US Region 7 Soaring Contest

Hi,

Plans are coming along nicely for the upcoming US Region 7 Soaring Contest
in Albert Lea, MN which begins with a practice day on May 28th. The only
thing missing is enough competitors. I believe that many pilots are
planning to compete but have not yet registered. If you are planning to
come and you name is not on the list of competitors please let me know ASAP.
We need to be able to plan the events. So far only 15 pilots have registered
for the contest and my list of "probable competitors" includes 24 pilots.
We need about 30 competitors to break even but we are hoping for 40. The
competitor list is available he
http://www.soarmn.com/cumulus/contest-competitors.htm Please tell your
friends to come fly with us. We are going to have a lot of fun.

This is going to be a fun contest. You can see the list of scheduled fun
events he
http://www.soarmn.com/cumulus/contest-calendar.htm The Wine Tasting Party
at Jim Hanson's house on Saturday night is guaranteed to be a lot of fun.
On Sunday night we are having a "Fish Boil" at the airport. Tuesday night
will feature a catered picnic at Edgewater Park on Fountain Lake in Albert
Lea. On Thursday we will have a banquet at the Elks Lodge. All those
events are optional.

One fun aspect of the contest is that we will have 4 two-seat gliders
competing in the Sport Class. It will be exciting to see many newer pilots
learning from experienced contest pilots in the 2-seaters. Chip Garner
(world level competition pilot) will be flying in the back seat of the
DG-1000 owned by Dick Andrews and Fred Hewitt to raise money for the US
Soaring Team. The front seat positions have all been filled and those of us
signed-up to fly with Chip are really looking forward to learning from him
in a contest setting. Dick Andrews is also sharing his contest skills with
eager pilots in the MN Soaring Club ASK-21. Don Ingraham is sharing his
Grob 103 with excited passengers as well. Matt Michael is planning to bring
his 2-seat Lark from IA to fly with Michael Graves for the entire contest.
All we need now is a few more 2-seaters from IL, IN and CO to make this even
more fun.

To reward pilots for their accomplishments we will be presenting nice
certificates for the top 3 finishers in every class every day! We also have
nice awards and medallions for the top 3 finishers in the contest. Eric
Strandjord and Tom Chrisfield are doing a fantastic job preparing the
awards. The plan is to have each award personalized with a photo of you
next to your glider - how cool is that!

We are also planning to have one or more star gazing nights at the airport
so bring telescopes if you have them.

If you haven't already made your hotel reservations you will want to do that
very soon as the hotels are getting booked. Those of us that want to stay
close to the airport will be staying at the Holiday Inn Express or AmericInn
across the street from the airport. A good low cost options is Bel-Aire
motel which is about 4 miles from the airport. Camping is also available at
the airport for a small fee of $5/day. You can see details he
http://www.soarmn.com/cumulus/contest-hotels.htm

If you can volunteer to help out at the contest please let me know the days
you will be available so we can organize the pool of volunteers. We are in
need of a few more volunteers.

The team of volunteers is working hard to make this a fun and safe event.
Please let me know ASAP if you are planning to attend but not yet on the
list of competitors.

The contest web site's homepage is available he
http://www.soarmn.com/cumulus/contest.htm

Thank you,
Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
Now serving the soaring community full time.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com
1-952-445-9033