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topic: gaggle (39 articles)

Gaggle - Live Tracking »

Wed, Sep 21 2011, 8:36:54 am MDT

Gaggle

I'll have it on

Davis Straub|gaggle

http://www.livetrack24.com/. Click on Davis Straub.

From yesterday:

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Gaggle - Oops »

Mon, Sep 19 2011, 7:39:33 pm MDT

Gaggle

Forgot to turn it on again

gaggle

I'll try to remember tomorrow.

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Gaggle - testing it at the Santa Cruz Flats Race »

Mon, Sep 19 2011, 9:07:33 am MDT

Live Tracking

Gaggle - testing it

Davis Straub|gaggle

http://www.livetrack24.com/. Click on Davis Straub.

I forgot to turn on the phone on the first day, but you should be able to follow my flights starting with day 2 (Monday) at the URL above. I'll be using Gaggle running on the Samsung Galaxy S on the ATT network.

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Sportavia International Open

Wed, Jan 25 2006, 10:23:31 pm AEDT

Sportavia

The winds die down and the smoke from the bush fires comes over.

gaggle|smoke|Sportavia International Open 2006|towing

I don't get to goal today, but fifteen pilots do. It's a 145 kilometer task to the southwest with a northeast wind which is light on the ground but over ten mph up above. The tows are easy and straight forward for everyone today with the light winds and we are all off before the start start time.

I launch early and find 600 fpm at 1,000' AGL to 5,700'. There is plenty of sun light over the air strip, but not so much over the start circle centered 15 kilometers to the south west. A bunch of us go over there and still find lift under the smoke and an hour and fifteen minutes later take the last start gate from 25 kilometers away from the towing area from 6,000' under smoke filled skies.

It's a bit of a scratch but a good number of us hang close by and work with each other as we head southwest. I don't get below 3,000' for the next hour nor above 5,400'.

I head off on my own being on top of my gaggle, knowing that there are four guys just out in front beyond the visible range. I pick up a nice thermal, get back to 4,000' and head for where I see the guys ahead turning over the darkest fields that we've come across so far on the task. I go right to where they were turning, right over the fields and find nothing. I soon land going over one dark plowed field after another. I think that error was concentrating too much on visual clues.

Results may be late, perhaps not till tomorrow.

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Dutch Open

Mon, Aug 1 2005, 6:00:01 pm GMT

At Greifenburg

Dutch Open 2005|gaggle|GPS|Hans Kiefinger|Koos de Keijzer

Koos de Keijzer «kdkeijzer» writes:

Hans Kiefinger is doing well at the Dutch Open in Greifenburg. The first day he was the fastest, but missed the first turnpoint by 5 meters because he had forgotten to put his GPS back on 5 sec interval:-( But today with task 2 he is the fastest again). Read his report:

"The conditions were OK on the first day, but cloudbase was low at 2100m. I started very early, but I was not in the perfect position at first start gate. I was too low, so I waited for the second start at 13.30. I hoped that cloudbase would rise as well, but it did not.

We flew at cloudbase most of the time. Then just before the second start gate I hit a very nice thermal with Harry Renders. It was a really fresh and strong one. Harry and I managed to get to 2400 on the border of a big cloud. It was very beautiful.

Harry and I started together. We were flying just on the right side of the cloud to the first waypoint. Then I lost Harry. I turned to go back to second. I was always high, just slowing for lift. On glide I flew 70-75km/h, in lift I slowed down to 50-55.

On the whole leg to the second turnpoint I made only two turns and they were not even needed. At the second turnpoint I caught up with lead gaggle that started at the first start gate.

After the turnpoint I went back to the mountain and found good lift. Then I had to slow down a bit, it was not so good any more. Halfway at the height of Greifenburg I was forced to take slow lift, just 1 m/s. There I lost a few minutes.

At Stator I found 4 m/s lift and got up to 2300 m. This was good enough for final glide. I just had to cross the valley to the last waypoint. Then at goal was really surprised to find Koos (de Keijzer) there, I did not see him all the time. I really thought I was the first pilot today. I flew the task in one hour and thirteen minutes, Koos was 6 minutes slower but he took the first gate."

For results, foto's and clips look here

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Flytec Championship - day four »

Sun, Apr 25 2004, 9:00:00 pm GMT

It's another great day of flying in Florida.

Flytec Championship 2004

The results are posted here: http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_04/index.html

Tim Meaney is having problems with the newest version of CompeGPS, so the results are coming out very slowly. The results are way behind and there are many problems with them. Much of what you see onthe web site is wrong.

The winds are beginning to die down, so we call a task that almost gets us back to Quest. It looks like starting tomorrow we can call triangles and out and returns. We do call a task around and a bit over the Green Swamp, so everyone gets a good look at the place and the lack of landing areas.

Everyday Dr. Jack's forecast and the FSL call for maybe wispy clouds at the most, still we get nice thin clouds every where early on and they are working. It sure seems that the weather models have a tough time getting the clouds right when they are thin.

The task calls for us to head southwest to the intersection of Rockridge and highway 98 just to the south of the Green Swamp, then we head northwest to the GA airport at Inverness. This puts us over the Green Swamp again but also over the open farming areas to the west of the Green Swamp.

We've got a 18 mile entry start cylinder set around the intersection, which puts the start area south of the Seminole sailplane port. With the east wind, we are pushed near the Green Swamp at the start but we are high so it's no problem to jump across and head south through open area.

The first gaggle is packed with a dozen gliders until we race into the intersection and suddenly after getting reasonable lift it all gives out and Jim Yocom and I are searching over a four square mile area of 10 fpm at 1,600' trying to find 100 fpm.

It takes a while to recover from this disaster as we move into better lift and work our way out of the hole that we've dug for ourselves (in this case Jim Yocom, Ron Gleason, Jamie Shelden, and I). Ron goes out over the swamp and stays over 5,000' for the rest of the flight to goal.

Jim Yocom and I head out to the west, get low and climb back up in weak lift. I get impatient, leave for better lift and go down. Everyone else waits it out and gets up and to goal.

It looks like most pilots do make it to goal. It's pretty blue by the time the flex wings make it there around 4:30 PM.

Mario Alonzi is leading the flex wing pilots. Here's a photo by Tim Ettridge.

The local is notified when we start showing up at the airport and the chubby photographer comes out and starts taking pictures.

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Flytec Championship - day nine »

A tough day, made that way by the task committee (on purpose).

competition

Sat, Apr 24 2004, 7:00:00 pm GMT

A.I.R. ATOS|A.I.R. ATOS VX|Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Aeros Ltd|Alex Ploner|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|cloud|competition|Eric Paquette|Flytec Championships 2004|Flytec Championships 2005|gaggle|Jacques Bott|Johann Posch|Just Fly|Kraig Coomber|Manfred Trimmel|Mario Alonzi|Ron Gleason|Swift|tandem|Worlds 2004

The results will be posted here: http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_04/index.html

We are back to east winds again like for most of the meet. The winds are forecasted to be higher at higher elevation, up to 19 knots. It also looks like the clouds will be thin or not there at all. The top of the lift is forecasted to be 7,400' with lift at 640 fpm, so it should be strong and high enough to come back into the wind.

We hold everything back half an hour as there are clouds forming and we want them to fill in a bit. The rigids will start at 2 PM and the flex wings at 2:30. The clouds do start to look good just on the north side of Quest.

The flex wing contest is very tight with Mario Alonzi in first by less then 40 points over Oleg Bondarchuck. Both these top two pilots are flying Aeros Combat L's. Of course, Bo who won yesterday, is flying the Aeros Combat 2 (not the L). So this day could determine who wins the meet.

The rigid wing contest is not particularly tight (for first at least). Alex had hoped to be 1000 points ahead so that he could go tandem on the AIR ATOS VX today, but he was only 600 points ahead of Worlds Number 1, David Chaumet, on the Tsunami. Alex has won every task. Ron Gleason has a chance to move into fourth behind Eric Paquette (see below), if he does really well today.

We get reasonable climbs to cloud base at 5,000' staying out of the fourteen mile start circle centered around Kokee, 19 miles to the west, northwest. One flex wing, maybe Chris Chris Zimmermann is the only one to go with us, unlike Bo the day before. The rest of the flex wings will wait until later to start.

I'll go down early missing the second thermal, so I'll get a chance to see how the rest of the crew does waiting at goal. Alex Ploner is the first pilot in, with Mark and Brian closely behind him (starting fifteen minutes later). After a bit of a wait David Chaumet comes in, followed by Jacques Bott, Eric Paquette and later Ron Gleason. Then it is a long time until Kurt Schumann gets home and a long time later Johann Posch. The question remains whether Ron will gain enough points to pass Johann for forth.

Now it is time to wait for the flex wings to make it. The sky has been washed clean of clouds for the last hour, but Alex says that he find plenty of lift on the way home. He said he struggled getting to the second turn point, but the guys who came along a little alter timed it perfectly and had clouds form out in front of them as they made it to the second turnpoint to the north at Coleman.

The winds were switchy out on the last leg into Quest from Coleman. So it wasn't as hard making it in as we had thought.

As we break down Alex's VX, we catch site of four flex wings coming in low and fast. In the lead is Oleg Bondarchuck, with Antoine right behind, followed closely by Kraig Coomber and Brett Hazlett. These four are the first gaggle and they are a good ways in front of the next group that includes Mario coming in low and fast just over the trees.

It looks like Oleg has been able to grab the lead back from Mario. It looks like for the first time the Aeros Combat has been the glider selected by the top two place finishers in a major hang gliding meet (outside the Ukraine, that is). Congratulations to Oleg, Mario, Bo, and the folks at Just Fly and Aeros.

The new AIR ATOS -VX, with the very excellent Alex Ploner piloting, it has proven to be the glider to be in in light conditions. It is still not clear what he will be flying at the Worlds in the Alps. Manfred Trimmel won the first day at Bassano in a VX.

Alex, Christian, ad David Chaumet have to be the top favorites at the Worlds coming up in six weeks. Alex and Felix will have an interesting decision to make.

Brian Porter has been flying a very heavily customized Swift with a much smaller cage. He will be flying this in the Worlds. Will this be enough to beat Manfred? We'll see.

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Flytec Championship - day eight »

Fri, Apr 23 2004, 9:00:00 pm GMT

A trip around the swamp.

competition

Flytec Championship - day eight

Aeros|Aeros Combat|Bo Hagewood|cloud|CompeGPS|competition|Flytec Championships 2004|Flytec Championships 2005|gaggle|Jim Yocom|Johann Posch|Kraig Coomber|Mario Alonzi|Mark Mullholland|photo|record|Ron Gleason|Tim Ettridge|track log|Vince Endter|XC

The results will be posted here: http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_04/index.html

Not the complete task, but you get the idea:

http://olc.onlinecontest.org/olcphp/2004/ausw_wertung.php?ein_kl=107&olc=holc-usa&spr=en&dclp=d541cda3b5bfd158c1613bcacda1b61e

After our long downwind task yesterday to set a new record for competition in Florida, we decide on a more difficult task in very light wind conditions, an eighty one miler (130 km) around the Green Swamp. The forecast for lift (600 fpm) and cloud base (6,000+) are good so we are willing to go far. The east winds are strong on the coast at the buoy's, but it sure looks like it will be lighter inland.

The winds have been blowing on the east coast all night, and in the morning they are still blowing at 9 AM when we have our task committee meeting. It's a concern, because yesterday the winds were stronger than predicted and when we saw that we changed the task.

There are clouds overhead and I notice that they are not moving at all. So we go with the light winds forecast. When I go back later and check to see what happened during the day at the buoy's, sure enough the winds had died down starting around 11 AM, going to zero in the afternoon.

There is good lift right at Quest and we climb out at an average of 400 fpm to cloudbase at 5,200.' There are cu's every where and I can see Johann Posch, Vince Endter, and Bo Hagewood on an Aeros Combat thermaling to the northwest by the edge of the start cylinder. I head over there and climb up as they head out for the 1:15 PM start time, the first start time.

The winds are very light, and the cloud at the edge of the start cylinder stays fixed, so it is possible to thermal in one location for fifteen minutes at cloud base and not drift down wind at all. Jim Yocom, Christoph, Alex, and David Chaumet are about a mile to our south near the Green Swamp, also waiting for the second start time.

Ron Gleason, Eric Pacquette and I are circling around waiting for the start time and trying to stay out of the clouds. The lift is light enough that it is not too difficult.

We're all off at 1:30 toward the first start point at Kokee, fourteen miles to the west. The clouds ahead are ragged, although I have to go around the cloud we were circling under as I had actually climbed up one side of it and needed to stay clear going on course.

Ron and I will fly together as Eric is a bit lower. We'll find ragged lift under the few clouds going to the first turnpoint, but enough to keep us interested. We'll find 500 fpm 4 miles from the turnpoint and the track log shows absolutely no drift in the thermal at all as we climb to 5,700'.

Johann has apparently moved his hang strap forward too much and can't slow down the glider. He later says that we pass right over him at the first turnpoint as he is down to 300'.

We can see Jim Yocom. Alex, David, and Christoph, just ahead of us and we get to pick out better lines as we evaluate their glides on the way to the second turnpoint at Fiddle, 10 miles to the southwest. We are catching up with them as they stop in weak lift for a few turns.

Jim gets low going into the second turnpoint and runs southeast over a big shaded area. Ron suggests that we turn and head east to get to the good looking clouds over the Green Swamp. Our next turnpoint is the sink hole at the intersection Rockridge and highway 98, 24 miles to the southeast.

The lift is good over the Green Swamp and Ron and I continue flying together. It looks like we are out in front now. Jim Yocom is low in the shaded area and lands near Dade City trying to keep up with Alex and David.

Flying to the east of Ron a bit I have to go back to get the lift he finds first and he gets three miles ahead after climbing to cloud base in 600 fpm. He is nice enough to tell me where it is, so I'm also quickly there and racing after him.

Seven miles out from Rockridge at 98, Ron find lift under most likely Vince, and Alex David and I join him, trying to get as high as we can before we head for the intersection. Eric Pacquette comes in underneath us, Brian has passed us on the north side, and Mark Mullholland will also join us.

The lift is crummy as always at the intersection but we are down to 3,000' so we take what we can get. After climbing slowly to 4,000 we head out toward the next turnpoint at highway 474 and 33.

There is a cloud street with thin but new clouds forming (it appears) heading upwind due east. There are more clouds to the north. On course line there is a blue hole for a long ways until some clouds way to the northeast.

I decide to take the cloud street to the east, Ron goes on course line with Eric and Mark following. I continue down the cloud street and do not find any lift.

Ron and his followers get low out in the blue but find some lift and get back up while I land at a very pleasant sod farm. Alex and David got up better just before Rockridge and are high going across the blue hole.

Ron has two more low saves then gets up good when he reaches the turnpoint on highway 33 at 11 miles out. He is able to go on glide from there from 5,000' and make goal easily.

Alex, David, Vince, Ron,. Eric, and much later Johann make goal (at least). Then we all sit down and watch to wait for the flex wings. But Bo has also made it to goal beating his flying partner, Vince, and now he's hoping that he has won the day.

He started at 1:17 and his flight will just be shifted to make it as though he started at 2 PM. So he has to hope that it takes the lead gaggle longer to make it to goal than it took him flying with Vince.

Bo crossing the line and grabbing the money bag. Photo by Tim Ettridge

We wait and wait, and then finally we see the flex wing lead gaggle coming in fast and low. It's Oleg in the lead, with a harness that he doesn't seem to be able to unzip, and Antoine just a few seconds behind him.

Mario Alonzi comes it soon after along with numerous French team pilots and Kraig Coomber. About fifteen flex wings will make it to goal.

It looks like Bo has won the day, although we can't tell for sure as we don't know when everyone started.

Although you wouldn't know it from the scores posted on the Flytec web site there is a very tight race for first place between Mario and Oleg. (Tim Meaney really is disgusted with the new version of CompeGPS. The previous version was much better according to him.)

Flytec Championship - day five »

Tue, Apr 20 2004, 8:00:00 pm GMT

Flying in Florida is just about as much fun as it can get.

the competition

Flytec Championship - day five

Alex Ploner|Bo Hagewood|CompeGPS|competition|Flytec Championships 2004|Flytec Championships 2005|gaggle|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|photo|Ron Gleason|sailplane|Steve Kroop|Tim Ettridge

The results will be posted here: http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_04/index.html

Task and Flight:

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olcphp/2004/ausw_fluginfo.php?ref3=4130&ueb=N&olc=holc-usa&spr=en&dclp=d541cda3b5bfd158c1613bcacda1b61e

For the fifth day in a row we have approximately the same forecast for lift (570 fpm) and height of the lift at 2 PM (5,200'). One difference is that today the winds are predicted to be light out of the east, down to eight knots or less. The other difference is that it looks like the clouds will be very few and very thin, if at all.

What we I don't find in the forecast and we don't see until later are the cirrus clouds that come over around 11 PM and reduce the solar heating and therefore the lift values. The task committee meeting at 9 AM calls a 90 mile task with an 80 mile secondary task, assuming the conditions will be similar to the previous day, although we are concerned about the forecast for no clouds.

When the cirrus clouds come in we drop back to the secondary task and then back even further to a shorter version of the task. It's south south east over Wallaby Ranch to a little grass air strip across from the Wal-Mart on highway 27, then back up to the northwest to Dean Still and highway 33, then straight north back to Quest along 33.

The times get pushed back also as we assume that the day will turn on a bit later, so the rigids will start at 2 PM. The lift is light right over Quest so we spend a long time thermaling up to 4,900'. All the rigid pilots are huddling together given the truly dim prospects out on the horizon with a few miserable looking cu's scattered about under the cirrus and a pronounced visible inversion starting at about 5,000' (just as forecast).

We creep out to the start cylinder circumference and all get the start time about fifteen minutes late. This will give the flex wing pilots a chance to catch us as their first start time is half an hour behind ours, and now they are only fifteen minutes behind us. They can also start early if they want.

We continue to cautiously proceed along the course line with no one wanting to take any great chances and lots of gaggling to find the needed help to make it along without any thermal markers. Five miles northwest of Wallaby Ranch we hit a good one and I climb up with Johann to 5,500'. Johann and I do on a seven mile glide spread out to find lift south of Wallaby that gets us out in front and makes us very attractive to the flex wings and the previously leading gaggle of rigid wings.

We don't find much lift going into Gore, a little grass airstrip just northwest of Haynes City and there isn't much going out of there either, so we have to work light stuff just to stay in the air. I'm in contact with Ron Gleason and he's gone out ahead now and is getting low approaching Dean Still with the lead gaggle, so I hold back and work 100 fpm before heading out to find them low and circling, but in good lift.

We're back in the strong lift regions when we get back to highway 33 and Dean Still. The lead gaggle including the fast flex wings are there, so we climb up to over 5,500' and head north from 16 miles out.

At 10 miles out I've only lost 800 feet in the last six miles and I'm zooming over the sailplane port. My required glide ratio has decreased from 14 to 1 down to almost 11 to 1 and it's looking pretty good.

The top guys in the lead gaggle are also on glide in front of me, and they've got about 500' on me. Ron is right behind about a mile and a half and at 5,000'. All I'm looking for is average moderate sink, but as I get lower the required glide ratio stops dropping, and I'm no longer 1000' over best glide line. My L/D goes to pot under 2,000'.

I come in at about 600' over the last good looking landing field 1.3 miles before Quest unwilling to take a chance on going through the trees. Right after I land, Ron comes over my head at 400' then hits 200' of lift just past me, climbs enough to make it 50' over the trees and into Quest, 30' past the goal line.

Alex Ploner wins the day again with Dave ("Show me the money"} Chaumet in second. It's been pretty consistent.

Krzysztof Grzyb will fly the longer secondary task, come in late, and miss goal by 50 feet. The spectators at Quest will see Bo Hagewood disappear behind the trees, then pop up and over them into the slot at the south end of the field, then glide in ground effect for hundreds of yards to make the goal by fifteen feet.

There are many pilots who make goal, though the times are way spread out, with many pilots coming in much later.

The new competition version of CompeGPS seems to be in terrible shape and Tim is having to do pretty much everything manually. One example, they could see my flight from a few days ago in the folder with all the other flights using Windows Explorer, but CompeGPS could not see it. Tim is use to beating this buggy program into submission, but now it is paying him back for all the bad things he says about it.

The ground conditions are superb here at Quest, the best ever, with lots of heads up coordination from the Quest regulars handling all the volunteer effort. There are absolutely no dramas with the rigid wing towing, and that gets us out of the way of all the flex wing pilots and makes it easier and quicker for them to get into the air.

Some times you forget when everything just goes like it should that a lot of people have to think and work to make it happen that way. Steve Kroop told me that he was feeling very relaxed as he had such knowledgeable help from Flavia, Drew, and Mike.

GW Meadows filming the action. Photo by Tim Ettridge.

Flytec Championship - day three »

Sun, Apr 18 2004, 8:00:00 pm GMT

It's a blue day with a few wisps that give us the dots for us to connect.

competition

Flytec Championship - day three

Alex Ploner|cloud|competition|Eric Paquette|Flytec Championships 2004|Flytec Championships 2005|gaggle|GPS|Jim Yocom|Mario Alonzi|Ron Gleason|trike

The results are posted here: http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_04/index.html

Saturday's flight:

http://olc.onlinecontest.org/olcphp/2004/ausw_fluginfo.php?ref3=3924&ueb=N&olc=holc-usa&spr=en&dclp=d541cda3b5bfd158c1613bcacda1b61e

Sunday's task and flight:

http://olc.onlinecontest.org/olcphp/2004/ausw_fluginfo.php?ref3=4002&ueb=N&olc=holc-usa&spr=en&dclp=d541cda3b5bfd158c1613bcacda1b61e

The high pressure ridge which set up on the first day of the competition from the Gulf of Mexico out to the Atlantic off the Carolina coast will apparently be with us through at least Thursday, so we'll have east winds for a good number of days. The winds fortunately are not so strong that we can't call a task and accomplish it.

We again decide to go north west of Ocala for a cross wind task, because unlike yesterday the early clouds thin out and we get only a few wisps to provide an guidance. We also add a south leg cross wind into goal at Dunellon.

Dunellon is a huge sparsely used airfield built during World War II. It was raised out of the nearby swamps, so it is high and dry.

As the clouds thin out before the launch pilots are worrying about whether there will be any lift out on the course line. Didier comes to me to see if they should change the flex wing task.

Most of the rigid wing pilots are in the air already, but I'm waiting as David Chaumet and Alex Ploner seem to go near the end of the launch time. With strong winds and no clouds I figure why get going early when it is likely I'll be blown down wind. Besides maybe I can stick with Alex and David. And, besides, on the last two days we've had big problems with GPS coverage to the east over the cell tower, and I want to stay away from the area.

The trike pilot pulls me right to a wisp of a cloud to the east and I start climbing in 200 fpm. I just hang in there as who knows where there is any other lift. Soon Alex, David and Johann come in under me and we all slowly climb out.

I'm sticking with Alex and David if I can and we move north to try to stay as far east as we can. The entry start circle starts ten miles out, and there is no way that we are going to make it there at 1:30. Still most of the rigid wing pilots are down wind and low. I'm with the top two pilots, so when they start will be good enough.

As we move north, Ron Gleason and Jim Yocom are still over Quest trying to get up. Alex and David are 500 feet over us. Eric Paquette, Johann Posh and I were together just below them and that is where we would stay.

There were very few wisps of clouds to the north as we approached the start circle circumference. Everyone was being very cautious given the lack of visible thermal markers. We all stay together even though the three of us are below.

Just before the prisons (there are four of them now) a few miles south of the turnpike, I follow Alex on a seven mile glide to the next cloud north of the prisons. It's 500+ fpm from 1,500'.

Soon it will be my turn, as I also take a seven mile glide from the turnpike to the spot where I can see the next clouds forming and find 600 fpm from 1,500'. Eric was following behind me and everyone else was holding back but come to join me when they see what I've got.

The day has really turned on and even though there are very few clouds we are getting confident. We can keep track of Alex and David above us as we start racing in the strong lift not taking any long runs getting low.

Fifteen miles out from the north turnpoint Eric trailing Johann and I finds much better lift and gets above us. Johann misses a thermal and gets behind. We are all spread out now as we approach the turnpoint to the north. I can still keep Alex, David and Eric in view.

The flex wings launch behind us and have three start times starting at 2 PM, after our 1:30 PM start time. Given the tough conditions at launch no one is up and able to take the 2 PM start time.

A few get the 2:15 start, and the rest have to settle for the last time at 2:30 with only a few pilots in good position. They all quickly gaggle up given the conditions and cautiously work their way north.

They'll all stay together until five miles before the north turnpoint when Mario Alonzi finds a good thermal and gets above everyone. Mario will stay high around the turnpoint and head back south toward goal.

Alex will get to goal first, followed shortly by David, then Eric, me, and fifteen minutes later Johann. The Swifts will come in just behind me.

Alex Ploner at Quest

Half an hour later Mario will come in and later about fifteen flex wing pilots will make it in.

Flytec Championship - day two »

A cross wind task to Williston.

competition

Sat, Apr 17 2004, 9:00:00 pm GMT

A.I.R. ATOS VX|Alex Ploner|cloud|competition|Flytec Championships 2004|Flytec Championships 2005|gaggle|Garmin GPS|Ron Gleason|Steve Kroop|Swift|tug

Results at www.flytec.com

The winds continue out of the east, but the clouds start early, although they don't last all day. Yesterday, the un-forecasted clouds started late and lasted late.

Trying to match the day before we on the task committee call for later start times, when earlier would have been just fine. We also call a task over in the western part of the state to get away from the winds, but later change it to a cross wind task to the north northwest to Williston airport, 68 miles.

The ground and tug crew is very efficient and with the rigids going first, we are on the carts and out of there in a big hurry. We get completely out of the way of the flex wings, and everyone rigid is up in the air together.

The winds are about 15 mph out of the east up above, and the lift is streeted up, completely organized in lines. The clouds are marking the streets and there is no lift in between the clouds when you press north. The smart thing to do, which the Swift's did, would be to drive north to the northeast north of the seven mile start cylinder, but we rigids drift downwind to the western edge and huddle there waiting for the 2 PM start time.

This is a bad idea because there is apparently a cell phone tower near highway 50 seven miles from Quest. So there we are watching our GPSes and combined instruments and the cell tower is causing all sorts of havoc with our GPS signal reception. I lost GPS tracks for eight minutes yesterday when by happen stance we were at the same spot also. It goes out for fewer minutes today but I have to fly away back into sink to get a reading.

Steve Kroop writes about the track logs from yesterday:

I sat down with Tim Meaney (the meet scorekeeper) and looked at several 5030 track logs as well as track logs from Garmin and MLRs and we found something interesting. There were a lot of gaps in the track logs of all of the units and they were predominantly in two places along the route.

There were small gaps with all units at other places but the most of them were in these two places. It seems that there were three 5030s that had several minute outages at these locations (one was Davis’).

Just before the start window opens Ron and I run upwind to get a reading on our 5030's away from the cell phone tower. All the rigids were together near cloud base until then, but Alex Ploner on the ATOS VX is highest.

After the start window opens everyone is still hanging around climbing slowly as it looks blue to the north and no one wants to take the lead. Finally Alex and a few others head out as Ron and I climb back up to get high enough to join them. Alex stays sinking high and finds the lift first which gets him even higher.

The rest of us work the weak lift that we have to in the first thermal over the hamlet of Center as that's all there is to work. Ron and Johann tire of this ratty pathetic stuff and head north northeast only to find themselves over the forest at 800 feet. Alex has moved way ahead.

With the winds strong out of the east, we have to jump from street to street to find lift. We have to be sure to get high enough to make it to the next street and that means drifting downwind in weaker lift if necessary to get high enough.

There are plenty of clouds, but they are mostly thin and ragged. It's hard to find one with any mass to it, anything with a blacker bottom. They come and go in a few minutes. There also are extended gaps between the streets as apparently the lakes to the east influence the thermals downwind. The air down low is broken, but the smoothest thermals are the strongest ones.

The start gaggle has splintered and I will pretty much fly the task on my own which is true for most folks. Just south of Ocala, it turns on, or I finally find the real lift that has been there all along, and climb to 6,400'. It is cold up there.

The clouds are getting even thinner and on the long glide I don't find lift under the next cloud street, which will mean I come into the next one low and have to struggle for forty minutes to go eight miles, much of it low to the ground and downwind. Ron Gleason who was five miles behind me will get high and miss this particular struggle.

I finally find 200 fpm and get to 4,000' ten miles out when I hear from Ron who has now made goal that there is plenty of lift near goal. Yes indeed, just when you don't need it there is more lift then one can deal with and it gets us to goal.

As I'm landing, parachutists come in to land in the same field. I move over to next field to stay out of their way. We know that the airport a mile to our west is a drop zone, but apparently they also land at this field and just wanted to come in to say hello. Thank goodness that no one was orbiting around the goal.

As we break down the gliders we see the flexies coming in with Oleg leading the way. They were obviously flying close together as about fifteen all come in within a few minutes of each other, the first four within a few seconds of each other. Thankfully no GPS interference at goal as there is no goal crew.

So far two good flying days in Florida. No ill effects from the lakes to our east on conditions at Quest as we climb right out in good thermals.

Discuss "Flytec Championship - day two" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Flytec Championship - day one »

Fri, Apr 16 2004, 3:00:00 pm EDT

We're off to a great start.

www.flytec.com

Maybe the results are up there now.

We've got a few days of east winds and with the forecast for onshore flow on the west coast, we figure that the ticket would be to go to the west, downwind, and then fly over there in the convergence or at least lighter winds. The competition pilot survey calls for somewhat earlier launch than we've been doing lately, and with the forecast for no clouds, it means the rigids, which start earlier than the flex wings, may have a tougher time.

We start launching at 12:45 for a 1:30 Pm start time. The flexies have three 15 minutes intervals starting at 2 PM in order to keep the classes separate.

Alex Ploner got his ATOS VX last night and it looks great in the air today. He climbs right to the top. There are three Tsunami's also flying with us. We all climb up together to 4,000 as the flexies get ready to launch.

There are a few wispy cu's which were not in the forecast over launch, and later the clouds will fill in just before the rigids got to goal. The task is to head down wind 32 miles to to Chin, and then south southeast 25 miles to Zephyr Hills airport. We put a five mile goal radius around the airport at the last minute as they were doing big drops there and there was supposedly a lot of air traffic due to Sun 'n Fun.

Didier Mithun, from France, Kraig Coomber, and I are on the task committee and we'll have our hands full finding places to land for the next few days. There are plenty of little grass fields throughout Florida, but it would be nice to have permission to land at them. I flew over one today that had a sign mowed in the grass pointing toward Sun 'n Fun.

Jamie Shelden had an exciting flight today as she was at 3,400' when her pip pin on her corner bracket came out enough to release her side wire on her ATOS. By unintentionally stalling the glider at 1,400' she was finally able to grab the wire. Then she very carefully circled down holding the wire and landed in the big field below her.

Jamie getting ready.

After the rigids got out on course and found the strong easterly winds, the flexies started lining up. We had a twenty five mile entry start circle, so you have seven miles from Quest before you hit the start circle.

Despite the lack of clouds , there was reasonable lift to 4,000' and all the rigids struck together. Even the Swifts would come back and join us. It was gaggle flying. Take no chances flying. This is what happens with the race start in a place like Florida on a blue day.

Ten miles out from the first turnpoint, I break away with two other pilots, who then chicken out and turn back - must have been the force of gravity emanating from the gaggle. I press ahead over a long stretch of trees finding lift and doing okay. Some folks find lift to my north, ninety degrees to the course line, but I foolishly don't join them. Pressing on, as they climb, I'm down to 700', three miles in front and scratching at the turnpoint. I go from the front to the back as I dig my way out of the hole I've dug for myself.

Christian from Air has fixed up my ATOS and I am loving it. I had been really disliking it over the last few weeks, and he has turned it around completely. It actually has a little bar pressure now, which is quite reassuring.

The wind is still out of the east even over on the west side of the state. There are clouds forming up just too far away to get right to them, as they are upwind. Pilots are struggling against the wind to move southeast toward the goal. As they get close to the goal circumference, they get to the clouds and lift becomes plentiful, especially after they make goal. I unfortunately press too hard to catch up and land short.

Now with the sky filling with clouds the flex wing gliders start coming along the course line and find plenty of lift to get most of them to goal.

Brian in the Swift crosses the goal circumference at 4,000', and is able to work his way back to Quest to land, Junko in her Swift also tries to make it back over the Green Swamp and lands in a wildlife sanctuary along highway 471, the only road through the swamp.

Discuss competition at the Oz Report forum

The 15th Annual Pre-Worlds 2004 - day five, task three

Mon, Jan 19 2004, 5:00:00 pm GMT

Pre-Worlds 2004

Results (thanks to Dave Seib) at:

http://www.moyes.com.au/preworlds2004/

Attila says forget about getting dinner if he is on the task committee. With the winds 10-15 kph out of the north-northeast, we call a 150 mile (242 kilometer) task south-southwest to Victoria and the Bendigo gliding club. Everyone seems up for a long straight out task, so why not.

The last time we had a task like this and we made it to goal was at the previous preworlds when Mad Dog was the meet director and he wanted to average 100 mile tasks. The lift got me to 11,000' on that day under a beautiful cloud street, but today we are forecast to get to 7,000' and it will be blue.

Being on the task committee interferes with getting into the launch line but I weasel my way in and am off third. I'm thinking that maybe the earlier start clock is the go at 1:30 (first start clock) or 1:45. I'm rushing everything to get ready and actually input the task coordinates while I'm on the cart.

Grant pulls me into 900 fpm, but the other pilots around me in the start circle seem to have poor lift and nothing is really gelling yet. I launched at 1:15 and see a couple of pilots out by the start circle circumference at 1:30, but that seems like a thin crew to go with. With poor lift in the start circle after my first climb the pilots are bobbling up and down waiting for the next start time. A few more take the 1:45.

A group of pilots heads for the edge of the circle just before the 2 PM start time and they find a thermal that drift us outside the start circle, but not far enough that we can't get back and take the 2 PM start time. Another group of pilots including the fast guys will wait and go back for the 2:15.

I'm a bit low at the start, and with a radio that will not allow me to transmit, so I head south-southeast to get near the highway to Denniliquin, which parallels the course line. There are ten or fifteen pilots in our group so it looks like I might have company. Jonny Durand has gone off my himself further upwind to the east of the highway.

With pilots out in front from the earlier start times and those who were higher at the start gate there are good markers heading down the highway. We're getting to 5,500' AGL and moving along at a good clip leaving the lift whenever it gets a bit weaker.

I'm noticing that I can't easily adjust the Litespeed VG. It has been hard before, but now I have to shake the glider to get the VG off. I also have to pull the cord across my body with my left arm to get the VG to go to a little past half way. I'm wondering what the problem is as I decide to keep the VG on at about half way and try not to mess with it.

At 80 km from the start the highway does a bit of a jog to the south east and I head out on my own over the dirt roads to the southwest paralleling the course. Yesterday I left my buddies to my great regret. On that day I already had 15 minutes on them, and if I had just stayed with Lenny I would have either won the day or come in second. The difference is that on that day I was acting on pride thinking that these guys were too slow for the likes of me. Today, it just seems like the lift is good and I'm moving in the right direction.

I'm crossing the creek six kilometers west of Waganella, and just getting light lift as I glide south-southwest. It's not enough to turn in, but it's great just to be in lift while gliding. Makes me feel good about my decision to go off on my own. Jonny Durand is to my east also on his own. No fast guys to go with him.

As I glide in the lift I hit a strong core and climb to 7,000' in the best thermal of the day so far. After that invigorating climb I'll go on a 20 kilometer glide and start searching seriously for lift at 3,000' AGL. The Edwards River is up ahead and that means trees along the river. I know that I have to find lift before I cross the trees not because I won't be able to make it over the trees, but because I won't be able to concentrate on finding lift if I also have to think about crossing the trees low.

I am searching and searching finding small bits at 1,500' and heading toward some paddocks that extend further south before the tree line hoping to extend my search before coming to the trees. I circle low in broken loft always searching when I'm finally in the last paddock before the trees and I find lift at 700'. Without a working radio, I've got to make it to goal.

I saw some pilots behind me when I first climbed out to 7,000'. Now after my low save I see three of them to my west more on the course line. I come in under them and the lift is decent to almost 7,000'. I've been on the course for over two hours now and am averaging about 55 kph.

Up ahead I can see the trees that mark the Murray River and that is the line that we cross to get from New South Wales into Victoria. The trees are to our right, west, and in some place they must be 5 kilometers across or more. Further south they appear to be thinner, and that's where I'm heading.

I can hear Bo Hagewood and Kevin Carter on the radio 15 to 20 kilometers behind me. Kevin also started at 2, but Bo took the 2:15. Bo is near the fast guys who took the 2:15 clock. It looks like in spite of my low save I'm progressing along well enough.

As I approach the trees from the east, I can see a few other pilots who are also heading south near the tree line heading for the thin spot to get over them. I come in over a red plowed field and climb out to 7,000' again. Nick, from Switzerland, and another pilot will come in a few thousand feet under me and I get high a few kilometers before the trees.

There is a small gaggle a few thousand feet below me as I head out over the trees. It looks like the fast guys are about 10 kilometers behind and I'm high and on my own. I find a good thermal in the brown fields just on the other side of the river so at 75 kilometers out from goal at 5:15 and right on the course line it looks good for getting there.

A couple of pilots come in under me but too far below me as I climb in this thermal to 6,000', so I'm on my own again going to goal. It will remain that way.

I head off to the west a bit to get over some red plowed fields as I get low and have to search again at 1,500'. I see a few little wisps of dust devils over the field, which is a good reason to go to such a field that can display the lift, drive upwind to them and climb out.

I'll have to repeat that little maneuver one more time to stay up. Meanwhile to my east the fast guys will be finding better lift and catching me as I grovel low in search more over the red fields. Bo and Kevin will be flying together and with the fast guys.

It's a slow climb out 24 kilometers from goal to 5,000', but then it looks like I can go on final glide. It's after six o'clock and I'm looking at a 15 kph tail wind, with buoyant late day air over open fields. There is some sink heading for goal, but at 15:1 L/D required to make it, I can float along until I get close and then dive in.

The last two slow climbs cost me the chance to get in early. Jonny Durand flew the whole flight on his own and won the day. Gerolf landed early.

My average L/D over the flight was 17:1, so you know that the tail wind was a big help.

On landing at goal, I had Jonny look at the glider to see what was wrong with the VG. There was a rope that had jumped out of the pulley and was jammed between the pulley and the clamp holding the pulley.

When I was setting up net to Jonny in the morning at the tow paddock. I had mentioned to him how the Climax VG was much more user friendly, easier to pull, less rope. He stated that that was fine, but he had heard that Rohan had had a problem with the rope jumping from the pulley, so there were problems with the Climax VG, implying that there weren't with the Litespeed VG.

I guess God heard him and punished me by having my rope jump off the VG and then having Jonny find it. I spoke with Rohan at goal and he said that it did happen to him once on the Climax in Brazil and that it was on a prototype setup. Kraig and Jonny were very helpful and took that glider to be fixed. Again, I found something that no one had found before. I'm wonder now if this has been my problem with the VG being hard to pull (part of it being user unfriendly) all along.

Task 3:

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

1

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Durand Jon Jnr.

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:00:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:00:48

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:48

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

977

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bondarchuk Oleg

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aeros Combat 2 13

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Ukr

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:07

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:07

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

961

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

3

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Hazlett Brett

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Can

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:08

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:08

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

955

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Coomber Kraig

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:24

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:24

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

945

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

5

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bader Lucas

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Deu

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:32

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:32

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

939

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

5

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Hagewood Bo

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aeros Combat Ii 150

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Usa

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:32

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:32

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

939

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

7

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Barthelmes Oliver

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Deu

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:39

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:39

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

930

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

8

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bosman Mart

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Nld

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:40

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:40

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

927

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

9

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Hideaki Nagamitsu

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed 4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Jpn

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:56

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:56

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

918

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

10

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bares Radek

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aeros Combat

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Cze

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:16:03

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:01:03

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

912

Totals after three days:

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

1

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Hazlett Brett

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Can

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2804

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bondarchuk Oleg

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aeros Combat 2 13

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Ukr

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2745

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

3

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Durand Jon Jnr.

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2696

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Coomber Kraig

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2665

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

5

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Holtkamp Rohan

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Airborne Climax 13

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2609

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

6

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Steve

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S5

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2535

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

7

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Barthelmes Oliver

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Deu

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2428

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

8

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bares Radek

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aeros Combat

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Cze

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2332

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

9

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Durand Jon Snr

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4.5

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2328

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

10

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Orgler Andreas

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aut

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2238

Oliver Barthelmes «oliverbarthelmes» sends in this shot of a tow in the dust at Hay:

Discuss "The 15th Annual Pre-Worlds 2004 - day five, task three" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The 15th Annual Pre-Worlds 2004 - day four, task two

Sun, Jan 18 2004, 5:00:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Airborne Climax|Dave Seib|gaggle|Len Paton|Moyes Litespeed|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|Pre-Worlds 2004|tow|Worlds 2023

Results (thanks to Dave Seib) at:

http://www.moyes.com.au/preworlds2004/

The winds die down to 20 kph out of the south with gusts to 30 kph. The winds higher up are lighter so there is a chance that the winds will die down further. We call a 182 kilometer task to the north to the airport an Ivanhoe, a favorite spot with a turnpoint at Booligal.

The lift is forecast to be good, but stop at 6,000' for a blue day. Given the long task, I'm up for leaving at the third clock at 2 PM hoping to get to Ivanhoe at 5 PM (assuming a 60 kph average). I'm able to get in line a little early and get pulled up third. Bo is at the back of the line, and Kevin gets up at the same time I do in the Moyes line. The fast guys are waiting for a later start.

There is good lift in the tow paddock, but the launches are slow and with the wind there are few gaggles. The early guys gaggle up and head for the the start circle circumference 15 k away. Some of us head back to wait out the fast guys on the ground.

Not much is happening over the tow paddock and I begin to wonder if the fast guys are ever going to tow or gaggle up. I drift out to the start circle and get the 2 PM clock following the early guys by fifteen minutes hoping to use them as markers.

It's a slow go at first in the no man's territory going to Booligal, the first turnpoint. Everyone is happy to be together to get up to 4,000'. I'm thinking that we've got to get going as fast as possible. The fast guys have got to be up over the tow paddock by now.

Ten kilometers out from Booligal I catch Len Paton and Ilan Sallm and the lift is improving as we head into the turnpoint. Now I've got a bad attitude. I just want to fly as fast as possible and I'm thinking that these guys are going to slow me down.

I just can't see them as my friends and after taking the turnpoint I head out on my own in front away from the road and toward the goal. I've been right here before and I'm happy to go over this territory to hook up with the road later.

As I climb up Lenny comes in under me but when we again get back up to 4,000' AGL, he heads back a bit to get over some of the other pilots climbing up below us and I head on toward goal.

It's 120 kilometers from Booligal to Ivanhoe, and we are moving along at 100 kph when we are on glide. It's dangerous out here alone in front, but I'm feeling that the lift has turned on.

I'm down to 1,800' 90 kilometers from goal and climbing good when Len and Ilan come in over me and I climb up to them at over 5,000' AGL.

We head out with Len in the lead. We've left all the other early pilots behind, and it's a question of just how fast we can go. We keep hitting lift and staying high spread out and searching.

Len stops for 200 fpm, but I press on in front for better and fly all the way to the ground. Len and Ilan stay up and soon pass over my head 60 kilometers out.

Ilan will land 3 kilometers from goal and Len will find just enough to make it in. A pilot that we left behind will find better lift and get into goal first.

The fast guys will come in over my head in one gaggle of twelve pilots about a half hour after I land. They'll make goal as will a good bunch of folks.

Results:

Task two:

1

Heinrichs Gerolf

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aut

14:30:00

17:29:36

2:59:36

911

2

Orgler Andreas

Moyes Litespeed S

Aut

13:45:00

17:03:25

3:18:25

867

3

Bondarchuk Oleg

Aeros Combat 2 13

Ukr

14:30:00

17:32:50

3:02:50

858

4

Keijzer Koos De

Icaro Laminar Mr 14

Nld

13:45:00

17:04:59

3:19:59

855

5

Hazlett Brett

Moyes Litespeed S4

Can

14:30:00

17:33:31

3:03:31

849

6

Barthelmes Oliver

Moyes Litespeed S4

Deu

14:30:00

17:34:57

3:04:57

832

7

Durand Jon Jnr.

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aus

14:30:00

17:35:53

3:05:53

823

8

Moyes Steve

Moyes Litespeed S5

Aus

14:30:00

17:36:39

3:06:39

815

9

Seib David

Moyes Litespeed S5

Aus

14:30:00

17:37:20

3:07:20

808

10

Paton Len

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aus

13:45:00

17:15:16

3:30:16

807

1

Hazlett Brett

Moyes Litespeed S4

Can

1850

2

Bondarchuk Oleg

Aeros Combat 2 13

Ukr

1786

3

Durand Jon Jnr.

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aus

1722

4

Coomber Kraig

Moyes Litespeed S

Aus

1722

5

Moyes Steve

Moyes Litespeed S5

Aus

1703

6

Holtkamp Rohan

Airborne Climax 13

Aus

1702

7

Bussinger Diego

Moyes Litespeed S

Che

1528

8

Keijzer Koos De

Icaro Laminar Mr 14

Nld

1510

9

Barthelmes Oliver

Moyes Litespeed S4

Deu

1504

10

Durand Jon Snr

Aus

1491


Oliver Barthelmes «oliverbarthelmes» sends this collage of shots from Hay:

Ben’s Big Air Club

Sat, Nov 8 2003, 3:00:00 pm EST

Dragonfly|gaggle|golf|Ground Skimmer|landing|magazine|sport|Sport Aviation|tow|towing|trike|USHGA

https://OzReport.com/toc.php?7.252#1

Ben <dskydawg@msn.com> writes:

Our club is on a cattle farm and this pays for the up keep of the land grass cutting fertilizer, etc. The dues now are $50 annually for $10 tows to 2500’ and $20 tows for pilots who just fly now and then. We have eight members now most are hang 4’s but one new pilot that's a hang 2 that we let fly in no wind conditions. We all enjoy helping him with our experience.

My farm is hilly so landings can be tricky on cross wind days so all members need to have good landing skills for mid day flying and novice pilots can fly in no or little winds that line up with the 1500’ runway. All members need to sign a waver to fly and be a USHGA member.

I have been towing with a trike for eight years and two years with a Dragonfly. We have three other members that are excellent tow pilots on both the Dragonfly and trike and we will all be ready when it’s required to have a Sport Aviation license.

I started this club so that my friends and I would not have to spend as much time driving to the mountains which are 3 hours each way. There we would get maybe two hours flying time, if the winds cooperate.

I've been flying for twenty eight years and joined the U.S.h.G.A. in 1975 when the magazine was Ground Skimmer. I am a charter member and have seen a lot of friends come and go through the years mostly because of family reasons (spending too much time away) or because of the long drive to the mountains. They don’t fly often enough to be comfortable on cliff launches or have anxieties on landing approaches so they don’t enjoy their flight as much as if they were more current. A few years of this and they lose interest in the sport.

Some of our members have families and they come by and fly for an hour or so and head back home in time for supper and quality time with there families. I think this is the key for growth in our sport, accessibility. If you look at it like golfers, go play a few rounds and head home. Golf courses are every where.

If we had airparks near half the major cites in the U.S. think of the possibilities. So I think the more clubs the merrier and hope that pilots in Atlanta area and east Albama will come by and fly and anyone else that likes to fly hang gliders because nothing else makes me happier than seeing a gaggle of gliders above my farm except me being in that gaggle at the top.

Discuss "Ben’s Big Air Club" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2003 US Nationals – Paris wins flex wing championship »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

false

Paris at Big Spring at the US Nationals

Paris flying the Aeros Combat 2 at Big Spring

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

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

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

More on the US Nationals in a later issue.

Flex wings day seven:

0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt">
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Name

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Time

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Total

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1

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COOMBER Kraig

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Moyes Litespeed

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2:11:28

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

930

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2

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WILLIAMS Paris

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Aeros Combat 2

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2:16:35

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920

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3

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HAMILTON Robin

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Moyes Litespeed 4

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2:12:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

909

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4

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VOLK Glen

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Moyes Litespeed

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2:17:20

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906

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5

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HAGEWOOD Bo

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Aeros Combat 2

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2:18:13

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891

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6

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WARREN Curt

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Moyes Litespeed 4

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2:12:56

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888

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7

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LEE Jim

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Wills Wing Talon

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2:13:31

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876

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8

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ROSSIGNOL Jerz

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Aeros Combat

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2:16:50

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833

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9

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BLOOM Phill

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Wills Wing Talon

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2:23:09

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779

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10

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ZIMMERMAN Chris

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Wills Wing Talon 150

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2:23:58

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

771

Cumulative

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Place

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Name

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Glider

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Total

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1

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WILLIAMS Paris

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Aeros Combat 2

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5929

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2

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WARREN Curt

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Moyes Litespeed 4

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5715

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3

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COOMBER Kraig

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Moyes Litespeed

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5662

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4

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VOLK Glen

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Moyes Litespeed

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5566

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5

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HAGEWOOD Bo

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Aeros Combat 2

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6

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HAMILTON Robin

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Moyes Litespeed 4

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5324

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7

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LEE Jim

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Wills Wing Talon

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5245

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8

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SAUER Rich

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Icaro MRX

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5073

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9

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ZIMMERMAN Chris

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Wills Wing Talon 150

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4916

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10

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ROSSIGNOL Jerz

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Aeros Combat

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4895

Rigids on day seven:

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1

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STRAUB Davis

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AIR Atos C

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2:11:42

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1000

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2

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BOWEN Campbell

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Flight Design Access

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2:23:41

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840

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3

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BURTON Richard

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Icaro Stratos

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2:30:59

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775

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4

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YOCOM James

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AIR Atos C

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2:31:06

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765

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5

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GLEASON Ron

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AIR Atos

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2:38:16

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710

Cumulative:

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Place

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Name

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1

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BARMAKIAN Bruce

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AIR Atos C

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5804

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2

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ENDTER Vincent

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Icaro Stratos

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5504

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3

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SEABERG David

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Icaro Stratos

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4991

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4

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BOWEN Campbell

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Flight Design Access

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5

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STRAUB Davis

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AIR Atos C

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4673

Swifts:

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1

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PORTER Brian

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Aeriane Swift

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4627

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2

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MULHOLLAND Mark

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Aeriane Swift Lite

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4548

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3

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NAKAMURA Junko

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Aeriane Swift Lite

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4428

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

2003 US Nationals – courage on a blue day »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Flex wings:

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

Cumulative:

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

Rigids:

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

Cumulative:

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

Swifts cumulative (30 points separate them):

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

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

Tails and DHV

Mon, Jul 14 2003, 2:00:05 pm EDT

aerotow|Australia|BHPA|certification|Christof Kratzner|Dale Branham|DHV|gaggle|injury|John Vernon|spin|tail|video|Worlds

John Vernon <johnv@emvertec.demon.co.uk> writes:

Got the numbers myself from Mark Dale at the BHPA and also understand an incident report has been recently received. . What the numbers, which I believe also apply to rigids, mean basically, is that the DHV test is more demanding than the others because it specifies a minimum torque which means aspect ratio does come into the reckoning.

So we are left with the conclusion that the glider that tumbled

a) Was tested to the most rigorous standard

b) Met the standard by a factor of two in the set up in which it was being flown

c) Was fitted with a V-tail

d) Was being piloted by someone who reacted correctly to the situation he found himself in (he had seen a video of spin recovery the previous night I understand)

And yet the glider still tumbled. As far as I know this is the second incident like this with a glider fitted with a V-tail (you reported an event in Australia when the glider recovered)

We know of Atos's that tumbled without tails, e.g. Christhoff Kratzner in the middle of a gaggle in Spain in the Algodonales Worlds, your incident, now we are having incidents with tails, thankfully so far without injury.

Lets be clear, not only is an incident like this life threatening to the pilot, but also to other pilots in the same thermal.

It is interesting to note that other British pilots in Spain at the Aerotow camp reported conditions as similar "to a British Autumn" and on the day in question "choppy but not what you'd call rough." Felix himself was observed by pilots flying near in the same thermal, thermalling at speeds which appeared to be below those recommended.

The original pitch stability curves were drawn up based on known glider parameters when glider performance and design was going through major improvements. We are now at a point in the evolution of our aircraft where the aspect ratio has been increased by a factor of nearly two, almost overnight, and surely "first of a kind" thinking must be applied not only to aspects of the glider design which has enabled this progress, but also to the parameters from which they are given their certificates of airworthiness.

It is my belief that it is incumbent on our certification authorities, in the light of these continuing incidents, to thoroughly review the standards that are the basis of the c of a and let us, the pilots, know about their deliberations and recommendations before we find out the hard way that we should have taken action.

(editor’s note: What John seems to keep overlooking here is that flex wings are tucking and tumbling also and they meet the same standards. I assume that the standards mean that unless you meet a particularly mean invisible dragon you will likely not flip.)

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Competition Formats / Start times

Thu, Jul 3 2003, 3:00:03 pm EDT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|Angelo Crapanzano|cloud|collision|competition|Europe|FAI|gaggle|game|GAP|GAP 2002|Gerolf Heinrichs|GPS|Ivan Twose|midair collision|power|Richard Walbec|scoring|Thomas "Tom/Tomas" Weissenberger|weather

Angelo Crapanzano <angelo@metamorfosi.com> writes:

The pre Europeans is over and it was a good competition. The weather was varying but good overall and Richard Walbec was a very good meet director plus all the crew was friendly and willing to help (thanks a lot to everybody!) Unfortunately we lost what we discovered had been the best day ever in Millau: in this day a local pilot got up to 4700 m (15500 ft) while most of the competitors were blocked on takeoff by an unpredicted strong side wind.

This day Federico Bausone waited, ready for takeoff, for over one hour and fifteen minutes (with nobody pushing, of course), then the task was cancelled because there was not enough time for all the pilots to get the start gate. Fifteen minutes later the wind started changing and in half an hour it was perfectly straight but most pilots already packed the gliders :-(

As far as I know Millau was, both last year and this one, the only international competition using the GAP 2002 at "full power" (i.e. with the Leading bonus calculated from the actual tracklog of each pilot). Despite the scoring explanation was published besides the daily score, there were several questions on it; probably because pilots like to ask instead of reading and possibly because they know I like to answer.

I had the feeling pilots did like the idea of the Leading bonus when they exactly understood how it works (to know more have a look at my webpage www.metamorfosi.com and click on the GAP icon). On the first day Betiño did perfectly show how the leading bonus works: he started 15 minutes before the first gaggle, flew always on his own well in front of everybody but landed 4 km short of goal. Despite he was not in goal Betiño got the biggest leading bonus on that day to reward his early flying.

On another day Tom Weissenberger and Alex Ploner were for most of the task in front of the leading gaggle trying to escape but, just before goal, got stacked and the leading gaggle flew above them to goal. Alex and Tom got goal shortly afterwards with, of course, a worse time and less speed points but the leading bonus allowed them to reduce the loss of points as a reward for leading for most of the flight.

During the comp there was some discussion about start systems. Except on the last day, where it was set a pure race with single start for everybody, Richard always set a multiple start (mostly with 15 minutes interval but once 10 minutes and once 30 minutes). There was also a debate (mainly between Gerolf and me) about using a multiple start for everybody, except the first 20 in the general standing forced to get the central start.

This proposal come out because many top pilots prefers races but it was not felt safe to have 110 pilots taking the same start. Top pilots like races because it's more fun, they can fly in the same conditions, it's easier to know how one is doing compared to the others and it's also easy to control the opponents because everybody has to start at the same time.

I was strongly against this proposal because to set a different start system to some pilots compared the others is almost like to set a different task. All pilots in a competition are supposed to play the same game with the same rules but if we force the first 20 pilots in the total ranking to take a single start while the others can chose, we could end up with the same tracklog giving different points depending if the pilot was placed 20th or 21st.

To make it clear let's make an example with five starts every 15 minutes, from 14:00 to 15:00, but top 20 pilots have to start at 14:30. If a pilot placed in the first 20 is late and only manages to start at 14:45 he will be scored as he started at 14:30 while if he's not in the first 20 he will be scored as he started at 14:45. This means the same tracklog would bring to quite a different score and, in my opinion, this is not acceptable: all pilots are in the same competition and must play with the same rules.

Somebody says the priority on takeoff for the best scored pilots is already a different rule but I don't agree: it's just a "courtesy" - on the ground - to the pilots which are fighting for the top positions. Once in the air every pilot must follow the same rules!

Of course I do perfectly agree races are a lot of fun and easier to understand for everybody but, unfortunately, the risk of a midair collision gets quite high if there are too many pilots and there is an easy to get cloud base. The multiple start was invented after at the preworld in Ager '94 we ended up with 180 pilots waiting for the tarp in the same thermal for over half an hour: we were lucky enough not to have a midair collision but it was a nightmare!

Unfortunately it looks that pilots and organizers are too conservative and always want to do the same thing: in Brazil only races while in Europe only multiple starts but, in my opinion, in both cases it's not the best thing to do.

Let's analyze our possibilities: we can use three different start cylinders:

- start on Exit

- start on Enter without achieving the turn point inside

- start on Enter plus achieving the turn point inside

we can use four different in flight start time systems:

- Race start

- Free start

- Multiple start

- Open start. These, combined, give us 12 different options: some bad some better but, several, simply different.

Let's speak first about the start cylinder.

- Start on Exit Most pilots and organizers in hang gliding are used to the Start on Exit: normally it's a 5 km radius start cylinder centered on takeoff, where pilots have to be inside the radius just after start time. Pilot start time for scoring purpose is thus last exit from the cylinder (rounded to the previous start time interval which is usually 15 minutes). This system will somehow reduce the crowding only if the radius is quite big.

Unfortunately there is always a single optimum point where all pilots are likely going to met. With the Start on Exit pilots have to make a GoTo to takeoff then, after start, make a GoTo to the next turnpoint or activate the route which, depending on the GPS used, may require to press several buttons.

- Start on Enter without turnpoint inside this is mostly used in paragliding: Start is usually the first turnpoint and the pilot has to be outside of the start cylinder just after start time, then goes in and can immediately go for the next turnpoint without going to the FAI 400 m cylinder at the centre. This is not much different from the Start on Exit because there is still an optimum point where to make the start. However there are some problems calculating the correct task distance (Takeoff-StartCircumference-TP1) which shall be used instead of the distance calculated by the GPS (Takeoff-StartCentre-TP1).

- Start on Enter plus turnpoint inside this is the system we mostly use in Italy since this season and was often used at the pre Europeans in Millau: usually the start is the first turnpoint, with a big enough radius to have the start at a reasonable distance from takeoff. The pilot has to be outside of the cylinder after start time then has to go to the FAI 400 m cylinder at the center.

With this kind of start the pilot has to remember the start radius (which would be different on each day) but will only have to make a GoTo to the first turnpoint or just set the route. In this case pilots can, theoretically, spread along the whole circumference because any point of the start circumference is at the same distance from the turnpoint at the centre. Of course there would be better places than others depending on ridges, thermals and wind, but is undoubtedly more likely to get the pilots spread than with the other systems.

Giving this analysis, except possibly on some quite particular cases, the Start on Enter plus turnpoint inside should always be the preferred start cylinder: has no disadvantages, it's safer, gives more flight options to the pilot and it's the easier to handle with the GPS.

Now let's go to the start time systems.

- Race start this is for sure the simplest one: there is one single start for everybody. It's a lot of fun, everybody knows if he's doing good or bad and it's easy to understand both for pilots and spectators (are there any?). Pilots will fly in the same conditions and the fastest one wins. The pure race reduces the chance of a lucky start time but also eliminates the possibility to choose a better one.

This system gives to a pilot who wants to recover no options except to try to escape from the first gaggle by flying very fast and gives the pilot which is leading the competition the possibility to better control his opponents. The race will put all pilots at the start cylinder at the same time. This could be extremely dangerous if there are too many pilots and especially if cloudbase is too easy to achieve.

Of course there are systems to reduce the crowding which, in a proper day, could allow to make a safe race even with lots of pilots: should be a good day with good thermals and ceiling to spread pilots vertically, but little no clouds, start cylinder should be on enter plus turnpoint inside and wind should be at an angle to the Takeoff-StartTP direction to help the spreading along the start circumference. Start should also be reasonably far from takeoff (about 15 to 20 km) to reduce the crowding because some pilot would already bomb out and others would be late or low. Taking these expedients it would be possible to make a Race even with lots of pilots.

- Free start looks very simple and easy to handle but is totally unused: with this system the pilot start time is the last time he crosses the start circumference. Top pilots would need to wait forever (and bottom pilots would wait for them to go) because the best tactic is to wait for your opponent to start, then follow him after a few minutes and catch him. Being the tactic the same for everybody, all pilots will wait until it's almost too late to complete the task. This system is unsafe because we'll end up with lots of pilots waiting for a long time. Moreover we'll also waste the first part of the day and everything will end up later.

- Multiple start it's right now the most used system in hang gliding. Normally start interval is 15 minutes and there are 3 to 5 starts (half an hour to one hour). Pilots crossing the start circumference are scored as they started at the previous start interval. It reduces the crowding by spreading the pilots into several starts. Multiple starts also allow good pilots to play different tactics from his direct opponents to recover some places: one could start earlier and fly on his own to get more leading points or one could start later and fly fast by using the pilots in front. This system proved to be well suited on most conditions but this doesn't mean it should be the only one to be used.

- Open start this used by sailplanes and is a good option in some cases. Let's say start is open from 14:00 to 14:30. Every pilot starting while the start is open will be scored according to the last time he crossed the start circumference, while pilots starting after 14:30 will be scored as they started at 14:00.

With this kind of start is likely that several pilots will start as soon as they get cloudbase but the top pilots cannot afford to have their opponent starting just after so would likely wait for the start closing (14:30 in the example). If a good pilot has to recover he could risk to start on his own at start opening (14:00 in the example) and go for the leading bonus. In my opinion the start should, almost always, be 30 minutes long: shorter it would be useless and longer would oblige the top pilots to wait too much.

This kind of start is very useful in case of too much crowding (low and easy to get cloudbase for example) because most pilots would go away as soon as they are high and only the top ones have a reason to wait (but they are the ones which could handle the situation better). The Open start gets, practically, the same results of "forcing" the top 20 pilots to make a race (but using the same rule for everybody) but still gives a top pilot which wants to recover the option to play a different tactic from the others.

Conclusions: analyzing start cylinders format we ended up with the start on enter plus turnpoint in centre to be clearly better than the other possibilities but, speaking of start times, there is not a better one. We have to exclude the Free start but Race, Multiple and Open start have advantages one over the other depending on clouds, ceiling, wind and flight area. In my opinion it's simply wrong to use always the same system: all of them should be used depending on which one is better in the given day. They also test different pilots abilities and that's why, possibly, all these start systems should be used within the same competition: as a minimum it's more fun than playing always the same game :-)

Speaking about testing different pilots abilities, I've designed a system to be able to score an X-MAX task, with GAP scoring, within a normal competition. This way we'll test new pilot's abilities: to be able to find the best route and to correctly judge the day and himself (please don't tell me it's a matter of luck because I bet would be always the same in front…). Ivan Twose had not yet enough time implementing this but I'm sure it would be tested in Italy before the end of the season and would be ready next year.

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Midwest Regionals – sunshine, cu’s, goal finishers

Fri, Jun 13 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Airborne Climax|altitude|Bubba Goodman|Campbell Bowen|Carl Wallbank|cloud|competition|Dave Brandt|gaggle|James "Jim" Lamb|Jim Lamb|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Moyes Litespeed|Paris Williams|photo|polar|Rik Bouwmeester|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|safety|sport|tail|Terry Presley|triangle|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Talon

http://www.flytec.com/mwregionals

Check out the animated track logs (click “Top Tracks” - you have to wait for a few minutes for them to begin animating).

Check out the photo gallery (http://flytec.com/mwregionals/gallery.html)

While it has been great fun flying in overcast conditions here in Whitewater, Wisconsin (half way between Milwaukee and Madison in southern Wisconsin) today we were actually blessed with sunshine. While it has been a while since we’ve seen that luminescent orb during the flying part of the day, we quickly adjusted ourselves to the prospect of calling a task and having pilots actually make it back to goal.

There was a low pressure centered off to our southwest with an east/west front in Illinois. We could see the upper level clouds from the front overhead as the task committee met. The one o’clock BLIPMAP showed weak lift, and very low cloud bases but the 3 PM FSL chart showed good lift and high bases (4,000’ MSL). At least they both agreed that the winds would be light.

Given that we are conflicting forecasts for lift and heights we called two triangle tasks to the south (hoping for the flatter, hotter bare field to the south), one fifty miles and one thirty. A short time later Jim Lamb who had suggested we go south, thought better of his suggestion given that the southern sky had the high clouds and the weaker looking cu’s underneath. I came up with a 50 mile triangle task to the north and east.

As one o’clock rolled around the high clouds had disappeared as the front headed off to the south and east. There were cu’s ever where and it looked like it might be possible to go 50 miles, and not settle for a 32 mile out and return, which was now our secondary option.

I got towed up after Bo and immediately climbed out to 4,000’ MSL and cloud base. We were repeatedly able to touch the bottoms of the clouds today without any fear of being sucked up given the light lift.

The cu’s got big, and the ground got dark. In spite of all the sunshine it would have been good to use the yellow lens, but I had my orange ones.

Everyone was getting up under the dark cu’s and shaded ground and we all gathered up to take the first clock at 2 PM. Might as well if everyone else will go with you.

There is a northeast wind going to the first turnpoint, and we don’t get out very far as we find the first lift, after leaving the three mile radius start circle at cloud base. At 3:11 (four minutes before the next start window), we have drifted back right next to the start circle. Still no one goes back to take a new start time. Paris and a few others have been holding back and will take the 2:15 PM start time.

Half the field is with us as we head out after climbing almost back to cloud base. The ground is shaded ahead and there are dark cu’s everywhere. It is hard to find any sunlight. But, then, this is what it has been like the past few days, so it is not a great worry. We are already getting 1,400’ higher than we were over the last two days, so a little (or a lot) of shading doesn’t hold that much terror for us.

While a couple have dropped out, we climb back to cloud base at 4,300’ MSL and look out to more shading, but now under clouds that are flat and gray, not puffy and back. It looks like a dead zone in front of us, and we are slowly progressing into the wind toward the first turnpoint nineteen miles to the northeast.

A few flex wings are out in front and Bubba finds very light lift at 800’ AGL under the a gray sky with the tiniest bit of light on the ground. Soon there are eight of us in the gaggle. Luckily I’m on top, because the middle six are all on the same level with Terry Presley on the bottom. Six pilots have to learn to get along on their marry-go-round and I merrily float above them as though I had hollow bones or an extra hit of helium.

It takes 17 minutes to climb 1,000’. The clouds disappear and there is sun every where and we get over a hot spot to the north and we get up to 4,500’. Now the dark clouds are much further apart. There is sun on the ground and things are looking better.

I’m with Ron Gleason and Russell Brown on rigids and Terry Presley on a flex. As we approach the first turnpoint I can see four flex wings to the south high, obviously a mix of later starters and some of the flex wings from our previous gaggle. Ron heads out first toward the turnpoint as Russell and I hold back. Ron gets ahead by finding a good thermal on his own just before the turnpoint.

The flex wings from the south, Russell and I come in under Ron, get high fast and I make the turnpoint as Russell has already taken it.

Now it is a chase as Russell, Dave Brandt in an ATOS, and I push to catch up with Paris Terry, Dennis and Ron. We are just behind and below them in the next thermal and Paris, Ron and Russell get away from the four of us five miles before the second turnpoint. We can see them getting high two miles before the turnpoint as we work a thermal also getting high two miles back.

Terry, Dennis and I get to the cloud that Paris, Ron and Russell left five minutes previously and we climb to almost 5,000’ two miles before the second turnpoint. I head out as we hit cloud base on a mission to catch up with Russell so that he doesn’t gain too many points on me.

I find Dave Brandt south of the turnpoint as he didn’t go to the good cloud with us. We’ve got a sixteen mile leg back to Twin Oaks, due south with an east wind (just as forecast). I spot Paris way high above and out in front of me climbing under very small clouds. He’s right on the course line so I go for him and start climbing in lift that averages 200 fpm. Good for the day that averages 130 fpm.

I’m down to 2,400’ AGL when I enter the thermal and 13 miles out. I climb to 3,500’ AGL before it gets weak. It’s 19.6 to 1 to get to goal. My IQ-Compeo says I’m 350’ above the best glide line. It must think I’ve got a tail wind. My polar is about 17 to 1 at best L/D speed of about 32 mph.

I go on glide as I can see good clouds ahead of me if I need any lift. I’m watching the final glide calculator. I’m aware that the goal is a quarter mile cylinder so I have a little extra margin of safety.

At eleven miles out I come in under the clouds Dennis and Terry are way back below me and Dave has gone way off to the east to get under some clouds. I get 500 fpm as I glide straight. The vario says I have the goal so I just push out and don’t turn. I climb 400’ and am at 3,500’ AGL 10.5 miles out. It’s a 15.8 glide to goal. The IQ-Compeo is saying I’m 1250 feet over the best glide line and that I’ve got goal by 1,250’.

I keep flying straight given the IQ-Compeo reading and my feeling that I’m going to make it. Also I really want to catch up with Ron and Russell and I know they aren’t at goal yet, but I haven’t seen them.

As I keep gliding suddenly I see Ron and Russell 700 feet above me a mile to my right more on the course line. They are just a little in front of me and now I’m sure that I have to keep gliding so that they don’t get into goal too far in front of me.

I glide for 10.5 miles in sixteen minutes averaging 39 mph over the ground. I tried to fly at the indicated best L/D speed over the ground. My average rate of sink over the last 10.5 miles was 220 fpm.

I came into Twin Oaks at 100 feet over the quarter mile cylinder and would have made the goal with zero altitude to spare. I didn’t speed up at the last minute I’ll tell you that.

I wonder what happened to the 1,250 feet of extra room over the best glide line. Was I just going too fast? Perhaps I should just have made sure that my air speed was 32 mph.

Ron and Russell are first and second into goal. I’m two minutes behind Ron. Paris uncharacteristically came in high behind me, but won the day as he started at 2:15 PM.

Terry and Dennis were able to get to goal also along with Dave Brandt. Campbell Bowen left to go to a wedding so he wasn’t here to fly the last three days of the meet. We will fly through Sunday.

Paris moved from third to first and Andreas moved from first to third. Terry Presley stayed in second.

Flex wings today:

Place Name Glider Finish Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 17:03:10 906
2 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 17:22:04 749
3 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 17:22:36 737
4 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 474
5 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 333
6 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 328
7 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 238
8 CIZAUSKAS Rich Wills Wing FusionSP 182
9 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 163
9 GILLETTE Rhanor Wills Wing Ultra Sport 163
9 MORRIS Dan Wills Wing Talon 163
9 DUGGAN Dan Icaro MR700WRE 163
13 BURICK Carl Airborne Climax 0
13 BOUMEESTER Rik Aeros Stealth 0

Flex wing total:

Place Name Glider Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 2766
2 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 2656
3 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 2637
4 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 2338
5 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 1747
6 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 1497
7 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 1352
8 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 1336
9 MORRIS Dan Wills Wing Talon 954
10 CIZAUSKAS Rich Wills Wing FusionSP 783
11 BURICK Carl Airborne Climax 765
12 BOUMEESTER Rik Aeros Stealth 750
13 DUGGAN Dan Icaro MR700WRE 569
14 GILLETTE Rhanor Wills Wing Ultra Sport 163

Rigids today:

Place Name Glider Time mph Total
1 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos C 2:59:52 17.03 1000
2 BROWN Russ Flight Designs GhostBuster 3:00:32 16.97 946
3 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 3:01:48 16.85 908
4 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 3:22:08 15.16 739
5 LAMB James AIR Atos C 209
6 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + ABS 0

Rigids total:

Place Name Glider Total
1 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 3146
2 BROWN Russ Flight Designs GhostBuster 2923
3 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + 2026
4 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 1988
5 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos 1829
6 LAMB James AIR Atos C 1492

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Midwest Regionals

Mon, Jun 9 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Andreas Olsson|Belinda Boulter|Bubba Goodman|Campbell Bowen|Carl Wallbank|cloud|competition|Dennis Pagen|gaggle|Ghostbuster|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Moyes Litespeed|Paris Williams|photo|Raven Sky Sports|Rik Bouwmeester|tail|Terry Presley|Wayne Sayer

http://www.flytec.com/mwregionals

Check out the photo gallery (http://flytec.com/mwregionals/gallery.html) and the animated track logs (Top Tracks button - you have to wait for a few minutes for them to begin animating).

With a strong west wind we initially call a 75 mile out and return due south (east takes us into Milwaukee). But as we get ready to launch this task looks less and less like a good idea given the winds. We quickly switch to a crossing tail wind 35 mile leg to the northeast, and then a final 50 mile leg north-northeast along the coast of Lake Superior. We’re hoping for a little bit of convergence from an on shore flow going against the strong west wind. Maybe just enough to cut down on wind speed.

The BLIPMAP forecasts 500-600 fpm lift (not climb rates) and 7,000’ cloud bases at 1 PM. It sure is looking a lot lower than that at noon, about 4,000’ MSL, and it’s not clear that it is going to get warm enough on the ground to get us that high.

Bo is off first at 12:20 and I’m right behind him. We’ve got 1 to 1:30 PM start window times with 15 minutes intervals. I climb out to cloud base at 4,400’ MSL and immediate head to the north to get at the top of the five mile start circle, so that I can be upwind of the northeast leg with the west, northwest wind.

I hang out there for almost an hour until finally Campbell Bowen, Terry Presley, Andreas Olsson, Wayne Sayer, and Dennis Pagen join me just before the 1:30 and last start time. Bo has already taken an earlier start time thinking that I went on course, when in fact I went five miles to the north. He’ll find himself out there alone.

Given the strong winds (measuring 16 mph), I am absolutely not going to get caught down wind of the first turnpoint and keep pushing north, assuming that I’ll drift to the east when ever I’m thermaling. The rest of the pilots started the task along the course line or down wind of it so we don’t ever see them.

Given my paranoia about not getting caught down wind, I’m soon on my own as the rest of the gaggle moves along the course line to the northeast, except for Campbell whose just south of me. Ten miles out I find myself down to 240’ AGL, but I’m in zero sink. The wind is blowing fiercely and this is usually a bad combination – light lift, strong winds, down low. But this time it works out as with a help of a couple of hawks I slowly climb out to 2,000’ AGL.

There are cu’s every where and the forecast was for strong lift, but other than right over Twin Oaks airport and Raven Sky Sports, the lift has been very light. I’d already warned myself that I had to be especially careful, now I had just been given another warning and a reprieve. Fifteen minutes later I was back down to 450’ AGL.

Two warning and now I was going to make sure that I started working weak lift a lot earlier and not wait until I got too low. The average rate of climb during the task for me was 150 fpm, which is pretty darn low. So much for the forecasted lift. I should have paid more heed to the FSL chart which showed that the lift wouldn’t be as strong as forecast by the BLIPMAP.

With more patience I spend more time in the weak lift (rarely finding any better) and start getting a lot higher. Still it takes a little over two hours to cover thirty five miles. Getting low really slows you down. Weak lift doesn’t help either.

I find the best thermal of the day right at the turnpoint northwest of Milwaukee, and climb to a little over 5,000’ MSL. Campbell Bowen joins me for the ride up, the first pilot I’ve seen in a while and when we head out we almost immediately catch up with Terry Presley and Andreas Olsson.

It’s great to have three more pilots to help out finding the lift and we worth together heading north-northwest trying to stay upwind of the course line. Campbell gets low about eight miles out from the turnpoint as the three of us head northwest to get on the front side of some clouds and avoid the blue hole to our north. This turns out to be a mistake and looking back on it we should have gone northeast to the clouds more on course line. We’re still trying to make our way upwind, when the winds have actually died down some.

It’s a long glide and Terry Presley gets a bit lower and lands. Andreas finds the light lift a mile behind me at 500’ and I go back to join him. The lift is extremely light and we spend the next twenty minutes gaining 2,000’. Andreas is about 500’ over my head having reached the lift first.

It’s now 6 PM and the day is dying. We are still more than 30 miles out. Terry Presley on the ground calls Belinda up and tells here how impressed he was with our low save and that Campbell is high to our east, more on the course line.

Andreas and I work out way slowly to the north working very light lift under any clouds we can get to, but they are drying up, there is cirrus overhead to the north, the sun is filtered and at about 25 miles out the cu’s give out. We land about two miles apart. Campbell is able to eek out another mile and a half not having to make the save that we did.

Flex wing round two:

Place Name Glider miles Total
1 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 62 900
2 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 53.1 813
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 42.9 697
4 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 4 41.1 675
5 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 30.9 540
6 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 22 430
6 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 21.9 430
8 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 19.9 400
9 MORRIS Dan 17.8 363
10 BURICK Carl 16.2 331
11 BOUMEESTER Rik 15.5 316
12 CIZAUSKAS Rick 7.3 131
13 DUGGAN Dan 0 0

Cumulative:

Place Name Glider Total
1 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 1556
2 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 1301
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 1287
4 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 4 1059
5 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 841
6 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 831
7 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 753
8 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 752
9 MORRIS Dan 524
10 BURICK Carl 498
11 BOUMEESTER Rik 483
12 CIZAUSKAS Rick 334
13 DUGGAN Dan 139

Rigid wings, round two:

Place Name Glider miles Total
1 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + 63.4 900
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 60.3 868
3 BROWN Russ Flight Designs Ghostbuster 32.2 501
4 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 22 385
5 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos-C 19.9 358
6 LAMB James AIR Atos C 12.6 239

Cumulative:

Place Name Glider Total
1 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + 1800
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 1768
3 BROWN Russ Flight Designs Ghostbuster 1400
4 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 877
5 LAMB James AIR Atos C 731
6 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos-C 565

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Superflytec PG Championships

Wed, May 28 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

competition|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|Florida|gaggle|Jeff Huey|Josh Cohn|landing|PG|picture|Quest Air|radio|tow|towing|Wallaby Ranch

A cold front slowly moved through central Florida today changing the wind direction somewhat from west to west-northwest. The winds basically died down to light and variable.

With a raft of high level clouds accompanying the front the day looked dismal as we contemplated a task at 10:30 AM. The green dot is Groveland.

The BLIPSPOT predicted lift continuing along in the same vain as the previous days , 450 fpm, but it sure didn’t look like we would get any convergence and therefore help with increasing lift. We wondered if we were going to get any cumulus development at all.

We held the launch window back to 1:30 hoping to get enough filtered sunlight to heat up the ground and produce some lift. The cu’s started forming under the thinning cirrus, so it didn’t look completely hopeless, just almost completely hopeless.

We had had so many tows under beautiful cu filled skies, that the tow crew was not looking forward to hundreds of tows under skies that promised very light lift if any. Josh volunteered to wind dummy if he could get his place back and we let him go over shaded ground to see if there was anything out there. He didn’t get up.

Still that didn’t stop folks who decided to start towing anyway as Josh slowly came down. There was a break in the cirrus and a cu formed over the middle of the field. A few pilots got up and started to stick. Suddenly everyone wanted to go.

Fourteen tows later for twelve pilots and everyone was sticking and gaggling in the same thermal in the middle of the Quest Air tow field. They were climbing slowly but they were together and there is a strong incentive to stay with everyone else and not come back to the field on your own.

So on the worst looking day we have the easiest tow operation and get everyone out of the tow field in less than an hour. One pilot comes back after landing within the two mile reflight zone, but after two tows, decides to go on retrieval and pick up his flying buddies.

The task committee called a 23 mile task from Quest, fifteen miles southeast to the intersection of highway 27 and 474, and then south-southwest 8 miles to Wallaby Ranch. The idea was to keep pilots away from the difficult to retrieve areas and over landable areas on the final glide into goal.

Three pilots including Dave Prentice got high and left together. The next eight had to wait longer and get higher within the two mile start circle before they could head out after the lead gaggle.

The lead gaggle didn’t make it to goal and landed further from goal than the later gaggle. I heard Jeff Huey in the air on the radio early on saying it looked like every one would make goal. Looks like he landed a mile short. Josh Cohn was the only one to make it to Wallaby.

Wednesday:

Place Name mph miles Total
1 COHN Josh 18.09 23.3 855
2 HUEY Jeff 22.4 648
3 BROCK Gary 21.7 635
4 FARRELL Jeff 20.8 614
5 HOISINGTON Zach 18.5 546
6 SWAIN Gavin 15.4 443
7 HOFFMAN Doug 15.4 441
8 MOOK Tom 8.6 261
9 PRENTICE Dave 6.6 223
10 SZAFARYN Len 6.4 219
11 SPORER Rob 5.9 204
12 KEARNEY Bill 2.4 83

After four days:

Place Name Total
1 COHN Josh 2129
2 HUEY Jeff 1895
3 FARRELL Jeff 1806
4 BROCK Gary 1607
5 PRENTICE Dave 1426
6 HOISINGTON Zach 1244
7 MOOK Tom 1099
8 SWAIN Gavin 1054
9 SZAFARYN Len 887
10 SPORER Rob 702
11 HOFFMAN Doug 634
12 KEARNEY Bill 376

David Glover writes:

Picture by: Sir Geoffrey Farrell of http://www.4superfly.com Quest can be seen in the middle far right of the picture - spring fed pond on the east side of the field.

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Four tandems all in a row

Mon, Apr 28 2003, 3:00:04 pm EDT

Brad Kushner|Dara Hogan|gaggle|gear|Ghostbuster|landing|Raven Sky Sports|students|tandem|tug

Brad Kushner at Raven Sky Sports <brad@hanggliding.com> writes:

Four tandems thermalling together in the same gaggle, that's the kind of day it was! Tim Thompson and Brad Kushner were the two tug pilots. Lots of Wisconsin Hang Gliding Club members showed up to fly. At first, it looked like it would be a light and scratchy thermalling day, but the lift got great in the afternoon, and remained great until almost 6pm! Those who had gotten 'enough' airtime and folded up their gliders at 3 or 4 pm were surprised to see almost all of the other pilots staying up after 5pm, and then after 6pm.

We had a group of almost a dozen newbies come out for intro tandem flights, plus our usual contingent of Raven Sky Sports' students-in-training. They showed up at around 3:30, got through their paperwork by about 4, and the first tandem flight of the afternoon went up at about 4:15. Within a few minutes, we had three tandem gliders up and soaring. Mark Furst took the fourth tandem glider and took Dara for a thermalling tandem lesson. It was shortly after this, that all four of Raven's Northwing T2 tandem gliders were stacked in a single thermal over the UW-Whitewater athletic complex with Pete Berney in his Ghostbuster 2,000 feet above everybody else in the stack. Whatta day!

Our four Northwing T2 tandem gliders, each one set up with tandem landing gear, High Energy over/under harnesses, Quantum 550 reserves, and in-flight cameras…pre-flighted and tied down, waiting for the students to arrive.

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Paris on the Aeros Combat 2

Sat, Apr 26 2003, 1:00:03 pm EDT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|competition|Florida|gaggle|Gerolf Heinrichs|injury|landing|Paris Williams|sprogs|Wills Wing|XC

Paris Williams <parisflies@hotmail.com> writes:

It seems that Robert Handmart and his friends have been having fun drawing a lot of false conclusions about Oleg and the Combat 2, so I feel compelled to try to set a few things straight:

"While Manfred and Oleg seem busy to make their own one-off gliders perform good, that Litespeed makes everyone happy!"

I can't speak for Manfred and his glider, but I distinctly remember one occasion when Gerolf told the audience upon receiving a first-place trophy that "he was holding a little something back." Perhaps just his way of a joke, who knows?

As for Oleg, there's no question in my mind that Oleg's not hiding anything from us other competitors or the public about his personal glider. Oleg and I have become really good friends in the past few years, and what's probably impressed me most about the man is his pure-hearted honesty and genuine humility. Typical human nature does not make it easy for one to climb to the top of the ladder and still treat others with genuine equality, and yet Oleg always seems to find the time for anyone.

Here's a story that shredded any remaining doubt in my mind that he might be trying to hide some secret advantage over his fellow Aeros competitors: Last year, when the new gliders arrived for the Florida Comps, Oleg and a fellow competitor were standing over two new Combats, and Oleg asked him which one he wanted--the fellow competitor picked one, Oleg took the other and then proceeded to kick everyone's butt at both meets.

This year, the only difference between the competitors' Combats from the previous stock combats are new lighter leading edges. Aeros wanted the competitors to try these out before introducing them to the market, in hopes that the handling would be improved while not harming performance. We've definitely found this to be true (the handling was lightened significantly while performance didn't suffer), and now these new leading edges come stock on the latest Combat 2's (and can be installed in older models). The only other thing we did to tune our gliders differently than stock Combats was to lower the sprogs a bit. Of course anyone can drop their sprogs if they like, if they're willing to take the risk of flying a glider with reduced pitch moment.

So I can personally verify that the only difference between Oleg's Combat, my Combat, and the Combats sold to the public, are the positions of the sprogs.

"We saw from your report that Paris Williams left Icaro now to try Aeros - with only little success so far!"

So why were my latest results a bit lower than average? (9th place at Flytec, and Incomplete at Wallaby due to an injury on launch) Well, for one, I don't claim to have the experience level of pilots like Manfred and Oleg who've been competing steadily for over 17 years (this is only my 5th year competing), and two, there's always a "dialing in" period for any new glider (it's always been realistically about 20 hours for me).

My very first thermaling flight on the Combat 2 was day one of the competition! Not ordinarily a wise choice to fly a new wing at a big meet, but I definitely don't regret it. Considering that, I'm pretty happy to get into the top ten. I was actually feeling more dialed after two days than I'd ever felt on the Laminar, but since my first two days weren't so good, I took a lot of big risks in my strategy during the remaining days to try to make up, and unfortunately the big risks didn't always pan out.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the glider--I didn't give up any performance at all (in glide nor, surprisingly, in climb, nor in ease of landing) going from the Laminar to the Combat, but I've gained a lot more handling and quick maneuverability which has helped me to work through my "gaggle aversion" and wrestle it out with the thick gaggles a lot better (something that has always been a weakness of mine).

"To us it looks like lately only Moyes cares for the ordinary XC and competition pilots. The Florida results/reports show this also quite clear."

OK, let's look at the top ten results at Flytec: Out of the 68 full time (no absences) competitors, there were 27 Litespeeds, 11 Laminars, and 9 Combat 2s. In the top 10, there were 6 Litespeeds, 1 Laminar (Manfred), and 3 Combat 2s.

33% of the Combat 2’s made the top 10; 22% of the Litespeeds made the top 10; 9% of the Laminars made the top 10 (though winning the meet).

And if you want to talk about taking care of ordinary pilots, why not take a look at the prices?

(editor’s note: For the Wallaby Open, the numbers are: 22% Combat 2, 23% Litespeed, 12.5% Laminar, 0% Wills Wing, Avian, La Mouette, Airborne)

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The 2003 Wallaby Open

Thu, Apr 24 2003, 5:00:01 pm EDT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|ballast|Betinho Schmitz|Brett Hazlett|Bruce Barmakian|Christian Ciech|cloud|David Chaumet|Davis Straub|gaggle|Johann Posch|Manfred Ruhmer|Ron Gleason|Wallaby Open 2003

http://www.wallaby.com/wallabyopen/2003/

Our atmospheric conditions are just beginning to be affected by a cold front that is situated over west Texas. In the morning we can see thin high level clouds coming in from the northwest. There are a few very thin cumulus clouds around but they will soon be squashed by the general shading from the high clouds.

The models are calling for east winds a little less than 10 mph, with a area of lighter winds to the west, likely a bit of convergence there, but no real cloud development. I can see from the FSL RUC2 model soundings that the clouds will be little wisps if there at all.

This same model is calling for an eastern sea breeze at 5 PM over Wallaby, so this makes for a good argument to head west. The lift is forecast to be the same as the last few days (500 fpm lift minus your sink rate equals the climb rate). I average 350 fpm over the task, and this is relatively a very high average rate of climb for a task over the last two weeks. I’ll go into more details about that soon.

The FSL model also calls for poor lift here Wallaby in the later afternoon and an inversion all day that would stop almost all cumulus cloud development, even without the sun shade up high. The lift is predicted to be weak after 3,500’, with this rising to perhaps 5,500’ during the day and as we go west. I pull all my ballast, just in case.

The task committee calms down a bit with a spontaneous division of tasks. Richard, Johnny, Betinho and I settle into coming up with the start circles, location and distances, after a basic task is called. We let the other guys worry about exactly which airport we are going to. Three tasks are eventually reviewed, but in the end we will go with the first one called.

As the morning progresses the conditions appear to deteriorate. More high clouds and thicker, and the disappearance of the underlying cu’s. I’m not worried about the lack of cu’s, because we weren’t supposed to have them anyway.

As the launch time approaches it is postponed until 1 PM. The high clouds begin to dissipate a bit, a few cu’s show up and the wind dummies start sticking. The race is on.

The rigids are assigned one start time at 2 PM with a start circle edge 10 miles to the west. The flexies can also go then and their start circle is 5 miles out, or 15 or 30 minutes later. The idea is to reduce the number of gliders in the start gaggle.

I’m the first rigid wing launched and there are cu’s just to the southeast of the Ranch. I can climb out slowly (200 fpm) to 4,200’. I’m hanging at cloud base and waiting because I know that we will all want to fly together today on a task that looks like your friends will be your only help.

So what is the task?

We need to go west to the intersection of Rockridge and highway 98, then northwest to the intersection of 98 and 301, then north to the Inverness airport about 69 miles.

The rigid wings get off early and start joining me at cloud base. We mostly hang around the Ranch as there are no gliders or cu’s to the west to indicate the lift and as this is a race start with everyone going at the same time, there is no need to take any risks as long as no one else does.

We slowly move west as later launching rigids take probing flights out to the west toward the start circle circumference. Still, as 2 PM, our start time, we are still 3 miles short of the start circle and climbing slowly all together. We won’t cross the start circle until 6 minutes after 2 PM.

The few flex wings that want to take the first start time will only be 2 miles behind us and as we haven’t even approached our start circle we will be waiting for them to join us. Going early to join us may not be such a good strategy on their part as we don’t have to go fast (as we are all together), but they will have guys behind them chasing them and needing to go as fast as possible.

We creep toward Rockridge and 98 taking a half hour to go 10 miles, very slow. No one gets away as everyone sees it in their interest to stay together. David gets just past the turnpoint and finds poor lift, while the guys that get there first and a little higher find a good thermal at the turnpoint and the rest of us join them.

Manfred, Brett Hazlett, Andre, and another flex wing pilot are right in the mix with us with Manfred a little lower and out in front, not having found the thermal at the turnpoint.

Speaking of Manfred, it turns out he landed a mile short of goal yesterday. The final glide was a long one at 12 to 1 and Manfred kept going. Brett who was behind him saw that things looked dicey, found a better line to the right with some other pilots, found some lift, and they made it in.

We move slowly toward the northwest to the Clinton turnpoint taking 40 minutes to go 14 miles. Again everyone is together and no one ventures out too far in advance. Well, at one point Ron Gleason and I do get a little out in front, which actually slows us down, as we get a few hundred feet below folks, just as we come into a very strong thermal just before the turnpoint.

Finally the gaggle splits up based on how high you were and how soon you found the good core of this thermal that gets us back to 4,500’. The lift has now really turned on as we have moved west to where the forecast was for the best lift.

The lift continues to be good as we head to the turnpoint and then north toward goal. With the good lift we’ll do the next 35 miles in one hour or less. A gaggle of us will find strong lift to 5,300’ just past the turnpoint and this will get us far enough to the north to catch many of the guys who got higher than us just before the turnpoint. It won’t be enough to get the leaders.

We’ll all go on glide from 12 miles out at 5,000’. The lift was so good in this last thermal that it was hard to leave it. Manfred will come in with us (see results below) with Brett and Andre just a little bit behind. I’ll average 52 mph on the final glide at 16 to 1.

After we get to goal we don’t have to wait too long before the 2:15 gaggle comes in. They all race across the line low. In the end there must be about 50 gliders at goal.

Results:

Rigids:

Alex Ploner 14:00 16:06:49
Christian Ciech 14:00 16:06:51
David Chaumet 14:00 16:09:17
Burce Barmakian 14:00 16:13:00
Johann Posch 14:00 16:13:49
Mark P. 14:00 16:14:16
Davis Straub 14:00 16:14:48

Flex wings:

Manfred Ruhmer 14:00 16:14:44
Brett Hazlett 14:00 16:16:48
Andre Wolf 14:00 16:17:16

You might also try to find results at: http://www.elltel.net/peterandlinda/Wallaby_Open_2003/2003_Wallaby_Main.htm

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The 2003 Wallaby Open

Wed, Apr 23 2003, 4:00:01 pm EDT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|battens|Betinho Schmitz|Brett Hazlett|Bruce Barmakian|Christian Ciech|David Chaumet|Davis Straub|death|gaggle|GPS|Kraig Coomber|Leonardo Dabbur|Mike Barber|news|Swift|Wallaby Open 2003

http://www.wallaby.com/wallabyopen/2003/

Okay, the lead – Manfred doesn’t get to goal once again. What is the sound of Manfred not making goal? When is a nonevent news? Twice in two days. Yesterday he dropped to second place below Oleg. Today he tumbles further.

As I was breaking down my glider I saw that Manfred was the passenger in the car coming to pick up Alex and Christian at goal. Wow! Things are really open for someone else to win this meet.

Okay, if it hadn’t been for that the lead would have been the mid air. Out on course, in the air, in a thick gaggle, a glider landed on top of Leonardo Dabbur’s flex wing. He apparently bent some of the root battens, as Leonardo had trouble flying the glider after that. Finally he decided to land. We don’t know at the moment who the other pilot was.

But, what about the death gaggle just outside the start window? We had a 20 mile radius entry start window today centered on the first turnpoint. Do you think this would at least spread out the pilots? Well the lift was weak and with 80 pilots in the same or a nearby thermal it was almost impossible to stay in any “core.”

There was no separate start circle radius or whatever for the various classes, so that didn’t help at all. It was truly unbelievably ridiculous. I came very close to being hit or hitting (who knows which is which) three gliders. This was a common experience.

At first we were able to climb up over 3,500’ but as more and more pilots got into the air, it became more and more difficult to stay in the lift without endangering yourself and others. So we slowly began to sink as this chart shows (the red vertical line is when I leave to go on course) down to 2,300’. The last two humps before the red line are when I go inside the start circle (which in this case means I go out on course) to get away from the gaggles, and then I go back outside the start circle (to start) and only a few pilots are in the gaggle with me.

This graphic displays the hour that I spent in flight before I took the last start time at 2:45 PM:

I spent 70 percent of the hour turning and the average rate of climb was 90 fpm. Everyone else was in the same situation, trying to stay up in what seemed like weak lift because none of us could fly in the core.

Some went on course when the death gaggle just became too much. They became the rabbits for us to chase. Oleg went at 2:30 to get out of the death gaggle. I went with him, but went back to get the 2:45 clock.

Alex Ploner, Christian Ciech, David Chaumet, and Bruce Barmakian were high at 2:45 at the start circle. Kraig Coomber and Brett Hazlett left at 2:45 but were able to catch the 2:30 guys as they started high and raced to the Bok Tower where the earlier guys (Oleg, Antoine, Curt, Johnny, Carlos, and Betinho) were low.

What task you ask?

Down to Lake Wales, to a new turnpoint to the south of Bok Tower to keep us in GPS coverage, southwest to Larry to keep us near the orange groves and pasture lands and away from the swamps, and then down highway seventeen to Wauchula airport. With the north-northwest wind predicted to be about 10 mph today, and with moderate lift and no clouds, we were worried about being able to get off a reasonable task.

And talk about anxiety. The task committee is built to enhance anxiety. Mike Barber does not want to call a task until two minutes before the first pilot launches if then. There are so many different personalities going in so many different directions on the task committee that I just keep my mouth shut. They (we) call three task today before at the last minute we decide on the medium task (I want the long one).

So we are gliding south over the orange groves toward Lake Wales and thankfully there are plenty of folks out in front to show us the lift. Nice to have friends when there aren’t any clouds. My gaggle finds some good lift just northwest of the Bok Tower and get the highest that we are going to get at 4,300’.

It’s a short run to the turnpoint in Lake Wales and then we can see the lead gaggle to the west-southwest. Knowing that there is some lift ahead is a great benefit as we can pass up weak lift and go for the good stuff. Just before the turnpoint at Larry we have to crawl up from 1,600’, but that will be enough to get us to 4,100’ and high enough to pick and choose before we go on glide from 10 miles out at 4,000’.

I have a Swift way below and in front of me on final glide also. I figure that he is going to make it, so all I’ve got to do is keep him below me. I’m actually able to beat him to goal.

Plenty of pilots make it into goal.

In order:

Alex Ploner 14:45 16:38:12 1st rigid
David Chaumet 14:45 16:42:19
Christian Ciech 14:45 16:42:35
Burce Barmakian 14:45 16:43:45
Kraig Coomber 14:45 16:47:02 1st flex
Brett Hazlett 14:45 16:47:02
Antoine 14:30 16:47:18
Oleg 14:30 16:47:26
Curt, Jon 14:30 16:47:30
Carlos, Betinho 14:30 16:47:30
Heiner Beisel ? 16:51:08
Davis Straub 14:45 16:55:51

You might also try to find results at: http://www.elltel.net/peterandlinda/Wallaby_Open_2003/2003_Wallaby_Main.htm

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Race!

Tue, Apr 22 2003, 4:00:03 pm EDT

competition|gaggle|Gerolf Heinrichs|Paris Williams|sport|XC

Gerolf Heinrichs <gerolfontour@aon.at> writes:

Congratulations!

I thought, I would probably not live to this day, to see a true Race ever happen in a big hang gliding competition (outside Brasil) ! How did you accomplish that? Bribe Oleg and Paris to listen to you for once ;-)

You don't really have to hold a degree in particle physics to realize that you get a much higher chance for "encounters", if you keep your "particles" contained just long enough - or vice versa if you intend to have less traffic at the start circle, just cut down the containment time to a few minutes before the one actual Race start time!

As a nice side effect, it helps to sort out a few others intrinsic problems of current XC-Comp flying as well:

(i) A Race solves all the dilemma with the Departure Bonus, which lots of pilots still find rather confusing than encouraging.

(ii) A Race is the most powerful tool for the task setter/organizer to push pilots go on course, when the conditions are still weak and slow early in the day, but (due to overcast or approaching fronts) are expected nasty in the later part of the day.

(iii) On good days a Race allows to save valuable air time that will allow for bigger tasks, air time that is otherwise lost in endless start games.

(iv) A Race makes the Sport of Hang Gliding a lot more attractive as it helps to solve the confusions in goal - among pilots, organizers and spectators alike - on who now actually might have won the day.

(v) A pilot eventually doing well on a Race task will earn a lot more respect from his competitors, as he must been able and willing to lead the field, while a pilot going on course way before or after the main gaggles is often regarded a "lucky bastard", when words comes out that he "beat" the lead gaggle by several few minutes.

Nevertheless, there is still one downside to it: The Race still doesn't really seem to help the other pilots to beat Manfred.

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The 2003 Wallaby Open

Mon, Apr 21 2003, 8:00:01 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|aerotow|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|altitude|antenna|Belinda Boulter|Betinho Schmitz|Brett Hazlett|Bruce Barmakian|cart|Christian Ciech|cloud|competition|control frame|David Chaumet|dolly|Eric Raymond|fire|flight park|Florida|Flytec Championships 2003|gaggle|game|GPS|Icaro Laminar MR|insurance|Jerz Rossignol|Kari Castle|Mike Barber|Moyes Litespeed|Oz Report|Paris Williams|Quest Air|Steven "Steve" Pearson|survival|transport|Wallaby Open 2003|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Talon

http://www.wallaby.com/wallabyopen/2003/

In the competition between the flight parks, 93 entrants at the Wallaby Open and 110 for the Flytec Championship. I guess that bragging rights (for quantity at least) goes to the Quest Air Flight Park (largest aerotow meet ever).

Here at Wallaby the rigid wing class was decimated with the number of pilots falling from 28 to 17. You’d think that once that got here with their difficult to transport rigid wings, they would continue flying in the Wallaby Open.

The launch line on the first day.

So the top two American flex wing pilots have taken themselves out of this premier US competition. Yesterday Mike Barber cut open his knee (the pictures were gross and I publish the least gross one – see below) down to (but not into) the ligament. Today Paris Williams bounced off the cart and smacked into the ground taking out his control frame. You’d think he would be familiar with dolly launching at aerotow parks in Florida. ☺

The story according to Belinda who watched it happen (and who spoke with other observers) is that the cart hit a bump while he was going plenty fast (just at the point where you would take off), the glider came off the cart (Paris wasn’t holding onto the rope), his hands slipped off the control bar, and the Aeros control frame dug into the ground in front of the cart. The glider pancaked into the ground. People rushed over and took the glider off Paris who was then up and walking around. He didn’t fly the task.

Mike Barber didn’t fly the task today either. He is on crutches and happy enough with the fact that he will make the US team without doing well in these meets and get to go to Brazil. Same for Paris.

Speaking of the task here it is:

There are two separate tasks today for flex wings and rigids. The rigids are to start from a start circle seven miles to the south on highway 27, then go through the Bok Tower control point (to keep us away from the sky diving contest at Lake Wales airport), next to Avon Park airport (25 miles miles further south) and then back (through Bok Tower waypoint) and on to Wallaby Ranch. With a five mile start circle radius this puts are start point twelve miles to the south of the Ranch. A total of 81 miles.

The flex wings will be starting behind us (to the north) in order to separate the classes. The assumption being that it is harder for the flex wings to catch the rigid wings rather than the other way around. Their start circle is centered one mile north of the Ranch but with a five mile radius they will in fact be starting four miles south of the Ranch, eight miles behind the rigid wings. A total of 89 miles (from the edge of the start circle).

To keep the two classes further separated, the rigid wings will be starting at 1:15 only and the flex wings fifteen minutes later at 1:30 PM. That’s right it’s a race start, as predicted/urged in the last Oz Report.

With launch opening at noon there is plenty of time to get everyone off in time for the single start time. Many of us will get to the edge of the start circle twenty minutes early, but eventually everyone will be there. The lift is diffuse enough so that we don’t get in each others way too much.

I hear from Oleg that the flex wing start gaggle is not too bad either. There are plenty of cu’s with 4,000’ bases to choose from so perhaps they spread themselves out in a sensible fashion.

It’s great to have a race start. No worrying about whether someone is behind you catching you. You get to see all your competition and the guy in front is winning the day.

We are at cloud base at 1:15 as the start window opens and everyone together takes off spreading out to find the next lift. I’m on the left side with Alex Ploner wandering about. He’s got a good glide, but it seems only slightly better than mine. David Chaumet doesn’t display any better glide either. Interesting how things change each day.

Staying to the left I get a little better line and then hit the first thermal 3.5 miles out. Christian Ciech and the other pilots behind me come and join me, while David, Alex and a few others continue on not knowing that we are climbing behind them. We get a thousand feet on them right away as they don’t find any lift.

I’m leaving with Christian trying to keep him from getting away from the group (or at least from me). I’m just a few hundred yards behind him as we glide and a hundred feet below him climb through Bok Tower and to Lake Wales.

It’s a long glide into Lake Wales and Christian finds something that I can’t seem to find right under him. I’m down to 1,800’ when I get under him but under a cloud with lots of sunshine around and I go looking around for the lift. I don’t find any for eight minutes.

I will spend the next seven minutes below 750’ AGL, getting down to 340’ AGL. That’s fifteen minutes of rescue time, getting myself out of a hole that I have dug and back in the game. I just didn’t want to go back home tonight having screwed up so early in the task.

Fortunately the light lift that I find is next to the only cleared field within gliding distance, so I can both feel the comfort of turning low to the ground knowing that if I don’t get up I can land safely. This lets me let the bar out a bit more and milk the broken weak lift down low.

As I climb out of there I keep my head down and concentrate on survival keeping thoughts about my stupidity at bay. Just enjoy that fact that the lift is weak and therefore not too turbulent. As I climb up it turns on strong and within fifteen minutes I’m back at base. Almost a half hour of slowing myself down. Now it’s time to race.

I make a point of going for the clouds as I don’t have any pilots to help out. I get back on the course line upwind to the east over the lakes and find lift, while most pilots follow highway 27 to the left with few clouds. I can hear from Johann that the lead gaggle (minus Christian who is way out ahead) is only five miles in front of me. I catch most of them by the time we get to Avon Park taking a completely different course to the east.

Now I head downwind to the west to the clouds as the ground gets shaded from the high overcast. They are working great and I’m getting high under them while all the other pilots have disappeared.

The overcast gets darker as we approach Lake Wales and the Bok Tower turnpoint. I stop over a fire finding 100 fpm. Its light lift like this for the next nine miles as we creep toward the tower and I spot the other rigids circling near it.

Fortunately one of them finds strong lift in the sun to the north a mile as the high overcast begins to break up. I hook up with Mark P., and Johann, with Alex Ploner and Bruce Barmakian over us.

There are still plenty of shaded areas with light lift in front of us but we are back high enough to give a few areas a look see to see where the best of the light lift is.

Eight miles out and at 3,400’ high the Brauninger IQ/Comp tells me I can just make it to goal. Belinda, at goal, says Alex and Bruce just came in low and Christian came in a while ago. Well I’ll get a chance to see if the new version Brauninger behaves any differently as I go on glide. Will it be more stable?

An article in https://OzReport.com/pub/Ozv7n106.shtml describes the changes to the Brauninger IQ/Comp.

The sky is dark and so is the ground so I don’t expect to find any more lift, but I also didn’t expect to find any bad sink. There iss no wind (a report from Belinda confirmed this) and I figure there will be net no sink or lift going to goal.

Mark P. and Johann are way off to the right working a bit more lift as I continue on glide. They want the extra insurance.

The go to goal target showed up on the Brauninger, but I couldn’t tell if it was more stable than the previous version. It seemed that way but it was hard to tell for sure. Steve Pearson sent in the description that said a distance above your MacCready altitude would be displayed, but it wasn’t. This was perhaps because the go to goal symbol never flashed while I was climbing. Who knows?

I just saw that the vario said I could make it. I saw that my sink rate was 200 to 400 fpm. I saw how far out I was and how fast I was flying and could calculate how many minutes it would take to get to goal and whether I would still be in the air for that time period. It looked good to me.

I just kept the glider at less than 40 mph for the first six miles just to keep the needle at the best glide over the ground speed as I knew I was close to not making it. When I got within two miles at 1,200,’ I could go sixty mph with ease.

Fortunately our group was able to make it in before Manfred smoked the course starting eight miles and fifteen minutes behind us.

So Alex Ploner won the first day and Christian Ciech won the second day. At the moment David Chaumet’s Tsunami looks mortal, about the same as Christian and Alex.

It seems to me that pilot skills are really being tested here (and maybe a bit of the drag of harnesses and other bits). The gliders are very close to each other (with or without tails) and David’s may or may not be that much better. Alex and Christian are just much better pilots than the rest of us (at least that is my tentative conclusion based on my scraps of observations). Maybe I’ll get more relevant observations later.

One interesting twist was the fact that we had to go by the Bok Tower which is a place where we know that under some circumstances your GPS loses coverage. This is probably due to some nearby antenna that overpowers the GPS signal. Piltos were told that if their GPS coverage goes out but that their track showed them headed for the tower, they would get the turnpoint.

I’m thinking that if you get low near Chalet Suzanne (near Bok) your GPS signal goes out, but not if you are high. Mine does go out on the way back when I’m low, but I get a Mark Enter in the .25 mile circle just before I lose it completely. What luck.

It’s easy to see the Bok Tower so there is no problem flying close to it to get the waypoint. Hopefully all pilots will do this.

The story I heard from the flex wings is that on the way back it got very iffy near Lake Wales with light lift. Just the same as we experienced. The lead gaggle was low over the Orange Juice factory, and Manfred was climbing better than the rest of the group in the lift broken stuff.

He gets high enough to go search for better lift. Brett Hazlett who doesn’t get high enough goes with him and doesn’t make goal. The rest of the flex wing pilots know their place and work the light stuff until they do get high enough to move along.

Very preliminary results for day two:

Flex wings:

1 RUHMER, Manfred Icaro Laminar MR AUT 13:30:00 17:03:05 3:33:05
2 WOLF, Andre Moyes Litespeed 4 BRA 13:30:00 17:04:46 3:34:46
3 SCHMIDT, Betinho Moyes Litespeed 4 BRA 13:30:00 17:06:49 3:36:49
4 BONDARCHUK, Oleg Aeros Combat 2 UKR 13:30:00 17:10:20 3:40:20
5 WALBEC, Richard Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 13:30:00 17:10:57 3:40:57
6 BOISSELIER, Antoine Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 13:30:00 17:11:28 3:41:28
7 WARREN, Curt Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 13:30:00 17:12:02 3:42:02
8 MULLER, Chris Wills Wing Talon 150 CAN 13:30:00 17:12:23 3:42:23
9 CAUX, Raymond1 Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 13:30:00 17:16:32 3:46:32
10 DURAND, Jon Jr., 49 Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 13:30:00 17:38:42 4:08:42
11 GUILLEN, Bruno, 57 Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 13:30:00 17:40:55 4:10:55
12 ALONZI, Mario, 23 Aeros Combat 2 FRA 13:30:00 17:42:28 4:12:28
13 DE LA HORIE, Geoffory Aeros Combat 2 FRA 13:30:00 17:43:02 4:13:02
14 CASTLE, Kari, 15 Icaro Laminar MR700 USA 13:30:00 17:44:15 4:14:15
15 ROSSIGNOL, Jerz, 14 Icaro Laminar USA 13:30:00 17:44:35 4:14:35

Totals so far:

1 RUHMER, Manfred, 85 Icaro Laminar MR AUT 2000
2 BOISSELIER, Antoine, 31 Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 1842
3 WARREN, Curt, 13 Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 1764
4 WOLF, Andre, 97 Moyes Litespeed 4 BRA 1764
5 DURAND, Jon Jr., 49 Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 1762
6 WALBEC, Richard, 94 Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 1715
7 SCHMIDT, Betinho, 30 Moyes Litespeed 4 BRA 1684
8 BONDARCHUK, Oleg, 33 Aeros Combat 2 UKR 1675
9 ALONZI, Mario, 23 Aeros Combat 2 FRA 1588
10 CAUX, Raymond, 51 Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 1574
11 CASTLE, Kari, 15 Icaro Laminar MR700 USA 1471
12 LEE, Jim, 20 Wills Wing Talon 150 USA 1418
13 OHLSSON, Andreas, 108 Moyes Litespeed 5 SWE 1397
14 BESSA, Carlos, 16 Wills Wing Talon USA 1370
15 HAZLETT, Brett, 59 Moyes Litespeed 4 CAN 1368

Rigid wings:

1 CIECH, Christian Icaro Stratos ITA 13:15:00 16:23:24 3:08:24
2 PLONER, Alex Air Atos C ITA 13:15:00 16:47:27 3:32:27
3 CHAUMET, David La Mouette Tsunami FRA 13:15:00 16:50:45 3:35:45
4 YOCOM, Jim Air Atos C USA 13:15:00 16:50:47 3:35:47
5 BIESEL, Heiner Air Atos C USA 13:15:00 16:55:12 3:40:12
6 POSCH, Johann Air Atos C AUT 13:15:00 17:00:39 3:45:39
7 STRAUB, Davis Air Atos C USA 13:15:00 17:00:43 3:45:43
8 POUSTINCHIAN, Mark Air Atos C USA 13:15:00 17:03:03 3:48:03
9 BRANDT, David Air Atos USA 13:15:00 17:04:57 3:49:57
10 PAQUETTE, Eric Air Atos CAN 13:15:00 17:12:52 3:57:52
11 GLEASON, Ron Air Atos USA 13:15:00 17:19:27 4:04:27

Totals after two days:

1 CIECH, Christian, 114 Icaro Stratos ITA 1781
2 PLONER, Alex, 121 Air Atos C ITA 1687
3 CHAUMET, David, 113 La Mouette Tsunami FRA 1511
4 POSCH, Johann, 122 Air Atos C AUT 1343
5 BIESEL, Heiner, 3 Air Atos C USA 1326

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The 2003 Wallaby Open

Sun, Apr 20 2003, 9:00:01 pm GMT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|Betinho Schmitz|Christian Ciech|cloud|Fantasy of Flight|flight park|Flytec Championships 2003|gaggle|GAP|GAP 2000|J.C. Brown|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|landing|Malcolm Jones|Mike Barber|Oliver Schmidt|Paris Williams|Peter Gray|Richard Walbec|SeeYou|Terry Presley|Wallaby Open 2003|weather

http://www.wallaby.com

First of all, the task:

It’s first twenty miles to the west to Rockridge and highway 98, then east to the Fantasy of Flight to keep us from going over downtown Winter Haven, then southeast to Chalet Suzanne on highway 27 near Lake Wales, then back to the Ranch. It’s a 70 mile task, with a substantial east wind of 10 mph predicted.

The new wrinkle is that the start circle is centered on the Rockridge and highway 98 intersection and is fifteen miles in diameter. The idea is that you begin the contest by entering the start circle instead of leaving the start circle. The reason for using such a start circle is to allow pilots to spread themselves out along the circumference of the start circle, all routes to the first turnpoint being equal from that circumference.

Now theory is one thing and practice is another. With a good wind component, only one point is optimal. With other pilots congregating in one location, they form an attractive nuisance and soon there is a party in one spot.

Still it’s quite manageable with twenty pilots looking to take the first clock at 1:30. Which reminds me of another innovation.

At the task committee meeting this morning Betinho mentioned that he wanted more time between start times to cut down on pilots waiting around for a later clock and then catching people in front of them (can you say Johnny Durand, Jr.?). Of course, we were using GAP 2000 at the Flytec Championship (and we are here), which has the minimal early departure/arrival bonus points so of course pilots are going to try to catch others from behind.

So I immediately suggest a half hour and, whoa, it is accepted. This will make it harder for pilots taking a later clock to catch the earlier guys and keep them from getting that extra added advantage without having to pay for it with reduced starting time points.

The task committee calls for three start times, although what they really want is a race, one start time. The compromise with three start times has to be made to allow the flight park time to get everyone in the air. Actually we could call a start time at 1:30 hours after the launch window open time, because that is enough time to get everyone in the air and at the circumference of the start circle, if people start launching at the launch window open time (they never do). So maybe we will have a race start soon.

The task committee consists of Richard Walbec, Betinho Schmidt, Mike Barber and I. But JC Brown runs the meeting and directs the discussion. Peter Gray and the goal crew are there also and Malcolm Jones hangs around the edges. This is quite a difference format (and dynamic) than Jim Lee , Terry Presley and I meeting in my trailer looking over the SeeYou task map as we did last week.

Mike Barber is a high anxiety person. He has extreme difficulty making a decision (especially one related to calling a task four hours in advance of the actual task). He wants to call off the decision until the last moment. He also is very distrustful of weather forecasting (even forecasts four hours out). The funny think is that he also is compulsive looking and listening to the weather forecasts. His anxiety infuses the task committee.

Mike is afraid of the possibility of over development, like the OD we had yesterday. I’m looking at the FSL MAP models and the BLIPMAP. I guarantee to him that there won’t be any OD during the task.

I compare the fear of OD with the actuality of higher winds than the models predict. It appears that the winds are stronger out of the east than the 10 to 12 mph that the models show will be the state of things later in the day. We later get a “sounding” from Paris Williams (taken, who knows how), with the east winds stated to be 20 mph. I’m concerned about the prospect for higher winds (as we are right on the cusp of where it makes a big difference), and I’m looking at the windcast showing a broad convergence and lighter winds to the west (as we had for many days at the Flytec Championship).

The task committee gets through the process and calls two tasks (we never called an alternate task at the Flytec Championship) just to handle all the anxiety (well, okay, that is a bit overstated). Then later, just before the pilot meeting, based on Paris’ “sounding” we call a third task to the west (I’m good with that) and make it the primary.

Now the pilot meeting is at 11 AM, which I consider to be about an hour too late, because it doesn’t give us time to get to the staging line and get ready to go before the launch window opens. I give my little weather spiel (know any good weatherman jokes?) and before we know it is too late to get to the launch line in time to get suited up for the 1 PM start window.

The three start times now become two start times (which is cool with me, as I go for the race concept) of 1:30 and 2 PM. I’m thinking that this is alright. Fifteen minutes are the launch window opens with no pilots launched (did I mention this?) and Bo on hold from JC Brown (talk about last minute anxiety) we call the secondary task (which earlier was the primary task) (see above).

They let the task committee stage in the front, but I get off early anyway, so I don’t clutter up the neighborhood. The lift is light to moderate (200 fpm) the southeast of the Ranch and we just hang out in the big smooth stuff to cloud base at 4,000’ slowly moving our way to the west staying just under the clouds.

Just before the start time at 1:30, there are twenty plus pilots at the edge of the start circle. There is light lift at cloud base so we are all just hanging near the top waiting for the clock to tick. I’m hanging back a few tenth of a mile in better lift getting up in the cat birds’ seat to watch the action in front of me. Position is a big deal for my psyche.

Kurt, Jim Lee, Johann Posch, Christian Ciech, Antoine, Manfred and a few other fast guys are around so I figure that this won’t necessarily be a loser move to go at 1:30, in spite of the weak lift we’ve been experiencing.

At 1:30 the whole group goes and there isn’t anyone else even nearby. It’s great having a few folks out in front and lower so that you can choose other lines to go to. I take a more southern route and hit the clouds early to find the next lift that we all get up in again just north of Polk City.

Christian finds the next one out front and puts himself in the lead with Johann and I right behind him and the flex wings trailing after us. It’s looking good to me. Christian goes on a long/fast glide. He’s doing well. But it is great to see that he is not over powering. He is flying faster than Johann and I, which most likely is a good idea. I’ll have to amp it up a bit more tomorrow.

Johann and I and a few flexies stop for a weak one as Christian heads to the turnpoint still not turning. We then head southwest to get under the clouds. Just before we get there, I see Christian starting to turn and head for him. I should have stayed with the gaggle as they get up quickly and it takes me a while to find the core under Christian. Now he’s really out in the lead. (Was that bonehead move #1?)

Johann and I get up next to the turnpoint and head toward Fantasy of Flight. Johann finds a good one to my right but in another bonehead move I continue on, having to slow down to find a good one seven miles out from this second turnpoint.

Many of the flex wings are doing well now above me and we are fighting up wind to get to Fantasy. I make a couple of more bone head moves and land 5 miles short. Johann gets high at Fantasy and continues to Chalet Suzanne.

Christian gets low by Fantasy also, out there out on his own down to 500 feet and takes 20 minutes to get back to cloud base. Still he is able to fly fast and get to goal first.

Manfred also took the 1:30 PM start time and makes goal soon after Christian. He wins the day for the flex wings (or at least I think he does as he was so fast).

Alex Ploner takes the 2 PM start time, and after a few 1:30 flex wings make it in, he makes it to goal to win the day for the rigid wings. He also got low but found a strong thermal right away. David Chamet comes in a few minutes later. The rest of the rigid wings trickle in quite a bit later. The flex wings are interspersed with the rigids (perhaps we will call separate tasks for them.)

Mike Barber cuts his knee on landing on his back wires. It is a pretty substantial cut with a bucket full of blood down his leg into his sock. He was wearing pants with holes in the knees (he lives out of his truck) and that’s where the wire got him. Can you say stripped wires?

Mike and Dorval came across the line very low and close together with Mike the lowest. Mike basically had to land without much time to think about it. He took out a down tube also without any other damage to the glider.

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The 2003 Flytec Championship

Fri, Apr 18 2003, 6:00:02 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Airborne Climax|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|Christian Ciech|cloud|competition|Curt Warren|Dave Carr|David "Dave" Glover|David Chaumet|David Glover|Florida|Flytec Championships 2003|gaggle|GPS|Icaro Laminar MR|job|Kraig Coomber|Moyes Litespeed|Paris Williams|sailplane|Steve Kroop|tug|waypoints|weather

The scores:

http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/scores.html

We called a 66 mile out and return task to the northwest in order to take advantage of the forecasted convergence. The rigids had to go 5 miles longer than the flex wings, just to keep the two classes on separate routes.

We chose a turnpoint at a little grass airstrip just to the west of Interstate 75 10 miles north of Wildwood. It sure was great to use the Florida sailplane outlanding database for our turnpoints as the task committee had a lot more to choose from.

David Glover and I massaged that database and added quite a few points to it to come up with 171 waypoints and goals for the Flytec Championship. No one had to enter any new coordinates in their GPS, which was our goal. With all the extra waypoints, the task committee had plenty of options in every direction which made it much easier to define a task based on the weather and the Race parameters.

Speaking of David and Steve Kroop, they have been very responsive to our concerns about the meet format. For a week in advance of the meet many pilots went over the proposed local rules and made numerous helpful comments that were incorporated into the rules to make the competition that much more fun and interesting.

During the meet they are also very flexible and made changes when pilots saw that things could be better or the weather changed. I appreciate their support of the task committee, and while I think we did a good job, I only wish we had done even a better job.

Seven days of flying. Strong tasks which really demanded a lot from pilots on a couple of days especially. Also some fun tasks that everyone enjoyed.

Great organization on the ground, with twenty tug pilots and very little waiting. Of course, I launched early everyday, so I never had to wait. It’s a little trick I’ll let you in on. ☺

It took about 45 minutes or less for the ground crew and tugs to get everyone in the air. There are well over a hundred pilots here. Pretty smooth.

The rigid wing pilots were hanging out north of Groveland by highway 19 waiting for the perfect start time today. We were all near or right at cloud base, and the cloud kept forming in the perfect spot at the northwest edge of the start circle. It was like so easy to stay in the perfect spot.

I had an opportunity to circle for about 10 minutes with David Chaumet on his Tsunami. He was just below me so I got a real good feel for how well he climbs. Essentially he gained about 6 inches every 360 on me. Like I said I got to watch this for a long time.

We were in light lift, and we were just hanging out waiting and waiting for yet another start time, so I got a very good view, and I can say that while David flies very well and makes very good decisions, the climb rate of his glider is about equal to mine and other ATOS-C’s and Stratoses.

Of course, later I got to see him glide. We tried to drag everyone out with us at 2 PM, but they were not to be dragged. There were about 17 rigid wings in this gaggle in the start circle, and it was hard to get them going. The start time opened at 1:15, but as the clouds to the north started late, unlike yesterday, so everyone wanted to wait to the optimum time.

Johann and I agreed to go at 2:15 and I made a dramatic move at 2:15 to get everyone to come with me. I’m relying on my reading of the studies of herd behavior, and a start circle full of rigid wing hang gliders is nothing if not a herd. Everyone goes with me.

I do glide with David, but soon he gets ahead and in front. Alex Ploner (ATOS-C) and Christian Ciech (Stratos) are with him, so it isn’t like he is totally cleaning everyone’s clock, but it is still obvious that he has the best glide.

I head northwest toward the prisons while the fastest four rigids head on a more northerly course line. I can see a gaggle of flex wings (who started 5 miles in front of us) over the prison so I don’t want to go in any other direction. The rigid guys who took the route to the right do come join us there and everyone gets up, even the guys who first get there low.

The lift is strong and this is a hard racing day. No time to wonder, just find the next strong thermal and go. Of course, a strong thermal in Florida this year averages 400 fpm.

But wait, to the north it looks shaded, dark, overcast, and devoid of cu’s along the course line. The fast guys in front are heading straight on the course line into the gloom. But on the west side of the course, two miles to the west of I-75, I see a set of obvious convergence clouds.

Now I’m thinking, maybe these guys will find really weak lift along the course line. Maybe they won’t find any lift at all. Maybe the only lift will be these clouds. I’m a couple of minutes behind, so I head for them quickly hoping to outsmart the smart guys in front.

The clouds are working. I find a thermal at 1,600’ and right away I’m joined by a hawk that knows something about clouds (or at least lift) and he really helps out finding the best parts of the lift. As I climb out I look off to the east and there is the lead gaggle, getting up okay. But getting up when I was hoping they would be groveling in the shade.

I move deeper into the convergence area and get even stronger lift before dashing back to the northwest to get the turnpoint at the Savanna grass airstrip. Pilots who’ve made the turnpoint in front of me are coming back to the convergence clouds and I come back with them for more of that good lift to 6,000’. The forecast is holding true.

Now the race is really on and it’s a quick run back to the prisons for that good lift over the concrete. It’s still there and every second counts. The fast guys can’t be caught and don’t get stuck.

I get a long glide into the prison area next to Johnny Carr on a Stalker2, the very one that I have flown. It seemed to me that his glide was almost exactly equal to mine. I then circled with him and his climb rate was also very close. I didn’t see any of the hatcheting that I had seen in Texas at the US Open. There was no yawing back and forth, just a very smooth thermaling. This was true of all the Stalker2’s that I saw during the meet. Of course, I mentioned this earlier when test flying the Stalker2.

After the prison. I race as hard as possible, get a little low 7 miles out and have to waste 5 minutes getting back up. I should have kept going as the next seven miles were nothing but lift. Almost all the rigids and over 50 of the flex wing pilots make it back to goal.

Rigid Results:

1 CIECH Christian Icaro Stratos ITA 5823
2 CHAUMET David La Mouette Top Secret FRA 5721
3 PLONAR Alex AIR Atos ITA 5195
4 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos USA 4765
5 YOCOM James AIR Atos C USA 4467

Flex Results:

1 RUHMER Manfred Icaro Laminar MR AUT 5625
2 BONDARCHUCK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 5519
3 COOMBER Kraig Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 5457
4 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed 4 CAN 5265
5 WALBEC Richard Airborne Climax 2 - 14 FRA 5039
6 DURAND Jon Jr. Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 4999
7 ALONZI Mario Aeros Combat 2 FRA 4909
8 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 5 SWE 4811
9 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 2 USA 4796
10 WARREN Curt Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 4752

Curt Warren won the day by having a fast time and leaving when most everyone else did. It was a very competitive meet with a strong battle for first place in both rigid and flex wings. It’s obvious that the best pilots in the world are here.

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The 2003 Flytec Championship

Thu, Apr 17 2003, 7:00:02 pm GMT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|Brett Hazlett|Christian Ciech|cloud|Curt Warren|David Chaumet|Davis Straub|Flytec Championships 2003|gaggle|Jerz Rossignol|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|Jon Durand snr|Kraig Coomber|Manfred Ruhmer|Marcus Hoffmann|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuck|photo|Terry Presley

The scores, when they are done, will be at:

http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/scores.html

Photo of Mike Barber and Oleg Bondarchuck by Luis Pérez

The task committee calls separate tasks for rigids and flex wings with a few shared turnpoints. The task is basically a race around the Green Swamp going from around the north east side, west, south, east and then back to Quest. The rigid wings have to go an extra six miles.

We open the start time at 1:15 PM 45 minutes earlier as pilots are starting earlier anyway and it looks like the days are getting better earlier. The start circles are a few miles to the northwest and we all drift that way. There will definitely be a group of earlier starting flex wings as they quickly get out to the west side of their start circle by Mascote.

At first there is one cloud that we know is working on the north side of Quest and its only providing 100 fpm. A few of us hang there until enough scouts have checked out the area to the north so that we can feel good about venturing out. There have been good cu’s all morning, but some were dying and bringing some pilots grief.

At 1:15 Johann Posch and I go on glide to the west with another rigid wing over the northern end of the Green Swamp. The flexies are to our right and five miles out they are circling, so Johann goes to join them. Like I said, there are cu’s every where so I keep going straight, but the clouds are lying.

I see a few flexies turning downwind and come in under them at 800’. Soon there are twenty gliders holding on and hoping to get back up as the day starts off weak. Now we are wondering if we should have taken the first start time.

We do finally find the good part of this thermal and get back to 4,000’ cloud base for the first part of the flight. We’ve got a total of four rigid wings out here and half a dozen flex wings in the lead gaggle and we’ll help each other out for the next couple of turnpoints before the rigids have to go their own way.

We’ve got Kurt Warren, Jim Lee, Terry Presley, and Jerz Rossignol. At least those are the ones I can identify. Kurt is leading and pushing the whole way. It’s great to have a guy who wants to go fast in the group.

We fly the clouds and continually go off the course line to get to the clouds. After the first bad experience with getting low going to the first turnpoint (Koke- a grass airstrip to the northwest of the Green Swamp), we want to be sure to hit the lift.

The clouds are now working and we hurtle right along trying to make sure that no one catches us from behind. With Kurt and Johann pushing, we are moving quickly.

Kurt takes a line off to our right and keeps going to the second turnpoint to the south at Clinton where he hits a strong thermal. We join him and this is where we will split up. An ATOS comes in under us, looks like someone is close to catching us.

There are two lines of clouds going to the south east. They are set up perfectly for the two task lines, one for the flexies and one for the rigids. We four rigid guys, including Marcus from Switzerland head southeast while the new rigid wing guy waffles around low below us.

It’s a good run to Rockridge and highway 98 where Johann finds another thermal just past the turnpoint. I’m slowly climbing away from Marcus and Johann and I keep in touch. The low rigid wing guy almost lands but we see him getting up slowly and still low behind us.

There is a lot of vertical development over by Dean Still Road going to our next turnpoint at Dean Still and highway 33. When I get there it is going up at 700 fpm to 5,300’. I dive in under the cloud and keep the bar pulled in so as I don’t go up making the turnpoint. Johann is already on his way home.

As we approach the highway 33 and 474 intersection, we are joined again by the flexies who’ve taken their short cut. There is a strong thermal at this intersection 11 miles out from Quest and I take it to 4,300’ which should be just enough to get me to goal.

I can barely see Quest but my Brauninger says that I can make it and there doesn’t seem to be a head wind. Johann reports that he doesn’t find any lift on the glide in.

I do the final glide without turning and come in with 500 feet to spare. No worries. Thank goodness sink was only 240 fpm over that 11 miles.

Results:

Rigids:

Pilot Start time Elapsed time

Christian Ciech 2:15 PM 2:57
David Chaumet 2:15 PM 3:09
Johann Posch 1:15 PM 3:21
Davis Straub 1:15 PM 3:29
Alex Ploner 2:15 PM 3:31

The pilots that started and finished earlier will get additional points. Thirteen pilots made goal. The race for the top spot is very tight in rigids (the results before today):

1 CIECH Christian ITA 4081
2 CHAUMET David FRA 4072

Christian picked up a few points today, but not a lot.

Flexies:

Jon Durand Jr. 2 PM 2:39
Manfred Ruhmer 1:45 PM 2:50
Brett Hazlett 1:45 PM 2:53
Kraig Coomber 1:45 PM 2:53
Oleg Bondarchuck 1:45 PM 2:53
Curt Warren 1:15 PM 2:54

Given his start time, Kurt could be in second or even first for the day. More than 25 flex wing pilots made it to goal.

The race for the top spot in the flex wing category is very tight with Manfred not running away with the contest. Three pilots before today’s results are very close. Oleg and Kraig are still very close after today. Tomorrow decides it.

1 RUHMER Manfred AUT 3983
2 COOMBER Kraig AUS 3927
3 BONDARCHUCK Oleg UKR 3910

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The 2003 Flytec Championship

Tue, Apr 15 2003, 9:00:02 pm GMT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|Belinda Boulter|Betinho Schmitz|Carlos Bessa|cloud|cloud street|David Chaumet|Eric Raymond|Florida|Flytec Championships 2003|gaggle|Jim Zeiset|Kraig Coomber|Luis Pérez|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuck|photo|Raymong Caux|Richard Walbec|Ron Gleason|wheels

The scores when they are done will be at:

http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/scores.html

Your editor is beat tonight. He had to walk out a mile hauling two gliders and two harnesses. Thankfully he had his kayak wheels that the lovely Belinda brought in for him. But, let’s say that wasn’t so bad. Lois, who landed with me, had to crawl out, as he doesn’t have full use of his legs. He was looking pretty chipper tonight.

Luis Pérez took this photo of the surrounding area.

The story of the day has got to be Bo Hageman winning the day again. But more on that later.

First, we had to call a task knowing that the forecast was for lighter lift than yesterday, much stronger east-northeast winds, and lower cloud base, at least initially. The wind was the big issue for us. It looked to be 15 mph or maybe a bit more. Yesterday it was less than 10 mph, out of the northeast. The difference between a little less than 10 and maybe a bit more than 15 mph is the killer for hang gliders especially flex wings.

We called a shorter task than yesterday now to the south for the flex wings. We want to keep them up near the Florida “ridge” at highway 27, for perhaps better lift, so we call and out and return to 27 and 547 (57 miles). Their start circle is centered just to the east of Quest.

There is a request from the flex wing pilots for a different longer task for the rigids, and we accommodate them by moving the start point for the rigids 6 miles to the east of Quest and lengthen their task to 544 and highway 27 (66 miles). This means that rigid pilots are going to have to fight their way further upwind just to get into the start circle. And, their task is about as long as their task on the previous day.

Ron Gleason and I talk about launching fairly early and working our way to the east to get into the start circle . It looks like this will be a tough task. The cloud started before 10 PM, so at least we have thermal markers, and with the wind we have streets showing us where to go to get to over to highway 27.

I’m the first rigid off at 12:40. Bo is not even in line yet. He is resting his back he says. I pin off at 1,000’ with the vario showing 1,100 fpm for 15 seconds. Yes, there is in deed lift here and it takes me west as I climb to 3,300’ and then begin punching east under the cloud street.

By this time I’ve got three other rigid wings with me including Jim Yokum and Ron Gleason. As I got off earlier I’m higher and pushing further east. There is a big lake in front of us (Lake Minnehaha), but the lift seems to be there anyway, and I keep finding 300+ fpm as I get next to the lake.

I’m at cloud base (4,700’) at 1:36 and I’m thinking that I should just on course. I’m alone, there are plenty of clouds to the south. I’m just two miles south of the start circle center, no one has been able to get out here with me yet.

I outsmart myself and say why not go upwind another two miles to get on the upwind side of the start circle. There are plenty of clouds off to the east going to Lake Apopka. Ten minutes later I’m down to 1,600’ and running back downwind to find lift.

This is a story that a number of other pilots will replay as they too try to go upwind on the east side of highway 27 near Clermont and find that those clouds are lying.

I climb up in lift that gets to 700 fpm to 5,200’ at 2 minutes after 2 PM. The start window is open, surely I can go with the rigid wing pilot who just left. Nope. I try again to go upwind to get on the east side of the start circle for a better start. I won’t get it.

Jim Zeiset sees this mess, and decides to land back at Quest. Other folks go up and down in the start circle and never get to start. I leave the start circle at 2:30 PM at 900’. I’ll drift away from the one landable field climbing at 50 fpm going over Lake Louise heading toward the swamps on the south side. The start clock games were killers today.

Four rigid pilots did well. Alex Ploner won the day starting at 2:45 PM and taking 2:26 to complete the course. Christian starting at 2 PM did it in 2:45. David Chaumet started at 3 PM and took 2:53. Mike Tyron started at 2:15 and took 3:11. Doesn’t look like any gaggle flying took place there.

Bo started the course at 1:50PM, ten minutes before the official start time. The rules let him do this, but his whole flight gets shifted to start at 2 PM and end 10 minutes later. Manfred who starts at 2 PM catches Bo out on the course, but they part ways and Manfred doesn’t make it back, while Bo is the first into goal.

He’s followed by Oleg Bondarchuck who is 15 minutes behind him, but 5 minutes overall behind him. Then there is a big gap with Betinho doing the course in 2:50, Dorval 2:55, Carlos Bessa 3:13, Mike Barber 3:20, and Raymond Caux 3:25.

The flex wing standings are going to tighten up quite a bit with Manfred not making it. Kraig Coomber, Richard Walbec, and Johnny Durand were up there high, but they weren’t at goal either.

This was a day for pilot skill in reading the conditions. Oleg and Bo were able to go fast by reading the sky.

The forecast for winds tomorrow is for them to back off maybe by a half. That would be great.

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The 2003 Flytec Championship

Mon, Apr 14 2003, 5:00:02 pm GMT

ballast|Brett Hazlett|cloud|David Chaumet|Flytec 4030|Flytec Championships 2003|gaggle|GPS|Hansjoerg Truttmann|harness|Johann Posch|Kraig Coomber|Mark Bolt|Paris Williams|picture|radio|Ron Gleason|Timothy "Tim" Ettridge|Timothy Ettridge|tow|track log

The scores when they are done will be at:

http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/scores.html

Yesterday Bo was able to grab the bag that David was holding up at goal for $50. David said he could see him aiming at him from 3 miles out.

Photos by Timothy Ettridge (as was the camel picture yesterday)

There was an inversion at about 1,000’ and it didn’t break until a little after 1 PM. Mark Bolt and Bo gave it a try at 12:30 and both came down and then relaunched. The second time they stuck, but Bo had to circle up from about 300’ at the west end of the runway.

I had been waiting in the ready line waiting to see if anyone stuck. As we watched Bo slowly climb out pilots began to get ready. I just waited here the front of the ready line until there was pressure from behind to get going and launched at 1:25 PM. That meant that 95% of the pilots now had to get launched in 35 minutes if they wanted to get in the air by the first start time. What it really meant is that the first start time would probably not be the favored start time.

Amazingly it looked like only a couple of wings were still on the ground at 2 PM. Pilots must have pinned off low to get the tugs back on the ground so quick for the next tow.

It was a strong climb to 3,500’ and then a slow steady climb thereafter to over 6,000’ and cloud base. It was great to be bundled up in warm clothing which I made sure that everyone knew they might need today.

I was on the radio with Johann Posch and watching David Chaumet climb up to cloud base with us from a later launch. We let the 2 PM start time go by even though we were high as it didn’t look like anyone wanted to go. David headed west (downwind) and Johann and I followed him to keep him in our sites. We were again at cloud base at 2:15 PM and it looked like David wasn’t going to go. Then he did and we were right there with him.

I always want to fly with the fastest pilots and here was David off by himself and I wanted to be sure I was sticking with him today. We didn’t have any of the other fast guys, but they were starting also from cloud base to our east, upwind.

We were right on a line for more clouds (there were less to the northeast) so this looked like the hot spot in spite of the fact that we were a bit downwind of the course line. We were hitting the clouds right as we went north so that looked good.

David has a superior glide. Johann was slightly out gliding me, but David was going faster and staying even with us as he moved out ahead. At first we were all together going in the mid thirties speed wise and I couldn’t see any difference between us. When we started flying in the mid forties, then he pulled ahead and still had the same glide.

I was carrying 22 pounds of ballast (hook in weight of 222 with ballast). Either he carries more ballast, or his glider/harness has less drag than the ATOS-C with me or Johann on it. He is a skinny guy.

We were able to keep up with David by finding the cores faster and climbing quickly. His climb rate was about the same are ours. No dramatic difference there. The question is is this a one of a kind La Mouette Tsunami or are the others like this one? We haven’t seen another Top Secret (Tsunami) perform this well at all, so it is hard to know if this is a production model. It seems to be the same glider he had at the worlds in Chelan.

We came in under Hansjoerg by the prisons (surprise, there is a new prison going up next to the other two southeast of Coleman) and got back to cloudbase. Then off to Wildwood for the next cu. We joined up with Jim Yokum there who had started from a position to our east. We could see flex wing gliders also to our east.

Gliding toward the first turnpoint, I got out in front, a little lower and in the wrong position and the wrong tape went off in my head (the I can get ahead and find lift under these clouds even though I’m getting low tape). I tried to save my sorry ass at 1,000’ but just couldn’t stay with the weak lift drifting fast to the west.

Johann, Jim and David got up in the strong one that I refused to go back to (part of that bad tape), and got high before going into the turnpoint where they also found good lift. I was scratching too low one mile to the west and couldn’t chance going up wind to find that thermal.

There had been blue holes and clouds on the way north, but the blue hole got bigger as pilots headed south to Center Hill. Jim and Ron Gleason fell back to the west and got up to 7,200; over highway 75 quite a bit to the west, while Johann plowed through the blue and landed just south of Center Hill.

The flex wings were gaggling up and helping each other out more. By starting at 2:45 Bo, with Paris, Brett Hazlett, Johnny Durand, Jr. and Kraig Coomber, they were able to catch the 2:15 and 2:30 starters. Manfred started at 2:30 PM.

With a big lead gaggle they made their way through the blue hole and then at the second and last turnpoint 12 miles out from Quest were able to make it back against the head wind.

Bo won the day followed by Paris, Johnny Durand, Brett and Kraig. Johnny Durand had his GPS go out on him and he saw Bo and Paris go for it. He said that he wished he had a Flytec 4030 Race for this final glide.

Christian won the day starting a half hour after David. David was second.

To see how the top pilots did check the URL above and click Top Tracks. The animated track log for Sunday for rigids is at http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/top5/rigidtracksat.HTML (ignore the paraglider symbol).

You’ll need http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/comprigid.html to know who is who. Go to the scores URL above and click competitors to get their numbers.

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The 2003 Flytec Championship

Sun, Apr 13 2003, 7:00:02 pm GMT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|Betinho Schmitz|Bruce Barmakian|Christian Ciech|CompeGPS|David "Dave" Glover|David Chaumet|David Glover|Flytec Championships 2003|gaggle|harness|Jon Durand snr|Kraig Coomber|Manfred Ruhmer|Paris Williams|Richard Walbec|sailplane|scoring|Worlds

The scores when they are done will be at:

http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/scores.html

On the first day David Glover arrives on a camel:

With another blue day predicted, and with the one forecast for weak lift (we don’t get Gary’s forecast until after the task is called), we choose a 40 mile task, that gets the fast guys home in less than an hour and fifteen minutes. We’ll have to make that a bit longer tomorrow.

We keep pilots nearby, but screw up and put them back through the start circle which makes it hard for CompeGPS to know when they really started. Also the start circle gaggle and the gaggle from the guys coming back from the first turnpoint gets a little too crowded.

With a 2 PM start time we open the launch at noon and most people wait around till almost 1 PM to start launching. I’m off at 12:45 as the first rigid wing, and the lift is light to the visible inversion at 4,700’. We’ll all bob up and down for the next two and half hours hitting the top of the inversion and finding lots of light lift.

The first leg is a short one up to Gator field to the northeast. The flex wings and rigids are separated into their own start circles which cuts down on the mayhem a bit. Some pilots take the 2 PM start window, but many hold back for 2:15 for the fastest flex wings and 2:30 for the fastest rigid wing pilots. We actually are low at 2:15, so we have to wait until 2:30 to start.

The lift is much better out on the course than in the start circle and it is a quick flight to Gators and back to Quest with lots of thermal markers from the earlier time slots. We are headed for Bay Lake to the southwest by the Green Swamp and there seems to be a bit of a hold up there as a lot of pilots are milling about. We jump in and out and find strong lift just to the south to get us up and near Seminole Lake glider port.

A turning sailplane does us no good and we have to find lift at the south end of the grass strip to get high enough to get around the turnpoint at highway 474 and 33 and then to the northeast toward Lake Live Oak. A good thermal greets us on the way and a lot of folks bunch up getting high enough to make the last turnpoint and hopefully get to goal.

I’m registering 14 mph out of the northwest, so we proceed cautiously toward goal working a few bits until it looks good to go. The field is crowded with faster guys and pilots who started earlier.

With too short a task, the day is over too soon. All (27) the rigid pilots make goal.

Rigids:
Pilot Elapsed time
David Chaumet 1:14:28
Alex Ploner 1:14:52
Christian Ciech 1:16:07
Bruce Barmakian 1:35:50
Flexies:
Manfred Ruhmer 1:24:08
Kraig Coomber 1:26:19
Richard Walbec 1:26:53
Betinho 1:29:26
Jon Durand, Jr. 1:29:41

I have to type these in myself, so sorry about not putting in the glider make. It’s in the scoring.

David conquers again on his La Mouette Tsunami, but this time Alex with his old harness (his new one was stolen) is close (today his harness didn’t fail like it did yesterday). Apparently David was a mile behind Alex on the final glide and came over the top of his head. That glider has some glide.

The top three rigid pilots at the Worlds in Chelan last summer are the top three pilots today.

The top three flex wing pilot today were the top three yesterday, in the same order. Four Litespeeds after the Icaro 2000 Laminar MR. Paris on the Aeros was next. Oleg was 13th.

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The 2003 Flytec Championship

Sat, Apr 12 2003, 6:00:02 pm GMT

accident|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|Belinda Boulter|Christian Ciech|cloud|David Chaumet|Davis Straub|Eric Paquette|Florida|Flytec Championships 2003|gaggle|Hansjoerg Truttmann|harness|Johann Posch|Kraig Coomber|Manfred Ruhmer|Mike Barber|Richard Walbec|Ron Gleason|sailplane|smoke|Swift|Wallaby Ranch|Worlds

The scores when they are done will be at:

http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/index.html

The task committee relying on my statements about 5 mph out of the northwest called a triangular task, 58 mile for rigid wings, 61 miles for flex wings. The rigid wings started off to the southwest of the flex wings.

We went south to Dean Still and 33, 8 miles west of Wallaby Ranch, then south east to an intersection over highway 27 north of Haines City and north of Walmart, then back over Wallaby to the northwest, right into the wind to Quest.

The launch window opened at noon and the first start time was 2 PM. Lots of time to think about when to launch. The rigids have to launch before 1:15 {at least once.)

The winds were a bit too much for the flex wing pilots, and they have my apologies for that.

The forecast was for wispy cu’s or no cu’s also, but some deeper cu’s showed up early and then thinned out to match the prediction. With the strong west winds we had trouble getting to our start circle and kept drifting back to the east of highway 33. When I took off I just nicked the west circumference of the rigid wing start circle and left it at that.

About ten or so of us including a few flex wings took the first start time at 2 PM. David Chaumet in his Tsunami {La Moyette Top Secret), was just behind me. A few other ATOSes and Stratoses including Johann Posch were with me. Hansjoerg and Christian would start at 2:15 PM as I believe would Manfred.

I got out in front as I just nicked the start circle and joined up with a sailplane circling near the Seminole Lake glider port for the first thermal on the course. Looked like a student, and I was keeping a real good eye on the sailplane {given the recent accident) and quickly climbed through him.

David and Johann caught up with me south of Seminole as there were a few wispy cu’s to the north of Dean Still. David was flying well on his Tsunami, but not over powering. I was feeling great. There were a few flexies with us.

You can see from the tracklog above how much we would head to the east whenever we were thermaling. It was downwind to the second turnpoint and at this point David, Johann and a couple of other rigids have gotten out in front of me and a few other rigids. I had to go back at the first turnpoint to get into the lift and got a little behind.

There is a thermal just before the second turnpoint where we all get back together again and get high. The thermals over the course averaged 250 fpm {rate of climb) just about the prediction. They maxed at 500 fpm {at least for me). I heard Manfred found some 1000 fpm.

After the second turnpoint we are heading back into the wind to get to the west and the difficulty factor goes up a lot. Ron Gleason on an ATOS gets down to 600’ at I4 just south of Wallaby Ranch and has to drift east back to highway 27 to get back up. He’ll then fly the Florida ridge to the north finding lift on the “high ground.”

Johann is 3 miles ahead and I’m in contact with him. The lead gaggle gets low east of Wallaby and they are stuck for a short while. We don’t quite catch them as we wait at I4 and get high in weak lift. It will take 45 minutes to go from I4 to 474 about 11 miles to the north. There is a small wisp of a cloud now and then.

I flying with and Oleg on a Combat 2, Richard Walbec, and Kraig Coomber on Litespeeds. Christian Ciech caught us at the turnpoint and I’m flying with him also. It is good to see that he is not completely out climbing or out gliding me like he did here last year and at the Worlds. I’m feeling great about my updated ATOS-C.

Still Christian keeps going when we get below 2,000’ AGL just south of 474, and I hang back in weak lift as I never see him twirling in anything. Richard, Kraig, and a few rigids and I have to work some weak lift just north of 474 as we get down to 1,500’. There is a four pilot gaggle just to our north {including Oleg and Manfred) about a mile that is going up much better, but we have to live with what we are in as we’ll never make it to them.

The lift improves and finally the two thermals merge as we are 2,000’ below the four guys in front.

Those four go on glide and I hear from Belinda that David and his Tsunami are already in goal and we are still 15 miles out with a strong west wind. David has kicked our collective butts. He started in the first time slot, didn’t have many pilots out in front at first, got in the lead by the first turnpoint and kept charging ahead. Pilots flying with him said he had a better glide. I didn’t notice this, but maybe.

Mark Mullhulland joins us in a Swift Lite and I’ve been wondering where the Swifts have been. Usually they start late and then smoke the course going from gaggle to gaggle, but not today. Mark can barely keep up with us and will get into goal after our gaggle.

We keep punching west and a little bit to the north, and the winds are strong and the lift weak. We have to leave lift that is too weak to give us forward progress. I’m especially cognizant of the lines on all the lakes and ponds to see where there are converging winds. There are no wisps around.

Alex Ploner hasn’t caught up with us as he has broken his harness zipper and is having problems. He won’t make goal. Mike Barber broke his zipper on the ground, got help fixing it and had a little later start so he is no where to be seen.

We keep punching into the wind. At about 6 miles to the southeast of Quest I see Ron Gleason head toward goal from 3,500’. He looks really low as I’m at 4,500’. I’m worried about the head wind.

I go on glide with Richard next to me and we keep encounter some lift as we head toward Quest. I can still see Ron and it sure looks very iffy for him.

As I get to 1.5 miles out, I see Ron right on the deck as he enters the field after crossing a good patch of trees. He makes the goal line in the middle of the field with 50 feet to spare. I come in next with Richard a minute behind. It will be hard to get Richard off that

David is the first pilot in followed half an hour later by Hansjoerg and then Christian. Manfred is the first flex wing pilot in. Only four flex wing pilots make it to goal. Three Swifts make it after most of the rigids who make it are at goal.

Elapsed times:

Rigids:

David Chaumet Tsunami 2:15
Hansjoerg Truttmann ATOS-C 2:32
Christian Ciech Stratos 2:33
Bruce Barkmakian ATOS 2:37
Rich Burton Stratos 2:37
Jim Yokum ATOS-C 2:39
Eric Paquette ATOS 2:54
Ron Gleason ATOS-C 3:04
Davis Straub ATOS-C 3:07
then a few more rigid wings.

Flexxies:

Manfred Ruhmer Laminar 2:50
Kraig Coomber Litespeed 3:01
Richard Wallbec Litespeed 3:07
Mike Barber Litespeed 3:50(?)

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Flytec Championship – 70 mile fish bowl »

Sat, Apr 27 2002, 9:00:00 pm GMT

A.I.R. ATOS|Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Aeros Ltd|Alex Ploner|Chris Arai|Christian Ciech|cloud|competition|Curt Warren|David "Dave" Glover|Flytec Championships 2002|Flytec Championships 2005|gaggle|GAP|Gary Osoba|Ghostbuster|job|Mike Barber|Moyes Delta Gliders|Moyes Litespeed|Quest Air|Ron Gleason|Steve Kroop|tail|tracker|tug|video|weather|Wills Wing Talon

David Glover was very smart and every day as the meet went on he would drag up folks to thank them for their help at the Flytec Championship. During the week he thanked the tug pilots, the volunteers, the ground crew, the Quest Air crew, the people who put the dinners together, Frank and Steve Kroop, the registration crew, etc. Because it happened every day everyone got more applause and more attention than if he had put it off until the last night, when everyone gets crammed together.

David and Steve did something also very clever, they had GW create a video taking footage and shots during the week. On Saturday night, the last night of the Flytec Championship, the video was ready to go and we got to see the whole video with the sound track. It was amazing that it had been done so quickly, all the while GW just looked like he was hanging out taking pictures and having fun.

But, not only did we get to see the video, all the pilots and tug pilots got a copy of the video last night. It really showed off what we do at a Floridaaerotow competition and we’ll be able to take it around and show it to our friends (if we have any outside of hang gliding).

Dave was a kick all week making announcements, telling jokes, getting pilots to come to the pilot meetings because they were so much fun. Belinda commented that we hadn’t seen Dave in his element in quite a while. While there were many many people who played keys roles in making the Flytec Championship such a great meet, I’ve got to feel that it was Dave Glover that really put it over the top and made it so much fun.

One of the key elements to its success (I feel), is that he was able to delegate responsibility to others, and in this case I’m referring to the task committee. I had written to him early on stating how giving the task committee the complete responsibility for calling the task was one of the keys to Tove’s great meets in Australia. David, like Tove, had the personality that allowed him to delegate responsibility and not get tied up into knots about it.

Chris Arai, Revo, and I had complete authority to choose the task each day, we took lots of pilot input and we did our best for the pilots to make the meet fair and fun. I can tell you that there was no barbeque task on the last day (although we did come back to Quest Air) as there has been in the past.

Having a task committee made up exclusively of pilots who without prodding from the meet director or organizer (well, we kept Dave away almost all of the time), is a key to having a meet (there are other ways to do it, but there are very very few individuals who can pull it off, and I can think of only one, Mad Dog, in Australia) that satisfies the pilots. This will continue to be a difficult issue and I hope that there will be a way to work this out at the upcoming worlds in Chelan.

Oh, yes, we did have a task on day seven. First, we heard from Gary Osoba:

Looks like a 7 day meet, thanks to the task planners, meet administrators, and reasonably good weather. Congratulations!

For a change, the entire soaring window today should provide for relatively consistent wind directions and strengths. Should make the planning a little bit easier. Here's how it stacks up:

11am Weak lift. Probably a bit early for clouds to be forming yet. When then do (likely closer tonoon), they should be around 2500'. Surface winds sse around 6. Winds aloft a little bit more southerly at 10-12.

2pm Good lift, strong in spots. Cb 5000' to 5300'. Surface winds sse 5-8, aloft sse 12-14.

5pm Moderate lift, good in spots. Cb could go to around 6000". Surface winds sse 8-10, aloft sse about 12.

"Only a fool would try to predict the weather"!

So we’ve got strong winds aloft out of the south, but good lift also. With the good lift we can come back against the strong winds, and that is exactly what we plan to do. We have really been counting on Gary’s forecasts, and he has done a great job for us. We really pick the tasks based on his weather predictions.

We call a 70 mile task (no barbeque task this one) that will first take us downwind 17 miles to the west, northwest to Bushnell, back against the head wind to Quest, south into the head wind to the intersection of highways 33 and 474, then north, downwind past Quest to Gator field, then 7 miles upwind for the final glide to goal.

The task keeps us near Quest, while at the same time making it difficult to complete. We come back over Quest to get everyone on the ground excited and it keeps us out of the swamp.

There are plenty of clouds when we start taking off, and it looks like maybe there are too many, maybe it will over develop after all. The wind seems awfully strong also, but it’s too late now to come up with an other task.

We hang around until the middle start time at 1:15although everyone is in the air in half an hour. We just stay at cloud base for an extra 15 minutes. GAP gives one very little reason to go out in front and leave the gaggle behind. Johann and I have already made up our minds that we will take the middle start time, and maybe everyone else felt that way also, or, when two pilots left, they all decided to go with us.

We can see all the darkness out to our northwest and it looks like we are jumping into a black hole. There are high cirrus clouds that dull the areas on the ground where the cu’s don’t block out the sun.

We spot the guys who took the 1 PMstart time and that makes it easier to make our way to the turnpoint through all this very gloomy looking area. Still we’re down below 1,400’ before we connect with the big lift that gets us to the turnpoint and back out again.

Well, that was a downwind task, but we averaged only 27 mph getting there, so the south wind didn’t help that much. Coming back will prove to be much more difficult (and most if not all of the pilots who don’t make it will drop out here), as the average speed will go down to 15 mph.

I’ll charge across some blue areas to get under what seems to be a cloud street, find nothing then push up wind to get under some pilots turning at 8 miles out from Quest, only to find myself at 450’ and working lift that averages 140 fpm, starting out at a much lower value. It turns out that every one will have difficulty making it back to Quest and will get low on this leg.

Christian Ciech and Alex Ploner are doing much better in this meet than the rest of us, and they have zoomed out ahead. They were half a mile ahead at the turnpoint, and I lost them coming back as I went more easterly, but they will also get quite low. They are flying together.

I’m flying with Johann, but I’ve lost him also. Given how weak the conditions are we are all struggling and it looks like a long day if we can stay up. I’ve got quite a few other gliders here with me, so we hang on and the lift improves, as we drift north away from Quest, but with stronger lift it is no problem. Twenty minutes after coming in low, I’m up to 4,000’ and on my way to Quest with Curt, Paris, Ron Gleason, and some other ATOSes.

We are styling now, hitting good lift and staying high as we come into Quest. We can see a gaggle forming to our south that includes the Swifts, so they must have struggled also. I can see Alex and Christian in the gaggle also.

Johann will lose it here and head off to the west to get under better looking clouds, while I’ll continue to the south to join up with the gaggle. Johann, who is in second place, will almost land at Quest.

I catch up with the lead gaggle, which is putzing along. I guess they don’t see any need to probe out into the blue to the south. All the clouds that we had by Bushnell have not come down here in the late afternoon, and there are mere wisps to our south.

With a bunch of rigid wings, Curt Warren, and above us all the two Italian rigid wing pilots, we start punching our way south only to find good lift, light sink in between, and long patches of buoyant air. We stay high and work light lift to get to 5,000’.

We are still running into the wind, so it takes a while, but we have no problems getting down to the south to get the turnpoint with Alex and Christian leading the way. The Swifts start to get ahead of us now, with Manfred taking the third turnpoint and coming back to greet us when we are 2 miles out from it.

As soon as we get the turnpoint, we can drift back north along 33 in strong tail winds and buoyant air. With the lift averaging less than 200 fpm in the cores, we are just taking a little bit here and there. After the long up wind grind it is a joy to drift toward the Gator turnpoint.

Now there are only rigid wings in the lead as we come into the Gator turnpoint and turn to get back to Quest. It’s been a long glide into Gator before our upwind final glide. My IQ/Comp has been acting up and not reporting any final glide info, so I’m just hanging with the four other rigid pilots. Heiner goes on glide and we all just speed up as it becomes clear that no matter that fact that we are going into a strong head wind, we will make it back to Quest without a problem.

Mike Barber who bombed out on the previous day (after passing up lots of lift trying to go faster) goes all out and will win in Class 1 as the flex wings will come in about 20 minutes behind Alex Ploner who takes first in the rigid wings. Then again he'll start fifteen minutes behind us, so you can see how much Alex and Christian were holding back, just tracking the rigids below them.

Class 5 on the last day:

1 Ploner, Alex, 65 Air Atos C Ita 13:15:00 16:20:00 03:05:00 953
2 Ciech, Christian, 47 Icaro Stratos Ita 13:15:00 16:20:11 03:05:11 935
3 Biesel, Heiner, 101 Air Atos Usa 13:15:00 16:28:30 03:13:30 848
4 Gleason, Ron, 300 Air Atos Usa 13:15:00 16:28:35 03:13:35 839
5 Endter, Vincent, 43 Air Atos Usa 13:15:00 16:28:36 03:13:36 832
6 Straub, Davis, 50 Air Atos C Usa 13:15:00 16:28:55 03:13:55 825
7 Zeiset, Jim, 66 Air Atos Usa 13:15:00 16:38:43 03:23:43 762
8 Barmakian, Bruce, 17 Air Atos Usa 13:00:00 16:34:50 03:34:50 741
9 Brandt, Dave, 60 Air Atos Usa 13:15:00 16:48:51 03:33:51 713
10 Posch, Johann, 112 Air Atos Aut 13:15:00 16:54:20 03:39:20 689
11 Campanella, Mario, 186 Flight Designs Ghostbuster Bra 13:15:00 16:54:52 03:39:52 685
12 Almond, Neville, 116 Flight Designs Ghostbuster Gbr 13:00:00 17:45:14 04:45:14 469

Class 5 finals:

1 Ciech, Christian, 47 Icaro Stratos Ita 5804
2 Posch, Johann, 112 Air Atos Aut 5354
3 Ploner, Alex, 65 Air Atos C Ita 5272
4 Straub, Davis, 50 Air Atos C Usa 4994
5 Gleason, Ron, 300 Air Atos Usa 4983

Class 1 last day:

1 Barber, Mike, 2 Moyes Litespeed Usa 13:30:00 16:41:15 03:11:15 915
2 Wirdnam, Gary , 39 Aeros Combat 2 Gbr 13:30:00 16:41:37 03:11:37 902
3 Bessa, Carlos, 155 Moyes Litespeed Bra 13:30:00 16:42:09 03:12:09 891
4 Warren, Curt, 73 Moyes Litespeed Usa 13:15:00 16:40:29 03:25:29 843
5 Zweckmayr, Josef, 18 Icaro Laminar Aut 13:00:00 16:33:16 03:33:16 841
6 Bondarchuk, Oleg, 107 Aeros Combat 2 13 Ukr 13:30:00 16:55:38 03:25:38 800
6 Agulhon, Dorival, 94 Icaro Mrx Bra 13:15:00 16:45:15 03:30:15 800
8 Harri, Martin, 31 Moyes Litespeed Che 13:30:00 16:55:41 03:25:41 797
9 Williams, Paris , 1 Icaro MR700WRE Usa 13:30:00 16:56:04 03:26:04 793
10 Bertok, Attila, 64 Moyes Litespeed Hun 13:30:00 16:56:08 03:26:08 790

Finals Class 1:

1 Bondarchuk, Oleg, 107 Aeros Combat 2 13 Ukr 5841
2 Williams, Paris , 1 Icaro MR700WRE Usa 5644
3 Volk, Glen, 5 Moyes Litespeed Usa 5584
4 Hamilton, Robin, 30 Icaro MR700WRE Gbr 5515
5 Warren, Curt, 73 Moyes Litespeed Usa 5440
6 Hazlett, Brett, 90 Moyes Litespeed Can 5437
7 Wirdnam, Gary , 39 Aeros Combat 2 Gbr 5434
8 Wolf, Andre, 117 Moyes Litespeed Bra 5389
9 Olsson, Andreas, 27 Moyes Litespeed Swe 5369
10 Rotor, Nene, 77 Wills Wing Talon Bra 5348

Preliminary results are up on the www.flytec.com web site.

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Flytec Championship – I think we are having fun yet »

Wed, Apr 24 2002, 9:00:00 pm GMT

A.I.R. ATOS|Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Aeros Ltd|Andrew "Andy" Hollidge|Chris Arai|Christian Ciech|cloud|comic|competition|Curt Warren|David "Dave" Glover|Dragonfly|Flytec Championships 2002|Flytec Championships 2005|gaggle|Moyes Delta Gliders|Moyes Litespeed|Nene Rotor|Quest Air|Robert Reisinger|tow|tug|weaklink|weather|Wills Wing Talon

Many pilots were excited about the short task yesterday and getting to goal for the first time. This really upped the mood of the competitors and brought everyone one into the fold. The new guys wanted to be included also.

I wrote a while back about Tove’s meet in Deniliquin and how she organized it so that it encouraged new pilots to join in competition. No one has taken her example and run with it yet, but maybe we’ll see more of that. We on the task committee have to set tasks for the major racers, so it would be nice to have a meet where we could see tasks for the great middle of the field.

Did I say that we were having fun yet? Seems like the competitors are really liking the tasks and enjoying the facilities here at Quest Air. Good weather helps, of course, and Floridais doing its best to makes us all happy.

There is a lot going on at Quest in addition to the meet. A new turbine Dragonfly flew tonight, so that’s bringing a lot of excitement to all the motor heads. With so many Dragonflies and trikes here, not only do we get in the air in a real big hurry, but all the tug pilots get to talk to one another and encourage each other.

With an east-northeast wind prediction and difficulty forecasting the lift, we call a straight run, 68 miles, out to the WillistonAirportto the north, northwest. We want folks to see a little bit of Florida, if they happen to look down at all. A little cross country flying wouldn’t hurt either.

There is a strong east wind on the ground, and in the air (I’ll measure 60° at 14 mph throughout the flight), so launches prove to be a bit tricky. I’ll break two weak links, which will start me off in a fine mood, nervous as possible.

With the high pressure and shearing winds, the lift above Quest is quite a handful. I’m getting tossed around something fierce and frankly I’m totally terrified. I’m thinking of landing, but the competition spirit keeps me in the air.

We’re waiting for the 2:15 PMstart time, and even with my late start because of the multiple weaklink breaks due to the action at tree top level, I’ve plenty of time to get to cloud base. Russell takes me up on the third tow and it is as smooth as can be. He deposits me under a small cloud that is working at 200 fpm, and I much appreciate it.

All the rigids were out near the start circle circumference, but they come back to join me as we wait until the last start time. I assume that they are thinking like me that we want the full heating of the day to fly our reasonably short task in.

I’m at cloud base at a little over 5,000’ and given that we are all back a mile and a half from the start circle circumference I decide to leave in time to make it there as the start time starts. Seems like some other pilots want to keep working to stay out of the clouds close to Quest.

There are lots of high clouds, and thin cu’s with cloud base at 5,000’ out in front of us. There is very little development today in the clouds, but they are numerous. They are mostly just wisps.

I go on an eight mile glide to 2,300’ and find some lift with a few other pilots under very marginal clouds. It’s 400 fpm back to 4,700’ so I’m happy to be high. I guess I only need to say this once more here. I’ll be terrified for about 75% of the flight. I experience it has very turbulent, and I can’t help thinking that the glider to going to go over at any minute. Other pilots will mention how turbulent it was.

There are flex wings who’ve taken the 2 PM start gate out in front of us, along with a couple of rigid wing pilots who also took the earlier start time. I’m falling behind as I keep leaving uncomfortable lift, and hoping to find lighter, but more comfortable climbs.

At around Wildwood I start chasing the lead gaggle – a gaggle of mixed rigids and flex wings. They are moving very fast, racing from thermal to thermal, but I’ve got the advantage that I’m following and can see where they find lift.

There is a tough stretch right around Wildwood as we head toward I-75, then things start to improve and folks get more and more into the racing mode. I’m still way behind many of the other rigids, and the top flex wings are spread all around. We’ve probably got 20 to 30 pilots in the front of this race, within two miles of each other.

Southwest of Ocalawe get under a cloud street that lasts for maybe 3 or 4 miles, and I’m somehow able to catch up with the top few pilots. We al decide to go on glide from over 5,000’ and this will turn into a ten mile glide down to 1,700 until a flex wing pilot way to my right is the first to find the lift. For the first time during the flight I’m happy to be in a thermal because it is completely smooth and takes us back to over 5,000’.

At 15 miles out my IQ/Comp is telling me to go on final. I’ve got it at 15/1. I head out, but find a small gaggle to my left that is climbing well, and make the mistake to go join them. I really didn’t need the lift and this would have been my opportunity to pass Christian and just go into goal.

The last twelve miles in are full race mode. I can see Andy Hollidge in his Top Secret way in front of me and higher, but I’m pulling in much more than he and catching him. There is little chance to go down before goal, so the only reason to slow down is to absorb the bumps from all the lift we are flying through. Andy can’t pull in any more, so he’s at a big disadvantage.

Christian Ciech is just in front of me, and there is no catching him. I’m surrounded by (but soon they are below and a little bit in front of me) Nene Rotor and Chris Arai (who took the 2 PM start time) and Robert Reisinger and Joseph Zweckmayr who took that last start clock. The first four flexies get in just a few seconds before I cross the goal, second for the day. Curt Warren started much early and came in between Manfred and Brian.

Class 2:

1 Ciech, Christian, 47 Icaro Stratos Ita 14:15:00 16:16:23 02:01:23 906
2 Straub, Davis, 50 Air Atos C Usa 14:15:00 16:17:16 02:02:16 875
3 Barmakian, Bruce, 17 Air Atos Usa 14:15:00 16:19:12 02:04:12 841
4 Posch, Johann, 112 Air Atos Aut 14:15:00 16:19:56 02:04:56 826
5 Biesel, Heiner, 101 Air Atos Usa 14:00:00 16:12:01 02:12:01 822

Class 1:

1 Reisinger, Robert, 72 Wills Wing Talon Aut 14:15:00 16:17:06 02:02:06 909
2 Zweckmayr, Josef, 18 Icaro Laminar Aut 14:15:00 16:17:07 02:02:07 903
3 Rossignol, Jerz, 6 Aeros Combat 2 Usa 14:15:00 16:19:05 02:04:05 856
4 Williams, Paris , 1 Icaro MR700WRE Usa 14:15:00 16:19:33 02:04:33 841
5 Bondarchuk, Oleg, 107 Aeros Combat 2 13 Ukr 14:15:00 16:20:12 02:05:12 830
6 Warren, Curt, 73 Moyes Litespeed Usa 13:45:00 16:04:17 02:19:17 821
7 Hamilton, Robin, 30 Icaro Laminar Gbr 14:15:00 16:23:07 02:08:07 800
8 Rotor, Nene, 77 Wills Wing Talon Col 14:00:00 16:16:57 02:16:57 799
9 Arai, Chris, 57 Wills Wing Talon Usa 14:00:00 16:16:58 02:16:58 795
10 Wolf, Andre, 117 Moyes Litespeed Bra 14:00:00 16:17:16 02:17:16 782

Manfred made the task in an hour and a half. Brian in an hour and fifty minutes. Manfred leads overall.

Christian Ciech has to fall down for anyone to catch him in Class 5.

Cumulative in Class 1:

1 Bondarchuk, Oleg, 107 Aeros Combat 2 13 Ukr 3498
2 Williams, Paris , 1 Icaro MR700WRE Usa 3443
3 Hamilton, Robin, 30 Icaro Laminar Gbr 3333
4 Hazlett, Brett, 90 Moyes Litespeed Can 3250
5 Wolf, Andre, 117 Moyes Litespeed Bra 3244
6 Warren, Curt, 73 Moyes Litespeed Usa 3238
7 Reisinger, Robert, 72 Wills Wing Talon Aut 3223
8 Wirdnam, Gary , 39 Aeros Combat 2 Gbr 3195
9 Olsson, Andreas, 27 Moyes Litespeed Swe 3179
10 Zweckmayr, Josef, 18 Icaro Laminar Aut 3062

Preliminary results are up on the www.flytec.com web site. Dave Glover had them up by about 10:30 PM. This is the fastest I can recall the results going up on the web in a major competition.

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Flytec Championship – the sea breeze »

Mon, Apr 22 2002, 8:00:00 pm GMT

Flytec Championship – the sea breeze

Alex Ploner|altitude|Christian Ciech|cloud|David Glover|Fantasy of Flight|flight park|Flytec Championships 2002|Flytec Championships 2005|gaggle|Johann Posch|John Vernon|Mike Barber|Quest Air|Swift|tail|track log|weather

The weather forecast calls for west winds at 10 mph, no cu’s, moderate lift. The task committee wrangles over a 66 mile task down to the south to the Winter Havenairport and back Vs. a 50 mile task to the Fantasy of Flight, also down 33, and back. I’m pushing for the shorter task, given the winds, and lack of cu’s. With a seven mile start circle for the flexies (4 for the rigids) it seems a bit short to the other task committee members, so we go for the longer task.

This will put us in an area of weak lift at the Winter Havenairport which is surrounded by lakes. It could prove to be a tough task. A major concern is the likelihood of a sea breeze from the west setting up in the afternoon. This would kill the lift.

We push back the start times given the prognosis of weak lift and no cu’s early assuming that pilots will not be eager to launch while things look weak. Then at 11:30 AMthe first cu’s start popping a little off to our east and we are taken by surprise.

The cu’s build and spread and within an hour there are cu’s every where. They aren’t getting high, but they are definitely there. This is plenty of encouragement and pilots are talking about starting at the first start time, 1:45 PM.

Mike Barber calls Patty on the west coast and finds out that the sea breeze hasn’t started by noon, and the report is 5 mph out of the north. Maybe we won’t get the sea breeze after all.

Pilots are eager to go and we get a lot of pilots in the air quickly. With the strong winds out of the west, its pretty easy to get under a cloud on the west side and climb up. The lift is light to the west of Quest and strong downwind to the east.

A couple of flex wing pilots head almost straight upwind toward the GreenSwampand I join them. We work our way forward against the wind and toward the western edge of the start circle (smaller for me) climbing in lift that averages less than 200 fpm. With cloud base at 4,000’ it isn’t hard to stay high enough to stay near cloud base.

We’re thinking about the earliest start time (1:45) but I’m only at 3,500’ at the start time, so I continue to head west until I’m almost 6 miles out and work the light lift. I’m figuring that I’ll get under a cloud, hang with it and drift back into the start circle just as the next start time rolls around. Fortunately I’m just able to do this, see the graphics:

The track log shows me circling and drifting to the east to get into the 4 mile radius start circle just in time.

The altitude graph shows me topping out at 14:00(2 PM) right at the edge of the start circle just as the start time begins on the fifteen minute interval. Couldn’t have worked out better.

Alex Ploner, Johann Posch, Christian Ciech and I take the 2 PMstart time. Some flexie and rigid wing pilots have already taken the 1:45start time and are out in front of us. There are also flex wing pilots taking the 2 PMstart time starting 3 miles further south of us, so there is plenty of activity in the air.

Christian comes in under me at the intersection of 474 and 33 as I enter a gaggle with the earlier rigid wings and 2 PMflexies. I’ve taken the tail off to check out whether the T-tail with the wrong pitch angle is the source of all my extra drag from the Wallaby Open and the first day of the Flytec Championship.

Christian and I climb at 200 fpm to 3,800’ and go on glide. Hmmm! Unlike the previous day, now I’m gliding right with him. It sure looks like my misaligned tail was causing the problems. I will go on two more four mile glides with him, and I find myself now able to glide with him.

John Vernon will be sending a new fin for the T-tail that will allow the tail to make a -1° angle with the mean chord line, instead of -6. Should be here on Wednesday. We’ll try the tail again then.

Christian gets me on the fourth climb and gets a few hundred feet over my head. We have completely caught up with all the pilots in front of us. The run south down highway 33 has been consistently good with climb rates at about 400 fpm, and our top out heights rising.

We climb out south of I-4, 5 miles out from the turnpoint at Winter Haven to 4,400’ and go on glide due south hoping to come up on the airport from the west. There are about a dozen gliders in this first gaggle. Christian is on top heading more toward the turnpoint. A number of rigids are heading with me and the flexies to the south.

We are surrounded by lakes, so we are looking for areas of dry land that are continuous to the west, hoping that the cloud streets are setting up over the land.

It doesn’t happen and by the time we are all at the airport turnpoint we are down to 2,300’. This is in an area of weak lift so things look bad. It is at this point that I make a crucial error, but the gaggle doesn’t.

I head back to the northwest to get on the west side of a small lake. The gaggle heads straight north downwind of me. The error – don’t try to go upwind when you are relatively low, find lift first. I choose to ignore the gaggle, also not a good idea when you are relatively low, and then ignore them again when I see them start turning, thinking I can find my own lift. I don’t and soon land.

The gaggle continues north toward I 4 and back toward 33. Meanwhile back at Quest Air, the sea breeze has kicked in and the wind has increased to 15 mph on the ground. All the clouds are wiped away in the area near the flight park. We don’t see this yet further to the south.

As the pilots move north, it becomes clear that the clouds that they are flying under are ending to their north. Some pilots drift east toward Wallaby Ranch to stay under the clouds. Others venture out in the blue to find weak lift.

We made the turnpoint at about 3:10. Christian is able to make it back to Quest first (after the Swift’s) in a total time of 2:30 hours, so it only takes him 10 minutes longer (with four additional miles) to get back to Quest.

Other pilots will dribble into Quest working their way slowly through the blue.

The rigid results so far:

Today – Ciech, Mario, Ron, Heiner (make goal). We will see Johann land about one mile due east of goal.

Cumulative - Christian, Mario, Ron, Alex

The flex results so far:

Today – Hamilton, Paris, Oleg, Wirdham, Reisinger, Bolt, Arai, Olsson, Hazlett, Wolf (first ten into goal) Zwecky will land 2400 feet away from goal in a small yard. Barber lands 150 feet short.

Cumulative – Oleg, Paris, Hazlett, Hamilton, Wirdham, Wolf, Warren, Reisinger, Olsson

Not quite 25 percent into goal.

David Glover is remiss in not putting up preliminary results on the www.flytec.com web site. They should be up some time tomorrow.

Day one finish position by Class:

Flex, Rigid, Swift

Warren, Ciech, Porter
Gerolf, Ploner, Ruhmer
Oleg, Posch
Hazlett, Straub
Wolfe, Gunter
Harri,Campenalla
Jerz, Gleason
Rotor, Hollidge
Walbec, Dinauer
Paris, Barmakian
Dorval, Ferris
Zwecy, Trimmel
Attila
Bessa
Castle
Ollson
Wirdnam
Richardson
Hamilton
Shipley
Reisinger
Holtcamp
Volk
Sugarman
Barber
Pagen D.
Presley