went to the fire over a cleared area to the southeast. Raul followed me to the east.

The lift was great and we were soon back at cloud base. Later Maria would come in under us. The pilots at the fire did well, but their lift stopped at about 5 minutes before the start gate.

Raul and I stayed high (3,800'-4,000') at cloud base as we drifted slowly toward the edge of the start cylinder. We had such a poor start on Monday, it was super great to have a superior start on Tuesday.

I headed west north of the nursery while Raul headed west a bit to my south over the nursery. It looked really dark on the ground in that direction from all the shade from the cu's further to the south. I was heading for more sunlit areas spotted with cu's.

I found some weak lift back to 3,600' and then headed west without seeing Raul again. Down to 1,100' AGL after a 7 km glide over open and sunlit pastures I found 400 fpm that averaged 330 fpm to the top at 3,900'. I saw the pilots from the fire coming toward the two of us turning in a very tight thermal with our wing tips way up. One pilot came in at my altitude and I just said to myself that he had better be prepared to put it up on a wing tip. Fortunately he was and we climbed together rapidly drifting at 9 mph to the west.

It was ten kilometers to the turnpoint and I didn't find much lift under the cu's on the way there. Just before I nicked the turnpoint I felt a little bit of lift that I flew through, but then went back to. I could have easily been the first one to make it to the turnpoint. The pilot I had circled up with came a bit later then Daniel, and then later half a dozen other pilots as the lift continued to be very weak. There were patches of sunlit ground around but mostly the ground was shaded.

It took almost twenty minutes to dig my way out of this area drifting further west to I75 and climbing to 4,100'. The six or eight pilots headed east toward Webster looking for the cu's over sunlit ground. They showed me 340 fpm and I climbed to 3,900', but I should have just kept climbing, but I didn't know that this far out from Wilotree we would be climbing in our last thermal. Other pilots climbed to over 4,000' and went in search of the next thermal, but would not be there.

I flew east until down to 1,400' at the edge of a small treed area with the mine just on the other side I decided to turn back and check out possible lift back to the west. Nothing there so I landed in a nice big field.

Pedro and Maria landed within half a kilometer of my furthest east point.

Rob Cooper, flying in his second competition (after his first at the Paradise Airsports Nationals), didn't follow the crowd and made it to goal.

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2022 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Tue, May 3 2022, 5:44:53 pm MDT

Day two, results

Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

https://airtribune.com/2022-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Open task:

# Name Nat Glider Time Distance Total
1 Rob Cooper USA Wills Wing T2 02:02:54 56.49 750.4
2 Robin Hamilton USA Aeros Combat 49.39 604.9
3 Mike Glennon COL Moyes SX 5 48.38 603.7
4 JD Guillemette USA TBD 48.84 600.6
5 John Simon USA Aeros Combat C 12.7 45.23 559.9
6 Daniel Velez COL Wills Wing T3 42.89 532.8
7 Miguel Molina PRI Aeros Combat C 13.5 42.84 526.7
8 Ric Caylor USA Moyes RX 5 Pro 41.90 511.0
9 Pedro L. Garcia USA Wills Wing T3 144 40.35 493.3
10 Davis Straub USA Wills Wing T3 144 40.09 488.0

Cumulative

# Name Nat Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 Daniel Velez COL Wills Wing T3 984.3 532.8 1517
2 Robin Hamilton USA Aeros Combat 823.1 604.9 1428
3 Pedro L. Garcia USA Wills Wing T3 144 857.4 493.3 1351
4 John Simon USA Aeros Combat C 12.7 765.7 559.9 1326
5 Mike Glennon COL Moyes SX 5 710.5 603.7 1314
6 Mick Howard USA Moyes RX 3.5 841.8 355.1 1197
7 Rob Cooper USA Wills Wing T2 393.2 750.4 1144
8 Derreck Turner USA Moyes RX 4 869.9 266.2 1136
9 Davis Straub USA Wills Wing T3 144 628.3 488.0 1116
10 JD Guillemette USA TBD 467.5 600.6 1068

Sport task:

# Name Nat Glider Distance Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz COL Aeros Discus 10.54 59.2
2 Dean Funk USA Moyes Gecko Pro 10.50 59.1
3 Tim Delaney USA Wills Wing Sport 3 135 8.24 48.8
4 Attila Plasch USA Wills Wing U2 7.62 45.7
5 Douglas Hale USA ? Gecko 155 6.35 39.1

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz M COL Aeros Discus 996.9 59.2 1056
2 Tim Delaney M USA Wills Wing Sport 3 135 933.1 48.8 982
3 John Maloney M USA Wills Wing Sport 3 155 831.4 30.1 862
4 Thaise Caroline Galvan F BRA Moyes Gecko 704.3 30.2 735
5 Dean Funk M USA Moyes Gecko Pro 550.2 59.1 609

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2022 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Mon, May 2 2022, 7:17:37 pm MDT

Day one, results

Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

https://airtribune.com/2022-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Open task:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Daniel Velez COL Wills Wing T3 01:48:24 984.3
2 Derreck Turner USA Moyes RX 4 02:00:14 869.9
3 Pedro L. Garcia USA Wills Wing T3 144 02:00:56 857.4
4 Mick Howard USA Moyes RX 3.5 02:03:10 841.8
5 Robin Hamilton USA Aeros Combat 01:55:10 823.1
6 Konrad Heilmann BRA Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 02:10:05 782.4
7 John Simon USA Aeros Combat C 12.7 02:03:05 765.7
8 Mike Glennon COL Moyes SX 5 02:08:59 710.5
9 James Messina USA Aeros Combat 13.5 02:24:16 672.7
10 Fabiano Nahoum BRA Icaro Laminar 14.1 02:18:23 644.9

Sport task:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz M COL Aeros Discus 01:18:57 996.8
2 Tim Delaney M USA Wills Wing Sport 3 135 01:23:38 931.7
3 John Maloney M USA Wills Wing Sport 3 155 01:33:32 830.2
4 Thaise Caroline Galvan F BRA Moyes Gecko 01:40:35 704.6
5 Dean Funk M USA Moyes Gecko Pro 02:03:14 553.1

Sport Class, seven of ten made goal, Open Class, twenty three of twenty nine made goal.

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2022 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Mon, May 2 2022, 6:56:16 pm MDT

Day one, trying for 30% in goal

Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

The forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Monday, May 2nd, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today

A 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm. Sunny, with a high near 89°F. East wind around 5 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east-southeast wind 6 increasing to 8 mph mph, cloud cover 21% increasing to 33%, chance of rain. 10% at 2 pm, 18% at 5 pm.

HRRR, 1 PM:

Surface wind: east-southeast 4 mph (5 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 620 fpm
TOL: 6,100'
CB: 5,700'
B/S: 10.0

HRRR, 4 PM:

Surface wind: southeast 2 mph (3 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 680 fpm
TOL: 8,500'
CB: 7,200'
B/S: 10.0

CAPE shows little chance of over development here or in the neighborhood.

47°F at CB.

Task:

Wilotree 5 km
Kokee 4 km
Baron 5 km
Wilotree 400m

77 km FAI triangle.

Kacey pulls me upwind to the east but not as far as the forming cu. I continue flying toward it 3 km east of Wilotree Park, but don't find anything and have to come back downwind to find another cu much closer to Wilotree and at 1,200' start turning. This thermal averages almost 300 fpm to 4,100'.

There are lots of good looking cu's a bit to the west by the Mickey Mouse lake and pretty soon we are playing around with each other to stay out of the cloud at 5,000' to 5,400'. This lasts for twenty three minutes until eight minutes before the start gate opens.

As the lift begins to die I make a crucial error and head back a kilometer to get under a cu north of Mickey Mouse while other pilots will stick with the dying cu. This will put me 1000' below everyone else at the edge of the start cylinder at the start time.

We all head west-northwest toward the eastern edge of the Green Swamp south of highway 50 and west-southwest of the nursery. There is a nice looking cu there and it has been a good spot of lift before but I'm also looking at the cu on the southeast corner of the nursery, almost always an area of strong lift. I decide, unfortunately, to continue west just south of that cu.

When we get under the cu to the west it's weak, really weak. The pilots that are high continue onward to the west. At first it's 77 fpm, then moving over it's 150 fpm to 3,800'. I've soon had enough flying with Raul and head northwest to find 200+ fpm to 5,400'. It sure would have been nice to find stronger lift.

I take the turnpoint with a few pilots behind as I left my gaggle and then flying to cu's to the northeast I get down to 1,400' before I find 340 fpm back to near cloud base at 5,000'. I'm at the southwest corner of the forested area and heading out over it I find again weak lift at less than 200 fpm. It's a slow climb to 5,200'. I'm hearing from Pedro, but he is always 6 km ahead and finding better lift.

This lack of strong lift continues as I go from cu to cu to the northeast to the turnpoint at Baron. Finally I find 350 fpm in the blue and then head southeast along the Florida Turnpike to the next good looking cu. It's not bad at 240 fpm, but I leave early at 4,400' for better looking ones further south and find 340 fpm to 5,200'.

It's 11:1 to goal, but I figure that at 15 km out I will likely not glide at 11:1 so that I might have to take some lift at the chicken coops north of Mascotte. I come over to them take a couple of turns and then see three pilots just to the north of me climbing fast. I go over to them and it's 700+ fpm . Where was this stuff much earlier in the flight. Now the point is to climb as high and as fast as possible so that I can flying into goal at 55 mph.

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Sun, May 1 2022, 6:26:15 pm MDT

The podium

Fabiano Nahoum|John Simon|Larry Bunner|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

#1 Larry Bunner (center), #2 John Simon (left), #3 Fabiano Nahoum (right)

Larry, middle; John, on his right; Fabiano on his left.

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Sun, May 1 2022, 6:07:28 pm MDT

A bit of a disappointment

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Not everyone was disappointed, of course.

The forecast for the day:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Saturday, April 30th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 2pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 2pm and 5pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 85°F. East wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east wind 9-11 mph, cloud cover 66% increasing to 70%, chance of rain 23% increasing to 56% at 2 pm

RAP 13, 1 PM:

Surface wind: east-southeast 8 mph (11 mph 2,000') gust 10 mph
Updraft velocity: 620 fpm
TOL: 5,600'
Cu: 3,100'
B/S: 8.7

RAP 13, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east 8 mph (11 mph 2,000') gust 11 mph
Updraft velocity: 540 fpm
TOL: 5,700'
Cu: 5,400''
B/S: 7.8

CAPE shows little chance of over development here and to our north and northwest, but good chance to our south and southwest.

Area of no lift north of Williston.

SkewT shows no cu-nimb development here as the high temperature is only 80°F.

It turned out that we did get thunder storms and rain, but only after 7:30 pm. Some pilots experienced a few rain drops while on course.

We were back down at the west end for a launch into the east wind yet again. The sky didn't look all that great, more like the previous day when we had very disappointing lift. None the less there were in fact better conditions.

Bobby Bailey towed me up again, so far every time. The lift was weak but definitely there at about 120 fpm, much better than the day before. Slowly climbing drifting to the west at 9 mph I found 250 fpm and got up to cloud base between 4,000' and 4,300'. I played keep out of the cloud for 15 minutes as we drifted to the edge of the 5 km start cylinder (why didn't we set it to 8 km?).

Unfortunately, we still had 15 minutes to wait for the first clock. Larry suggested flying to a cu to the northeast inside the start cylinder. I followed him a ways to his east as we headed for the cu. Down from 4,300' to 3,100' I found 160 fpm and Larry came over under me. I was able to only climb to 3,700' before it stopped. We still had seven minutes and were at the edge of the start cylinder.

I headed west back toward the launch. The lift on the southeast corner of Wilotree Park didn't work well enough and I was forced to land and relaunch.

Jim Prahl towed me to the north and after pinning off I headed straight downwind to landable patch of cleared area where I found 200 fpm at 1,300' AGL. Larry came in about 100' over me and then as we got up Konrado came in under us. We were able to climb to 3,000' and take the second clock.

I found 100 fpm over the southeast corner of the nursery and then 225 fpm over the southwest corner to 3,900' where I joined up with four or more pilots flying the Sport Class task.

I heard from Larry that he was getting up at 300 fpm by Center Hill 7 km to the north and despite not being that high went for the good looking clouds in that direction. Down to 1,300' AGL I found almost 300 fpm to 3,900' drifting at 10 mph to the west south of Center Hill.

On the west side of Center Hill there were Thaise and Leonardo turning at my level and I climbed up to 4,100' with one turn before heading for the first turnpoint at Cheryl.

The ground was almost completely shaded from west of Center Hill to well past the turnpoint. I got the turnpoint at 2,000' and headed north to get under a dark cloud. I then saw Konrado turning just a little higher than me. I went under him but found 4 fpm. There were two fires just to the west. I should have stayed with Konrado as he got up and so did Thaise who later came under him also.

I tried the fires and they didn't work, so I tried other fields with no luck.

Larry got up at the turnpoint and headed east, but for him and Konrado it was just a long glide to landing east of the forested area that is north of Center Hill.

It was a crucial error to leave Konrado and not work further under the dark cu and to go for the fires. If I had stayed with Konrado I would have had a great opportunity to stay in third place.

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Sun, May 1 2022, 8:30:57 am MDT

The big picture

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Larry Bunner won the 2022 Paradise Airports Nationals (one of a series of three competitions that determine the 2022 National Championship) by a very significant margin. He could not be happier (except maybe when attending one of many graduation ceremonies for his grandchildren, which he'll be doing this week).

How did it go?

On the first day we had a long out task (186 kilometers) to the north-northwest in an east-southeast wind. Larry, John Simon, and I were the last pilots still in the air and the furthest out at 6:30 pm. Larry chose to head for the last cu in the semi convergence to the north on the west side of High Springs. Getting that last cu allowed him to go just a bit further than John or I.

On the second day, the giant task around the Green Swamp, John Simon won the day, but Larry was close to goal (a little less than 7 km short) in fourth and now behind John by 164 points.

Larry won the task on day 3, a triangle to the northwest, by making up for a low altitude start (thereby staying out of a lead gaggle), taking a different route after the first turnpoint at Kokee getting north of the spreading cu that put the leading gaggle, including John Simon, on the ground just after the first turnpoint. That put him over 300 point ahead of John.

On day five, after a cancelled day, we had an extremely weak day. Larry chose to launch at the end of the staging line instead of ninth. There were numerous relights and a number of them after 4 PM (including John Simon). Larry asked his tug pilot to take him almost straight south past the spread out cu that was shading Wilotree. He found 300 fpm west of Pine Island Lake to cloud base at 4,500', while everyone else struggled and more likely landed.

Pedro Garcia was able to fly the longest distance, but jumped the gun as he launched near the front and was blown out of the 8 km cylinder. Larry was able to find good lift going to the first turnpoint and made three turnpoints to get first for the day on a day worth only 200 points, and only about 125 points than those you didn't get out side the 5 km minimum distance cylinder. He was now a little less than 400 points in front of John, which is a fairly comfortable amount.

On day five it was unclear if we would have safe flying conditions given the high chance for rain, and we called a local triangle in the area with the least chance of rain according to a couple of the models. Larry was way down at 12th for that day, but John Simon was close by ending up 9th. Pedro won the day after a relight.

So with three wins and a fourth he was able to end up a little over 300 points ahead of John. Being in position to catch John after the first two days, his decision to take an alternative route around the shaded area on day three (and be forced by circumstances to start way behind the lead gaggle) was the key to victory. He gains a few more points on the 200 point day, so that going into the last day meant not necessarily winning the day, but not losing the competition to John.

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Sun, May 1 2022, 7:35:11 am MDT

Results from the last day, day six, task five

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Results:

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

Open task:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 56.12 691.8
2 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 51.94 652.1
3 Ric Caylor Moyes RX 5 Pro 48.48 624.5
4 Raul Guerra Icaro Moyes RX 45.21 591.4
5 Rob Cooper Wills Wing T4 45.45 590.2
6 JD Guillemette TBD 42.53 555.9
7 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T3C 42.16 551.2
8 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 41.40 538.5
9 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 41.71 536.6
10 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 40.86 527.4

Final

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Larry Bunner USA Wills Wing T3 144 Team 3323
2 John Simon USA Aeros Combat C 12.7 2986
3 Fabiano Nahoum BRA Icaro Laminar 14.1 2749
4 Pedro L. Garcia USA Wills Wing T3 144 2728
5 Luke Waters USA Moyes RX 3.5 2681
6 Giovani Tagliari BRA Aeros Combat C 13.5 2603
7 Davis Straub USA Wills Wing T3 144 2546
8 Rich Reinauer USA Wills Wing T3C 2534
9 Mike Glennon COL Moyes SX 5 2389
10 Marcello Pereira BRA Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 2174

Sport task:

# Name Nat Glider Time Distance Total
1 Attila Plasch M USA Wills Wing U2 01:19:42 39.24 991.3
2 Thaise Caroline Galvan F BRA Moyes Gecko 01:18:58 39.24 853.6
3 Leonardo Ortiz M COL Aeros Discus 01:26:16 39.24 809.7
4 Douglas Hale M USA ? Gecko 155 20.42 372.7
5 Richard Milla M USA Wills Wing U2 145 18.10 323.2

Final:

# Name Nat Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 T 5 Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz M COL Aeros Discus 991.8 859.3 801.1 331.7 809.7 3794
2 Thaise Caroline Galvan F BRA Moyes Gecko 388.9 857.8 282.7 232.2 853.6 2615
3 Richard Milla M USA Wills Wing U2 145 756.7 717.0 716.5 98.2 323.2 2612
4 Attila Plasch M USA Wills Wing U2 115.3 325.9 270.3 218.9 991.3 1922
5 Tim Delaney M USA Wills Wing Sport 3 135 566.4 905.9 430.2 0.0 0.0 1903

https://fb.watch/cL6leG3tdx/

https://fb.watch/cL6D847gFM/

https://fb.watch/cL6GHm4uLa/

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Fri, Apr 29 2022, 9:43:30 pm MDT

A strange day five

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

The forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Friday, April 29th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

Mostly sunny, with a high near 85°F. East wind 5 to 15 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east wind 11-14 mph with gusts to 18 mph not starting until 4 pm, cloud cover 36% increasing to 46%, no chance of rain.

Model surface wind and gust forecasts for 1 PM:

GFS 10 mph, east slightly northeast
ICON 9 mph east, 25 mph
NAM 12 12 mph east
NAM 3 13 mph east, 14 mph
RAP 10 mph east, 13 mph
HRRR 10 mph east-northeast, 13 mph
NWS 13 mph east, none

The forecasted surface winds and gusts are somewhat lower than those forecasted for Thursday. Surface wind at Leesburg airport is 9 mph at 8 am, yesterday it was 13 mph.

HRRR, 1 PM:

Surface wind: east-northeast 10 mph (13 mph 2,000') gust 13 mph
Updraft velocity: 600 fpm
TOL: 6,400'
Cu: 6,200'
B/S: 8.1

HRRR, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east-northeast 11 mph (13 mph 2,000') gust 14 mph
Updraft velocity: 600 fpm
TOL: 6.900'
Cu: 6,900''
B/S: 9.1

The Sport Class chose to go first at 12:40 PM. Nobody stuck. They tried again, a few stuck and some came back for a third try then a few would later try a fourth or fifth time.

Finally the open class pilots got their chance, some stuck, most didn't. I waited at the end of the launch line instead of launching 7th, so got a late start, which was fine. After suffering a broken weak link behind Jim Prahl, I had Bobby Bailey tow me up again and it was fine. I just made sure that I didn't let my left wing dip, as many of the pilots before me did.

There were spread out cu's shading the ground all around. I saw JD circling to the south and heard from Larry that he was thermaling at 300 fpm a few kilometers even further south. I pinned off and went toward JD. For the next ten minutes JD and I circled around with one other pilot gaining 200 feet and losing 200 feet.

Perhaps tired of getting nowhere fast as we drifted in a 14 mph east wind, JD headed off east and the other pilot disappeared. I headed toward some small cu's out over the sunshine instead of the shade that I had been over since launch and found nothing landing just outside the 5 km minimum distance cylinder.

Larry had got up in extremely weak lift and Pedro had been blown out of the 8 km start cylinder and was on his way out ahead of anyone who was still in the air (Raul, Larry and Pedro).

When I got back to Wilotree Park around 4 PM a few of those who had landed back at the park instead of heading out in weak lift, were launching again. John Simon, JD, Ric Caylor, Mick Howard, and Ian Snowball. They were able to make a few kilometers. Eighteen pilots got the minimum distance.

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Fri, Apr 29 2022, 8:38:39 pm MDT

Results, day five, task four

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Results:

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

Open task:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 62.52 200.9
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 77.61 166.0
3 JD Guillemette TBD 38.69 158.8
4 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 32.01 144.7
5 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 30.64 140.9
6 Raul Guerra Icaro Moyes RX 20.06 115.1
7 Ian Snowball Moyes RS 4.5 14.37 103.1
8 Ric Caylor Moyes RX 5 Pro 11.51 95.3
9 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Technora 7.58 84.4
10 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 5.37 77.2

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 917.5 767.3 955.2 200.9 2841
2 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 886.5 962.8 455.0 144.7 2449
3 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 876.3 759.5 557.4 77.2 2270
4 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 690.9 737.3 675.6 76.0 2180
5 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 835.3 621.8 563.4 76.0 2097
6 Marcello Pereira Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 553.0 873.0 568.5 76.0 2071
7 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 769.5 751.6 467.4 76.0 2065
8 Mike Glennon Moyes SX 5 540.1 953.8 467.3 76.0 2037
9 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 833.0 555.3 481.5 166.0 2036
10 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T3C 726.1 420.9 759.4 76.0 1982

Sport task:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 24.25 331.7
2 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 14.49 232.2
3 Attila Plasch Wills Wing U2 13.28 218.9
4 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 11.39 195.6
5 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 5.00 98.2

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 991.8 859.3 801.1 331.7 2984
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 756.7 717.0 716.5 98.2 2288
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 566.4 905.9 430.2 0.0 1903
4 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 388.9 857.8 282.7 232.2 1762
5 Artiom Markelov Wills Wing Sport 3 155 206.6 100.4 1000.0 98.2 1405

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Thu, Apr 28 2022, 3:12:33 pm MDT

Day four canceled, too windy

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Morning Soaring Forecast for Thursday, April 28th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

Mostly sunny, with a high near 86°F. East-northeast wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Currently at 8 AM blowing NE 13 mph with no gusts at Leesburg airfield.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east slightly northeast wind 13-14 mph with gusts to 18 mph, cloud cover 35% to 40%, no chance of rain.

Model surface wind and gust forecasts for 1 PM:

GFS 11 mph
ICON 9 mph, 24 mph
NAM 12 15 mph, 10 mph (That's weird)
NAM 3 17 mph, 21 mph
RAP 8 mph, 11 mph
HRRR 13 mph, 18 mph
NWS 13 mph, none

HRRR, 1 PM:

Surface wind: east-northeast 13 mph (18 mph 2,000') gust 18 mph
Updraft velocity: 500 fpm
TOL: 4,800'
Cu: 4,600'
B/S: 3.9

HRR, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east-northeast 16 mph (23 mph 2,000') gust 22 mph
Updraft velocity: 440 fpm
TOL: 4,900'
Cu: 0'
B/S: 2.8

The winds were forecasted to be stronger to our north and much lighter to our south and we in the middle. But the winds were just at the edge of acceptable here at Wilotree Park, so the safety committee called the day.

At Leesburg Airport to our north:

Time Wind
(EDT) (mph)
15:53 NE 15 G 22
14:53 E 17 G 24
13:53 NE 14 G 22
12:53 E 13 G 24
11:53 NE 15 G 24
10:53 NE 16 G 21
9:53 NE 15 G 22
8:53 NE 16 G 23
7:53 NE 13

At Kissimee to our south east:

Time Wind
(EDT) (mph)
15:56 NE 15
14:56 E 17
13:56 E 17 G 21
12:56 NE 15 G 18
11:56 E 14
10:56 NE 13
9:56 NE 10
8:56 NE 13
7:56 NE 6

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Thu, Apr 28 2022, 3:10:26 pm MDT

Flying day three

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

The task to the northwest:

Wilotree 5 km
Kokee 2 km
Baron 3 km
Wilotree 400 m

83.8 km FAI triangle

The forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Wednesday, April 27th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 89°F. Calm wind becoming west-northwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Hourly afternoon forecast: west-northwest wind 6 mph increasing to 7 mph and turning northwest, cloud cover 66%, 20% chance of rain increasing to 31% at 5 pm.

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: west slightly northwest 5 mph (6 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 6,200'
Cu: 5,400'
B/S: 10.0

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: northwest 7 mph (9 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 7,100'
Cu: 6,700'
B/S: 10.0

Temperature at CB at 2 PM: 48°F (6,700')

CAPE shows no chance of over development

Noon conditions: Lift: 520 fpm, TOL: 4,100', Cu: 0', surface winds west 5 mph

A front is coming through before 2 pm

Got pulled up behind Bobby's tug again. I'm gonna get killed doing this. No more. Tight circle kept me at the higher speed as I moved out to get outside the spinning.

There were plenty of cu's nearby in the 5 km start cylinder and with the northwest wind pushing us back toward Wilotree I was able to climb to 4,800' at 300+ fpm just before the start window opened. I was 3 km from the edge of the start cylinder but Larry had radioed earlier that he was down to 2,700' at the edge of the cylinder so I wanted to stay with the good clouds and lift. This made me a bit late for the start along with a dozen other pilots.

Climbed back to 4,800' south of Mascotte just outside the start cylinder and headed for south of the nursery south of highway 50 and turned in some 125 fpm before heading west again for a nice cu just south of the intersection of 469 and 50 where I found 385 fpm to 4,500'. I was calling all the lift to Larry who was low and following.

Gliding along south of 50 to the west into a 5 mph head wind I was down to 2,400' just east of the lumber mill at highway 471 when I felt that there was good lift in the sunshine to the south of the cloud I came under. Sure enough I was soon hitting bits of 700 to 800 fpm on the 20 second averager. I called it out to Larry and he came in under at 1,200'.

I left at cloud base at 4,300' and headed for a long northwest to southeast black bottom cloud with sunshine on the southern side. Seemed like a big cu like that would be producing. Six kilometers from the turnpoint at Kokee I found lift that averaged 650 fpm all the way to cloud base with a few pilots coming in underneath me.

Nicked the Kokee turnpoint and headed north east and down to 2,500' before I found 300 fpm to 4,200' drifting east at 8 mph. Larry was still a ways behind me, but I kept up the reports as he worked with a dozen other pilots to head toward the Kokee turnpoint.

Heading east-southeast to get on the sunny southern side of an elongated east to west cu I found lift just north of the town of Webster. It was only about 200 fpm but it got me to 4,600' right near the bottom of the long cu. The pilot above me headed north. I headed under the cu to the east with Fabiano just behind me.

I didn't know it at that point but all the leading gaggle had gone down just to the north of me. Maria radioed that she was climbing to my north a few kilometers under the black cloud while I was just on the southern edge of it.

I didn't find any lift under the cu as I headed for Center Hill. There was more cu's ahead and an open sky away from this cu in a few kilometers just past Center Hill. I came in under a cu but there was no lift. I headed for the next one, but there was also nothing there. I was getting low and Maria radioed that she was landing 15 km from the second turnpoint at Baron.

I was down to 1,200' heading northeast up highway 48 just seeing if my good luck from the first three days would hold out, but it didn't look promising. Larry had heard that Maria had landed and that I was low and he had already made the decision to go a different route than the pilots that he was flying with and went north from Kokee toward Bushnell instead of east toward Webster and the black cu. He wanted to get away from the cu and knew that we had to go north at some point so it might as well be as soon as he got Kokee.

I floated along for quite a while but then down to 300' AGL I needed to make a turn and land on the little dirt road in the field. It was a short walk to the gate. Fabiano landed next to me.

Larry was able to get up at Bushnell while almost everyone else was going down. He now had a sky full of little cu's that he used to get himself to Baron and then south back to Wilotree to win the day.

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Wed, Apr 27 2022, 7:35:52 pm MDT

Results, day three

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Results:

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

The lead gaggle, nine pilots, all went down within 3 km of each other just after the first turnpoint. Larry, following the gaggle that was following me, decided to not follow them or me and turned north south of Bushnell instead of going toward Webster and the black cloud ahead and was able to find nice cu's in the unshaded ground north of that cloud, the cloud that rained on Claudia.

Open task 3:

# Name Glider ES Time Distance Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 16:19:36 02:49:36 83.41 951.3
2 Rob Cooper Wills Wing T4 17:03:40 03:13:40 83.41 855.0
3 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T3C 17:46:09 04:16:09 83.41 756.3
4 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 64.13 672.9
5 Marcello Pereira Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 47.59 566.2
6 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 46.90 561.1
7 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 46.12 555.1
8 Claudia Mejia Wills Wing T3 136 42.67 520.2
9 Ric Caylor Moyes RX 5 Pro 42.56 512.6
10 Ian Snowball Moyes RS 4.5 42.31 511.5

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 917.5 767.3 951.3 2636
2 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 886.5 962.8 453.1 2302
3 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 876.3 759.5 555.1 2191
4 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 690.9 737.3 672.9 2101
5 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 835.3 621.8 561.1 2018
6 Marcello Pereira Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 553.0 873.0 566.2 1992
7 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 769.5 751.6 465.4 1987
8 Mike Glennon Moyes SX 5 540.1 953.8 465.5 1959
9 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T3C 726.1 420.9 756.3 1903
10 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 833.0 555.3 479.5 1868

Sport task 3:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Artiom Markelov Wills Wing Sport 3 155 01:56:09 49.38 1000.0
2 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 02:20:31 49.38 801.1
3 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 02:36:28 49.38 716.5
4 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 26.12 430.2
5 Douglas Hale ? Gecko 155 23.63 384.8

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 991.8 859.3 801.1 2652
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 756.7 717.0 716.5 2190
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 566.4 905.9 430.2 1903
4 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 388.9 857.8 282.7 1529
5 Artiom Markelov Wills Wing Sport 3 155 206.6 100.4 1000.0 1307

https://fb.watch/cG18_kqR9-/

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Wed, Apr 27 2022, 7:35:09 pm MDT

The flight, day two, Tuesday

Bobby Bailey|John Simon|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022|XC

The task committee chooses to go around the Green Swamp the long way:

Wilotree 5 km
Panolk 3 km
Clinton 3 km
Fantsy 5 km
Wilotree 400 m

153 km

The forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Tuesday, April 26th, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS, Today:

Sunny, with a high near 90. Calm wind becoming north-northeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Hourly afternoon forecast: south-southeast 3 mph or less until 11 am then east surface wind 3 mph at noon turning to east-northeast at 1 pm at 3 mph and 5 mph north-northeast at 2 pm, cloud cover 4% increasing to 31%, no chance of rain. If we launch at noon it should be light southeast.

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: north 3 mph (4 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 680 fpm
TOL: 6,400'
Cu: 4,800'
B/S: 10.0

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: north slightly northwest 3 mph (4 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 680 fpm
TOL: 8,000'
Cu: 5,100'
B/S: 10.0

Temperature at CB at 2 PM: 44°F

The launch time got moved back again, but this time because pilots weren't just organized to be ready in time. Launch opened at 12:50 pm with a forty minute window and the start gate opened at 1:30 PM.

Bobby Bailey towed me up, but seriously his plane just does not go fast enough. I need 36 to 40 mph to keep from wandering all over the place. Only when Bobby starts doing tight circles can I push myself to the outside to speed up enough to get the glider under control. Thankfully he is very happy to do tight circles but that doesn't help right after coming off the cart. From now on I'll try to tow behind the tugs with more powerful engines.

The average lift varied between 250 fpm and 325 fpm in the start cylinder and I was able to stick around cloud base at 5,100' before quickly heading out to take the first start time. Once again there was 500+ fpm southeast of the nursery and I was soon at 5,200'.

I headed west-northwest to get under the cu's south of Center Hill. The three pilots in front of me headed north-northwest to cu's straight to the north. When I go under the cu's there was Pedro and the lift was weak. A few turns and we headed north to just south of the mines on the west side of Center Hill where we climbed at almost 500 fpm to 5,400'. I had found the lift first so I was quite a bit higher than Pedro or Larry and had to leave the thermal as I got into the mists. I was in touch with both of them on the radio.

Two strong thermals on the way to Lake Panasoftkee and I was with Pedro and Larry but again quite a bit above them and leaving at cloud base. At 5,600' and 5 km from the turnpoint I went with an Aeros pilot to get the turnpoint with the idea of coming back to the strong lift that we just climbed up in.

When I got back I missed the lift not going far enough east and continued on to the south I found lift on the northeast corner of Bushnell and climbed to 5,900', but Pedro and Larry did find the lift when they came back to the thermal before the first turnpoint and got to cloud base much quicker and got out ahead of me.

It was the sixteen kilometer glide to the north end of the mines where I was limited to 140 fpm to 4,100'. I dove for a black cloud to the south-southwest and got punched out of the sky at 700 fpm down. I chose that direction to avoid the shaded area due south and now I was headed for the sunshine to the southwest of the dark cloud.

Down to 1,800' and way way west of the course line I took 350 fpm to 4,700' and then scooted to the southeast to another good looking cloud at the western edge of the Green Swamp. John Simon, who started 20 minutes later, joined me as we climbed to 4,300'.

Heading into the Green Swamp the cu's didn't work so I bailed for the land fill to the south to find 300 fpm to 5,000'. A little further south-southwest I found 240 fpm to 5,300' just before the turnpoint at the intersection of highway 98 and 471.

260 fpm got me back to 4,200' to the south east toward Rockridge Road and highway 98 intersection. I didn't find anything as I searched around and kept track of where there were landing areas to the east toward the turnpoint at Flights of Fantasy.

Down to 1,100' AGL over a big open area with no roads I noted that there were houses to the south and I could hop the fence to get to one of the roads in the subdivision. I also tried my luck right at the border of the open space and the trees mixed in with the houses.

I found 160 fpm as I noted that there were little wisps forming over me and also to me east a bit. Climbing to 3,100' I moved over to the east a bit to get under the better looking cu's and found 370 fpm that took me to almost 7,000'. I was 10 km out from the turnpoint so went straight for it.

There was a field that was burning right at the northern edge of the 5 km turnpoint at Fantsy and then I noticed that a small high cu was forming upwind (to the east) of the smoke. I was able to get under the cu and climb to 5,500', but not back to 7,000' which would have been very nice.

It was now almost 5:30 pm as I headed north toward the little cu's forming in that direction. There was a dark mass of clouds a bit further to the west and maybe that was convergence as we expected a sea breeze.

I worked some light thermals and then over a forested area by Green Pond road while keeping an eye on possible bail out fields I worked two thermals, one after another, from about the same place, climbing to 6,200' at a little over 200 fpm. Finally at 6:11 pm I headed north toward a set of dark cu's hoping to find just enough to get me into goal.

It was a long glide to just west of the Seminole Lake Gliderport and I was down to 2,500' working 43 fpm. Leaving at 2,700', when I knew it would take about 4,000' to make it to goal, I headed for a fire to the north-northwest as well as to the sunny western side of the dark clouds to the north. Neither worked and I glided until 5 km from goal.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/26.4.2022/16:57

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

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3065118

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2022/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

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Tue, Apr 26 2022, 9:29:38 pm MDT

The flight, day one

John Simon|Konrad Heilmann|Larry Bunner|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022|Pedro Garcia|Rich Reinauer|XC

The original task was an out and back up and down highway 33 which is the north/south road next to Wilotree Park. We did this because of the RAP forecast for east winds.

Morning Soaring Forecast for Monday, April 25th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

Sunny, with a high near 87. East wind 5 to 10 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east surface wind 9 mph increasing to 11 mph, cloud cover 21% increasing to 30%, no chance of rain

RAP, 1 PM

Surface wind: east 7 mph (10 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 6,10'
Cu: 5,100'
B/S: 9.1

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east 7 mph (10 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 680 fpm
TOL: 7,400'
Cu: 6,700'
B/S: 10.0

Temperature at CB at 2 PM - 46°

Suggested Task:

Task committee meeting 9 AM
Pilot briefing 10 AM

Noon conditions: Lift: 580 fpm, TOL: 4,800', Cu: 4,100', surface winds east 7 mph

Launch 12:30 PM

Launch spot west launch area

Task start 1:30 PM

Wilotree 5 km
Fantsy 5 km
Baron 5 km
Wilotree 400 m

125 km

But the launch crew had us setup to launch from the northwest corner because of the surface winds were southeast, then five minutes before the launch opened they moved us south to the west launch area for the forecasted east winds. I had previously viewed a satellite photo showing southeast clouds to the northwest so the task committee had changed the task to send us to the north-northwest first to Dunnellon and then to a small airfield south of Lake City.

We didn't get to launch until 1:20 PM instead of 12:30 PM because of all the moving around. This would make it very difficult to make goal 186 km away given that the start gate would open at 2:20 PM.

I was third to launch and got off tow at 1,300' when my vario showed 1,200 fpm. I climbed to cloud base at 4,600' eighteen minutes after I started my tow and was ready to get on with the task. I would have to wait around for over half an hour before the start gate opened. It seemed like every pilot was in the air including the sport class pilots within half an hour.

After hanging around at cloud base for what seemed like forever I headed to the west to Mascotte, took a few turns in less than 200 fpm drawing in a number of pilots who would stay with that climb and moved to the west to the southeast corner of the nursery to find 500 fpm on average to cloudbase. Rich Reinauer and Konrad were with me. Larry Bunner was nearby.

Heading northwest toward Center Hill I found 500 fpm to cloudbase at 4,800' again after a 7 km glide. It looks like the day would be very strong. After gliding to the northeast of Center Hill and another strong thermal to 5,100'. Leaving at 5,100' the three of us headed for the cu over the cement plant to the west of the prison. We would normally be quite a bit further to the east but the east wind has pushed us west. There was a cu over the prison but it was further away.

It was a twelve kilometer glide and at first the thermal did not work. I was the lowest of the three and was down to 1,100' AGL before I found some lift at 170 fpm. This got me to 2,200' where I could feel a bit safer and I headed west to find better lift as I saw Rich turning. I was able to climb at 200 fpm to 3,800' drifting over highway 301 and almost to I75. Larry Bunner was nearby, but his radio didn't work so I missed the strong thermal that he had that got him up and over the swamp to the east of Lake Panasoftkee.

Way west of our normal route I found 200+ fpm at Coleman to 3,400' and kept creeping north not getting above 4,000' until I got west of I75 north of the intersection with the Florida Turnpike and I75. 400+ fpm got me back to cloud base at 5,400'. Marion Oaks lay ahead.

Southeast of Marion Oaks I climbed again at 400+ fpm to 6,100'. There were lots of thick black-bottomed clouds to the northwest on the southern edge of Marion Oaks, I flew under them but only found 250 fpm for a few turns.

At 5,000' I headed for more cu's to the northwest, but I didn't find anything. I could see pilots high turning in them but when I got to the northwest corner of the big open field west of Marion Oaks, there was no lift and I was down to 2,400'. I headed into the sunshine and the blue to the east then to the south over the open field assuming that I would have to land.

Down to 900' AGL I found lift at the edge of a treed area next to where I had assumed that I would be landing. At 350 fpm I climbed out to 5,500'. This was enough to get me over the trees and houses to the northwest where I spotted some pilots going up fast. Again an average of 500 fpm got me to 6,100' just south of the optimized turnpoint at Dunnell airfield.

There were scattered cu's to the north and it was a 13 km glide to get to the next thermal that averaged 400+ fpm northwest of the Ocala Airport (way high above it and outside the airspace).

I could see that there were a whole lot of lakes/water to the north near the course line and the cu's were to the west (downwind) of the course line, so I went to the northwest to stay under the cu's. Turned out this would have been our normal route anyway.

It was after 5 PM by the time I got to Williston but found 300 fpm average there to 4,900'. The lift to the north was mostly weak. I was surprised to see Pedro coming at me from the north south of Archer. He and John Simon and others had been further east in the blue and they had not been doing well so Pedro and John came west to get under the cu's.

Pedro and I worked together some miserable light lift northwest of Archer and then he got a bit higher and went north. I found some 367 fpm lift a little further to the northwest and climbed back up finally to 5,600'. Pedro was soon landing. John was a ways behind.

A little northwest of Newberry I found a thermal that averaged a little less then 200 fpm. It was getting quite late after 6:30 pm (sundown is at 7:56 pm). I looked up and there was Larry about 100' over me. We climbed to 4,000'.

I headed out first going to the north to the next little wisp, but didn't find anything. There was another cu further north that I didn't go to as it looked like a lot of trees in that direction. Actually it's not that bad.

Larry went to the next cu and got up well. I went to the northeast to land near High Springs. Larry was able to get high enough to cross the river and land north west of High Springs 10 km north west of me.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/25.4.2022/17:25

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

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3065117

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2022/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

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Tue, Apr 26 2022, 9:08:00 pm MDT

Results, day two

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Results:

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

Day Two Open:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 04:29:22 148.34 962.0
2 Mike Glennon Moyes SX 5 04:49:14 148.34 951.5
3 Marcello Pereira Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 05:12:37 148.34 867.0
4 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 141.50 753.9
5 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 143.26 746.1
6 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 139.70 738.6
7 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 141.69 724.1
8 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 139.70 699.8
9 JD Guillemette TBD TBD 127.47 632.5
10 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 127.63 625.3

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 886.5 962.0 1849
2 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 917.5 753.9 1671
3 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 876.3 746.1 1622
4 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 769.5 738.6 1508
5 Mike Glennon Moyes SX 5 540.1 951.5 1492
6 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 835.3 612.2 1448
7 Marcello Pereira Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 553.0 867.0 1420
8 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 690.9 724.1 1415
9 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 833.0 538.2 1371
10 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 681.8 625.3 1307

Day Two Sport:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 85.15 906.7
2 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 77.55 859.3
3 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 78.72 858.7
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 66.32 717.9
5 Dean Funk Moyes Gecko Pro 59.19 619.7

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 991.8 859.3 1851
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 756.7 717.9 1475
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 566.4 906.7 1473
4 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 388.9 858.7 1248
5 Dean Funk Moyes Gecko Pro 376.8 619.7 997

https://fb.watch/cH88jSU1mV/

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Tue, Apr 26 2022, 6:45:57 pm MDT

Locals rule, day one

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Results:

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5668/day/open-class

Open class:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 168.34 917.5
2 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 160.27 886.2
3 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 158.32 875.8
4 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 151.12 834.0
5 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 150.31 831.6
6 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 140.66 763.9
7 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T3C 132.35 717.5
8 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 125.78 679.8
9 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 124.68 671.1
10 Claudia Mejia Wills Wing T3 136 114.84 614.3

Six locals out of the top ten.

Sport:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 01:41:59 56.91 991.8
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 02:09:50 56.91 756.7
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 49.76 566.4
4 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 02:31:20 56.91 511.0
5 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 32.91 388.9

https://fb.watch/cH8J6xd-dJ/

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Sun, Apr 24 2022, 6:23:45 pm MDT

Lighter east winds than forecast

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

After four days of strong east winds, with the skies also full of cu's, we finally have a day with a forecast for lighter east winds, and a reality of even lighter winds, with a sky full of cu's and strong lift. Here's the Sunday, the day before the competition starts, forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Sunday, April 24th, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS, Today:

Mostly sunny, with a high near 85. East wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east surface wind 14 mph increasing to 16 mph, gusting to 18 mph increasing to 22 mph, cloud cover 30% decreasing to 25%, no chance of rain

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: east 9 mph (14 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 5,400'
Cu: 4,600'
B/S: 6.0

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east 12 mph (18 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 660 fpm
TOL: 5,700'
Cu: 5,600'
B/S: 5.7

Suggested Task:

Wilotree 3 km
Dunnell 8 km
Williston 1 km

109 km

or

Wilotree 3 km
Turn33 1 km
Wilotree 400 m

40 km

Leesburg Airport (to our north) is reporting variables winds 6 mph at 1 PM. We've got even lighter winds from the east at 2 PM.

Here's what the sky looks like:

We'll see which task pilots attempt.

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Registration Open for Florida Spring Competitions

Thu, Nov 25 2021, 9:47:52 am MST

Finally Airtribune responds

Airtribune|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022|Stephan Mentler|Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

You can now register for the Florida competitions being run by Stephan Mentler.

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/pilots

https://airtribune.com/2022-wilotree-park-nationals/pilots

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CIVL World Online XC Contest 2021

Thu, Oct 7 2021, 10:44:30 pm MDT

The hang gliding winners

Alain Chauvet|Alexandra "Sasha" Serebrennikova|Christopher Friedl|CIVL|Claudio Deflorian|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Glauco Pinto|Konrad Heilmann|Pascal Lanser|Patrick Chopard Lallier|Philippe Harignordoquy|Stella Potgieter|Toni Raumauf|World Online XC Contest 2021

    Class 1 - 292 pilots participated

  • Konrad Hailmann (Brazil) - 1758.61 points, the best flight 428.32km in Tacima (Brazil)
  • Glauco Pinto (Brazil) - 1724.20 points, the best flight 467.68km in Tacima (Brazil)
  • Alain Chauvet (France) - 1671.44 points, the best flight 233.65km in Chabre Espranons (France)

    Class 5 - 115 pilots participated, the top three being:

  • Toni Raumauf (Austria) - 2125.41 points, the best flight 359.37km in Kossen, Scheibenwald (Austria)
  • Christopher Friedl (Austria) - 1704.62 points, the best flight 328.54km in Bischling (Austria)
  • Deflorian Claudio (Italy) - 1482.12 points, the best flight 206.53km in Col Rodella (Italy)

    Class 2 - 14 pilots participated, the best being:

  • Patrick Chopard Lallier (France) - 2074.95 points, the best flight 291.03km in Aérodrome Aspres - le Chevalet (France)
  • Philippe Harignordoquy (France) - 2035.00 points, the best flight 287.23km in Aérodrome le Chevalet (France)
  • Pascal Lanser (France) - 1946.15 points, the best flight 254.85km in Aérodrome de Villerupt (France)

    Women Class 1 - 17 pilots participated, the best being:

  • Sasha Serebrennikova (Russia) - 851.86 points, the best flight 283.90km in Schöckl near Graz (Austria)
  • Corinna Schwiegershausen (Germany) - 729.73 points, the best flight 152.82km in Monte Cucco (Italy)
  • Stella Potgieter (France) - 716.72 points, the best flight 102.22km Chabre Sud (France)

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Every Day Since the Competition Ended

May 5, 2021, 12:48:43 pm EDT

Every Day Since the Competition Ended

Maybe it will rain tomorrow

Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

This is what the sky has looked like every day since the Wilotree Park Nationals ended on April 25th:

The cu's started forming at 9:30 AM.

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 25, 2021, 10:14:20 pm EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Task 4, the last day

Attila Plasch|Bobby Bailey|Butch Peachy|competition|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|John Simon|Konrad Heilmann|Leonardo Ortiz|Moyes Litespeed RX|PG|Robin Hamilton|Tim Delaney|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021|Zac Majors

The Replay: https://airtribune.com/play/5021/2d

It was a difficult day to end a meet that proved to have difficult days. The day started with a little bit of rain as a thin line of thunderstorms brushed by, then dark skies for a few hours which made the prospects of staying up seem remote, then after 2 PM the sky started to open up, the clouds went away and we had a blue day. The wind was out of the west but not nearly as strong as all the models as well as the National Weather Service predicted with not so strong gust factors either.

Yes, Derrick, Willy Dydo, and Alan Arcos took off and only Derrick was able to stay up for a good while before landing. The task committee then changed the task to an open window. Pilots were very reluctant to get going while there were start gates because they feared getting blown out of the 5 km start cylinder with weak lift and strong winds (those were forecast at least).

Pilots kept hesitating which is why we changed to task to make it so there would not be a penalty for leaving the start cylinder, but finally they started launching after 3:30 PM, and I was able to get pulled up by Bobby Bailey at 4:06 PM. It was the best tow I've every had from him as I insisted that he tow me straight up wind and do not do any turns. With the wind still seeming to be strong I wanted to get upwind as far as possible and he took me as far as Osborn field.

We had been in lift it seemed and I found 300 fpm right off tow. I was all alone and could not see any other pilots so I was completely happy to be turning at a radius that maximized my climb rate without having to look after other pilot's circling. That did not last long. Bruce immediately came over to me, just above me and JD just below so at least they were not a bother. Then Zac and Robin, but again Robin was below and Zac up with Bruce, but it was starting to get crowded. At least no one else was at my altitude. Bruce was 60 feet above me.

The wind was only 12 mph out of the west, so all the scary forecasts about 22 mph at 2,000' were not the case and I wondered why the pilots who had gone up earlier reported strong winds and kept us on the ground.

Alan Arcos, Derrick Turner and John Simon joined the thermal and things got very choppy. You can see the result of going in and out of the core on the SeeYou altitude graph. We quit going up for a few minutes then slowly climbed to 3,600'.

Following Zac we all headed southwest into a 17 mph west wind. We found it a bit to everyone else's east and nine pilots came together to bother each other in another weak thermal (100 fpm). I was only able to climb to 2,700' before JD and John Simon lead out and headed southwest again.

They found weak lift just west of highway 33 at 1,400' I came in at 700' and wasn't willing to stay under them for more than one turn not finding anything. There was a very inviting field to the north a little and I landed there followed soon by Alan Arcos and Butch Peachy.

After that it was only six pilots left in the air and slowly Robin, Zac and Bruce had them drop out below them. Zac and Robin were able to make it a total of 30 kilometers down the course line landing near the mines north of Wallaby Ranch.

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Task 4:

# Name Glider Distance (km) Total
1 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 29.76 112.8
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 29.66 112.6
3 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 25.89 100.7
4 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 15.92 77.4
5 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 14.24 72.3
6 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 13.86 71.2
7 JD Guillemette Moyes RX3.5 11.30 61.5
8 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 9.40 53.8
9 Tavo Gutierrez Wills Wing T3 154 8.72 51.1
10 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 7.96 48.0
11 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 7.55 46.3

Finals:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 661.2 781.1 864.1 112.6 2419
2 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 674.4 832.1 639.6 29.9 2176
3 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 310.2 805.3 916.8 112.8 2145
4 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 421.7 710.5 880.4 100.7 2113
5 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 633.1 856.0 439.9 72.3 2001
6 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 408.7 796.3 735.4 29.9 1970
7 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 379.3 750.8 720.6 48.0 1899
8 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 133.3 742.6 752.9 71.2 1700
9 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 220.0 814.5 629.6 0.0 1664
10 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 447.3 706.7 463.6 38.6 1656

Sport Class Final Results (they didn't fly on the last day):

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Moyes Litesport 4 308.3 673.5 514.7 0.0 1497
2 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 213.4 787.2 408.2 0.0 1409
3 Rick Warner Wills Wing Sport 2 155 102.7 635.2 567.7 0.0 1306
4 Jordan Stratton Moyes Gecko 155 133.8 748.1 368.9 0.0 1251
5 L.J. Omara Wills Wing Sport 3 155 151.0 726.4 353.8 0.0 1231
6 Attila Plasch WillsWing U2 209.2 852.9 161.0 0.0 1223
7 Bill Snyder Wills Wing U2 145 150.5 538.8 410.4 0.0 1100
8 Bill Monghaloe Bautek Fizz 0.0 742.2 350.7 0.0 1093
9 Kelly Myrkle Moyes Gecko 118.5 657.2 277.5 0.0 1053
10 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 147.3 504.4 380.5 0.0 1032

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2771828

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/25.4.2021/20:06

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals - Midair During Task 3 »

Sat, Apr 24 2021, 7:40:01 pm EDT

Pedro and Tyler collide while thermaling

CIVL|collision|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

Below you will see frames of the period just before and at the time of the collision taken every two seconds from their track log files. You can make your own interpretation of who should have done what to avoid this incident. Tyler is the red glider (978) and Pedro the blue one (969). I have left the pictures at their original size as taken on my computer.

Be aware that at launch Pedro's instrument measured 140' and Tyler's measured 120' of elevation (GPS altitude). Therefore the altitudes displayed in these frames could easily be off from each other by 20' (or more) or not at all.

You can make your own interpretation of what you see here. Note the different climb rates between the two gliders. Both gliders were flying after the collision and both pilots followed the CIVL section 7 rule: "A competitor involved in a collision in the air must not continue the flight if the structural integrity of his glider is in doubt."

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2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 24, 2021, 7:11:15 pm EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

We don't go that great up wind when it is windy

Dragonfly|Larry Bunner|PG|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

Dragonfly|Larry Bunner|Naviter Blade|PG|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

Replay of the task: https://airtribune.com/play/5020/2d

On Friday, after a delay to move the start box to the west side of the east/west runway we had the first start window at 3 PM. Launch went smoothly for the open class, but there were further delays for the Sport Class.

I had a galloping tow behind Mick Howard in his 582 2-cycle powered (under powered) Dragonfly and when the rope went completely slack at 1,600' and we both went sideways, him to the right, me to the left, I pulled the release, but the weaklink (200 lbs.) broke at the same time and the bridle went for an unexpected flight into a small pond. We had just been in 400 fpm so it was easy to turn around and start climbing.

Half a dozen pilots were soon at cloud base which was over 4,000'. There were plenty of cu's and they were all working and you just had to be careful about the 11 mph southeast wind and not let it blow you too far outside the 5 km start cylinder. I was able to start at 3:04 PM as I watched the count down on the Naviter Blade and listen to its messages about when to get to the edge of the start window. It seemed to know exactly when to go.

With a strong southeast wind we were racing over the ground at almost 50 mph. There were multiple cu's ahead so little worry about finding lift. The first turnpoint was downwind to Center Hill.

With everyone in the first thermal along the course line we were going up at 400 fpm on average to 4,900'. After touching the turnpoint at Center Hill we headed north toward the 15 km turnpoint cylinder around Dallas, a waypoint at the northwest corner of the Villages. The waypoint had been expanded to account for the delay at launch.

It was 12 km to the next thermal from the previous one with a 17:1 glide ratio. A 300 fpm climb rate and then the next thermal just northwest of the prisons and south of the Turnpike at 400+ fpm to 4,900' before heading for and tagging the Dallas turnpoint just on the south edge of the Villages.

Now we had to turn into the wind and things did not go as well. The lift miraculously got much weaker with a climb of 100 fpm and then a little less than 200 fpm over a lake on the north side of the Turnpike with a 13 mph east southeast wind. About a dozen pilots were all in the lead gaggle just north of the Turnpike.

I left the thermal at 3,800'. We were getting to almost 5,000' just a few minutes earlier. Now we weren't getting as high as we would like heading into the east southeast wind. The half dozen gliders above me headed a little more southerly as I headed right down the Turnpike trying to get upwind of the course line back to Wilotree Park. Zac was heading that way also as there were good looking clouds in that direction and a lot fewer clouds south of the Turnpike.

The back and forth had begun. I found 230 fpm 4 km to the east and climbed to 4,300', then went east again and climbed to 4,500' at 150fpm with Larry Bunner. Heading toward the better looking clouds north of the Turnpike I was able to gain a total of 8 km to the east and get upwind of the course line but I was now down to 2,700' and not finding anything.

I saw Larry turning back behind me and turned around to see if I could get up in that thermal. That cost me half the distance I had gained and I found only weak lift that I'm able to use to climb to 2,500'. Larry got to 4,000' and flew to the south southeast landing soon there after.

I hooked up with Maria Garcia in the light lift and after topping out we headed south east toward the east west road for a safe landing with good retrieval. Down to 900' AGL we found a little spot of lift and started turning in an extremely pleasant climb. We climbed at 80 fpm and then I noticed Tavo Gutierrez circling below us just south of the highway and went over to him to find almost 200 fpm. I climbed to 3,800' over the prisons losing 4 km.

Topping out I headed east down the highway toward highway 48 and along the Turnpike toward a good looking cloud but found a net pf no gain at 1,000'. I should have just kept going, but I turned around and landed in a friendly field to the west. The lift was negative on the upwind side of the cloud. Retrieval from the Turnpike was not as easy as from the surface roads, but it was possible.

Pilots were scattered about in this area except for Bruce, Zac and Robin who while also had to do back and forths were able to get further south and a lot closer to Wilotree Park.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/23.4.2021/18:23

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2768418

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2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 24, 2021, 9:16:41 EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Results from Task 3

competition|Davis Straub|Gary Anderson|John Simon|Konrad Heilmann|Larry Bunner|Moyes Litespeed RX|Raul Guerra|Robin Hamilton|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021|Zac Majors

Replay of the task: https://airtribune.com/play/5020/2d

Results: https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Task 3:

# Name Glider Distance (km) Total
1 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 75.84 916.8
2 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 71.22 880.3
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 69.74 863.9
4 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 58.18 752.1
5 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 57.76 744.5
6 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 56.55 734.5
7 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 55.36 719.6
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 54.59 706.8
9 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 53.99 697.3
10 Raul Guerra ICARO Laminar 14,1 52.77 674.1

Cumulative:

Name Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 2306
2 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 2146
3 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 2032
4 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 2013
5 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 1940
6 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 1929
7 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 1851
8 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 1664
9 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 1629
10 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 1618

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Thu, Apr 22 2021, 9:45:15 pm EDT

Results from Task 2

competition|Davis Straub|John Simon|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Robin Hamilton|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021|Zac Majors

The forecast for the day:

How is Thursday different from Wednesday?

The wind shifts from northwest to northeast.

Day starts off sunny.

Be aware of the lake effect where Lake Apopka suppresses the lift just to our east and over us.

Winds are lighter at 4 PM (about half the wind speeds on Wednesday).

There will be a high pressure centered on the Florida/Georgia border.

Six degree lower surface temperatures and lower high temperature for the day, 79 vs. 84.

NWS:

Thursday

Sunny, with a high near 80. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Hourly forecast for the afternoon: Northeast surface winds at 9 mph decreasing to 7 mph, cloud cover 7% dropping to 4% by 4 PM.

https://www.wunderground.com/maps/surface-analysis/24hr

Shows cold front in Miami at 2 PM tomorrow, clear skies to the north.

HRRR

1 PM:

Northeast surface wind at 1 PM: 9 mph, 2000' 11 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 3,300'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 440 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 3,300'

B/S at 1 PM: 3.4

Cloud cover 7%

4 PM

Northeast surface wind at 4 PM: 7 mph, 2000' 9 mph

TOL at 4 PM: 3,800'

Updraft Velocity at 4 PM: 460 fpm

CB at 4 PM: 0'

B/S at 4 PM: 5.6

Cloud cover 9%

Skew-T:

1 PM:

TOL: 3,200'

Temperature: 56 degrees at TOL (73 on the surface)

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Task 2:

# Name Glider SS ES Time Speed (km/h) Total
1 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 15:15:00 16:38:39 01:23:39 32.2 856.0
2 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 15:15:00 16:40:26 01:25:26 31.5 832.1
3 Pedro L. garcia Wills Wing T3 144 15:15:00 16:42:06 01:27:06 30.9 814.5
4 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 15:15:00 16:42:13 01:27:13 30.9 805.3
5 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 15:15:00 16:42:43 01:27:43 30.7 796.3
6 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 15:30:00 16:51:20 01:21:20 33.1 783.8
7 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 15:15:00 16:44:19 01:29:19 30.2 781.1
8 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 15:15:00 16:47:53 01:32:53 29.0 750.8
9 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 15:15:00 16:48:09 01:33:09 28.9 742.6
10 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 15:15:00 16:50:43 01:35:43 28.1 718.8

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1507
2 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 1489
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 1442
4 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 1205
5 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 1154
6 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 1132
7 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 1130
8 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 1116
9 Pedro L. garcia Wills Wing T3 144 1035
10 Austin Marshall Wills Wing T3 154 1012

Eleven Sport Class pilots made goal with Attila winning the day and he is first overall afater two tasks. See results at link above.

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 21, 2021, 9:35:24 pm EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Results from Task 2

Butch Peachy|competition|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Robin Hamilton|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Task 1:

Name Glider Time Distance (km) Total
1 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:17:35 73.84 674.4
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:18:00 73.84 661.2
3 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 02:34:19 73.84 633.1
4 Thaisio Feliz Moyes RX5 Technora 66.74 476.6
5 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 60.60 447.3
6 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 56.17 421.7
7 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 52.49 408.7
8 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 55.57 379.3
9 Butch Peachy Moyes RX 3.5 49.54 328.6
10 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 40.43 310.2

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 21, 2021, 4:16:36 pm EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Rain on day two, but blue on day three

Task 1:

Zac and Tyler way far in the lead.

Tyler and then Zac first and second for the day. All other pilots who are in the air are 40 km behind.

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2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 19, 2021, 8:50:04 pm EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Rain

It cleared up around 3 PM, but didn't show much prospects of lift then. We went for a bike ride, https://www.strava.com/activities/5156726742.

Good chance of rain on Tuesday then things clear up on Wednesday.

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2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 7 »

April 17, 2021, 5:54:36 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 7

Cancelled

The southwest wind was too strong. If the wind direction had been south, southeast, south southeast, west, east, northeast, northwest, or north, the speed would have been fine. The results at the end of day 6 are the final results.

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2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 6 »

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

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 6

Results

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

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

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

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 6 »

April 16, 2021, 7:43:02 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 6

Blue Sky|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|PG|Wallaby Ranch

You know, every now and then
I think you might like to hear something from us
Nice and easy but there's just one thing
You see, we never ever do nothing nice and easy
We always do it nice and rough

The forecast:

NWS:

Today

A slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 8am. Partly sunny, with a high near 82. West wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Hourly in the afternoon: 6 mph west wind at 1 pm increasing to 8 mph west northwest by 4 PM, cloud cover 64%. Hourly and daily forecast do not agree on high temperature with hourly displaying 78 degrees.

RAP

1 PM:

Southwest surface wind at 1 PM: 6 mph, 2000' 8 mph , 4,000' 14 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 5,100'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 600 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 4,000'

B/S at 1 PM: 8.0

4 PM:

West southwest surface wind at 4 PM: 10 mph, 2,000' 14 mh, 4,000' 14 mph

TOL at 4 PM: 6,100'

Updraft Velocity at 4 PM: 620 fpm

CB at 4 PM: 5,100'

B/S at 4 PM: 7.0

This is what it looks like most of the day:

Every once in a while it will open up and there will be sunshine on the ground., Cu's form under the high level clouds and there are spots of rain here and there.

We've got a hell of a task:

Wilotree Park to Gore and then back to Wallaby Ranch.

There is some reluctance to launch given how dark the sky looks at times. They delay the launch by 40 minutes so it's not until 1:20 that pilots start launching. Kasey pulls me up at 1:40 above everyone else but two pilots at 2,100' (2,000' AGL). I'm right under those two pilots that are off by themselves and under a weak looking cu. Everything looks weak under the high level clouds.

I climb to 2,800' but fifteen minutes after I pinned off I'm back down to where I started. Despite unrelenting circling and joisting with one pilot after another, half an hour after I launched I'm down to 800' AGL at the south end of the field. I climb at 6.6 fpm until I find 160 fpm west of Wilotree Park and climb to 2,200'. I was previously very concerned about how all of us would land at the same time at the park, which it looked like we were going to do. There were many relights.

After a few different thermals and lift at around 130 fpm I'm able to climb to 3,200'. I'm only 2.5 kilometers from Wilotree, but hanging with four or five other pilots downwind to the east.

I follow the pilots I'm near to the southeast to where just outside the 5 km start cylinder they find 144 fpm and I join in. Pilots are landing every where behind us.

It is all dark and shaded to the south along our course line. We get to 2,900' and then the six of us head south into the darkness. For over 6 km we glide and it looks like we are going to land (as two pilots already did) just north of the mines. Down to 900' AGL I spot Zac below us just north of the mines and to our east when he begins to turn. We come over him and start turning in lift that averages 134 fpm. I'm on top of him for at least 5 minutes when I lose my focus for a second and suddenly I'm on the bottom and out of contact. I see the five pilots I was with climb up faster and get away from me.

I head southeast to get under where they have stopped for lift but it takes me nine minutes to get back up to 3,000' and I can no longer see the other pilots.

I'm just east of the mines but in an area where retrieval will not be easy unless I drop straight down. I've got to go south following where they went to get south of highway 474. I head for the best looking patch of cumulus cloud but there is no lift there. I'm down to 1,400' at 474.

South of this east west road there are very limited access possibilities for quite a ways. I feel that I need 3,000' to chance going out south of the highway. I can see to the south that there is blue sky and lots of cumulus clouds that look so much better than anything that we have been flying in., but they are too far away for a pilot who is as low as I am.

I search around near the highway but not finding any lift land in a field just to the north of the road.

The pilots I was with are able to make it to the cu's and then complete the task.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/16.4.2021/17:40

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2763323

Discuss "2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 6" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 5 »

April 15, 2021, 7:55:32 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 5

Very windy and overcast

Bobby Bailey|competition|Davis Straub|Filippo Oppici|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|PG|Raul Guerra|Robin Hamilton|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

Replay: https://airtribune.com/play/5009/2d

Forecast:

There is a large mass of clouds moving from west to east in the northern Gulf. We saw a bit of this on Wednesday in the morning before the clouds to the north and west disappeared.

NWS:

Thursday

Increasing clouds, with a high near 87. South wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Hourly in the afternoon: 11 mph southwest wind at noon increasing to 15 mph by 5 PM and turning west, cloud cover going from 19% to 50% then 71% at 5 PM

HRRR

1 PM:

Southwest surface wind at 1 PM: 14 mph, 2000' 21 mph, 4000' 22 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 4,800'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 500 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 4600'

B/S at 1 PM: 4.3

4 PM:

West southwest surface wind at 4 PM: 13 mph, 4,000' 21 mph

TOL at 4 PM: 3,900'

Updraft Velocity at 4 PM: 400 fpm

CB at 4 PM: 0'

B/S at 4 PM: 1.4

So we expect a windy and gusty day with the upper level clouds coming completely over us, but letting in filter sunlight. With the southwest direction we first look at a task to the northeast but conclude that with the high winds the safety factor finding landable areas would be very narrow. I propose a cross wind task to the north hoping that we will get lighter winds and it will be soarable.

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

Task 4: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5009/day/open-class

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 JD Guillemette Moyes RX3.5 26.72 192.0
2 Raul Guerra Icaro Laminar 14.7 23.65 177.4
3 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 23.67 177.3
4 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 23.59 176.8
5 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 23.54 176.2
6 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 23.12 173.4
7 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 22.75 169.0
8 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 22.40 165.1
9 Austin Marshall Wills Wing T3 154 18.32 122.0
10 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 18.07 120.7

Cumulative: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5009/comp/open-class

# Name Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 2972
2 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 2936
3 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 2916
4 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 2845
5 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 2844
6 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 2599
6 Raul Guerra Icaro Laminar 14.7 2599
8 Kevin Carter Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 2541
9 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 2283
10 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 2220

There was no Sport Class task today given the high winds forecasted.

The winds at launch were within our pre assigned parameters (20 mph south and 10 mph west - so 15 mph southwest). The safety and meet director were monitoring the winds at launch and their criteria was 10 - 15 mph with no gusts over 5 mph. That's what they got.

The high level clouds from the north came near us but there were plenty of cu's underneath them. When I got pulled up after not choosing to go in the first round I pinned off in lift at 1,500' behind Bobby Bailey. I quickly climbed to 5,200' at 335 fpm despite all the upper level clouds. I was drifting at 12 mph out of the west southwest. I wanted to get to the west side of the 5 km start cylinder, which was not all that easy to do.

Heading west and then climbing back to 5,000' it was time to go to get the first start clock.

After the task opened we all raced to the northwest and found lift west of Groveland again back to 5,000'. I followed three pilots ahead and over me and found 350 fpm to 4,500' behind them and they had to come back to me.

As we went further north under the upper level clouds, but still toward cumulus clouds, the lift deteriorated. As we came over Grass Root airfield at a little less than 3,000' we spotted Zac Majors circling low on the north side. We climbed at 140 fpm to 3,300'. Zac headed off to the northwest low and we all lost track of him, except maybe Austin.

I'm only able to climb to 2,800' in the next thermal at 124 fpm. Others get higher. We are all being pushed to the east northeast and there is a small gaggle northeast of the Turnpike. I don't find any lift under them at 2,600' and head west toward the open fields on the south side of the Turnpike and near highway33. I note that the wind is 22 mph out of the west.

Making very slow progress against the head wind, down to 1,200', and not being able to make it to my preferred field to the west I turn east to be able to land near highway 27. There is a huge field there and I come in at 500' and stay prone and on the base tube all the way to the ground not wanting to get turned. My ground speed is less than 5 mph when I land in a nice soft field. It is very turbulent.

Kevin Carter measures 30 mph when he is coming in to land, hits 1,500 fpm low, and just keeps heading into the wind and landing. J.D. gets out ahead of everyone and wins the day.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/15.4.2021/17:34

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2762660

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 4 »

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

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 4

Task 3, more blue then a few cu's

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

The forecast:

NWS:

Wednesday

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

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

RAP

1 PM:

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

TOL at 1 PM: 4,400'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 580 fpm

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

B/S at 1 PM: 9.7

4 PM:

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

TOL at 4 PM: 7,700'

Updraft Velocity at 4 PM: 720 fpm

CB at 4 PM: 7,500'

B/S at 4 PM: 10.0

The Task:

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

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

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

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

Cumulative:

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

Sport Cumulative:

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

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 3 »

April 13, 2021, 10:16:54 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 3

Task 2, in the blue

competition|Filippo Oppici|Gary Anderson|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|Raul Guerra|Robin Hamilton|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

Live and Replay Open task: https://airtribune.com/play/5004/2d

Results for Open and Sport classes:

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

Task 2 Open: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5004/day/open-class

# Name Glider Time Distance (km) Total
1 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 02:55:37 90.70 991.7
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:56:25 90.70 980.4
3 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 02:56:36 90.70 961.5
4 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 02:56:48 90.70 954.9
5 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 02:56:55 90.70 945.7
6 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:56:58 90.70 941.6
7 Kevin Carter Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 03:15:26 90.70 865.4
8 Raul Guerra Icaro Laminar 14.7 03:22:46 90.70 832.7
9 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 85.53 591.0
10 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 82.16 586.8

A blue day with a north wind and a mixed forecast that made us unsure if we would have a lot of lift or just a little. Later the day turned out very well with climbs to 6,000' and sustained 500 fpm.

The Sky Wants Us to Return

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

The forecast was an utter failure

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

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

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

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

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

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

The task was a bit complex:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 1 »

April 11, 2021, 12:17:08 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 1

We have crushed the drought

Belinda Boulter|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|video

It's hard to believe that it will only be from one to two inches of rain today (Sunday).

We have not had anything like this in the five months that Belinda and I have been here:

Those folks staying in tents will be most unhappy. Looks like a warm day tomorrow, sunny, with a north wind.

The Sandhill Cranes can eat and drink at the same time:

https://vimeo.com/535653182 by Randee Azzar.

Discuss "2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 1" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Pilot Entry Fee Goes Up March 10th

March 7, 2021, 8:08:17 EST

Pilot Entry Fee Goes Up March 10th

$100 per competition

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021

https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/info/details__info

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/info/details__info

Discuss "Pilot Entry Fee Goes Up March 10th" at the Oz Report forum   link»

A Near Cyber Death Experience

Wed, Mar 3 2021, 8:23:21 am EST

We almost lost it

COVID|Facebook|Oz Report|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|Wilotree Park|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

You might have noticed that it's been a tough year for most of us. Hang gliding continued without many competitions which would have lead to gatherings which were either frowned upon or completely forbidden by the authorities. Here in Florida we continued life outside where it is is 19 times safer (https://bestlifeonline.com/coronavirus-indoors/). Due to travel restrictions we canceled the Sport Class, Rigid Wing and Women's Worlds as well as all the Nationals competitions. Same for Big Spring.

Now a year later we are planning for the 2021 Paradise Airsports and Wilotree Park Nationals in April to be run under COVID protocols with continued international travel restrictions: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/info and https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/info.

During the year of crises mode we also decided to move to a new web server to reduce our costs. This transition has not been without numerous glitches as the Oz Report is a complex web site. For example, yesterday the host automatically updated PHP which caused all sorts of problems for Scare. Hopefully over time the situation will stabilize.

At one point we considered just going strictly on Facebook which would relieve us of all the web hosting issues (the high cost being the primary concern). We also were getting most of our content via Facebook posts, so it made sense to go to our Facebook version of the Oz Report.

This would mean that we would drop our email push of Oz Report issues. Also, those who find Facebook objectionable would no longer get to see our content. After a few disappointing experiments we decided to leave well enough alone. There is a Facebook version of the Oz Report and a stand-alone version. Sometimes content from the Facebook version comes over to the stand-alone version.

You can just go to the Oz Report on Facebook and ignore your news feed: https://www.facebook.com/ozreport

We don't know where things stand with our readers. We've decided not to publish every weekday unless there is news every weekday. Before it was publish or perish five days a week for 24 years. Now we are taking a bit more relaxed attitude and publishing when something interesting is happening, and hopefully with a new year and good changes to our pandemic situation coming, there will be more interesting things happening.

Thanks to all the Oz Report readers for their support over the years.

Discuss "A Near Cyber Death Experience" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

The Florida 2021 Spring Competitions

January 19, 2021, 9:09:03 pm EST

The Florida 2021 Spring Competitions

They are happening

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021

https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/info/details__info

April 10th through the 17th.

Competition flying 11th through the 17th.

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/info/details__info

April 18th through the 25th.

Competition flying April 19th through the 25th.

There will be plenty of social distancing and everything will take place outside.

Discuss "The Florida 2021 Spring Competitions" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The Florida Competitions in 2021

November 27, 2020, 10:35:06 EST

The Florida Competitions in 2021

The new meet organizer

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|COVID|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|Risk Retention Group|USHPA|Wilotree Park

Stephan Mentler <team> writes:

To my fellow competition pilots, the Florida based hang gliding competitions - in April of next year - are moving forward pending official USHPA re-sanctioning.  This includes the Paradise Airports Nationals, Wilotree Park Nationals, and the 2nd FAI Sport Class World Championship.  The respective competition dates along with registration process is provided on the Airtribune sites.  

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/info

https://airtribune.com/2021-sport-world-championships/info

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

The competition organization understands that there will remain many unknowns regarding COVID-19, even with the development and distribution of a vaccine.  Pilots who sign-up for a competition and submit payment will be entitled to a full refund of entry fees minus $3.00 (three dollars) or the foreign equivalent if they are unable to attend due to impacts of COVID-19.  This includes government-imposed travel restrictions, government-imposed restrictions on sporting events, surges in cases, pilot illness, pilot family member illness, etc.  The $3.00 (three dollars) is retained to pay for anticipated non-refundable Organizer competition expenses.
 
There are a couple of changes - other than the impacts of COVID-19 – from previous years of Florida hang gliding competitions.  The first and most impactful is the retirement of Davis and Belinda from official Organizing and Meet Directing duties.  As competition pilots, we owe them an enormous debt of gratitude for their personal sacrifice and doing what can be a thankless job.  Without their commitment to organizing the Spring Florida competitions from the Green Swamp Klassic to the Nationals series, I suspect that the Florida and Big Spring competitions would have died-out a long time ago.  Thankfully, they have volunteered to help the new organization team, as needed to get things going for next year.  
 
This gets us to our second change.  In my role as the primary Organizer for next year’s Florida competitions and also considering the long-term prospects for U.S. based race-to-goal competitions – I along with two other competition pilots founded a hang gliding competition specific non-profit organization - the Hang Glider Racing Association Corp (HGRAC), a registered Florida non-profit corporation.  This was done upon the advice of past and potentially future organizers and several attorneys.  
 
A little background - some of the requirements enacted by the Risk Retention Group (RRG), for a competition to be insured, transfers a substantial level of risk to competition organizers.  This includes the potential for the RRG to refuse coverage for incidents that would be beyond the control of the organizer.  Without the creation of a competition specific organization as an additional protection for organizers, it is unlikely that anyone would have stepped in to organize another hang gliding race-to-goal competition in the U.S.  To be fair, the RRG has been made aware of the concerns and their leadership is working to resolve them – but in the interim - the HGRAC will be the entity under which I along with one or two other potential hang gliding competition organizers will organize U.S. based race-to-goal hang gliding competitions.
 
The HGRAC is currently composed of a president and two Directors.  The two Directors are Ben Dunn and Cory Barnwell.  Ben is a former multi-year Open Class U.S. National Team member and Cory is an experienced Open and Sport Class competition pilot.  We will be looking to appoint additional Directors if and as the HGRAC evolves.   

The comp organization email address is <team>.

Discuss "The Florida Competitions in 2021" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2019 Spanish Nationals »

July 5, 2019, 3:45:55 pm MDT

2019 Spanish Nationals

Guy Hubbard jumps into the lead at the Spanish Nationals

competition|Facebook|Icaro 2000|Konrad Heilmann|Moura Morrison|Moyes Litespeed RX|Rohan Taylor|Spanish Nationals 2019|Steve Blenkinsop

https://airtribune.com/42-nacional-ala-delta-zujar-jabalcon/results

Task 5:

# Name Nat Glider Distance Total
1 Konrad Heilmann BRA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 57.50 672
2 Guy Hubbard AUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 57.14 671
3 Paulo Frade POR Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 55.93 654
4 Alvaro Idigoras molina ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 53.67 623
5 Manuel Gomez de Pablos Moya ESP Moyes Litespeed RX 4 Pro 45.85 564
6 Domingo (txomin) Gallego Escribano ESP Aeros Combat C 12.7 45.59 563
7 Jose María (Tximo) Iriarte Ziritza ESP Aeros Combat C 12.4 45.33 560
7 David Errea ESP Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 45.35 560
9 Blay Olmos Ramos (Snr) ESP Moyes Litespeed RX 4 Pro 45.21 559
10 Eduardo Fatou gutierrez ESP Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 43.97 539

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Guy Hubbard AUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 3861
2 Blay Olmos Quesada (Jnr) ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 3476
3 Steve Blenkinsop AUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 3409
4 Rohan Taylor AUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 3373
5 Blay Olmos Ramos (Snr) ESP Moyes Litespeed RX 4 Pro 3098
6 Daniel Martin Mota ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 3019
7 Ataulfo J. Fernandez Montero ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 3012
8 Alan de Moura Morrison BRA Wills Wing T2C 154 2924
9 Antonio Jose Leton Carrasco ESP Aeros Combat C 2912
10 Konrad Heilmann BRA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 2710

The Spanish Nationals web site, https://airtribune.com/42-nacional-ala-delta-zujar-jabalcon/info/details__info, says that Saturday is a competition day, but I also read on Facebook that Friday was the last day. If true that would make Guy the winner overall.

2019 Spanish Nationals »

July 3, 2019, 2:05:41 pm MDT

2019 Spanish Nationals

Ooh, they all got zeros

competition|Icaro 2000|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Spanish Nationals 2019|Steve Blenkinsop|Trent Brown

https://airtribune.com/42-nacional-ala-delta-zujar-jabalcon/results

So much for the warnings on the first task. They got zeros instead. That's a big change.

After three tasks:

# Name Nat Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Blay Olmos Quesada (Jnr) ESP Aeros Combat C 894 747 867 2508
2 Steve Blenkinsop AUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 897 883 522 2302
3 Konrad Heilmann BRA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 277 735 825 1837
4 Trent Brown AUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 805 573 307 1685
5 Yon Bárcena Ortiz de Urbina ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 221 591 742 1554
5 Guy Hubbard AUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 0 875 679 1554
7 Hugo Pronto POR Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 389 592 568 1549
8 Jose Manuel (juaki) Sanchez Garcia ESP Moyes Litespeed RX 5 Pro 194 380 917 1491
9 Rory Duncan AUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 0 428 861 1289
10 Blay Olmos Ramos (Snr) ESP Moyes Litespeed RX 4 Pro 0 546 580 1126

Lots of zeros. Lots of air space violations. Apparently not like Australia.

2019 Spanish Nationals »

July 2, 2019, 7:48:05 pm MDT

2019 Spanish Nationals

Second Task

competition|Konrad Heilmann|Moura Morrison|Moyes Litespeed RX|Rohan Taylor|Spanish Nationals 2019

https://airtribune.com/42-nacional-ala-delta-zujar-jabalcon/results

Task 2:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Jose Manuel (juaki) Sanchez Garcia ESP Moyes Litespeed RX 5 Pro 02:13:10 917
2 Rohan Taylor AUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 02:26:19 879
3 Blay Olmos Quesada (Jnr) ESP Aeros Combat C 02:29:45 867
4 Rory Duncan AUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 02:26:40 861
5 Konrad Heilmann BRA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 02:31:16 825
6 Inaki Arrizabalaga ESP Aeros Combat C 02:38:20 787
7 Yon Bárcena Ortiz de Urbina ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 02:35:55 742
8 Jesus maria Hernando ESP Wills Wing T2C 144 02:46:11 696
9 Guy Hubbard AUS Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 02:46:40 679
10 Alan de Moura Morrison BRA Wills Wing T2C 154 02:37:08 676

A few small penalties for airspace infringements.

2019 Dalby Big Air »

April 8, 2019, 7:54:14 EDT

2019 Dalby Big Air

Results day 2

Dalby Big Air 2019|Konrad Heilmann|Nick Purcell|Rohan Taylor|Steve Blenkinsop|Trent Brown

http://williamolive.com/comps/dalby/index.html

Day 2:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Nick Purcell Moyes RS 4 02:03:11 887
2 Guy Hubbard Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:18:23 879
3 Konrad Heilmann Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:18:44 854
4 steve crosby Moyes RX 5 02:18:57 852
5 Steve Docherty   02:18:56 842
6 Adam Stevens Aeros Combat 12.7 02:35:14 778
7 Trent Brown Moyes RX 3.5 02:34:45 747
8 Craig Taylor Moyes RX 3.5 02:42:46 740
9 Tony Giammichele Moyes RX 3.5 02:46:59 713
10 Steve Blenkinsop Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:49:27 699

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Konrad Heilmann Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1728
2 Trent Brown Moyes RX 3.5 1702
3 steve crosby Moyes RX 5 1698
4 Rohan Taylor Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1672
5 Steve Blenkinsop Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1659
6 Steve Docherty   1649
7 Craig Taylor Moyes RX 3.5 1574
8 Nils Vesk Moyes RX 3.5 1548
9 Adam Stevens Aeros Combat 12.7 1515
10 Matthew Barlow Moyes RX 5 Pro 1409

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22nd Open de Canarias

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

Task cancelled

Open de Canarias 2018

Wednesday, December 5th

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

Things are not going well for this meet either.

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

22nd Open de Canarias

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

1st task results

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

Monday, December 3rd

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

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

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22nd Open de Canarias

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

Lanzarote

Open de Canarias 2018

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

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

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The life of a meet organizer

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

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

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

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

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

Annexe A – Bid Information


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

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

1. Name of Championship

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

2. Location(s) of Championship

3. Proposed Dates of Championship

4. Competition allowing the organiser to bid

State here which competition allows you to bid.

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

5. Local Organiser (LOC)

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

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

6. Sporting Power

Party having the sporting power in your country.

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

The Sporting Power will also have to sign the Organiser Agreement

7. Detailed Schedule of Championship

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

8. Organisers, Directors and Key Officials

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

For all events:

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

For Cross Country:

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

9. CIVL Coordinator, Steward, Judges, Jurors

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

10. Pilots Entry

Specify the maximum number of pilots allowed overall.

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

Reminder:

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

11. Entry Fee

Define the Entry Fee for the Championship:

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

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

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

12. Test Event

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

Reminder:

See Section 7 Common 2.4.5 and 12.1.1 for general requirements.

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

13. Launch sites

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

For each site, list:

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

For winch/aero tow sites:

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

For Accuracy:

  • Height difference between take off and target area.

For Aerobatic:

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

14. Distance/access to launch site(s)

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

For Accuracy and Aerobatic:

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

15. Task flying area XE "Task flying area"

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

For Accuracy and Aerobatics:

  • Target location and specificities.

16. Airspace XE "Airspace"

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

17. Weather

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

18. Meteorology XE "Meteorology"

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

19. Transport XE "Retrieves"

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

20. Safety issues

In general:

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

21. Rescue XE "Rescue" /Medical Services

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

22. Safety Management Plan

States here what your safety management plan will be.

Reminder:

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

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

23. Transmissions

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

24. Liaison with police, military, public services

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

25. Insurance XE "Insurance"

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

Reminder:

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

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

26. Event Headquarters XE "Headquarters"

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

27. Local facilities

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

28. Competition website

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

29. Visas, Vaccinations

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

30. Early arrivals:

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

31. Customs and equipment importation:

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

32. Medals, etc.

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

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

33. Media coverage, merchandising

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

Reminder:

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

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

34. Sponsorship

  • Secured or expected sponsors if any.

Reminder:

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

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

35. Finance

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

36. Any additional information in support of the bid:

Name:

Position in Organisation:

Date:

Signed:

Annexe B – Support Documentation


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

Annexe C – Budget

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

2018 Quest Air Nationals »

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

The happy pilots

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

Joerg Bajewski's photo of all of us:

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

The photo is live.

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2017 Midwest, Vlog 3 »

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

2017 Midwest, Vlog 3

After the first day of competition

Midwest Championships 2017|video

https://youtu.be/nv2tySnyPos

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

2017 Midwest, Vlog 2 »

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

2017 Midwest, Vlog 2

The first day of competition

Midwest Championships 2017|video

https://youtu.be/oNlYpOfHkc8

2017 Midwest, Vlog 1 »

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

2017 Midwest, Vlog 1

Wills Wing's turn to log it

Midwest Championships 2017|video

https://youtu.be/yZREHtibq0Y

2017 Midwest, a video look »

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

2017 Midwest, a video look

A look around

Midwest Championships 2017|video

https://youtu.be/32ko6enNiJ8

2017 Midwest, my thoughts »

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

2017 Midwest, my thoughts

Two weeks in Wisconsin

Midwest Championships 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2017 Midwest, the organizers' thoughts »

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

2017 Midwest, the organizers' thoughts

At least Greg Dinauer's

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

Greg Dinauer <<gdinauer>> writes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2017 Midwest, day 7, the podiums »

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

2017 Midwest, day 7, the podiums

Simon and Myrkle win

competition|Midwest Championships 2017

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

2017 Midwest, day 7 »

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

2017 Midwest, day 7

It blows

Facebook|Midwest Championships 2017

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

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

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

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

NAM 3 forecast:

1 PM:

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

4 PM:

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

The day was cancelled because of the high winds.

2017 Midwest, day 6, task 5 »

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

2017 Midwest, day 6, task 5

The luck can be good or bad

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

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

Here is the forecast for the day:

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

Hourly shows north northwest surface winds at 9 mph.

NAM 3 forecast:

1 PM:

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

4 PM:

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

Op40:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2017 Midwest, day 6, task 5 »

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

2017 Midwest, day 6, task 5

Looks like five competition days

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

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

Niki on launch:
Niki launching
Photo by Mike Degtoff.

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

Task 5:

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

2017 Midwest, day 5, task 4 »

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

2017 Midwest, day 5, task 4

Many Brazilian pilots here

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

Photo by Mike Degtoff.

The forecast for the day:

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

Hourly forecast is for a 9 mph west southwest wind

There is a front to our west.

NAM 3 forecast:

1 PM:

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

4 PM:

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

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

OP40:

1 PM:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Task 4:

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

Cumulative:

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

Task 4:

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

The pilots at the Sport Class goal:

Your editor coming out of the cart:

Photo by Mike Degtoff

Derrick Turner coming out of the cart:

Photo by Mike Degtoff.

2017 Midwest, day 4, task 3 »

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

2017 Midwest, day 4, task 3

Light winds

John Simon|Midwest Championships 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2017 Midwest, day 3, task 2 »

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

2017 Midwest, day 3, task 2

The results

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

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

Task 2:

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

Cumulative:

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

Task 2:

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

Cumulative:

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

2017 Midwest, day 3, task 2 »

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

2017 Midwest, day 3, task 2

A sky full of cu's

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

The forecast for the day:

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

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

NAM3 forecast:

1 PM:

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

4 PM:

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

SkySight (between 1 PM and 4 PM):

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

OP40:

1 PM:

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

4 PM:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2017 Midwest, day 2 »

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

2017 Midwest, day 2

A bit too windy

Midwest Championships 2017|weather

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

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

NAM3 forecast:

1 PM:

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

4 PM:

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

SkySight (between 1 PM and 4 PM):

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

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

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

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

Better conditions on Tuesday.

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

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

2017 Midwest, day 1 »

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

The Results

Midwest Championships 2017

Most pilots got minimum distance:

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

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

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

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

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

Jonny landing back at launch
Jonny landing back at launch.

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

Sara Weaver ready to launch
Sara Weaver ready to launch.

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

2017 Midwest, day 1 »

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

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

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

Here's the forecast for the day:

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

NAM3 forecast:

1 PM:

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

4 PM:

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

SkySight (between 1 PM and 4 PM):

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

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

The task:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

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

Too easy for some

Glen Volk|Midwest Championships 2017|Risk Retention Group

https://airtribune.com/davisstraub/tracks__122221

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

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

2017 Midwest, getting ready

Tasks completed

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

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

https://airtribune.com/sweaverflies/tracks__121950

Krzys and Larry completed the 85 km triangle.

The forecast and task for the day was:

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

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

NAM 3 forecast:

Noon

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

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

Lift stops after 4 PM

Sport Class task was Palmyra and back, 28 km.

The wind turned out to be 12 mph west.

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

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

2017 Midwest, getting ready

Forecasts improving

Midwest Championships 2017|weather

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

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

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

Currently surface winds at 13 mph.

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

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

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

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

2017 Midwest, getting ready

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

Greg Dinauer|Midwest Championships 2017

Greg Dinauer sends this sky picture from the airfield:

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

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

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

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

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

2017 Midwest, getting ready

Larry kept flying

Larry Bunner|Midwest Championships 2017

Larry Bunner wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

2017 Midwest, getting ready »

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

2017 Midwest, getting ready

A typical day with light lift

Midwest Championships 2017

https://airtribune.com/davisstraub/tracks__120937

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

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

http://www.midwest2017.com/

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

2017 Midwest »

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

2017 Midwest

Looks like rain this coming week

Midwest Championships 2017|Quest Air|weather

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

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

2017 Quest Air Re-Open »

May 1, 2017, 1:56:36 pm EST -0400

2017 Quest Air Re- Open

The safety committee calls for the task to be cancelled due to strong southwest gusts

competition|Davis Straub|Fabiano Nahoum|John Simon|Ken Kinzie|Konrad Heilmann|Larry Bunner|Mark Bourbonnais|Mark Dowsett|Moyes Litespeed RX|Niki Longshore|Patrick Kruse|Quest Air|Quest Air Re-Open 2017|Richard Lovelace

https://airtribune.com/2017-quest-air-open-and-reopen/results

Scroll down to the bottom.

Final results:

Place Name Glider Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 3028
2 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 2769
3 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 2767
4 Giovani Tagliari Wills Wing T2C 154 2651
5 Patrick Kruse Wills Wing T2C 144 2518
6 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 2480
7 Misael Rosalez Moyes LS RS 3.5 1947
8 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 1928
9 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 144 1911
10 Ken Kinzie Wills Wing T2C 144 1628
11 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 1466
12 Robert Clarkson Wills Wing T2C 154 1040
13 Rod Regier Moyes LiteSport 4 1032
14 Niki Longshore Moyes LiteSport 4 990
15 Richard Lovelace Wills Wing T2C 144 958
16 Rich Cizauskas Aeros Combat 728
17 Mark Dowsett Moyes RX Pro 3.5 646
18 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 605
19 Mark Bourbonnais Wills Wing T2C 136 544
20 Miguel Molina Wills Wing T2C 154 526
21 Alessandro Silva Wills Wing T2C 144 392
22 Tim Conover Wills Wing U2 145 189
23 Ricardo Vassmer Bautek Fizz 118
23 Michael Duffy Wills Wing Sport 2 118

2017 Quest Air Re-Open »

April 29, 2017, 8:10:45 EST -0400

2017 Quest Air Re- Open

With the wind we have to go long

competition|Davis Straub|Fabiano Nahoum|Ken Kinzie|Konrad Heilmann|Larry Bunner|Mark Bourbonnais|Moyes Litespeed RX|Patrick Kruse|Quest Air|Quest Air Re-Open 2017

https://airtribune.com/2017-quest-air-open-and-reopen/results

Scroll down to the bottom.

Preliminary results for Task 4:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C144 03:13:28 185.42 992
2 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 03:14:22 185.42 950
3 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 03:35:19 185.42 825
4 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 03:35:41 185.42 812
5 Ken Kinzie Wills Wing T2C 144 04:16:43 185.42 665
6 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 04:19:36 185.42 659
7 Patrick Kruse Wills Wing T2C 144 163.20 519
8 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 151.63 486
9 Giovani Tagliari Wills Wing T2C 154 140.75 470
10 Mark Bourbonnais Wills Wing 136 T2C 90.08 295

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 3029
2 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 2788
3 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 2779
4 Giovani Tagliari Wills Wing T2C 154 2671
5 Patrick Kruse Wills Wing T2C 144 2535
6 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 2490
7 Misael Rosalez Moyes LS RS 3.5 1955
8 Marcelo Menin Wills Wing T2C 144 1927
9 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 1840
10 Ken Kinzie Wills Wing T2C 144 1628

2017 Quest Air Re-Open »

April 26, 2017, 9:42:35 pm EST -0400

2017 Quest Air Re- Open

A short task for some, a longer task for others

competition|Davis Straub|Fabiano Nahoum|John Simon|Konrad Heilmann|Larry Bunner|Moyes Litespeed RX|Niki Longshore|Patrick Kruse|Quest Air|Quest Air Re-Open 2017|Richard Lovelace

https://airtribune.com/2017-quest-air-open-and-reopen/results

Scroll down to the bottom.

Task 2:

Preliminary results:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 00:47:25 435
2 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 00:48:48 411
3 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 144 00:54:14 374
4 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 00:54:18 364
4 Giovani Tagliari Wills Wing T2C 154 00:54:37 364
6 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 00:55:07 357
7 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 00:56:55 345
8 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 01:00:36 325
9 Richard lovelace Wills Wing T2C 144 Carbon 01:04:13 319
10 Patrick Kruse Wills Wing T2C 144 01:03:25 317

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 1429
2 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C144 1271
3 Giovani Tagliari Wills Wing T2C 154 1163
4 Misael Rosalez Moyes LS RS 3.5 1128
5 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 1126
6 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 1068
7 Patrick Kruse Wills Wing T2C 144 1016
8 Niki Longshore Moyes Litesport 4 968
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 968
10 Richard lovelace Wills Wing T2C 144 Carbon 692

All pilots have been moved into the open class.

The out and return task to Turn 33 and back:

A little less than 40 km.

2017 Quest Air Open »

April 21, 2017, 10:45:14 pm EST -0400

2017 Quest Air Open

177 km to Cross City

Konrad Heilmann|Larry Bunner|Quest Air|Quest Air Open 2017|Rich Lovelace|weather

https://airtribune.com/2017-quest-air-open-and-reopen/blog__day_5

Check out the Replay. Very cool.

The task, 177 km to Cross City:

The forecast:

2017 Quest Air Open and Re-Open, Friday, April 21st

National Weather Service forecast:

Sunny, with a high near 87. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Hourly forecast shows surface winds southeast 8 mph from 11 AM to 2 PM.

NAM forecast:

2 PM
1100 - 1200 fpm lift
6,000' - 7,000' top of lift
No cu's but that is almost never true if there is a southeast wind
15 - 18 mph east southeast wind at top of lift
10 mph east southeast wind at 30'

5 PM
800 - 900 fpm lift
7,000' - 8,000' top of lift
No cu's or 7,000' - 8,000' cloudbase
12 mph east southeast at top of lift

Op40 at 2 PM shows cloudbase at 6,600' at 51 degrees, with an south east wind of 8 - 12 mph.

We see a blue day as launch opens. Much later we get cu's but not so much along the course line:

I'm pulled up early and right into the blue. I pin off at 1,800' in lift and climb at 140 fpm to 4,300' with Larry Bunner, Mick Howard, and Rich Lovelace. We are drifting quickly to the downwind edge of the 5 km start cylinder in a 22 mph east southeast wind. As we top out when the lift turns to zero sink, I head back toward the east and Quest Air and the circling pilots that I've spotted. Larry and the others follow.

We get nothing until down to 1,500' when we are all together and find 100 fpm back up to 2,000'. There is a crowd as we very slowly climb to 2,000' and then stop climbing. We're all at about the same altitude and there is lift in only about a quarter of the circle. Some pilot attempt to circle tighter but it just makes the traffic worse and more dangerous.

Finally I decide that enough is enough. I head back to Quest to land and not worry about the day. If I would have found something away from everyone else I would have worked it but that doesn't happen until I'm down to 600'. I have an opportunity to relaunch but really I'm not liking the ordeal. Rich Lovelace, Konrad Heilmann, and others relaunch.

The one's who hung in there continue to slowly climb, get back up over 4,500' and take the last start clock at 2:10. The day improves. A few pilots stick together but most spread out as they head toward Williston.

Only two pilots make goal. Dallas lands a kilometer short and Larry isn't high enough late in the day to make it across the river.

Discuss "2017 Quest Air Open" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The 2017 Dalby Big Air

April 15, 2017, 8:53:14 EST -0400

The 2017 Dalby Big Air

Day 7, task 5, Scott Barrett wins again

Facebook|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Konrad Heilmann|Nick Purcell|Niki Longshore|Scott Barrett|Steve Blenkinsop

Flying a Wills Wing T2C 144 borrowed from Glen McFarlane, Scott Barrett wins a second day at the 2017 Dalby Big Air, by a wide margin.

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2017/comp%20results.html

Task 5, day 7:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Scott Barrett Wills Wing T2C 144 01:52:34 992
2 Rory Duncan Airborne Rev 13.5 01:57:31 914
3 Harrison Rowntree Moyes RX 3.5 01:57:32 906
4 Josh Woods Moyes RX PRO 3.5 02:00:31 875
5 Guy Hubbard Moyes RX 3.5 02:01:54 874
6 Tony Armstrong Moyes RX PRO 3.5 02:00:36 867
7 Konrad Heilmann Moyes RX 3.5 02:03:21 833
8 Rod Flockhart Moyes RX 3.5 02:07:37 797
9 Brodrick Osborne Moyes RS 4 02:05:52 793
10 steve crosby Moyes RX 5 02:06:08 787

Final results:

# Name   Nat Glider Total
1 Josh Woods M AUS Moyes RX PRO 3.5 4330
2 Steve Blenkinsop M AUS Moyes RX3.5 4232
3 Scott Barrett M AUS Wills Wing T2C 144 4041
4 Harrison Rowntree M AUS Moyes RX 3.5 4035
5 Tony Armstrong M AUS Moyes RX PRO 3.5 3993
6 Jason Kath M AUS Wills Wing T2C 144 3920
7 Jonny Durand M AUS Moyes RX PRO 3.5 3878
8 Rory Duncan M AUS Airborne Rev 13.5 3726
9 Guy Hubbard M AUS Moyes RX 3.5 3591
10 Nick Purcell M AUS Moyes RS 4 3569
11 Niki Longshore F USA Moyes RX PRO 3.5 3513

Jonny Durand who was in second place ahead of Josh Woods did not make goal on the last day. Steve Blenkinsop who was in first place was slow getting to goal after four tasks. Niki Longshore was fourteenth into goal dropping one place to eleventh.

Jonny won the first day with Steve in third, Scott in fourth and Josh in fifth with Niki in eighteenth. Steve won the second task with Josh in fourth, a tie, Niki in sixth and Jonny in eighth. Scott didn't make goal on that day.

Scott won the third task, with Steve in third, Josh in sixth, Jonny in seventh, and Niki just short of goal.

Jonny won the fourth task with Steve in third, Josh in eighth, Niki in tenth and Scott in thirteenth.

So Jonny won two tasks, Scott won two tasks, and Steve won one task. Both Scott and Jonny did not make goal on one of the tasks. Josh made goal and placed in the top ten on every task. Niki missed goal on one day.

>

Vote for Pedro - anti-marketing.

The 2017 Dalby Big Air

April 12, 2017, 8:13:09 EST -0400

The 2017 Dalby Big Air

Many in goal, Niki in early

Facebook|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Nick Purcell|Niki Longshore|Rohan Taylor|Steve Blenkinsop

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2017/index.html

Task 2, day 4:

# Name Glider SS Time Lead.
Points
Time
Points
Arr.
Pos.
Points
Total
1 Steve Blenkinsop Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 13:20:00 02:23:30 61.1 428.0 76.4 954
2 Tony Armstrong Moyes RX PRO 3.5 13:20:00 02:23:36 58.9 423.5 70.0 941
3 Guy Hubbard Moyes RX 3.5 13:20:00 02:23:59 59.9 415.1 64.0 928
4 Josh Woods Moyes RX PRO 3.5 13:20:00 02:24:18 59.8 410.0 58.4 917
5 Nick Purcell Moyes RS 4 13:20:00 02:24:18 59.3 410.0 58.4 916
6 Niki Longshore Moyes RX PRO 3.5 13:20:00 02:36:27 59.3 312.8 40.5 801
7 Konrad Heilmann Moyes RX 3.5 13:00:00 02:48:45 107.0 248.3 48.7 793
8 Craig Taylor Moyes RX 3.5 13:00:00 02:54:32 100.9 221.8 44.4 756
8 Jonny Durand Moyes RX PRO 3.5 13:40:00 02:34:51 18.6 322.5 26.2 756
10 rob degroot Moyes RX 3.5 13:20:00 02:43:36 49.3 273.6 33.8 745

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 Steve Blenkinsop Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 863 954 1817
2 Josh Woods Moyes RX PRO 3.5 851 917 1768
3 Jonny Durand Moyes RX PRO 3.5 1000 756 1756
4 Konrad Heilmann Moyes RX 3.5 810 793 1603
5 Harrison Rowntree Moyes RX 3.5 839 721 1560
6 Jason Kath Wills Wing T2C 871 654 1525
7 Niki Longshore Moyes RX PRO 3.5 652 801 1453
8 rob degroot Moyes RX 3.5 680 745 1425
9 Andrew Barnes Moyes RX 3.5 745 670 1415
10 Viv Clements Laminar 14.8 733 645 1378

Niki Longshore writes:

Un zigzag day to goal. My personal goal is to be faster. Faster faster faster. It's not a matter of making goal anymore; have to be fast and charge ahead.

I did really well up until TP 3 at Warra where I slowed down. Caught up under the lead gaggle at the last turnpoint, but it wasn't the ticket to stay with them to goal.

Left for goal 25k away at 8 grand ASL in a cross wind under a beautiful cloud. I was trying to catch up to the boys ahead but couldn't. Eventually I had to stop 2km away from goal cylinder to get up because I wasn't going to make it. I put on the conservative brakes (probably too conservative) to ensure I'd make it.

The 2017 Dalby Big Air

April 9, 2017, 8:05:34 EST -0400

The 2017 Dalby Big Air

First day (Sunday, Australia time/day)

Facebook|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Niki Longshore|Scott Barrett|Steve Blenkinsop

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2017/comp%20results.html

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 3.5 02:28:09 1000
2 Jason Kath Wills Wing T2C 02:39:43 868
3 Steve Blenkinsop Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 02:39:59 860
4 Scott Barrett Moyes RX 3.5 02:40:01 854
5 Josh Woods Moyes RX 3.5 02:40:10 848
6 Harrison Rowntree Moyes RX 3.5 02:40:44 835
7 Konrad Heilmann Moyes RX 3.5 02:44:03 805
8 Matthew Barlow Moyes RS 4 02:45:08 793
9 Andrew Barnes Moyes LS RS 3.5 02:53:18 739
10 Viv Clements Laminar 14.8 02:55:16 727

Niki Longshore was in goal in 17th. Twenty two in goal.

2017 Midwest »

February 9, 2017, 8:07:40 EST

2017 Midwest

More pilots signed up than can be accommodated

Midwest Championships 2017

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

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

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

2017 Hombres Pajaro

Sat, Jan 28 2017, 7:39:04 pm EST

Results from day seven, task six

competition|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Dustin Martin|Hombres Pájaro 2017|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Yoko Isomoto

https://airtribune.com/hp2017/results

Task 6:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Daniel Velez Wills Wing T2C 144 30.76 115
2 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2CX 144 16.12 84
3 Juan Camilo Marin Giraldo Wills Wing T2 144 14.77 81
4 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 13.52 77
5 Oscar Morales Wills Wing T2C 144 11.21 70

Final Results:

# Name Glider Total
1 Rudy Gotes Wills Wing T2C 144 3928
2 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2CX 144 3780
3 Daniel Velez Wills Wing T2C 144 3635
4 Juan Camilo Marin Giraldo Wills Wing T2 144 3278
5 Yoko Isomoto Wills Wing T2C 136 3064
6 Oscar Morales Wills Wing T2C 144 2657
7 Juan Fernando Arango Wills Wing T2 144 2656
8 Shigeto Ishizaka Wills Wing T2C 144 2595
9 Alfredo Tello Moyes Litespeed 5 2544
10 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 2540

Sport Task 6:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Anibal Lemus Wills Wing U2 11.21 197
2 Jose Luis Jaramillo Wills Wing U2 145 8.48 166
3 Jose Sandoval Aeros Discus C 7.12 149
4 Hugo Rodriguez Airwave Klassic 6.87 147
4 Luis F. arias Wills Wing Sport 2 6.79 147

Final Results:

# Name Glider Total
1 Jose Luis Jaramillo Wills Wing U2 145 2281
2 Daniel Jaramillo Wills Wing U2C 145 1860
3 Anibal Lemus Wills Wing U2 1415
4 Juan Luis Palma North Wing Freedom 1413
5 Luis F. arias Wills Wing Sport 2 1276
6 Hugo Rodriguez Airwave Klassic 1092
7 Andres Pena Moyes Litesport 1056
8 Daniel Perea Wills Wing U2 909
9 Julio Galindo Wills Wing U2 145 903

2017 Hombres Pajaro

Fri, Jan 27 2017, 9:54:50 pm EST

Results from day six, task five

competition|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Dustin Martin|Hombres Pájaro 2017|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Yoko Isomoto

https://airtribune.com/hp2017/results

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Rudy Gotes Wills Wing T2C 144 02:02:34 465
2 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2CX 144 02:12:39 427
3 Oscar Morales Wills Wing T2C 144 02:13:25 425
4 Juan Camilo Marin Giraldo Wills Wing T2 144 02:27:29 403

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Rudy Gotes Wills Wing T2C 144 3895
2 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2CX 144 3696
3 Daniel Velez Wills Wing T2C 144 3520
4 Juan Camilo Marin Giraldo Wills Wing T2 144 3197
5 Yoko Isomoto Wills Wing T2C 136 3017
6 Juan Fernando Arango Wills Wing T2 144 2623
7 Oscar Morales Wills Wing T2C 144 2587
8 Shigeto Ishizaka Wills Wing T2C 144 2562
9 Alfredo Tello Moyes Litespeed 5 2495
10 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 2463

Sport Task 5:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Daniel Jaramillo Wills Wing U2C 145 11.21 130
2 Julio Galindo Wills Wing U2 145 7.44 102
3 Daniel Perea Wills Wing U2 7.25 101
3 Jose Sandoval Aeros Discus C 7.28 101
5 Juan Luis Palma North Wing Freedom 6.91 97

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Jose Luis Jaramillo Wills Wing U2 145 2115
2 Daniel Jaramillo Wills Wing U2C 145 1827
3 Juan Luis Palma North Wing Freedom 1270
4 Anibal Lemus Wills Wing U2 1218
5 Luis F. arias Wills Wing Sport 2 1129
6 Hugo Rodriguez Airwave Klassic 945
7 Andres Pena Moyes Litesport 914
8 Daniel Perea Wills Wing U2 766
9 Julio Galindo Wills Wing U2 145 761
10 Jose Sandoval Aeros Discus C 724

2017 Hombres Pajaro

Wed, Jan 25 2017, 9:27:23 pm EST

Results from day four, Dustin wins big

competition|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Dustin Martin|Facebook|Hombres Pájaro 2017|Konrad Heilmann|Mike Glennon|Moyes Litespeed RX|Raul Guerra|Yoko Isomoto

Going into the valley instead of the hillsides Dustin got to goal fifteen minutes earlier than Rudy. Eighteen in goal. Mike Glennon, meet organizer and director, took over from the task committee to get a task that got pilots to goal.

https://airtribune.com/hp2017/results

Task 4:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2CX 144 01:36:13 1000
2 Rudy Gotes Wills Wing T2C 144 01:51:40 831
3 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 01:54:08 785
4 Daniel Velez Wills Wing T2C 144 01:54:10 783
5 Shigeto Ishizaka Wills Wing T2C 144 02:02:00 721
6 Alfredo Tello Moyes Litespeed 5 02:02:54 716
7 Yoko Isomoto Wills Wing T2C 136 02:06:22 695
8 Juan Camilo Marin Giraldo Wills Wing T2 144 02:06:56 677
9 Juan Fernando Arango Wills Wing T2 144 02:16:06 630
10 Paulo Xavier Wills Wing T2C 144 02:21:54 587

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Rudy Gotes Wills Wing T2C 144 3430
2 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2CX 144 3269
3 Daniel Velez Wills Wing T2C 144 3201
4 Juan Camilo Marin Giraldo Wills Wing T2 144 2794
5 Yoko Isomoto Wills Wing T2C 136 2702
6 Shigeto Ishizaka Wills Wing T2C 144 2340
7 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 2333
8 Alfredo Tello Moyes Litespeed 5 2315
9 Juan Fernando Arango Wills Wing T2 144 2312
10 Raul Guerra Moyes Technora RX 3.5 2195

Sport Task 4:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Jose Luis Jaramillo Wills Wing U2 145 01:03:34 180
2 Daniel Jaramillo Wills Wing U2C 145 01:11:52 161
3 Anibal Lemus Wills Wing U2 01:12:33 158

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Jose Luis Jaramillo Wills Wing U2 145 1162
2 Daniel Jaramillo Wills Wing U2C 145 1017
3 Juan Luis Palma North Wing Freedom 716
4 Anibal Lemus Wills Wing U2 614
5 Luis F. arias Wills Wing Sport 2 586
6 Hugo Rodriguez Airwave Klassic 528
7 Daniel Perea Wills Wing U2 439
8 Soraya Rios Wills Wing Sport 135 366
9 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 365
10 Jaime Gomez Wills Wing U2C 335

https://www.facebook.com/hombrespajarocolombia/

2017 Hombres Pajaro

January 23, 2017, 12:49:33 pm EST GMT-0500

Results from day one

competition|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Dustin Martin|Hombres Pájaro 2017|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Raul Guerra|Yoko Isomoto

https://airtribune.com/hp2017/results

Task 1:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Juan Camilo Marin Giraldo Wills Wings T2 144 03:10:10 80.65 919
2 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2CX 144 03:54:37 80.65 828
3 Alfredo Tello Moyes Litespeed 5 68.64 707
4 Daniel Velez Wills Wing T2C 144 66.34 701
5 Rudy Gotes Wills Wing T2C 144 62.59 666
6 Juan Fernando Arango Wills Wing T2 144 50.32 571
6 Raul Guerra Moyes Technora RX 3,5 49.61 571
8 Alejandro Trujillo Montoya Aeros Combat GT 49.88 569
9 Yoko Isomoto Wills Wing T2C 48.98 550
10 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 45.74 526

Sport class:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Jose Sandoval Aeros Aeros Discus C 12.20 117
2 Daniel Jaramillo Wills Wing U2 12.11 116
3 Luis F. arias Wills Wing Sport 2 6.85 83
4 Daniel Perea Wills Wing U2 6.57 82
5 Anibal Lemus Wills Wing U2 5.71 75
6 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 4.54 65
7 Jaime De La Calle Wills Wing U2 145 4.29 63
8 Jaime Gomez Wills Wing U2C 4.02 60

2017 Midwest Championships »

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

June 4th through 10th

CIVL|Jamie Shelden|Midwest Championships 2017|USHPA

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

2016 Dalby Big Air - last task »

Sat, Apr 16 2016, 6:14:55 am MDT

Paris wins, Curt second

Curt Warren|Dalby Big Air 2016|Facebook|John Smith|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Konrad Heilmann|Paris Williams|Rohan Taylor|Tascha "Tish the Flying Fish" McLellan|Tove Heaney|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2016/comp results.html

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Len Paton Moyes RX 4 01:56:51 994
2 Curt Warren Moyes RX 4 01:58:39 964
3 John Smith Moyes Rs 4 01:58:47 948
4 Gavin Myers Moyes RX 5 01:59:50 932
5 Craig Taylor Moyes RX 3.5 02:00:18 922
6 Josh Woods Moyes RX 3.5 02:02:54 893
7 Paris Williams Moyes RX 3.5 02:03:01 890
8 Konrad Heilmann Moyes RX 3.5 02:04:00 885
9 Nils Vesk Moyes RX 3.5 02:04:25 878
10 Chris Lawry Moyes Lss 4 02:09:50 838

Final:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 T 5 Total
1 Paris Williams Moyes RX 3.5 988 829 1000 796 890 4503
2 Curt Warren Moyes RX 4 866 754 819 1000 964 4403
3 Len Paton Moyes RX 4 715 915 777 856 994 4257
4 Gavin Myers Moyes RX 5 864 835 803 785 932 4219
5 John Smith Moyes Rs 4 727 782 907 837 948 4201
6 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 3.5 658 915 833 751 705 3862
7 Vic Hare Wills Wing T2C 716 913 865 707 625 3826
8 Rohan Taylor Moyes Rs 4 653 916 754 791 651 3765
9 Josh Woods Moyes RX 3.5 832 898 351 759 893 3733
10 Tyler Borrdaile Wills Wing T2C 828 811 818 709 493 3659

The women of Dalby including the Flying Fish:

Tove Heaney, daughter Hannah, Tish the Flying Fish

Discuss "2016 Dalby Big Air - last task" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2016 Dalby Big Air day one

April 10, 2016, 7:53:23 EST -0400

2016 Dalby Big Air day one

Paris Williams wins the first day

Curt Warren|Dalby Big Air 2016|Facebook|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Nick Purcell|Paris Williams|photo|Tove Heaney|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2016/open%20class/task_result_2016-04-10_%2820160410-1743%29.html

# Name Glider Time km/h Total
1 Paris Williams Moyes RX 3.5 02:08:04 47.3 932
2 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 02:16:52 44.2 882
3 Gavin Myers Moyes Litespeed RX5 02:18:12 43.8 860
4 Guy Hubbard Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 02:19:16 43.5 848
5 Curt Warren Moyes Litespeed RX 4 02:16:41 44.3 835
6 Nick Purcell Moyes Litespeed RX 4 02:17:04 44.2 824
7 Josh Woods Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 02:18:50 43.6 802
8 Tyler Borrdaile Wills Wing T2C 02:18:57 43.6 795
9 Jason Kath Wills Wing T2C 02:19:11 43.5 789
10 Wolfgang Siess Wills Wing T2C 154 02:20:23 43.1 778

daughter Hanna on the left, husband Grant on the right, Tove in the middle

2016 Governador Valadares »

March 3, 2016, 9:06:25 pm EST

2016 Governador Valadares

Day 6, Andre back in the lead

competition|Davide Guiducci|Governador Valadares 2016|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Wills Wing T2C

https://airtribune.com/brazil-hg2016-1/blog__day_6

Results from the sixth task: https://airtribune.com/brazil-hg2016-1/results/task1244/day/elite

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Sergio Galvas Wills Wing T2c 01:52:37 955
2 Max Turiaco 01:52:46 937
3 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli 01:48:51 921
4 Glauco Pinto 01:53:56 852
5 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed Rx 3,5 01:56:34 833
6 Andre Luiz Wolf Moyes Litespeed Rx 3,5 02:08:16 819
7 Eduardo Oliveira Icaro Laminar 02:08:04 763
8 Fabio Thomaz Moyes Litespeed Rx 5 02:13:52 760
9 Rafael Strohschoen De Mello Moyes Litespeed Rx 02:16:35 714
10 Marcio Freire Fernandes 02:26:49 707

Cumulative: https://airtribune.com/brazil-hg2016-1/results/task1244/comp/elite

# Name Glider Total
1 Andre Luiz Wolf Moyes Litespeed Rx 3,5 5049
2 Jonny Durand Moyes Litespeed Rx 3,5 4983
3 Sergio Galvas Wills Wing T2c 4971
4 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T2c 4613
5 Rafael Strohschoen De Mello Moyes Litespeed Rx 4587
6 David Manuel De Almeida Brito Filho Wills Wing T2cx 4582
7 Eduardo Oliveira Icaro Laminar 4581
8 Mario Andre Felske Moyes Litespeed Rx 4521
9 Carlos Niemeyer Aeros Combat 4511
10 Davide Guiducci Icaro Laminar 13.2 4439

2015 Wings over Wellington »

November 21, 2015, 8:49:54 PST

2015 Wings over Wellington

The final result

Konrad Heilmann|Trent Brown|Wings Over Wellington 2015

http://highcloud.net/xc/comp_result.php?comPk=176

1 Konrad Heilmann Litespeed RX 3.5 Tecnora 4034
2 Guy Hubbard rs 4 3749
3 Trent Brown rx3.5 3597
4 Jason Kath WWT2C 144 3579
5 Tony Armstrong RX 3.5 3299
6 Josh Woods RX 3.5 3291
7 Vic Hare T2C 136 2978
8 Rory Duncan Rev 13.5 2413
9 Chris Czajkowski RX5 2146
10 Nils Vesk moyes rx 2135

Only Trent makes it to goal on the last day at Gulgong after the turnpoint at Dunedoo.