2015 Nephi OLC/XC Final Report

[[email protected]]

We made it! What an incredible 8 days of flying we all had. The weather cooperated and gave us many chances to go for personal bests and explore the beautiful areas Nephi has to offer. Here are a few quick flight stats:

300 flights uploaded to OLC, many more were flown but not uploaded to OLC
3 flights over 1000km!
18 flights over 750km!
89 flights over 500km!!!

Total OLC distance flown = 127,673km (79,343 miles) That is 3+ times around the earth! Also add dozens of personal best flights achieved and first task flights flown

We want to thank all the pilots who came out and participated at our camp this year. You all had fantastic attitudes, flew safe, and worked well together both on the ground and in the air. We would also like to thank the many volunteers who came and spent their time and energies to make this both happen and turn out so well. I would say this was by far our best event we have done at Nephi to date.

Our new staging and gridding system was a big success. We worked hard to formalize a gridding system this year that would work for everyone and we thank the pilots for their efforts in trying this new system. It allowed for the guy who wanted to go long to leave early, but not make the people in the back wait out in the sun for hours. It also took stress off the pilots from having to rush to the grid to get a spot. We listened to your suggestions and comments from last year. Thanks!

We only had a few landouts all week long. On one, our friend Charlie Ryan was seriously injured during a wind storm while he was helping to put a glider into the trailer in a farmer's field. He is on the long road to recovery back home and he was in our thoughts all week. Get well Charlie and come back to Nephi and fly with us again soon! :)

Next year, Nephi will be hosting the 15 meter, Open, and Standard Class Nationals starting June 21, 2016. Registration is already open and filling up. We are very excited and honored to be hosting these pilots and events next year. We hope you will join us!

Please note that our plans going forward are to host a nationals (or maybe large regionals) one year and then do an OLC camp the next year going forward. We think this every other year alternating of event types will help keep Nephi available for all types of pilots with different flying and racing goals.

To see pictures of the event, please visit our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/2015NephiCamp

Again, thanks to both the pilots and all the volunteers who worked so hard to make this happen! See you next year.

Bruno - B4

[Tony[_5_]]

On Monday, July 6, 2015 at 11:12:35 AM UTC-5, wrote:
> We made it! What an incredible 8 days of flying we all had. The weather cooperated and gave us many chances to go for personal bests and explore the beautiful areas Nephi has to offer. Here are a few quick flight stats:
>
> 300 flights uploaded to OLC, many more were flown but not uploaded to OLC
> 3 flights over 1000km!
> 18 flights over 750km!
> 89 flights over 500km!!!
>
> Total OLC distance flown = 127,673km (79,343 miles) That is 3+ times around the earth! Also add dozens of personal best flights achieved and first task flights flown
>
> We want to thank all the pilots who came out and participated at our camp this year. You all had fantastic attitudes, flew safe, and worked well together both on the ground and in the air. We would also like to thank the many volunteers who came and spent their time and energies to make this both happen and turn out so well. I would say this was by far our best event we have done at Nephi to date.
>
> Our new staging and gridding system was a big success. We worked hard to formalize a gridding system this year that would work for everyone and we thank the pilots for their efforts in trying this new system. It allowed for the guy who wanted to go long to leave early, but not make the people in the back wait out in the sun for hours. It also took stress off the pilots from having to rush to the grid to get a spot. We listened to your suggestions and comments from last year. Thanks!
>
> We only had a few landouts all week long. On one, our friend Charlie Ryan was seriously injured during a wind storm while he was helping to put a glider into the trailer in a farmer's field. He is on the long road to recovery back home and he was in our thoughts all week. Get well Charlie and come back to Nephi and fly with us again soon! :)
>
> Next year, Nephi will be hosting the 15 meter, Open, and Standard Class Nationals starting June 21, 2016. Registration is already open and filling up. We are very excited and honored to be hosting these pilots and events next year. We hope you will join us!
>
> Please note that our plans going forward are to host a nationals (or maybe large regionals) one year and then do an OLC camp the next year going forward. We think this every other year alternating of event types will help keep Nephi available for all types of pilots with different flying and racing goals.
>
> To see pictures of the event, please visit our facebook page: https://www..facebook.com/2015NephiCamp
>
> Again, thanks to both the pilots and all the volunteers who worked so hard to make this happen! See you next year.
>
> Bruno - B4

glad you had a good time Bruno. I'm about 90% confident I'll be joining you for Standard Nationals next year :)

[Mike the Strike]

Bruno was an energetic and genial organizer with a great team backing him up. I and everyone I met there had a great time. The venue worked well with a pretty efficient gridding and launching and absolutely no landing problems - the combination of good radio procedures with Flarm enabled many gliders to land in a short space of time.

The weather was reasonable, but not as good as it can be. Overdevelopment and low cloud bases restricted the more faint hearted from pushing as far as they could, but despite this we had many great and fast flights. The Great Basin is one of the best soaring areas in the world and the Utah mountains on the East side are just spectacular. Nephi is well positioned to take advantage of these.

Of course, not everything was perfect and there were a few minor niggles, but the team is well aware of them and I have every confidence the site will continue to improve.

Mike

[Ron Gleason]

On Monday, 6 July 2015 18:34:46 UTC-6, Mike the Strike wrote:
> Bruno was an energetic and genial organizer with a great team backing him up. I and everyone I met there had a great time. The venue worked well with a pretty efficient gridding and launching and absolutely no landing problems - the combination of good radio procedures with Flarm enabled many gliders to land in a short space of time.
>
> The weather was reasonable, but not as good as it can be. Overdevelopment and low cloud bases restricted the more faint hearted from pushing as far as they could, but despite this we had many great and fast flights. The Great Basin is one of the best soaring areas in the world and the Utah mountains on the East side are just spectacular. Nephi is well positioned to take advantage of these.
>
> Of course, not everything was perfect and there were a few minor niggles, but the team is well aware of them and I have every confidence the site will continue to improve.
>
> Mike

I am afraid to ask you to publicly to define and identify the 'few minor niggles'

[Mike the Strike]

It was hard to find good beer!

Mike

[Ron Gleason]

On Monday, 6 July 2015 19:21:22 UTC-6, Mike the Strike wrote:
> It was hard to find good beer!
>
> Mike

As I told you and Howard Banks (HL) I was expecting yuz guys to bring some of the micro brew(s) from Moriarty since you raved how great they were. There is a good selection of beers in SLC but not in Nephi. Small price to pay and stop sniffling about 16K MSL top of lift!

[Dan Marotta]

You should have picked up a case or two at the brewery a mile from
Moriarty airport before you left... :-D

On 7/6/2015 7:20 PM, Mike the Strike wrote:
> It was hard to find good beer!
>
> Mike

--
Dan Marotta

[[email protected]]

Ron
I promise to bring beer next year.
3C

[joesimmers[_2_]]

> It was hard to find good beer!
>
> Mike


There is actually a small liquor store in downtown Nephi that
has an excellent selection of very good beers.

It is on the main road going through nephi on the west side of the road. Almost
across from Lisa's restaurant maybe 1 block north.

It is not well marked and easy to miss, also they have weird hours and close early so you need to stock your cooler before you fly!

Joe EZ

[Craig Reinholt]

> There is actually a small liquor store in downtown Nephi that
> has an excellent selection of very good beers.

Sorry, but I must disagree. I checked out that liquor store and ran away. Being a beer snob from PDX, this is definitely a BYOB town.

Craig 1CR

[Craig Funston]

On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 1:09:17 PM UTC-7, Craig Reinholt wrote:
> > There is actually a small liquor store in downtown Nephi that
> > has an excellent selection of very good beers.
>
> Sorry, but I must disagree. I checked out that liquor store and ran away. Being a beer snob from PDX, this is definitely a BYOB town.
>
> Craig 1CR

Maybe we'll have to organize a beer exchange for next year. I'll bring some from little Portland of the north (Bellingham, WA where we have 80,000 people supporting 6 existing breweries & 5 more on the way). We love our beer too!

Everyone bring some of their local brews and we can have a tasting party.

Craig 7Q

[Andy Blackburn[_3_]]

On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 1:09:17 PM UTC-7, Craig Reinholt wrote:
> > There is actually a small liquor store in downtown Nephi that
> > has an excellent selection of very good beers.
>
> Sorry, but I must disagree. I checked out that liquor store and ran away. Being a beer snob from PDX, this is definitely a BYOB town.
>
> Craig 1CR


Two additional points.

Craig is indeed a beer snob. The state liquor store had Guinness, Newcastle and (to my taste) a pretty good Dopplebock, among other (admittedly not vast) selections. Bring your own beer if that's dishwater to you - or for variety. The grocery store beer is the not so hot 3-2 variety. :-)

In addition to all the OLC/XC flying there was some pretty amazing racing tasks called with speeds in the 90s to over 100 mph (on several days) for the ballasted FAI class. Friday saw a declared 750k with a winning speed of 94 mph. I'd call the week about average for Nephi in terms of weather. It makes me optimistic for the prospect of some bodacious flying at the Nationals next year.

Many thanks to Bruno, Ron the Utah Soaring Association, the tow pilots, all the volunteers and Nephites who support these events every year.

9B

[Nick Kennedy]

Thank you Bruno Vassel and Ron Gleason and everyone involved at Nephi 2015.
It was awesome, unbelievable really in this day and age.
The take off / grid system worked great.
The pilot meetings were very well run.
The Weather briefings, excellent.
The hanger dinners were high quality.
The 02 fills were easy and fast.
There was TP in the johns.
The Tow Ropes were well maintained.
Everyone had Flarm and it works.
The launch /landing crew were veterans.
The comradere on the ground and in the air was super good; it was not a contest so everyone was willing to help out on the radio in the air.
The weather in my opinion was simply Spectacular, I had to work to stay out of class A airspace everyday except the last day. The bits of over development was easy to go around except the last day and made for full on task racing and open distance flying while providing a spectacular setting for local cruising around, you had something to look at and manage, it was fairly easy really. And when you are 12,000+ ft off the ground, you do have a few options.
Once again, what a Total Blast to experience the Great Basin and the Wasatch Range and the Hanksville / Price area.
We Pilots are extremely fortunate and grateful to have Bruno and Ron willing to do the huge amount of work and produce the personal energy to host and manage these events. Thank you gentlemen, job well done.
BTW anyone going to Nephi for beer needs to have their heads examined :}
Nick

[Nick Kennedy]

Richard Phiffner, owner of Craggy Aero Soaring supplies was also at Nephi 2015 for the whole event. Not only did he help me repair my broken canopy latch mechanism, he also had a sales / demo booth set up and running.
He flew his butt off while answering a million questions about instruments, baud rates, TE, battery's, chargers,Seeyou, transponders, Flarm, radios, trailers, pneumatic tubing, pilot relief systems, marriage/ girl friend/business problems, canopy cleaning, WX Block, etc. and had a big hammer to pound stakes in the dirt.
And he brought a bunch of new white collared shirts to keep us looking spiffy!
Thanks Richard
Nick

[Ron Gleason]

On Tuesday, 7 July 2015 16:34:41 UTC-6, Nick Kennedy wrote:
> Richard Phiffner, owner of Craggy Aero Soaring supplies was also at Nephi 2015 for the whole event. Not only did he help me repair my broken canopy latch mechanism, he also had a sales / demo booth set up and running.
> He flew his butt off while answering a million questions about instruments, baud rates, TE, battery's, chargers,Seeyou, transponders, Flarm, radios, trailers, pneumatic tubing, pilot relief systems, marriage/ girl friend/business problems, canopy cleaning, WX Block, etc. and had a big hammer to pound stakes in the dirt.
> And he brought a bunch of new white collared shirts to keep us looking spiffy!
> Thanks Richard
> Nick

Thanks everyone, glad so many people had a blast. Pictures posted on FB, here is one specific to Craggy Aero https://www.facebook.com/2015NephiCamp/photos/ms.c.eJyzNDUyNTMwNzU0MTc2NDHWs4TwzSwMjS0tDCwAZWwGW g~-~-.bps./952560751473143/?type=1&theater

[Ron Gleason]

On Tuesday, 7 July 2015 16:45:45 UTC-6, Ron Gleason wrote:
> On Tuesday, 7 July 2015 16:34:41 UTC-6, Nick Kennedy wrote:
> > Richard Phiffner, owner of Craggy Aero Soaring supplies was also at Nephi 2015 for the whole event. Not only did he help me repair my broken canopy latch mechanism, he also had a sales / demo booth set up and running.
> > He flew his butt off while answering a million questions about instruments, baud rates, TE, battery's, chargers,Seeyou, transponders, Flarm, radios, trailers, pneumatic tubing, pilot relief systems, marriage/ girl friend/business problems, canopy cleaning, WX Block, etc. and had a big hammer to pound stakes in the dirt.
> > And he brought a bunch of new white collared shirts to keep us looking spiffy!
> > Thanks Richard
> > Nick
>
> Thanks everyone, glad so many people had a blast. Pictures posted on FB, here is one specific to Craggy Aero https://www.facebook.com/2015NephiCamp/photos/ms.c.eJyzNDUyNTMwNzU0MTc2NDHWs4TwzSwMjS0tDCwAZWwGW g~-~-.bps./952560751473143/?type=1&theater

The FB is https://www.facebook.com/2015NephiCamp

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

Sounds like a great time.... if time & money agree, I wouldn't mind trying it out as well.

Glad everyone had a decent time......

[Mike the Strike]

Oh dear, I didn't mean anyone to take my gentle ribbing of Utah's liquor laws so seriously! I did visit the local store and the friendly lady there found me a reasonable supply of decent brews, although expensive. I also had a good supply on hand from my visit to Moriarty a week or two earlier.

The operation, flying and support on the field were excellent, although I still maintain the weather was a notch below its best. The most skilled pilots were able to seek out some really good cloud streets - those more wussy (including me) had a slightly harder time finding the good lines. Still, a modestly good day in the Great Basin beats good days in most other places.

Nephi is a small town with relatively limited dining and accommodation but better than Parowan in that regard and a lot less stinky than Hobbs! The town could use a decent laundromat (Bruno, use your influence!)

Mike

[Ramy[_2_]]

Just adding my thanks to the pool. I'd say everything this year was a little better than last year. Weather was about the same, ranging from ok to great. Let's not forget that weather is no guarantee, if it was scheduled a week later it would have been a different story. I am still in Utah and haven't flown for 4 days so far, and it does not looking great the next few days neither.
Also special thanks to Richard from Craggy Aero who helped me getting an EDS loaner overnight after mine failed, and to Andy for helping me with the flat tire and offering his spare tire.
I also learned something new about OLC, that it is optimizing for points rather than distance, turning my 1000km into a 999.56km so I can get an extra point or so. Sigh!
And last, let's remember that one of us had a really bad day, right of the start before even getting a chance to enjoy Nephi, as Bruno mentioned. Wishing Charlie Ryan speedy recovery.

Ramy

[John Cochrane[_3_]]

The Nephi event was just fantastic. Though supposedly just a low-key OLC event, Bruno, Ron, and the team put on a superbly organized show. Even the buffet line for the superb catered dinners (!) moved fast.

I went in part to scope out the site for next year's nationals. This is a great site for a national contest, combining the best of Parowan, Logan, and bits of Ely. The runway is long, flat, and has good rope break options, from either end. You can tow to 2,000' and quickly connect over the pig farm and east-facing hills just to the west of the airport.

We were launching about noon, immediately climbing to 12-14k and heading out on course. The thermals last until sunset. Returning at 5 and 6 PM, I often found some of the strongest lift of the day, still nicely lined up in streets. Most of my final glides started 2000 feet low and ended at 110 knots 3000 feet high.

This site will give us long and fast flights. At the camp, there was an FAI and a sports class, with tasks every day. (Very well set tasks, I might add.) The slow days were upper 80s, the typical day was low 90s, and I had two tasks over 100 mph. My best day was a nearly 500 mile flight at 93 mph. On a task.

Looking forward to nationals, keep in mind that 3 hours is the minimum task time. The task guidance says to use the available soaring weather, and the CDs want to show us what this place can do. So think ahead to 4 hour tasks or more. There is no reason we should not be doing multiple 750k tasks, and a 1000k task isn't out of the question.

The flying area is varied. Most of it is like Parowan, with streets organized along the ridges, flying next to very landable valleys. Then, you can fly out into the desert and enjoy some Ely style flying. There are some challenges -- crossing the wasatch, or getting up to the Uintas. A wise pilot will spend some time on Google earth. I happen to like flying in the mountains and close the the hills as one can at Logan, but Nephi is more like Parowan in that respect; you pretty much thermal over the tops of the mountains and scratching is a plan B.

It does overdevelop, but that mostly stays over the mountains. So dodging small storms isn't that hard.

A minor issue is water ballast. It has to be trucked in and stays in two big cisterns, and then 4 or 5 hoses are attached. (Did I mention superb organization?) Usually out west we are spoiled with abundant hoses, but not at Nephi. So pilots with a water transport system might want to bring it along so they can fill at their tie down spot.

All in all, this is about the best site for a national contest I have seen. Next year's contest should be one to remember.

I won't soon forget the cloudstreet running down the east side of the Wasatch front, mountains to the right, desert to the left (with fields), 100 miles or so at 14,000 t 17,499, no turns. Wow.

John Cochrane

[howard banks]

1. Everything the other guys said -- even Mike the Strike.
2. I forgot the beer. Grovelling apologies. Sorry Pardon.
HL






On Monday, July 6, 2015 at 10:12:35 AM UTC-6, wrote:
> We made it! What an incredible 8 days of flying we all had. The weather cooperated and gave us many chances to go for personal bests and explore the beautiful areas Nephi has to offer. Here are a few quick flight stats:
>
> 300 flights uploaded to OLC, many more were flown but not uploaded to OLC
> 3 flights over 1000km!
> 18 flights over 750km!
> 89 flights over 500km!!!
>
> Total OLC distance flown = 127,673km (79,343 miles) That is 3+ times around the earth! Also add dozens of personal best flights achieved and first task flights flown
>
> We want to thank all the pilots who came out and participated at our camp this year. You all had fantastic attitudes, flew safe, and worked well together both on the ground and in the air. We would also like to thank the many volunteers who came and spent their time and energies to make this both happen and turn out so well. I would say this was by far our best event we have done at Nephi to date.
>
> Our new staging and gridding system was a big success. We worked hard to formalize a gridding system this year that would work for everyone and we thank the pilots for their efforts in trying this new system. It allowed for the guy who wanted to go long to leave early, but not make the people in the back wait out in the sun for hours. It also took stress off the pilots from having to rush to the grid to get a spot. We listened to your suggestions and comments from last year. Thanks!
>
> We only had a few landouts all week long. On one, our friend Charlie Ryan was seriously injured during a wind storm while he was helping to put a glider into the trailer in a farmer's field. He is on the long road to recovery back home and he was in our thoughts all week. Get well Charlie and come back to Nephi and fly with us again soon! :)
>
> Next year, Nephi will be hosting the 15 meter, Open, and Standard Class Nationals starting June 21, 2016. Registration is already open and filling up. We are very excited and honored to be hosting these pilots and events next year. We hope you will join us!
>
> Please note that our plans going forward are to host a nationals (or maybe large regionals) one year and then do an OLC camp the next year going forward. We think this every other year alternating of event types will help keep Nephi available for all types of pilots with different flying and racing goals.
>
> To see pictures of the event, please visit our facebook page: https://www..facebook.com/2015NephiCamp
>
> Again, thanks to both the pilots and all the volunteers who worked so hard to make this happen! See you next year.
>
> Bruno - B4

[Ron Gleason]

On Wednesday, 8 July 2015 13:57:31 UTC-6, howard banks wrote:
> 1. Everything the other guys said -- even Mike the Strike.
> 2. I forgot the beer. Grovelling apologies. Sorry Pardon.
> HL
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Monday, July 6, 2015 at 10:12:35 AM UTC-6, wrote:
> > We made it! What an incredible 8 days of flying we all had. The weather cooperated and gave us many chances to go for personal bests and explore the beautiful areas Nephi has to offer. Here are a few quick flight stats:
> >
> > 300 flights uploaded to OLC, many more were flown but not uploaded to OLC
> > 3 flights over 1000km!
> > 18 flights over 750km!
> > 89 flights over 500km!!!
> >
> > Total OLC distance flown = 127,673km (79,343 miles) That is 3+ times around the earth! Also add dozens of personal best flights achieved and first task flights flown
> >
> > We want to thank all the pilots who came out and participated at our camp this year. You all had fantastic attitudes, flew safe, and worked well together both on the ground and in the air. We would also like to thank the many volunteers who came and spent their time and energies to make this both happen and turn out so well. I would say this was by far our best event we have done at Nephi to date.
> >
> > Our new staging and gridding system was a big success. We worked hard to formalize a gridding system this year that would work for everyone and we thank the pilots for their efforts in trying this new system. It allowed for the guy who wanted to go long to leave early, but not make the people in the back wait out in the sun for hours. It also took stress off the pilots from having to rush to the grid to get a spot. We listened to your suggestions and comments from last year. Thanks!
> >
> > We only had a few landouts all week long. On one, our friend Charlie Ryan was seriously injured during a wind storm while he was helping to put a glider into the trailer in a farmer's field. He is on the long road to recovery back home and he was in our thoughts all week. Get well Charlie and come back to Nephi and fly with us again soon! :)
> >
> > Next year, Nephi will be hosting the 15 meter, Open, and Standard Class Nationals starting June 21, 2016. Registration is already open and filling up. We are very excited and honored to be hosting these pilots and events next year. We hope you will join us!
> >
> > Please note that our plans going forward are to host a nationals (or maybe large regionals) one year and then do an OLC camp the next year going forward. We think this every other year alternating of event types will help keep Nephi available for all types of pilots with different flying and racing goals.
> >
> > To see pictures of the event, please visit our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/2015NephiCamp
> >
> > Again, thanks to both the pilots and all the volunteers who worked so hard to make this happen! See you next year.
> >
> > Bruno - B4

Preliminary
FAI Class Day 1

Task: Turn Area
ID Name Distance (Miles) Radius
2 W Start 0.00 5.0
63 Delano Peak 92.94 30.0
47 Mount Baldy 162.69 20.0
3 FINISH 207.08 2.0

Minimum Time 02:30

Cumulative Day Remarks
Rank Points ID Name Glider Rank Points Speed Distance Code Penalty Points
---- ----- -- ---- ------ ---- ------ ----- -------- ---- -------- ------
1 1000 BB Cochrane, John ASG-29-18 1 1000 100.14 250.21 MT
2 964 9B Blackburn, Andy ASW-27 2 964 96.58 240.57 MT
3 949 TT Taylor, Timothy Ventus 2a 3 949 95.07 243.15

Codes:
MT Flight time less than minimum time.
F No flight log.