2020 Senior Soaring Championship

Practice Day
First, I would like to say sorry for the delay of the practice day results. As any of my fellow contest managers can attest to, the first day of the contest is hectic. However, if you saw the smiles of the pilots returning from their flights, it was worth it. Trailers had been coming in for a couple of weeks now. We had to open trailer parking up early because of the large number of early arrivals. Ken Goshorn got all the grass mowed in time for everyone. Karen did an outstanding setting out flowers, new grass, making the entrance much better than it has been in a while. Chris Carter did a great job in registration and preparing to take over CM duties while I get to go fly. We were also happy that 1E joined us again. Don Wasness is the only pilot that have attended all 30 Senior Soaring Championships, and he won the first one.
The practice day started a little slow but soon 49 ships were in the air. The start gate was open on a 2:45 min TAT that sent the pilots to Winter Haven, Streamsong (a great golf course in Central Florida), Wines, Gore, CFI Plant and Finish. John Seaborn, fresh off his win at the 18 Meter Nationals, continued his impressive flying by turning in a respectable 71.20 mph raw/61.59 handicap speed over 198mi. Second was Fernando Silva in his ship that hasn’t had all the plastic wrap taken off from the factory. Jake Alspaugh finished in third. All in all, a great day with more fine weather on the horizon.

Day 1
As everyone knows, corona virus has been in the news for some time. Disney and Universal are closed in the Orlando area, Sun n Fun has been postponed, and all professional sports have had their seasons suspended. As an organizer of a public event with about 140 pilot, crews, and volunteers, we wanted to provide the safest environment possible. We decided to cancel all meetings and provide the information via electronic means using email and WhatsApp. The first day could have gone better when both our email system and internet suffered some casualties. There was a frantic couple of hours to get everything out, but with the help of John Good and Rick Sheppe, we were 95% successful. However, the day did not disappoint. Cu started popping soon after the sniffer was launched. The fleet was launched and set out on a TAT that went to Avon Park, Bonnie Plant, Love Field (first time I'd gone there), and Finish. The run to Avon Park was fantastic. Good Cu, nice long runs under well formed clouds, and some markers on course. Going to Bonnie Plant was a nice street that took you to the maximum distance point in the turn area. Lift was very strong, averaging around the 5 knot range. Phil Gaisford won the day with a raw speed of 70.18 mph over 198 miles. Karl Striedieck again showed us his mastery of the skies, finishing second in an aircraft and nav system he just started flying with. Fernando SIlva, our 2017 Seniors winner, again flew great task and finished third. However, this time he submitted his log to the Scoreer vice his cell phone. Ask him about the story from the 2018 Seniors! We just finished the Welcome dinner in the DG hangar where all of our meetings and dinners are held. We were very lucky to have Ann Lafford and her husband Rick to join us for the Seniors. Before coming over to do the report, it was nice to see people dancing again. Thank you, Madam Chairwomen, for attending our event. Well, the weather is cooperating but our visiting tow planes are having a couple problems. Thanks to Russell Brown, our trusty A&P mechanic, that is working hard to fix these ships. Also, to Martin who has worked all day to find a mag for the Husky. It's late and time to charge some batteries. Let me know via text at 407-325-6500 if you want me to address other issues during the contest. Until tomorrow, good night.