July 9, Practice day 1.
The soaring day was relatively good with single-seat pilots doing practice flights and the beginning of the mentored two-seat flights in the TSA duo. The soaring was great and the atmosphere was plenty un-stable!
TSA Duo with David McMaster and Mike Westbrook
After everyone was back, things got wet…. fast. We got most of the gliders apart but had to wait out a few minutes of the rain.
I wonder why they landed?
It’ll dry off…
An easy trip
Can you spot the glider?
It was a quick retrieve at a local private airport and we didn’t even get wet!
The weather was weird, but everyone had a great time and we headed over to Waxahachie for dinner and to check-in to the hotel.
July 10, Practice day 2.
We knew the ground would be wet in places, but set a small task that would have everyone trying to make multiple practice starts and finishes. The idea was to practice good starts, turn point hits, and finishes all while avoiding (practice) penalties.
A promising view on the grid.
While it wasn’t 10 kts to 10,000 ft, we launched the fleet and everyone stuck! Most pilots completed the mini-task and several flew “real” XC tasks.
July 11, Contest day 1.
Today… things get real. For the pilots in single seat class, this event was a sports class regional and that meant that there would be a ranking at the end of the event. We set a task that would accommodate the range of performance, experience, and weather and gridded for launch.
Day 1 task sheet
The main single-seat grid, ready to go!
Powel makes dinner!
After dinner, the flying continued with some lessons on flying two-line stunt kites and just generally hanging out.
What else would we do at a flying event but fly things?
July 12, Contest day 2.
Well, sort-of. After the Dallas shootings, President Obama came to the Dallas area, to speak. The presidential TFR just barely encloses TSA but it shut down ops for the day. After some half-joking searches for other airports to move operations to, we called the day off and everyone went off to visit the local area. At the end of the day, we set a new task – knock the most pins over.
JT bowling hard.
You won’t find these scores on the SSA site.
July 13, Contest day 3.
With the TFR expired and the airspace free, we got back to business and set a nice triangle.
It’s important to remember that all gliders are welcome here!
The “Peewee” out in the early morning.
So, we gridded and launched!
Ryan McMaster (1) ready to roll
While it was weak for the first half of the flight and few re-lights were involved across the board, the sky seemed to “switch on” later in the afternoon and off we went! Everyone who went on course completed the task and had a good finish. We saw good climbs to ~5000 AGL and zipped around the task before the day ended.
On task!
Formation final glides are pretty cool!
July 14, Contest day 4.
Day 4 seemed to have a pretty similar airmass to the previous day and resulted in most everyone sticking and getting some good flights in.
Climbing with Ryan McMaster.
Heading back toward the airport.
It’s really a pretty nice day!
July 15, Contest day 5.
Well… this is it… the end of our contest. We started the day with a grid squat while we waited for temperatures to rise…
It’s really a pretty nice day!
All gridded to go.
Once hints of lift started, we launched the fleet!
James flying with US Team member Mike Westbrook.
After a few hours of good flying, I (X8) decided to keep going as the lift softened and see how much I could get out of the day. Well… I found the edge and headed for a nice private grass airport. Someone was cutting the grass on the edge and after I stopped, came over with a bottle of cold water and a ride back to the main barn.
Not a bad place to “land out”.
While the field owner doesn’t do much flying anymore, he keeps the field nicely cut and shared stories of the AN-2 (among other things) that he used to fly there.
There’s always a CU watching over your field…
It was an easy/quick retrieve from TSA and after dropping the glider, we headed for a group dinner to celebrate a safe week with good flying.
End of contest dinner! (A few people are not pictured here)
The whole junior group together!
Oh…. and the sky on the way home the next morning was pretty nice…
The sky taunting as we head home.
The weather wasn’t quite what we had hoped for this year but we flew most of the scheduled days (I flew ~15 hrs over the week) and even managed to get some XC tasks. In the free time, we had discussions on XC flying and debriefed the flights from the day. The two-seat pilots were able to learn the basics of stretching their legs and the single seat pilots got some amazing thermalling practice and a lesson in the value of persistence. We had a good, safe, fun week and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone (and more!) at the 2017 Contest. Of course, this event could not have happened without some incredible support from the Rick Walters Scholarship and Soaring Society of America. For those who don’t know, Rick Walters was a talented member of the sailplane racing community and US Team Committee member who was dedicated to soaring. He was involved in a tragic bicycle accident but his memory will continue to live on thanks to his many friends in the soaring community.
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