This aspiring contest pilot finished in the middle of the Cordele sports class with a huge grin on his face. With this posting I want to encourage as many pilots as possible to come to Cordele for next year's 50th contest anniversary. The best news for next year is that the same management team will be doing it again!

There is so much to like about Cordele! Conditions were so good on flying days that even I exceeded 60 mph and set 3 personal bests. The tasks were such that all pilots were likely to complete them, yet the very good pilots had plenty of opportunity to fly further and faster. The weather briefings were understandable and strategically useful. The other contestants freely shared what they knew with less experienced pilots. There were enough towplanes that I think it took less that an hour to launch the whole fleet. The CD conducted a seminar and discussion every evening to cover lessons learned in that day's contest. There was enough room to assemble and tie down all the gliders and more. And finally, when the nasty weather arrived the contest management cancelled the rest of the contest ---- much better than sitting on the ground during three days of thunderstorms!

In short, next year I'm going back!