Glider preparation for a competition

If your glider is in reasonable shape time spent tuning it further will net you fractions of a percent on the scoresheet. Most first time pilots will find themselves off the leaders' pace by 15-30%. My advice it to focus on your mental preparation so there are minimal distractions day-to-day getting ready to fly and minimal distractions in the cockpit. This mostly means:

1) Study the task area, download all the turnpoint and airspace data and have a map prepared. I use GlidePlan, but the old shelf paper on a sectional with a Sharpie works fine. Know where all the airports are and where the tiger country is. You don't want to have to figure that out when you run out of altitude and ideas at the same time.

2) Know how to load competition tasks into your computer and how to use your computer to fly a competition task. It's not OLC so be aware that you don't get distance credit for meandering.

3) Read the rules, the appendix and the guide to competition. Especially read the penalties part. Start penalties, finish penalties, airspace penalties, missed turn point penalties, etc. It's a pretty common rookie mistake to not know what you're not allowed to do and to get burned for it. No amount of wing polishing will make up for a zero for the day.

4) Make sure you have all your support equipment and paperwork in order. There's nothing worse than trying to scramble to get a copy of your insurance policy on a Saturday. If you are flying with ballast, all the equipment to make that happen at the airport you're flying from will be critical as it can be a time sink. I'd recommend flying Sports or Club if available. Tiedowns are a big plus as it will give you a lot more time to get ready to fly rather than assembling, taping, making mistakes and cursing under the time pressure before and after the pilots meeting - while you're trying to figure out how to program you flight computer.

5) Relief system, drinking water system, SD cards and/or thumb drives to turn in logs, computer cables, chute repack, trailer tires, trailer lights, O2 (if out west), tracker system, phone power bank, aircraft and canopy cleaning stuff, batteries, spare batteries, duplicate chargers.

6) Subscribe to a gliding weather service like SkySight or XC Skies and know what they offer.

7) Go back and read the rules again. ;-)

8) Be mentally prepared to be on the bottom half of the scoresheet. Getting home (or to an airport) on any given day is a victory first time out. Early in my career I went to a contest where I landed in a field every single day. I got better.

Welcome to the club. Enjoy!

Andy Blackburn
9B