[LASS Soaring] I flew a contest today,,,,you?

[GordySoar at aol.com]

February 1, 2009 Don  Hollfelder Memorial Sunday Glider Social 

It was a very nice day at the field. We started with sunny  skies, but clouds 
moved in throughout the day, going completely overcast with  high cirrus at 
the end of the last round. It was in the mid 40s at the start but  warmed up to 
the mid 60s. The winds were light from the southeast.  

Craig Deyerle led off the first round thinking the light  southeast wind 
would provide some slope lift over the trees to the south.  However, at altitude 
the winds were from the east. Still, he managed a  respectable flight - just 
shy of 5 minutes. Jim Hartley and Lance Ropke worked  the field to the west and 
north, not finding much. Mark Owens watched the four  fliers before him and 
decided to go elsewhere, working the lift over the eastern  trees for a maximum. 
At this time the hi-start rubber broke – twice. The  remainder of the round 
was flown on a shortened line. We noted an immediate drop  in flight times, as 
the estimated altitude off the line was 100 feet less that  with the full 
length. Note: President Bob Schritter promised the club will  provide a new 
hi-start before the March date.

Joe Foster laid out his “Mega-Bungee” for the last two  rounds. This 
hi-start provides a softer but more, consistent pull during the  climb. Craig stalled 
three times going up on the new hi-start with a resultant  low fly-off and 
couldn’t make the southern tree line. Had he flown west, he  could have circled 
up with the climbing turkey vultures – an opportunity missed!  However, Jim 
Hartley did make the tree line and worked the slope lift off the  southern trees 
to a max – proving Craig had the right idea if the wrong  technique. Lance 
followed, but the wind had moderated by this time along with  the lift. Later in 
the round, Buddy Bradley found booming air to the east of the  field and 
maxed. Joe Foster followed him, making 6 minutes. Dale Palmer worked  the soft 
ridge lift to the south by flying back and forth, slowly climbing with  each 
turn, achieving 6:30. It was a great flight. If he had just a bit more up  trim at 
the start, he might have maxed out. Gordy Stahl worked to the east of  the 
field and maxed, finding the same lift that Buddy and Joe flew in.  

Craig, having watched the fliers at the end of the second  round launched 
right into the air Gordy and Dale had vacated. His Vista climbed  directly off 
the line, going up and through the middle of a circling gaggle of  vultures. It 
was a dot and he did spins, loops, and flew upside down to get it  back down. 
Alas, he was standing too close to the landing spot and instead of  hitting 
the spot for more than 80 points; he hit himself in the leg, breaking  the wing 
leading edge. What really hurt was the zero landing points as it pushed  him 
from third to fifth. (Not real bright. The bruise will heal by itself, but  the 
wing will require surgery!). Jim, Lance, and Mark all followed into the  
great air and flew to excellent times. Gordy finished up the round with a max.  

It was a great day and a good time was had by  all!!!

We had two new pilots at the field today. Gordy Stahl was  visiting from 
Kentucky. Gordy is well known in the glider competition circuit  and showed his 
stuff today on an aircraft borrowed from Buddy Bradley. Dale  Palmer flew in his 
first Social today, launching his glider on a hi-start for  just the second 
time when he stepped up to the line in the first round. He did  quite well. 
Note: This is the model that stayed out in the woods for a week in  December. 

**************Great Deals on Dell Laptops. Starting at $499. 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1217883258x1201191827/aol?redir=http://www.dell.com/co
ntent/products/features.aspx/laptops_great_deals?c=us%26cs=19%26l=en%26s=d
hs%26~ck=anavml)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://localhost.localdomain/pipermail/soaring/attachments/20090201/5cac8ff6/attachment.htm