Kowbell

[Tony[_5_]]

Today is the 53rd Annual Kansas Kowbell Klassic. Pretty simple, whoever lands furthest away from Sunflower Gliderport wins the coveted trophy. No handicaps. I think many of the competitors will show up on the SSA tracking page so if you're looking for something to do on this Independence Day, follow along!

[Sean Fidler]

Darn! We are driving they Kansas today! I'll be looking up and following you on the tracker page.

[Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot)]

On Saturday, July 4, 2015 at 9:03:38 AM UTC-4, Tony wrote:
> Today is the 53rd Annual Kansas Kowbell Klassic. Pretty simple, whoever lands furthest away from Sunflower Gliderport wins the coveted trophy. No handicaps. I think many of the competitors will show up on the SSA tracking page so if you're looking for something to do on this Independence Day, follow along!

We're "assuming" "furthest away from Sunflower Gliderport" after STARTING from Sunflower Gliderport?"

Otherwise Australia pilots will win (since they would likely be furthest away)..... LOL.....

Hope you have good conditions there..... in Kansas.....

[[email protected]]

Tony is 211 miles downwind and still at 5000'. I guess Leigh is hot on the trail with the trailer. Great adventure for the 4th (for Tony). He better find a nice place to take the crew for dinner and a movie.

The smart phone app really makes watching fun. A repair for the 3D view is being issued soon. Google Earth has been very unstable recently.

Lane
XF

[Tony[_5_]]

Leah was only a few hours behind. We made it to Burwell, NE just in time for fireworks!

I think my distance was 274 miles. Bob Holiday flew to Good land, KD around 225 Miles I think and Steve Leonard made it 150ish after a late start in the FJ-1.

It was mostly a scratchy day with about 2 hours of pretty good soaring in the middle.

Not many places to land in Nebraska!

[Tony[_5_]]

Lane,

I've really been enjoying flying with IGC Droid since you educated us all at Cordele.

Leah and I are stopped halfway home enjoying an Ice Cream break. That's her standard charge for a retrieve. Its about 100 degrees outside.

No she doesn't have any sisters.

[Bob Whelan[_3_]]

On 7/4/2015 8:20 PM, Tony wrote:
> Leah was only a few hours behind. We made it to Burwell, NE just in time
> for fireworks!

Studly! Upwind (such as it was)...at least according to the satellite loop.

<Snip>

> Not many places to land in Nebraska!

Heh. 'Actual Nebraska geography' prolly differs considerably from the general
perceptions of most who don't live there. Once north of I-70 on your Kowbell
track, you're getting to the eastern edge of the sandhills...pretty much
ranching country, and darned pretty from the air - at least if you're not
having to worry about immediately landing.

Bob W.

[Tony[_5_]]

Bob, low level winds were southerly at 15-20.

Terrain wasn't so much an issue as the transition from cut wheat fields in Kansas to Very Tall Corn in Nebraska. I hit the south edge of sand hills at Taylor and without enough altitude to clear them and no landabke field in sight on course I turned 90 degrees and landed at Burwell

[BobW]

On 7/5/2015 2:42 PM, Tony wrote:
> Bob, low level winds were southerly at 15-20.
Inneresting. Beneath Nebraska's panhandle in NE Colorado, there was
essentially zero ground breeze all day, while the (few for the most part)
convective clouds reflected the satellite loop.

> Terrain wasn't so much an issue as the transition from cut wheat fields in
> Kansas to Very Tall Corn in Nebraska. I hit the south edge of sand hills at
> Taylor and without enough altitude to clear them and no landable field in
> sight on course I turned 90 degrees and landed at Burwell.

Ah so...technically/topographically, the stretch from Kearney to Burwell is
considered "dissected plains - hilly land with moderate to steep slopes, sharp
ridge crests, and remnants of the old, nearly level plain. The dissected
plains are old plains eroded by water and wind." Burwell is on the (roughly
E-W) dividing line between dissected plains and sandhills - "hilly land
composed of low to high dunes of sand stabilized by a grass
cover[which...]mantle stream-deposited silt, sand, gravel and sandstone." In
current populational terms, it's pretty thinly settled between Burwell and the
Missouri River Valley up at the SD border. Makes that downwind dash "to
Thedford glider flight" (about 60 miles west of Burwell, smack dab in the sand
hills center of a N-S transect line through Thedford) from way back when
something to better appreciate I'd reckon.

Way to go!

Bob W.

[Steve Leonard[_2_]]

Wind was definitely south in the convective layer. I got a late start (launched roughly two hours after Tony) and made it all of about 150 miles to a nice field, 10 miles north of Hill City, Kansas. Landed in a field that was having its wheat harvested. Flight is on OLC, but no points because my logger had its seal broken recently. And I didn't realize it until I downloaded the log file. Oh, well. Was a fun day. My crew for the day agreed to go because he didn't think I would go more than 30 or 40 miles! Maybe it will inspire him to take the step up to something like a Libelle, which would be about perfect for him.

You should have stopped in, Sean. I got home at about 12:30 AM Saturday morning. That prompted my late launch on Saturday. Got home from my Kowbell adventure about 1 AM Sunday morning. All this after two weeks at Hobbs for the Open Nationals. I think I need to go back to work to get some rest!

Steve Leonard
N366W, FJ-1
(started out as a H-301)

[Papa3[_2_]]

Cool. Now tell us more about the FJ-1. Please.

[Steve Leonard[_2_]]

On Monday, July 6, 2015 at 10:44:38 AM UTC-5, Papa3 wrote:
> Cool. Now tell us more about the FJ-1. Please.

New thread started on the FJ-1.

Every club should have an event similar to the Kowbell. Kansas Soaring Association has been doing it since 1962. Longest winning flight has been 552 miles. Shortest winning flight has been 3.5 miles. It has never been handicapped, and I think there are very few times that handicapping would have changed the winner, based on distances flown.

I refer to is as our "Contest of Biblical Proportions". It is the first Saturday that is after the First Full Moon that is on or after the Summer Solstice.

The Dust Devil Dash was patterned loosely on the Kowbell. Pretty sure there are a few other Free Distance contests out there, as well. I remember the Downhill Dash (from Black Forest). Everyone should try it once in a while. It is great fun, and quite an adventure. And a chance to introduce people to cross country soaring.

Steve