Day cancelled contest complete! #ssar9n

The rain finally came in overnight. maybe not flyable today. #ssar9n

Hot & more moisture today #Ssar9n

#ssar9n it was a good day until it wasnt but ey made it home so i am happy

One landout so far. most looking good #ssar9n

FWD: Correction EY P7 ZL Win practice day #ssar9n

EY P7 AP Win practice day

Good 1st day at logan. BBQ Delish!

The day s improving & most pilots out on course inc EY. dd is napping! #SSAR9N

And then we rested

Here's what we did on the rest day today - almost nothing! It was great. We had been flying for 7 straight days including practice days, so I was ready for a break. We had a leisurely breakfast and headed out for a nearby lavender farm...yes, you heard correctly...a lavender farm in the volcanic rock countryside of northern California. It was very nice to wander through the rows and harvest a bunch of lavender for myself.

The flying has been pretty good considering the heavy smoke (see Tim's blog for more about that). He has been very frustrated with winpilot, which is known as a good program, but he has never used it before. This has made for many errors, some of which have cost him points. But if you aren't looking at the scoresheet, as he claims not to be, this shouldn't be a problem, right?

Any way, he is having fun flying the Sparrowhawk. The baby is having fun watching that firebomber and visiting her favorite tow planes. She is partial to the yellow husky for some reason.

The weather looks to be heating up into the 100s for the next few days. We'll let you know how they turn out...
Susanbb

Sports Class Nationals Day 1

Hi Everyone!
It's blogging time again - from the Super 8 in Yreka, California where it’s hot and smoky as all get out. Not smoky from the two dozen truckers who have their rigs parked out in the lot. I mean smoky like smoky the bear (only you can prevent forest fires and you really fell down on the job because now much of northern california is burning smoky).

We were lucky enough to have Greg & Neva Cole offer Tim their personal sparrowhawk to fly in this contest. It’s different from other gliders. First of all, it is yellow, like a flower or a ray of sunshine. Second, it weighs 215 lbs empty. This vs. the SZD 55 we have at home which weighs 499 lbs dry. It’s kind of like a pocket glider, or a ‘fun size’ glider, you know, like those mini candy bars. Tim has been enjoying it so far. Unfortunately he found himself calling me on the cell phone from someplace called Butte Valley about 5:45 this evening. Oh well!

The baby is enjoying watching all of the gliders and airplanes. She often points at gliders and says ‘da da’ which is either cute or sad depending on your point of view.

More later –
Susan

December 21 Contest Day 3

Today is the third contest day and we are getting ready for launch. The weather looks nice again, so we'll see what the day brings. The only way is up for Tim, who had a tough day yesterday - but clawed his way home in true Tim fashion.

One of the funny things about this area is how early everything closes. We walked to the town last night after 8 pm to get an ice cream and found everything except the one pub to be closed! Most dinner places close at 6:00. You have to be organized to get your dinner. Our hotel does serve later, so we're getting fed, never fear!

Tonight is the Biscuits Bark Up at the same local pub. This annual event brings together local sheepdogs in a comp to see how loud they can bark. I am thinking of entering the baby. She is pretty loud sometimes!

Susan

December 17, 2007

Omarama - it's one of those little gliding towns. If you've been to a contest, you have been to a town just like this somewhere. It reminds me of a small Walden, CO or Pagosa Springs. It has everything you need, though - a few hotels, a few restaurants, two gas stations, and a 4-Square, which is a small grocery store. Most importantly, it has fabulous gliding conditions - usually. They did fly yesterday (Tim's flights are posted on the OLC if you are inclined to look at them).

We survived the trip OK, and the baby is doing great.
More soon,
Susan

Tim Arrives in NZ

Tim arrived in NZ yesterday (well, it is the yesterday that is my today...I think. The whole dateline thing is a bit confusing.) He is there. The area around Omarama is really beautiful, he says. Everyone is very nice in NZ, too. So he's getting settled in and taking an orientation flight around the area.
Do you have any tips on traveling with a baby? If so, feel free to post them as comments below! I could use all of the help I can get!

Tim is on his way to NZ

Tim is on his way to NZ tonight. In a mere 24 hours after leaving Dallas, he will be in Christchurch, with only a 4-5 hour drive on the wrong side of the road ahead of him! His blog is www.echoyankee.com, so check out his reports as well.
I am excited to add another sponsor to our team: Nielsen Kellerman. Thank you for your support!

Susan

Rain, Bowling, Contest Complete

The rain overnight continued without a break all day. It was pretty obvious there wouldn't be any chance to fly today, so the day was cancelled, making this two-day contest nonetheless valid. The results were:
1. Victor Panafutin 18 pts
2. Tim McAllister 14 pts
3. Vladimir Bessarabov 13 pts

There was actually a tie for 3rd place, but Vladimir was determined the 3rd place pilot by a tiebreaking method in the SGP rules.

So Victor and Tim have qualified for the 2007 World Sailplane Grand Prix in New Zealand. It's quite a long way off, though, scheduled for December 2007. It's an exciting prospect. However, it doesn't ease our dissapointment with the weather here. Tim said that he had really looked forward to flying in Russia, almost more than the French Alps. Maybe we can come back some day? The people have been great, and we have had a good time here. The weather, well, what can you do? Everyone says it is really unusual for this time of year to have any rain. I have to say to Sabine Prasser - I think I am winning the rain competition!

So a bunch of us went bowling this afternoon at the nearby mini mall in Protvino. I took a bunch of pictures then promptly deleted them instead of copying them. So I am sorry, but no pics of bowling. It was a real American Brunswick bowling system, all computerized and fancy. I think I took last place with several frames of zero points. Well, someone has to be last!

After the closing ceremony tomorrow at noon, we will travel to Moscow for a few days before heading back to Dallas. Seems like a good idea to see some of the major sights other than the Drakino Airfield, although it is very nice.
Susan

August 8 Day Cancelled

When we woke up this morning, we saw this:














Although we were not quite sure what it was (apparently it was the sky), we took it as a sign that we might have a chance to fly today. Sure enough, two warring airmasses were doing battle right over our heads. Just to our northwest, there were cumulus clouds. Over our heads, the deck of clouds remained. We sat on the grid (change of pace!) until 3:30, when the sniffer reported that it was just "flat" so the day was cancelled. We have one more chance to fly, but the forecast for Wednesday looks slightly worse than today.














Tim considers the better weather to the northwest, just outside of the task area.

Someone was asking me about some of the Grand Prix rules, so here is a very short summary.

The contest is limited to 20 aircraft and pilots. Typically they are from one class. In this case, they are all exactly the same kind of aircraft. After the gliders launch, the start time is announced. Pilots must be behind the start line one minute before the start. These times are announced on the radio and in larger Grand Prix, announced over a PA system. Once the start line is open, the clock is running for all competitors, just like in auto racing. There is no penalty for starting late, but you have to find a way to get in front of those who have started before you if you hope to win.

With the start line and this type of "regatta start" the spectators below can really see the pilots as they get behind the start line and then start.

The tasks are all racing tasks. So how do you win? By making the best choices for that particular day.

The length of the competition period is shorter, the tasks tend to be shorter, but they do not have to be. Oh, and you don't get any real bonus or penalty for your speed. The first person to cross the finish line gets 10 points. The second place person gets 8 points and so on down to 9th place, which gets 1 point.
It doesn't matter if you beat someone by 15 seconds or 15 minutes as long as you come in first. Interesting, right?

In the Grand Prix rules, the task setter may also give bonus points for reaching a certain turn point first, which can change the game on a particular day.

If you really want to get into the rules, which are still featherweight in size compared to the Sporting Code Annex A, you can read them at

Aug 6-7 RAIN

August 7, 2006 (Monday)
Heavy rain last night. Now we are re-connecting with the world since the internet service was restored. When people start discussing which glider DVDs to show at the morning pilots' meeting, you know the forecast is bleak.
Susan

August 6, 2006 (Sun)
We had thunderstorms last night, complete with lightning. Quite the storm! It is still raining this morning, and the forecast really does not look too promising at all. In fact, it really doesn't look good for the next few days. So everyone looks a bit depressed, the way pilots look when things get drippy like this. They are showing pictures from their nationals in Novosibirsk (with dust devils!) and making paper airplanes.

I am hoping to go to Serpukhov (the nearby town) this afternoon to visit the flea market and to just take a look around. (We did get a nice tour of the town by Alexander, a local who is helping out with the press for the contest. He speaks English and German, so we understand each other pretty well.

Yesterday's festivities were very nice, in spite of the weather. There was a big show, with folk dancers and karaoke singing, and a sort of power house of dance-style cheerleader show.

We were treated to a luncheon of many kinds of hors d'oeuvres and vodka, cognac, and wine. Main courses were also served, but we couldn't even eat them - we were too full of hors d'oeuvres!
Susan

Rainy Saturday - Aug 5

Rainy morning...
We are all ready for the spectacle that was/is planned for today. The giant stage and sound system have been erected. All kinds of security people, event set up people, policemen and official types are hovering around. Unfortunately, it is raining. At times it is raining heavily! So we are inside waiting for the ceremony which we assume will take place at noon regardless of "moisture."














The fancy stage!














Don't you wish you had one of these cars? It is about the size of a Yugo.















Close up of the MI-2 helicopter used by the Mo-Atck aero club. Possibly produced in the 60's. Twin-turbine initial flight training! As much maintenance time as flight time, or so it seems.













Aerial view of the Drakino airfield looking roughly southwest.

Tim Wins the Day - August 4

Hello All,
The day really didn't look that promising this morning, and even until 12:30 - 1:00 it was still pretty overcast. We were promised a clearing area / better weather if we would just be patient. Sure enough, it started to clear out about 1:30 and we were out on the grid in the sunshine at 2:30. The first launch was at 3:00 and the start time was 3:45.

The task, in retrospect, was a bit of an undercall at 113.5 km.

For those of you following along at home (Rick Howell) the TPs were: 001 start, 027 Suxotino, 06 Velejevo, 003 Pfin, 002 Fin (and there was another new tp file this morning with a change to the finish coordinates, so your results may vary.

Tim called the last TP and asked "who else is home?" I answered "nobody". So as you all know, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Tim appears to have won the day with an approx. speed of 75.6 kph, but we're waiting for the scorer before we celebrate in the traditional Russian way - with beer and fish! Apparently, dried whole fish is the favored food pairing with Russian beer. I will report about this later.

We are expecting a big crowd for this weekend's flights, air show, folk dancing(!) and general pomp and circumstance. I will continue to offer full reports as I am able.
Susan














Our FAI/IGC Referee, Bruno Ramseyer (Ireland) admires the improving sky on the grid today.