US: 15M/Open Class Writeups?

[Papa3[_2_]]

Looks like there's been some amazing flying at the Nationals, but not a peep that I can find anywhere in terms of reporting. I tried the usual SSA Results page, the SSA Homepage, Facebook searches, the Minden Website. Nada.

P3

[Semantics Michael]

On Saturday, June 5, 2021 at 10:45:24 AM UTC-5, Papa3 wrote:
> Looks like there's been some amazing flying at the Nationals, but not a peep that I can find anywhere in terms of reporting. I tried the usual SSA Results page, the SSA Homepage, Facebook searches, the Minden Website. Nada.
>
> P3

A sign of the decline, I suppose (Another example is this year we received no applicants for the mentorship awards). In the absence of formal contest write-ups, you can find some great stuff (Wx conditions, types of lift encountered, pilot strategies, even satellite pictures, etc.) from those contestants who post their flts and comments to OLC.

[Nicholas Kennedy]

On Saturday, June 5, 2021 at 2:47:40 PM UTC-6, wrote:
> On Saturday, June 5, 2021 at 10:45:24 AM UTC-5, Papa3 wrote:
> > Looks like there's been some amazing flying at the Nationals, but not a peep that I can find anywhere in terms of reporting. I tried the usual SSA Results page, the SSA Homepage, Facebook searches, the Minden Website. Nada.
> >
I agree, Its looks like the early part of the contest was going off the scale.
Too bad no one is writing up a synopsis on the SSA site.
I thought is was a sanction requirement that someone does a daily write up.?
In the OLC comments theirs very little, except comments like " Nats day 5"
Nick
T

[Waveguru]

Yes, theirs very little on OLC..... You would think at the National Contest their would be better coverage..../s

Boggs

[Al Tyler 8H]

On Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 3:06:09 PM UTC-4, Waveguru wrote:
> Yes, theirs very little on OLC..... You would think at the National Contest their would be better coverage..../s
>
> Boggs
Rhonda and I have hosted the R5N contest for 20 years and we have always made sure the daily write ups were posted. So much has been written about how we grow this Sport and to have a National Contest be so irresponsible as to not even bother to post brief reports is awful. Maybe one of you contestants can spare a few minutes to fill us in on the details. Charlie Spratt is spinning around in his grave!

[[email protected]]

On Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 6:54:56 PM UTC-4, Al Tyler 8H wrote:
> On Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 3:06:09 PM UTC-4, Waveguru wrote:
> > Yes, theirs very little on OLC..... You would think at the National Contest their would be better coverage..../s
> >

I guess flying 775.49 km at 176.86 km/h is so boring that nobody thinks anyone (especially this east-coast flat-land pilot) would be interested in reading about it.

I'm surprised Elon Musk hasn't employed Charlie Spratt's spinning bones to drill more useless holes in the ground.

Ray

[John Sinclair[_5_]]

YesOn Monday, June 7, 2021 at 9:02:24 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> On Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 6:54:56 PM UTC-4, Al Tyler 8H wrote:
> > On Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 3:06:09 PM UTC-4, Waveguru wrote:
> > > Yes, theirs very little on OLC..... You would think at the National Contest their would be better coverage..../s
> > >
> I guess flying 775.49 km at 176.86 km/h is so boring that nobody thinks anyone (especially this east-coast flat-land pilot) would be interested in reading about it.
>
> I'm surprised Elon Musk hasn't employed Charlie Spratt's spinning bones to drill more useless holes in the ground.
>


Yes, it would be greatly appreciated to have daily reports, but let’s remember our contests are run by volunteers!
I remember cranking out a hand written score sheet at 2:00 AM in the first Sports Class Nationals at Minden after our“computer expert”, was unable to enter any times and quit!
Maybe the manager could find a crew person who is willing to take on the daily reporting for the remaining contests this year?
Lei Zimmerman did an outstanding job for several years, cranking out daily reports!
JJ

[Semantics Michael]

What is it you want to see in contest reporting? How tasty the BBQ was that evening or something more?

Here's a sample of what one can put together if you enjoy head-to-head battles between 2 or more pilots by producing your own animated drama: From studying the results from contest day 6 of the Open Class Nationals, I noted that the top day winners, Dan Mockler and Jim Lee, finished only 1.13 Kph apart in a 492.18km task. Moreover, they both flew JS1-C 21 meter ships, basically eliminating differences in equipment. Loaded both IGC files (available of course via OLC or similar databases or as published by the SSA contest site) into SeeYou (now an OLC option), normalized the time offset and incorporated the days' SkySight Wx info. When you hit the play button you get to witness each pilot's strategy, side-by-side and in 3D! Like they say, a picture's worth a thousand words. If you really want to get into the minutia, SeeYou statistics can be reviewed for each pilot (# of left v right turning, thermal strength, distance between thermals, etc.).

However, I couldn't find anyone to rate the BBQ.

[[email protected]]

On Monday, June 7, 2021 at 2:22:49 PM UTC-4, wrote:
> What is it you want to see in contest reporting? How tasty the BBQ was that evening or something more?
>
> Here's a sample of what one can put together if you enjoy head-to-head battles between 2 or more pilots by producing your own animated drama: From studying the results from contest day 6 of the Open Class Nationals, I noted that the top day winners, Dan Mockler and Jim Lee, finished only 1.13 Kph apart in a 492.18km task. Moreover, they both flew JS1-C 21 meter ships, basically eliminating differences in equipment. Loaded both IGC files (available of course via OLC or similar databases or as published by the SSA contest site) into SeeYou (now an OLC option), normalized the time offset and incorporated the days' SkySight Wx info. When you hit the play button you get to witness each pilot's strategy, side-by-side and in 3D! Like they say, a picture's worth a thousand words. If you really want to get into the minutia, SeeYou statistics can be reviewed for each pilot (# of left v right turning, thermal strength, distance between thermals, etc.).
>
> However, I couldn't find anyone to rate the BBQ.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I just checked the SSA web site for results. They are showing all
remaining days as "no contest". Has the fire season shut them down?

RO

[Steve Leonard[_2_]]

On Monday, June 7, 2021 at 4:12:26 PM UTC-5, wrote:

> I just checked the SSA web site for results. They are showing all
> remaining days as "no contest". Has the fire season shut them down?
>
> RO

I was wondering the same thing. Jim Payne did 900+ KM OLC in an ASG-32Mi on Sunday. Looking closer at the GOES 16 loop, there may be something real close by?

Steve Leonard

[John Sinclair[_5_]]

On Monday, June 7, 2021 at 3:38:05 PM UTC-7, Steve Leonard wrote:
> On Monday, June 7, 2021 at 4:12:26 PM UTC-5, wrote:
>
> > I just checked the SSA web site for results. They are showing all
> > remaining days as "no contest". Has the fire season shut them down?
> >
> > RO
> I was wondering the same thing. Jim Payne did 900+ KM OLC in an ASG-32Mi on Sunday. Looking closer at the GOES 16 loop, there may be something real close by?
>
> Steve Leonard



Just got a note from a contestant, today was canceled due to strong Cross-wind for takeoff on 16+ little convection. Tuesday & Wednesday canceled because of increased wind and even lower temperatures = no chance of thermal day.
Saturday’s score sheet are final results!
Good job guys!
JJ

[Semantics Michael]

Yes indeed. Jim Payne had such a great flight on Sunday that they decided nobody could do better, so they voted to take all his scoring points away! Also, the satellite pics showed a squadron of UFOs approaching Minden resulting in a mass exodus. Good call in reporting this guys! (The contest was call due to Wx)

.....but fire? Hmmmm, maybe not. https://www.fireweatheravalanche.org/fire/dashboard/nevada/lake-tahoe

[7K]

Howdy All,

Hopefully to clear some things up and quell the speculation, here it is from the horses mouth. Obviously I’m best to write these reports since I’m in the whole loop and I’m sorry I didn’t do better, so put the blame on me. I like seeing the daily reports just like everyone, and wanted to have daily reports like Charlie did but please understand there’s a lot going on here.

Many of you have been CD and know how busy things can be and Minden is very busy. As CD, the day starts at 0715 for a weather brief, then conferring with the scorer, followed by a 9am task meeting then a 10am pilot’s meeting. The conga line of gliders crossing the active power runway starts at 11:00 with the usual grid challenges, then launch starting as close to 12 as possible. During the launch, we’re coordinating with arriving and departing power traffic of every size from a C-150 to multiple corporate jets on a crossing runway, then relights and task opening thrown in for good measure. After getting tasks open it’s lunch at about 2 or 3:00 followed by a short break to decompress and get ready for the finish and recovery which usually takes over an hour or more. On several days, finishers were after 7pm with the latest being only 30 minutes before sunset (8:20). After that is dinner and back to the hotel around 9 or 9:30 then the cycle starts again. Not making excuses, just giving insight. Again, sorry. For the Soaring Magazine article we assigned each day’s write up to a different competitor. In the coming days I’ll write daily reports for the SSA contest page too.

Now, here’s the scoop on why we cancelled the last three days. We had a great run of six good weather days with several having unusually high temps in the low to mid 90s, which gave us the high thermals and great speeds. We decided to go six before a rest day because the rest day (Sunday) and the days to follow were looking to be high wind, and marginal wave, not to mention falling high temps and thermal heights. The high temp on Wednesday as I write this is predicted to be only 66F. (18C). Not very conducive to good thermals. All those days are predicted to have high winds which were also crosswinds not at all favoring “our” runway and, in reality, not even favoring the main runway, even if we could have used it. Today’s (Monday’s) max thermal heights (because of a double inversion) were predicted to be only about 4000’agl. which over the desert is extremely uncomfortable. On top of that, the winds at altitude were blowing over 35kt. Tuesday and Wednesday showed worse with higher winds at altitude (as much as 51kt), more broken thermals and marginal wave because of a non optimal wind direction. Bottom line is we used every good day we had and used them to the fullest. In the end, since the forecasted weakening trend was being verified by our ace weatherman Dan Gudgel, we decided that instead of sitting and waiting for the inevitable, we would pull the plug and call it good with six really good days.

As for the contest, it was a huge success. The contest organization, led by Reba and Alan, was to the letter complete and well run. The operation led by Mountain Mike was efficient and great to work with, in spite of meshing our ops with a lot of power traffic. Our tow pilots did a good job in density altitudes of nearly 8000’ too. All in all it was a pleasure working with and for a well run operation.

I’ll post again with some day reports and statistics that are pretty amazing.

Mark

[7K]

It took Jim an hour and a half after release to get into the wave and then he blistered it with his skill and superior knowledge of the wave system. Over 900km in five hours. We’ll done!

[7K]

Hi Al,

I really want to be like Charlie someday. In the meantime, I think he’d understand, having been a CD as many times as he was and as great a writer as he was. See my write up below and understand that my first obligation is to serve as the best CD I can be for the organization and pilots and that I’m no writer like Charlie, who could turn our a contest report in a “few minutes”. No one I know can match his writings. Sorry, I’m trying. I’ll take any suggestions

All the best to you and Rhonda. I sure miss seeing y’all.
Mark

[Mike Carris[_2_]]

Congratulations to Dan Mockler! He is a World Class Pilot.

What happened with the Nixus?

[7K]

On Monday, June 7, 2021 at 9:30:44 PM UTC-7, Mike Carris wrote:
> Congratulations to Dan Mockler! He is a World Class Pilot.
>
> What happened with the Nixus?

Right wing dropped on takeoff at low speed and scraped the rocks causing minor cosmetic damage which has been fixed.

[Mike Carris[_2_]]

On Monday, June 7, 2021 at 10:46:19 PM UTC-6, 7K wrote:
> On Monday, June 7, 2021 at 9:30:44 PM UTC-7, Mike Carris wrote:
> > Congratulations to Dan Mockler! He is a World Class Pilot.
> >
> > What happened with the Nixus?
> Right wing dropped on takeoff at low speed and scraped the rocks causing minor cosmetic damage which has been fixed.

Thank you 7K.

[John Cochrane[_3_]]

At the final meeting Mark organized a crowd-sourced contest write up, with one pilot volunteering to cover each day's flying. It should produce a good article for Soaring, though not the day by day commentary that I also enjoy on the SSA website. Here's my comments on Day 2 FYI

Contest day 2 at Minden was one of the most memorable flights of my soaring career. I have not seen conditions this strong in all my time flying the Sierra. We took the usual route south, from the Pine Nuts to Mt. Patterson. I always get low at Mt. Patterson, but for once this time I found a nice thermal over the top, and moved on to a boomer in the convergence that goes to the Sierra. A good sign! It took just a little tippy toing to get connected on the Sierra, looking down to Mono Lake on the left, the high Sierra on the right, an impressive escarpment just a little too close below, and clouds above. It’s hard to convey the sheer scenic beauty of flying a glider between Mono Lake and Yosemite. But we have a race to fly. Once connected at Mammoth Lakes, flying with Craig Rein hold (CR), we were able to fly down the southern sierra under nice clouds, without stopping to turn. A – for once – benign crossing of the Owens valley led to stupendous lift on the White mountains and right back to cloudbase. I did not turn once from connecting on the Whites all the way home. Again the natural beauty of the Owens Valley can be distracting. Watch your altitude! Yes, I didn’t place that well, but flew faster than I have since Tonopah, and burned sublime images in the back of my head. What a day!

John Cochrane BB

[Craig Reinholt]

Just to put an exclamation point to Mark's comments about the upcoming weather, a hearty small band of wave enthusiasts that wanted to fly Tuesday morning were told NO by the best Minden tow pilot at 9:30 this morning. The winds were too severe and he wouldn't fly.
Craig Reinholt (CR)

[D S]

On Monday, June 7, 2021 at 8:22:47 PM UTC-7, 7K wrote:
> Howdy All,
>
> Hopefully to clear some things up and quell the speculation, here it is from the horses mouth. Obviously I’m best to write these reports since I’m in the whole loop and I’m sorry I didn’t do better, so put the blame on me. I like seeing the daily reports just like everyone, and wanted to have daily reports like Charlie did but please understand there’s a lot going on here.
>
> Many of you have been CD and know how busy things can be and Minden is very busy. As CD, the day starts at 0715 for a weather brief, then conferring with the scorer, followed by a 9am task meeting then a 10am pilot’s meeting. The conga line of gliders crossing the active power runway starts at 11:00 with the usual grid challenges, then launch starting as close to 12 as possible. During the launch, we’re coordinating with arriving and departing power traffic of every size from a C-150 to multiple corporate jets on a crossing runway, then relights and task opening thrown in for good measure. After getting tasks open it’s lunch at about 2 or 3:00 followed by a short break to decompress and get ready for the finish and recovery which usually takes over an hour or more. On several days, finishers were after 7pm with the latest being only 30 minutes before sunset (8:20). After that is dinner and back to the hotel around 9 or 9:30 then the cycle starts again. Not making excuses, just giving insight. Again, sorry. For the Soaring Magazine article we assigned each day’s write up to a different competitor. In the coming days I’ll write daily reports for the SSA contest page too.
>
> Now, here’s the scoop on why we cancelled the last three days. We had a great run of six good weather days with several having unusually high temps in the low to mid 90s, which gave us the high thermals and great speeds. We decided to go six before a rest day because the rest day (Sunday) and the days to follow were looking to be high wind, and marginal wave, not to mention falling high temps and thermal heights. The high temp on Wednesday as I write this is predicted to be only 66F. (18C). Not very conducive to good thermals. All those days are predicted to have high winds which were also crosswinds not at all favoring “our” runway and, in reality, not even favoring the main runway, even if we could have used it. Today’s (Monday’s) max thermal heights (because of a double inversion) were predicted to be only about 4000’agl. which over the desert is extremely uncomfortable. On top of that, the winds at altitude were blowing over 35kt. Tuesday and Wednesday showed worse with higher winds at altitude (as much as 51kt), more broken thermals and marginal wave because of a non optimal wind direction. Bottom line is we used every good day we had and used them to the fullest. In the end, since the forecasted weakening trend was being verified by our ace weatherman Dan Gudgel, we decided that instead of sitting and waiting for the inevitable, we would pull the plug and call it good with six really good days.
>
> As for the contest, it was a huge success. The contest organization, led by Reba and Alan, was to the letter complete and well run. The operation led by Mountain Mike was efficient and great to work with, in spite of meshing our ops with a lot of power traffic. Our tow pilots did a good job in density altitudes of nearly 8000’ too. All in all it was a pleasure working with and for a well run operation.
>
> I’ll post again with some day reports and statistics that are pretty amazing.
>
> Mark


Hi Mark,

I heard from one of the contestants yesterday, one that has been to a large number of contests, and his unsolicited comment was "Mark Keene did an excellent job as cd..." So as much as I'd like to see good daily write-ups, and look forward to some after the fact ones, it sounds like you had your priorities set correctly. Great job.

Dan

[7K]

Thanks Dan! I really like reading contest reports myself so I’ll try to do better in the future. Charlie spoiled us all.

Mark


> Hi Mark,
>
> I heard from one of the contestants yesterday, one that has been to a large number of contests, and his unsolicited comment was "Mark Keene did an excellent job as cd..." So as much as I'd like to see good daily write-ups, and look forward to some after the fact ones, it sounds like you had your priorities set correctly. Great job.
>
> Dan

[Andrzej Kobus]

On Saturday, June 5, 2021 at 11:45:24 AM UTC-4, Papa3 wrote:
> Looks like there's been some amazing flying at the Nationals, but not a peep that I can find anywhere in terms of reporting. I tried the usual SSA Results page, the SSA Homepage, Facebook searches, the Minden Website. Nada.
>
> P3

I am surprised no one is talking about how low the participation in the contest was, especially considering that Minden is such a good soaring location, 2 classes, 28 pilots only. It is not hard to imagine what the numbers will be like in 10 years, unless something changes.

[AS]

On Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 6:50:47 AM UTC-4, Andrzej Kobus wrote:
> On Saturday, June 5, 2021 at 11:45:24 AM UTC-4, Papa3 wrote:
> > Looks like there's been some amazing flying at the Nationals, but not a peep that I can find anywhere in terms of reporting. I tried the usual SSA Results page, the SSA Homepage, Facebook searches, the Minden Website. Nada.
> >
> > P3
> I am surprised no one is talking about how low the participation in the contest was, especially considering that Minden is such a good soaring location, 2 classes, 28 pilots only. It is not hard to imagine what the numbers will be like in 10 years, unless something changes.

The drop in contest participation was already noticeable before the pandemic hit. My hope is that the numbers will come up again a bit after things get back to normal but in general, yes, it is a worrying trend.

Uli
'AS'