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flyeslhost
158 Posts |
 Posted - 07/24/2006 : 5:44:25 PM
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By Peter Nicholson - LISF Secretary
07/24/05 - At this point, I would like to include a short write up about the 37th Empire State Soaring Classic ESL contest which was held at Stillwell Field the 24th and 25th of June. As the contest weekend approached, the weather forecast began to look quite bleak. Rain was predicted for the entire weekend. |
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flyeslhost
158 Posts |
Posted - 07/24/2006 : 5:45:08 PM
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By Peter Nicholson - LISF Secretary
07/24/05 - At this point, I would like to include a short write up about the 37th Empire State Soaring Classic ESL contest which was held at Stillwell Field the 24th and 25th of June. As the contest weekend approached, the weather forecast began to look quite bleak. Rain was predicted for the entire weekend. And boy did it rain! On Saturday the LISF early morning volunteers showed up at 7 AM to begin setting up. Shortly after we got the winches set up, it began to rain. Fortunately there were enough tents for us to stand under while we waited for the rain to stop. It finally did stop and we were able to begin the contest. After about 1 round, it started to rain again. By the time Contest Director John Hauff decided to call it a day, we had almost completed 2 rounds of Expert and Sportsman. A minimum of 3 complete rounds are needed to make it an official ESL contest.
Sunday began equally grey with low overcast, but at least the rain was holding off. We got everything set up, had a pilot’s meeting and started to fly. John Hauff wisely decided to begin the contest by flying the 3rd round from Saturday so that we could have a complete contest for the first day. Early launches featured a ride up the winch line and a zoom into the cloud layer. What a thrill to see your sailplane disappear and not quite be sure where it will reemerge! After the opening round, the ceiling got a bit higher and this was no longer an issue. Despite periods of very light rain, we pressed on and managed to finish the Sat contest as well as get in 4 rounds of a Sunday contest before the rain fell heavily enough to force us to end the contest at about 1:30 PM. So we managed to get in our complete contest in between the intermittent rain and there were no wrecked models the entire weekend. Some of the pilots even found decent lift, enough lift to get 7 and 8 minute flights. I never saw a sailplane get lift in a light rain, but I timed for a few pilots on Sunday who did just that!
Well now I can’t wait to get out there and fly when it’s sunny out and the lift is everywhere…….and my feet are nice and dry!
Respectfully Submitted
Peter Nicholson, LISF Secretary
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2006 LISF1 Contest Report
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