U.S. Standard Class Nationals - Mike Westbrook leading DAY3 - Fri Aug3rd no fly day

[WaltWX[_2_]]

FYI...

We had another pretty good Texas day DAY3, cloud bases 7.5-8k msl 2-5pct coverage. Mike won the day at 75.xx mph raw score.

We're not going to fly Fri Aug 3rd due to blue conditions, but hope to fly the remainder of the days through Wednesday. No weather briefing or pilot meeting Friday.

You can review my weather briefings on Dropbox with daily graphics on:

http://bit.ly/2NRgdVy

Walt Rogers WX

[Luke Szczepaniak]

>
> We're not going to fly Fri Aug 3rd due to blue conditions,

I am confused - a day at a Nationals was scrubbed not because the soaring conditions did not exist but because there are no cloud markers?

[Ron Gleason]

On Friday, 3 August 2018 14:26:11 UTC+2, Luke Szczepaniak wrote:
> >
> > We're not going to fly Fri Aug 3rd due to blue conditions,
>
> I am confused - a day at a Nationals was scrubbed not because the soaring conditions did not exist but because there are no cloud markers?

You wonder why most of the US pilots place in the bottom 20% at the WGC's?

[[email protected]]

We took a vote and decided it wasn't worth watering and gridding unless the forecast was for clouds and at least 6 kts. You don't come to Texas to fly in East Coast conditions. :)

Seriously, most pilots have flown close to 5 hrs a day for 4 out of the last 6 days in 100+ F weather. With Sat-Sun forecast to be even better--and at least as hot--the prospect of using one of those days as a rest day was unappealing. But the idea of flying straight thru for 7 of 8 days, including 6 in a row, seemed aggressive from a safety perspective. Or at least I believe that was the thought process. A lot of us first said "let's just keep flying" but I didn't hear anyone complaining last night.

It's been a while for me since we had to deal with the prospect of too many good soaring days at a contest. Haha. Despite not flying my best, this has already been worth the drive from New Jersey and the contest isn't even half over. Great weather, facility at TSA, organization, and task calling. And, yes, the Standard Class is alive and well here!

Chip Bearden

[Jonathan St. Cloud]

On Friday, August 3, 2018 at 5:26:11 AM UTC-7, Luke Szczepaniak wrote:
> >
> > We're not going to fly Fri Aug 3rd due to blue conditions,
>
> I am confused - a day at a Nationals was scrubbed not because the soaring conditions did not exist but because there are no cloud markers?

This is the land of plenty. If we don't have plenty of beautiful CU's, we just don't stand for it. We get guns and go shooting, don't you know.

[Jonathan St. Cloud]

On Friday, August 3, 2018 at 5:26:11 AM UTC-7, Luke Szczepaniak wrote:
> >
> > We're not going to fly Fri Aug 3rd due to blue conditions,
>
> I am confused - a day at a Nationals was scrubbed not because the soaring conditions did not exist but because there are no cloud markers?

Texas weather can be brutal with high heat and humidity.
Which produce wonderful soaring conditions with big puffy CU's without the teeth jarring turbulence of the Western mountains.

[Steve Leonard[_2_]]

On Friday, August 3, 2018 at 9:37:52 AM UTC-5, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
>
> Texas weather can be brutal with high heat and humidity.
> Which produce wonderful soaring conditions with big puffy CU's without the teeth jarring turbulence of the Western mountains.

Can be, but last I checked, the dewpoint at Midlothian was 59 degrees F. Not exactly humid by any but desert rat standards. It is, however, getting quite hot in the afternoons. Maybe poor choice of words as to why today is selected as the Rest Day?

Maybe the more appropriate description would have been that a Rest Day is required, and that with the forecast, this was seen as the best day to call a Rest Day. Leave out the "blue" part. Because it doesn't look to me like it is. GOES 16 seems to be showing little white dots popping in the area.

You hate to lose a really good day to a rest day if you have flown on crappy days and now need to work your Rest Day in. Sounds like they are believing the forecast, and are willing to gamble that it is correct and have decided to rest early, rather than rest on what is forecast to be a really good day. Let's hope their gamble doesn't bite them in the backside.

Steve Leoanrd

[Jonathan St. Cloud]

On Friday, August 3, 2018 at 11:46:08 AM UTC-7, Steve Leonard wrote:
> On Friday, August 3, 2018 at 9:37:52 AM UTC-5, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
> >
> > Texas weather can be brutal with high heat and humidity.
> > Which produce wonderful soaring conditions with big puffy CU's without the teeth jarring turbulence of the Western mountains.
>
> Can be, but last I checked, the dewpoint at Midlothian was 59 degrees F. Not exactly humid by any but desert rat standards. It is, however, getting quite hot in the afternoons. Maybe poor choice of words as to why today is selected as the Rest Day?
>
> Maybe the more appropriate description would have been that a Rest Day is required, and that with the forecast, this was seen as the best day to call a Rest Day. Leave out the "blue" part. Because it doesn't look to me like it is. GOES 16 seems to be showing little white dots popping in the area.
>
> You hate to lose a really good day to a rest day if you have flown on crappy days and now need to work your Rest Day in. Sounds like they are believing the forecast, and are willing to gamble that it is correct and have decided to rest early, rather than rest on what is forecast to be a really good day. Let's hope their gamble doesn't bite them in the backside.
>
> Steve Leoanrd

I only lived in Texas (Austin) over the course of two summers, but for the life of me I cannot remember a single summer day that was not muggy as hell.. The kind of muggy where a quick dash from the parking lot into work still resulted in long wet stains on clean clothes. The kind of muggy where sunglasses slip off your nose with the beads of sweat. The king of muggy where mildew grows on leather, yeast grows on skin, cockroaches are sprayed for monthly. The kind of muggy where at night there is not ground fog, but steam. I don't know, but I thought TX was pretty humid. In the winter I would have to run the air conditioner just to de-humidify the house. Not that there is anything wrong with humidity, but if you are from a dry climate it can be brutal.

[C-FFKQ (42)]

I live near Toronto, Canada.
It often gets so humid we can take our goldfish out for a walk.

[Retting]

On Thursday, August 2, 2018 at 8:49:34 PM UTC-5, WaltWX wrote:
> FYI...
>
> We had another pretty good Texas day DAY3, cloud bases 7.5-8k msl 2-5pct coverage. Mike won the day at 75.xx mph raw score.
>
> We're not going to fly Fri Aug 3rd due to blue conditions, but hope to fly the remainder of the days through Wednesday. No weather briefing or pilot meeting Friday.
>
> You can review my weather briefings on Dropbox with daily graphics on:
>
> http://bit.ly/2NRgdVy
>
> Walt Rogers WX

[Retting]

As Chip B wrote, the rest day was called for one reason only.
Safety
9 Straight days of racing under any conditions increases the potential for accidents by pilots, tow pilots, and ground staff.
Adding to the risk is the heat, age...both young and old, and experience of some.
The blue day was mentioned only as an indicator as being the worst of the next 6 days. Plus, while not a rule, Nationals have always had a rest day since I have been racing and that makes it standard practice, from a litigious angle.
Finally, you put the hosting organization and staff in an unacceptable risk position.
The contest staff are very good, very smart, and very wise.
R

[krasw]

How many threads do you need for US std. class nationals day 3, let alone for whole competition?

[JS[_5_]]

On Saturday, August 4, 2018 at 3:23:26 AM UTC-7, krasw wrote:
> How many threads do you need for US std. class nationals day 3, let alone for whole competition?

Rest day:
Did someone delete posts about going shooting?
Please realise that you can't delete! For example:

"This is the land of plenty. If we don't have plenty of beautiful CU's, we just don't stand for it. We get guns and go shooting, don't you know."

Apparently there is evidence that guns and gliders don't mix well, even in Texas.
Jim