Canadian Nationals – Contest Day 1 – 3 July 2013

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Last night, the mandatory pilots’ meeting was done in a couple of hours; all the competitors are here. Nothing like a couple of hours of understanding rules to really perk a crowd up.  Pizza, pop, and beer filled everyone up, and we did a runway walk to settle the bellies before bed.

GGC President Doug Laurie-Lean welcomes the Nationals to Pendleton
 


Weather is better than we feared when we looked last night, and today looks flyable; whether it is soarable is another question…  There is a 30% chance of thunderstorms.  Lift is forecast to be reasonable over the GGC-MSC corridor; weaker over the wet, lower south, and a little better north of river – balanced by the significantly higher ground, which makes a task to the north unsafe.  To get a task in, we will do a zig-zag in an east-west-east-west direction.

Today’s safety meeting talked about outlandings and distraction; it was given by the Nationals Safety Officer, Pierre Gavillet from MSC.

PG briefing

Meeting was at 10:30.  Grid on Runway 26 at 12:30 pm.

FAI handicapped class:
Task A:
Modified Assigned Speed Task (MAT), 2 hour minimum time
05 Start West radius 5
52 Montreal Soaring AP  (all turnpoints in MATs are 2 km)
77 Wendover
76 VanklkHill
01 Pendleton radius 2.  144.46 km.

Task B:
MAT, 2 hour minimum time.
05 Start W rad 5
52 MntrlSrng
77 Wendover
07 Alfred
01 Pendleton rad 2  110.19 km.

Club Handicapped class:
MAT, 2 hour minimum time.
05 Start W rad 5
52 MntrlSrng
77 Wendover
07 Alfred
01 Pendleton rad 2  110.19 km.

I hear the towplanes warming up; the sun is shining, and we’re all ready to race.  We’re disappointed that only 13 are flying – 6 in FAI Handicapped, 7 in Club Handicapped, and we had 5 pull out at the last minute – 2 medically, and 3 for work/family reasons.  Those who are here are keen to fly, crew, or help in the organization, at Canada’s oldest continuously operating glider club (1942).  The forecast for the next few days is encouraging, as we work to determine who will be on the Canadian Team at the 2014 World Gliding Championship in Poland or Finland (depending on class).

Let’s go sailplane racing!