XC Soaring camps

Looking for recommendations/ advice wrt attending some of the xc camps put on by various organizations/clubs in the USA.

My time schedule is such that weekend club flying is not going to get my skills level to where I want it to be in the time frame I'm dealing with, so am looking for an "immersion" type of experience to truncate the process.

I'm aware of the program out at Air Sailing, feedback on it would be appreciated and suggestions or reviews of other sites would also be appreciated.

A Central US location would be a bonus to keep road time to a minimum from my Texas residence.

Thanks in advance!

RAS

On Aug 23, 11:24*am, RAS56 wrote:
Looking for recommendations/ advice wrt attending some of the xc camps
put on by various organizations/clubs in the USA.

My time schedule is such that weekend club flying is not going to get my
skills level to where I want it to be in the time frame I'm dealing
with, so am looking for an "immersion" type of experience to truncate
the process.

I'm aware of the program out at Air Sailing, feedback on it would be
appreciated and suggestions or reviews of other sites would also be
appreciated.

A Central US location would be a bonus to keep road time to a minimum
from my Texas residence.

Thanks in advance!

RAS

--
RAS56

This year I attended the Soaring Society of Boulder's camp in Dalhart,
TX and had a really good time. You might keep an eye on their club
website and get in contact with some of their members to find out when
they will be back next year. Usually late June I think.

And I'm with you, camps are where it is at. I love travelling with my
glider. They are great warm ups for going to contests too. I just
got back from the Region 10 contest and the prep and organization
required from attending Dalhart and other long weekend camps over the
last few years made it very easy to get ready for the contest.

On Aug 23, 3:06*pm, Tony wrote:
On Aug 23, 11:24*am, RAS56 wrote:



Looking for recommendations/ advice wrt attending some of the xc camps
put on by various organizations/clubs in the USA.

My time schedule is such that weekend club flying is not going to get my
skills level to where I want it to be in the time frame I'm dealing
with, so am looking for an "immersion" type of experience to truncate
the process.

I'm aware of the program out at Air Sailing, feedback on it would be
appreciated and suggestions or reviews of other sites would also be
appreciated.

A Central US location would be a bonus to keep road time to a minimum
from my Texas residence.

Thanks in advance!

RAS

--
RAS56

This year I attended the Soaring Society of Boulder's camp in Dalhart,
TX and had a really good time. *You might keep an eye on their club
website and get in contact with some of their members to find out when
they will be back next year. *Usually late June I think.

And I'm with you, camps are where it is at. I love travelling with my
glider. *They are great warm ups for going to contests too. *I just
got back from the Region 10 contest and the prep and organization
required from attending Dalhart and other long weekend camps over the
last few years made it very easy to get ready for the contest.

ah and thinking more about your post i'm now thinking you may be
looking for more of a cross country training camp, in which case
Dalhart probably isn't the best fit for you, it is more of a bring
your single seater and have fun going XC over landable terrain sort of
camp.

On Aug 23, 9:24*am, RAS56 wrote:
Looking for recommendations/ advice wrt attending some of the xc camps
put on by various organizations/clubs in the USA.

My time schedule is such that weekend club flying is not going to get my
skills level to where I want it to be in the time frame I'm dealing
with, so am looking for an "immersion" type of experience to truncate
the process.

I'm aware of the program out at Air Sailing, feedback on it would be
appreciated and suggestions or reviews of other sites would also be
appreciated.

A Central US location would be a bonus to keep road time to a minimum
from my Texas residence.

Thanks in advance!

RAS

--
RAS56

We would welcome you at SoaringNV, in Minden Nevada. We have many
happy cross country flying customers that come back year after year to
fly with an instructor or solo. Our fleet includes two Duo Discus
glider, an ASK-21, an LS4 and a Discus B. Check out our website and
give us a call. SoaringNV.com.

On Aug 23, 11:24*am, RAS56 wrote:
Looking for recommendations/ advice wrt attending some of the xc camps
put on by various organizations/clubs in the USA.

My time schedule is such that weekend club flying is not going to get my
skills level to where I want it to be in the time frame I'm dealing
with, so am looking for an "immersion" type of experience to truncate
the process.

I'm aware of the program out at Air Sailing, feedback on it would be
appreciated and suggestions or reviews of other sites would also be
appreciated.

A Central US location would be a bonus to keep road time to a minimum
from my Texas residence.

Thanks in advance!

RAS

--
RAS56

Sports class regionals are really "camps," and are run with an
explicit goal of helping new pilots. You get a great weather briefing,
a carefully thought out task suggestion with flexibility to handle all
performance and skills level, a retrieve desk to help come get you
should the need arise -- or a fleet of towplanes happy to do air
retrieves from nearby airports -- and a nice social scene. Most sports
regionals have formal instruction/mentoring programs for new pilots.
What more could you want?

The season is nearly over -- too bad you missed the great Region 10
contest -- but the Chilhowee contest in the next two weeks looks
ideal. The contest is on two weekends, so you can "camp" in between.

To all: "Contests" is not a highly competitive affair only for the
most advanced! Sports regionals are explicitly designed to help new
pilots! All regionals are pretty much a camp plus a party that happens
to have a scoresheet.

John Cochrane

If you're looking for an opportunity to experience XC soaring first
hand with the guidance of an instructor, I would strongly recommend
SoaringNV in Minden. They've got a really positive vibe going, great
people and top notch equipment. Hop a commercial flight to Reno and
book a few days with them in a Duo Discus. You'll get to experience
all of the aspects of XC flying with the security of someone that
knows the area, the hotspots, the landouts and the glider. You can
push your own decision making as far as you want, with a backup brain
sitting in the back seat to help when needed. It isn't the same as
when you're out on your own, but can be an excellent confidence
builder and very educational, not to mention that you can rack up
20-30hrs in less than a week of soaring the Sierra and the Great
Basin. It's also quite a bit closer and cheaper than flying down to
New Zealand to fly with GlideOmarama.com, but come winter, I'd
recommend that as well.

If you've already got some experience and want to spend a week
exploring your own limitations and learning then a sports class
contest can be a fantastic learning experience. It can be humbling,
but it gives you amazing feedback into your decisions that you don't
get flying more or less on your own.

Morgan

Folks,

Thanks for all the thoughts and replies, this is exactly the type of discussion I was hoping I would generate.

Let me be more explicit wrt my quals...I'm a newly minted Bronze badge-holder with a strong desire to cut the apron strings. I have a large amount of power experience, but have only flown gliders for the last two years and have less than 100 glider hours.

Contests sound like a great venue to improve my skills, but my understanding is most if not all want pilots showing up with their Silver badge done or an equivalent level of experience. I'm not there yet. (and Tony, if you're the Tony who's wing I ran at Region 10, Great Job in that Cherokee! Hope you enjoyed the contest and flying at Llano!)

Soaring at Minden sounds like a great option, heck I'm already seriously considering towing my steed (ASW-19b) up there to do the Air Sailing camp, but the distance is daunting. Dalhart sounds interesting if some leader/follower flights can be done. I've done one of those this year here in Central Texas, had a blast and learned a bunch...but the coordination with todays work situations to get it scheduled to say nothing of asking a much better pilot "dumbing down" his flying for me to keep up...is a lot to ask.

The structure/syllabus presented at Air Sailing appeals to me...a set of objectives and learning goals, pre-stated....it matches what I experience in my flying day jobs training department. I like that approach better than a "strap in and go fly" approach that one can learn from...but doesn't do as an effective job in my opinion. If something like they present is out there somewhere (the Dalhart suggestion maybe?) or perhaps another club famous for minting xc pilots, I'd appreciate the point out.

Thanks again and for all the suggestions...and a note to John Cochrane, I have really enjoyed reading the soaring section of your website. Lots of good gouge on there and I'm having a hard time finding room on the cranial hard drive for it all!

Rob

On Aug 23, 8:08*pm, RAS56 wrote:
Folks,

Thanks for all the thoughts and replies, this is exactly the type of
discussion I was hoping I would generate.

Let me be more explicit wrt my quals...I'm a newly minted Bronze
badge-holder with a strong desire to cut the apron strings. I have a
large amount of power experience, but have only flown gliders for the
last two years and have less than 100 glider hours.

Contests sound like a great venue to improve my skills, but my
understanding is most if not all want pilots showing up with their
Silver badge done or an equivalent level of experience. I'm not there
yet. (and Tony, if you're the Tony who's wing I ran at Region 10, Great
Job in that Cherokee! Hope you enjoyed the contest and flying at Llano!)

Soaring at Minden sounds like a great option, heck I'm already seriously
considering towing my steed (ASW-19b) up there to do the Air Sailing
camp, but the distance is daunting. Dalhart sounds interesting if some
leader/follower flights can be done. I've done one of those this year
here in Central Texas, had a blast and learned a bunch...but the
coordination with todays work situations to get it scheduled to say
nothing of asking a much better pilot "dumbing down" his flying for me
to keep up...is a lot to ask.

The structure/syllabus presented at Air Sailing appeals to me...a set of
objectives and learning goals, pre-stated....it matches what I
experience in my flying day jobs training department. I like that
approach better than a "strap in and go fly" approach that one can learn
from...but doesn't do as an effective job in my opinion. If something
like they present is out there somewhere (the Dalhart suggestion maybe?)
or perhaps another club famous for minting xc pilots, I'd appreciate the
point out.

Thanks again and for all the suggestions...and a note to John Cochrane,
I have really enjoyed reading the soaring section of your website. Lots
of good gouge on there and I'm having a hard time finding room on the
cranial hard drive for it all!

Rob

--
RAS56


I don't know what the typical pace is, but I looked back at my log
book and found that I had completed my Silver C at about 40 hours so
if you are approaching 100 hours and are stuck at bronze, with an
ASW-19b at your disposal, then your instincts to accelerate your
learning curve are probably on the mark.

My suggestion is that you leave your glider at home and jump the next
airline flight to Reno, rent a car and drive the 40 minutes down to
Minden to fly dual cross-country with one of the SoaringNV pilots in
one of their Duos. Frankly, there is no substitute for flying dual XC
with an experienced pilot. Follow the leader is okay, but having
someone who knows what they are doing observe your flying from the
cockpit (and vice versa) is many times more useful in accelerating
your learning and confidence. I know this from being on the giving and
receiving side of both experiences.

Devin may be back from the Junior WGC in time to take you up, but if
not they have several very fine and experienced XC pilots who will
build your skills and confidence.

There may be other sites that offer similar experiences, but I really
think dual flying at a site with reliable XC weather with an
experienced XC pilot in a modern high-performance 2-seat (not Grob
103) glider is the best path from where you are right now.

9B

Rob,

Yes it is me. Dalhart is very intentionally as non-structured as
possible since it is a vacation for everyone involved. I think the
thing to do for you would be, as Andy suggested, go somewhere with a 2
seater available for XC instruction, get some dual on getting away
from the airport, then come home and start working on Silver legs in
your 19. Maybe even take it to Dalhart. Many more landing options up
there for a newbie cross country pilot than down around Llano!

On Aug 23, 11:08*pm, RAS56 wrote:
Folks,

Thanks for all the thoughts and replies, this is exactly the type of
discussion I was hoping I would generate.

Let me be more explicit wrt my quals...I'm a newly minted Bronze
badge-holder with a strong desire to cut the apron strings. I have a
large amount of power experience, but have only flown gliders for the
last two years and have less than 100 glider hours.

Contests sound like a great venue to improve my skills, but my
understanding is most if not all want pilots showing up with their
Silver badge done or an equivalent level of experience. I'm not there
yet. (and Tony, if you're the Tony who's wing I ran at Region 10, Great
Job in that Cherokee! Hope you enjoyed the contest and flying at Llano!)

Soaring at Minden sounds like a great option, heck I'm already seriously
considering towing my steed (ASW-19b) up there to do the Air Sailing
camp, but the distance is daunting. Dalhart sounds interesting if some
leader/follower flights can be done. I've done one of those this year
here in Central Texas, had a blast and learned a bunch...but the
coordination with todays work situations to get it scheduled to say
nothing of asking a much better pilot "dumbing down" his flying for me
to keep up...is a lot to ask.

The structure/syllabus presented at Air Sailing appeals to me...a set of
objectives and learning goals, pre-stated....it matches what I
experience in my flying day jobs training department. I like that
approach better than a "strap in and go fly" approach that one can learn
from...but doesn't do as an effective job in my opinion. If something
like they present is out there somewhere (the Dalhart suggestion maybe?)
or perhaps another club famous for minting xc pilots, I'd appreciate the
point out.

Thanks again and for all the suggestions...and a note to John Cochrane,
I have really enjoyed reading the soaring section of your website. Lots
of good gouge on there and I'm having a hard time finding room on the
cranial hard drive for it all!

Rob

--
RAS56

At the risk of inciting a flame war, I would also suggest you get a
copy of the Condor soaring simulator, a copy of my book "Cross Country
Soaring with Condor", and fly XC in Condor over the winter. When you
get comfortable flying in the sim, give me a call/email at
and fly some one-on-one leader-follower flights
with me.

If you doubt the power of training in the Condor sim - just look at
the recently concluded Junior WGC. Two of the top four pilots in Club
Class, including the winner, are well-known Condor pilots. The just-
crowned JWGC Club Class champion (Tim Kuijpers) has logged only about
300 hours total time in real-life, but thousands of hours in Condor.
By way of comparison, our best placing U.S. pilot was Boyd Willat in
22nd place, over 1500 pts down from the leader after 7 days of
competition.

TA