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topic: Phillip "Phill" Bloom

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

What a great competition

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 7, task 6, narrative

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

The task:

My flight:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day 7, task 6 results

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

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

Task 6 (open):

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

Final:

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

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

Day 6, task 5 results

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

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

Task 5 (open):

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

Cumulative:

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

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Day 6, task 5

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

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Gust front in the morning on Friday

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|weather

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

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

Day five, no task, day is cancelled

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

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

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

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

Bill Bennett launches after the day is canceled.

Note about the third task.

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

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

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

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

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

Day four, task four, results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Kendall|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Kendall|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

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

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

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

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

Task 4 (open):

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

Cumulative:

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

Neither Sport or Open Class pilots make goal.

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

Day four, task four, narrative

John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

The Task:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day three, task 3, Results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Dinauer|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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

Cumulative:

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

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

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

Day three, task 3, preliminary results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Kendall|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

Cumulative:

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

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

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

Day three, task 3, narrative and preliminary results

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

The Task:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Task 3: open:

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

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

Day three, task 3

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day two, task two

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

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

Open class task:

Not much of a flight:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Task 2

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

Cumulative:

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

First Task Play Back

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Day One Play Back:

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

First Task Results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

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

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

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

Task 1 (open class):

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

No results for sport class yet.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day 1, task 1

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

The task and my flight:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Are the monsoons still here?

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|photo

Jamie Shelden|photo|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Photo by Jamie Shelden

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Number of pilots allowed has risen from 24 to 45

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Forty one pilots registered and paid

Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race

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

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

2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Forty five pilots have registered

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Five Swift pilots have registered

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

42 pilots have registered

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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

Jamie writes:

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

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

She also writes:

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 16, 2021, 8:26:37 MDT

Race to Register and Pay

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 15, 2021, 7:08:58 MDT

Francisco Grande reservations

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

Accommodation at the Francisco Grande Resort

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

24 pilots confirmed, 25 pilots paid.

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

Jamie has written previously:

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Register and pay the entry fee ASAP

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Registration to open on Friday

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Register and pay next week

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

"Jamie Shelden" <naughtylawyer> writes:

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

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

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

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

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2021 Crestline XC Classic⁣ Live Tracking »

Thu, Jun 3 2021, 5:30:20 pm MDT

Why did it suck so bad on Airtribune?

Crestline XC Classic 2021|Jamie Shelden

«Jamie Shelden» asked Brett at Airtribune:

I wonder if you were able to look into the trackers we were using last weekend? We had a lot of issues with them, but they were strange ones. On each of the three days of the event, Airtribune showed incorrect and inconsistent information. For example, on day one, for the entire task all pilots were listed as “landed”, despite the “distance to goal” decreasing as they flew.

On day three, the two leading pilots showed at the bottom of the leader board as if they hadn’t left the start for the entire task. However, when you clicked on the track for either of those pilots, you could see that they were flying the course. By the time I thought to actually check their tracks, it showed their breadcrumb trails for the entire course, hitting all the waypoints, etc., but at the same time, it still showed them in last place on the leader board. So, while the trackers seemed to work ok for scoring purposes, they were kind of useless for spectator or monitoring purposes. Any thoughts on what went wrong or how we can fix this? We’re hoping to run the same event again in September, but I want to be sure the trackers will work properly before we commit to using them again.

Brett responds:

I just watched the replay, and it all looks correct to me. Zac and Bruce are showing as in goal.

The fact that the trackers worked for the scoring shows that there is nothing wrong with the trackers. The problem is with Airtribune, and how a leader board is created.

Leader boards are only an indication. They will never be accurate. Ever. You need to understand how the technology works to see why.

Firstly, the trackers are just mobile phones. They only work when they have phone signal. At cloudbase they rarely work. To help with this, Flymaster add a 4 minute delay before releasing the data, to give the trackers a chance to forward the data, if the pilot re-acquires signal in the meantime. Airtribune then adds a further 2 minutes, for a similar issue, but also related to data being taken from multiple sources and needing mixing. So everything is delayed by 6 minutes. (Unless you use XCguide, where things are live. But that is for organisers to run safety, not for spectators.)

Next you have the issue of scoring formulas. Airtribune cannot hope to replicate all the formulas. And the very first one it falls foul of is the tolerance. What tolerance did the scoring software have? 0.5%? So maybe those two pilots jumped the gun. Scoring would allow this if it is within the tolerance, Airtribune would not as it has no tolerencing. You could teach Airtribune this by altering the cylinder sizes, but that requires maths. But in this instance, I don't think it was that. But there are numerous other reasons why it could have failed in the moment. Maybe Airtribune received data that indicated they had taken off, then landed, then taken off again. Maybe the trackers were still obtaining GPS lock. Hard to say without some detailed research. But the data is not available to me to do that any more because after the scoring was done, the scorer, rightly, uploaded the Scored tracklogs to Airtribune, as created by the Scoring software (FScomp?). This is the correct thing to do because the Scoring software cleans up the tracks, and clips them to only the relevant lengths, ie from SSS to LandByTime/Goal/Landing. When these are uploaded to Airtribune, post task, then Airtribune removes the live data and puts the scored data in its place and recreates the replay. In this case, it seems to have resolved whatever the issue is/was.

Next year we plan on integrating the new Live Scoring system, Airscore or similar, so this will become a whole lot better. For the moment, I can't hope to invest the time that it takes to make Airtribune a live scoring system. This is why for my own events I rely on the PWC's Leader board, as Ulric created an excellent output from the scoring system to create a live leader board that is truly live (it even uses a back door to the Flymaster server to bypass the 6 minute data delays). But this isn't something we can recommend as it also needs a lot of management.

So for the moment, all I can say is the Trackers appear to have worked perfect. Airtribune handled it as best it could, and the uploading of the tracks after the task created the correct replay.

What you can do, to help reduce the clutter from multiple servers trying to process and display live data is give a link to the Flymaster leaderboard instead of the Airtribune one. It often does a little better as it works exclusively from the trackers, whereas Airtribune also refers to iOS, Android, Spots etc, and mixes that data in. It helps in some places, but can cause problems in other areas.

I hope there is something in that to help.

My response:

Do not use Airtribune for Live Tracking. The problem here is that Jamie wasn't able to connect the FlyMaster trackers with the FlyMaster Live Tracking web site. I am unaware of what the problem was for her, but have again pointed out that this is the solution.

Use Airtribune for replay (Not Live Tracking) as the FlyMaster tracking web site is terrible for replay.

Jamie has an iPhone, so she is not familiar with XCGuide. XCGuide is by far the best app to use if you are the meet director and want to keep track of your pilots during the task.

We never use the Leader Board for the reasons that Brett points out.

Setting up Live Tracking for a competition is not a trivial exercise and I'm sure that it was not clear to Jamie that Airtribune is not to be used for Live Tracking, but using Airtribune to set the trackers to each pilot is an immense help in scoring.

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Jamie Shelden Rebuts my Article on the 2021 Crestline XC Classic

Wed, Jun 2 2021, 7:49:59 am MDT

Had a great time

Jamie Shelden|Crestline XC Classic 2021

https://OzReport.com/1622565472

«Jamie Shelden» writes:

Well, I’m really sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy the Crestline XC Classic. Those of us who were actually there, very much did enjoy it, so much so that we will likely do it again in September. With the tremendous support and sponsorship of the Crestline Soaring Society, Cross Country Ranch and Hangar 24 Brewery, we all thought it was a great time…great enough to do again soon. Of course, conditions were not as good as any of us would have hoped for, but as you know, we can’t control the weather and we can’t even always count on an incredibly consistent flying site to deliver perfect weather. We could only work with what we were given and what we were given was challenging conditions that tested different flying skills than you are probably accustomed to.

As for the trackers, I’m trying to find out from Airtribune what went wrong with them. I know the cell coverage in that area isn’t fantastic, but that doesn’t account for the strange inaccuracies and inconsistencies of the Leader board and other aspects of the tracking interface we all saw on Airtribune.

Just for your amusement, I’ve attached a really cool photo of Rob & Diane McKenzie.Rob was the launch director at the Crestline XC Classic. This is a fun shot of them doing a tandem above the “Regionals” launch. The reason they call is “Regionals” is because for years they held regional competitions there - that’s where we got the Crestline XC Classic name from.

Finally, I have been on the fence about organizing the Santa Cruz Flats Race again this year. No one knows better than you what a huge and time consuming job it is to organize hang gliding competitions that are not just unremunerated, but often end up costing me money. As for your comment “maybe this is why we don’t have competitions in the west anymore”, I have to say that the lack of competitions in the west and elsewhere is not the result of a weekend of less than ideal weather conditions at Crestline. It could more likely be the result of stories like the one you just published. With respect to the Santa Cruz Flats Race, you may have just tipped the scales for me.

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2021 Crestline XC Classic »

Tue, Jun 1 2021, 10:37:52 am MDT

A fishbowl of frustration

competition|Crestline XC Classic 2021

https://airtribune.com/crestline-xc-classic/results

First, the live tracking was anything but live. It not only barely worked but also gave a distorted picture of what was actually happening. The trackers have been fantastic in other competitions and perhaps they gave the scorekeeper the results that allowed them to score so quickly. That seems to be the case.

It is not at all clear why the trackers behaved so poorly in San Bernardino. It make have something to do with the phone system. It may be the mountains. The trackers only work on a G3 system, not G2, nor G4.

Second, the conditions absolutely sucked. I don't recall if the pilots ever got above the Crestline launch altitude. No one at goal on the last two days and only a few on the first day. This despite the statement in the web site blog, "It’s looking like a classic Crestline day - really nice conditions for racing…." Well if that is a classic Crestline day, there is no good reason to go there.

I felt that the conditions in Florida for the competition this year were poor, but nothing like this.

Maybe this is why we don't have competitions in the West any more, except in Casa Grande.

It was great to see a few pilots like Zac, Bruce, and Owen, hang in there when the lift was so very poor. But like a baseball game that is a no hitter, it is only a pleasure for those who like that sort of thing.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

June 1, 2021, 10:36:36 MDT

Jamie Shelden is going back to Casa Grande

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

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

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

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2021 Crestline XC Classic, last day »

Mon, May 31 2021, 2:44:46 pm MDT

Launching from Crestline

Butch Peachy|competition|Crestline XC Classic 2021|Gary Anderson|Jason Boehm|Jeff Chipman|Moyes Litespeed RX|Owen Morse|Sara Weaver|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/play/5075/2d

https://airtribune.com/crestline-xc-classic/blog__day_3

Looks to be a good day with a 73 km task.

Results:

https://airtribune.com/crestline-xc-classic/results

Task 3:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat-C 12.7 41.11 895.6
2 Zac Majors Wills WINGT3 144 41.17 893.6
3 Butch Peachy Moyes-RX 3.5/S4 40.60 874.7
4 Owen Morse Wills Wing T3 154 33.17 709.0
5 Gavin Fridlund Ozone X-Apls 29.90 660.7
6 Jeff Chipman Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 28.43 635.8
7 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 26.89 599.5
8 Jason Boehm Wills Wing T3 26.77 598.6
9 Kenneth Andrews Wills Wing T2C-144 26.13 578.9
10 Sara Weaver Wills Wing SPORT3 135 24.53 530.2

Final:

# Name Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Wills WINGT3 144 2250
2 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat-C 12.7 1949
3 Owen Morse Wills Wing T3 154 1610
4 Gavin Fridlund Ozone X-Apls 1444
5 Kenneth Andrews Wills Wing T2C-144 1433
6 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 1243
7 Sara Weaver Wills Wing SPORT3 135 1166
8 Butch Peachy Moyes-RX 3.5/S4 1096
9 Jason Boehm Wills Wing T3 1076
10 Jeff Chipman Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 835

2021 Crestline XC Classic, day 2 »

Sun, May 30 2021, 5:28:33 pm MDT

Like day one

Butch Peachy|competition|Crestline XC Classic 2021|Gary Anderson|Jason Boehm|Jeff Chipman|Jeff Galvin|Moyes Litespeed RX|Owen Morse|PG|Sara Weaver|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/crestline-xc-classic/blog__day_2

Very weak conditions. Terrible GPS tracking. Don't know what is with the trackers.

Zac won the day but he was not too far ahead of Gavin Fridlund, flying a paraglider in second place. Given that Zac was averaging about 13 mph, this is a perfect competition for a paraglider pilot.

Results:

https://airtribune.com/crestline-xc-classic/results

Task 2:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Zac Majors Wills WINGT3 144 41.47 363.8
2 Gavin Fridlund Ozone X-Apls 39.85 348.3
3 Butch Peachy Moyes-RX 3.5/S4 16.15 220.8
4 Owen Morse Wills Wing T3 154 16.13 220.7
5 Jeff Chipman Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 13.39 199.5
6 Kenneth Andrews Wills Wing T2C-144 13.13 197.2
7 Jason Glade Wills Wing Sport 3 155 11.10 174.4
8 Jason Boehm Wills Wing T3 7.10 126.5
9 Edward Wiggins Wills Wing-T2C 5.00 104.4
9 Jeff Galvin Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 5.00 104.4
9 Nathan Hallahan Moyes Gecko 155 5.00 104.4
9 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 5.00 104.4
9 Sara Weaver Wills Wing SPORT3 135 5.00 104.4
9 Jon Irlbeck Wills Wing-Sport 2 155 5.00 104.4
9 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat-C 12.7 5.00 104.4
9 Mitchell Mcaleer Icaro 13.7 MR700 2002 5.00 104.4

Cumulative:

Name Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Wills WINGT3 144 1356
2 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat-C 12.7 1053
3 Owen Morse Wills Wing T3 154 901
4 Kenneth Andrews Wills Wing T2C-144 854
5 Gavin Fridlund Ozone X-Apls 783
6 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 644
7 Sara Weaver Wills Wing SPORT3 135 636
8 Jason Glade Wills Wing Sport 3 155 482
9 Jason Boehm Wills Wing T3 477
10 Jeff Galvin Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 412

2021 Crestline XC Classic⁣ Not Exactly Classic »

Sat, May 29 2021, 5:30:03 pm MDT

Were there previous Classics?

competition|Crestline XC Classic 2021|Gary Anderson|Owen Morse|PG|Sara Weaver|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/crestline-xc-classic/info/details

https://airtribune.com/play/5068/2d

Three at goal:

1 Z. Majors (1) 01:24:47
2 O. Morse (22) 02:02:15
3 K. Andrews (25) 02:02:28

https://airtribune.com/crestline-xc-classic/results/task5068/day/class-1-open

Kingposted and paraglider in the mix at goal.

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Zac Majors Wills WINGT3 144 01:24:47 992.4
2 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat-C 12.7 01:25:47 948.5
3 Owen Morse Wills Wing T3 154 02:02:14 680.3
4 Kenneth Andrews Wills Wing T2C-144 02:02:30 656.9
5 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 02:12:37 539.1
6 Sara Weaver Wills Wing SPORT3 135 02:19:31 531.7
7 Gavin Fridlund Ozone X-Apls 02:33:11 434.9

Discuss "2021 Crestline XC Classic⁣ Not Exactly Classic" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2021 Crestline XC Classic⁣ Hang Gliding Competition »

Sun, May 2 2021, 9:31:36 am EDT

How can it be a classic if it is the first one?

CIVL|Crestline XC Classic 2021|USHPA|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

https://crestlinesoaring.org/topic/crestline-xc-classic-hang-gliding-competition/

Come join us for this first USHPA sanctioned race-to-goal hang gliding competition at Crestline, California! This will be a CIVL category 2 competition with both WPRS and NTSS points. We’re planning for three days of racing at this legendary Southern California site on Saturday, Sunday and Monday May 29-31, 2021.

Discuss "2021 Crestline XC Classic⁣ Hang Gliding Competition" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

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.

Discuss "2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 7" at the Oz Report forum   link»

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»

Alfapilot

April 20, 2020, 11:36:31 EDT

Alfapilot

Backup for Navigation

Phill Bloom

Phill Bloom <<phillipbloom>> writes:

Your recent articles inspired me to send this picture.

I purchased this vario as a back up for navigation. The screen is the best I’ve seen so far. It is also totally customizable and can automatically switch between three screens in flight. The only bummer is no air speed but it still isn’t bad on final glide info.

Discuss "Alfapilot" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 22, 2019, 6:21:32 MST

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race

A win by one point

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

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

Tyler Borradaile wins the 2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race.

Fourth task:

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

Cumulative:

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

Sport Class:

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

Cumulative:

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

Swift Class:

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

Cumulative:

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

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race

A too short task - the results

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

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

Task 3:

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

Cumulative:

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

Sport Class:

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

Cumulative:

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

Swifts:

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

Cumulative:

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

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 17, 2019, 8:59:49 pm MST

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Task Two Results

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

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

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 01:47:15 67.83 1000
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 01:52:59 67.83 862
3 Kraig Coomber Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 01:55:37 67.83 828
4 Olav Opsanger Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 01:58:21 67.83 797
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:10:28 67.83 762
6 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 02:05:02 67.83 755
7 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 02:07:21 67.83 734
8 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:31:54 67.83 629
9 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144   66.16 497
10 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5   57.06 445

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 1826
2 Kraig Coomber Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1785
3 Olav Opsanger Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1737
4 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1695
5 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 1665
6 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 1652
7 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 1613
8 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1588
9 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 1403
10 Philippe Michaud Wills Wing T2C 144 1116

Sport Class:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 653 877 1530
2 Hugh Glenn Moyes Gecko 170 356 872 1228
3 Ken Millard Wills Wing Sport 3 155 328 815 1143
4 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 141 1000 1141
5 Bill Snyder Wills Wing U2 145 209 525 734

Swifts:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 greg chastain Moyes or Brightstar Litespeed 5 or Swift 1000 351 1351
2 Brian Porter Aeriane Swift 464 807 1271
3 Chris Zimmerman Aeriane Swift'Light 716 168 884
4 Bruce Barmakian Aeriane Swift 415 347 762
5 Stephen Morris Bright Star Millennium 361 275 636

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 15, 2019, 10:07:09 pm MST

2019 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Results from the first day

Davis Straub|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Phill Bloom|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2019|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 02:11:32 963
2 Tyler Borradaile Moyes Rx Pro 3.5 02:11:25 959
3 Kraig Coomber Moyes RX3.5 Pro 02:11:15 958
4 Olav Opsanger Moyes LSRX3.5 PRO 02:11:39 938
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 02:11:43 931
6 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 02:11:45 929
7 Philippe Michaud Wills Wing T2C 144 02:13:10 914
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 02:12:48 904
9 Bruno Sandoli Wills Wing T2C 02:13:21 881
10 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 02:17:31 859
11 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 02:29:10 767
12 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 02:52:44 660
13 Cory Barnwell ? ? 02:55:11 599

WPRS Ranking US pilots

September 2, 2019, 9:44:08 MDT

WPRS Ranking US pilots

As of September 1st

Davis Straub|Glen Volk|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Patrick Kruse|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

Davis Straub|Glen Volk|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Patrick Kruse|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

Davis Straub|Glen Volk|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Patrick Kruse|Willy Dydo|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

Davis Straub|Glen Volk|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Patrick Kruse|Phill Bloom|Willy Dydo|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

Davis Straub|Gary Anderson|Glen Volk|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Patrick Kruse|Phill Bloom|Willy Dydo|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

Davis Straub|Gary Anderson|Glen Volk|Jeff Chipman|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Patrick Kruse|Phill Bloom|Willy Dydo|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

Davis Straub|Gary Anderson|Glen Volk|Jeff Chipman|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Patrick Kruse|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Willy Dydo|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

Davis Straub|Gary Anderson|Glen Volk|Jeff Chipman|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Patrick Kruse|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Willy Dydo|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

Rank Name Points
1 Pedro L. Garcia 253.5
2 Zac Majors 215.6
3 Davis Straub 168.1
4 John Simon 163.3
5 Bruce Barmakian 162.7
6 Kevin Dutt 155.5
7 Kevin Carter 144.9
8 Phill Bloom 142
9 Larry Bunner 135.4
10 Patrick Pannese 104.6
11 Glen Volk 101.2
12 Robin Hamilton 97.7
13 JD Guillemette 75.8
14 Kip Stone 65.2
15 Gary Anderson 59.1
16 Willy Dydo 58.3
17 Jeff Chipman 57.3
18 mick howard 53.5
19 Patrick Kruse 51.1
20 Derreck Turner 49.3

Discuss "WPRS Ranking US pilots" at the Oz Report forum   link»

CIVL WPRS ranking, for the USA

Mon, May 6 2019, 7:36:16 am EDT

Updated after week 2

Bruce Barmakian|CIVL|Davis Straub|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Robin Hamilton|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Worlds 2017 Class 1|Zac Majors

CIVL WPRS ranking, for the USA

http://civlrankings.fai.org/?a=326&ladder_id=1&nation_id=235&

Rank Name Nation Points Rank/Ranking-points/Competition
1
W: 24
ZAC Majors
Civl Id: 10613
 USA 227.0 5 62.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
3 57.4 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
1 54.3 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
7 53.2 HG Brazil Open 2019 Round 1 Valadares
 
2
W: 37
PEDRO L. Garcia
Civl Id: 9442
 USA 185.4 2 59.7 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
37 47.9 2018 Hang Gliding Pre Worlds
18 43.5 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
40 34.3 20TH Fai European Hang Gliding Class 1 Championship
 
3
W: 40
JOHN Simon
Civl Id: 10959
 USA 181.2 3 52.1 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
6 50.7 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
19 42.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
7 36.3 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
 
4
W: 48
DAVIS Straub
Civl Id: 6143
 USA 174.5 10 54.7 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
2 43.6 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
11 40.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
8 36.1 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
5
W: 51
BRUCE Barmakian
Civl Id: 8035
 USA 173.3 7 59.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
7 47.9 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
10 42.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
16 24.2 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
 
6
W: 65
KEVIN Dutt
Civl Id: 9017
 USA 160.6 7 48.5 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
15 47.6 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
9 33.8 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
11 30.7 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
 
7
W: 71
KEVIN Carter
Civl Id: 6871
 USA 156.4 3 65.2 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
11 43.7 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
10 32.1 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
18 15.4 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
8
W: 72
PHILL Bloom
Civl Id: 7426
 USA 156.1 9 44.2 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 2) Class 1
14 40.7 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
7 38.5 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
7 32.7 22D Open De Canaris De Ala Delta Class 1
 
9
W: 82
LARRY Bunner
Civl Id: 6925
 USA 141.9 2 66.8 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
5 39.1 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
39 18.8 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
17 17.2 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
10
W: 99
ROBIN Hamilton
Civl Id: 7536
 USA 131.4 1 54.1 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
4 40.6 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
9 28.8 21ST Fai World Hang Gliding Class 1 Championship
8 7.9 2017 Midwest - Class 1
 

CIVL WPRS ranking, for the USA

Mon, May 6 2019, 7:32:54 am EDT

After the 2019 Nationals week 1

Bruce Barmakian|CIVL|Davis Straub|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Robin Hamilton|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Worlds 2017 Class 1|Zac Majors

CIVL WPRS ranking, for the USA

http://civlrankings.fai.org/?a=326&ladder_id=1&nation_id=235&

Rank Name Nation Points Rank/Ranking-points/Competition
1
W: 26
ZAC Majors
Civl Id: 10613
 USA 215.7 5 62.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
1 54.3 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
7 53.2 HG Brazil Open 2019 Round 1 Valadares
4 46.1 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
2
W: 53
DAVIS Straub
Civl Id: 6143
 USA 170.3 10 54.7 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
2 43.6 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
8 36.1 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
19 35.9 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
 
3
W: 64
KEVIN Carter
Civl Id: 6871
 USA 156.4 3 65.2 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
11 43.7 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
10 32.1 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
18 15.4 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
4
W: 67
JOHN Simon
Civl Id: 10959
 USA 155.5 3 52.1 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
19 42.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
7 36.3 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
13 25.0 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
5
W: 69
PEDRO L. Garcia
Civl Id: 9442
 USA 154.3 37 47.9 2018 Hang Gliding Pre Worlds
18 43.5 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
40 34.3 20TH Fai European Hang Gliding Class 1 Championship
27 28.6 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
 
6
W: 77
BRUCE Barmakian
Civl Id: 8035
 USA 144.0 7 59.1 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
7 47.9 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
16 24.2 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
51 12.8 21ST Fai World Hang Gliding Class 1 Championship
 
7
W: 80
LARRY Bunner
Civl Id: 6925
 USA 141.9 2 66.8 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
5 39.1 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
39 18.8 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
17 17.2 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
 
8
W: 83
KEVIN Dutt
Civl Id: 9017
 USA 139.8 15 47.6 2019 Quest Air Nationals (week 1) (pre-Worlds) Class 1
9 33.8 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
11 30.7 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
28 27.7 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
 
9
W: 95
ROBIN Hamilton
Civl Id: 7536
 USA 131.4 1 54.1 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
4 40.6 2018 Big Spring National Series Class 1
9 28.8 21ST Fai World Hang Gliding Class 1 Championship
8 7.9 2017 Midwest - Class 1
 
10
W: 112
PHILL Bloom
Civl Id: 7426
 USA 120.1 14 40.7 2018 Quest Air National Series Class 1
7 38.5 SANTA Cruz Flats Race – Mark Knight Memorial 2018 Class 1
7 32.7 22D Open De Canaris De Ala Delta Class 1
7 8.2 2017 Midwest - Class 1
 

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 28, 2019, 3:25:20 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

Results for day 7, task 6

Bruce Barmakian|competition|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Davis Straub|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Phill Bloom|Raul Guerra|Tim Delaney|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-2/results

Task 6:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 03:00:56 993
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 03:00:36 989
3 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 03:01:12 987
4 Nene Rotor Wills Wing T3 144 03:01:13 985
5 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 03:02:08 971
6 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 03:01:58 970
7 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 03:02:28 969
8 Corinna Schwiegershausen Moyes RX 3 Pro 03:04:59 945
9 Giovani Tagliari Wills Wing T2C 154 03:05:28 943
10 Raul Guerra Aeros Combat C 12.7 03:47:06 758

Final:

# Name Glider Total
1 Nene Rotor Wills Wing T3 144 5614
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 5426
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 5266
4 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 5153
5 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 5005
6 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 4827
7 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 4635
8 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 4620
9 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 4430
10 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 4242
11 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 3956
12 Corinna Schwiegershausen Moyes RX 3 Pro 3911
13 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T2C 136 3875
14 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T3 144 3770
15 Raul Guerra Aeros Combat C 12.7 3747

Sport Task 6:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 48.36 900
2 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 44.29 847
3 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 42.30 813
4 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 26.41 528
5 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 22.35 475
6 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 19.75 431
7 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 16.77 369
8 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 5.00 116
8 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 5.00 116
8 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 5.00 116

Final:

# Name Glider Total
1 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 4531
2 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 4217
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 3462
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 3063
5 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 2987
6 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 2716
7 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 2226
8 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 1541
9 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 1490
10 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 1287
11 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 625

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 25, 2019, 10:20:58 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

Preliminary Results for day 5, task 5 (Kevin Dutt not scored yet)

Bruce Barmakian|competition|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Davis Straub|Glen Volk|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Phill Bloom|Raul Guerra|Tim Delaney|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-2/results

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:28:56 987
2 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 02:29:51 968
3 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 02:30:59 953
4 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 02:43:59 845
5 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 02:44:41 839
6 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 02:51:41 798
7 Raul Guerra Aeros Combat C 12.7 03:09:40 709
8 Corinna Schwiegershausen Moyes RX 3 Pro 03:21:44 647
9 Wolfgang Siess Wills Wing T3 154 03:23:50 641
10 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C144 03:20:34 636
11 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 03:39:55 631

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 4634
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 4445
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 4283
4 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 4121
5 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 4042
6 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 3978
7 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 3861
8 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 3655
9 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 3641
10 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 3631
11 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T2C 136 3415
12 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 3393
13 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 3364
14 Philippe Michaud Wills Wing T2C 144 3236
15 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T3 144 3227

Sport task:

Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 02:23:18 51.30 1000
2 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 31.46 615
3 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 28.50 584
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 26.15 552
5 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 24.28 522
6 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 19.19 422
7 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 17.67 388
8 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 17.38 381
9 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 7.53 155
10 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 5.00 105
10 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 5.00 105

Sport cumulative:

Name Glider Total
1 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 3718
2 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 3689
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 2987
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 2632
5 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 2140
6 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 2110
7 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 1816
8 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 1541
9 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 1374
10 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 918
11 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 509

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 25, 2019, 7:58:08 EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

Results for day 4, task 4

Bruce Barmakian|competition|Jeff Chipman|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Phill Bloom|Tim Delaney|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-2/results

Task 4:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 02:43:32 987
2 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 02:47:40 922
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:51:00 917
4 Philippe Michaud Wills Wing T2C 144 02:47:56 915
5 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 02:51:18 912
6 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 02:51:02 882
7 Jeff Chipman Moyes RX 3.5 02:53:35 863
8 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 02:56:40 847
9 Wolfgang Siess Wills Wing T3 154 03:03:09 804
10 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 03:11:24 801

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 3666
2 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 3647
3 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 3631
4 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 3600
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 3360
6 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 3296
7 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 3276
8 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T2C 136 3207
9 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 3203
10 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 2908

Sport task 4:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 01:34:28 38.23 1000
2 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 01:35:11 38.23 979
3 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 01:38:31 38.23 934
4 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 35.24 518
5 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 27.66 441
6 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 26.35 424
7 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 25.02 402
8 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 11.06 156
9 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 5.38 87
10 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 5.00 83

Sport Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 3074
2 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 2718
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 2606
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 2080
5 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 1588
6 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 1556
7 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 1436
8 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 1394
9 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 1219
10 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 530

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 23, 2019, 9:25:33 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

The preliminary results for day 3, task 3

Bruce Barmakian|competition|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Davis Straub|Fabiano Nahoum|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Konstantin Lukyanov|Phill Bloom|Raul Guerra|Roger Irby|Tim Delaney|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-2/results

Task 3:

# Name Glider SS Time Distance Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 14:35:00 02:40:29 88.43 958
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 14:35:00 02:40:45 88.43 944
2 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 14:35:00 02:40:46 88.43 944
4 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 15:15:00 02:35:04 88.43 901
5 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 14:35:00 02:56:35 88.43 862
6 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 14:35:00 02:58:54 88.43 852
7 Corinna Schwiegershausen Moyes RX 3 Pro 14:35:00 02:59:28 88.43 846
8 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T2C 136 14:35:00 03:15:02 88.43 782
9 Roger Irby Wills Wing T2C 154 14:15:00 03:29:18 88.43 778
10 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes RX 3.5 14:15:00 81.69 622

Cumulative:

Name Glider Total
1 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 2836
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 2827
3 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 2758
4 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 2669
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 2654
6 Guilherme Sandoli WillsWing T2C 136 2422
7 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 2416
8 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 2382
9 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 2301
10 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T3 144 2297
11 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 2175
12 Konstantin Lukyanov Moyes RX 3.5 2137
13 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 2119
14 Raul Guerra Aeros Combat C 12.7 2118
15 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 2047

Sport Task 3:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 19.58 257
2 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 15.34 219
3 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 6.77 145
4 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 5.00 129
4 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 5.00 129
4 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 5.00 129
4 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 5.00 129
4 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 5.00 129
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 5.00 129
4 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 5.00 129

Sport Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 1853
2 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 1660
3 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 1614
4 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 1564
5 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 1375
6 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 1144
7 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 1021
8 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 911
9 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 869
10 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 405
11 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 404

2019 Nationals (week 2)

April 22, 2019, 10:18:12 pm EDT

2019 Nationals (week 2)

The preliminary results for day 2, task 2

Bruce Barmakian|competition|Fabiano Nahoum|Glen Volk|Jeff Chipman|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Phill Bloom|Tim Delaney|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-2/results

Task 2:

# Name Glider SS ES Time Total
1 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 14:30:00 17:44:36 03:14:36 947
2 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 14:50:00 17:59:14 03:09:14 926
3 Jeff Chipman Moyes RX 3.5 14:50:00 17:59:23 03:09:23 918
4 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 14:30:00 17:49:30 03:19:30 905
5 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 14:30:00 17:49:50 03:19:50 896
6 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 14:30:00 17:49:55 03:19:55 886
7 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 14:50:00 18:04:05 03:14:05 864
8 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 14:30:00 17:55:56 03:25:56 861
9 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 14:50:00 18:05:51 03:15:51 857
10 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 14:50:00 18:06:43 03:16:43 845

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 1935
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 1883
3 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 1843
4 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 1818
5 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Wills Wing T3 144 1814
6 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 Pro 1807
7 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 1802
8 Akira Nagusa Wills Wing T23144 1800
9 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 1771
10 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T3 144 1748

Sport task 2:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 27.06 900
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 22.70 803
3 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 20.80 749
4 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 20.11 726
5 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 20.07 724
6 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 17.60 624
7 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 17.54 621
8 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 16.19 553
9 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 15.07 491
10 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 6.59 177
11 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 5.00 142

Sport Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Richard Westmoreland Wills Wing U2 145 1724
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 1485
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 1435
4 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 1403
5 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 1156
6 Richard Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 1015
7 Danilo Lohse De Stefani Wills Wing U2 160 892
8 Knut Ryerson Aeros Discus C 782
9 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 724
10 Phil Siscoe Wills Wing U2 404
11 Attila Plasch Moyes Litesport 4 276

Styling at the 2019 Nationals

February 22, 2019, 8:34:22 EST

Styling at the 2019 Nationals

We have accommodations at the Swiss Ski school

Jeff Chipman|Phill Bloom

Jeff Chipman writes:

California Sylmar Pilots (Phill Bloom and Jeff Chipman) are in need of a couple of roommates for the house that we rented for the 2nd week of the 2019 Nationals in Florida. The house is 5 miles from Wilotree , even closer as the crow flies but there are no roads directly there so you have to go around a little.

Here's the link to our rental and a link to the location. Wilotree is basically on the west side of Olsen Lake.

The current cost breakdown is 1820 / 4 = $455 per person for the week we're there. When you look at us staying there 8 days (April 20 - April 28th) that breaks it down to $56.87 / day. Not too shabby for not sleeping on the ground. We had a fellow pilot back out because of health reasons, so we'd like at least one, but preferably two more pilots. First come first serve. I'll be arriving in Florida at 7am'ish on Saturday morning. Our gliders are on a truck coming from California.

We'll be renting a car but it's an economy so not a lot of extra room for transporting other folks.

We also have a need for a driver for this California crew or room for up to 3 pilots on your vehicle.

3.6 miles via Red Wing Road.

Discuss "Styling at the 2019 Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Phil Bloom on the XXII Open de Canarias

December 13, 2018, 8:10:46 EST

Phil Bloom on the XXII Open de Canarias

And landing with a drogue chute

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Manfred Ruhmer|Phill Bloom|record|Thomas Weissenberger|video

Phill Bloom <<phillipbloom>> writes:

Kip Stone and I were the American team, with people from nine different countries, they also had a sport class, maybe 50 pilots total. It was great fun, and so nice to travel and rent a glider take your harness only. Tom Weissenberger rented to us both, RX 3.5 for me and RX 4 for Kip. Great gliders vary competitive, mine was like new. Also Jonny Nilssen has a variety of gliders to choose from beginner to intermediate. And a supper nice guy.

It was a relatively safe comp but it was a comp so you never know what you will get. One pilot had a little issue with full VG near the hill and actually flew into the mountain, ended up knocked out for a few minutes but is totally fine and back flying the next day. Also at least 2 other pilots flew under power lines, which seemed a little crazy to me, but looks like it happens quite often.

Everyone was complaining about the conditions (should have been here last week ) sort of thing, but I had a lot of fun getting to fly with top ranked pilots all week.

But the thing that really got me to write this was this. That both Manfred Ruhmer and Thomas Weissenberger were using there drogue chutes on a consistent basis. It totally surprised me, so I questioned them both about it. Manfred said that (every cross country pilot should have one and know how to use it). He was saying practice using it. Thomas said that (he uses the drag shoot about 50% of the time, it makes landings much easier and less stressful). Now just so you know this info is coming from two super talented pilots that have no problems landing a hang glider.

The discussion in the car recorded:

XXII Open de Canarias

December 8, 2018, 2:52:27 pm EST

XXII Open de Canarias

Finally, more than a few make goal

Christian Pollet|Icaro 2000|Joseph Salvenmoser|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Phill Bloom|Thomas Weissenberger

Saturday, December 8th

Last task:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 00:38:01 715
2 Christian Pollet Aeros Combat C 00:38:37 694
3 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 00:38:39 693
4 Carlos Punet AIR ATOS VQ Race 00:36:46 633
5 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 00:48:17 599
6 Francois Isoard Aeros Combat GT 12.7 00:49:06 581
7 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 00:56:04 535
8 Blay Olmos Ramos (Snr) Moyes Litespeed RS 3 01:04:25 463
9 Joerg Bajewski Willls Wing T2C 154 01:07:18 449
10 Johnny Nilssen Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 01:07:18 443

Final Results:

# Name Glider Total
1 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 1852
2 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 1762
3 Christian Pollet Aeros Combat C 1667
4 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1502
5 Francois Isoard Aeros Combat GT 12.7 1360
6 Manuel Garcia garcia Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 1300
7 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1218
8 Joerg Bajewski Willls Wing T2C 154 1162
9 Gustavo Migliozzi Wills Wing T2C 144 1150
10 Carlos Punet AIR ATOS VQ Race 1129

XXII Open de Canarias

December 7, 2018, 5:50:53 pm EST

XXII Open de Canarias

More tiny flights

Christian Pollet|competition|Icaro 2000|Joseph Salvenmoser|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Phill Bloom|Thomas Weissenberger

Friday, December 7th

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

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 00:55:29 24.00 407
2 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 00:56:18 24.00 400
3 Carlos Punet AIR ATOS VQ Race 00:53:47 24.00 358
4 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5   23.92 337
5 Benito Rodriguez Gonzalez Wills Wing T2C 144   21.49 315
6 Christian Pollet Aeros Combat C   20.45 305
7 Manuel Garcia Garcia Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro   20.17 292
8 Joerg Bajewski Willls Wing T2C 154   18.70 275
9 Jose María (Tximo) Iriarte Ziritza Aeros Combat GT 12.4   14.72 238
10 Gustavo Migliozzi Wills Wing T2C 144   14.62 237

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 1149
2 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 1037
3 Christian Pollet Aeros Combat C 965
4 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 959
5 Manuel Garcia garcia Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 876
6 Gustavo Migliozzi Wills Wing T2C 144 793
7 Francois Isoard Aeros Combat GT 12.7 775
8 Joerg Bajewski Willls Wing T2C 154 706
9 Benito Rodriguez Gonzalez Wills Wing T2C 144 689
10 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 615

XXII Open de Canarias

Tiny flights

XXII Open de Canarias

December 6, 2018, 7:48:46 pm EST

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Christian Pollet|competition|Icaro 2000|Joseph Salvenmoser|Manfred Ruhmer|Moyes Litespeed RX|Phill Bloom|Thomas Weissenberger

Thursday, December 6th

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

Task 4:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 17.96 154
2 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 14.87 135
3 Carlos Punet AIR ATOS VQ Race 17.84 130
4 Wolfgang Brunner Moyes Litespeed RX 10.06 112
5 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 9.94 111
6 Francois Isoard Aeros Combat GT 12.7 9.66 110
7 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 9.39 108
8 Tormod Helgesen Moyes Litespeed RX 4 9.03 105
9 Manuel Garcia garcia Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 8.92 104
9 Benito Rodriguez Gonzalez Wills Wing T2C 144 8.99 104

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Thomas Weissenberger Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 0 3 611 135 749
2 Christian Pollet Aeros Combat C 0 3 585 72 660
3 Manfred Ruhmer Icaro 2000 Laminar Z09 0 4 472 154 630
4 Joseph Salvenmoser Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 0 3 511 108 622
5 Francois Isoard Aeros Combat GT 12.7 0 0 489 110 599
6 Manuel Garcia garcia Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 0 3 477 104 584
7 Gustavo Migliozzi Wills Wing T2C 144 0 3 481 72 556
8 Juan Antonio Molina Vera AIR Atos VR 0 3 368 94 465
9 Tormod Helgesen Moyes Litespeed RX 4 0 3 354 105 462

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

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

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Task 6:

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

Final Results:

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

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

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

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

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 21, 2018, 6:54:50 pm MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

More weakness, but none the less glory

competition|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Fred Kaemerer|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|sailplane|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

The task committee thought that the day would be pretty good and that the weakness from the previous day would be relegated to a distant memory. It would turn out to be the case that once again the lift would be weak and the top of lift would be low, at least where we would start our flying at the Francisco Grande.

The task set was heroic:

The idea was to head east against a 7 mph head wind and then, if you can make it there, get high on the mountain north of the sailplane port at Estrella, coming back with a tailwind.

With the first start window open at 1:30 PM I launched at 12:55 PM. Even with the light lift I only took the tow to 1,600' and pinned off in light lift with a couple of pilots.

The lift was indeed quite light and the first three thermals averaged 95 fpm, 86 fpm, and 129 fpm. There were just a few pilots around, maybe ten, and I got to only 3,600', or 2,300' AGL.

We were still in the center of the start cylinder with eight minutes to go before the start clock having been pushed back by the west northwest wind and I headed out with three other pilots to the north west to see if we could get closer to the optimum start point and also find better lift.

After gliding about 4 kilometers and finding nothing we all turned around with me as the lowest. Coming back and trying to get near a road in case I landed I found lift at 500'. I was by myself with everyone else high and down wind of me. 130 fpm felt like a strong thermal and climbed right up to all the other pilots at 4,000' without any issues. It was great to be by myself just turning in the best rising air.

Now we all headed north west again, aiming for the second start time at 1:50 PM. A 30 fpm thermal kept me above 3,800'. The next thermal, all of 66 fpm only got me to 3,200'. I was climbing terribly. I wasn't able to climb through anyone and there were twenty pilots in the gaggle, which severely restricted my options.

Heading north west again I was down to 900' AGL as three pilots landed below me. Half the pilots in the last gaggle were here with a few hanging back two kilometers to get the third start time. I joined other pilots in a 64 fpm thermal Again it was terrible. Very weak, only a small portion of the turn was actually in lift.

I was near the bottom of the stack. I was not climbing well and not getting up to where I needed to be. When all my turns were in sink I headed out with four other pilots, but I was by far the lowest at 2,900' (1,600' AGL).

That didn't last long and I found a good field to land in next to the highway.

Other pilots stayed up in the weak conditions very slowly moving against the headwind. They huddled together in groups of four or five. Only eleven pilots were able to get more than 10 kilometers from the edge of the start cylinder. Ten of them were able to cross the flats getting to Estrella where the mountains were working. Some got to at least 10,000'.

As we arrived back at the Francisco Grande hotel, Jonny, Ollie, and Tyler were arriving over the hotel. They had made it around. A great day for them.

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

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 02:40:07 80.76 605
2 Felix Cantesanu Aeros Combat C 12.7 02:57:39 80.76 553
3 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 02:59:49 80.76 545
4 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 PRO 03:02:16 80.76 540
5 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 03:02:16 80.76 536
6 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 03:03:20 80.76 534
7 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 03:10:44 80.76 520
8 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13   73.08 381
9 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C   76.10 365
10 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144   65.99 362

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 3326
2 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 3134
3 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 3081
4 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 2938
5 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 2925
6 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 2782
7 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 2694
8 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 PRO 2640
9 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 2428
10 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 2357

In the Swift Class, Greg, Chris and Brian made it back to the hotel.

David Aldrich got outside the start cylinder for 10 kilometers (coming low over my head into a landing) as the only Sport Class pilot to get outside the start cylinder. He got 8 points for that effort.

Fred Kaemerer was the only ATOS class pilot to make it around the course.

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The weakness after the rain storm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Task 4:

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

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

Cumulative:

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

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

Only two Sport Class pilots got outside the start cylinder.

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Day 3 Cumulative Results

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

September 19, 2018, 8:23:10 MST

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Ben Dunn|Brian Porter|Chris Zimmerman|competition|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Fred Kaemerer|Glen Volk|Greg Chastain|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Phill Bloom|Rich Burton|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|Sara Weaver|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

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

Open class:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 789 891 937 2617
2 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 985 987 616 2588
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 806 996 527 2329
4 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 734 765 727 2226
5 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 512 839 777 2128
6 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 944 606 531 2081
7 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 4 PRO 919 228 931 2078
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 946 602 510 2058
9 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 823 585 542 1950
10 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 850 518 487 1855
11 Kip Stone Moyes RX 5 PRO 726 576 538 1840
12 Ben Dunn Moyes RX 3.5 766 816 240 1822
13 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 708 235 860 1803
14 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C144 448 630 652 1730
15 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 PRO 752 585 390 1727

Sport Class:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Matt Pruett Wills Wing U2 145 1000 775 41 1816
2 David Aldrich Wills Wing Sport 3 135 458 757 66 1281
3 L.J. Omara Wills wing U2 160 458 500 60 1018
4 Ric Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 753 197 41 991
5 Jeff Parrott Wills Wing U2 145 624 310 49 983
6 Bill Snyder Wills Wing u2 440 456 41 937
7 Sara Weaver Wills Wing Sport3 135 618 230 41 889
8 Abhishek Sethi Wills Wing U2 643 179 57 879
9 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 427 405 41 873
10 Bill Comstock Wills Wing S3 458 170 41 669

ATOS Class:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Fred Kaemerer AIR ATOS VR 1000 1000 925 2925
2 Peter Cairns A.I.R ATOS VQ 676 380 411 1467
3 Rich Burton Icaro Stratos 594 325 78 997

Swift Class:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Chris Zimmerman Aeriane Swift'Light 991 964 990 2945
2 Greg Chastain Swift 773 1000 986 2759
3 Brian Porter Aeriane Swift 951 682 0 1633
4 Stephen Morris Bright Star Swift 287 220 672 1179

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Day 3 Results

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

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

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

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

Task 3:

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

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

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

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

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

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 17, 2018, 9:12:12 pm MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 2 results

Ben Dunn|Bruce Barmakian|competition|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

You'll find all the results for all the four classes at the link below:

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

Task 2:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 02:51:44 89.46 996
2 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 02:52:02 89.46 987
3 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 03:09:08 89.46 891
4 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 03:08:43 89.46 884
5 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.5 03:18:34 89.46 839
6 Ben Dunn Moyes RX 3.5 03:22:08 89.46 816
7 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 03:43:09 89.46 765
8 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C144   86.50 630
9 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5   77.42 608
10 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144   77.92 602

Cumulative:

  Name Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 Oliver Chitty Moyes Rx5 Pro 985 987 1972
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 806 996 1802
3 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 789 891 1680
4 Ben Dunn Moyes RX 3.5 766 816 1582
5 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 944 608 1552
6 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 946 602 1548
7 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T3Cx 144.2 734 765 1499
8 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 875 599 1474
9 Mitch Shipley Wills Wing T2C 144 823 586 1409
10 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 850 526 1376

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 17, 2018, 6:22:12 MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 1 results

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

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

Task 1:

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

Spring Air Race at Kagel, California

May 8, 2018, 8:18:41 EDT

Spring Air Race at Kagel, California

End of April

Phil Bloom|video

https://youtu.be/YXn6k4GVIlY

Thanks to Phil Bloom.

Discuss "Spring Air Race at Kagel, California" at the Oz Report forum   link»

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.

Discuss "2018 Quest Air Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2018 Quest Air Nationals »

Results from day six, task 4

Fri, Apr 20 2018, 11:58:13 pm EDT

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Andrey Solomykin|Bruce Barmakian|Christian Ciech|competition|Davis Straub|Fred Kaemerer|Glen Volk|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|Makbule Baldik Le Fay|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Quest Air Nationals 2018|Richard Lovelace|Sara Weaver|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2018-quest-air-national-series/results

Task 4:

Name Glider SS ES Time Total
1 Christian Ciech Icaro 2000 Laminar 14.1 13:30:00 16:09:48 02:39:48 877
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 14:10:00 16:34:49 02:24:49 860
3 Alvaro Figueiredo Sandoli Ww T2C 144 13:50:00 16:34:55 02:44:55 729
3 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 13:50:00 16:35:06 02:45:06 729
5 Malcolm Brown Wills Wing T2C 144 13:50:00 16:36:11 02:46:11 720
6 Sandy Dittmar Wills Wing T2C 144 13:50:00 16:41:14 02:51:14 694
7 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 13:30:00 16:34:49 03:04:49 687
8 Carl Wallbank Moyes RX 3.5 13:30:00 16:35:00 03:05:00 685
9 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat 13.1 13:30:00 16:35:01 03:05:01 681
10 Glen Volk Moyes RX 3.5 13:50:00 16:43:49 02:53:49 675
11 Krzysztof Grzyb Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 13:50:00 16:43:53 02:53:53 674
12 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 13:30:00 16:35:06 03:05:06 673
13 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 13:30:00 16:37:22 03:07:22 646
14 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 13:30:00 16:45:08 03:15:08 620
15 Richard Lovelace Wills Wing T2C 144 Carbon 13:30:00 16:46:58 03:16:58 614

Sport Task 4:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 James Race Wills Wing U2 160 01:38:00 985
2 Douglas Hale Moyes Gecko 155 01:40:33 935
3 Makbule Baldik Le Fay Aeros Discus 13B 01:46:14 866
4 Andrey Solomykin Aeros Discus 14 01:50:45 822
5 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 01:53:08 801
6 Charles Cozean Wills Wing U2 145 01:55:33 781
7 Sara Weaver Wills Wing Sport 3 135 01:56:02 777
8 Nick Jones Wills Wing U2 145 01:58:43 756
9 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing U2 145 01:59:53 747
10 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 02:00:18 744
11 Ricardo Ricky Wills Wing T2C 01:37:41 700
12 Lee Silver Wills Wing U2 160 02:18:14 622

Rigid task 4:

# Name Glider Sponsor Time Distance Total
1 Fred Kaemerer Air Atos Vr Air Usa 03:03:53 126.60 995
2 Patrick Ruber A-I-R Atos Vr A-I-R 03:04:08 126.60 992
3 James Yocom Air Atos Vr 10 My Beautiful Wife! 75.82 326

Rigid final results (they all left early Saturday morning):

# Name Glider Total
1 Patrick Ruber A-I-R Atos Vr 2509
2 Fred Kaemerer Air Atos Vr 2263
3 James Yocom Air Atos Vr 10 1875

2018 Quest Air Nationals »

April 17, 2018, 8:49:48 pm EDT

2018 Quest Air Nationals

Day three, task one, results (ready by 7:30 PM local time

Andrey Solomykin|Christian Ciech|competition|Davis Straub|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Quest Air Nationals 2018|Raul Guerra|Sara Weaver|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2018-quest-air-national-series/results

Eighteen in goal. The first task was elapsed time with no leading or arrival points following the Australian precedent for the first day. The launch opened at 1:30 PM. The pilots with the fastest times started the task later when conditions improved.

Task 1:

# Name Glider SS ES Time Total
1 Christian Ciech Icaro 2000 Laminar 14.1 14:58:33 16:08:02 01:09:29 514
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 14:59:05 16:11:12 01:12:07 488
3 Austin Marshall Wills Wing T2C 144 14:55:56 16:12:35 01:16:39 464
4 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 14:59:07 16:21:11 01:22:04 442
5 Jonny Durand Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 14:58:50 16:21:07 01:22:17 441
6 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 15:24:58 16:51:44 01:26:46 425
7 Malcolm Brown Wills Wing T2C 144 14:41:45 16:10:51 01:29:06 417
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 14:40:42 16:12:04 01:31:22 409
9 Marcelo Alexandre Menin Wills Wing T2C 154 14:54:45 16:27:18 01:32:33 406
10 Sandy Dittmar Wills Wing T2C 144 14:55:36 16:30:06 01:34:30 400
10 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 154 14:40:53 16:15:26 01:34:33 400
10 Raul Guerra Moyes RX 3.5 14:41:31 16:15:56 01:34:25 400

Sport task 1:

# Name Glider SS Distance Total
1 Rod Regier Moyes Litesport 4 15:43:47 25.76 359
1 Charles Cozean Wills Wing U2 145 15:44:10 25.70 359
3 Andrey Solomykin Aeros Discus 14 15:33:54 24.58 346
4 Sara Weaver Wills Wing Sport 3 135 15:43:52 22.62 338
5 Douglas Hale Moyes Gecko 155 15:30:11 16.51 264
6 adrian sanchez Wills Wing U2 145 15:43:17 14.89 249
7 Greg Sessa Wills Wing U2 160 16:04:05 11.57 214
8 Nick Jones Wills wing U2 145 16:11:00 11.51 213
9 Soraya Rios Wills Wing Sport 135 16:03:50 9.44 199
10 Rick Maddy Wills Wing U2 160 15:42:59 9.90 195

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

2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 14, 2016, 10:25:58 pm MST

2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 4

Results

Bruce Barmakian|competition|David Gibson|Gary Anderson|Glen Volk|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Moyes Litespeed RX|Niki Longshore|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2016

https://airtribune.com/santacruzflatsrace2016/results

Day 4:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Bruce Barmakian Laminar 67.62 640
1 David Gibson Wills Wing T2C 144 67.55 640
3 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 154 67.24 637
4 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 154 41.98 483
5 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 40.84 480
6 Jonny Durand Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 41.41 479
7 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 40.80 474
8 Derreck Turner Moyes Litespeed RX5 39.67 467
9 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T2C 144 39.97 465
10 Kevin Dutt Icaro Z9 38.75 448

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T2C 154 1448
2 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1390
3 Jonny Durand Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1388
4 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T2C 144 1377
5 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 1350
6 Bruce Barmakian Laminar 1339
7 Robin Hamilton Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1332
8 Phill Bloom Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1326
9 Kevin Dutt Icaro Z9 1300
10 Glen Volk Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 1268

Sport Day 4:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Kelly Myrkle Moyes Gecko 01:58:43 34.72 775
2 Niki Longshore Moyes Gecko   25.34 390
3 Douglas Hale Moyes Gecko   7.54 169
4 Gary Anderson Wills Wing Sport 2   5.00 123

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Kelly Myrkle Moyes Gecko 1671
2 Niki Longshore Moyes Gecko 1290
3 Gary Anderson Wills Wing Sport 2 476
4 Douglas Hale Moyes Gecko 169

2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://airtribune.com/santacruzflatsrace2016/results

Task 1:

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

Task 1 sport:

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

Southern California video

June 2, 2006, 10:40:29 pm EDT

Video

Kagel and Torrey

video

Phillip Bloom|video

Phillip Bloom «phillipbloom» writes:

Here is a clip of Kagel and Torrey that is from a helmet lipstick cam: http://chipmans.net/hg/files/Sylmar.wmv

Discuss Video at the Oz Report forum

The Flytec Championships 2006, day 5, task 4

Ring around the Green Swamp

Flytec, day 5

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

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

Scores

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

On Wednesday thirty two gliders follow Jonnie here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jacques Bott gets fitted for lead. Photo by Timothy Ettridge

Thirteen of fourteen ridge wings make goal:

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

Totals:

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

Flex wings (40+ in goal):

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

Totals:

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

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

Flytec Results

Nine rigids in goal within three minutes and seven seconds

Results

April 20, 2006, 5:57:17 EDT

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

Task 3:

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

Totals:

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

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

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

Totals:

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

2005 Big Spring Open »

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

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

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

The scores

The photos

The flight

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Results:

Rigids on the last day:

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

Finals for Rigids:

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

Last day for Flex Wings:

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

Totals for Flex Wings:

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

NTSS »

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

The US pilot ranking after the Big Spring Open

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

The women:

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

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

The rigid wing pilots:

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

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

The flex wing pilots:

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

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

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

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

NTSS »

Tue, Aug 2 2005, 4:00:03 pm EDT

The US pilot ranking before the Big Spring Open

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

Rigid:

1 Straub Davis 1370
2 Yocom Jim 1091
3 ENDTER Vincent 1071
4 Brown Russell 1058
5 GLEASON Ron 1051
6 Bowen Campbell 975
7 LAMB James 887
8 BARMAKIAN Bruce 855
9 GREGORY Oliver 713
10 STUMP Mark 597

Flex:

1 CARTER Kevin 1863
2 Martin Dustin 1838
3 Warren Curt 1741
4 Williams Paris 1394
5 BLOOM Phill 1390
6 Barber Mike 1384
7 Volk Glen 1308
8 LANNING Tom 1273
9 Goodman Bubba 1150
10 ZIMMERMAN Chris 1125
11 PRESLEY Terry 1098
12 Pagen Dennis 861
13 Williams Michael 842
14 Castle Kari 823
15 Straub Davis 811
16 VASSORT Claire 808
17 HAYWOOD John 787
18 Stebbins George 786
19 SLOCUM Jack 770
20 Hagewood Bo 690

NTSS Ranking »

Wed, May 4 2005, 5:00:03 pm EDT

After the US Nationals and the South Florida International

Bo Hagewood|Bruce Barmakian|Bubba Goodman|Campbell Bowen|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|George Stebbins|Glen Volk|James Lamb|Kari Castle|Kevin Carter|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Oliver Gregory|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|US Nationals

Rigids (this year determines who gets to represent the US at the Worlds at Quest next year) :

1 Straub Davis 1344
2 Yocom Jim 1091
3 ENDTER Vincent 1071
4 GLEASON Ron 1051
5 Bowen Campbell 975
6 Brown Russell 973
7 LAMB James 887
8 BARMAKIAN Bruce 855
9 GREGORY Oliver 713
10 STUMP Mark 597

Flexies (doesn't matter that much when determining who goes to the 2007 Worlds in Texas):

1 CARTER Kevin 1863
2 Martin Dustin 1838
3 Warren Curt 1741
4 Barber Mike 1384
4 BLOOM Phill 1384
6 Volk Glen 1308
7 LANNING Tom 1271
8 ZIMMERMAN Chris 1125
9 PRESLEY Terry 1098
10 Williams Paris 1069
11 Goodman Bubba 915
12 Castle Kari 823
13 Straub Davis 811
14 VASSORT Claire 808
15 HAYWOOD John 787
16 Stebbins George 786
17 SLOCUM Jack 770
18 Williams Michael 739
19 Hagewood Bo 690
20 BURICK Carl 689

Full rankings found https://ozreport.com/compPilotRankings.php.

2005 Flytec Championship, day nine

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Muller|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kari Castle|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|photo|Ron Gleason|US Nationals

Sat, Apr 23 2005, 5:30:00 pm EDT

A front and rain.

Flytec Championship

The last day of the US Nationals was called on account of a forecast for rain and wind. The rain showed up, but the wind didn't.

Rigid final results:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 5806
2 GRICAR Primoz Aeros Phantom SVN 4807
3 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 4533
4 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 4449
5 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 4366
6 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 4265
7 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 4195
8 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 3904
9 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 3806
10 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 3448

Flex final results:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 5540
2 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 5505
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 5491
4 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 4943
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 4827
6 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 4735
7 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 4557
8 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 4544
9 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 4502
10 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 4436

Kari Castle was doing well in twelfth place until she went down early on the last day, still she managed to be the US Women's National Champion and beat the current Women's World Champion. Kari loved flying in Florida (much better than Greifenburg). She was flying the Moyes Litespeed S4 that I was flying in Australia in January.

Flytec Championship photos.

2005 Flytec Championship, day eight

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

Flytec Championship

2005 Flytec Championship, day eight

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

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

The rigid wing flight and task

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rigids:

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

Rigid cumulative:

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

Flexies:

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

Cumulative flexies:

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

2005 Flytec Championship, day seven

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

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

Ring around the swamp.

Flytec Championship

The flight and task today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rigids:

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

Cumulative Rigids:

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

Flexies:

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

Brett is Australian and Canadian.

Cumulative Flexies:

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

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

2005 Flytec Championship, day six

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

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

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

Flytec Championship

Today's flight and rigid wing task

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rigids today:

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

Rigid cumulative:

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

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

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

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

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

Flex wings:

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

Flex wings cumulative:

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

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

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

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

Joerg Bajewski sends this photo from the air over Quest:

2005 Flytec Championship, day five

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

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

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

Flytec Championship

Monday's flight and task

Tuesday flight and task

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rigid wing results:

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

Cumulative:

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

Flexies:

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

Cumulative flexies:

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

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

The Wills Wing Team:

2005 Flytec Championship, day four

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Muller|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Dustin Martin|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Neville Almond|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom

Mon, Apr 18 2005, 4:00:00 pm EDT

Winds out of the east so we go south and back.

Flytec Championship

The call was for winds at 10 mph out of the east today, so the task committee decided to go for a task that was cross wind in both directions. We sent the pilots 33 miles south to the Winter Haven airport and back to Quest.

I'm off first again and find light lift to the northeast of Quest to 4,000'.  With the wind forecast (along with the prediction of no or very few clouds, and 500 fpm lift), my tactic is to try to get as far up wind as possible. I find a good line of clouds and soon find myself three miles upwind of highway 33 with most pilots to my west. I've got wisps of cu's to tell me where the lift is, so it's pretty safe.

I'm almost at the edge of the 5 mile start circle and as I wait for the start clock to turn 2 PM, six more rigids come over and join me just before it opens. As we head off I keep an upwind line and watch Neville Almond to my right. I take a couple of turns and Primoz and a couple of other ATOS pilots join continue with Neville to my west. I continue south southeast and find another better core as the four pilots now in front continue diving toward highway 474 eleven miles out from Quest, and getting low.

I continue to work to the south east toward highway 27 to get under the clouds and hopefully stay upwind all the way to the turnpoint south of I 4. Another AIR ATOS VR pilot joins me and we head south along 27 over Wallaby. Not finding any lift in the blue I have to head south west to get up again.

The turnpoint at Winter Haven is surrounded by lakes, and I am able to keep upwind of it and get high enough to come in and take the turnpoint and find lift to get out of there. I see the four pilots in the lead just downwind of me before I get to the turnpoint, but they are higher and get ahead of me.

After making the turnpoint I notice that cirrus clouds have come in and cut down the solar heating. I take anything I can find then head north to find Mark in the Swift turning in crummy lift by the juvenile prisons north of I 4. I move ahead and become Mark' sniffer dog finding all the next thermals for him.

With weak lift and dark ground it is slow and tricky heading north of 33. The flex wing pilots behind us also took 27 north and then headed back to 27 to get better lift going back.

Just north of Dean Still Road I catch up with Chris Muller, and an ATOS pilot.  Together we start finding lift and and helping each other out as we move north. At the Seminole Lake Glider Port, we're eleven miles out and almost 5,000' high as we go on glide. Chris will take a few more thermals and I'll have to take a few turns when I'm two miles out and down to 900'. Mark will just glide in. Chris will come in third in flex wings, just behind me.

I was slow getting killed by the shade. Twenty one out of eighty flex wings pilots made it to goal. Many went down by the turnpoint.

Flex wings day one:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris  Aeros Combat L USA 01:56:43 997
2 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 02:08:58 870
3 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 02:07:30 831
4 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 150 SWE 02:14:37 830
5 ROTOR Nene Wills Wing T2 BRA 02:07:37 827
6 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 02:07:44 823
6 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 02:15:05 823
8 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 02:09:49 807
9 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 02:17:53 803
10 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 02:25:39 74

Flex wings day two:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 02:48:36 1000
2 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 02:49:10 981
3 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 02:55:28 920
4 SCHWIEGERSHAUSER Corinna Moyes Litespeed DEU 02:56:12 910
5 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 02:54:41 883
6 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 02:54:59 877
7 BAJEWSKI Joerg Moyes LS 4.5 DEU 03:05:50 852
8 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 150 SWE 03:19:53 758
9 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 03:26:46 729
10 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 03:37:09 690

Overall flex wing:

Place Name Glider Nation T1 T2 Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 997 877 1874
2 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 870 1000 1870
3 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 823 981 1804
4 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 831 883 1714
5 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 150 SWE 830 758 1588
6 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 807 729 1536
7 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 823 687 1510
8 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 803 690 1493
9 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 487 920 1407
10 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 747 642 1389

Rigids (the results from the second day aren't up on the Flytec web site so I've published the overall score):

Place Name Glider Nation T1 T2 Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 971 974 1945
2 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 691 820 1511
3 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos C USA 858 612 1470
4 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 700 734 1434
5 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos C GBR 775 656 1431

Corrections in the Oz Report

Thu, Aug 12 2004, 10:00:01 am EDT

The inconsistent spelling of each pilot's name is the bugaboo.

Phillip Bloom

Phillip Bloom should have been in seventh at 1511 points.

Mammatus clouds

Discuss NTSS and clouds at the Oz Report forum

The race for the Worlds in Oz

Sat, Feb 14 2004, 2:00:01 am GMT

Bo Hagewood|Bubba Goodman|calendar|Carlos Bessa|Chelan XC Classic 2004|Chris Zimmerman|Claire Vassort|competition|Curt Warren|Davis Straub|Dean Funk|Dennis Pagen|Flytec Championships 2004|George Stebbins|Glen Volk|Jerz Rossignol|Jim Lee|Kari Castle|Kevin Carter|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|Mark Bolt|Mike Barber|NTSS|Paris Williams|Phil Bloom|Richard Sauer|Scott Angel|South Florida Championships 2004|Steve Rewolinski|Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2004|Terry Presley|USHGA|US Nationals 2004|Worlds 2004

The points from the Australian meets add up as we look at the NTSS standings for US flex wing pilots and how they effect who's going to the Worlds in Hay in 2005.

https://OzReport.com/compPilotRankings.php

The race to be on the flex wing national teams is on. Pilots were in Australia flying to gain points on their country's team so that they can go to the Worlds in Australia next January. In the US, the pilots are chosen on the basis of their four best competitions results. They can use their two best flights from 2003, and their best flights from 2004. One new rule is that only two flights from competitions outside the United States count. Here's how things stand today:

1 Hagewood Bo 1498
2 Williams Paris 1150
3 Warren Curt 1059
4 Lee Jim 1014
5 Bessa Carlos 994
6 Rossignol Jerz 975
7 Castle Kari 965
8 Zimmerman Chris 898
9 Sauer Richard 886
10 Presley Terry 827
11 Carter Kevin 811
12 Goodman Bubba 806
13 Straub Davis 733
14 Pagen Dennis 719
14 Bolt Mark 719
16 Bloom Phil 662
17 Vassort Claire 657
18 Grzyb Krzysztof 635
19 Angel Scott 632
20 Rewolinski Steve 629
21 Barber Mike 628
22 Bunner Larry 557
23 Volk Glen 516
24 Stebbins George 512
25 Funk Dean 476

Of course the pilots who went to Australia got a head start. Bo has four meets that count now and Kevin has three meets. Other pilots have only two meets that count. Both Bo and Kevin have meets with low points that can be overcome with better results in 2004.

It takes about 1,900 NTSS points to gain a place on the US National flex wing team. That means you've got to average about 475 points per meet to make it. Placing first in a fully valid, well attended meet gives you 660 points.

There are five USHGA sanctioned meets in the US in 2004 - Flytec, South Florida, Team Challenge, CXCC, US Nats. All these meets are worth at least 330 points to the flex wing winner (with a minimal number of days flying). The rest of the pilots get a percentage of the winner's points.

See https://OzReport.com/calendar.php for a list of the competition in 2004.

2003 US Nationals – Paris wins flex wing championship »

Sun, Aug 3 2003, 10:00:00 pm GMT Place Place Place

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|cloud|competition|gaggle|Jerz Rossignol|Kraig Coomber|Moyes Litespeed|Paris Williams|Phillip "Phill" Bloom|record|Robin Hamilton|Swift|US National Champion|US Nationals|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Talon

http://www.flytec.com/usnats03/scores.html

Paris Williams, the number US ranked flex wing hang glider pilot, won the US National Championships and is the US Flex wing National Champion. Bruce Barmakian is the US National Rigid Wing Champions and Brian Porter is the US National Swift Champion.

Paris has been US National Champion three years in a row, which I believe is a record. He won the US Nationals when they were last held in Texas two years ago at Hearne.

So how did Paris do it? He flew faster than anyone else. Sound like a tautology? It isn’t.

I’ve flown with Paris a lot. Given the extra performance of the AIR ATOS, I can stay with Paris whenever the rigids and flex wings fly together. We flew together on the first two days and I got to see him on other days at the Nationals. So I have a real good idea about how he flies.

Paris is a racer (although he quickly slowed down in Wisconsin in the weak lift at the Midwest Regionals). He wants to go fast and is willing to go in front. He goes for the big lift and is reluctant to stop for the weak stuff. He leaves the thermal when they get weak. He doesn’t wait around for anyone else. He’s not thinking about the gaggle. He’s thinking about how to go as fast as possible.

I’m always happy to fly with Paris because I want someone out there with me when I’m leading and Paris never hesitates. Time and time again I’ve gone out with him and it always works. (I held back in Wisconsin, and Paris had to come back to the gaggle when it proved to be very weak out in front.)

Paris will most often take the last start time as that is the time when the best pilots go, but sometimes he will go for the extra points afforded the pilots who go early and go fast.

Paris often starts off a meet in the hole and has to dig himself out because he flies too fast on the first day and doesn’t make goal. In this meet he flew fast on the first day, was leading from the start.

false

Paris at Big Spring at the US Nationals

Paris flying the Aeros Combat 2 at Big Spring

Big Spring provided us with strong lift, high cloud bases, and lots of thermal markers, i.e. cu’s. These are perfect conditions for a racer. You can ignore the gaggle because you are flying the clouds. You can ignore weak lift because you are high and there is something better coming along. You can leave when it slows down, because there is something faster ahead.

So you had better be ready to run as hard as you can. Forget about hitting the deck. Fly hard and fly to win.

You also might notice that Bo, who was flying with Paris when he could, had a much better meet than he’s had lately. He was smoking up the course also. Kraig Coomber and Robin Hamilton provided strong “foreign” competition.

More on the US Nationals in a later issue.

Flex wings day seven:

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Total

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1

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COOMBER Kraig

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Moyes Litespeed

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2:11:28

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930

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2

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WILLIAMS Paris

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Aeros Combat 2

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2:16:35

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920

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3

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HAMILTON Robin

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Moyes Litespeed 4

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2:12:00

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909

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4

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VOLK Glen

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Moyes Litespeed

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2:17:20

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906

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5

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HAGEWOOD Bo

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Aeros Combat 2

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2:18:13

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891

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6

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WARREN Curt

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Moyes Litespeed 4

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2:12:56

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888

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7

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LEE Jim

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Wills Wing Talon

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2:13:31

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876

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8

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ROSSIGNOL Jerz

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Aeros Combat

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2:16:50

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833

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9

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BLOOM Phill

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Wills Wing Talon

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2:23:09

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779

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10

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ZIMMERMAN Chris

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Wills Wing Talon 150

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2:23:58

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771

Cumulative

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1

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WILLIAMS Paris

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Aeros Combat 2

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5929

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2

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WARREN Curt

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Moyes Litespeed 4

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5715

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3

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COOMBER Kraig

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Moyes Litespeed

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5662

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4

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VOLK Glen

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Moyes Litespeed

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5566

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5

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HAGEWOOD Bo

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Aeros Combat 2

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5531

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HAMILTON Robin

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Moyes Litespeed 4

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5324

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LEE Jim

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Wills Wing Talon

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5245

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SAUER Rich

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Icaro MRX

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ZIMMERMAN Chris

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Wills Wing Talon 150

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ROSSIGNOL Jerz

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Aeros Combat

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4895

Rigids on day seven:

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Name

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Glider

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Time

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Total

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1

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STRAUB Davis

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AIR Atos C

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2:11:42

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1000

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2

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BOWEN Campbell

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Flight Design Access

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2:23:41

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840

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3

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BURTON Richard

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Icaro Stratos

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2:30:59

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775

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4

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YOCOM James

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AIR Atos C

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2:31:06

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765

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5

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GLEASON Ron

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AIR Atos

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2:38:16

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710

Cumulative:

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1

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BARMAKIAN Bruce

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AIR Atos C

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5804

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2

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ENDTER Vincent

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Icaro Stratos

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5504

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3

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SEABERG David

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Icaro Stratos

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4991

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4

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BOWEN Campbell

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Flight Design Access

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4761

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5

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STRAUB Davis

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AIR Atos C

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4673

Swifts:

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1

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PORTER Brian

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Aeriane Swift

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4627

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2

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MULHOLLAND Mark

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Aeriane Swift Lite

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4548

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3

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NAKAMURA Junko

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Aeriane Swift Lite

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4428

Discuss "2003 US Nationals – Paris wins flex wing championship" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2003 US Nationals – courage on a blue day »

Fri, Aug 1 2003, 8:00:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Belinda Boulter|Bobby Bailey|Buddy Cutts|Carol Sperry|cloud|CompeGPS|competition|dust devil|FAI|gaggle|Kraig Coomber|Mike Tryon|Moyes Litespeed|Paris Williams|Phillip "Phill" Bloom|Swift|tow|triangle|US Nationals|Vincent "Vince" Endter|Wallaby Ranch|weather|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Talon

http://www.flytec.com/usnats03/scores.html

First, a few corrections from the last report on the Nationals. The mystery glider was Vince Endter. That mystery was cleared up today when we got together with Tim Meany and used CompeGPS to run the task back on the screen. Quite amazing to live the race over again and see who did what. Campbell and Bruce took a completely different track than the rest of us. And Bruce was way behind us for the longest time but apparently didn’t have to stop and thermal on the way back.

I believe that Buddy Cutts has made goal before, although what I wrote was what my informant told me. Jeremie Hill, you may know him as the chef at Wallaby Ranch, made goal for the first time. He is flying a borrowed Wills Wing Talon (borrow from Wills Wing), and I believe that this is his first competition (don’t hold me to that).

The task committee mistakenly interpreted Gary’s weather forecast as calling for a chance of over development. Sorry for our mistake there. We should have called a longer task, but then Carol Sperry might not have made it in.

There were a few mistypings and I also said that Rich Burton was low on my left. He actually was low on my right. Sorry about any other problems that I didn’t catch today.

Speaking of today. We had a magnificence if rowdy blue day.

The FSL forecast calls for a brisk south-southeast wind (10-13 knots) turning to southwest up high. It also shows an inversion that rises to over 12,000’ after 4 PM. I call for perhaps blue or thin clouds.

There are no clouds when the rigids are set to launch at 1 PM for their race start at 2 PM. It’s easy and fun to do a race with the rigids because there are only fifteen (fourteen with Mike Tryon out of it because of shoulder problems) and there is no crowding in the thermals even at the start gate.

Still given my forecast for the good likelihood of only thin clouds we (Kraig Coomber and I on the task committee) figure that’s just the way the day is and let’s go for it.

I get Bobby Bailey to tow me up and given that I’m the seven or eighth guy in line I let him tow me up as far as he will under the gaggle that is slowly rising in the center of the airstrip. He waves me off before he passes anyone.

The lift is actually pretty good at 200 fpm. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last and the next half hour before the race start we all slowly climb up to 5,000’ AGL. The flex wing guys on the ground are a lot happier to be starting later when perhaps it will be better. There are one or two thin cu’s in the distance. The inversion layer is obvious between 6 and 8,000’ MSL.

The task is a 70 mile FAI triangle (when you subtract the 5 mile start circle), and that may make it available for world records (see article below). The first leg is off to the northeast, then back to the northwest, with a 25 mile final leg to the southeast. If the wind does in fact clock around to the southwest up high maybe it won’t be quite so tough getting in.

We rigids find good lift for the first time right after the start circle which is a surprise (without clouds these thermal are darn invisible) and that gets us to 9,000’ MSL. Another blip a few miles later and the whole crew is sticking together and racing.

Vince and another glider are low off to the north but they get the next thermal first and it is a strong one. The rest of us continue on to find a worse thermal and one that is actually very unpleasant. This will be the story for the next few thermals getting to and around the first turnpoint. Very unpleasant with the gliders doing most of the flying on their own. I’m hoping that everyone realizes that it’s not a good idea to be too close to anyone else.

The rigids thin out with four rigids taking an upwind southern track and Jim Yokum, myself and another rigid or two following the course line. We’ll drift away from it to the north while thermaling as the wind out of the south in measuring well over 15 mph. At three o’clock the four of us hit our first really good thermal that actually gets as high as 700 fpm and I’ll climb out to almost ten thousand feet. I’m not able to keep track of the rigids to the south and there is one rigid that I don’t recognize just 100’ over me.

The last flex wing start time is 3 PM, and Paris will later say that this is when the lift really turns on for them. He’ll take the 3 PM start clock.

I go on a fifteen mile glide without seeing anyone else and from five miles out from the second turnpoint I can see a small dust devil and dust rising in another field from a couple of tractors. I go over to where the dust is rising from the tractors but don’t find anything. I then go to the field where I had seen the dust devil another one or two miles closer to the turnpoint. I’m down to 1,200’ AGL. The dust devil is no longer there, but I’m thinking that the lift will be. It is.

I’ll climb to 10,200’ MSL at times at 800 fpm just before the turnpoint and catch a glimpse of Vince and Bruce climbing just in front of me past the turnpoint. I’ll go on glide and come in under Vince twelve miles later in the only thermal that I’ll take on the last leg of the task. I’ll see 1000 fpm on the averager in this thermal.

The extreme turbulence that we experienced in thermals on the first leg disappeared at 3 PM, and the thermals have been much stronger, much smoother and we are getting much higher. I assume that the inversion breaking was related to this change in the characteristics of the thermals.

I will climb under Vince and Bruce to 10,500’ fifteen miles from goal. Paris will tell me later that when he comes along an hour after us he’ll find 1,200 fpm on the averager at the thermal at the turnpoint and 1,600 fpm on the thermal half way to goal. The clouds are just beginning to form when I get to the second turnpoint and there are a few wispies on the course going back to goal.

From fifteen miles out it’s a 10:1 glide to goal. Vince is two miles ahead and Bruce is about a mile ahead of me. I’m telling Belinda at goal to watch for two gliders and I’ll be right behind.

The lift is good going to goal until about 7 miles out where there is a stretch of 900 fpm down. I’m flying at about 55 mph air speed the whole fifteen miles only slowing up when the bumps from the lift get too hard.

Vince has a problem with his final glide calculator and stops to thermal as Bruce and then I pass unnoticed below him. Bruce will be first into goal and I’ll be a few minutes behind him. Vince will finally see that he can indeed make goal and come in a few minutes later. Then the wait is on for Ron to come in twenty minutes alter and Jim Yokum another twenty minutes later. Twelve out of fourteen rigids make goal.

While we are waiting for the rigids to come in the flexies start coming in with Paris Williams first. He found the strong lift and was able to run very fast. Curt warren came in with Paris but started 15 minutes earlier.

As the flexies came in two cloud streets set up along the course line coming into goal. We had seen the beginnings of these when we were coming in but now they were quite distinct. Still it didn’t help some flex wings who landed short. Bo just made it in by 4/10th of a mile. Rich Burton on a Stratos was just barely in the goal cylinder.

Flex wings:

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 2 2:18:20 916
2 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed 2:21:47 833
3 WARREN Curt Moyes Litespeed 4 2:33:41 783
4 SAUER Rich Icaro MRX 2:34:22 769
5 HAGEWOOD Bo Aeros Combat 2 2:37:41 705
6 COOMBER Kraig Moyes Litespeed 2:43:25 698
7 HAMILTON Robin Moyes Litespeed 4 2:48:40 632
8 BLOOM Phill Wills Wing Talon 2:57:15 615
9 ZIMMERMAN Chris Wills Wing Talon 150 3:00:25 592
10 LEE Jim Wills Wing Talon 3:12:55 554

Cumulative:

Place Name Glider Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 2 4998
2 WARREN Curt Moyes Litespeed 4 4795
3 COOMBER Kraig Moyes Litespeed 4685
4 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed 4634
5 HAGEWOOD Bo Aeros Combat 2 4594
6 HAMILTON Robin Moyes Litespeed 4 4359
7 LEE Jim Wills Wing Talon 4300
8 SAUER Rich Icaro MRX 4269
9 ZIMMERMAN Chris Wills Wing Talon 150 4082
10 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 3972

Rigids:

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos C 2:35:27 1000
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 2:38:00 937
3 ENDTER Vincent Icaro Stratos 2:40:09 901
4 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos 3:00:51 736
5 YOCOM James AIR Atos C 3:19:14 628

Cumulative:

Place Name Glider Total
1 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos C 5152
2 ENDTER Vincent Icaro Stratos 4809
3 SEABERG David Icaro Stratos 4345
4 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos 3946
5 BOWEN Campbell Flight Design Access 3921

Swifts cumulative (30 points separate them):

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 PORTER Brian Aeriane Swift USA 3632
2 NAKAMURA Junko Aeriane Swift Lite JPN 3613
3 MULHOLLAND Mark Aeriane Swift Lite USA 3602

Discuss "2003 US Nationals – courage on a blue day" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Another view of the Wild West Regionals

Tue, Jul 1 2003, 9:00:04 pm GMT

Bruce Barmakian|Carson Capaul|competition|job|Kendrick "Ken/Kenny" Brown|Kenny Brown|landing|Mike Tryon|news|Phillip "Phill" Bloom|Richard Sauer|XC

Rich Burton <indasky@yahoo.com> writes:

On the first day, I thought that we were going to be blown out since it was blowing about 10 on launch when we arrived at 10:00 AM. What often happens is that when the West pushes through across Washoe Lake, the thermals that are needed to get over the back become very elusive. The good news was that it stayed about the same as the launch window and prime launch time of 1:00 PM approached. I was rewarded with a 800 FPM climb right off of launch and was smiling as I know how important this first climb is.

The format of this meet is: Launch window is from 11:00 AM until 1:00PM. Your time starts when your feet leave the ground and it stops when you cross a goal line about 28 miles over the back and straight down highway 50.

Anyone who competes knows that if you miss just one climb on a race task, you won't be standing in the winners circle that day. At Carson, that one climb is very likely the one that you enter right after your launch run.

If you have not launched by 1:00, then that is your start time. If you look at the start times for day three, you will see that there were quite a few of us still on the ground at 1:00 on the last day. I believe that this day was my fastest, but the time doesn't reflect that.

I went into this meet not sure how the rigids would compare with the flex wings for this short dash. In the past I have often times found myself low and then climbing too high and flying at 65 + for the last 10 miles through very turbulent air. I knew that I wasn't willing to run at those speeds in my Stratos.

Short story. The rigids did very well. Bruce Barmekian did an exceptional job flying his ATOS-C and clearly won the rigid division. If you look at the elapsed times for the top three rigids and the top three flex wings each day, you will see that the rigids didn't have any disadvantage in this type of race.

I want to thank Ray and Jackie for putting on a great three day meet. I truly enjoy flying the Carson area with its endless landing fields and great climbs (did I mention the 1800fpm climb over Virginia City on the last day?).

I talked with Ray during the meet and we have emailed each other since that time. He is very open to changing the format of the meet next year. The fact that he had a rigid class this year shows his willingness to change.

You need to understand that this meet was started as a fun meet that could be flown without instruments and a minimal amount of XC experience. People are talking all of the time about how to increase pilot participation in local meets. Where are the trial grounds for our World Team pilots?

I believe that one of Ray and Jackie's goal was to make this meet a pilot friendly low tech meet for just these reasons. What I have seen after participating at this meet for the past four years, is that it has become a very technical meet. The intermediate pilot and even many competent XC heroes no longer have a chance. You can look back just a few years to see that the winners are well known names in hang gliding. Making goal is still a reality for most, but going home with one of the infamous Wild West belt buckles has gotten out of reach for many.(How many of these do Rich Sauer and Kenny Brown need ?

There were a lot of familiar faces this year at the Regionals, and a serious void was felt because there were many participants from years past who were not there. I heard second and third hand that some pilots didn't show because of the format. They want to see a longer (flight wise) meet. I hope that this will happen next year and that everyone who has participated in the past will come back, and that there will be many more new faces.

Results:

Flexwing Day One

Phill Bloom 45:07 WWTalon
Ken Brown 46.23 Litespeed S
Sebastia Lutges 51.33 WW Talon

Day 2

Rich Sauer 45:06 Laminar MR700
Phil Bloom 46:25 WW Talon
Ken Brown 48:45 Litespeed S

Day 3

Rich Sauer 53:15 Laminar MR700
Bill Saderquist 55.34 Litespeed
Ken Brown 1:01:24 Litespeed S

Finals:

Phll Bloom
Ken Brown
Rich Sauer

Rigids day one:

Bruce Barmakian 43:10 Atos-C
Rich Burton 47:20 Stratos-C
Mike Tryon 47.55 Stratos – C

Day2

Mike Tryon 43.21 Stratos – C
Bruce Barmakian 43:51 Atos-C
Steve Rudy 1:13:02 ATOS

Day 3

Bruce Barmakian 45:38 Atos-C
Rich Burton 51:05 Stratos-C
Mike Tryon 53;17 Stratos – C

FINALS:

Bruce Barmakian Atos-C
Mike Tryon Stratos-C
Rich Burton Stratos-C

Discuss "Another view of the Wild West Regionals" at the Oz Report forum   link»