Participating in Contests

The impression that the super pilots with full time organized ground
crews and $90k+ ships makes going to a contest with a older generation
glider say a HP-11 with ~36:1 glide rather futile and would perhaps
feel like a 2nd class pilot showing up with such a craft amoungst all
the expensive glass.

I hear you - until recently I primarily flew a Russia AC-4 and had
those same concerns. But you know what? An AC-4 took third place in
a Regionals last year - in a ship with a 31:1 glide-ratio!

I've seen snobbery among a few high-dollar glider folks, but so far
they've been a tiny minority - and you deal with those folks in all
sports... (don't get me started about my auto-racing experiences along
those lines!)

I think another good idea for first timers would be to have an
optional pre-contest orientation weekend where perhaps a month before
the contest you could go to the site with a number of others and fly
the area to get the lay of the land for us first timers.

I believe pretty much every Regional has at least 1 or 2 practice days
prior to the competition. Radio comms are allowed on the practice
days so you should be able to acquire the knowledge you want and learn
from the other pilots at the same time. There will always be some
"home-field advantage", but at least you won't be flying the first
day / task "blind".

they should just have a firstimers class with detailed
explanations of what to expect, what not to do, where not to go and
how to prepare for that particular site. Show us where the house
thermal are.

Some clubs do a yearly XC flying seminar and pair new pilots with
experienced pilots (often ones with race experience) - then send them
out on a moderate XC task. Having done one of those, I can say its
invaluable - even if its not strictly at a race. Also, there's
nothing stopping you from asking a local XC pilot to team-fly with you
some day. Sit down at the beginning of the day and pick a challenging-
but-achievable set of waypoints and then go fly!

Last year I flew XC and picked my path / waypoints by looking for good
clouds and scenic terrain. This summer, after doing a little team-
flying with experienced pilots, I developed a different approach. I
would decide on a couple of waypoints (or a specific direction of
flight) in the morning after studying the weather, and then I spent my
flight trying to hit those waypoints - or fly as far as I could in the
direction I picked prior to takeoff. I feel that having a defined
goal really sharpened my skills and will make me pretty comfortable
with an assigned task by the time I get to my first competition.

Also, since you can view charts online and customize Google Maps, you
should be able to talk to local pilots ahead of time and learn some of
the house thermals and "gotcha" areas. For example, here's a Google
Map that our local club near Seattle has marked up (check out all the
marked points and shaded areas you can click on for detailed info):

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en...,0.946198&z=10


equipment in older gliders. Perhaps allowing a PDA with GPS, or even a
simple hand held GPS unit to substitude as a turnpoint recorder would
help in this area.

This is allowed now in sports regionals.

Wow, really? That's awesome! I have a logger but allowing PDA or GPS
sources will probably enable me to convince 2 or maybe 3 extra pilots
to come to the Regionals in Ephrata next year! They wanna try a
competition, but don't wanna spend the $$ on loggers or other fancy
equipment that they don't need for their normal weekend flying. Ahh,
a little bit of knowledge goes a long way!

--Noel

Noel,

Thanks for posting the map, but not for the reasons you think!

My Mom lived in Oak Harbor, and I made the drive up I-5 from Seattle
many times before her death a few years ago. At the time I wasn't a
glider guider, so I just admired the pretty countryside to the east
without really wondering what it was about it that drew me in. Now,
seeing your map in my fourth year of flying, I know why I was
attracted!

Have fun, fly safe!

-John

On Sep 30, 3:39 pm, "noel.wade" wrote:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en...a=0&msid=11080...

--Noel

These barriers are removed. You're out of excuses. Hope to see you
next year!
John Cochrane BB

Wow, that is really good information and straightened me out on a lot
of things
that I simply did not know.

Looks like I really don't have any excuses and it sounds like fun.

I also just read about the local sport regionals at Warner Springs and
found there were
7 newbies attending that contest and its only 40 miles from home.

I'll make a plan to attend some regionals next year, and brush up on
my skills
in preperation in the mean time.

I have one more question.

Do pilots typically carry oxygen at these events?

I imagine since going fast is the objective most will not thermal up
to cloud base (out west) when they
could be racing along with shorter climbs?


Kirk:
What book by Moffat? Is there just one?

Does the SSA site have the Sport Regional rules on PDA/GPS, or is that
specific to each regional contest?

Ray

I will soon be able to scout out my contest areas myself as I recently
bought a Grob 109 motor glider.

That will come in real handy for getting the lay of the land and
testing the area for lift in advance of any contest
and it also has the range (500mi) to get me there by air.

Guess you will be seeing me in my HP-11 at a constest next year.

Ray

On Oct 1, 11:29*am, jb92563 wrote:

Guess you will be seeing me in my HP-11 at a constest next year.

That's cool... I used to race an HP-18. Had a lot of Sports Class
fun with that.

Sports regional rules permit PDA based loggers. Get with an
experienced competition pilot and get some dual time on tasks, logs,
log analysis. Practice all this way ahead of time. Most common
technical problems during contests are GPS/logger related and they can
really spoil a contest! Make your mistakes at the home field and be
ahead of the game and ready to concentrate on flying at the contest.

Also Moffatt -- _Winning II_ -- get it from Knauff and Grove.
Excellent.

-Evan Ludeman / T8

On Oct 1, 9:24*am, jb92563 wrote:



Do pilots typically carry oxygen at these events?

What book by Moffat? Is there just one?

Does the SSA site have the Sport Regional rules on PDA/GPS, or is that
specific to each regional contest?

Ray

In the west O2 is used often. Higher usually mean faster, not in all
cases, but most. Many reasons too numerous to list here. Higher
gives a greater range to find stronger thermals and higher is thinner
air so you are flying faster.

Moffat's books either "Winning on the Wind" or Winning II (basically
"Winning on the Wind' with additions). Good books to read. Many
others as well, but you don't need to get to complex to start. There
is the teachable moment and some will come after your first few
contests.

Both the SSA site under racing and the SRA site are helpful.

http://www.sailplane-racing.org/

Best thing is to go out ot your local site and visit with some of the
pilots that race. They can be very helpful on getting you ready for
your fist contest.

Just remember it is addictive. You may have to attend Sailplane
Racing Anonymous. As I tell people I'm addicted to "White Powder and
Speed". That smell of gel coat and epoxy when you open the trailer is
intoxicating.

Good luck

Do pilots typically carry oxygen at these events?

If you're going to fly xc at any site that allows you to get over
10,000', oxygen is a must. Forget about speed, as a beginner you're
going to want to be at the top of the thermals because you don't want
to think about landing out. Planning to bail out of thermals below the
top for 02 reasons sets you up for a needless mountain of stress. The
mountain high system is great, and the small ones are easy to install.
Yeah the FAA says you can go higher, but you want to make good
decisions in stressful situations. I set mine to go on at 5000' after
seeing at Tonopah that my o2 saturation was 95 % and heartbeat 10
beats above normal while sitting on the runway.

John Cochrane BB