Frank Paynter[_2_]
March 20th 11, 03:51 AM
At the morning meeting today, Andreea Alexandrescu received a standing
ovation from the assembled pilots and crews for the outstanding job
the entire Alexandrescu family has done hosting the 2011 Seniors.
Ace weatherman Ray Galloway gave us the news on the weather for the
day. Basically more of the same – blue, blue, and more blue. The
prediction was for significantly better/higher climbs to the north,
and significantly poorer/lower to the south. So, the call was for a 4-
turn TAT with a big 25-mile circle around Ocala, two small circles
around Green Swamp and Osborne, and then another big circle around
Winter Haven. The Winter Haven circle was large enough so all the
pilots had to do to get into the circle was get to the south end of
the field at Seminole, clip the circle and enter the pattern.
The day got started a bit late, and so the Task didn’t open until
almost 2pm – not a good thing with a 2:30 min time and the banquet
scheduled for 6pm 20 miles from the field! Pilots started streaming
out shortly after the Task opened, but the fast guys held back until
about 2:30pm or so. The run up into the Ocala circle was well marked
with gliders, but it became quickly evident that the actual weather
wasn’t anywhere as good as our now-not-so-trustworthy weatherman
promised us this morning – just can’t trust anyone with a southern
accent! Anyway, we all kept going and we all kept getting lower and
lower, and then we started taking 3kt thermals to 3500 instead of the
5kt thermals to 6000 we were expecting.
Pilots started turning early in anticipation of more trouble on the
way home, but the faster guys pressed on. I spotted KS turning hard
and going up like a rocket, just about a mile north of the Ocala
airport. When I got there I ran into a 6kt thermal to 5700’ – wow!
The amazing thing was, no one else got into this thermal – you would
think two gliders banked up at 45 degrees and going up fast would have
been like a great big sign saying “HERE HERE HERE!” KS went south,
and I went on north, figuring I would be able to use that thermal
twice – great idea, but my execution sucked. When I got back to the
same spot, the thermal had apparently gone back to bed. Surprisingly,
conditions got a bit better as we continued south, making me start to
wonder if Ray had got the weather forecast right, but had switched
‘north’ for ‘south’ when he gave it to us ;-).
In the end, almost everyone made it around (there were only two
landouts), and everyone (except the landout victims) made it to the
banquet on time. The scores were a state secret until banquet time,
so I am writing this from the banquet room between bites at my
dinner. The winner for the banquet day was perennial winner Ken
Sorenson with a speed of 60.43mph raw / 53.69mph handicapped, followed
(very!) closely by yours truly Frank Paynter with 60.15mph raw /
53.01mph handicapped. Third for the day was John Seymour with
60.55mph raw / 53.01mph handicapped.
After 6 days of superb weather, fine flying, and excellent
sportsmanship, the overall result of the 2011 Seniors was a very close
race. Tom Kelley took first overall on the very first day and
defended it successfully for the entire 6 days with a total of 5767
for 6 days. Apparently the rest of us couldn’t hit the target that
Tom was convinced was painted on his back! Tom was followed closely
by Karl Striedieck, only 52 points back at the end with 5715. Another
51 points back found John Seymour for third place overall with 5622.
Fourth place overall was yours truly just 42 points off the podium at
5622. Fifth place overall went to Dick Butler with 5568. Local
Florida boy Henry Retting was 6th with 5524. National champ Chip
Garner was seventh with 5457, Ron Ridenour was eighth with 5443, Robin
Clark was ninth with 5431, and World champ Doug Jacobs flying a
borrowed Discus 2 was tenth with 5425
The first order of business at the banquet was the ceremonial
retirement of the infamous ‘Uffda’ award (meaning ‘oops – or something
like that’), and the institution of the ‘O Mare Greşeală’ award
(meaning about the same thing in Romanian). Rick Fuller was the
inaugural recipient of the OMG due to his failure to make the
distinction between a good landing field and a phosphate mine! ;-).
As I write this, the 2011 Seniors has come to a close, and pilots who
were at each others throats a few hours ago are sharing a beer and
lies at the banquet. We will all be heading for different parts of
the country, but we will always remember this contest as one of the
very best in the history of the Seniors Championships.
TA
ovation from the assembled pilots and crews for the outstanding job
the entire Alexandrescu family has done hosting the 2011 Seniors.
Ace weatherman Ray Galloway gave us the news on the weather for the
day. Basically more of the same – blue, blue, and more blue. The
prediction was for significantly better/higher climbs to the north,
and significantly poorer/lower to the south. So, the call was for a 4-
turn TAT with a big 25-mile circle around Ocala, two small circles
around Green Swamp and Osborne, and then another big circle around
Winter Haven. The Winter Haven circle was large enough so all the
pilots had to do to get into the circle was get to the south end of
the field at Seminole, clip the circle and enter the pattern.
The day got started a bit late, and so the Task didn’t open until
almost 2pm – not a good thing with a 2:30 min time and the banquet
scheduled for 6pm 20 miles from the field! Pilots started streaming
out shortly after the Task opened, but the fast guys held back until
about 2:30pm or so. The run up into the Ocala circle was well marked
with gliders, but it became quickly evident that the actual weather
wasn’t anywhere as good as our now-not-so-trustworthy weatherman
promised us this morning – just can’t trust anyone with a southern
accent! Anyway, we all kept going and we all kept getting lower and
lower, and then we started taking 3kt thermals to 3500 instead of the
5kt thermals to 6000 we were expecting.
Pilots started turning early in anticipation of more trouble on the
way home, but the faster guys pressed on. I spotted KS turning hard
and going up like a rocket, just about a mile north of the Ocala
airport. When I got there I ran into a 6kt thermal to 5700’ – wow!
The amazing thing was, no one else got into this thermal – you would
think two gliders banked up at 45 degrees and going up fast would have
been like a great big sign saying “HERE HERE HERE!” KS went south,
and I went on north, figuring I would be able to use that thermal
twice – great idea, but my execution sucked. When I got back to the
same spot, the thermal had apparently gone back to bed. Surprisingly,
conditions got a bit better as we continued south, making me start to
wonder if Ray had got the weather forecast right, but had switched
‘north’ for ‘south’ when he gave it to us ;-).
In the end, almost everyone made it around (there were only two
landouts), and everyone (except the landout victims) made it to the
banquet on time. The scores were a state secret until banquet time,
so I am writing this from the banquet room between bites at my
dinner. The winner for the banquet day was perennial winner Ken
Sorenson with a speed of 60.43mph raw / 53.69mph handicapped, followed
(very!) closely by yours truly Frank Paynter with 60.15mph raw /
53.01mph handicapped. Third for the day was John Seymour with
60.55mph raw / 53.01mph handicapped.
After 6 days of superb weather, fine flying, and excellent
sportsmanship, the overall result of the 2011 Seniors was a very close
race. Tom Kelley took first overall on the very first day and
defended it successfully for the entire 6 days with a total of 5767
for 6 days. Apparently the rest of us couldn’t hit the target that
Tom was convinced was painted on his back! Tom was followed closely
by Karl Striedieck, only 52 points back at the end with 5715. Another
51 points back found John Seymour for third place overall with 5622.
Fourth place overall was yours truly just 42 points off the podium at
5622. Fifth place overall went to Dick Butler with 5568. Local
Florida boy Henry Retting was 6th with 5524. National champ Chip
Garner was seventh with 5457, Ron Ridenour was eighth with 5443, Robin
Clark was ninth with 5431, and World champ Doug Jacobs flying a
borrowed Discus 2 was tenth with 5425
The first order of business at the banquet was the ceremonial
retirement of the infamous ‘Uffda’ award (meaning ‘oops – or something
like that’), and the institution of the ‘O Mare Greşeală’ award
(meaning about the same thing in Romanian). Rick Fuller was the
inaugural recipient of the OMG due to his failure to make the
distinction between a good landing field and a phosphate mine! ;-).
As I write this, the 2011 Seniors has come to a close, and pilots who
were at each others throats a few hours ago are sharing a beer and
lies at the banquet. We will all be heading for different parts of
the country, but we will always remember this contest as one of the
very best in the history of the Seniors Championships.
TA