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topic: Zac Majors

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Mountain High Red Rocks Hang Gliding Academy »

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 12:07:47 am GMT

Before the Red Rocks Competition in June

Davis Straub|Larry Bunner|Owen Morse|Red Rocks Foot Launch HG Competition 2023|Rich Reinauer|Richard "Ric" Caylor|Robin Hamilton|Timothy "Tim" Delaney|WolfPack Hang Gliding|Zac Majors

Ric Caylor writes:

PLEASE NOTE: The First Virtual Ground School Class (VGSC) Has been postponed to February 5th, 2023.

Mountain High Red Rocks Hang Gliding Academy

Before the competition is a three-day "Red Rocks Mountain Academy," held June 14th - 16th, this clinic is designed to help pilots enhance their high-altitude flying skills and enjoyment through safety, awareness, critical situation analysis, and best practices of proper communication and survival gear. Our team of female and male mentors includes world record holders and national champions. They will lead ground school classes, a launch and landing clinic, navigation strategies, and aviation-assisted training. We will also offer several zoom ground school training sessions over the winter as part of the Academy. How often do you get advanced training opportunities like this from experts? If you’re looking to enhance your high altitude or xc skills, this is not to be missed!

Virtual Ground School Informational Classes

These zoom ground school training sessions are a part of the Academy and may be purchased as a package separate from the in-person practical flying. The High Mountain Hang Gliding Red Rocks Academy is designed to help pilots enhance their high-altitude flying skills and enjoyment through safety awareness, critical situation analysis, best communication practices, survival gear, and more.

Zoom Classroom instruction format. 60 min. max with Q&A. A 30 min extension at the mentor’s discretion is expected. Zac Majors will host classes. Scheduled for consecutive Sunday evenings starting at 6:00 pm PST starting on February 5th, 2023. The Following are slated but not guaranteed.

High Mountain Competition Flying. By Robin Hamilton

Strategies, Experience History Profile, and Applied Safety Mitigation. By Robin Hamilton

Oxygen 101. by Tim Delaney

Garmin InReach 101. By Rich Reinauer

Weather and High Mountain Flying Conditions. By Davis Straub

Reporting Accidents, Mishaps, and Close Calls. By Zac Majors

High Mountain Flying Secrets. By Owen Morse

Flying With Intent to Improve Performance. By Larry Bunner

Sign up by purchasing online at https://wolfpackhanggliding.com/shop/

You will be emailed a Zoom Invitation a day before the class.

Please note that the Zoom Ground School Classes are included if you are enrolled in the RRHG Academy or a registered Competition pilot.

Please email Ric at <Ric@wolfpackhanggliding.com> with questions.

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Red Rocks Foot Launch Hang Gliding Competition »

Wed, Jan 25 2023, 12:47:26 am GMT

June 14th-17th

Red Rocks Foot Launch HG Competition 2023|Richard "Ric" Caylor|Robin Hamilton|WolfPack Hang Gliding|Zac Majors

«Richard Caylor» sends:

The First Red Rocks Foot Launch Hang Gliding Competition registration is now open. Our team is excited to open this competition for skilled high-altitude foot-launch pilots. This race is a CIVL-sanctioned Category 2 event. The competition is limited to 60 pilots and is open to class 1, class 1 sport, and class 5 gliders. Up to 25% or 15 slots will be reserved for non-US pilots. The event is being held in Monroe, Utah, with several epic high mountain sites that will provide ample opportunity for personal best flights that will blow your mind. Conditions during this time of the year can be excellent; expect cloud bases to be over 16,000’ and 100+ mile open distance tasks. However, the hazards of high-altitude flying in the Rocky Mountains are not for the inexperienced. Please check the CIVL website (link below) to review the contest information and requirements.

Included with registration are virtual zoom ground school classes lectured by some of the best pilots with many years of experience. They are not instructors, but their practical knowledge will aid pilots by offering strategies for success while assisting them in understanding and mitigating the risks. The first of six individual presentations is scheduled for this Sunday evening, January 29th. Hosted by Zac Majors and presented by Robin Hamilton, titled: Competition Flying, Risk Assessments, and Hazard Mitigation, with a limited Q&A session.

In addition, a three-day on-site mentoring program, the High Mountain Academy, will be available, sponsored by WolfPack Hang Gliding, LLC, and scheduled for June 14th-17th. Zac Majors will be the principal mentor, offering his experience regarding launching & landing, reserve tossing, task-to-goal radio-assisted flying, and more. These practical flying courses are separate costs from the registration fee.

Registration fees and how to pay are on the website. Early bird discounted savings are available for a limited time. Feel free to email the organizer with questions.

Red Rocks Hang Gliding Competition

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Sat, Jun 4 2022, 7:25:42 am MDT

Last task on Saturday, looks like they are not able to fly the task

Canadian Nationals 2022

https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=4456&pwd=3c5bf9662b1b645826f56085fad157

For Kamloops:

https://www.weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-45_metric_e.html

Today: Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this morning. Fog patches dissipating this morning. Wind becoming southeast 20 km/h gusting to 40 this afternoon. High 21°C. UV index 7 or high.

Final Results here:

https://civlcomps.org/event/canadian-hang-gliding-nationals-2022/results

# Name Nat Glider T1 T2 Total
1 Willy Dydo M USA Wills Wing T3 830.2 196.0 1026.0
2 Damien Zahn M CHE Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 693.1 227.0 920.0
3 Tyler Borradaile M CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 643.4 249.3 893.0
4 Erick Salgado M MEX Icaro 2000 Laminar 742.4 109.9 852.0
5 Felix Cantesanu M ROU Aeros Combat C 654.7 195.7 850.0
6 Jeff Chipman M USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 694.1 91.6 786.0
7 Evan Smith M CAN Wills Wing T3 582.6 201.0 784.0
8 Mick Howard. M USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 518.7 77.5 596.0
9 Soham Mehta M IND Wills Wing T3 375.2 191.8 567.0
10 Timmy Middlemiss M CAN Wills Wing T2 503.1 0.0 503.0
11 Gary Braun M USA Wills Wing T2 363.0 77.5 441.0
12 Ken Millard M USA Wills Wing T3 331.8 77.5 409.0
13 Ric Caylor M USA Moyes Litespeed RX 5 Pro 272.5 82.9 355.0
14 Dennis Turner M CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 5 Pro 260.6 77.5 338.0
15 Kevin Fischer M CAN Wills Wing T2 188.6 77.5 266.0
16 Trennon Paynter M CAN Wills Wing T2 155.6 77.5 233.0
17 Kurt Hartzog M USA Wills Wing T2 127.9 77.5 205.0
18 Zac Majors M USA Wills Wing T3 0.0 199.2 199.0
19 Owen Morse M USA Wills Wing T3 0.0 197.7 198.0
20 Phill Bloom M USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 69.2 113.0 182.0
21 Mauricio Brittingham M CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 4 Pro 79.0 0.0 79.0

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Thu, Jun 2 2022, 7:05:05 pm MDT

Fifth day, no task

Canadian Nationals 2022|Willy Dydo

No flying on Thursday.

https://www.weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-27_metric_e.html

Fri, 3 Jun: Cloudy. A few showers beginning near noon. Risk of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Wind becoming east 20 km/h near noon. High 18°C. UV index 5 or moderate.

Sat, 4 Jun: Periods of rain. High 16°C.

For Kamloops:

https://www.weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-45_metric_e.html

Fri, 3 Jun: Showers. Risk of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Local amount 5 to 10 mm. Wind becoming southeast 20 km/h gusting to 40 near noon. High 18°C. UV index 3 or moderate.

Sat, 4 Jun: Showers. High 18°C.

I'd give Willy a 90% chanced of winning the 2022 Canadian Nationals.

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Wed, Jun 1 2022, 6:34:21 pm MDT

Second task poor conditions, flew from Lumby instead of Kamloops

Canadian Nationals 2022

https://civlcomps.org/event/canadian-hang-gliding-nationals-2022/results

Task 2:

# Name Nat Glider Distance Total
1 Tyler Borradaile CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 39.4 249.3
2 Damien Zahn CHE Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 34.1 227.0
3 Evan Smith CAN Wills Wing T3 28.3 201.0
4 Zac Majors USA Wills Wing T3 27.8 199.2
5 Austin Marshall USA Wills Wing T3 27.6 197.7
6 Willy Dydo USA Wills Wing T3 27.4 196.0
7 Felix Cantesanu ROU Aeros Combat C 27.2 195.7
8 Soham Mehta IND Wills Wing T3 27.0 191.8
9 Phill Bloom USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 13.3 113.0
10 Erick Salgado MEX Icaro 2000 Laminar 12.5 109.9

Cumulative:

Name Nat Glider T2 T4 Total
1 Willy Dydo USA Wills Wing T3 830.2 196.0 1026.0
2 Damien Zahn CHE Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 693.1 227.0 920.0
3 Tyler Borradaile CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 643.4 249.3 893.0
4 Erick Salgado MEX Icaro 2000 Laminar 742.4 109.9 852.0
5 Felix Cantesanu ROU Aeros Combat C 654.7 195.7 850.0
6 Jeff Chipman USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 694.1 91.6 786.0
7 Evan Smith CAN Wills Wing T3 582.6 201.0 784.0
8 Mick Howard USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 518.7 77.5 596.0
9 Soham Mehta IND Wills Wing T3 375.2 191.8 567.0

Weather Forecast for Lumby:

https://www.weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-27_metric_e.html

Thu, 2 Jun: Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers in the afternoon. High 24°C. UV index 6 or high.

For Kamloops:

https://www.weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-45_metric_e.html

Thu, 2 Jun: Mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. Risk of thunderstorms late in the afternoon. Wind becoming east 20 km/h gusting to 40 near noon. High 22°C. UV index 6 or high.

Looks like flying at Lumby tomorrow. No flying on Friday, and maybe Kamloops on Saturday (60% chance of rain). I'd say that Willy has a 50% chance of winning the Canadian Nationals.

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Wed, Jun 1 2022, 2:52:43 pm MDT

Second task, live now

Canadian Nationals 2022

https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=4456&pwd=3c5bf9662b1b645826f56085fad157

No one is getting high.

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Tue, May 31 2022, 7:04:47 pm MDT

Poor weather

Canadian Nationals 2022|weather

Day 3, weather not good for flying. Tomorrow looks sunny.

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Mon, May 30 2022, 9:08:22 pm MDT

Kamloops

Canadian Nationals 2022

Task 1:

https://civlcomps.org/event/canadian-hang-gliding-nationals-2022/results/629566b991a95

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Willy Dydo USA Wills Wing T3 01:13:27 830.2
2 Erick Salgado MEX Icaro 2000 Laminar 01:23:44 742.4
3 Jeff Chipman USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 01:25:39 694.1
4 Damien Zahn SUI Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 01:27:56 693.1
5 Felix Cantesanu ROU Aeros Combat C 01:33:24 654.7
6 Tyler Borradaile CAN Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 01:34:01 643.4
7 Evan Smith CAN Wills Wing T3 01:43:39 582.6
8 Mick Howard. USA Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Pro 01:48:02 518.7
9 Timmy Middlemiss CAN Wills Wing T2 01:51:48 503.1
10 Soham Mehta IND Wills Wing T3 02:12:46 375.2

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Bluetooth from AliExpress

Sun, Apr 24 2022, 6:25:06 pm MDT

Another way to get there

Bluetooth|helmet|Mark Dowsett|radio|safety|Zac Majors

«Mark Dowsett» writes:

I followed your and Zac's lead on the BT radio connection. But I ordered this on AliExpress (cheaper than the one you posted on April 8th). It arrived in just over a week from China. No shipping charge.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32956869310.html

The nice thing is the PTT button is USB chargeable as well.

It paired nicely with the BT headsets we import (https://instinct.pro/products/bluetoothheadset) and use for teaching and winching and even during flight to make cell calls with other pilots or ground crew. These headsets are noise cancelling (cuts out tug and winch noise) and have a nice EXTERNAL module to allow you to accept and redial cell calls easily (vs the tiny button on the boom mic on the headset you had in your April 8th post)

So it paired easily with my Baofeng eight watt radio, my existing noise-canceling helmet headset and at the same time, paired with my phone and I can make cell calls at the same time as 2m radio calls with a single WIRELESS headset in my helmet!

This is an ideal setup for towing (AT or winching) as we like the open-mic, noise canceling, 2-way CELL conversation with our winch operator and then you could talk with pilots over 2m radio with a single headset after you release from tow. Our winch students are so used to using cell headsets now that we are arming our tug pilot with the headset too so they can talk with the new AT pilots while towing. A giant leap in safety.

You can't beat it for a $35us addition to your radio (plus BT headset), I am so tired of these wired headsets not working.

Thanks to you and Zac for the tip!

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Taking proper precautions at the Nationals

Sun, Apr 17 2022, 5:12:46 pm MDT

There is no need to spread COVID-19 around

Taking proper precautions

COVID|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022

Pilots should take care to keep from getting infected and infecting others. Because this is a hang gliding competitions you will have ample opportunities to stay outside and away from others which will significantly reduce your chances of triggering a super spreader event. The recent Green Swamp Sport Klassic was a super spreader event because pilots and others did not act in a rational manner when confronting an ongoing pandemic with a new super infectious variant of the virus, B.A.2 (and sub variants).

It is so easy to keep yourself healthy with just a few behaviors.

  • Stay outside and away from people.
  • If you have to go indoors, wear a N95 or equivalent mask.
  • Get boosted with the latest round of vaccinations
  • Take a home-based test for COVID-19 if you feel ill.
  • If you test positive isolate yourself.

Could these practices not be more obvious?

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Are we ready for a new U.S. Hang Gliding Champion?

Sun, Apr 17 2022, 5:12:15 pm MDT

Zac won't be here

Christian Ciech|Nene Rotor|Stephan Mentler|Zac Majors

Stephan Mentler, the meet organizer, writes:

As the 2022 National Series competitions draw closer (eight days away now), I have been doing some of the final tangential coordination (e.g., boxed sandwiches for opening night), printing consolidated waivers, etc. This involves counting down the list of names on spreadsheets, making an educated guess as to whether pilots that haven’t paid yet, are still coming, counting crew, drivers, potential family members, etc.

It was during this, that I noticed something quite remarkable. For the first time that I can remember, since the return of the National competitions to Florida, I can’t make a reasonable prediction as to who our Champions are going to be. The winners of the National Series is usually a Christian Ciech, Zack Majors, or the Occasional Nene (Rotor), etc. But this year, it is wide open. The Paradise Airsports Nationals and Wilotree Park Nationals are wide open. So, are we ready to name a new U.S. Hang Gliding Champion?

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Mon, Apr 11 2022, 12:17:35 pm MDT

Unofficial last day on Sunday?

Armand Acchione|COVID|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Wallaby Ranch|Wilotree Park

There were two days of early morning landing clinics and then on Sunday with light winds pilots flew with four or five making it to Wallaby Ranch. Pilots are flying on Monday with east-southeast winds 5-10 mph. Krys Grzyb is here from Chicago. Armand is here with his Swift from Toronto.

The Klassic was a super spreader event, the first time COVID-19 has shown up at Wilotree Park, with at least six cases, none requiring hospitalization. Sort of like the Gridiron dinner: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/67-attendees-test-positive-covid-high-profile-dc-dinner-rcna23763

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Fri, Apr 8 2022, 6:36:53 pm MDT

Only two days of flying?

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|weather

We only flew on Sunday and Monday due to weather/rain/wind issues. Likely will not fly Saturday. On Sunday the flyable weather returns and it looks like a good week ahead.

Pilots had great learning opportunities to try to make up for the lack of flying.

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Blue Tooth Connection

Thu, Apr 7 2022, 5:52:20 pm MDT

Zac Majors Recommendation

battery|Bluetooth|competition|helmet|radio|safety|Zac Majors

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PDD48T3?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Comes with a button also that uses a small (non rechargeable?) battery.

Zac recommends tying a safety line on the button strap, as he lost one.

Compatible with BaoFeng Kenwood Btech Radios

Zac says throw out (don't use) the ear piece and microphone, just the button and the connector to the radio. Replace with:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0796Q99F5?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share#

NikoMaku Motorcycle Bluetooth Headset Helmet Headphones Bluetooth Helmet Speakers Earphone Intercom for Helmets Wireless Headphones with Microphone Sound

Zac says that he didn't have to recharge every night during a competition. His transmissions are reported to be clearer than ever before.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Wed, Apr 6 2022, 7:52:12 pm MDT

Day 4

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|Jim Prahl|Wilotree Park

Here is the forecast for Wednesday:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Wednesday, April 6th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly between 2pm and 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 90°F. Southwest wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: south west surface wind 16 mph gusting to 21-22 mph trending toward west-southwest, cloud cover 50% decreasing to 30%, 25% chance of rain after 2 PM

No front nearby (which means that launching to the southwest should be possible)

NAM 12 (this model and NAM 3 come the closest to the NWS surface temperature at 3 pm), 1 PM:

Surface wind: south-southwest 11 mph (15 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 560 fpm
TOL: 5,400'
CU: 3,100'
B/S: 4.4

NAM12, 4 PM:

Surface wind: west-southwest 15 mph (19 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 500 fpm
TOL: 4,300'
Cu: 3,300'
B/S: 3.1

Suggested Task:

Launch 1 PM

Quest 3 km
Midflo 1 km

41 km

Winds were reported by Jim Prahl to be 25 knots at 500'. The day was cancelled.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Tue, Apr 5 2022, 5:28:27 pm MDT

Day 3

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|weather|Wilotree Park

Here is the forecast for Tuesday:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Tuesday, April 5th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A slight chance of showers between 11am and 2pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. South-southwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Hourly afternoon forecast: south surface wind 14 mph gusting to 18 mph trending toward southwest, cloud cover 27% increasing to 37%, 30% chance of rain after 2 PM. No front nearby.

RAP (this model comes the closest to the NWS surface temperature at 1 pm, NAM 12 closest at 5 PM), 1 PM:

Surface wind: south 14 mph (22 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity:440 fpm (NAM 12: 660 fpm)
TOL: 3,300' (NAM 12: 4,100')
CU: 0' (NAM 12: 3,800')
B/S: 1.9 (NAM 12: 3.8)

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: southwest 15 mph (23 mph 2,000') (NAM 12: 15 mph south-southwest, 20 at 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 500 fpm (NAM 12: 660 fpm)
TOL: 4,300' (NAM 12: 6,700')
Cu: 0' (NAM 12: 4,900')
B/S: 2.5 (NAM 12: 5.5)

Here is what it looked like at 2:30 PM:

Here at 6:06 PM:

Yes, there was rain northeast of Gainesville and Ocala with an approaching front in Georgia and the Florida panhandle at 5:10 through 6:05 PM with strong southwest winds.

Leesburg airport showed south 13 mph winds from 1 PM to 2 PM, which would have been our launch time. We were measuring earlier 10 mph gusting to 15 mph, south. It would have been possible to launch pilots and have them be reasonably safe, but this is a Sport Class mentored competition and the safety director was not willing to take that chance. A couple of mph less wind and it not trending south-southwest and all would have been fine.

Unfortunately, we expect even worse conditions for the next two days, at least.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Mon, Apr 4 2022, 8:58:59 pm MDT

Results

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022

https://airtribune.com/2022-green-swamp-sport-klassic/results

Day 1:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Mike Pattishall Icaro Laminar 18.11 511.7
2 Willie Vaughn Moyes Gecko 155 18.07 510.8
3 Ephi Blanshey Wills Wing U2 145 15.74 456.2
4 David Pendzick Wills Wing U2 14.37 424.0
5 Javier Figueras Moyes Gecko 155 13.48 403.4
6 Charles Cassady Wills Wing Sport 2 155 12.97 389.3
7 Artiom Markelov Wills Wing Sport 3 155 12.94 388.4
8 Kate West Airwave Pulse 9 11.63 344.5
9 William "Goat" Modzelewski Wills Wing Sport 2 155 9.89 288.0
10 Carl Jacobsen Wills Wing Sport 3 Race 155 9.29 274.2

Day 2:

# Name Glider ES Distance Total
1 Mike Pattishall Icaro Laminar 15:38:08 38.79 1000.0
2 Monty Monta Avian Puma 38.53 787.0
3 Javier Figueras Moyes Gecko 155 37.59 773.9
4 Juan Orphee Wills Wing Sport 3 155 34.68 722.7
5 David Pendzick Wills Wing U2 27.94 586.3
6 Carolina Orphee Wills Wing Sport3 135 26.80 566.3
7 Willie Vaughn Moyes Gecko 155 26.80 566.2
8 Andrew Vanis Moyes Litespeed 4 24.70 517.0
9 Carl Jacobsen Wills Wing Sport 3 Race 155 18.27 357.0
10 William "Goat" Modzelewski Wills Wing Sport 2 155 11.44 248.4

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Mon, Apr 4 2022, 8:23:30 pm MDT

Day 2

Artiom "Alex" Markelov|Belinda Boulter|Bobby Bailey|Flytec 6030|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|William "Goat" Modzelewski|Wilotree Park

Here is the forecast for Monday:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Monday, April 4th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 85. Light east wind becoming east-southeast 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east surface wind 7 mph trending toward southeast, cloud cover 25% increasing to 40%, 18% chance of rain after 4 PM.

NAM 3 (this model comes the closest to the NWS surface temperature), 1 PM

Surface wind: East-southeast 11 mph (13 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity:640 fpm
TOL: 4,600'
CU: 0'
B/S: 5.4

NAM 3, 3 PM:

Surface wind: southeast 9 mph (10 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 700 fpm
TOL: 5,600'
Cu: 4,300'
B/S: 9.4

Stark disagreement in the models this morning. I'm guessing 1 PM launch time. Hoping to get to goal by 3 PM.

Suggested Task:

Quest 3 km
Panolk 400 m
39 km

The cu's weren't forming right over us, but they were to the south, so we pushed back the start to 1:30 PM. The mentors are staying in their same launch order and they are rotating the mentee teams through us, so I was first to launch again, just as the cu's got to us.

I've got William "Goat" Modzelewski and Artiom "Alex" Markelov (from Belarus) as mentees. Bobby Bailey was assigned to haul up the mentors, so he pulled me up straight to the south toward the flat looking cu that hadn't quite reached us. I got off at 2,000'. I then spent four minutes in zero lift, not a great sign to my mentees who were to be pulled up next to me. Unfortunately Goat broke a weak link. I think Alex got towed up and a bit later Goat somewhere near me.

After the first few minutes I lost altitude to where I didn't find lift until I was down to 900' AGL southwest of Wilotree Park and over the edge of the swamp west of highway 33. The thermal was tight and I climbed out at 124 fpm to 2,500' drifting at 9 mph to the northwest. Unfortunately my two mentees landed and had to launch again.

Another climb a bit further northwest got me to 3,900' and that made it so I could go back up wind to hook up with my mentees, but it was unclear to me who was who. I think Goat landed again and Alex was above me at 4,200', according to what I heard on the radio. It looked to me that I had hooked up with one mentee that I would be able to help and that Goat was on the ground and I wasn't sure it he was going to launch a fourth time as Belinda told me that he was out of his harness.

Alex, I think, climbed to 4,800' and said that he was heading west. I was at 4,500' and headed in that direction also. There was a nice cu just to our west. When I got to the cloud Alex, I think, said that his vario was dead (Flytec 6030, I think). He couldn't tell me his distance to the next turnpoint. That was the last I heard from him.

I searched around that cu to see if there was better lift but found nothing so losing 1,000' I then headed north. I wasn't finding anything over the nursery, nor over the ground cleared race track so headed west for highway 469 which would have provided a good retrieval and it has proven to be a good area for lift previously as well as sporting somewhat open fields.

Down to 1,000' I found almost 200 fpm and when I looked up there must have been half a dozen gliders over me. We all got high, 4,700' drifting to the north-northwest as the wind was now 10 mph predominantly from the south.

We all (or about all) hooked up again over the mines northwest of Center Hill. There was someone else's mentee just below me (I was at the top of the gaggle), so I decided that I would just stick with these guys and then show them the next lift.

At 4,300' I headed west to get to the next turnpoint at Cheryl (a north/south grass strip) and sure enough the blue glider followed. I wasn't that much help as I only found 80 fpm and then 40 fpm to 3,200' at 11.5 km from the goal. But the pilot was doing alright next to me.

I went on glide toward the next two good looking clouds but didn't hit anything so I just kept going getting lower and lower. The wind was 11 mph out of the south, so with an L/D required of 10.3:1 it looked like I could make it. I came across the 400 meter cylinder with 600' AGL and given all the fences there at the east west air strip and the north wind I headed for the field just to the north which was huge and parallel to the highway. I was the only one to choose that humongous field.

One pilot who landed just short of goal, not at the air strip, hit a fence and broke his arm.

I had a moment to talk with Goat and that only lead to further confusion on my part. I will speak with Alex tomorrow and see what happened to him.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Sun, Apr 3 2022, 8:35:58 pm MDT

Day 1

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|Wilotree Park|XC

Here is the forecast for Sunday:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Sunday, April 3rd, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS, Today:

Areas of dense fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 81. Light north-northwest wind becoming north 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Hourly afternoon forecast: North surface wind 7 mph, cloud cover 45% decreasing to 20%, No chance of rain

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: North-northeast 7 mph (12 mph 2,000') (NAM 12: north 8 mph surface, 10 mph at 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 280 fpm (NAM 12: 560 fpm)
TOL: 1,500' (NAM 12: 3,300')
CU: 1,000' (NAM 12: 3,100')
B/S: 1.0 (NAM 12: 4.4)

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: north-northeast 6 mph (9 mph 2,000') (NAM 12: 7 mph north-northeast, 7 mph at 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 360 fpm (NAM 12: 660 fpm)
TOL: 2,800' (NAM 12: 4,100')
Cu: 2,600' (NAM 12: 0')
B/S: 2.7 (NAM 12: 9.0)

My guess is a late day, launch maybe 3 PM, open distance task right down highway 33. Or goal at DS and 33.

There are really two forecasts here. NAM 12 has a surface temperature forecast that is 6° higher than the RAP forecast and much more in line with the NWS forecast for the daily high temperature. Given how poor things look with the RAP forecast we decide to see if the NAM 12 forecast is more likely to be the case.

Each mentor has two mentees. I had Juan and Carolina (a couple) for the first day. We were also assigned first to launch. I want the tug pilots to put the mentor and the mentees together but only Juan is brought over to where I am circling to the west of Wilotree Park. Since I'm the only glider in the air I don't know why the other tug pilot didn't do what they were supposed to do, so while Juan was deposited 500' over my head, Carolina had to fly over to us and came in 200' below me.

I was climbing in 99.9 fpm (on average) lift but we figured that the day would be weak so I was happy to hold onto anything. After climbing to 3,100' with Juan nearby, but Carolina lower I suggested that we head a little bit to the southwest where Larry had chased his one mentee (the other had left lift and gone back to relaunch, which surprised Larry). They were quite a bit lower but climbing well.

At 80 fpm we climbed to 3,400'. It was a lot of fun flying in these weak conditions and you just had to be patient. After hanging in zero for four minutes Larry headed out chasing his mentee to the southeast toward Erie Lake. I followed suggesting to Juan and Carolina that we should follow Larry in order to stay with other pilots which would give us the best chance to stay up in the blue conditions.

In front of and below us the mentee and Larry started turning so there was some lift on the west side of Erie Lake. For the next eight minutes I gained and lost 200' at 2,400'. This did not go well for Juan and Carolina who lost more altitude and were forced to land. If we had found better lift at first then they would have been able to get up and continue south toward goal at Dean Still and 33.

Finally Larry and I found 100 fpm a bit further south while Larry's mentee found even better lift further east and got up higher than we did. Larry should have flown over to join his mentee, and because he didn't he soon lost him. Turns out Larry was not able to actually communicate with any of his mentees.

I headed south-southwest toward some scraggly cu's that had started forming this late in the day (after all we didn't launch until 3 PM) while Larry went south-southeast trying to find his n=mentee. The cu's didn't work and I had to keep going south coming over a do not land field (where I had landed before) at 1,500'.

I found lift at 167 fpm on average and was soon joined by Larry and a sailplane. We were just northwest of the Seminole Glider port. We climbed just on top of the sailplane to 3,500' then followed it o the next cloud to the south-southeast climbing under that cu at 166 fpm (average) to 3,800'. Larry said he got to 4,000'. My Blade said that I had goal on glide.

Heading south we came back to highway 33, after being way west of it the whole time given the north-northeast wind. I found a spot where I had found lift a number of times before and Larry and I worked 86 fpm back to 3,200', which was more than enough to make it to Dean Still and 33.

I picked out a super big (1,000 acre) field that was especially long in the north/south direction and looked some what dry as all the fields around it looked completely soaked from the heavy rains yesterday. After we landed and walked our gliders to the fence line on Dean Still the land owners came up and were greatly excited to see us and had lots of questions. They stayed the whole time while we broke down.

Our driver, Sharon, was right there as we landed and had been following us on Live360 in a special group that we setup just for our truck. The landowners let her drive in through three gates that they opened up for us.

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Thu, Mar 31 2022, 12:26:17 pm MDT

Eleven places open

https://civlcomps.org/event/canadian-hang-gliding-nationals-2022/participants

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Wed, Mar 16 2022, 7:05:29 am MDT

Registration page

Canadian Nationals 2022

https://civlcomps.org/event/canadian-hang-gliding-nationals-2022

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2022 Canadian Nationals »

Mon, Mar 14 2022, 7:08:13 pm MDT

May 29th - June 4th

Canadian Nationals 2022|Jamie Shelden|Tyler Borradaile

Tyler Borradaile writes:

I am pleased to announce that Jamie Shelden and I will be hosting the Canadian national Hang Gliding championship this year out of Savona BC. May 29th - June 4th with May 28 set as a practice day.

    Some quick details:
  • $175 CDN entry
  • Open and sports class
  • foot launched
  • Live trackers for scoring will be used
  • Expecting to cap registration at 45 pilots (a number I think is attainable based on the interest I have received and the demand for us to host this contest)
  • Primary launch will be Savona (Deadman’s), there is camping 2 km from the main landing area, plenty of accommodation and dining in Kamloops 22 km east of Savona.

I personally am very excited for this event, 2019 was a fantastic time with word of the good flying in the area spreading. With travel being a thing again, I expect this will be a very well attended contest so please sign up ASAP if you’d like to join us.

More information to come, I will post as soon as registration is set up, please also follow the Oz Report for updates.

I hope to see many of you soon.

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2022 Green Swamp Klassic »

Tue, Mar 8 2022, 5:19:41 am MST

Mentored competition

Airtribune|competition|Davis Straub|Green Swamp Klassic 2022|Greg Dinauer|John Simon|Larry Bunner|Richard "Ric" Caylor|Robin Hamilton|Timothy "Tim" Delaney|Zac Majors

Ric Caylor writes:

I would like to bring to everyone's attention the forthcoming (April 3-9) Green Swamp Klassic event to be held at Wilotree flight park (ex Quest) in Groveland, Florida.

The mentored competition has been conducted for a number of years now, and has been remarkably successful in providing a low-stress education in cross-country flying and modern competition. The format involves three or four less experienced pilots being teamed with a highly experienced competition pilot who will act as their coach both on the ground and in the air. He/she will instruct the rookies in soaring tactics, competition strategy, setting up of flight instruments, advice on weather, and any of the myriad small and large skills that go into making a well-rounded pilot. While these lessons are particularly focused on competition flying, most of what is taught and learned is universally applicable to our daily flying. Participation in the Klassic is therefore something that will be rewarding to any pilot wishing to improve their skills.

In addition to the individual attention received from the mentor, there will be group talks on specific skill-areas of advanced flying. But the core element of the week's activity is the opportunity to fly in a low stress, but fully modern cross-country competition, over almost ideal terrain under the guidance of a host of truly excellent mentors. Among those committed to serving as mentors are many of the top-ranked pilots in the US, including many time US Champion Zac Majors, and multiple pilots with World Championship experience including Robin Hamilton, Davis Straub, John Simon, Larry Bunner, and Greg Dinauer, and Tim Delaney, to name only some of them. They are damn good pilots, but as importantly they are friendly, accessible and eager to share the fruits of their decades of experience.

Some pilots may be turned off by the notion of "competition" flying, but this event is far more about a week of flying a lot, and learning within a rich and friendly environment.

There are still a number of slots available, and if you would like more information about what is involved, please visit the following Airtribune site,

https://airtribune.com/2022-green-swamp-sport-klassic/info

On the website, click on one or two of the Green Swamp Memoirs at the top of the Summary page. They will give you a snapshot of what the event is like from the point of view of past participants.

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2022 Green Swamp Sport Klassic »

Fri, Oct 15 2021, 7:05:31 pm MDT

The Airtribune web site is up

Airtribune|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022

Check out the great stories from the previous Green Swamp Sport Klassics. (Also, right here.)

https://airtribune.com/2022-green-swamp-sport-klassic/blog

Registration appears to be open now.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

What a great competition

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day 7, task 6, narrative

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

The task:

My flight:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day 7, task 6 results

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

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

Task 6 (open):

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

Final:

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day 6, task 5 results

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

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

Task 5 (open):

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

Cumulative:

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Day 6, task 5

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

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Gust front in the morning on Friday

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|weather

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day five, no task, day is cancelled

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

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

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

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

Bill Bennett launches after the day is canceled.

Note about the third task.

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

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day four, task four, results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Kendall|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Kendall|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

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

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

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

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

Task 4 (open):

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

Cumulative:

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

Neither Sport or Open Class pilots make goal.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day four, task four, narrative

John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

The Task:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day three, task 3, Results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Dinauer|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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

Cumulative:

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day three, task 3, preliminary results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Greg Kendall|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

Cumulative:

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day three, task 3, narrative and preliminary results

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

The Task:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Task 3: open:

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day three, task 3

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day two, task two

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

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

Open class task:

Not much of a flight:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Task 2

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

Cumulative:

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

First Task Play Back

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Day One Play Back:

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

First Task Results

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

John Simon|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|Zac Majors

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

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

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

Task 1 (open class):

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

No results for sport class yet.

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Day 1, task 1

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

The task and my flight:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2021 Santa Cruz Flats Race »

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

Are the monsoons still here?

Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021|photo

Jamie Shelden|photo|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2021

Photo by Jamie Shelden

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

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

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Valle de Bravo 2021-2022

Wed, Sep 1 2021, 5:31:55 pm MDT

Tours with Rudy

COVID|El Peñón Classic Race 2022|Rodolfo Gotes Navarro|tandem|Wolfgang "Wolfi" Siess|XC|Zac Majors

"Rodolfo Gotes Navarro" «rudygotes» writes:

Valle de Bravo, Mexico, has perfect flying conditions that allow us to fly all year round. El Peñón is one of the most consistent sites in the world.

Mexico is open to receive guests from all over the world, regardless of the COVID situation. We have been privileged because all our activity is outdoors and Valle has been very careful keeping all safety protocols.

If you want to escape the cold winter and experience a week of great flying, then we invite you to book one of our tailored hang gliding tours. Our tours run from November through March. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced pilot, you will make the most of this adventure. You will do lots of air time, do small or big tasks or go XC. You can also enjoy the good food and beer at the landing area, where you can share your experience with the rest of pilots that visit us from all over the world.

We can do two to three flights a day. We offer tandem instruction flights and radio-assistance guided flights, to improve your level and skill.

This coming season, we will have international pilots like Wolfgang Siess and Zac Majors, helping us and training for our yearly El Peñón Classic Race from February 20th-26th, 2022.

After flying, Valle de Bravo’s town is worth visiting and walking through its cobbled-stoned alleys, eating at its restaurants or visiting its market and crafts shops, and it offers great value for money.

You can learn more at: https://vuelolibre.mx/en/tour/hang-gliding-tours/

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

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The US National Team

May 19, 2021, 11:33:21 MDT

The US National Team

Eight spots reserved for the 2021 World Championships

Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Gary Anderson|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Robin Hamilton|USHPA|US National Team|Willy Dydo|Zac Majors

https://ntss.ushpa.aero/ntss1/index.php

Pos Name Points Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 Zac Majors 1534 609 PAN2021 482 SCF2018 443 WPN2021
2 Bruce Barmakian 1452 393 PAN2021 385 QA22019 352 WPN2021 322 BSN2019
3 Robin Hamilton 1385 561 SCF2018 467 PAN2021 357 WPN2021
4 Davis Straub 1270 396 SCF2018 338 PAN2021 280 BSN2019 256 WPN2021
5 Pedro L Garcia 1265 496 PAN2021 492 QA22019 277 WPN2021
6 Kevin Carter 1126 445 PAN2021 412 QA12019 269 BSN2019
7 John Simon 1120 437 QA22019 400 PAN2021 283 WPN2021
8 Willy Dydo 1089 377 PAN2021 293 BSN2019 230 WPN2021 189 QA22019
9 Larry Bunner 984 413 QA12019 310 PAN2021 261 WPN2021
10 Gary Anderson 951 315 PAN2021 262 WPN2021 209 BSN2018 165 BSN2019
11 Kevin Dutt 917 497 PAN2021 420 QA22019
12 Phil Bloom 812 420 SCF2018 392 PAN2021
13 Patrick Pannese 669 341 SCF2018 328 WPN2021
14 JD Guillemette 645 264 PAN2021 232 QA12019 149 WPN2021
15 Derrick Turner 634 333 WPN2021 301 BSN2018

I won't be going and pilots are being surveyed right now to see who wants to make up the team.

Every Day Since the Competition Ended

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

Every Day Since the Competition Ended

Maybe it will rain tomorrow

Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

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

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

2021 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.

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2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

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

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Task 4, the last day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Task 4:

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

Finals:

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

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

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

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

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

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals - Midair During Task 3 »

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

Pedro and Tyler collide while thermaling

CIVL|collision|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

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

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

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

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2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

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

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

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

Dragonfly|Larry Bunner|PG|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discuss "2021 Wilotree Park Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 24, 2021, 9:16:41 EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Results from Task 3

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

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

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

Task 3:

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

Cumulative:

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

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

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

Results from Task 2

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

The forecast for the day:

How is Thursday different from Wednesday?

The wind shifts from northwest to northeast.

Day starts off sunny.

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

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

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

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

NWS:

Thursday

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

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

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

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

HRRR

1 PM:

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

TOL at 1 PM: 3,300'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 440 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 3,300'

B/S at 1 PM: 3.4

Cloud cover 7%

4 PM

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

TOL at 4 PM: 3,800'

Updraft Velocity at 4 PM: 460 fpm

CB at 4 PM: 0'

B/S at 4 PM: 5.6

Cloud cover 9%

Skew-T:

1 PM:

TOL: 3,200'

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

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

Task 2:

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

Cumulative:

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

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

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

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

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Results from Task 2

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

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

Task 1:

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

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

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

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Rain on day two, but blue on day three

Task 1:

Zac and Tyler way far in the lead.

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

Discuss "2021 Wilotree Park Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

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

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Rain

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

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

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2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 7 »

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

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 7

Cancelled

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

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

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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»

2020 US Nationals Beginning to Fill Up

December 16, 2019, 7:53:24 EST

2020 US Nationals Beginning to Fill Up

Paradise Airports and Wilotree Nationals

US Nationals 2019|US Nationals 2020|Wilotree Park

We've already had 69 pilots sign up for the 2020 World Championships being held in April and that means it's going to be a successful competition with this number of pilots. We say the maximum that we can handle is 125, but we've never expected that many to show up. Pilots need to sign up by January 19th (you don't have to be on a National team to be in the Worlds) so the window is closing quickly on who are going to be coming to the Worlds.

https://airtribune.com/2020-world-championships/info/details__info

We're also putting on two Class 1 Open competitions in April at Wilotree Parks, one the week before the Worlds and one during it. (The Worlds are the combined Women's Worlds, Sport Class, Class 2 and Class 5 Worlds).

Once again last year these Spring open class competitions at Wilotree Park were very popular. Pilots love coming to fly in Florida in April enjoying the marvelous lifting thermals in pleasant air with mild temperatures, puffy little clouds, light winds and open fields. Pilots are signing up now for these competitions, despite the fact that they are not under the same tight time constraints that pilots who are signing up for the Worlds.

We are always under resource constraints (mainly the number of tugs that we can round up to get every one in the air), so it is always a good idea to register as early as possible and become confirmed as early as possible so that you can be assured that you are in the competition. There will be additional resource constraints during the Worlds for the Wilotree Nationals dictated by the fact they the Worlds ahs first claim on the resources and we can fit in open class pilots only after their needs are taken into account. The World's pilots launch first, for example.

At the moment, we can handle all six competitions and we'll see what the future holds. We hope to be able to accommodate open class pilots in both the Paradise Airsports Nationals and the Wilotree Nationals. For sure there is no issue with the Paradise Airsports. It is a bit iffier for the Wilotree Nationals, so you might want to sign up early to reserve your spot (need to be confirmed). We'll keep you informed.

https://airtribune.com/2020-paradise-airsports-nationals/info/details__info

https://airtribune.com/2020-wilotree-nationals/info/details__info

That's Hang Gliding For You

September 26, 2019, 9:23:49 MDT

That's Hang Gliding For You

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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»

2020 Worlds Registration - suspended for a few days

Sat, Aug 31 2019, 3:08:33 pm MDT

CIVL is trying to deal with the restrictions on Sport Class

CIVL|Davis Straub|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Mitch Shipley|USHPA|Wilotree Park|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Worlds 2020|Zac Majors

CIVL|Davis Straub|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|USHPA|Wilotree Park|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Worlds 2020|Zac Majors

CIVL|Davis Straub|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|USHPA|Wilotree Park|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Worlds 2020|Zac Majors

We submitted a proposal to the CIVL Bureau for a combined World Championships last year. It was approved by the CIVL Bureau and the Plenary. It included the following restriction on who could fly in the sport class:

"Pilots must not have been listed in the top twenty US pilots since January 2008 for entry into sport class. Pilots must not have finished in the top 2/3rd’s of a non-Sport Class Category 1 competition held since January 2014, for entry into sport class.

"(Note from Sport Code 7: 2. 2.3 Other Criteria

If a competition organiser wishes to set stricter criteria, these must be declared with the bid for the event. Any other qualifying criteria must be included in the approved Local Regulations.)"

Here is what Stef, the CIVL President, wrote at the time that the Bureau accepted our bid:

Dear Markus and Christine,

Please find attached 2 zipped file for 2 bids that have been accepted by CIVL Bureau. Can you prepare the Organiser Agreement accordingly?

Davis Straub, the organiser, is in copy.

Best regards,

Stephane

Later when the CIVL Plenary met they also accepted the bid.

When creating the bid and the local rules I met repeatedly with Mitch Shipley who will be our meet steward. Mitch has a trailer at Wilotree Park near ours so I used his advice extensively in preparing the bid and local rules as well at the Risk Management Plan and the Tow Device Supplemental Application for the USHPA. Mitch in addition to being a meet steward is a CIVL official as well as a USHPA official.

Mitch was concerned about his ability to do all the checking (back to 2008) to determine eligibility for the Sport Class. We continued talking about how we could address that issue to accomplish the same goal of keeping open class topless pilots from registering for the Sport Class World Championships.

I edited the latest version of the proposed local rules (CIVL has to give its final approval and I have to send them to them eight months in advance which I have done).

Sport Class pilots will be restricted to those who have WPRS Sport Class points: http://civlrankings.fai.org/?a=326&ladder_id=9&. At the moment that is 329 pilots. Also, open class pilots will not qualify. Here's the current rule in the local rules:

Sport Class Pilots must not have finished in the top 2/3rd's of a non-Sport Class Category 1 competition held since January 2014, for entry into sport class. Pilots must have WPRS sport class points.

I sent a note on Saturday to Mitch to add the words: "on August 31, 2019" after the word points in the last sentence.

This edit was made to make it easier for Mitch to determine eligibility having only to check 329 pilots (those who have WPRS sport class points).

Only pilots with WPRS points as of August 31st, 2019 would qualify, and this would likely disqualify the following open class pilots who have sport class WPRS points:

Daniel Valez
Rudy Gotes
Zac Majors
Felix Cantesanu
Wolfgang Siess

Carlos Rolando Alvarado flew in the 2019 Open Class World Championships, but finished 119th. He is ranked number 1 in Sport Class. Felix finished 74th, which puts him in the top 2/3rd's. I don't know Rudy's status. Daniel finished 20th.

I've had recent discussions with Stef and others about the criteria. Stef writes:

I’ve re-read your bid. It is very clear on eligibility criteria for Sport.

As it happens, per FAI General Section of the Sporting Code, the bid is part of the rules. The bid has been reviewed by the HG Committee and accepted by the plenary. The bid’s criteria are not in contradiction with Section 7 so, really, there is not much to discuss.

But there is probably a bit for education. So please integrate the HG Committee’s discussion and be nice and convincing and we can have a wonderful competition.

Best,
Stef

Our goal with these criteria for entry into the sport class was to eliminate the possibility of an actual open class pilot entering the sport class. We did not want to see repeated what happened at the last Sport Class Worlds where open class pilots dominated. We have been very clear about this from the beginning that we would not run a World Championship if this was allowed to happen. That is what the Bureau and the Plenary accepted when they accepted our bid, as Stef makes perfectly clear.

We are now awaiting approval of the sport class eligibility criteria from CIVL.

Discuss "2020 Worlds Registration - suspended for a few days" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2019 Big Spring Nationals

Tue, Aug 20 2019, 6:16:31 am MDT

Personal bests

cart|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Mitch Shipley|US Nationals 2019

"Eduardo Fonseca" «fonseca414» writes:

Here is a quick summary of the comp after my last goal on task 3:

Task 4: Did not fly, too gusty for my comfort level
Task 5: Good tow, but didn’t get to leave the start cylinder
Task 6: Could have been a better tow, got just outside the start cylinder
Task 7: Great tow, great climbs, made goal.

Now, here are the details:

Task 4:
It was gusty, beyond my comfort level. I decided not to fly that day. Perhaps a good decision given that the treachery of the wind that day cause pilots to have two broken downtubes and a carbon speedbar. Most people didn’t make goal, and I feel I made the right decision.

Task 5:
Had the best tow to date. After so much mentoring and feedback I wanted to stick in the cart longer. As Mitch Shipley had mentioned, during Big Spring air pilots need to stick to the cart longer. There is the tendency to leave the cart once we are “lifted” by the prop wash, but there is not enough airspeed at that time to properly maneuver the glider. Thus, pilots need to ride out the prop wash, and then hold on to the hoses to the point that the keel of the glider lifts off the cart. So I did, and the takeoff was so much better. Mick had also given recommendation on how to move the body, relax the knees, and control the glider. This tow was so great thanks to being able to apply all the teachings we had received during the comp. During flight it was not easy to find lift and ended short of leaving the start cylinder. Great approach and landing, which seem to come more naturally now. However, I cannot let my guard down (stay tuned for task 7).

Task 6:
It is important to be consistent, which I did not fully apply on takeoff. After the prop wash I left too early, with just enough airspeed to leave the cart. However, I felt the harness graze the cart. Thus, not the best takeoff and need to stay in the cart even longer. The task was a 110 km flight, but just like the prior day, could not find good lift. This flight taught me the importance of always looking for a landing field, and how easy one can end up getting in trouble. Trying to find lift kept me moving towards a not-so-easy-to-land area and going to an open field was out of the question due to distance. There were two options, freak out or stay calm and deal with the situation. Thankfully, I have experience dealing with stressful and difficult situations that require quick action, so the same methodology from work was applied to the landing strategy. Given the wind direction and landing limitations, I was able to land the glider on a pipeline path that was in very similar direction as the wind. Good landing and not very difficult drive for the retrieval team.

Task 7:
Last day of the competition. 38 km NE downwind. I kept telling myself that just being able to fly is great. But how great it would be to make goal once again. We just have to wait and feel the air.

Another great tow, this time staying as long as I could on the cart. Plenty of speed for control and contingencies. Being towed by Mick, I just felt so confident staying in line and dealing with the bumpy air. Just a great tow.

Waved off in nice smooth lift. I was not sure if it just was weak lift or I lacked thermaling skills, but I could see Mynor from Guatemala just a few miles upwind going up like a rocket. I could try to fly that direction, or stay where I was. I decided to stay with my current little climb (at least I was going up). The only way I could even possibly make goal in my opinion was to capitalize on any lift I could find. Thus, I kept working the lift. I took the time to refine my thermaling skills. As I circled, I thought of the direction of the wind, the path of the glider, and how to adjust the turning radius upwind and downwind to make the climb as efficient as possible.

After 6500 ft MSL I did not look at the vario at all, I just managed the turns and listened to the beeps. After a while, I looked again and for the first time in my life I was above 10,000 ft. It didn’t really feel like it, but there I was. “I might have a chance,” I thought. I did not care if I arrived last, I just wanted to get there.

I got as high as 10,900 ft, and when I could not climb anymore, I set the VG full and went on course. Getting lower again at 6000 ft, I reduced speed and little VG in case another thermal showed up. And there it was.

Climbing once again, I prepared myself for the final stretch, taking note of distance to goal, required glide ratio (compared with current glide ratio), as well as time left on the task. It was 5:15 pm and the task would be stopped at 6:00 pm. Thus, it was time to leave the climb, set full VG, stretch my body and tuck my arms in to minimize pressure drag, and stuff the bar in.

After a couple of minutes, I was at goal. I got to goal at around 6000 ft. So happy to make goal once again.

I felt I could have gone for another 60 km, but the day had to end early due to clos9ng ceremonies. So it was time to land. Thankfully at 6000 ft there are so many options, and I picked a field in which two other pilots had landed (Pete and Max).

What’s funny about this moment for me is that as I tried to go down, lift was happening… where have you been all my life. So I stuffed the bar in, and eventually got low enough to make the final approach. Max and Pete gave me the wind direction. As I went down, I could see Max gesturing to add speed, and I was trying (he would later tell me to just keep a hand of the upright and another on the speedbar). Essentially, need to increase my airspeed, period.

Ground effect coming in, and then time to flare. There was more wind than what I had experienced the other days of the comp, so when time to flare came, up the glider went. Not so much, but it is one of those moments in which some people might think of pulling in, but instead I stretched my arms even more and waited for physics to happen. Landed on my feet, safe on the ground and with a great smile.

This was a great way to end an amazing week of hang gliding. I had dreamed of flying in Big Spring since the the Oz Report started talking about it back in 2002. Now, I have become a part of it.

As Mick has mentioned in prior occasions, the experience gained in competition flying substantially surpasses recreational flying. Not for the competitiveness, but for the learning potential. Here are some of my statistics to show you how valuable competitions can be for pilot development:

- Number of flights: 7
- Max altitude: 10,900 ft
- Max thermal climb: 5055 ft
- Number of tasks flown: 6 out of 7
- Number of tasks completed (reached goal): 2 out of 6
- Total flight time: 7 hours 14 minutes
- Longest flight: 2 hours 18 minutes
- Total distance: 131.6 km
- Max distance in a single flight: 41.8 km

Being in Big Spring has been a tremendous learning experience that far exceeded my expectations and made me a better pilot. Of course there is room for improvement, and I hope that the 2020 Big Spring comp is just as exciting and educational.

2019 Big Spring Nationals

August 19, 2019, 7:04:44 pm CDT

2019 Big Spring Nationals

The podiums

competition|Facebook|photo|US Nationals 2019

https://airtribune.com/2019-big-spring-nationals/results

Open Class:

Sport Class:

2019 Big Spring Nationals

August 18, 2019, 6:39:56 pm CDT

2019 Big Spring Nationals

Seven days, seven tasks

Belinda Boulter|CIVL|competition|Davis Straub|dust devil|Erick Salgado|Facebook|Gary Anderson|Kevin Carter|Mike Degtoff|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo

The pilots made it clear that they wanted the awards ceremony and meal on Saturday night, the last day of the competition and not on Sunday morning at brunch. That meant we had to have a shorter task or a task that brought us back to Big Spring on Saturday. With a 12 mph forecasted southwest wind, that meant a small triangle for the open class and a short downwind task for the sport class.

Today's task and flight:

https://airtribune.com/2019-big-spring-nationals/results

Task 7:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Rodolfo Gotes MEX Wills Wing T3 144 01:58:23 764
2 Willy Dydo USA Wills Wing T2C 136 02:25:16 724
3 Nathan Wreyford USA Wills Wing T2C 144 02:10:32 666
4 Erick Salgado MEX Moyes RX 5 Pro 02:13:51 663
5 Davis Straub USA Wills Wing T3 144 02:18:10 649
6 Bruce Barmakian USA Aeros Combat 12.7 02:29:35 58

Final Results:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Rodolfo Gotes MEX Wills Wing T3 144 5301
2 Erick Salgado MEX Moyes RX 5 Pro 5200
3 Bruce Barmakian USA Aeros Combat 12.7 4690
4 Willy Dydo USA Wills Wing T2C 136 4258
5 Davis Straub USA Wills Wing T3 144 4068
6 Kevin Carter USA Wills Wing T3 3919
7 Vic Hare AUS Wills Wing T3 144 3889
8 Nathan Wreyford USA Wills Wing T2C 144 3705
9 Rich Reinauer USA Wills Wing T2C 144 2510
10 Gary Anderson USA Wills Wing T2C 144 2409

Sport Class:

Erick R. Lopez won the last task with Ric Caylor second and Anibal Lemus third. Eight pilots made goal with the winner there in 33 minutes (it was a short task).

Jose Sandoval only went eight kilometers, but that didn't stop him from winning overall. Four Guatemalans in the top five.

Swift Class:

Chris won the task again by three minutes and won the meet overall.

The sky was still blue at 1 PM. The temperatures here were about 10 degrees warmer than what we have experienced in the past (104 Vs. 95). The sky has been blue instead of full of cu's reliably appearing at 1 PM. We've also not had good lift conditions until around 2 PM. There has been at least a slight inversion at 1 PM this year.

Three pilots launched at about 1:15 PM and two stayed up but didn't get high. I launched right after we saw them thermaling, and climbed to 5,200' but no higher and then lost the thermal and landed as did Willie Dydo, one of the three The wind was seventeen mph out of the south.

After a new bottle of water I went again at about 2:20 PM and now the lift was there and sustained. I went right up after the Swifts and circled with them over the airport. I circled up to about 8,000' drifting just outside the start cylinder and then went back and tagged it for the fourth start time at 2:45 PM. I was averaging a little over 200 fpm.

I almost took the 2:30 PM clock but decided to stay near or inside the start cylinder by heading back upwind against the seventeen mph wind, to just get the fourth start clock. The Swifts went with me. About six minutes later Erick and Bruce left the start cylinder late, but I was basically on my own. Rudy would take the 3 PM clock.

Five kilometers out I found almost 500 fpm to 8,300' which told me that the day was truly on. There were no cu's in the vicinity though. This can also be a sign that you'd better be careful if you think that all the lift is going to be this good.

That thermal got me to the turnpoint at a little over 7,000' Turning to the southwest, my tail wind turned into a cross head wind of ten mph. I flew almost six kilometers before I found lift down at 4,200'.

I was low and the lift was weak at 220 fpm and I could only climb to 5,800' losing distance all along drifting to the north. I pushed to the south directly into the wind getting south of the course line before once again starting from 4,200' I climbed at 300 fpm to 7,900' but north and east (downwind of the course line and back up the course line) so I had to cover the same ground again.

Heading southwest then south passing under the first cu's, which when they did not have any lift that, I continued to another cu to the south where I found 150 fpm and was heading backwards once again. I moved east a kilometer from 5,400' and worked slightly better lift until I was seeing 1000 fpm on the twenty second averager. I climbed at 400 fpm on average to 9,700'.

There was a large area of uncultivated flat lands to my southwest and toward the second turnpoint. The wind was between eleven and eighteen mph out of the south. A cu formed over me as I climbed and there were now scattered cu's out in front. I was high enough to get over the less friendly area and flew thirteen kilometers to get to the next lift three kilometers from the turnpoint. As I flew toward the turnpoint, I kept seeing wisps of cu's forming to my southwest but they disappeared before I could get to them.

When I found that thermal it took me to 8,000' at over 400 fpm. It was easy to get the turnpoint despite the 13 mph south wind.

Turning east south east twenty two kilometers from goal it looked like there were cu's ahead. Then I spotted Eric and Rudy turning and flew the four kilometers past the turnpoint to them getting down to 4,500'.

The lift was very strong, sometimes at 700 fpm and averaged 540 fpm. Though Erick and Rudy started out about 3,000' over my head I quickly gain most of that altitude up to them flying in the same thermal which was much stronger down below them. I climbed to 9,500' which gave me a 10:1 glide ratio to goal. Rudy and Erick took off about 500' above me and I went with them.

There was a ten mph cross wind going to goal. At first I was all going well and I wasn't losing much altitude, then things changed and I was losing consistently 800 fpm. My required glide was down to 7.5:1 but I was getting 6.5:1. I stopped for a dust devil and a cu above it at seven kilometers out to be sure that I had enough altitude to make it. I came in five minutes behind Rudy and Erick.

It was an incredible competition with great conditions, just what we expect from Big Spring. We held it a week later than normal, and they had rain after four months of no rain. Next year we go back to the first week of August. The only reason we held it when we did was because we wanted to have two weeks between the Worlds and our meet. That was a useless gesture which we won't ever repeat.

The task and safety committees performed brilliantly and made the competitions with their great calls. Mitch was the best CIVL meet steward we have ever experienced, by far. Belinda was a fantastic meet director and very much in charge and worked well with Mitch. Kate Griffin was a fantastic scorekeeper and tracker wrangler. She is very experienced now (Brett Janaway keeps updating the procedures so it is a task just to know what is going on.) Thor was a very calming presence as the launch director and Mike Degtoff was a great second in command at the launch. The tug pilots, Mick, Bobby, and Jim were spot on and their little cooperative of tug pilots is working great.

Thanks so much for all the help from the Big Spring Community. We could not pull this off without their tremendous support - water and free ice cream included. Thanks to all the sponsors for their prizes.

Photo by Mike Degtoff.

2019 Big Spring Nationals

August 16, 2019, 10:58:53 pm CDT

2019 Big Spring Nationals

Another incredible call from the Safety Committee

Chris Zimmerman|competition|Davis Straub|Erick Salgado|Gary Anderson|Kevin Carter|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Tom McGowan|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo

Today's task and flight:

https://airtribune.com/2019-big-spring-nationals/results

Big Spring to Lamesa to Town, 145 kilometers.

Task 6:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Erick Salgado MEX Moyes RX 5 Pro 02:31:00 776
2 Rodolfo Gotes MEX Wills Wing T3 144 02:25:57 765
3 Kevin Carter USA Wills Wing T3 02:33:31 684
4 Davis Straub USA Wills Wing T3 144 02:34:23 671
5 Vic Hare AUS Wills Wing T3 144 02:38:30 642
6 Willy Dydo USA Wills Wing T2C 136 02:39:37 625

Cumulative:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Erick Salgado MEX Moyes RX 5 Pro 4537
1 Rodolfo Gotes MEX Wills Wing T3 144 4537
3 Bruce Barmakian USA Aeros Combat 12.7 4103
4 Vic Hare AUS Wills Wing T3 144 3609
5 Kevin Carter USA Wills Wing T3 144 3542
6 Willy Dydo USA Wills Wing T2C 136 3534
7 Davis Straub USA Wills Wing T3 144 3419
8 Nathan Wreyford USA Wills Wing T2C 144 3039
9 Rich Reinauer USA Wills Wing T2C 144 2225
10 Gary Anderson USA Wills Wing T2C 144 2191

Open class:

The open class task was stopped at 5:46 PM and scored stopped at 5:31 PM. Seven pilots had already made goal. (Tom McGowan also made goal right after me but was scored incorrectly.)

Sport class:

Stopped at 5:40 PM and scored at 5:25 PM, Jose Sandoval was in the lead when the task was stopped. No one made goal. There was over-development to the west which got close to or came over the course line.

Swift Class:

Chris Zimmerman won the day.

With a forecast for strong lift, cu's, cloud base at 13,500' and 10-13 mph southwest winds we called cross wind tasks to the north. But when we launched at 1 PM it was not happening at all and almost everyone landed and went for a reflight.

When I relaunched at about 2 PM things were much different and I climbed up to 8,500'. I've been adding more layers each day after only two layers on Wednesday (which was very comfortable) with four moderate layers today with the forecast for 37 degrees at 13,500' cloud base later in the day. I don't recall us ever getting that high here before.

There were plenty of cu's after 2 PM as there had been none at 1 PM. I took the last start clock at 2:30 PM, which was the popular start time as almost everyone had to launch late for the second time.

I headed for a fat cu to the north northwest fourteen kilometers and found little lift there. It was all blue ahead so I wanted to get up from 2,200' AGL and I left 160 fpm at 6,000' heading into the blue after a disappointing climb.

Of course, there was good lift right out in the blue and I found 300 fpm to 7,900' and then 400 fpm to 8,900'. It wasn't 13,500' but it was getting up there. The wind had started out at 10 mph out of the south southeast and was now 10 mph out of the south.

I had enough altitude to find the next bit of reasonable lift at twenty two kilometers to the north northwest. I was heading for the ten kilometer cylinder around Lamesa. I headed for an isolated small cu over the canyon area that looked like it was feeding off the gullies. The sink increased dramatically as I approached the spot that I thought looked like the origin of the thermal, and that assured me that there was a good thermal there. I took 250 fpm to 7,200' from 4,500'.

With more cu's ahead I was able to climb to 8,200' at 430 fpm just before the turnpoint cylinder edge. I pushed to the west to get the cylinder and get myself lined up for a cloud street to the north. The wind was averaging thirteen mph out of the south southeast.

The cloud street was working and I was able to climb at 300 fpm and then 330 fpm and then flying straight and climbing to 9,200'. I still had not climbed high and felt the icy cold winds. Speaking of winds, the winds were now eighteen mph out of the south southwest.

For the first time I noticed the over-development and shading from the west. There was rain about fifteen miles away. I wanted to go fast to get north of the rain if possible.

Twenty seven kilometers north of the turnpoint at Lamesa I found a strong thermal at 7,600' It averaged over 500 fpm and I took it to 12,400'. It was cool up there. I was forty three kilometers from goal and had goal at 14:1 with a seventeen mph tail wind. I went on final glide.

During the final glide it showed I had about 2,300' above best glide. That value changed very little no matter how fast I flew nor how much sink or lift I encountered. I was racing the storm to the west which was producing more rain but wasn't effecting goal as yet. Mitch Shipley was at goal and he was saying it was level 1. Tom McGowan and I on the Safety Committee were flying near each other and agreed.

As I got within five kilometers of goal I no longer was losing any altitude even with the bar stuffed.

When I go to goal it was shaded as was the last five kilometers and I found nothing but lift. I had to fly to the east five kilometers to finally find some sink and get down. I assume that it was being affected by the over-development to the west.

The over-development affected the Sport Class goal much more strongly as it built to the south of our goal. Their task was stopped a few minutes earlier than ours was.

The task committee had originally set a task to Levelland to the west of the Town goal. That would have put us right through the over-development. The safety committee moved the task based on the forecast.

So far three days in a row affected by thunderstorms. The task and safety committees have been brilliant in task calling, keeping us safe but with fun tasks. The conditions here have been excellent as well as exciting. All the pilots are enjoying themselves immensely. It was great getting so high today. It was great flying the last forty three kilometers in less than half an hour.

2019 Big Spring Nationals

August 15, 2019, 7:46:27 pm CDT

2019 Big Spring Nationals

Setting the best task that the weather forecast allows

Chris Zimmerman|competition|Davis Straub|dust devil|Erick Salgado|Flytec 6030|Gary Anderson|Kevin Carter|Roger Irby|US Nationals 2019|weather|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo

Today's task and flight:

https://airtribune.com/2019-big-spring-nationals/results

Task 5:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 01:55:47 960
2 Rodolfo Gotes Wills Wing T3 144 01:55:57 882
3 Erick Salgado Moyes RX 5 Pro 02:13:02 841
4 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 02:00:22 821
5 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T2C 136 02:08:10 746
6 Nathan Wreyford Wills Wing T2C 144 02:24:56 667
7 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T2C 144 02:47:42 589
8 Vic Hare Wills Wing T3 144 02:34:51 559
9 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 144 02:37:59 544
10 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T2C 144 02:44:33 533

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 3904
2 Rodolfo Gotes Wills Wing T3 144 3772
3 Erick Salgado Moyes RX 5 Pro 3761
4 Vic Hare Wills Wing T3 144 2967
5 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T2C 136 2909
6 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 2858
7 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 2748
8 Nathan Wreyford Wills Wing T2C 144 2617
9 Roger Irby Wills Wing T2C 154 2041
10 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T2C 144 1882

Sport Class:

Five pilots made it back to Big Spring with Peter Wall winning the day. Jose Sandoval is in the lead over all.

Swift Class:

They made a task to the south. Chris Zimmerman won the day and leads overall.

The weather forecast was for over development in all directions after 4 PM. So we decided on short tasks with early starts.

There were cu's to the west and east of the airport very early and there were too many cu's to the north with cu-nimbs to the west and north at Lamesa which almost stopped the task at 12:30PM (we launched at 12:15). Mitch was on the radio to the safety committee and we said level 2 and 2.5. We were south of the airfield and in good conditions climbing to 7,400', so we said it was level 1 where we were. We were just concerned about the conditions to the north.

As we were six or seven kilometers from the top of the five kilometer start cylinder I flew up to the north at four minutes before the first start time but found weak lift down to 4,500'. I hung in it with a couple of other pilots trying just to stay up.

We stayed in the poor lift for almost half an hour until, just before the last (third) start time, the lift we were in finally turned on and we were able to climb up to 6,000' before going on glide and finding a good thermal to 7.400', nine kilometers to the north. There were no cu's near us.

The winds were light which is why we called a triangle task for the open class and an out and return task for the sport class. The towering cu's to the north dissipated and there was plenty of sun shine on the ground. It no longer was a level 2.

I was leading out in front of the other two pilots which seemed easy to do. We found 200 - 300 fpm average climbs and hooked up with Rudy for a few climbs south the the first turnpoint. The lift was improving as the day went on. We had taken the last clock at 1:45 PM.

I found a nice dust devil just before the first turnpoint where I had seen Rudy turning a bit earlier under a cu and I climbed to 7,700'. There was a much bigger dusty to the east by the second turnpoint which Rudy got into. Before I got to that dust devil I found a thermal under a small cu that averaged 425 fpm so I took it to almost 9,000'.

As I headed south on my own I could see the over development further to the west. The rest of the sky was inviting. I found a forming cu out in the blue and climbed at 380 fpm average to 9,300'. The 6030 said I had goal but it was 12:1 to get there from twenty five kilometers out so I didn't exactly believe that.

The outflow from the top of the over development was partially shading the ground between me and goal. I could see a nice little cu about half way to goal, but off the course line a couple of kilometers. I felt that there was a good chance of finding lift just going down the course line in spite of the partially shaded ground.

At thirteen kilometers from goal I found 440 fpm and took it to 7,500' with an 8:1 required glide.

I came into goal with 600' AGL and landed. The wind was light out of the west toward the over development.

The over development continued to grow and come toward us but all the pilots who made goal made it in with incident. It was just shaded and there were no thunderstorms near us.

2019 Big Spring Nationals

August 14, 2019, 9:21:51 pm MDT

2019 Big Spring Nationals

East northeast wind with low top of lift

competition|Davis Straub|Erick Salgado|Gary Anderson|Kevin Carter|Roger Irby|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo

Today's task and flight:

https://airtribune.com/2019-big-spring-nationals/results

Task 4:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 03:26:40 118.09 534
2 Rodolfo Gotes Wills Wing T3 144 03:52:45 118.09 458
3 Erick Salgado Moyes RX 5 Pro 03:57:58 118.09 418
4 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144   44.46 235
5 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3   29.02 188
6 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T2C 136   15.77 132

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Erick Salgado Moyes RX 5 Pro 2860
2 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 2844
3 Rodolfo Gotes Wills Wing T3 144 2816
4 Vic Hare Wills Wing T3 144 2421
5 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 2297
6 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T2C 136 2153
7 Nathan Wreyford Wills Wing T2C 144 1963
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 1904
9 Roger Irby Wills Wing T2C 154 1749
10 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T2C 144 1362

Sport Class:

Jose Sandoval Sandoval was the only one to make goal at 48T. He continues to lead the sport class.

Swift Class:

Didn't fly.

The forecast was for an east northeast wind, lighter than the previous day. With a huge downpour and flash flooding around Big Spring on Tuesday night we figured the lift around the airport to be very poor. That proved to be the case.

The wind was sixteen mph northeast just south west of the airport so that made things even worse. Our task was to the west northwest given the forecast for lighter and east northeast winds.

I was circling with Bruce and Kevin as we climbed at 170 fpm. That thermal got us to the edge of the start cylinder just in time for the first clock at 3 PM. We joined up with Roger Irby and Rudy Gotes and climbed to 6,800' just outside the start cylinder.

After a short weak climb we headed north northwest to try to get on the upwind side of some shallow lakes. Roger Irby landed and Bruce and Kevin thermaled downwind of the lakes. I pushed further up wind and found better lift at 345 fpm and after a while they came and joined me. We lost track of Rudy.

We climbed back to 6,800' and headed again to the north northwest cross wind in order to go toward the turnpoint at 48T. We stayed above 5,600' climbing to almost 6,000' and hooked up with Rudy. I was able to find lift by pushing up wind to the northeast when after I felt any lift.

The lift gave out for a while and down to 800' I found lift near a very strong gas flare. Rudy came back to join me and Kevin landed. Bruce was behind us and climbing. We were only able to get to 5,600'.

There were now little cu's popping along our cross wind course line so we could fly to them. I found the next thermal and Rudy joined me but it was only 100 fpm. We had lost Bruce who was high and behind us. We only climbed to 5,700'.

Rudy stayed back as I raced to get under the next thin cu, but got low and had to work it back up to 5,300'. The lift was broken up near the top so I went for a cu just forming up wind of us. It didn't work and I soon landed.

Rudy and Bruce were able to make it around to goal with Erick coming later.

I should have been more conservative and not tried to chase cu's. The lift down low was broken and ratty.

2019 Big Spring Nationals

August 13, 2019, 11:54:10 pm CDT

2019 Big Spring Nationals

Dealing with the forecast for no lift later to the south

Chris Zimmerman|competition|Davis Straub|dust devil|Erick Salgado|Gary Anderson|Greg Chastain|Kevin Carter|Roger Irby|US Nationals 2019|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo

Today's task and flight:

Today's forecast for lift at 5 PM:

The task committee set a task with a eighteen kilometer radius around the airfield at Rankin so that we didn't have to go over a territory full of pump jacks (oil wells) to get to the airfield. It also helped that it kept us away from the likely over development.

https://airtribune.com/2019-big-spring-nationals/results

Task 3:

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 01:41:50 874
2 Rodolfo Gotes Wills Wing T3 144 02:05:34 777
3 Vic Hare Wills Wing T3 144 02:05:22 776
4 Erick Salgado Moyes RX 5 Pro 02:07:18 742
5 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 144 02:03:44 631
6 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T2C 144 02:11:01 628
7 Roger Irby Wills Wing T2C 154 02:23:03 624
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 02:32:55 566
9 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T2C 144 02:36:34 544
10 David Proctor Wills Wing T2C 154 02:40:47 481

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Erick Salgado Moyes RX 5 Pro 2442
2 Rodolfo Gotes Wills Wing T3 144 2358
3 Vic Hare Wills Wing T3 144 2335
4 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.7 2310
5 Kevin Carter Wills Wing T3 2109
6 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T2C 136 2021
7 Nathan Wreyford Wills Wing T2C 144 1877
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 1669
9 Roger Irby Wills Wing T2C 154 1663
10 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T2C 144 1276

Sport Class:

Six pilots in goal with Jose Sandoval winning the day. Jose is now back in first place overall.

Swift Class:

Greg Chastain landed short and now Chris Zimmerman is in first place after making it back to the airport.

With an unusual north northeast wind at launch we launched from the south part of the taxi way. There were no cu's around at first at 1:30 PM. There was good lift just southwest of the airport and I was able to get to 7,400' with half a dozen other pilots. When that lift ran out twenty three minutes before the start window opened I headed back toward the airport and then north to a cu when I didn't see anyone climbing near the airport.

The cu quickly disappeared and I chased a remnant of a dust devil further west to hook up with what remained of it after it disappeared also. That set me up alone north of the course line at a little less than 7,000' for the 2:30 PM start.

To the south the area of forecasted zero lift was already filling up with cu's. There were a few wispies along our course line. The forecast said that we wouldn't get too high, maybe to 8,000'.

I found a couple of good climbs but twenty kilometers out from the edge of the twelve kilometer start cylinder I was down to about 1,000' AGL. I was able to work 250 fpm back to over 6,000'.

There had started to be a few scattered good looking cu's about so it was easier to find the lift. Lots of cu's starting and disappearing quickly.

I kept an eye on the vast area to the south where the thick cu's were forming. They were far enough away that I couldn't see their shadows. They did not look dangerous. There seemed to be a limit on how high they went.

I found a nice set of cu's and was able to climb to 9,200' under the dark bottoms. They were still pretty small. I continued to stay northwest of the course line.

The wind changed from lighter northeast to stronger east northeast. This pushed me further to the west of the course line. I also was following the cu's which were more to the west of the line.

There was a mix of possible landing areas and lots of areas with not such great landing opportunities below. I had already been low so I didn't want to do that again.

Twenty kilometers out from the goal cylinder I chased after some little forming cu's and when those didn't work I flew to the area where I had seen a dust devil when I was a few kilometers to the north. Down to 900' AGL I found that there was good lift under some forming cu's that got me back to 6,000' which was enough to get over a large patch of unlandable area and to goal over a super big cultivated field.

I landed with the areas in shade further to the south but plenty of sunshine where I was. It looks like the task committee called a good task given the conditions.

The thunderstorm did hit Big Spring around 8:30 PM with flash flooding.

2019 Big Spring Nationals

August 12, 2019, 11:37:18 pm CDT

2019 Big Spring Nationals

Air sick

Bobby Bailey|Tom McGowan|US Nationals 2019

We take a bit later launch than originally planned as the pilot meeting drags on a bit so the launch is at 1:30 PM (half an hour before Sunday) and the start window at 2:30 PM. After all the relights on Sunday pilots are a bit reluctant to go right away, but we see the first few sticking so the open class pilots are all off in half an hour.

The cu's do start late with a few at 1:30 but more at 2 PM. Bobby Bailey tows me up and before we get to the end of the taxi way to the south he's bank up and I hang on as best I can. I  go around with him twice and then pin off at 1,700' AGL. I work that thermal with lots of pilots coming over to join me to over 10,000'.

It's still a few minutes before the start window so we mush around in light sink before heading out at 2:30 PM at about 9,400'. The wind is averaging 7 mph out of the south west. Our turnpoint is to the northeast. There is a big turnpoint radius around Fish at eighteen kilometers and then the course goes north to Jayton airfield.

About eight of us start off together high and head up the highway toward Snyder to the east north east. The optimized course line will take us right over town and right over the sport class goal. We climb to 10,600' nineteen kilometers from the edge of the start cylinder at almost 600 fpm.

After that I struggle with weak lift and not getting high for the next fifty kilometers as the wind turns from southwest to south at 16 - 18 mph.. Down to 5,000' I get too hot (too much clothing) and get nauseous. I check to see if it is heat stroke or air sickness, but I'm still sweating so it's air sickness. I keep flying as it is not overwhelming as it has been two other times.

I climb to 9,400' just before Snyder over the airfield that is the sport class goal. East of Snyder the land mass changes from open fields to canyon lands. I have to go cross wind to get to the turnpoint eighteen kilometers from Fish. I find another thermal twenty two kilometers out from Snyder at 400 fpm to 8,500' but then it all gets worse as I continue to fight with the air sickness.

I'm six kilometers north of the optimized course line and  work my way south southeast to get back toward the optimized waypoint on the eighteen kilometer radius turnpoint. I'm soon down to 2,000' AGL working weak lift and drifting to the north away from the optimized turnpoint. I go back south and back up the course line to try again and it doesn't get  any better. I'm over the canyon lands low with a few landing options that present difficult retrieves.

I was three kilometers from the turnpoint but low and not willing to go cross wind across unlandable area to go further east to get the cylinder. Taking lift I climb to over 6,000', still relatively low but now six kilometers from the turnpoint and it's upwind. All the lift I find under the fast moving cu's is weak.

I push again upwind to get under the best looking cu and there is nothing there. I'm drifting away from the turnpoint. There is no reason to continue and I'm ready to land as I feel pretty ill.

I land near a paved road and fortunately I can contact Tom McGowan who has landed near Snyder and is in the retrieve vehicle not far away. I curl up on the ground under my glider not having moved it since I landed and go to sleep. I can't stand up. Tom and Dave Proctor break down the glider for me as I rest in the air conditioned truck.

The field is full of stickers and our shoes are covered with them.