The 11 best things at the 2015 15m/Std Class Nationals at Harris Hill

On Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 8:13:39 AM UTC-4, Bob Pasker wrote:
I've never flown a contest, but I have a question about people coming up short. If that seems to be a problem, why isn't there an altitude floor for the finish line? --bob

There is, but is can be quite small. Most contests use a finish cylinder with a radius of a mile, with a minimum finish height appropriate for the site, commonly around 500 feet or so.
A few places can still use the lower line finish(bottom about 100 ft AGL)where it is deemed that it can be done with adequate safety.
UH

Mandating a finish altitude does not keep a glider in the air. Mistakes
and mis-judgements happen and there will be penalties and land outs, but
the glider will come down when it's time.

On 8/11/2015 5:13 AM, Bob Pasker wrote:
I've never flown a contest, but I have a question about people coming up short. If that seems to be a problem, why isn't there an altitude floor for the finish line? --bob

--
Dan Marotta

On Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 7:35:37 AM UTC-4, XC wrote:
The 11 best things at the 2015 15m/Std Class Nationals

1. The weather. We flew 7 out of 10 days in Elmira. We could have possible even squeaked in another but the CD wisely called a rest day. One of the practice days was fantastic soaring. Thanks to God, Alleluia.

2. FLARM used in the stealth mode, already mentioned in another post. It really worked well.

3. The flying was tough but the atmosphere was relaxed and enjoyable. Thank you pilots for the sportsmanship. Not one pilot left this contest early, in a huff, with a broken glider, or otherwise. Very rare.

4. The dinners were excellent. Thanks go to my wife, Rebecca, and many volunteers.

5. Beer consumed was more than most contests. We killed a 1/2 keg of Stella, 2 1/4's of Yuengling and 1/4 of Labatts. Thanks to those HHSC members who bought the beer.

6. The National Soaring Museum issued a press release for us. We gave about 4 TV news interviews and we were in newspapers all over the region. Thank you NSM for all your support.

7. We flew a finish line. Tons of spectators, thanks the the press release above, were watching from the fence. Crews, juniors and pilots enjoyed it, too. It felt like you were at a race.

8. We had a PA system to announce pilot meetings, task sheets available, "P7 4 miles out", etc. This is a nice detail to include in contest planning..

9. We had the contest during the summer so young people could attend. I estimate we had 20-25 young people involved in the contest in one way or another. The HHSC juniors did a great job with the line. We also had several young people come to visit. Daniel Sazhin competed as a junior. Noah Reitter flew as a guest in the Standard Class and as sniffer.

10. We spaced the grid spots far enough away from each other that every glider could easily get to their spot. Then we compressed the grid. I really recommend this detail to other organizers.

11. Monty Sullivan as CD was outstanding. The overall tone for the contest was perfect. The task setting was spot on. Thanks Monty.

XC

we are all getting off track here. the harris hill contest was pretty sweet..