126 Championships

Hey Guys,

We had just concluded a fantastic 1-26 Championship in Caesar Creek, with five days of super flying, with challenging tasking that was rewarding for beginners and advanced pilots. Chuck Lohre did a fantastic job of contest reporting and the social events were great. The 1-26 is truly a fun magnet. Seeing 1-26s scattered all over the sky and then gaggling together in the blue was just spectacular!

This year, we had 18 1-26s represented, which was a larger group than past years. As the contest director at the 2019 1-26 Championships in Moriarty, I intend to capitalize on this momentum in interest and make next year's contest a really fantastic competition.

Moriarty is an outstanding site for 1-26 racing, as it has great weather and is also 1-26 friendly. Unlike other western sites, it is possible to task in a manner to keep pilots, especially beginners in friendly landable terrain.

The tasking will be such to give beginners a reasonable shot at completing the task and not getting in trouble, while giving the advanced pilots suitable challenges to fly fast and far. I have a toolbox of creative tasking that will allow for some really spectacular competition flying. The advanced folks will have every opportunity to fully take advantage of the Moriarty skies.

My goal is for there to be *25* or more 1-26s and 15+ low-performance sailplanes at this competition.

The dates are May 28, 2019 - June 7, 2019.

Beyond having a great event, we want to generate interest in this wonderful sailplane as a low-cost, fantastic soaring machine. We want to get new blood and are pulling all the stops out to make this event spectacular. The only criteria to fly is having completed a silver badge or equivalent.

First-time contestants have their registration paid for. Juniors also have their registration paid for. If eligible for rebates on tow fees from SSA, they may apply to SSA and get reimbursement on the tow fees. Furthermore, we are working hard to make gliders available for pilots to borrow. Either as a teammate where a pilot can split the flying and be mentored, or have a glider available for the whole contest. If you need an oxygen system, we will help source one for the competition.

If you aren't quite ready to fly in the contest but are a 1-26/low performance enthusiast, we highly recommend attending the meet as crew. We will have wonderful social events and it will be a blast for everyone.

If you, or you know of anyone who would be interested in attending, let me know! Contact me at danielsazhin at gmail.com with any questions.

All the best,

Daniel Sazhin
Contest Director

Dan:

Congratulations on your own performance - 2nd place overall and wins on the last 2 days. Well done!

I have 2 questions:

1) Do you see any real competitive difference between the early model 1-26s and the later (heavier) ones?

2) What do people do to "contest prep" the 1-26? Can a regular club-used 1-26 compete effectively?

ROY

Hey Roy,

1) Can you notice a difference between the early and late ships?

The heavier 126s do climb a little bit worse and run a bit faster. I don't believe it makes a notable competitive difference. Some pilots swear by one or the other; I think it's more how the ship suits the pilot's flying style.

Run what you brung!

2) Can clubs field competitive 126s?

YES!!!

Clubs can and absolutely should have clubmembers participate. This is a great way to introduce new folks into the sport and a great way to promote cross country flying.

You can make the glider quiet, handle better and climb better with a couple rolls of 3m 35 electrical tape. I sorta have a reputation for that .

All the best,
Daniel

Do you tape on some wing extensions?

Boggs