On Jan 17, 10:34*pm, "noel.wade" wrote:
Hi All -

So in planning my vacation time this year (i.e. "Soaring time"), I was
saddened to realize that there's no way I can make the Sports Class
Nats at Parowan. :-( *But I still want to attend a contest in addition
to the Region 8 Regionals...

I see the Region 9 North contest was pretty heavily attended last
year, but in 2010 its being held about a month earlier in the season.
Can anyone familiar with the contest & the area explain to me what
this date move might mean for both attendance and conditions?

Thanks, take care,

--Noel
(who sadly won't be able to attend the SSA Convention, either - argh!)

The peak of the season for Logan normally is about the last three
weeks of July and the first two weeks of August, by moving the
contest to mid July we take advantage of the longer days. It also
allows those that wish to fly Logan and the 15M Nationals in Uvalde to
do so without conflict.

We expect that Logan will have as many or more ships than last year
and if the 2011 bid that is being prepared is accepted it will raise
even more interest for those that would like to fly here to practice
the nationals.

Statistically the hottest day of the year falls around July 26th of
each year in Logan so the contest should be just about at peak
season. Last year we had very unusual weather for Logan (and most of
the west), but still had five contest days and excellent ridge and
thermal flying the last day that was officially canceled due to rain
overnight (something I don't remember ever before in August in the ten
years I have lived here).

We had a very positive response from most pilots last year and many
that were sad they decided not to fly after they heard about the
conditions and mix of terrain, not to mention the fact that being a
University town you can get excellent food including Sushi, Indian,
Thai, and Tuscan Italian. One of the few soaring towns that I know of
where the crews are actually happy.

Logan is one of the best and safest places I have raced for having
great mix of conditions and terrain, yet many safe landing spots.
Many airports and alfalfa fields in the contest area so off-fields are
usually uneventful.

As always, Bruno Vassel captures many of the aspects on Logan in his
videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECHGKS7Yiz4

I am biased, but also lucky that I get to live at one of the most
fantastic soaring sites in the world. Thermal, ridge and wave all at
one site and with a great airport and town, it is a very rare
combination.





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