Robin Clark caught Frank with his signature smile a few days ago in front of the now famous “Micro-castle”.

First, I need to let everyone know that our friend Frank Paynter had to leave the contest this morning.  I went to the cook shack this morning to begin my morning routine.  On arrival, I saw Frank putting his “micro-castle” on his truck.  I knew something was wrong.  He said that he just learned that his half-sister in Nebraska had lost her 5-year battle with cancer and he was headed home to be with his family.  My prayers go with him and his family.  I know his long-time readers and other friends join me in hoping for his safe travels.

We woke up this morning to rain and it has continued off and on most of the day.  Our weatherman, Scott presented his best guess on the weather for Friday and Saturday.  Friday is questionable but Saturday could be a contest day.  He also showed off his new T-shirt with the saying, “A few clowns short of a circus”.  My hearing is not what it used to be but I think he was saying that about those of us sitting in front of him.

Our illustrious CD, Ray Galloway gave us the “official” announcement that, “Today was no-fly day.”   He also told us that days 1 &2 are now official.  He also gave us the background on why we on the east coast use 10:30 instead of 1000 as was suggested by one participant on day 1.  The short answer is that the later time allows the task committee to use the most recent sounding to evaluate the weather to develop the day’s task.

Hank Nixon presented the safety brief for the day, titled “thermal etiquette”.  He made the following points about thermalling:

1. Match the turn rate of the other gliders
2. Watch the outside of the turn for gliders joining and those that might be  outside your turn and above you.       Check outside 30 to 40% of the time.
3. Slow down on entry and exit to match the speed of those at or near your      altitude.
4. Enter  on the tangent to the circle
5. Watch for other gliders to shift the center of the circle, the thermal can move about.
6. When multiple cores exist near by, overlapping circles can exist and should not be suffered long…. Don’t be stubborn… move to join the circles.
7. Don’t push another glider or force him to move suddenly as that can cause a chain reaction that can get someone hurt.
8. In extremis situations don’t make big changed in angle of bank that will increase your cross section to the other glider.  If both are at the same angle of bank the potential of splintering fiberglass is reduced.  Use rudder and pitch to change your flight path.

Following the regular meeting, Ken Sorenson led a discussion about changes to contest rules.  Some topics included, ways to increase participation in contests particularly in Nationals; possible changes in our rules to more closely align with the Europeans; how to deal with emerging technology and its impact on contests.  The discussion was spirited to say the least but no blood was spilled.  It was also extensive and well beyond the scope of this blog and even further removed from this poor soul’s comprehension.

In case you ever wondered what we do when we don’t

Fly:

Top is Hank Nixon Sarah Arnold and others doing some of what we do best, talk.  Right is John Goode practicing his imitation of Emit Kelly.

Wait wasn’t there something about there being short a

few clowns of a full circus.

Could John be hiding something?

 

So, we talk, eat, and work on airplanes.  Eric Mann

polished his wing and Eric Lambert chased down an

electrical problem with his glider trailer.  I loaded my

Cambridge 20 with the local turn points and wiped

down my trailer to get some of the dust off.

This is the cookhouse”, and the center of the universe as far as the participants go.  Just in front is the tent where we eat, hold meetings and oh yeah, talk.

Later in the day, R5N organizers hosted an afternoon air show.  The pilot was Gary Ward flying a MX2 performed his Low show because of the clouds that hung about.  Nevertheless, it was great to watch him perform and everyone seemed to enjoy the acrobatics.  I, for one, am always impressed with the ability of the pilot doing acrobatics since acro was never my strong point.

Dinner tonight was “low-country boil” and it was awesome.  Anyone who went away hungry was not paying attention or does not appreciate good “low-country cooking”.  The good food accompanied great people, and fine country music, provided by Larry Goddard, a long time favorite for Perry and Cordele.

BZ asked more questions and listen to more great glider pilots.  Probably nowhere in the county are more winning contest pilots congregated and accessible to people like me.  If you ever want to learn to be good at anything, find people who are good at what you want to do and ask questions.

Friday is looking like it could be a fly day and BZ is out looking for a tow ring.

BZ