Day 2 @ Hobbs, NM

Contents

Evening Report

Good evening,

Today the grid and launch went as scheduled, with an already well established procedure made possible by Edre and the ground crew. We have now for the last few days some of the pilots kids helping on the runway – Ron Tabery’s son and Mark Keene’s 3 kids. They proved to be so responsible and sweet in doing their jobs. :)  

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As pilots started coming in I noticed it was earlier than expected (and that is shown by the big amount that flew less than minimum time), just as the tracker was showing. We only had 1 landout at an airfield and an easy and safe retrieve. Such a relief after a day like yesterday, for everybody involved – crew, staff, pilots.

Please check the scores, although not all pilots got scored up to this point –http://scores.qtsolutions.com/. Happy to see in Open a dear friend and favorite leading – DB. I always wanted to see the Concordia at it’s best and on a day like today it just shined! Ron Tabery and Al Tyler, another dear friend, are occupying 2nd and 3rd for the day. In 15 m we have Dave Mockler, Dennis Linnekin Captain America :) and John Cockrane. In Sports Randy Hollenberg came in first, followed by Ryan Charlie and Bob DeLeon. We will see if any changes will happen to the scores tomorrow, once all flight logs have been processed.

DL said it was an incredible day, with great soaring and lots of fun. Many said the same thing, with the only mention – to the North the weather failed again.

Tomorrow brings a lot of hope to all of us here, as it is showing even better – that is why we all drove for hundreds of miles and more to come here and bare the sun!

I am still trying between all my running around here to get together with the Air Force pilots and see how they feel about soaring and contests. Maybe tomorrow.

PS – Today the character in the picture here jumped into Denise’s car and claimed the spot of start of the day. I do hope nobody claims him and I get to take him home; his name will be Hobbs. :)

Hobbs

Good night to all,

MD

Morning Report

After yesterday, we all seemed a little slowed down today at the pilot’s meeting.

Just a short brief of the meeting – we were welcomed by a Hobbs Chamber of Commerce official that shows us how much SSA is appreciated here and that the community is happy to have us flying at Hobbs.

The weather – blue day, 8 kts winds with 18 kts gusts, 106 F, no precipitation. 10,000 ft MSL at 3 PM and stronger winds in the evening.

Yesterdays winners – 15 m – 711 – Tom had a great day flying and lots of fun; Open – SS Ron had quite an adventure flying in a flooded canopy, as his water valve separated and the water traveled towards the fuselage and into the canopy, but he still made the best flight of the day in Open, so congratulations – repairs were done until late at night to replace the valve; R9 Sports – 3C described the day as good but challenging. Well done guys.

As I walked into the retrieve office I counted 17 land-outs, quite a significant number, as the North part of the task became really challenging for many.

HK – Gary Carter had an off-field landing North towards Portales and an accident, damaging his glider. Gary is well and got home safe.

Now the tasks:

15 m/ Open: TAT – 4h min. – Brownfield, Andrews, Morton, Finish – 287 sm

R9 Sports – MAT – 3 h min. – Andrews, Lovington, Finish – 131 sm

Max. MSL 11,000 ft, start radius, 5 sm, finish 4,500 MSL

The grid is set, first launch scheduled for 1 PM.

More soon.

MD