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flyeslhost
158 Posts |
 Posted - 05/25/2005 : 11:32:49 PM
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By Dave Walter
05/25/05 - The LASS organization decided to break with tradition and fly both days of the weekend this year. In spite of dire weather predictions, Mother Nature delivered partly cloudy conditions with a steady 10 mph breeze. |
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flyeslhost
158 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2005 : 11:33:59 PM
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By Dave Walter
05/25/05 - The LASS organization decided to break with tradition and fly both days of the weekend this year. In spite of dire weather predictions, Mother Nature delivered partly cloudy conditions with a steady 10 mph breeze. While rain was occasionally in the vicinity, it never really threatened us. But we weren’t in danger of suffering from sun burn either.
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The CRRC contingent was kind of small this year, just Jim Tyrie, John Nilsson and me. We thought we had a lock on finishing in the Top 5 when we arrived at the field and there were only 3 other people there. After a quick phone call, we got routed to the correct field and revised our estimate to Top 20.
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CD John Murr kept things simple, calling for as many 7 minute rounds as we could fit in the day. On Saturday, that translated into 9 rounds of sometimes challenging air, but for the top finishers the real challenge was consistently reaping landing points. Tom Kiesling proved to be best on this day, beating second place finisher Josh Glaab by 29 points. Garnering 4624 points out of 4680 possible, Tom gave up a mere 48 landing points for the day, averaging better than 94 points per flight! Close behind Josh was Phil Barnes for 3rd place.
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Only three Sportsmen signed up on Saturday. Alan Schwerin was the best of the group with a respectable 4006 points, followed by Robert Buxton and Lee Messick.
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The only damage I know of on Saturday was suffered by Jim Tyrie’s plane when his stab departed on launch. Forensic analysis determined that 1/8” of threads embedded into epoxy/carbon wasn’t enough. Jim finished the day flying John’s backup Mantis. We may have a new Mantis convert.
Sunday was similar to Saturday, although cooler and with slightly stronger wind. Phil Barnes layed down the gauntlet early by skying out his Mantis from a hand launch before most of us had even assembled our planes. But in spite of the challenge, Tom Keisling and Josh Glaab once again finished 1 – 2, with Mike Lachowski close behind in 3rd. Dave Harris posted a score of 3457 to win Sportsman class, a score which would have been good for 5th place in Expert class. Robert Buxton bested Alan Schwerin by a single point to capture 2nd place.
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John Nilsson and I both discovered the limits of our Mantis wings. Launching hard into the steady wind with the strong ESL winches, I managed to crease the center section of my wing, and Jim Tyrie put two creases into John’s wing. Alan Schwerin also added some extra dihedral to his sailplane. I guess it’s early in the season and we all have heavy feet!
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The LASS organizers kept us happy with lots of flying, tasty burgers and dogs, and a beautiful wide-open flying field. Next year I hope some more pilots show up to knock Tom and Josh off the top!
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Dave Walter |
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Mother Nature delivered...
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