When you have a large family and want to go somewhere for three days in a row, you have to make it into a family outing. As the time gets closer, for the first time in your life, you thank God your children are teenagers and have pressing social agendas. To them, Philadelphia, which sounded like an exciting place to visit two months ago, has lost its appeal.

On Wednesday Jan 27^th at 7:00 pm, I started out alone in the middle of a huge snow storm to my first soaring convention.  At 2:00 am I finally got to the hotel.  (The complete story of this adventure will cost you a beer and 30 minutes of your time). I was prepared for three full days where every conversation and every thought involved some aspect of soaring.

The first day started off with an Aerobatic Pilots’ breakfast. I was prepared for a speech and maybe some “how to’s” and some “do not’s.” At first it was a little odd–not really what I expected. It was me and five other guys. We sort of waited for someone to come in and organize us, since it was a little pricey for scrambled eggs.

We waited until it was obvious we were on our own, so we introduced ourselves and then I finally got what I had braved a snowstorm for. We started talking!!!!  We chatted about their airport – what they did – how they did it – where they had been…   We talked until we were forced to leave the room and get on with the rest of the day. I met some really nice, very experienced and extremely alive people, and it was only the first hour.

I took a look at the schedule and since I was working on four hours sleep, I really didn’t have too much of a grasp on what I wanted to hear. Luckily for me I saw a very familiar face. Rip was strolling around the lobby.  We started chatting and we collaborated on what we were going to hear. Some things we’d do together, others apart. It was great to hang out with a friend; soon I realized the beauty of this whole thing. You are never alone. You are a few seconds away from meeting every person wearing a badge. You are guaranteed to share a common interest and they are eager to tell you who they are, where they fly and talk about anything that involves soaring.

That morning I heard about “Why I hate my flight review” – “sailplane wing airfoils boundary layers” – and “ADS-B “ – all were interesting, all gave me a little knowledge I did not have when I woke up that day. OK, I did take a short nap, but I won’t reveal during which talk. Remember, I was sleep deprived.

To get lunch I left the hotel with Rip and we got some Cheese steaks (We were in Philly, so…). It was very historic around the hotel and really nice. Maybe someday I will see more, but a one block radius was as far away from soaring as I ventured.  The best thing was just sitting and talking with Rip. They say you never know someone until you share a meal with them. Whoever “they” are – they are correct.

While going to the next talk I met someone I had met before when I went to take a practice flight at Blairstown. As it turns out it was Ron Schwartz – the undisputed expert of the 1-26. We got to chat a little and I would see him lots over the next days. I met up with Hank, Dianne and Ward who were all hanging out chatting and waiting for the next talk. I thought to myself, “This is what it’s about.”

I heard about “What good pilots should know” – Improving my Instructing with Basic Law,” and Ward gave a talk on “Technical Soaring and OSTIV.”  I didn’t know that Ward went to Mt. Everest or that OSTIV existed or who the really old guy with the huge long white beard was. With all this good stuff stuffed into my brain, I was more than ready for the reception. Nothing like a few adult beverages and a bunch of experienced pilots to keep you wide-eyed and amused at the exploits and depth of experience in the room. I felt like I was hanging on every word and everyone was more than happy to supply words.

The SSA Awards banquet was good and again I got to meet people. One guy sitting at my table as it turned out was from Sweden and lived in Brooklyn. We hit it off and I ended up giving him a ride home and have an open invitation to go soaring in Sweden, but that’s skipping ahead. The highlight of the banquet was Hank getting his award. It is such a blessing to have someone with his credentials and such quality soaring friends in our club, and he is your friend. All you have to do is stay close and without any effort you will meet the best and brightest people in our sport.

Friday morning, with a lot more sleep I was ready for the competition pilots breakfast.  This was terrific!  They had a presentation, lots of good discussion and lots of competitive soaring people.  Great way to start the day!  On the way to the talks there was a little sign and a few cards with https://soaringcafe.com. Go to this site and sign up. The guys who put it together were so nice and the site is full of good stuff to read.

I bought Condor a few months ago and the first talk was about Condor. Condor was kind of frustrating, being a little technical and having issues using Condor made it not a good first experience. The demonstration was excellent and the instructor giving the talk was informative and gave me his email address. “Any time you have a question just ask” – that was the reply from every person who gave a talk and every person you met out in the lobby. The rest of the morning was a little more technical with “Flight Data Development” and “Wing Drag Reduction with the Help of Structural Dynamics and Gusts” – Rip thought the latter was excellent and he was so excited – I will admit to a 10 minute nap (maybe 15), but I got the essentials.

The afternoon had an item called “Round Table”.  I have been to “round table” discussions before, but SSA took the word literally – it was just round tables. There was no panel, no panel discussion and then “time for Q&A”.  It was a round table with people chatting about something they obviously loved to chat about. What a great concept.  So I went to the contest table and mostly listened, but got to ask any question I had. If they had not enforced a time limit, we might not have gone to the next talk, or the reception or dinner.

Take a few drinks, some old sarcastic pilots, a comedian from NYC and a few seasoned veterans with stories that are so funny you cry,  put them in a big room with a stage – it was “Comedians of Soaring”. Who knew Hank had such a sense of humor? Hank and Dianne had saved me a front row seat where there was a hundred years of pilot experience at the table. I sat next to Karl, good friend of Hank and Dianne – when I got home I looked him up at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Striedieck – put this in your browser and be impressed. I had such a good time!

By Saturday I thought my head would explode with all the new information, but the talks to come were probably the best of all three days. In the morning I got to listen about “Flight Instruction,”  “Proficiency & Currency,” and Kempton Izuno gave a talk about “Distance Pilots’ Weather Forecasting.” During his talk he presented a slide of California and showed a flight path that looked like he flew once around the entire state; then he showed slide of him in waves–incredible pictures and such interesting material.

Again after lunch we had the “Round Table.” This time I knew what I was doing. I got there early and got a seat at the “round table.” The topic was “PA Ridge soaring.” Hank and Karl were both there. Within 10 minutes we were six deep. It was mesmerizing. I could have listened for the rest of the night–so could everyone else, I think.   There were a few more talks later that day, but this round table could not be beat.

I did not want to go on forever – just give you a novice’s view of my first major soaring event. It was everything I had hoped it would be. Actually soaring has been everything I had hoped it would be, for me and my family. I have one son who soloed (Nicholas), and two more who are on the 4^th lesson (Paris & Lucas). I was humbled by the experienced pilots I got to meet in Philadelphia. I am so grateful that I have Valley Soaring in my life. I am happy to have made so many friends in soaring and I am excited about the future.