As I said on Tuesday, the forecast for Wednesday was vaguely promising, with a trough looking like it would sit very close to us but potentially far enough away that it wouldn’t cause too many problems. Over the past few days though, this trough’s forecast position changed to the point where it now looked like it…
Tag Archive for racing
Rain Day 3 at Cordele – Region 5 South
by Bill Elliott •
Man, this is getting old! Here we sit, again, under gray skies at Cordele, with nothing to do but watch the clouds roll by, every so often with a small, tantalizing area of clearing. The big news at today’s morning pilots meeting is that two additional competitors (Enrique Mertins and Steve ???) asked if they…
Cordele, Georgia Region 5 South—Rain Day
by Bill Elliott •
Another rain day – I think I’m going to commit ritual suicide soon. 8 days at Ionia, and we only flew two very tricky days. I get here only to have the first day rain/winded out. I have been put on notice by Cordele CD Mike Smith (XM) that if tomorrow is rained out, I’m…
UK Open Class Nationals, 15m Nationals, Lasham Regionals – Day 3
by Bill Elliott •
Both Nationals were scrubbed around 16:30. Again, the 150 km minimum for tasks appears to be the reason why these guys couldn’t fly as the weather windows have just been too small. The Regionals A Class (there are two classes, A and B) was set: Ilsley – Hungerford North for 103 km. They launched at 16:55, with most people starting by 17:30. There were seven finishers, two of those competing hors concours, the official winner being Julian Hitchcock flying a DG-1001M at a speed of 76.1km/h. He leads the Regionals by 14 points from John Taylor (ASG-29) and Colin Hunt (Ventus 2cT).
Congrats to Chip Garner and the DuckHawk Team on U. S. 15 Meter Nationals Win!
by Bill Elliott •
The Soaring Café congratulates Chip Garner, the 2012 U. S. 15 Meter Class champion, who bested his countrymen at May’s contest in Mifflin, Pennsylvania. We also congratulate Greg Cole and his team at Windward Performance, for providing the brand new DuckHawk sailplane that Chip flew to victory in Mifflin.
Flying a Vintage Glider in a Regional Contest
by Bill Elliott •
“This glider was unique. First of all, she was no contest sailplane. Most competition-oriented pilots could see that.” — Stan Hall (1956) Stan Hall dryly made this statement in his report about the first flight of the Cherokee II in the November/December 1956 edition of Soaring.While the glider was not designed as a competition ship,…
April 20 at Perry – A Nugget’s View of the Region 5 North
by Bill Elliott •
Well friends, another no fly but we did get to assemble and grid our gliders. By noon we had all 65 sailplanes on the west end of the runway ready to go. Anticipating a less than booming day, all of the tasks were shorter than normal . After about 2 hrs, our CD, Ray Galloway called…
April 19 at Perry – A Nugget’s View of the Region 5 North
by Bill Elliott •
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…
April 18 at Perry – A Nugget’s View of the Region 5 North
by Bill Elliott •
I think you all know by now that we did not fly today at Perry. We woke up to low clouds and it got worse later. Weather aside, we had the pilots’ meeting per the schedule and it included a WX brief that confirmed our collective wisdom…. NO flying today. One simple guide for us…
April 17 at Perry – A Nugget’s View of the Region 5 North
by Bill Elliott •
Day 2 brings a new point of learning for this Nugget. The task was a MAT, a modified area task. Because the weather guy expressed concern that Perry might suffer damaging winds, hail, and other nasty stuff, the CD shortened the day. The sports class was given a MAT that had two turn points specified and a minimum…
