rlovinggood
June 14th 10, 06:44 PM
Region V South, Cordele Georgia, 2010
Congratulations to the winners:
Standard Class: Mike Smith
15m Class: Enrique Mertins
Sports Class: Tim McGowin
Club Class: Wally Berry
The Standard Class NEEDED a sixth day to sort out the winner since Day
Five had first and second place separated by ONLY One Point! Don
Wasness had pulled ahead and led on Friday and I'm sure Don would have
wished for a rain-out for Saturday, but Saturday dawned clear and HOT
as had every previous day of the week. Only hotter.
There were rumors that the day might be canceled due to the heat and
the heat index. Why chance hurting people with so much heat? We had
already flown five days, why push it? But the contest moved ahead.
At least on this last day, one of the "regular" club members of the
hosting club, Mid Georgia Soaring Association, came down and agreed to
be the "sniffer". All previous days, two contestants were towed up to
serve as sniffers. That can be wearing on a pilot, who has to fly
when the day is weak and try and sniff out lift that would support
launching the fleet. I was chosen to serve as sniffer on the first
day and tried to get out of it by faking an injury, but CD Galloway
and Contest Manager (and doctor) Hartley Falbaum weren't buying into
my plan.
Back to the Standard Race. One Point between Don Wasness and Mike
Smith. Mike is on the U.S. Team and for this race, he left his LS8 at
home and was flying a borrowed Discus 2b, similar to what he'll fly in
the Worlds Gliding Competition soon in Hungary. (It is in Hungary,
isn't it?) At the end of a VERY hot and humid day, Mike did win.
Well done, Mike! Especially considering you did it in a glider that
you aren't familiar with. Very Nice!
Enrique had a HUGE smile on his face when accepting the applause of
the pilots at the awards ceremony for his win in 15m class. But then,
Enrique ALWAYS has a huge smile on his face. He's always having fun
when he's flying, and even more so when he's winning.
In Sports Class, it was the Tim and Tim and 304 and 304 show. Both
Tim's were flying HpH-304CZ's, but Tim Larsen decided to fly with the
17.6m tips while eventual champ Tim McGowin stayed with the 15m
wings. Every day, somebody named Tim was on the winners' podium.
Both flew extremely well for the six day series. Tim McGowin's son,
Chuck, helped out with the line crew. Running and shagging tow ropes
when the temperature is in the mid 90's and probably hotter on the
100' wide runway didn't seem to bother the young Mr. McGowin. Neither
did riding his ATV when needed to tow his dad out to the runway or
back to the trailer at the end of the day. I think he had as much fun
as his dad did.
Club Class was DOMINATED by The Wally. Yes, Doctor Wally Berry killed
us most of the time. Okay, he didn't win EVERY day, but it felt like
it. My fellow club member Heinz McArthur won one day and my other
fellow club member, Ken Bell, won another day. And the last day was
won by Larry Goddard. The other three days were taken by Wally, who
used his wonderful Libelle H301 to POUND us into submission. On the
last day, I thought Wally wasn't into his game because before the gate
opened, he just couldn't climb. I wasn't doing too well, either, but
every time I spied the 301, it was down LOW. And LOW meant HOT. I'm
sure he lost a few pounds on that flight. But when the gate opened
and I headed out, I was soon passed by Wally who was at least 500 feet
higher than me. How the heck did he do that? Wally is a GREAT pilot,
that's how he did it!
I've already mentioned young Chuck McGowin in the line crew but the
others there, Cody and Nick and others helped get us off and running
in no time. And RUN they did! We're just sitting in the cockpit
watching "the show" of the towplanes doing their thing and to watch
these folks RUN out there in that heat was amazing. I hope they
enjoyed it. Their job of grabbing ropes and then lying down on the
HOT asphalt to hook up the CG hooks isn't one that many people would
do, but these folks did it with gusto. Well done, guys!
The tow pilots and towplanes were headed up by Phil and Linda
Laberge. They had their Pawnee 260 that led the two Pawnee 235's, a
CalAir, and a Cessna 175. Phil ran a great show and I had absolutely
no problems behind any of the pilots.
Phil has one of J. J. Sinclair's "tape on wing wheel" to be used for a
solo retrieve for CG hook equipped gliders. I had the chance to try
it out, since I landed at one of the very quiet county airports, but
took the trailer retrieve instead. The trailer retrieve is a "sure
thing" and I didn't feel like being a test pilot on that HOT
afternoon. Plus, on my old LS1-d, the wings are mounted up fairly
high on the fat fuselage and there's a good bit of dihedral in those
wings. When one wing is down, the other is WAY up in the air and I
just don't know about taking off without a wing runner.
The contest management fit the definition of "perfect" in my mind.
Since I've never managed a contest, I can't even imagine how much
blood and sweat goes into the planning. Their planning paid off and
Hartley Falbuam and his wife made it work so seamlessly and easy. I
didn't notice any hiccups of any kinds. They were helped by the rest
of the team including Bill Bashear (sp?) and Leo Buckley (The Best
Scorer. Ever) and Leo's wife (Retrieve Office. She did an EXCELLENT
job of seeing that I got home before the Fried Catfish Dinner had
closed shop!) and weatherman Scott Fletcher and also, our living
legend, Ray Galloway for Contest Director. What a team! Scott did an
outstanding job with the weather and it's a hard job. Since Scott
flew in the contest, he had to get up EARLY to have time to assemble
and prepare his glider and sit in front of the computer for quite some
time in order to give the CD the forecast. I'm sure there would be
much less pressure on the weather-guesser if he weren't flying the
contest. But Scott made it look all to easy. And his forecasts were
right on.
By the end of the contest, we were all blessed with six contest days,
a first in 35 years.
Thanks to all!
Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
Congratulations to the winners:
Standard Class: Mike Smith
15m Class: Enrique Mertins
Sports Class: Tim McGowin
Club Class: Wally Berry
The Standard Class NEEDED a sixth day to sort out the winner since Day
Five had first and second place separated by ONLY One Point! Don
Wasness had pulled ahead and led on Friday and I'm sure Don would have
wished for a rain-out for Saturday, but Saturday dawned clear and HOT
as had every previous day of the week. Only hotter.
There were rumors that the day might be canceled due to the heat and
the heat index. Why chance hurting people with so much heat? We had
already flown five days, why push it? But the contest moved ahead.
At least on this last day, one of the "regular" club members of the
hosting club, Mid Georgia Soaring Association, came down and agreed to
be the "sniffer". All previous days, two contestants were towed up to
serve as sniffers. That can be wearing on a pilot, who has to fly
when the day is weak and try and sniff out lift that would support
launching the fleet. I was chosen to serve as sniffer on the first
day and tried to get out of it by faking an injury, but CD Galloway
and Contest Manager (and doctor) Hartley Falbaum weren't buying into
my plan.
Back to the Standard Race. One Point between Don Wasness and Mike
Smith. Mike is on the U.S. Team and for this race, he left his LS8 at
home and was flying a borrowed Discus 2b, similar to what he'll fly in
the Worlds Gliding Competition soon in Hungary. (It is in Hungary,
isn't it?) At the end of a VERY hot and humid day, Mike did win.
Well done, Mike! Especially considering you did it in a glider that
you aren't familiar with. Very Nice!
Enrique had a HUGE smile on his face when accepting the applause of
the pilots at the awards ceremony for his win in 15m class. But then,
Enrique ALWAYS has a huge smile on his face. He's always having fun
when he's flying, and even more so when he's winning.
In Sports Class, it was the Tim and Tim and 304 and 304 show. Both
Tim's were flying HpH-304CZ's, but Tim Larsen decided to fly with the
17.6m tips while eventual champ Tim McGowin stayed with the 15m
wings. Every day, somebody named Tim was on the winners' podium.
Both flew extremely well for the six day series. Tim McGowin's son,
Chuck, helped out with the line crew. Running and shagging tow ropes
when the temperature is in the mid 90's and probably hotter on the
100' wide runway didn't seem to bother the young Mr. McGowin. Neither
did riding his ATV when needed to tow his dad out to the runway or
back to the trailer at the end of the day. I think he had as much fun
as his dad did.
Club Class was DOMINATED by The Wally. Yes, Doctor Wally Berry killed
us most of the time. Okay, he didn't win EVERY day, but it felt like
it. My fellow club member Heinz McArthur won one day and my other
fellow club member, Ken Bell, won another day. And the last day was
won by Larry Goddard. The other three days were taken by Wally, who
used his wonderful Libelle H301 to POUND us into submission. On the
last day, I thought Wally wasn't into his game because before the gate
opened, he just couldn't climb. I wasn't doing too well, either, but
every time I spied the 301, it was down LOW. And LOW meant HOT. I'm
sure he lost a few pounds on that flight. But when the gate opened
and I headed out, I was soon passed by Wally who was at least 500 feet
higher than me. How the heck did he do that? Wally is a GREAT pilot,
that's how he did it!
I've already mentioned young Chuck McGowin in the line crew but the
others there, Cody and Nick and others helped get us off and running
in no time. And RUN they did! We're just sitting in the cockpit
watching "the show" of the towplanes doing their thing and to watch
these folks RUN out there in that heat was amazing. I hope they
enjoyed it. Their job of grabbing ropes and then lying down on the
HOT asphalt to hook up the CG hooks isn't one that many people would
do, but these folks did it with gusto. Well done, guys!
The tow pilots and towplanes were headed up by Phil and Linda
Laberge. They had their Pawnee 260 that led the two Pawnee 235's, a
CalAir, and a Cessna 175. Phil ran a great show and I had absolutely
no problems behind any of the pilots.
Phil has one of J. J. Sinclair's "tape on wing wheel" to be used for a
solo retrieve for CG hook equipped gliders. I had the chance to try
it out, since I landed at one of the very quiet county airports, but
took the trailer retrieve instead. The trailer retrieve is a "sure
thing" and I didn't feel like being a test pilot on that HOT
afternoon. Plus, on my old LS1-d, the wings are mounted up fairly
high on the fat fuselage and there's a good bit of dihedral in those
wings. When one wing is down, the other is WAY up in the air and I
just don't know about taking off without a wing runner.
The contest management fit the definition of "perfect" in my mind.
Since I've never managed a contest, I can't even imagine how much
blood and sweat goes into the planning. Their planning paid off and
Hartley Falbuam and his wife made it work so seamlessly and easy. I
didn't notice any hiccups of any kinds. They were helped by the rest
of the team including Bill Bashear (sp?) and Leo Buckley (The Best
Scorer. Ever) and Leo's wife (Retrieve Office. She did an EXCELLENT
job of seeing that I got home before the Fried Catfish Dinner had
closed shop!) and weatherman Scott Fletcher and also, our living
legend, Ray Galloway for Contest Director. What a team! Scott did an
outstanding job with the weather and it's a hard job. Since Scott
flew in the contest, he had to get up EARLY to have time to assemble
and prepare his glider and sit in front of the computer for quite some
time in order to give the CD the forecast. I'm sure there would be
much less pressure on the weather-guesser if he weren't flying the
contest. But Scott made it look all to easy. And his forecasts were
right on.
By the end of the contest, we were all blessed with six contest days,
a first in 35 years.
Thanks to all!
Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA