• Region 5 North Contest Day 3

    From Rich Owen@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 21 20:52:33 2022
    Cu, Where Have You Been!

    The Cu finally made it to the party and the day turned out to be a drag race! More on that in a minute. This will be a little shorter report tonight since everyone went to either Aiken or the numerous parties that were on the field. The best stories
    are always told around the cook tent in the evening. If I would have gone to the “Block Party”, this report would never get done.
    The pilot’s meeting started off on a very happy note. We found out that Eric Mosher, a long-time successful competition soaring pilot, multiple US Soaring Team member with several podium finishes at the World Gliding Championships, received the FAI’
    s Lilienthal Award. Since 1938, this award is given to only those pilots who have demonstrated remarkable performance in gliding or eminent services to the sport of gliding over a long period of time. In Eric’s case, he has fulfilled both categories.
    Besides his outstanding performance in competitive soaring, he has worked for FAI in a variety of positions which included its President. Funny thing is, he was the person who normally approved this award. Somehow some enterprising staff members
    processed this award without his knowledge. Congratulations Eric!!!!
    JT Mc Masters gave a really good safety talk today. He covered what is known as Post Stress Recovery. It’s when you have just been though a stressful period and the stress has suddenly been relieved. He explained it as you were low and thought a
    landout was in your future, but you were able to climb out above release altitude. You relax too much, and just like him, they landed out. OOPS!! So, if you find yourself in that position, take a drink of water, eat something but just keep your focus
    on the task at hand.
    Alan Smith landed out and we think Al might have known about it first. He received an email from a friend showing a picture of a glider in a nice field of grass. It said that one of Al’s friends has visited his ranch. The rancher actually got a
    scotch and soda and a chair to watch Alan put the glider in the trailer. Who said landouts are bad?
    When we were gridding the ships, Marshall made many plans to see how we could fly today. We had a sniffer but he wanted more ships airborne so the first 5 gliders were also tasked to sniff. For us in the front row, full of water, the thought of getting
    airborne on a very weak day was not joyful. But we could land into the grid if needed for a relight which made the idea more bearable. Around the time of first launch, CU was seen in the distance. Hopes were rising. When the sniffer reported 3kt
    climbs to over 3.5k, the launch was started in earnest.
    It was very soon that we all discovered this was going to be a really good day. Cu were evenly distributed around the start area but out to the east, the clouds thinned out. Pilots were ready to go on task. Sports and FAI Combined departed Start 4 and
    then went to Dry Swamp, Barnwell, Colemans, Dr Ross and Finish. These flights had good Cu all along the way except by Coleman where haze interfered with the Cu. Dry Swamp to Colemans was great, with speeds averaging around in the 60’s for sports
    class and 65 for the FAI Combined. The final glide was awesome for both classes!!
    Open and 18 Meter went out of Start 2 and then to Fogles, Mc Neil, Allendale, Aiken, and Finish. The task could not have been drawn up better for these weather conditions. The first leg had clouds you could line up but when you entered the McNeil turn
    area, things turned dicey. I think the difference in the scoring of the flights was where you turned in this area. Those who went further did not fair as well as those who turned early. From there to the finish, it was a blast. Clouds lined up; a
    long downwind leg had a beautiful street that went to the back of the Aiken turn area and strong lift kept you at cloud base. Final glide was attained even before entering the last turn area given you were traveling along a cloud street at 90-95kts. All
    told, the task advisor who helped design the Open and 18 Meter Class task should get a beer!! Well done!!
    In Sports Class, Greg Shugg took the win with a raw speed of 55.4mph with Jason Arnold 1mph behind, and Mat Takallu in third.
    In FAI Combined, another Seminole-Lake pilot rose to the podium today. Billy Kerns took the day with a raw speed of 64.16mph with Tom Holloran and Jared Granzow in second and third respectively.
    In Open Class, Henry Retting (an adopted Seminole-Lake pilot) finished in first with a speed of 75mph. This is the second time Henry has beat Concordia during this contest in an aircraft that belonged to DB! Keep it going Henry. In second place was Al
    Tyler and Uncle Hank with Dick Butler in third.
    There are some problems with the internet connection in my trailer and I only have a partial list of pilots in 18-meter class. In second place though, was Gary Ittner with a speed of 77.41mph and third place was Sean Murphy at 75.32mph which is good
    enough to put him in first place overall. Imagine, a bunch of guys in “kiddie gliders” (what the Open Class guys call anything other than a big ship) beat the Open Class in raw speed. Great job both of you!!
    As we mentioned before, a number of folks went to Aiken to enjoy the food and comradery of their fellow glider pilots. Some went to the Italian restaurant while others went to Tako Sushi, a Mexican and sushi restaurant. At the airfield, there was
    several gatherings around the RV’s “Up on the hill” and a “Block party” down by Al’s work shop. It was a great time!!
    Well, the day has come to an end and life is good at Perry International airport. We will see you again for another installment of the Region 5 North contest tomorrow.

    Cheers,
    Rich Owen
    ZO






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  • From Tango Eight@21:1/5 to stil...@aol.com on Fri Apr 22 05:45:08 2022
    lol @ internet trouble and only partial list of 18m competitors. Nice flight Rich!

    T8

    On Thursday, April 21, 2022 at 11:52:35 PM UTC-4, stil...@aol.com wrote:
    Cu, Where Have You Been!

    The Cu finally made it to the party and the day turned out to be a drag race! More on that in a minute. This will be a little shorter report tonight since everyone went to either Aiken or the numerous parties that were on the field. The best stories
    are always told around the cook tent in the evening. If I would have gone to the “Block Party”, this report would never get done.
    The pilot’s meeting started off on a very happy note. We found out that Eric Mosher, a long-time successful competition soaring pilot, multiple US Soaring Team member with several podium finishes at the World Gliding Championships, received the FAI’
    s Lilienthal Award. Since 1938, this award is given to only those pilots who have demonstrated remarkable performance in gliding or eminent services to the sport of gliding over a long period of time. In Eric’s case, he has fulfilled both categories.
    Besides his outstanding performance in competitive soaring, he has worked for FAI in a variety of positions which included its President. Funny thing is, he was the person who normally approved this award. Somehow some enterprising staff members
    processed this award without his knowledge. Congratulations Eric!!!!
    JT Mc Masters gave a really good safety talk today. He covered what is known as Post Stress Recovery. It’s when you have just been though a stressful period and the stress has suddenly been relieved. He explained it as you were low and thought a
    landout was in your future, but you were able to climb out above release altitude. You relax too much, and just like him, they landed out. OOPS!! So, if you find yourself in that position, take a drink of water, eat something but just keep your focus on
    the task at hand.
    Alan Smith landed out and we think Al might have known about it first. He received an email from a friend showing a picture of a glider in a nice field of grass. It said that one of Al’s friends has visited his ranch. The rancher actually got a
    scotch and soda and a chair to watch Alan put the glider in the trailer. Who said landouts are bad?
    When we were gridding the ships, Marshall made many plans to see how we could fly today. We had a sniffer but he wanted more ships airborne so the first 5 gliders were also tasked to sniff. For us in the front row, full of water, the thought of getting
    airborne on a very weak day was not joyful. But we could land into the grid if needed for a relight which made the idea more bearable. Around the time of first launch, CU was seen in the distance. Hopes were rising. When the sniffer reported 3kt climbs
    to over 3.5k, the launch was started in earnest.
    It was very soon that we all discovered this was going to be a really good day. Cu were evenly distributed around the start area but out to the east, the clouds thinned out. Pilots were ready to go on task. Sports and FAI Combined departed Start 4 and
    then went to Dry Swamp, Barnwell, Colemans, Dr Ross and Finish. These flights had good Cu all along the way except by Coleman where haze interfered with the Cu. Dry Swamp to Colemans was great, with speeds averaging around in the 60’s for sports class
    and 65 for the FAI Combined. The final glide was awesome for both classes!!
    Open and 18 Meter went out of Start 2 and then to Fogles, Mc Neil, Allendale, Aiken, and Finish. The task could not have been drawn up better for these weather conditions. The first leg had clouds you could line up but when you entered the McNeil turn
    area, things turned dicey. I think the difference in the scoring of the flights was where you turned in this area. Those who went further did not fair as well as those who turned early. From there to the finish, it was a blast. Clouds lined up; a long
    downwind leg had a beautiful street that went to the back of the Aiken turn area and strong lift kept you at cloud base. Final glide was attained even before entering the last turn area given you were traveling along a cloud street at 90-95kts. All told,
    the task advisor who helped design the Open and 18 Meter Class task should get a beer!! Well done!!
    In Sports Class, Greg Shugg took the win with a raw speed of 55.4mph with Jason Arnold 1mph behind, and Mat Takallu in third.
    In FAI Combined, another Seminole-Lake pilot rose to the podium today. Billy Kerns took the day with a raw speed of 64.16mph with Tom Holloran and Jared Granzow in second and third respectively.
    In Open Class, Henry Retting (an adopted Seminole-Lake pilot) finished in first with a speed of 75mph. This is the second time Henry has beat Concordia during this contest in an aircraft that belonged to DB! Keep it going Henry. In second place was Al
    Tyler and Uncle Hank with Dick Butler in third.
    There are some problems with the internet connection in my trailer and I only have a partial list of pilots in 18-meter class. In second place though, was Gary Ittner with a speed of 77.41mph and third place was Sean Murphy at 75.32mph which is good
    enough to put him in first place overall. Imagine, a bunch of guys in “kiddie gliders” (what the Open Class guys call anything other than a big ship) beat the Open Class in raw speed. Great job both of you!!
    As we mentioned before, a number of folks went to Aiken to enjoy the food and comradery of their fellow glider pilots. Some went to the Italian restaurant while others went to Tako Sushi, a Mexican and sushi restaurant. At the airfield, there was
    several gatherings around the RV’s “Up on the hill” and a “Block party” down by Al’s work shop. It was a great time!!
    Well, the day has come to an end and life is good at Perry International airport. We will see you again for another installment of the Region 5 North contest tomorrow.

    Cheers,
    Rich Owen
    ZO

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