Wills Wing
Flytec

Oz Report

topic: Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018 (25 articles)

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

October 30, 2018, 8:20:29 MDT

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Task 4 - the video

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|video

https://youtu.be/GRvyiLkCpS4

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

SCFR video day 1

Mon, Oct 8 2018, 10:03:46 am MDT

Sara

Sara Weaver|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|video

https://youtu.be/XVYht4PuKKk

Coverage of Sara Weaver's experience of Day 1 at the 2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race. It's very hot and the winds are calm so they called a simple out and return to kick things off.

Discuss "SCFR video day 1" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

After the ⁢2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Tue, Sep 25 2018, 1:23:54 am GMT

Monday

Dustin Martin|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018

Dustin Martin «Dustin Martin» sends:

Clouds everywhere. Smooth 800s to 10800 ft bases. 5 mph winds.

Discuss "After the ⁢2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" 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 »

September 20, 2018, 10:54:35 MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Red sky at night

Sailors delight?

Wednesday night as we all practiced juggling.

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 19, 2018, 10:41:54 MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The competition so far

Larry Bunner|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018

When I think of flying at the Santa Cruz Flats Race I think of weak thermals, low top of lift and good luck finding the next thermal. So far for me at least this has not been the case. It was true for the Sport Class pilots on Tuesday when the conditions got very weak when they launched and only a trickle of pilots were able to get out on the course line.

The first day was spectacular with pilots getting over 7,000' in the start cylinder and later out on the course. The light winds really helped make the thermals coherent and strong, as well as easy to find and stay in.

The Casa Grande mountains (hills) worked both on the way out and returning. Because of the good conditions (light winds, good lift, high enough top of lift) and the relatively short (75 km) task, we were able to fly in the best conditions for the day and get back early (3:30 PM) before the lift got weak.

On day two we had more winds, 7 - 9 mph out of the northwest. We were able to get to 7,000' in the start cylinder but I was only at 6,000' when we started. The Casa Grande mountains were still working well on the way out.

With the winds it was harder to find and stay in the thermals going east. A few pilots who were out in front didn't find lift before Newman Peak and went down. The lift at Newman Peak was okay, but just okay, and we expected a lot more and hoped to get much higher. We wanted a nice kick to get us going back up wind.

A few of us had to work up from down low in weak lift and got drifted back quickly nine kilometers west of Newman peak. But soon after that we easily found 500 fpm and got to 7,000'. There was more good lift as we aimed at the Casa Grande mountains for the final push to goal. Unfortunately at 4:15 PM there was very little lift there just above the peaks.

Other than the lack of reasonable lift on the way back to goal at the mountains it was a pretty good day with lift to be had for many pilots. The first pilots made goal at about 4:30 PM, so a task that was twenty kilometers longer took an hour longer to complete.

On day three it was up and down. In the start cylinder, I could only climb to 4,600' instead of 7,000' like the past two days. The wind out of the west was even stronger than the previous day. I could not get myself into a good location for the start gate.

Still even though I got low near the optimized point for leaving the start cylinder I was able to climb back up and get the second start time. There were thermals around that were not that hard to find. Five kilometers to the south west Sport Class pilots were not getting up.

While my first glide out on the course got me down to 700' there was a thermal to latch on to and good lift and then spectacular lift in the next thermal to 6,900'. I was able to work numerous other thermals, whose strength was not that great, but they were available to get me back up. The wind made it difficult to get high enough on the last thermal before the last turnpoint, but it was great that the thermals were still working at almost 5 PM.

Larry Bunner did amazing getting up from low over my landing spot and making goal at 5:45 PM. Weak lift for sure, but still there and working.

So far I've been very pleased with the conditions here and amazed that we can fly so late.

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 19, 2018, 9:45:02 MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 4 prospects

Ben Dunn|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018

The big picture at 9:30 AM:

Satellite visible coverage:

Radar:

A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 11am. Cloudy, with a high near 90. West southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south southeast in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Task cancelled at 9:54 AM.

At 11:45 AM the gust front hit:

Thanks to Ben Dunn for the photo at 11 AM.

At 1 PM from our balcony.

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 19, 2018, 9:41:42 MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 3, Ollie's video

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|video

https://youtu.be/tDFTs_SA7m4

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

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 18, 2018, 9:09:35 pm MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 3

Dragonfly|dust devil|Dustin Martin|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|weather

Bobby Bailey|Dragonfly|dust devil|Dustin Martin|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|weather

The task committee scrapped the original task that would have brought us home into a 17 mph head wind according to the NAM 3 weather model. They instead sent us crisscrossing downwind to a little airfield south southeast of Coolidge.

Pilots were reluctant to start launching after the early birds, but I was ready so off I went. I got Bobby Bailey to tow me again and sure enough he just went right to the first thermal he could find as he always does to help him climb in his 2-stroke Dragonfly and I pinned off early again as I do when he tows me at 1,500' and climbed right out to 3,800' and a bit later to 4,700'.

Unfortunately 4,700' was the limit. Whenever I would go looking for lift in other locations I would lose 1,000' and have to go back to the main gaggle. Fifteen minutes before the start window opened at 2 PM, and at 4,500' I  headed for the north northeast to get lined up at the optimum start point and fell like a rock down to 1,200' AGL.

The west wind pushed me out of the start cylinder as I struggled to stay up.  I ignored the start gate time and just concentrated on climbing no matter how far out side the start cylinder I drifted. The next start gate was 2:20 PM.

I clawed my way back up to 4,600', two kilometers outside the five kilometer start cylinder. With seven minutes to go before the start gate and with the help of a light thermal I was able to make the second start time at 4,000' five minutes late.

The start is about 50 percent of a task. If you have a good start you are high and you're with the other pilots who did well in the start cylinder. You'll be able to fly with them during the task and they should be relatively fast. I was in a deep hole.

Speaking of deep holes I glided about 6 kilometers and was down to 700' AGL when I finally found something. That thermal at 155 fpm got me to 3,800' and I drifted to the east in a 12 mph wind with David Aldrich flying in the Sport Class (and winning the day). The next turnpoint was to the north northeast. I was way downwind of the course line.

I headed due north to try to get myself in a position where I could not have to fly upwind to get the turnpoint of Signal Peak. Fortunately I hit 360 fpm that got me to 6,900' (David joined me there also). Finally I was not scraping along the ground just holding on.

I glided straight north with a 13 mph west  wind, tagged the turnpoint and came right back to the same spot for more lift, 340 fpm to 6,300'.

I got on the radio and heard from Larry that he and Dustin were just south of me heading for the second turnpoint. Larry and Dustin also took the second start clock. As I was much higher than they were I raced south toward the turnpoint at the intersection of I8 and I10.

I passed them but found only 150 fpm lift at 4,200' so I chased a dust devil being blown downwind. That proved to be futile so I grabbed the turnpoint and headed north northeast down to 1,100' AGL before finding 100 fpm. Larry came after me as we were communicating on the radio and found better lift just behind me. I came in under him and it averaged 200 fpm for me but he found much better just above me.

I was able to get to 4,000' with Dustin and Larry out in front of me. They spotted the next thermal for me and at 240 fpm over a feed lot I was able to get to 4,700' as they pressed on.

At 20 kilometers from the next turnpoint to the north northeast they were climbing. I found a dust devil that just formed one kilometer behind them and stuck with it. It was only 180 fpm, but as it was after 4 PM I figured that this might be the last thermal. I took it to 6,000'. I would be proved wrong about how long the soaring would last.

Larry radioed that he was climbing at 300 fpm 13 kilometers to my north again with Dustin. I headed off and found his lift at about 4:45 PM, at 1,500' in a 11 mph west wind. It averaged 200 fpm to 4,000'. He was able to leave this thermal, as I entered it at 4,800'. It topped out too early for me.

The edge of the turnpoint cylinder was seven kilometers to the north. The area around the edge of the cylinder was shaded by high clouds. I got within 1.7 kilometers of it and down to 700' AGL over a hill side when I decided to head out downwind to the east for a better spot to land if needed. I was already downwind of the optimum point of the turnpoint.

Larry and Dustin made the turnpoint and Larry came in low over me as I landed. There were a couple of other pilots with him also low. He was in light lift. He kept turning and both he and Dustin made the goal, Larry fifteen minutes before 6 PM and half an hour before sunset.

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

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, 9:10:52 pm MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 2

Bobby Bailey|dust devil|Dustin Martin|Glen Volk|John Simon|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018

The task committee called a 90 kilometer task, 20 kilometers longer than the first task. But the winds were forecasted to be stronger than the light to no winds from Sunday. The winds turned out to be northwest at 7 to 9 mph. The task set us way to the east so we had a long slog coming back to the Francisco Grande.

The Monday task:

Bobby Bailey drug me into the air and I pinned off at 1,400' AGL to start climbing at an average of 370 fpm to 5,500'. The next thermal took me to 7,100' so the day was already better lift wise than Sunday.

Unfortunately, the lift after that wasn't nearly as nice and I wasn't able to get quite as high before the start opened at 1:40. Probably twenty pilot started together at around 6,000'.

Even though it was off the course line we headed east southeast toward the Casa Grande mountains and catching the south end of them climbed to back to 6,000' at 330 fpm. There was plenty of company. I would fly the whole flight with Glen Volk although he wasn't that aware of it as I almost always seemed to be just above him.

It was south southeast to the Sunlan turnpoint and I glided fifteen kilometers chasing a dust devil that was pretty weak after I found it, but it got me and a few others around to 5,600'.

The next turnpoint was Newman Peak, the mountains to the east. We had to go through a lot of flatlands and then be able to get there high enough so that we didn't have to climb up from the bottom of the mountains. We took some weak lift in a couple of thermals just to get high enough to feel comfortable heading into the mountain side.

A good number of pilots were in front of us and staying further to the north of our line. It would appear that a few of them went down before Neman Peak including Jonny Durand and John Simon. As I watched them out in front I shaded off to the south just taking a different line as it seemed that they weren't finding anything.

There was lift at the mountain but not great lift, but no turbulent either. The first thermal below the peak was only 230 fpm, but the one above it was only 340 fpm to 6,200'. I was hoping for a much stronger thermal and much higher. This is not why we go to the mountains here in the Santa Cruz Flats Race.

Now we had to turn and face the wind. We (Glen and I) glided for 9 kilometers with nothing to show for it. I spotted a pilot turning to our south and came in under him at 1,000' AGL. Glen came in lower.

We spent twenty minutes in 190 fpm climbing back to 6,000' and drifting back to the southeast. We were way south of the course line.

The next thermal, which started just south of where we started the previous thermal, was much improved at 400 fpm. It was almost 3:40 PM, two hours since the start gate opened and we were finally getting back on track. We climbed to over 7,000'.

The next thermal at 500 fpm got us again to 7,000' We were just west of Arizona city. I saw 800 fpm (20 second average) briefly on the Flytec 6060. It was almost 4 PM.

The idea was to get high enough to make it over the Casa Grande mountain and then climb there and get to goal. I worked 360 fpm to 6,000' 8 kilometers from the mountains and felt I had enough to make it. Unfortunately Glen missed out and wasn't able to join Kevin Carter, Felix Cantesanu and I as we headed for the mountains.

We got there with about 3,000' at about 4:15 PM but there was little to no lift there, even though we were at the top of the ridge. We worked broken lift for a while but it never got going. We landed just west of the mountains.

Dustin and Larry came over us half an hour later about 2,000' over the top of the ridge. Dustin made goal.

Seven pilots made goal.

Dusties around here appear to be very weak:

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

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 16, 2018, 9:38:44 pm MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Trouble with trackers

competition|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018

Results are a little late getting in as there were issues with the trackers: https://airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-mark-knight-memorial-2018/results.

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 16, 2018, 9:37:07 pm MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Day 1 is just a lot of fun for almost everyone

dust devil|Glen Volk|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Mike Degtoff|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|weather

The task committee committed to a 75 km task before they came up with the task. The idea was to do a shorter task to get lots of pilots back to goal to start the competition with smiles all around. And besides the days are short now that it is mid September with Sunrise at 6:12 AM and Sunset is 6:33 PM.

Launch opened at 12:15 for the Swifts and ATOSes and 12:30 for the open pilots and the sport class started after them. We expected the lift to stop around 4 or 5 PM. With the first start gate at 1:40, that leaves two hours and twenty minutes to carry out the task. It's got to be short. This is not Big Spring.

With Larry Bunner stuck at the airport in Phoenix with a bomb scare, I subbed in as the weather man and the guy with SeeYou for task setting. We had half an hour to come up with a task among six people. Given a deadline like that it was easy to cut off debate.

The weather called for 500-700 fpm, light winds, top of lift going from 6,000' to 8,000' during the afternoon. The task committee came up with this 75 km task:

I was set to launch 10th, but the pilots in front of me were really reluctant to get going. I don't know what the story was. Finally I launched after a few pilots as I was ready to go. I pinned off at 1,400' AGL in 140 fpm. It took about 15 minutes to find 300 fpm to 5,900'. There were a few pilots around including Glen Volk and Patrick Pannese.

The top of lift kept rising and I was lucky enough to keep rising with it in weak lift getting to 7,000' just before the 1:40 PM start gate opened. 

I was out early with Jonny Durand and another pilot and they quickly let me take the lead. It was only 7.5 km to the optimized point on the cylinder around the next waypoint to the southeast. I hit it almost perfectly and turned east to go to the Casa Grande hills just south of town.

I found 200 fpm just before the hills but kept going when I saw Jonny go to the hills. He was above me and so was another pilot. The lift was 265 fpm just on the west side of the hills and Jonny and Kevin Carter were climbing above me. I had about four or five other pilots nearby including Glen Patrick, Ollie Chitty and Phil Bloom.

With Jonny and Kevin leaving before we got up we climbed to 6,400', spread out and headed east northeast to the next 400 meter radius turnpoint at Grogan. We found over 300 fpm up to 6,600' half way to there. As we approached the goal Jonny and Kevin were below us and turning.

We came in just under them them after the turnpoint but they got high over us again and headed out south southwest to the turnpoint at Sunland. We followed and about ten of us worked scattered 360 fpm lift about 7 kilometers down the course line to 6,900'. Five kilometers later four or five of us averaged 500 fpm to 7,300', the highest we'd been and the strongest lift.

As we approached the turnpoint another 7 km further south we saw Kevin and Jonny a ways below us heading north. The goal was to the north northwest. Glen and I made the turnpoint and headed north to get over Kevin and Jonny but didn't see them.

Instead of going along the course line Glen and I were heading for the Casa Grande hills. After a short climb back to 5,800' I glided into the hills at 2,600'. That was plenty to get over the lower ridges and I climbed with Glen who was just a little bit behind at 400 fpm to 7,200'. I could see a few pilots working along the course line out in the flats to our west.

We left the thermal when we were still climbing at almost 400 fpm with our instruments showing that we had goal by less than 10:1 and by over 1,500'. That was a mistake as we could have taken the thermal probably to 8,000'. We were facing a 5 mph northwest wind to goal. We were 17 kilometers out.

At 5.6 km out I was down to 1,300' AGL. Even with a 1 km goal cylinder it didn't look like I was going to make it. I fortunately found a nice semi-weak thermal at 260 fpm. Of course, at this point I held on to it a little too long climbing to 4,100'. Glen was behind me also fighting the head wind and working his way back up.

With plenty of altitude I headed fast for goal at 50+ mph air speed. I could see a shadow just in front of me of another pilot. I pulled in to go as fast as possible to see if I could catch the shadow. The glider was below me and just to my left but I could not see it, only the shadow. I couldn't quite catch him.

Turns out Ollie Chitty, Phil Bloom and I were first into goal. Jonny came along a bit later. Glen made it in also about 5 minutes later as did other pilots.

The launch crew saved a glider from a dust devil (Mike Degtoff photo):

Because we got back before 3:30 PM, we had plenty of time to relax. People were hanging out at the pool and drinking beers in the pool and just smiling and talking and enjoying the evening after a day that saw 107 degrees. I flew with two light under shirts and speed sleeves and it was marvelous.

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

September 15, 2018, 10:43:51 pm MST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Swift pilots clear the bushes around the runway at the Francisco Grande Hotel

The Swifts are so wide that they feel restricted in their possible landing areas.

The competition begins on Sunday. Plenty of pilots were flying on Saturday, the practice day.

The temperature got to 107 today, should be a little cooler on Sunday. Light winds today and in the forecast.

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

August 20, 2018, 7:42:02 MDT

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Waypoints and airspace

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018

Flytec 6030|Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018

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

You'll find one waypoint file there: https://airtribune-production.s3.amazonaws.com/media/contest/files/2018/01/nbmfi8kQN7u2.wpt

Here are two other versions of that file that I created using GPSDump:

http://ozreport.com/data/2018scfr.cup

http://ozreport.com/data/2018scfr.gpx

and a printable PDF file of the waypoints (useful to drivers, etc.):

http://ozreport.com/data/2018SCFRwaypoints.pdf

The cup file can be used with the SeeYou program or downloaded into your Flytec 6030

The gpx file can be copied into your WPROUTES folder on your SD card in your 6030 and then uploaded into the 6030's memory.

I do this as a public service for Oz Report Readers.

Airspace file?

http://ozreport.com/data/az.faf

You can put this on your SD card in the CTR folder and upload it into your 6030 memory.

The first file above is official. Everything after that is just my attempt to help out. Jamie said that she would put them up on the SCFR Airtribune web site (see above). So I guess that makes them official.

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

May 22, 2018, 7:45:06 CDT

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

53 pilots registered for 50 slots

Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Jamie Shelden|Quest Air|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018

Unlike in our competitions I believe that Jamie is really not completely expandable to handle whoever shows up. We have the gift of having many Dragonflies on site at Quest Air and Russell is bringing five to Big Spring. Along with Gregg Ludwig's trike this gives us plenty of resources in Big Spring. So I would make sure that you are confirmed for the SCFR.

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

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

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

January 9, 2018, 12:48:08 pm EST GMT-0500

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

Apparently someone was reading the Oz Report or at least the email that I sent

The competition and registration web sites came up this morning.

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

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

Early entry fee is $250.

Payment button found here: http://santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com/

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

January 9, 2018, 7:56:40 EST

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

So how does one register?

calendar|Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|USHPA

https://www.ushpa.org/page/competition-calendar

Location: Francisco Grande Hotel and Golf Resort, Casa Grande, Arizona
Event Dates: September 16 - 22, 2018
Register Dates: December 1, 2017 - August 16, 2018
Organizer: Jamie Shelden | <naughtylawyer>
Website: http://santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com

Web site last updated in 2016. No way to register.

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

October 25, 2017, 4:02:15 pm PST -0700

2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race

September 16-22

Jamie Shelden|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018

Jamie Shelden is again organizing the SCFR. I'll provide the registration page link soon as it's up.

Here's the previous web site: https://airtribune.com/santacruzflatsrace2016/info

Discuss "2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2018 Quest Air Open »

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 9:10:22 am MDT

One one-week meet in April

Quest Air Open 2018|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2018|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2018

Here is the result of our survey of competition pilots to determined whether we have one one-week competition or two one-week competitions at Quest Air in April.

39 pilots want one one-week meet.

17 want two one-week meets.

So we will plan for a one-week meet April 15th through 21st.

The story:

First of all thanks so much for providing your input. It is obvious that we can’t please everyone. The fact that 56 pilots responded to our request for your input on planning for the Quest Air Open is pretty amazing. This is a much higher percentage than one normally gets in a survey.

Second, we had originally planned for two one-week meets in order to attract overseas pilots. Then as we discussed our plans it became an issue about whether this was the best way to go. Therefore the request to you to ask what you wanted.

Third, numerous overseas pilots responded saying that one one-week meet was their preference, so our original thinking that two one-week meets would be more attractive to overseas pilots was not as strong as we had originally thought. We know that a few overseas pilots wanted two one-week meets.

Fourth, a number of you expressed additional issues and concerns. We hear you. Obviously reducing all your input into two numbers above and one decision does nothing to address all the issues that you have raised. We will concern ourselves doing everything that we can to address your concerns. Thanks for this additional input as it really helps our planning process.

Fifth, it looks like there won’t be a 2018 Midwest meet because the Twin Oaks airport will likely be sold. This puts us back to the 2018 Santa Cruz Flats Race and the 2018 Quest Air Open (as well as the 2018 Green Swamp Sport Klassic, March 18th through through 24th). More on this soon.

If you have questions email Davis at «davis

You’ll be hearing from us next week about Big Spring and Texas competitions in August.

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