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josh_glaab
50 Posts |
 Posted - 05/17/2009 : 3:22:06 PM
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Howdy all from the southern-flank of the Eastern Soaring League!
The 2009 Tidewater Model Soaring Society's Spring Challenge kicked-off the ESL's Unlimited Soaring season this weekend and concluded amid soggy conditions on Sunday. ESL Quarter Master Steve Lucke was on hand to throw out the first sailplane. Despite the weather, this was a great event and there are lots of items of interest to report on.
Due to the efforts of many ESL-ers and TMSS members, we had a good weekend of soaring, even though we got rained-out (big time) on Sunday. While I have witnessed ESL members pitch-in and help run contests in the past, I think this was the most wonderful event I have seen. So many competitors and competitors wives pitched-in and made a HUGE difference. While we had about 8 TMSS members show-up to work/fly we had at least that many more effectively pitch-in and help. It was an impressive event since so many contributed to it. Of significant mention: Pete Schlitzkus not only delivered the 4 ESL winches, he also took them to the next contest (Deleware). Steve Lucke brought the turn-arounds and foot pedals (I think he brought the batteries too), and tirelessly worked to string the winches and set the field up (Fri, Sat, and Sun). Tony Guide re-worked the ESL winches over the winter and they were in AWESOME condition. Ask Luis who fluttered the heck out of his Perfect on launch and blew the elevator (3421) and un-glue his right aileron servo. After a lot of excitement and running, Luis got it down without any more damage and flew it Saturday. Tony Guide also helped setup the winches and the spot tapes, tents, and anything else we needed. Dawn Huffman and Joan and Luis Bustamante ran the scoring. In the recent past, it was asked "what does the ESL do for us?". Well, this weekend was a stellar example of what the ESL does for soaring: the ESL members delivered 4 winches, batteries, chargers, and winch-line, helped set them up, helped run the contest, and in a driving rain, pitched-in and put all the gear away! Not only helping run the contest, but creating an environment for the soaring community to get together and have a great time!
To start things off, we had a good day flying Friday for our F3J practice day. The objective was to fly some winch-assissted F3J rounds as well as do some actual F3J tows. We had about 16 pilots show-up to fly by noon on Friday. This was an excellent turnout for a practice session of this kind. We setup the 4 ESL winches, and even threw-in a 5th club winch to fly 5-man flight groups! We had a 10-minute F3J audio track playing that was interleaved with some Green Day to really create a feastive soaring-partying atmoshpere. I was also able to get a series of actual F3J tows from Steve Lucke and Luis Bustamante to boot. The weather threatened a little bit in the afternoon and we shut-down a little early (at 4pm), but a good day of flying was had by all.
The task for Saturday was 10-minute Man-On-Man thermal duration with FAI 100-point tapes (AMA landing rules, no Euro-trash flipping). Flight groups were generated using a unique method involving playing cards. Complete sets of cards that equalled the number of pilots flying were put in a box. Pilots then drew the cards to determine which group they were in to start the contest. In this case, Aces were group 1, 2-s were group 2, etc. In addition, the suit of the card indicated which winch/spot the pilot had (ie spades were on #4 winch/spot, hearts were on #1). When the pilot turned in his round score, he also turned in his card and drew another one from another deck. After a few rounds, everyone seemed to get it.
Saturday's contest started under theatening skies. This time, the cieling was low (perhaps 700 ft) with some mist. The lift was very light and the relatively narrow field made finding lift and working it a challenge since the prevailing wind was across the field (making it hard to see your plane due to the tall trees). Sometime during the late morning the skies improved and the sun came out. The wind picked up a little and the lift got stronger, but still not widespread. The thermal conditions never got really good and we had a lot of low-altitude battles. Many rounds were won without making the max which really worked well with the Man-On-Man format. A total of 17 grannies (ie 1000s) out of 40 (43%) were won with flight times less than 9 minutes, Lenny Strickland won one group with a 3:30 in Round 7! Frequently, thunderstorms would rumble through the area and miss us by a few miles. When it was all over, we had 8 rounds in the book and were off the field by 5:30pm.
The group then adjourned to the Smithfield Station for some Apres Soaring and a group dinner. We had about 15 people come to dinner and we had a great time.
Image of the Pit Ares looking east.
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Our own NATS-trained turnaround trolls (Josh and Luke Glaab) kept the contest rolling all day long. Keeping that golfcart going all day was key to having a great event. Lenny Strickland borrowed his Brother's golfcart for the event (many thanks to brother Strickland!).
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Dawn Huffman and Joane Bustamante kept the scores. Luis Bustamante also pitched-in. These folks really helped keep the contest rolling smoothly.
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Neal Huffman winds-up to launch his Stratos. Neal had a tough day on Friday and Saturday, but after a good nights sleep, looked like he was ready to go on Sunday. However, the weather spoiled that come-back plan.
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Jeff Carr was all smiles on Saturday. He had his JW Onyx flying great.
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This is great photo for several reasons. One, it shows that our National Soaring Dignitary (Gordy Stahl) made the trip down from Jersey to fly with us. It was great having him and Gordy and Don Richmond helped a great deal when I needed to return the NASA trailer. This photo also shows some Man on Man soaring action directly above Gordy. I really doubt this was the end of the flight group that Gordy just flew in . Credit Luke Glaab for this picture.
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Supra approaches from overhead:
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Don Richmond was in attendance for the contest this weekend. Don has a daughter in VA Beach and visits her frequently. It is great having Don in the TMSS and part of our group. I feel like a better person just by knowing him.
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James Gifferth from New Jersey came in 3rd in Sportsflyer class. James has a long history flying RC Helicopters and Pattern aircraft and has now evidently gotten hooked on Soaring. If all goes as expected, we should see James and his wife Veera at many ESL contests with James being in the winners circle frequently. James and Veera were very helpful setting up and running the contest. It was great meeting them and having them at out event.
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Gordy Stahl had a good day flying and came in 3rd. Gordy got his groove going after lunch and strung a few grannies together (4) for his come-back 3rd. Conditions were challenging at times and Gordy had some good flights.
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Duane Beck flew his Mantis very well and won two flight groups! A tough break on launch damaged his Mantis in the last round. He still came in 2nd (even without a score for the last round!). Note due to the number of Sportsflyers (5) we mixed the Experts with the Sportsflyers for our flight groups.
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Josh Glaab came in 2nd in Expert class. Josh was on-fire before lunch (5 grannies), then faded in the afternoon and gave up time in 2 rounds  . In this picture, Luke Glaab is accepting the award for his dad, who is presenting it.
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Bob Whitney from Charlotte NC won Sportsflyer class and was consistent for much of the day. Bob is a very good flyer and I am sure we will see more of him in the winners circle!
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Jeff Carr from Charlotte was flying his JW Onyx very well all day long. Jeff ended up with 6 grannies and great scores on the other two rouns. It was fun having Jeff at our contest.
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In Junior class, Josh Jr won 1st. He flew his Piccachu (aka Soveriegn) to the limit. Now, he is desiring a higher-performance aircraft. For some reason, Mom is not going in on cost-sharing a Supra for him . She did offer-up her venerable WACO Merlin for him, so that should be an improvement as well as some cool nostalgia for us ESL-types.
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Luke Glaab flew in the LSF Ladder event. This event allows pilots to fly as much as they want (up to 6 flights) and work on their LSF vouchers. 100 bonus points are awarded for completing any of their LSF tasks. The objective is to provide a lower-key event for those who desire an alternative to toe-to-toe MOM flying and have more smiling faces at the end of the day.
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As mentioned previously, the rain came in Sunday. It held off long enough for us to get our first flight group in the air however. A good effort to run the contest was put-up, but in the end, MOM nature said nay nay to MOM soaring .
We are definitely planning on running this event in 2010, so mark your calendars now!!
Many thanks for all the help!
Josh.
Pilot Class Total Score
Carr, Jeff Expert 7,982.78
Glaab, Josh Expert 7,765.15
Stahl, Gordy Expert 7,092.28
Proseus, Dick Expert 6,902.84
Guide, Tony Expert 6,871.87
Strickland, Lenny Expert 6,582.19
Schlitzkus, Pete Expert 6,303.41
Bustamante, Luis Expert 6,267.67
Roberts, Reid Expert 6,230.73
Whitney, Bob Sportsman 6,089.33
Lucke, Steve Expert 6,015.11
Beck, Duane Sportsman 5,695.03
Broeski, Tom Expert 5,386.56
Griffeth, Jim Sportsman 5,353.37
Cochrell, Kerry Expert 4,663.82
Richmond, Don Expert 4,307.12
Huffman, Neal Expert 4,253.69
Ewers, Scott Sportsman 3,966.21
Glaab, Josh Jr Sportsman 3,093.06
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Edited by - josh_glaab on 05/20/2009 8:58:00 PM |
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F3jeb
103 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2009 : 4:15:18 PM
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Nice report Josh - the kids are growing fast, thank you for sharing
Jose |
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aeajr
477 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2009 : 09:27:09 AM
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Josh,
Without a doubt you turn in the best contest report. Congratulations on a successful event. |
Best regards,
Ed Anderson
Long Island Silent Flyers
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TMSS ESL Spring Challenge 2009
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