Another great day here at the Region 3 contest in Dansville, NY, with every expectation that we’ll have another great day tomorrow. Today started out slow, and I had the honor of being one of two sniffers sent up to sample conditions before the launch. Because I was quicker on the draw, I chose to go to the west hills where there were some actual clouds, while Greg Leslie (GL) was sent over to the cloudless east hills. I didn’t have to struggle very long before I found a 4-kt thermal to 5000′, while poor Gregg had to stooge along at 2500′ msl for 15-20 minutes before finding anything. He did eventually get the last laugh, as he soon reported going up at 7kt!
The launch started soon thereafter, and nobody seemed to have any trouble getting up to start altitude. In fact, the only real trouble any of us had was getting *down* to start altitude, as it was set for 5000′ msl with cloudbases at 7000′ or more. Most started out the top with a good climb; I had to do it the hard way, as the really good climb I found was just slightly outside the start circle. So, as I approached 5000′ on the way up, I simply extended my circle that time to nick the cylinder, then continued to climb to cloudbase at about 7000′ before starting out.
The task today for FAI class was southeast to 15 Mansfield Bridge, then almost due north to 32 Seneca AAF, then due west to 66 Perry-Warsaw, then home, with a 3-hour minimum time. The run down to the first circle wasn’t as nice as yesterday, but it was still pretty good. At one point I happened to look around and saw Andy Brayer (flying V2bx MD) off my left wingtip, and Greg Leslie (GL) off my right. We flew that way for the next 15-20 miles and it was a real hoot. Andy’s V2bx and mine were almost identical in performance, but Greg wasn’t quite able to keep up with his ASW-27 (may the flame wars begin!). Most pilots maxed out the first cylinder and then headed north past Harris Hill (being polite and calling in again) up into the finger lakes area. I was quite happy I maxed out the first cylinder, because the clouds and cloud streets ended about 15 miles into the Seneca AAF circle, and of course nobody wanted to go into the Perry-Warsaw circle at all. I managed to slightly miscalculate my final glide and wound up coming home a bit early, but it was still a wonderful day.
After putting the glider away and turning in my scores, we were standing around telling lies, when Hank Nixon shouts “Alex is back!” – what the heck did that mean? As it turns out, what that meant was that 16-year old Alex Moore had just completed his silver distance badge flight by flying the 51 miles from Dansville to Harris Hill, where he got a tow and flew back to Dansville again – pretty cool!
Another cool thing that happened here that deserves mention is Tim Hanke’s (H1) flight on contest day 3. Tim landed at Seven Gullies airport about 10 miles from Dansville rather than continue a marginal final glide over unlandable (due to high crops) terrain. I asked him about this later and Tim told me that because he knew he wouldn’t get speed points even if he did manage to scrape onto the runway at Dansville, landing at Seven Gullies was an easy no-brainer decision. There has been a lot of back-and-forth discussion about this rule, but I’m here to tell you that Tim was talking to me that evening with a beer in his hand and an undamaged body and glider at least partly because of that rule – way to go Rules Committee!
Tomorrow’s popular weather is calling for 20% chance of rainshowers/T-storms after 2pm, so we may or may not get a task day in. Even if we don’t , this contest has certainly put Dansville back on the map again as a contest venue (not as good as CCSC you understand, but still pretty nice).
PS: Just got a look at the scores for the day, and they are pretty interesting. There are 12 competitors in the handicapped FAI class, and of those 12, only one person scored less than 900 points for the day. Tim Hanke (H1) was 11th for the day with 916 with a handicapped speed of 54.98 mph, and day winner Tim Welles got 1000 pts with a handicapped speed of 58.45 – 6mph between 11th and 1st place. To me, at least, this indicates two things – the handicapping system seems to work very well, and nobody made extraordinarily good or bad decisions out on course today (with the possible exception of Andy Gough (44, 2nd for the day) who for some reason cut both the first *and* 2nd circles short, and so was forced to go out into the death zone of Perry-Warsaw, where he reportedly found an 8-kt thermal and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat!).
Stay tuned
Frank (TA)
