Susan's World of Sailplane Racing

Last day at 15 Meter Nats

2011-07-28T15:57:00.000-05:00

The fleet is almost lauched - 3,000 foot tows. Looks like a weaker day...who do you think will win? The scoresheet has certainly been shaken up alot during this contest.

15 Meter Nationals Tuesday update

2011-07-26T14:58:00.000-05:00

Just heard that the weather looks excellent today, with cu popping in all quadrants of the task area. Pilots will be "treated" to a 4 hour Turn Area Task of Thompson (30 mile radius), Salt River Pass (30 mile radius), Downey (28 mile radius). This will let them get a good view of Grand Teton, should they head deep enough into that TP. Distances: Minimum 177, Nominal 288, Max 443 miles With all

15 Meter Nats Day 5

2011-07-25T01:12:00.000-05:00

So, I spent day 5 flying well above 18,000 ft. myself, but I was aboard a Canadair Regional Jet reading a book while heading back to DFW, aka 105 degree land. Such altitudes were generally not in the cards for most of the 15 meter competitors, who unfortunately had a bit of a rough time, according to early reports. As of 8:00 this evening, only 5 or so of them were back out of the 20 odd pilots

Region 9 Complete - 15 Meter Nationals Rest Day

2011-07-24T02:04:00.003-05:00

The Region 9 contest is now complete. We got 5 days of flying in. I only had one melted crayon (green) in my vehicle. I have misplaced two of the new "My Little Pony Fashion Applejack's" pink plastic shoes. All things considered, a success! And my pilot finally won a regional, which was a nice bonus. He has placed at regionals many times, but never won, even though he has won the Nats

2011-07-23T21:56:00.001-05:00

FAI class 1. Biff huss 2. Jim frantz 3. Walt RogersSports Class 1. T McAllister 2. Colin Barry 3. Mike Reid congrats to all!

2011-07-23T21:02:00.002-05:00

Banquet time! Thanks to the Weaver family & Leading Edge Aviation for a great regional.

2011-07-23T15:40:00.001-05:00

Walt Rogers waiting for a tow.

2011-07-23T15:08:00.001-05:00

Launch will start at 2:15

2011-07-23T14:59:00.001-05:00

Grid squatting for the last day of the Regional. 15 meter has a rest day. We just launched a sniffer. Stay tuned!

Day 3 at Logan

2011-07-22T00:04:00.000-05:00

We got another day in today, Day 3 for both the Regional and the Nationals. The Regional will wrap up on Saturday, and I don't expect to have any more rest days, since we didn't fly on Monday. It is Thursday night, right? I tend to lose track of the days at contests. We started launching at about 14:10 without too many relights. It was another challenging day, but a different sort of challenging

2011-07-21T15:22:00.001-05:00

Launch underway, 14:20

Fwd:

2011-07-21T15:21:00.001-05:00

This is what we do on our summer vacations. Duane & Enza on the ramp, day 3.

Day 2 at Logan

2011-07-21T01:51:00.001-05:00

Interesting days at Logan. The weahter is not enitrely coorperative, but it's not entirely uncooperative either. We got a day in today, Wednesday, July 20 ("One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" anniversary day) but had a bunch of landouts and a few more incidents with broken ships. What leads to damaged ships on landouts? Many people smarter than I have considered this question.

2011-07-20T17:57:00.001-05:00

Pilots out on a 3 hour MAT in total blue conditions. Check the Spot tracking page link (right) to see how they're going.

2011-07-20T00:12:00.002-05:00

Towing back from a long day at Logan, Utah. Note the peeling tape on the top of the tailplane from flying through some hard rain. Pieces of the contest ID lettering were also shredded. Was one of the turnpoints in Hades?

Logan Day 1

2011-07-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

It's Tuesday, July 19, and we just got our first day of competition in at the Logan Region 9 and 15 Meter Nationals contest. What a day! Lots of land outs. Not my pilot, thank goodness. Lots of changing weather. The pilots I talked with at the end of the day described so many moments that one might have "gotten flushed" (i.e. sent earthward, toward a landout). Some had landed out really far away,

2011-06-16T18:29:00.001-05:00

You know you're in moriarty waiting for finishers when you have fine dirt between your teeth.

2011-06-16T15:06:00.001-05:00

That's gallette, not Gillette. Darn autocorrect!

2011-06-16T15:05:00.001-05:00

It's a speed task on a windy day 4 at moriarty. abo, clines corners, Gillette. 285 mi. Windy out of the west & blue! Launch about 1/2 done

2011-06-15T17:35:00.002-05:00

Moriarty tasks tat for both classes. Club Las Vegas, Galinas peak, 3 hr min. Modern watrous, Monte alto with large radii. Only one handout so far. ---- Most made it home. EY keeps having trouble with his ClearNav showing incorrect circles on the TATs. This is very annoying and is costing him speed. He felt like he went a bit slower today. It was one of those days where you could be with a bunch

2011-06-15T14:10:00.001-05:00

Steve Leonard and his zuni

2011-06-13T14:49:00.001-05:00

We are mid launch at moriarty on day 1

The Case for Club Class Glider Racing in the U.S.

2011-05-11T23:28:00.000-05:00