This year, 2011, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of recreational soaring. In October, 1911, Orville Wright and a friend returned to Kitty Hawk, eight years after he made the historic first controlled flight in an airplane. But this time, Orville brought only a glider. There was little purpose in his visit except to…
Biography of Wallace Scott (1924 – 2003), soaring legend of the 60’s – 80’s, known for his straight-out, free distance soaring flights and his bigger than life personality. Holder of four FAI World Records; Straight Distance to a Declared Goal & Out and Return, 20 – time winner of the Lewin A. Barringer Trophy, US…
Uys continues… Contest Day 5: Crews and pilots woke up on Day 5, still very tired. Ronald and AP, the JS technical support and crew members, prohibited the pilots from getting up early to help with the rigging. When Attie and I eventually arrived for briefing, both gliders were rigged, ballasted and ready to be…
Uys continues… Contest Day 1: Finally Day 1 arrived for the 18m Class. It was a 337 km polygon with 5 waypoints. John Coutts, Attie and I started together at 14:24. (Couttsie was an integral part of the Team JS. He might be a Kiwi but we regard him as an honorary South African. With…
This personal account from Uys and Attie Jonker brings a unique and interesting perspective to the challenges of the 2010 World Gliding Championships.
It all started with a simple principle; if you are going to do it, it has to be overboard. The evolution of my tow vehicles: My first tow vehicle was an Econo line van, blue, white, and rust. With a window air conditioner mounted in the passenger window for camping in Waynesville OH. The common…
What on earth is that? Almost without exception, the first question I’m asked about my glider is, “What does the writing on the fin mean?” In fact it’s the same as the registration, ZEN, just written in a Japanese semi-cursive script. But very few people really probe about why I chose D-KZEN as the registration.…
Let me close with a vision for contest soaring; perhaps reversing my charge to talk about the past with facts and instead talk about the future with hope. I love contest soaring. Selfishly, it’s very time-efficient – you go and fly on days you wouldn’t get out of bed on a safari. And those weak…
The final trend I will comment on is safety. Contests are getting slowly safer. If you watch the spectacular “Sunship Game” from 1970, you’ll not only be struck by how much everyone smokes, and how little they wear in the sun, you’ll be struck by the amazing amount of glider carnage, and the casual attitude…
To some rules are boring. But rules make the race! The only difference between a glider race and a tiddlywinks contest is the rules! The character of racing has changed a lot as rules change, and it will continue to evolve. 1. Measurement vs. incentives. The Big Picture of rules evolution in the US is…
