Open & !8M Albert Lea USA # 711 reporting

Wednesday, June 6th. Winds, rain and cells moving thur in the am
hours. 50 kts at 2000 agl, and high wind warnings this afternoon gave
the CD enough information to call it a day at the pilots meeting.
Thursday is the last day, and we have 3 contests "in", so need
something for tomorrow.
Some are packing up now. Others are sticking around. All the Open
Class so far are still here, some of the 18 M crowd has left.
Yesterday, Wednesday, the 3rd day had several low finishers. Seems
like the guy taking pictures really attracted some of the flock,
resulting in some great photos, but at a cost of some points. We are
now using a finish line since the regionals are over, with a 50 agl
passing height.

Thermal tight, Soar high, Fly safe. # 711 reporting.

On Jun 6, 12:25 pm, wrote:
Wednesday, June 6th. Winds, rain and cells moving thur in the am
hours. 50 kts at 2000 agl, and high wind warnings this afternoon gave
the CD enough information to call it a day at the pilots meeting.
Thursday is the last day, and we have 3 contests "in", so need
something for tomorrow.
Some are packing up now. Others are sticking around. All the Open
Class so far are still here, some of the 18 M crowd has left.
Yesterday, Wednesday, the 3rd day had several low finishers. Seems
like the guy taking pictures really attracted some of the flock,
resulting in some great photos, but at a cost of some points. We are
now using a finish line since the regionals are over, with a 50 agl
passing height.

Thermal tight, Soar high, Fly safe. # 711 reporting.

thanks tom. im crossing my fingers for you tomorrow. blipmaps looked
ok last night but there was a lot of variablility. probably going to
depend on how fast this cold front blows through. what was the
soaring conditions like yesterday? I was sitting at my desk all day
drooling over the satellite picture, METAR reports and soundings.
some folks flew in Ames, IA down I35 from you and reported weak lift
to about 6000 MSL.

On Jun 6, 2:35 pm, wrote:
what was the
soaring conditions like yesterday? I was sitting at my desk all day
drooling over the satellite picture, METAR reports and soundings.
some folks flew in Ames, IA down I35 from you and reported weak lift
to about 6000 MSL.

Fantastic. Really, a wonderful midwestern soaring day. Light NW winds
and a good cu field starting at 6000' MSL and rising to 7000' as the
day went on. The call was a 280 mile turn area task with 4.5 hours.
The clouds lined up nicely on the first upwind leg, with long, long
glides in abundant but not very strong lift. On the second long
dowwind leg, thermal strength increased; it was reasonable to stop for
no less than 5 knots, and I found one 7 knot thermal (after getting a
little low looking for those 5 knotters). The third leg back upwind
got a little softer, typical for late in the day; there were still
strong thermals but they were further in between. The day started
dying right around the 4.5 hour mark, so some had to do a little
scratching on the way home, as you might expect for 6 pm. All around a
great time. Task call was perfect.

The Saunders - DJ team spanked the rest of the field by 6 mph,
finishing 1-2 has they have for most of this contest and many days at
Hobbs last year. When the traces come out, there will be much
scrutinizing to see how they did it. It's hard to beat a field this
strong by such a wide margin on an easy day with a long task.

The only downside was quite a few scary landings, the result of a
finish line, many pilots finishing the timed task at the same time,
limited space on the airport, sink on final glide putting many in a
low energy situation, and downwind rolling finishes conflicting with
regular landings. Lots of held breath, but thankfully no damage.

John Cochrane BB

On Jun 7, 10:27 am, BB wrote:
On Jun 6, 2:35 pm, wrote:

what was the
soaring conditions like yesterday? I was sitting at my desk all day
drooling over the satellite picture, METAR reports and soundings.
some folks flew in Ames, IA down I35 from you and reported weak lift
to about 6000 MSL.

Fantastic. Really, a wonderful midwestern soaring day. Light NW winds
and a good cu field starting at 6000' MSL and rising to 7000' as the
day went on. The call was a 280 mile turn area task with 4.5 hours.
The clouds lined up nicely on the first upwind leg, with long, long
glides in abundant but not very strong lift. On the second long
dowwind leg, thermal strength increased; it was reasonable to stop for
no less than 5 knots, and I found one 7 knot thermal (after getting a
little low looking for those 5 knotters). The third leg back upwind
got a little softer, typical for late in the day; there were still
strong thermals but they were further in between. The day started
dying right around the 4.5 hour mark, so some had to do a little
scratching on the way home, as you might expect for 6 pm. All around a
great time. Task call was perfect.

The Saunders - DJ team spanked the rest of the field by 6 mph,
finishing 1-2 has they have for most of this contest and many days at
Hobbs last year. When the traces come out, there will be much
scrutinizing to see how they did it. It's hard to beat a field this
strong by such a wide margin on an easy day with a long task.

The only downside was quite a few scary landings, the result of a
finish line, many pilots finishing the timed task at the same time,
limited space on the airport, sink on final glide putting many in a
low energy situation, and downwind rolling finishes conflicting with
regular landings. Lots of held breath, but thankfully no damage.

John Cochrane BB

Hi John - How's today looking ?
See ya, Dave "YO" (the open class guy who bugged out last week
on account of work issues plus lousy weather)...

On Jun 7, 9:36 am, wrote:
On Jun 7, 10:27 am, BB wrote:





On Jun 6, 2:35 pm, wrote:

what was the
soaring conditions like yesterday? I was sitting at my desk all day
drooling over the satellite picture, METAR reports and soundings.
some folks flew in Ames, IA down I35 from you and reported weak lift
to about 6000 MSL.

Fantastic. Really, a wonderful midwestern soaring day. Light NW winds
and a good cu field starting at 6000' MSL and rising to 7000' as the
day went on. The call was a 280 mile turn area task with 4.5 hours.
The clouds lined up nicely on the first upwind leg, with long, long
glides in abundant but not very strong lift. On the second long
dowwind leg, thermal strength increased; it was reasonable to stop for
no less than 5 knots, and I found one 7 knot thermal (after getting a
little low looking for those 5 knotters). The third leg back upwind
got a little softer, typical for late in the day; there were still
strong thermals but they were further in between. The day started
dying right around the 4.5 hour mark, so some had to do a little
scratching on the way home, as you might expect for 6 pm. All around a
great time. Task call was perfect.

The Saunders - DJ team spanked the rest of the field by 6 mph,
finishing 1-2 has they have for most of this contest and many days at
Hobbs last year. When the traces come out, there will be much
scrutinizing to see how they did it. It's hard to beat a field this
strong by such a wide margin on an easy day with a long task.

The only downside was quite a few scary landings, the result of a
finish line, many pilots finishing the timed task at the same time,
limited space on the airport, sink on final glide putting many in a
low energy situation, and downwind rolling finishes conflicting with
regular landings. Lots of held breath, but thankfully no damage.

John Cochrane BB

Hi John - How's today looking ?
See ya, Dave "YO" (the open class guy who bugged out last week
on account of work issues plus lousy weather)...- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Ah I was wondering why your results were listed as "No Flight Log"
Dave!!

John - thanks for the report. thats more what I was thinking the day
would turn in to. the club guys in Ames had a couple 1 hour plus
flights but they had no clouds to help them out. hope you get some
flying in today!!

On Jun 7, 9:23 am, wrote:
On Jun 7, 9:36 am, wrote:



On Jun 7, 10:27 am, BB wrote:

On Jun 6, 2:35 pm, wrote:

what was the
soaring conditions like yesterday? I was sitting at my desk all day
drooling over the satellite picture, METAR reports and soundings.
some folks flew in Ames, IA down I35 from you and reported weak lift
to about 6000 MSL.

Fantastic. Really, a wonderful midwestern soaring day. Light NW winds
and a good cu field starting at 6000' MSL and rising to 7000' as the
day went on. The call was a 280 mile turn area task with 4.5 hours.
The clouds lined up nicely on the first upwind leg, with long, long
glides in abundant but not very strong lift. On the second long
dowwind leg, thermal strength increased; it was reasonable to stop for
no less than 5 knots, and I found one 7 knot thermal (after getting a
little low looking for those 5 knotters). The third leg back upwind
got a little softer, typical for late in the day; there were still
strong thermals but they were further in between. The day started
dying right around the 4.5 hour mark, so some had to do a little
scratching on the way home, as you might expect for 6 pm. All around a
great time. Task call was perfect.

The Saunders - DJ team spanked the rest of the field by 6 mph,
finishing 1-2 has they have for most of this contest and many days at
Hobbs last year. When the traces come out, there will be much
scrutinizing to see how they did it. It's hard to beat a field this
strong by such a wide margin on an easy day with a long task.

The only downside was quite a few scary landings, the result of a
finish line, many pilots finishing the timed task at the same time,
limited space on the airport, sink on final glide putting many in a
low energy situation, and downwind rolling finishes conflicting with
regular landings. Lots of held breath, but thankfully no damage.

John Cochrane BB

Hi John - How's today looking ?
See ya, Dave "YO" (the open class guy who bugged out last week
on account of work issues plus lousy weather)...- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Ah I was wondering why your results were listed as "No Flight Log"
Dave!!

John - thanks for the report. thats more what I was thinking the day
would turn in to. the club guys in Ames had a couple 1 hour plus
flights but they had no clouds to help them out. hope you get some
flying in today!!

We're currently waiting to meet again at 1300. It's bright and sunny,
but wind's howling from the SW. Chances are slim, but if the wind
calms down for safe rigging and launching we *may* fly.

-Tom

The only downside was quite a few scary landings, the result of a
finish line, many pilots finishing the timed task at the same time,
limited space on the airport, sink on final glide putting many in a
low energy situation, and downwind rolling finishes conflicting with
regular landings. Lots of held breath, but thankfully no damage.

John Cochrane BB


John, I'm curious: In what way do you think the line finish (as
opposed to a 500' @ one mile, for example) contributed to the scary
landings?

From your description, the problem seems to be more a lack of airport
runway (or landable ramp) space.

Perhaps this needs to be a bigger consideration for a contest site -
it should be able to land multiple gliders simultaneously and safely,
regardless of finish used.

Multiple runways, big unused ramps (old military fields are great!),
wide grass runways/ramps, etc. sure are nice when everybody gets back
at the same time.

Parowan, for example, could be sporty if a bunch of gliders tried to
land at the same time (from personal experience back in 2001 before
the new taxiway was built - perhaps its better now).

You going to be at Ionia?

Kirk
66

John, I'm curious: In what way do you think the line finish (as
opposed to a 500' @ one mile, for example) contributed to the scary
landings?

You need to ask why it's harder to sequence a lot of gliders arriving
midfield at 50 feet, than it is to sequence a lot of gliders arriving
1 mile away at 500 feet? This is not rocket science.

Let's not start the finish wars again. Or we could just do it by
numbers, like the old joke about prisoners.

John Cochrane

You need to ask why it's harder to sequence a lot of gliders arriving
midfield at 50 feet, than it is to sequence a lot of gliders arriving
1 mile away at 500 feet? This is not rocket science.

John Cochrane

My point was, the airfield arrangement is probably a much more
critical factor in landing safety than the finish type. As you put it
- it's not rocket science.

It's airmanship, actually.

Cheers,

Kirk