Hi,

I must make an update to the announcement below. I had stated that you
should register early as the available slots may fill up. That is still
correct - sort of. However, I had stated that the available slots would be
filled by the first pilots to register and send in the $100 deposit. That
is not correct. This is the first time that an Albert Lea soaring contest
may be over-subscribed, so I am learning more about how the rules handle
this situation. If the contest is over-subscribed we will follow the SSA
Contest rules to select which pilots will be in the contests. The rules
state that all entries received 60 days prior to the first contest day
(March 30th) will be eligible and that pilot rankings will be used to select
those that get in. I hope that doesn't happen as I'd hate to see new
contest pilots signed-up for the Region 7 Contest get bumped. Hopefully we
will not need to cross that bridge. All registrations received after that
date will be taken on a first come-first served basis. So be sure to
register before March 30th. The contest committee will sort out who gets
into the contest after that date. Hopefully everyone will, but I can't make
any promises.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com


"Paul Remde" wrote in message
news:z8Oph.211309$aJ.125403@attbi_s21...
Hi

Cumulus Soaring, Inc. and a group of Minnesota area glider pilots are
hosting the 2007 Albert Lea Soaring Contest this spring. This is going to
be the biggest and best soaring contest ever held in Minnesota. It
includes the Open Class and 18 m Nationals and Region 7 Contest. Details
are available he
http://www.soarmn.com/cumulus/contest.htm

This is going to be a very fun contest with many beautiful sailplanes and
some of the world's best soaring contest pilots. The contest committee
has not yet set a hard limit on the maximum number of competitors we'll
allow, but we are thinking that 60 will probably be the cut-off point.
We are approaching that rapidly. There are already 45 competitors
signed-up for the contest. You can see the list of probably competitors
he
http://www.soarmn.com/cumulus/contest-competitors.htm

Many pilots have already registered and sent in their $100. I appreciate
it. They are guaranteed a spot in the contest.

Those of you that have not registered but are planning to compete should
do so very soon or you may not be able to compete. The $100 deposit and
online registration are required to hold your spot. You can register
he
http://www.ssa.org/members/contestre...steronline.asp

Please send the $100 deposit (made out to Cumulus Soaring, Inc.) to the
address shown on the bottom of the web site.

It will be fun to see all the long winged open class ships and the many
other beautiful gliders - ranging from ASW-22s and Antares electric
self-launching gliders to KA-6e and Cherokee II gliders. The launch grid
will be a feast for the eyes. It will also be fun to hang out with some
of the worlds best contest glider pilots such as Doug Jacobs, Gary Ittner,
Ron Tabery, John Cochrane, and many more. It will be exciting watching
them and all the other excellent pilots battle for the top positions as
the contests progress.

Volunteers
This is a very long (12 days) contest. We are desperately in need of good
volunteers. Volunteers do NOT need to be there to help out for the entire
contest. I can sincerely promise that it will be fun for everyone. We
have many fun dinners and other events planned and it is just plain fun
hanging out with and learning from great soaring pilots. Volunteers will
help with launching gliders, manning retrieve phones, running the office,
retrieving gliders that land out, helping drink the beer and wine,
watching the camp fires, etc.

Scorer
One volunteer position that we are desperate to fill is that of Scorer.
We had a couple of potentials lined-up but they can only be available for
the weekends. Please help me find someone that is good with computers and
is a glider pilot. The ideal candidate would be good at downloading
flight logs from loggers and be familiar with contest rules, and can bring
a PC along - but anyone that is a glider pilot will do. We hope to get
several people to do the job so the person would not necessarily need to
be here for the entire contest. The scorer basically copies flight log
files onto a PC and then uses scoring software to calculate and print the
scores. Every pilot brings their flight logs to the scorer (hopefully on
a memory card) every day, so it is a chance to get to know all the pilots.
I have done it in the past. I can help from a technical standpoint this
year, but as Contest Manager I will be busy with other tasks. Please have
potential volunteers contact me. Or give me their contact data and I'll
contact them. I will pay for the person's motel room (probably shared
with one other person), or he/she could stay with a contest pilot, or camp
on the airport.

Dick Andrews has agreed to be the Volunteer coordinator for the contest.
Please contact him at and copy me at if
you are interested in helping out at the contest.

I hope you can join us for the fun - either as a competitor or volunteer.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com