Off again into the blue, blue skies over Minden. What a great photo—thanks, Stewart! Unfortunately, this photo also shows the moment when JOY was experiencing some of the best lift it would see all day… Contest weathermancers Doug Armstrong and Stewart Tattersall put a bargain on the table: if temperatures could rise enough for thermals to […]
Tag Archive for 2012 US Open Nationals
Day 7 at Minden
by Bill Elliott •
Today’s weather was low and slow, allowing for plenty of dramatic images and video of rocks. If only I had held the camera for a profile shot—you would have been able to see all of JOY’s shadow on Mount Patterson, not just half. Ah well. Luckily, my video camera was working today. To see some […]
Rest day!
by Bill Elliott •
After six intense days of flying, the contest organizers decided to declare Monday a rest day. So, naturally, team JOY went on a three hour drive down to Yosemite to see it from the ground. Here are some photos I took with my Android phone’s built-in panorama functionality, which admittedly isn’t the very best. Click […]
2012 Open Class Nationals — Day Six
by Bill Elliott •
The day six task was 3 hour 15 minute Turn Area Task with turnpoints of Lee Vining, Yerington, and Sweetwater. Everyone made it back to the airport. First place for the day was Ray Gimmey in the ASG-29-18 with 281 miles and 86 MPH. Second place was earned by Rick Indrebo (sorry I spelled his…
Day 5 at Minden
by Bill Elliott •
Day 5 (remember, we’re counting from 0 on this blog; it’s the sixth day of racing). It got windy, but that didn’t keep us out of the air, or these birds for that matter (you may have to click to see them). We spotted those guys northbound while flying south to Desert Creek Peak at […]
2012 Open Class Nationals — Day Five
by Bill Elliott •
Ray Gimmey won Day five in the ASG-29-18 with 430 miles at 93 MPH. He said he had some trouble getting out of the Carson Valley—he was only at 11,000 feet at Mt. Segal. He flew to Bishop then to the White mountains. He got to Crestview early, flew to Mammoth, then got low and…
2012 Open Class Nationals — Day Four
by Bill Elliott •
Chip Garner in the Duck Hawk won the day with 206 miles at 80 MPH. He said he was about 11,000 when the gate opened, and he found no lift on his way to Desert Creek Peak. He deviated from the course several times to follow cloud streets. When he got to Lee Vining he…
Awesome final glide photo
by Bill Elliott •
Check out Rick Indrebo final gliding into the finish after the fifth day’s task! We ended at the same time, from roughly the same direction, so we went in side-by-side. I shot this photo, which you should click to view full-size: All contest flights end with a final glide. Somewhere out on the task, you […]
Day 4 at Minden
by Bill Elliott •
Q: What’s better than one amazing soaring flight over the Sierras? A: Two of them. There is a spectacular video for those who read on. Gliding once over the Sierras in June is unexpected. After we did it a few days ago, a few of the Minden regulars remarked on how we were so lucky […]
Day 2 at Minden: YouTube video!
by Bill Elliott •
At last—here is an overview video of Day 2 at Minden! We’ve been flying with a GoPro camera suction-cupped to the canopy, and occasionally it manages to work. On a four hour task, it can just barely capture the whole thing before we land. That’s a lot of video, so I wrote a program that […]
