I wrote my experiences with the Florida comps so that others who might be thinking of competing would have an idea of what they are getting into. I left for Florida Thursday morning, April 11, at 6:15 for Florida from rainy Northern California. For the last couple of months I have been preparing for this trip, physically (running 20 to 30 miles a week), mentally and financially (working weekends when I can, which cuts into flying). All I can think about for the last several days is “have I forgotten anything?” I installed a new Wills Wing control frame on my Atos and purchased a new Rotor harness. Transferring my radio installation, parachute, water bag, hook knife etc has been a pain. I made a couple of mods to the glider in addition to the control frame. I received my replacement tow bridle, but it looks a little short. I will have to compare it with others once I get there. I have not been able to try my vario mount on a tow cart, another item to check once I am there.

I made room reservations, car reservation and shipped my glider ($317 insured for $9,000). The glider arrived at Wallaby with a small hole in the crate. I had to wonder about damage. I arranged a driver for both meets. I still have to build some kind of rack on the rental car. I only have Friday to do that. I should have left a day earlier. I was able to fit all my stuff in two bags. One bag has my harness, vario, gps, second gps (for the retrieve car), radio, flying clothes, and other miscellaneous items. It weighs 50 pounds. The second bag has my clothes, tool kit, third radio, car antenna, batteries, cables and a bunch of junk I thought would be useful. Now I wonder what the airport screeners are going to think when they see all these batteries, wires, radios etc. I just heard that the bomb squad at San Francisco blew up a guy's shoes because he had electric heaters in them. They blew them up AFTER they knew it was just electric heaters. I guess they figured since they were there anyway……..

After landing in Orlando, Florida I signed up for my rental car, and when I found it, the roof rack was missing. I had to go all the way back to the rental counter and ask for a different car. The guy at the counter said he had never seen a mini-van with a roof rack, and I said I had never seen one without. He gave in and I got another car. My driver (Bob Blazer) and I headed out to find our motel and Wallaby. But what’s up with this, a toll road! What the hell is a toll road doing in Florida. We don’t have toll roads in California. Another $2.50 later we were at the motel.

After dumping off a bunch of our junk, we set out to find Wallaby. The only sign Wallaby has out front is a mail box with numbers on it about 2” tall that say 1805. That’s it. It’s a good thing there was still light out or we would have missed it. We found the office, met Tiki and Lori, signed up, picked up the pilot's package (goody bag), and went looking for my glider. We located it next to all the other new Atos’ that had just come in from Germany. There was a small hole in the lid. I set up the glider and found no damage. Putting on the numbers was a little test they make you go through to see how coordinated you are. I am number 43 for the comp. There were about 100 gliders set up all around the Ranch. They leave them set up and tied to a cable that runs along the side of the runway. Lots and lots of motor homes, trailers and tents. Things were getting interesting.

Friday, April 12.

As I sit here it's raining hard at Wallaby. Not a good day for flying - solid overcast skies. I did manage to get a short flight to test out my gear before the rain started. The tow was easy, much easier than towing behind Hungary Joe at Crazy creek. I was let off in sink, about 100 down. I searched around for a couple of minutes and found zero sink where I was able to maintain 1500' for about 10 minutes. It looked like pilots were landing as quickly as they were being towed up. I hope this is not what Florida air is about. One thing that I really noticed is the lack of mountains. I already knew that the highest point in Florida is a little over 400', but it's still weird flying without mountains. It will take me a little time getting used to navigating with out the benefit of mountains.

We started the morning building a rack for the rental car. We found an Ace hardware about 10 miles away. The guy at the counter said they could cut the pipe for us. We gave them the measurements and picked up all the fittings. When we went to check out, the guy tells us the pipe will be ready in a couple of hours. That's not going to work for us so he tells us about a Home Depot another 12 miles away. We run over there and they have no problem cutting the pipe - 1" rigid. I brought some .060 stainless aircraft safety wire and some safety wire pliers from home. I had to buy a wrench. I had shipped 4 padded cross bars in the crate with my glider. We took everything out to the parking lot and built a pretty nice rack. It even looks better than some of the racks I have seen on the locals' trucks.

The procedure here is to first sign in, pay for your tows ($150 for 10), and pick up your pilot package. You can have your GPS programmed today (which I did) with all the waypoints and goals (68 of them). There will be a pilot's meeting at 7:00 PM.

I just left the pilot's meeting. I guess you could say it was like any other big meeting. There are a few people who don't like what is going on and tie up the meeting. The biggest complaint was FAR 103.23 (distance from clouds). Some of the best pilots complained that to be competitive, they had to fly closer to the clouds than the regulation states. Even if the meet director would agree, he could not publicly say: go ahead and violate the FAA regs. But some figured if they kept complaining the meet director would somehow change his mind. It ain't going to happen.

Davis Straub ran an interesting discussion about using a GPS in a comp. I picked up several items I thought were good ideas.

Driving here is not at all like driving in California. It seems that all the local truckers have gone to the Daytona Motor Speedway for driving instruction. They do not stay in the right lane, they seem to prefer tailgaiting the car in front of them at 15 mph+ over the speed limit. When they change lanes, it takes them just a little over a second and they give the car they are cutting off at least 3' of space. I thought for sure I would see them tip over.

Saturday, April 13, first day of the Wallaby comp.

I started the day by turning on the TV and checking the weather. It looks like we'll have rain showers until Wednesday. We arrived at the Ranch at 8:30 am. The task committee was meeting at the breakfast tent. My glider was still wet from yesterday's rain. Many pilots were towing up for tuning flights.

The pilots meeting started about 10:45. The task for the day was Coleman (a straight line down wind task) with start times every 15 minutes beginning at 1:00 and ending at 1:30. An alternate task was set up as the same goal, but flights ending at 3:00. That is, if you don’t make goal by 3:00, you are given the distance to where you were at 3:00. The start circle was the Ranch, with a 5 mile diameter for flexies and 3 mile for rigids. I guess since we rigid flyers have such a poor glide they decided for safety to keep us closer to the Ranch in case we sink out ;-) The meeting went very well with few questions. The tow area was designated in the new area that Malcolm cleared last year. Davis Straub gave the weather report that was for weak lift, cloud bases a little above 2,000’ and rain later in the day.

As soon as the meeting was over there was a dash to get in line at the tow area. All the tow carts were taken so I had to carry my glider there. I have never carried my glider so far. The Wills Wing aero down tubes are fine for standing on launch, but I’m sure I will have bruises from today. Everyone lined up in two lines, odd numbers on the right and even numbers on the left with both flexies and rigids mixed together. At 11:35 some wind dummies were towed up. One disappeared for a few moments due to whiteness, in full view of everyone. There was obvious lift and they seemed to be staying up. Close to noon the tug pilots were reporting rain showers and for safety reasons the day was called. Time to carry my glider back. Thankfully the Ranch crew was bringing the carts back to the tow line and I was able to wheel my glider back.

I screwed up my GPS getting ready for the task. One of the good suggestions Davis had was to remove all your waypoints except for the ones needed for the task (If you have a way to reload them, which I do). So I deleted all of them except goal, then realized I needed the Ranch for the start circle and the one with my pilot ID (the scoring program looks for it to know who’s gps it is reading). My laptop is back in the car, and I am in line for the start. So now I am furiously trying to re-program my gps by hand, using the waypoint from a friend's gps. I got it all back ok, but it was a learning experience. I don’t think I will do that again.

Malcolm had things very organized; there were lots of helpers going up and down the tow lines asking if anyone needed anything. The cart with the water supplies was a particularly nice sight for the eyes, but I failed to get a picture of it. With the day called, I decided to head back to Home Depot and get some more wood to repair my crate. When we got back to the Ranch, they were towing again. It didn’t look like anyone was doing great. One thing that has impressed me here is the number of great landings. In the last two days I have only seen one whack (an Atos-C). I have read in the past that many of the comp pilots have bad landings, but I have not found this to be true. Most of the pilots run out their landings, which I don’t see as often in the West. It never did rain here today (at 6:00 as I am typing).

The people in Florida have been very nice. I hear a lot of please and thank you’s, yes sirs and the like. I have not yet spotted any alligators.

Sunday, April 14, day2.

I didn't bring enough socks with me to Florida so I took a couple of pairs in the shower with me and washed them with shampoo. They have been hanging in the room to dry for over a day and they are as wet as ever. The humidity in Florida is high. I put them in the microwave to dry. 2 pairs of wool socks take 12 minutes to dry in a microwave. We are staying at the Super 8 motel a couple of miles from Wallaby. We got the competitors rate of $35.99 a day, which includes a refrigerator, coffee pot and microwave. They have a free continental breakfast, so to save money (I have been known to make a nickle cry) I have 2 or 3 bowls of cereal and a donut for breakfast, this saves me $5 to $8 a day.

The crowd at the Ranch seems younger than I am used to seeing at Western launch sites. There are a lot more females here as well. With the warm Florida weather, there is much skin exposed (which can be good or bad depending on who is exposing their skin). As I walk around I hear several different languages spoken. Felix Ruhl has several Germans with him; then there are the Italians and an English contingent (The English sound just like Leo Jones back home. Since I am used to him, I can understand most of what they say). There are probably a lot more nationalities here.

At the pilots meeting, a 70-mile task to the northwest was called with a turn point at 40 miles to keep people from crossing some unlandable areas. The big news of the meeting was JZ, our USHGA president threw his chute yesterday. He had adjusted his spoilers to 100 degrees from the factory setting of 80 degrees. In doing so he adjusted past the spoiler limiter. This caused a $2 piece of hardware to fail. When this failed he could not operate his spoiler. The glider started a slow spiral dive that continued to increase in bank angle and speed. Then out came the laundry. He landed in a bog. Both he and the glider are fine. When he hit the ground he sank deep into the bog and it took a little effort to pull himself out. The area he landed in is called the $100 field because the owner has an agreement with Malcolm that anyone from the Ranch that lands there will pay $100. The weather for today was for more rain with possible thunderstorms. Everyone lined up early today with most lining up before the meeting. At the meeting Malcolm said we were to line up by pilot number not sail number as we had twice as many odd numbered sails. Several pilots had to move their gliders to the other line.

The wind dummies launched at 11:35 and came down right away. There was a large cell heading right toward the Ranch. All the tugs headed for the barn and many of the pilots carried their gliders back to the Ranch. It started raining at 12:00 with thunder and lightning 10 minutes later.

By 2:00 the sky was getting very dark, by 2:15 it was a dark purple and JC (the meet director) finally called the day. A few minutes later it was raining hard. Yesterday after they called the day and Malcolm started towing again, several pilots climbed past 4,000'. One made it to Quest on two thermals and had the goal at Coleman on glide, but turned around. Robin with the Swift made it to Quest and most of the way back. He landed out behind the sand pit a couple miles from the Ranch. Several people were needed to carry out his glider. The meet director wanted to make sure there was no chance of a valid day. I was hoping they could change the task to a foot race around the Ranch, at least I would have a good chance of finishing in the top 50%

We drove out to my glider, (which is tied down at the flight line) to make sure everything was OK. I don't think I have any more alkali dust from the Owens on it any more. One of the best investments I made before coming here was the Screw - an anchoring device. There is a run of the dog anchors at the local stores. Most people keep their gliders set up and tied down overnight. Hopefully tomorrow we will get to fly.

Since we had a rain day we headed up to check out Quest (site of next week’s comp). I met David Glover and Steve Kroop. They have a nice operation up there. Bill Moyes was there putting together a couple of dragonfly tugs. The most interesting thing I saw (being an A&P) was their new turbine tug. When I was told about it I said “you mean a turbo tug” to which Dave replied “no, turbine”. They have a turbine engine that came off an A7 Corsair. In the A7 application it is used as the starter motor. The really nice feature is the planetary gearbox, which is quite compact. One of the big problems with turbine installations is the size of the gearbox. This engine came with the nice small gearbox. I’m real interested in seeing it fly.

After the drive to Quest and back I feel more comfortable about the LZ’s in this area. Sometimes it seems that there is nothing but trees, lakes and swamps. It looks like there are good LZ’s every 2 to 5 miles.

Monday, April 15, Day 3

When we got to the Ranch this morning, I stopped at my glider to see how it had survived the night. I found one of the ribs (second to last at the tip) had broken from the back of the spar. We sped off to Walgreen’s for some 5-minute epoxy. By 9:00 am I was ready to go again (if we ever went).

The weather was predicted to be better today: 40% chance of showers, mostly to the north; winds out of the SSE; cloud base at 4800; top of lift at 3500’ with lift between 200 and 400 fpm. The task was called for an out and return to Gator, 53.5 miles round trip. The first start time was moved up to 12:30 with the launch window open at 11:00. I was in the odd line, which is on the north side. The wind changed a little and they turned our line around. The even line stayed where they were. A lot of pilots grabbed up the launch carts and put their gliders on them, even though they were not ready to go. I was in my harness, helmet on, and ended up carrying my glider to my place in line. The ranch hands keep saying, "don’t get on the cart unless you are ready to go". And I thought they meant it.

I was towed up at 11:53. It turned out to be a good time to go. I pinned off early; we were in lift and I wanted to give the tow pilot a break (Rich Sauer later told me that in light lift like today, take the entire tow). I headed to the closest gaggle I could see. I worked with them for a few minutes then saw a better gaggle a mile to the south. On the way over to this second gaggle I found some good lift so I stopped to work it. I was going up at 200 fpm. Now I know what a gaggle magnet is. Within 60 seconds there were 15 more pilots in my thermal. I believe this gaggle turned out to have 40 or 50 gliders in it. I noticed we were drifting toward the turn point, which was good, but we were past 1.5 miles from the Ranch. I found out after I landed that the start circle is a 3-mile radius. I thought it was a 3-mile diameter. So, don’t follow me. I headed back to the Ranch, got low, but managed to cross the 1.5-mile radius at 12:30. I thought I had a great start. The lead gaggle was gone.

I got lower and lower. Everyone was way above me on course. I was down to 500’ AGL and finally found something. I worked this for a long time (50 fpm). At 1500’ I saw two other gliders a mile away circling. I was back to 1200’ there and with no lift. Again I spotted a glider circling. I joined it at 1000’. It turned out to be Clair Vassort. We worked together for quite some time (I talked to Clair after landing and thanked her for marking the lift for me. She said after I got up she'd followed me as well). More and more gliders joined us. The lift got better, sometimes 500 fpm. I left this gaggle behind and caught up to another one further ahead. About 2 miles from the turn point I saw the lead gliders passing me for the trip back. The lift was very good to the turn point. On my GPS I tried to keep the distance to the turn point less then .25 miles for 30 seconds to make sure I got the turn point. The scorekeeper said the software does not support Mark; Enter (creating a waypoint). I hope I got it.

Rich Sauer reported on the radio that he was 5 miles ahead of me. All the way back, gaggles would form and break up. At one point I was above both Carlos Besa and a Swift. The Swift quickly left us behind. The cloud bases were up to 4800’ and I was climbing to 3800’ before leaving. Six miles out the clouds were close together and the ground was shaded. About 12 of us were heading for the Ranch with me about third. We started working 100 up. I thought with all the shade on the ground, we would never find enough lift to get us to goal. I spotted some raptors circling ½ mile to the west. When I got under them I was going up at 600 fpm+. The rest of the gaggle came in under me. At 3500’ my vario said I had goal.

I went on final glide. I have my final altitude set for 800’, just to be safe. My vario kept changing back and forth between making goal and not. Since I had set goal at 800’ I thought I would be fine. I kept looking for the Ranch. I thought I saw it, but 3 miles out I realized I had the wrong place. The Ranch was much closer. I stuffed the bar to my waist the last 3 miles. I crossed goal at 500’. I made it. First completed task in my first timed comp! I was ahead of all the gliders in my last gaggle. Unfortunately, we were one of the last gaggles to finish.

A note on landings. Unfortunately almost all the bad landings I saw were Atos’. One Atos C crashed into the goal post. Another Atos broke a down tube and the keel.

Several things went wrong with communications. We (Rich, Steve Rudy, and I) could not hear our driver and he could not hear us. He tried a couple of radios with no luck. After I landed he realized he'd lost his cell phone. Steve landed out (1.5 miles behind a locked gate) and had been trying to call. We got a hold of him on my cell phone. By the time we arrived he had already carried his glider to the road. Someone found Bob’s cell phone and turned it in to Malcolm, so Bob has it back.

Thermaling in my first death gaggle was nice. It was like being in a tornado with lots of gliders sucked up. I noticed that most pilots make much larger turns than I would normally make in a thermal (maybe the rigid wings turn much better than the flex wings ;-). Steve mentioned the same thing. I never felt unsafe or had any close calls. I felt like today was a survival day as opposed to a race day. After my low save, I felt very uncomfortable under 2000’. The lift was really poor under 2000’. I stopped to thermal a lot just to make sure I would not sink out. Rich had similar feelings.

It started raining hard here about 6:00. My glider is getting another bath. I now have to recharge all my batteries, upload my waypoints back to my GPS, fill my water bag etc.

Tuesday, April 16, Day 4

No personal drama today, lots of clean socks and underwear. My glider was in good shape this morning. They posted the results at 12:30 this morning. Gerolf is in first place by one second over Oleg. Four pilots took the 12:45 start time and had quicker times than Manfred. Christian Ciech, from Italy (if he had longer hair would look like a young Paul McCartney) is in first place in the rigid class. The first four pilots in the rigid class had faster times than the fastest flexwing.

They moved the pilot’s meeting to 10:00 (10:08 in pilot’s time, always late). There were some awards for the first place in each class (a Moyes T-shirt?). Each pilot told us his secret for winning (get high and find the best thermals). Gerolf said Oleg almost ran into him at goal, less than a meter separation. Clair, as our newest American citizen, led us (reluctantly on her part) in the pledge of allegiance.

A 65 mile out and return task was called with 3 turn points: Quest to the north; 17-92 intersection to the south; and a point in between. A few minutes before the tows started, the meet director announced a secondary task. The main task would end at 3:00. If you did not make goal, it was strictly a distance-completed contest.

I towed up at 11:30. The lift was OK, about 100 to 200 fpm. I boated around for an hour. I seemed to be doing better today, staying closer to the top of the gaggle. I thought I had a good start; I was at 2800’, 3 miles out right at 12:30. I took the first start gate because I did not think anyone would make goal and distance would be more important (I was right for once).

I don’t know how these top rigid pilots do it, but soon after the start it looked they were already a couple of miles ahead. At 12:30 I could see the flexi gaggle at the edge of their start circle 2 miles further out. I don’t know how I can ever catch them. At exactly 12:30 all I could see was the back of their sails. This lead gaggle slowly pulled away as the day continued. By 3:00 they were about 7 miles ahead of me.

I did much, much better today. I stayed above 2,000’ most of the day, most of the time above 3,000’. Only once did I get nervous about my altitude. I slowly caught up to the lead gaggle stragglers (flexi’s). Once again I caught up to Clair and thermaled with her for a short time. I swear I was catching up to other rigids, although I don’t know how they all got in front of me. Any time I found lift and I was below 2500’ I would turn in it. If it did not get better than 400 fpm after a few turns, I would look elsewhere. A few times the lift was better than 800 fpm. The air was never rough enough that I could not fly one handed or with the bar to my waist. So far the thermal cores here feel like they are surrounded by light lift (a 400 fpm core might have 100 to 200 fpm 400 yard away). Many of the western thermals I find might start right at the edge at 800 fpm, with a core a few hundred fpm better.

At 2:50 PM I went on final glide, while heading for the last turn point. 3 miles from the turn point I saw the lead gaggle pass under me. Several of them raced to the ground. I was a few tenths of a mile short of the turn point at 3:00. Many of the pilots either did not hear about the 3:00 stop time or forgot. I passed 6 to 10 pilots who were still thermaling a couple of minutes before 3:00. No one made goal. Manfred was the closest, 47 seconds short of goal at 3:00. Bob Blazer, my driver, said he saw 5 to 10 other rigid pilots pass before me, so I might have made the top 10 in the rigid class today.

I got the last turn point just for the heck of it (and so I can use this flight for our local club XC comp). There was a rainsquall heading toward the course line about 5 miles south of the Ranch. The lift in front of the squall was so good that I only made 3 360’s on the 10 miles back to the ranch. I flew at 40 to 45 mph most of the way back. I wanted to get on the ground before the rain. I landed back at the Ranch. It never did rain. Total flight time was 3:47. This included the hour between the tow and the start time. On yesterday's flight I was in the air 3:45. I am very soar (pun intended). Since Labor Day of last year, I have had less than 2 ½ hours of airtime. Now I have over 7 hours in two days. To say that my muscles ache is an understatement. Thanks to modern pharmacology, I’m able to keep going.

Another word on the death gaggles. I can hear a lot of other varios in the gaggle. And, I had to keep my head up for almost an hour at the start today looking for traffic.

A couple of final rants. They don’t have enough electrical outlets in our motel room. We must have 6 or 7 items to plug in each night to charge. We only have two lights we can use since we had to unplug the rest to use them for our chargers. And all the gas pump nozzles we have used do not have the lock-on feature. You have to hold the nozzle on the entire time (which I had to do in the rain yesterday).

The weather for the rest of the week looks good. We might end up with a 5-day comp.

Wednesday, April 17, Day 5

Hero to zero to?

I got to the ranch this morning by 7:30. The first thing I did was check the results from yesterday. The flex wing results were all screwed up, but the class 5 results looked OK. I placed 6th for the day, yahoo! I moved up from 14th to 9th place in class 5. I was feeling real good.

By the time of the pilots meeting, most of the venting about the results had died down. The officials are working to fix the problem. Nancy Smith had a landing accident yesterday. JC announced that she had surgury last night to fix her femur. Obviously she is still in the hospital. All of the pilots there felt for her.

The weather was predicted to be like the last couple of days, with light lift, wind out of the east, and cloud bases at 3,800. A task was called for an out-and-return with 3 zigzag turn points. The route went south, northwest, southeast, then north back to the ranch for a total distance of 65 miles. The start times were moved up with only one start time at 12:15. To make up for the one start time, the start cylinders were enlarged. Flex wings had a 10-mile radius and rigids a 5-mile radius. CU’s started forming at 9:15; by 10:00 the sky looked overcast.

As we headed out to the tow line, holes in the clouds started opening up. Wind dummies were towed up at 10:45 and stayed up. Competitors started towing right at 11:00. I was on the cart and ready to go at 11:40.

I was hooked to a trike. I have never towed behind a trike so I was looking forward to the experience. Unfortunatly it turned out to be mostly bad. The trike seemed to be much more unstable than either a Dragon Fly or my Atos. The trike was all over the sky. I gave up trying to chase him and settled in to one general position that he would bounce back to. The climb was slow, between 200 and 300 fpm verses 500+ behind a Dragon Fly. At 1750’ he waved me off in the middle of a blue hole, 400 fpm down and no other gliders around.

I headed for the nearest cloud that looked like it would have lift. Now here is the tough part, do I try for the lift, or sink out and re-tow? I made the wrong choice. I was down to 800’ when I found lift, too far from the Ranch to make it back. I worked zero sink for 10 minutes. Finally, I had drifted so far over a forest I had to make another choice: head for the only field within glide, or drift over the trees and either find lift or land in the trees. I chose the field. I arrived over it at 200 agl, where I thought I found some lift but it was just some teaser bubbles. One 180 and I was on the ground. I felt like a total zero, because that is what you get if you land out (actually you get the minimum distance).

I was pissed. At first I was pissed at the tug pilot. Then as I thought about it, I realized it was my entire fault. I now know that it would have been better to land and get a re-tow than leave and look for lift. Another valuable lesson learned. But what’s this? After I am back in the car, we hear that the task has been canceled! I called Malcolm and he confirmed that it was canceled. I did not want to tie up his phone so I did not ask why. I will find out when we get back to the Ranch.

We told Steve Rudy and Rich that the day was canceled. Steve started to fly back, but got low and landed in a nice field, or so he thought. It turned out to be a bog with 6’ to 7’ weeds. He is trying to break down his glider as I type this. I hope there are no alligators in there. Bob walked in to help Steve carry his glider out. Now he knows what saw grass is; he has several cuts on his hands. Rich made the first turn point and is heading back to the Ranch (which he made.)

Back at the Ranch we were told the task was canceled due to rain. It seems almost all pilots other than me were not happy. I just dodged a bullet. I will keep my place. As we were sitting under the big tent, Manfred landed at 3:14. He completed the task in 2:59. He says that he never heard about the cancellation. Rich was right with Manfred at the time of the cancellation and signaled him with the agreed-upon in-flight procedure (unzip your harness, extend your legs and peddle your feet like you are on a bicycle).

My confidence is now shaken. The thermal trigger sources here don’t make any sense. I have to learn to figure these out better. One other glider landed in the same field as me, so as I said earlier, don’t follow me. I learned a lot today.

Bob and I went looking for another hotel for the Quest comp. He will be leaving and my wife will be arriving to drive for me at Quest. We walked into a Holiday Inn and I asked about the room rate for a single bed. The clerk looked us up and down and told us the rate for two single beds. I said no, I want the single bed rate; he repeated the two-bed rate and finally said the single bed rate. We must be near Dade County ;-)

Thursday, April 18, Day 6

Due to the short day yesterday, I took the time to do my laundry the old fashioned way, in a washer and dryer (the microwave was not big enough). It never did rain yesterday. I heard much grumbling from the pilots regarding the task cancellations. I keep my mouth shut. Florida must have some terrible weather that can explode at any second for the powers-that-be to be so quick to cancel the task.

At the pilots meeting an out and return task was called with a single turn point of Coleman; a 90 mile round trip. Several pilots talked to me about how to tow behind a trike. I appreciate their input. Very few clouds were visible by 9:30 this morning. Most days, it is almost overcast by 9:30. This should help heat the ground and make for better lift. JC apologized for calling the day yesterday.

The wind shifted just before the first tow window opened and the odd pilots had to move all the way to the other end of the Ranch. Malcolm was right on top of it, rounding up all the carts so pilots could move their gliders easier. They delayed the first tow until 11:15 so we could get the entire line moved.

The wind dummies were towed up and stayed up. Some of the tug pilots started towing gliders downwind. Malcolm let them all know to tow us upwind so we'd have a chance to get up or land back at the Ranch. I towed at 11:40.

I was thinking about taking the second start time at 12:30, but decided that since I would need 4 hours to complete the task, I'd better take the 12:15 start. I was not in a good position to start so I was 3 minutes late. This Florida lift makes no sense to me. Some clouds have lift and some don’t. I would keep an eye out for clouds forming, but even that did not work. Most of the time I just looked for other gliders turning. I found lift from 50 fpm up to 800 fpm. I had my hang strap go slack several times. It felt a little like home.

Rich took the first start time and decked it at Quest. He said Bo and another top pilot landed there as well. I was down to 800 feet 2 miles before Quest and got a save back to 4,000. Steve Rudy got a save from 240’ all the way to 4,700’. Things went well until I tried to lead a gaggle. I was back down to 1200’ when I found lift. I just could not find the cores. I worked back to 3000’ when a bunch of the gaggle I led showed up under me, so I guess I did not do too badly.

Five miles from the turn point, the lead gaggle passed me on their way back from the turn point. I don’t know how they find thermals so fast. Many of them made only 4 or 5 turns in my thermal before heading out again. I was flying slow trying to stay high. I was now able to stay between 4000’ and 5000’. I thought I had a chance to make it back to the Ranch.

I was getting less and less thermal markers. About 28 miles out I was at 5000’. I never found another thermal I could get up in. Like I said before, nothing makes sense. I went under clouds, over sunny areas, woods and parking lots, yet never found a thing. I was a mile south of Quest and over a completely shaded area. I flew back to Quest which was in the sun. I worked at 900 feet for 8 minutes before drifting over the trees. As I approached to land, I worked at 300’ for four 360’s (I was thinking of Steve’s save) before that broke up as well, so I landed at Quest. After I landed I was told that a marine layer had moved in and shut down the lift.

I thought I had not done very well, but I saw that several of the top rigid pilots did not make it back either. At least I had my longest duration flight ever, 4 hours and 40 minutes, about 30 minutes more than my previous best. I flew 65 miles. JC said that 20 to 25% of the field made it back. Three pilots came in after 5:30. One made goal by 20' and one was 100 yards short.

I am going to the Ranch to eat tonight and try their vegetarian meal. They had an excellent vegetarian stew. I talked to some of the people who were here at goal today and heard some good stories. The biggest story was that Gerolf had taken an in-flight piss. When he zipped back up, he got his package caught in his zipper. He flew the rest of the way to the Ranch like that. He could not go upright for landing due to his preDICKament so he landed prone. The ground crew thought he was injured and rushed over to him. He ordered them all away and lay on the ground for 10 minutes while he extricated himself. The other pilots have named him Zippy.

A glider coming in to land hit the 30' wind sock at the top and fell the 30' to the ground with the pilot and glider landing on their back. The pilot was not injured.

When the Top Secret came fast into goal the ground crew said the sail had an incredible amount of flutter. They said it looked like it would come apart in flight.

The pilots passed the hat and raised some money to buy Nancy Smith some flowers. Any extra money would go to help fix her glider.

Friday, April 19, Day 7

Frustration!

By the time the pilots meeting started, there were very few clouds in the sky. At the pilots meeting they gave Gerolf (Zippy) a special weenie award.

The weather report was for a good day with lift of 4 to 5 hundred fpm and cloud base at 6,500’. An 80-mile polygon task was called. First turn point to the north, then back southeast, then west and north back to the Ranch.

By 10:45 when the tow opened there were still very few clouds. The wind dummies that towed up soon came down. The first competitor towed up shortly after 11:00. I think they had to re-tow. At 11:30 pilots started lining up in earnest. I towed at 11:45. I made a mistake on tow again. I was not keeping real close tabs on my altitude. The tug pilot waved me off at 1100’. I was in 400 fpm up, great, but I could find it for only one turn, boo. I wanted to take the 12:15 start time but was only at 1400 by then. Pilots were still being towed up above me.

I found a good thermal and was at 3800’ by the 12:30 start time so I took that. The lift was working well. I could dolphin fly under the clouds. Very few pilots were catching me and I led a gaggle for 3 thermals, staying above 4000’ most of the time. I made the first turn point pretty fast (for me), but then things started to fall apart. I made a low save from 1100’ back to 3600’ that cost me a lot of time. I lost sight of all the gliders I was flying with. I was back on my own.

I had another low save from 1400’ up to 3200’. In each successive thermal I was topping out lower. I could see some gliders at 4000’+ above me but just could not get up. A couple miles north of the Ranch I circled at 900’ for 14 minutes then at 600’ for another 5. Bob was on the ground giving me wind direction: out of the southeast at 5. I finally came in for a landing. 50’ above the ground Bob reported the wind was out of the northwest at 5. For some reason, every time he is there, I get a down-wind landing. The base bar slid along the ground for about 8’, but nothing was damaged.

I drove back to the Ranch in time to see 15 or more gliders making goal. Rich was still in the air and reported being at 5600’. There were two rigids on the ground when I arrived, Christian was one of them. Manfred was here as well. Rich landed at 4:30, completing the task.

I talked to some of the pilots who completed the task today. They said the lift was under the darker parts of the clouds. I was mostly looking for new, forming clouds, though I tried just about everything to find lift (if I'd really tried everything I would have made goal). I need to work on my thermaling, that is where I seem to lose it the most. The best pilots can come in under me and thermal right up through me, even though it looks like we are taking the same path around. And, obviously, I need to be able to find the damn things.

I talked a lot with the pilot of the Top Secret, Andy Hollidge from Great Britain. The glider still needs a lot of refinement. Of the few gliders I was easily able to out glide that was one of them. It seems to climb well. He has the thick plastic coated wires and the control frame looks like it has a lot of drag. If he is able to clean it up like the Atos or Atos-C it could be a contender. He is flying with a T-Tail. He says that it thermals better with the tail. I asked if maybe it was the “T” part of the tail and he said no, he had tried it with the vertical section only and it did not make a difference.

There is a party at Wallaby tonight, free food, beer and margaritas (I can’t seem to find anything for us non-drinkers). As soon as I post this I am heading back. Tomorrow we head up to Quest to register and have the first pilots meeting.

For the first time in three years, Manfred did not take first place; Oleg did, with Manfred second and Paris third (another first to have an American in the top 3). Paris was also the U.S. National Champion for the second year. The Italians took one and two in class 5: Alex Ploner (Atos-C), and Christian Ciech (Icaro Stratos). This was Alex' first flatland comp. The margaritas, beer and tequila shots were flowing freely tonight.

Quote of the day: Several pilots have the ability to adjust their sprogs in flight. Paris and some other pilots were discussing this. Rich told of negative bar pressure at high speeds. Paris said that on final glide he had to raise his sprogs to keep this from happening. Another pilot chimed in, "doesn't that hurt your glide?”, to which Paris replied, "NOT AS MUCH AS TUMBLING".


The latest Zippy rumor is that it took two stitches to sew him back together.

End of part one.

Last month I wrote about my adventures at my first class 1 comp. The saga continues with the Quest Air comp, immediately following the Wallaby comp.

Saturday, April 20, Moving day.

Saturday is the day all of us that are going up to Quest need to move our things that way. Malcom offered to tow up pilots who want to try to fly there. He also said anyone who wants to stay at the Ranch while flying in the Quest comp is more than welcome. I checked the results this morning and they are still screwed up. The results for the four valid tasks for class 5 are posted and I have a score in each, but in the overall standings they have me absent for the third task. Without this missing score I am in 14th place, but if I add the missing score I am in 9th place (unless the other pilots' scores are wrong as well).

I snagged the last room at the Groveland Motel, the closest motel to Quest. The Super 8 by Wallaby was much much better at the same price. They only take cash at the Groveland, and since so many pilots are here, only rent for the week. The room has a refrigerator and stove, but no microwave. How long do socks take to dry at 350 degrees? After I was all checked in, I noticed that there was no phone in the room. I asked at the office and was told there was a pay phone in the back parking lot. I headed back to Quest to set up my glider and help Rich Sauer install his carbon leading edge inserts. Mark Poustinchian came over and we started talking gliders. I told him of my phone line problem and he offered to let me use his. So, thanks to his generosity, you can still read my saga.

As I was setting up my glider, the metal sleeve in the corner bracket fell out, and with it the wire tang and spacer. I found all the pieces in the grass. After re-installing them, I used a pair of vise grips to squeeze the two ends of the spacer enough so it would not easily fall out. If you have one of the new Wills Wing aero control frames, you might want to check that part.

We had the first pilots meeting at 5:00. This meet seems more relaxed. David Glover is running the meet and is at the other end of the spectrum in personality than JC. David seems to come across so much better. There were much less complaints from the pilots, even when the cloud flying issue was brought up. They might have as many as 20 tugs here. It should make the tows go extremely fast.

Rich seems to have a magnet in the nose of his glider that kicks in when he is flairing. Hopefully he will get that worked out. I purchased a new nose cone for this trip, and it still has no grass stains on it. I hope I can keep it that way.

The weather today looked like there might not be much lift, but after 1:00 it really looked good. The pilots flying in from Wallaby had trouble getting down. It’s now 6:00 and the sky is a little overdeveloped, but gliders are still thermaling.

Sunday, April 21, Day 1

First, the "guardian angel" award goes to Bruce Barmakian. During today’s task, he heard and felt a pop and his control frame got a lot of slop in it. He looked up at the apex and saw a bolt had come out and the right downtube was hanging loose. What would you do? The obvious, climb in the control frame, steer with your feet, remove your shoelaces and use them to tie the downtube in place. At least that’s what Bruce did.

The pilots meeting went smoothly. An 80 mile out and return with two turn points was called. The task would take us up north and slightly west and on the return we would fly over Coleman. There would be only one start time, 1:30. Launch opened at 12:00. By 12:00 there were no clouds. Some pilots towed up and sank out. By 12:20 a lot of pilots were lining up.

I had my face shield up while on the cart; I should have had it closed. As the tug accelerated, I got a face full of dried grass. Some stuck in my left eye. I was blinking my left eye, trying to clear it. As soon as I released, I was able to wipe my eye. I guess I will have to start the tow with my shield down from now on. I towed up at 12:50 and got to 2000’ for the first time. I worked with a gaggle and slowly climbed up. Just before the 1:30 start time I was still a little low (3000’) and ½ mile short of the outer edge of the start circle. The Flex wings had a start 3 miles ahead. The lift was good when you could find it. I stayed above 3,000’ most of the way to the first turnpoint, several times getting to above 5,000’.

Two miles from the first turn point (almost half way through the task) Davis and Christian passed me below. I was 4 miles behind them. I had caught and passed a couple of flex wing gaggles. I made a slight tactical error on the way to the second turnpoint. The turnpoint was out in the blue and I did not think I could glide to it and make it back under the lift, so I flew a mile away from it and gained a thousand feet. Then I flew to it and back to the lift. I saw several gliders go straight to the turn point and then to the lift.

I lost the gaggle I was flying with (mostly rigids). I had to find my way back to Quest on my own. I really had to slow down and work what I could find, since I could not tell what was ahead of me. The haze was thick enough that I could not see any gliders ahead of me.

The sea breeze had kicked in and the lift was shutting down. I was 14 miles out and at over 4,000’ when I went on final glide. I stopped twice and gained only 300’ each time. Six miles out my vario was still telling me I had Quest. Then I hit some 600 down and no up. There was a lot of unlandable terrain for the last 2 miles before goal so I tried to work some small bubbles of lift and only got lower. At 400’ I joined some buzzards circling. Five 360’s later I was at 350’.

I now had only one field to land in. It was surrounded on 3 sides by orange grove and the fourth side had a forest with tall trees. My landing went fine, but I had to carry my glider a ¼ mile through the orange grove to the road. I was 1.8 miles short of goal!

A friend from the Bay Area, Adrian, drove for us today. He moved to Florida last year and came up to watch the comp. Tonight my wife flies in and will drive for the rest of the comp. At least now I will have my own private masseuse! The weather is supposed to be more of the same tomorrow.

Monday, April 22, Day 2

I went over to Quest early to set up my glider and check it out. Rich was setting his up at the same time. He mentioned something about the “set up of shame” - if you made goal, you did not have to set up your glider, since it would still be set up from the day before. I finished 13th for the day, yesterday, the closest pilot to goal that did not make goal. Half of the rigid gliders made goal and about a third of the flex wings.

Nancy, my wife and driver, arrived last night. Life is much better.

At the pilots meeting, they gave Bruce “the McGyuver award” for his shoelace-on-the-down-tube trick. A 65-mile task from Quest to Winter Haven and back was called. Start times were pushed back to 1:45, 2:00, and 2:15. Clouds were forming to the west by 12:00. Wind dummies started going up and coming down at 12:40.

It seemed that everyone was ready to go at the same time. I was ready pretty fast and still was near the back of the line. This was another mistake. Lift was light, and I never did get a good start. I was ½ mile from the start line at 2:15. Sucking hind teat again.

The lift was still light for the first 15 miles and picked up from there. I was only under 3,000’ once on the way to the turn point. On the way back I was above 4,500’ for 10 miles. Then up ahead, the cloud disappeared and there was nothing but blue.

I found several thermals in the blue that took me back above 4,000’. 17 miles from Quest I had my last thermal. I managed a glide of 8 miles. I heard over the radio that Rich landed 8.9 miles short. At 10 miles out, I was at 600’. I could see the field Rich landed in up ahead. I decided to land in the same field to make it easier on Nancy. I arrived with just enough height to make a left 90-degree turn to final.

I think my bad landing days are behind me. Yesterday I found I was not rocking up in my harness far enough. Today I made sure I was all the way up. The landing was easy, except Rich did not tell me the field was very soft sand. I sank about 9” into the wet sand.

Nancy was only ½ mile away when I landed…behind a locked gate. We had to hoof our gliders the ½ mile to the car.

I saw a lot of gliders on the ground both to and from the turn point, but not too many rigids. There were a lot of gliders back at Quest. Looks like another “set up of shame” tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 30, Day 3

I got up early so I could finish my “set-up-in-shame”, in peace. When I land out, it adds another 2 hours to the things I have to do to get ready for the next day. They have been serving breakfast and dinner at Quest so we ate breakfast there. I checked the results from yesterday. If they are correct, I placed 7th for the day. Only 4 rigid pilots made it to goal and about 10 flexies. I hope by the time the comp is finished I will have learned how to thermal. I just can’t seem to stay in these Florida thermals. The rougher it is, the better I do. So far, I can’t say we have had a rough day as compared to what I am used to.

Since arriving in Florida I have flown over 24 hours. At this rate, I will rack up as many hours in two weeks as I flew in all of last year. My arms, neck, back and legs all feel it.

At the pilots meeting, two different tasks were called. One, to Chalet Suzanne airport as a turn point, and then on to Wachula for a total of 77 miles. If the lift were weak, then goal would be Suzanne. The weather report was not very good - light lift and blue skies. If the temperature was high, we could expect a good day. Steve announced that we were not to take our gliders to the start staging area until they rang the bell. The winds were switching and they did not want gliders in the wrong area.

What happened next was almost comical. About 30 pilots and gliders were lined up at the parking area, like they were waiting for the Great Oklahoma Land Grab. I was late again and was not able to secure a cart. The bell rang and we were off. All my running paid off. Even without a cart I finished 4th to secure my place in the launch line. It was a good omen.

The launch was supposed to open at 12:45. Several wind dummies launched and came back down. All the start and finish times were moved back 15 minutes. The sky was filled with high cirrus clouds. A few pilots towed up and even fewer stayed up. By 1:30 the cirrus had cleared and the sun came out. I quickly suited up and was in the launch line. All the priority pilots figured the same thing and I moved from 4th to 14th to tow. Due to the light lift, the secondary task to goal at Suzanne was called, about 42 miles.

I had a great tow behind a yellow trike (I don’t think the color had much to do with it). He let me off in 400 up, all by my self. Soon I was above most of the gliders around me. They headed over like hornets. I was high for the start, though I was still a mile from the start circle at the last start time of 2:30. I was in a gaggle of 10+ rigids and 10+ flex wings. Off to the races we went. Clouds had started to form and the lift was getting better and better. It looked like it would be a good day after all.

Finally I was in a good position to see the lead flex wing gaggle. Most of us headed off in their direction. Many of the lesser performing flex wings dropped behind and the gaggle soon turned into mostly rigids. The first few climbs were in moderate lift, 400+ fpm. I realized that I am not that bad at thermaling. I hook in at 235 pounds. Most of the other pilots hook in a lot less than me. As long as the lift is good, I climb as well as them. But as soon as the lift drops to less than 200 fpm, they leave me behind.

After two thermals I was starting to drop behind. I found a good thermal by myself and used it to climb to 4,800’. I was now much higher than the lead gaggle and was able to make up some ground. I caught up to both the Swifts. 15 or more gliders started following Manfred in his Swift. It was a very long glide, more than 9 miles. Somebody else found the lift and we all joined in. At one point in this thermal I was behind Ron Gleason by less than 30’ for more than a 360. Ron later mentioned it, but he did not seem upset. I felt like our gliders were hooked together. I finally flew a little wider and then slid back in behind him.

From here we were less than 18 miles to goal. I was still being conservative and always took the thermal a little higher than the leaders. We were going to fly over a lot of water and I wanted to be high. After another long glide I was in what turned out to be my last thermal before goal. At 4200’ my fight computer said it was time to go. I was 8 miles to goal. It seemed like a long glide. 3 miles out I saw goal and realized I was high. I put the bar to my waist. For the next 3 miles my ground speed never went under 80 mph. My airspeed never went over 50. I know the wind was under 10 so my airspeed indicator must be off.

I came over goal at 750’ msl. Boy I felt good. All my pains did not matter so much. I tweaked my neck this morning and it was hurting right up to launch. I never noticed it in the air. I felt like I was really racing today instead of just trying to stay up. I check in at the goalkeeper and find that I had finished 22nd overall, seven minutes behind the first finisher. It took one hour and 12 minutes for the 42-mile task. I think I might have made the first 5 rigids, almost certainly the top 10. Rich landed a couple minutes behind me. He spent most of the day alone.

Some of the pilots were complaining about the short task. I thought it was a great call. It was an all out sprint today. After yesterday's four and a half hour flight, I enjoyed the shorter flight. As I type this we are in the car heading back to Quest. We are going to turn in our GPS’s and eat dinner there.

Tuesday, April 23, Day 4.

I did OK yesterday. I placed 7th in the rigid wing class. I flew the 42-mile task in one hour and thirteen minutes. My average speed was a little over 35 mph. Christian was first, and is well ahead of everyone else.

During the towing yesterday, I saw one of the tugs almost run into a dolly and the guy on the ATV retrieving it. Some said it was the ATV’s fault, but from my view, the guy on the ATV saved the day. The tug landed long, the ATV was just about to grab the dolly with his hook. The wing was so close he had to duck his head to keep from being hit. He kept his cool and at the last second, hooked the dolly and pulled it out of the way. The guys on the ATV’s remind me of rodeo calf ropers. As soon as the tug starts to pull the pilot, they are right behind. A couple of seconds after the pilots leave the cart, the guy grabs it with a hook and brings it back, at incredible speed.

Nancy saw her first alligator today. There is a state park in Groveland that has a lake (I’m sure every park in Florida has a lake), and she spotted a four footer. It made her day, almost as much as me making goal yesterday ;-)

The pilots’ meeting today was a lot of fun. Dave played a song called “I Got VG” sung to Sonny Bono’s “I Got You Babe”. Whoever performed it was great. I would love to get a copy of it. We received a live weather update from Gary Osoba. The lift could be good today if it does not get overcast. The winds are strong at the time of the meeting out of the east, northeast. The task for today is 67.6 miles to the northwest and ends near the Willis airport.

The wind was still a little strong at the 12:30 tow start. The first start time was 1:45. Several people towed up right at 12:30 and came back down. Some more towed up and stayed up, but drifted down wind quite a bit. Pilots started seriously towing up by 1:00. I got right up to 4,400’. I could not hear anyone on the radio. Checking my helmet connection, I found it had come unplugged. I could not find the end in my harness. I had to take my glove off to feel around for it. It felt like it took 5 minutes to find it. All the while I was trying to stay clear of the gaggle but still stay up. I found the other end, but needed to use both hands to plug it together, so I had to put my glove back on. Then I could not find the two ends again. I did manage to get them together and make radio contact, but I was almost to the edge of the start circle and down to 3,300’

There were no gliders back up wind that I thought I could reach, so I was stuck with taking the first start gate, 1:45, low. Six miles out I was at 1,400’. I found a thermal back to 4,400’, but I could see no other gliders. I was on my own again. The clouds were a good indicator of lift and I was working along fast, staying above 4,000’. 20 miles out I started to get into trouble.

I got low again, down to 1,500’. I spotted a glider circling and came in under them. They climbed out much faster than me and left. I lost the lift at 3,300’. I tried to follow from below but had no luck. I was in the blue. I stumbled into a real screamer, over 1000’fpm up. I saw another glider above me. At 3,000’ I completely lost it. I searched all over. The pilot above me continued to go up, probably past 5,000’. They left high and made it to the clouds on the other side of the hole. I was drifting over forest and really bad landing areas. I played it safe and headed out to the turnpike (75). I found nothing on the way there. I landed next to the turnpike, 30 miles from Quest and 35 miles from goal. One word: Shit!

As I was breaking down, the blue hole started to fill in with clouds and I watched a large gaggle of fast gliders pass overhead.

Rich landed 8 miles short of goal at the Crosswind Landings Airport. The place lived up to it’s name. It is 50’ wide X 2000’ long, lined with 80’ tall trees. When he landed, the wind was indeed cross. We talked about the thermals today. We both agreed that instead of the usual columns, they were bubbles. If you came low, you did not have much chance of getting up in one.

As far as the set-up-of-shame, it won’t be so bad tonight because everyone will have to set up, since the task did not return to Quest, if we ever get back to Quest. As I am typing this, Rich and I have been giving our driver directions back to Quest. But we got to talking and we missed our exit. Twenty miles later we are back on track, 10 miles to go. As Rich’s wife Linda says, “don’t tell the driver how to drive”. Words to live by.

I just got back to Quest. It sounds like a lot of pilots made goal. Alex in an Atos-C made goal in a little over two hours. And there is talk of an Atos landing in the swamp. I would rather land short than take the risk and land in the swamp.

Wednesday, April 24, Day 5

I learned to fly Florida thermals today!

Last night, the turbine powered tug did some taxi tests and a couple of short hops. The sound of the thing is impressive, expecially when it is starting. We were in the club house when it taxied in. It sounded just like a King Air as it pulled up.

Only a few rigid wings did not make goal yesterday. My poor showing moved me from 10th to 15th place. It’s going to be difficult to move back up. I have some Velcro that I am going to use to make sure my helmet does not disconnect from my radio, and I am definitely going to try to stay with a gaggle.

Two days ago when we got back to Quest, Rich and I set our gliders on the ground, at the tie down cables. The next morning our gliders were moved and other gliders were set up in their places. another competitor was set up in Rich’s spot. Rich said something to them to which they replied “the competition does not end at goal” meaning if you don’t get your glider set up and tied down, you lose your spot.

The pilots meetings are turning into the Dave stand-up act. Everyone is really enjoying it. It’s almost worth the $250 just to see his show. The weather called for light to moderate lift (very weak by western standards, these guys get all excited over 400 up, back home it’s hardly worth turning in). There is a possibility that we could get rain showers later in the day. Winds are predicted to be out of the south. Two tasks are put up on the board. One is a 53-mile triangle and the other is a 90+ mile downwind task. The pilots get to vote on which one they want. The vote is split. The task committee gets to make the final decision and we get to do the triangle. I believe the triangle was the better task.

I took second in the sprint to the tow line, in spite of having to jockey around several dollies that were in my way. My strong finish was another good omen. All the start times were the same as yesterday. No one towed up when the tow window opened at 12:30, not even wind dummies. Ten minutes later a few pilots towed up. The day looked good so I took an early tow at 12:50. There were only about 10 pilots up when I towed.

The most exciting day since I have been here was about to start. I was having serious trouble thermaling since I arrived at Wallaby, 12 days ago. Ron Gleason set me straight. He said to thermal a lot slower and use 5 degrees or less flaps. Felix had given a talk at Wallaby about flying rigids (I missed it). Felix said to use little or no flaps, or almost all (for landing), the settings in between don’t help. So now I am thermaling 10 mph slower than I would dare out west, with 5 degrees of flaps. No one out-climbed me all day. I either stayed with them or climbed better. I could not believe the difference (now if I can only figure out where they hide them Florida thermals).

I still need a lot of work on my starts. I took all three start times. The first two, I found myself low only 4 miles out, so I went back to get the next start time. I never did find the lead rigid wing gaggle. I followed what gliders I could see. Visibility was poor today. A lot of moisture in the air. With my new thermaling technique, I was staying high. On all three legs of the task I either had a crosswind or head wind.

The hardest leg was the first. Many of us went way to the east to get to the turn point. This was the only part I was below 2,000’. I was 2 miles from the Coleman turn point and all the gliders in front of me still were not turning. Almost all of us at once spotted a lead flexwing gaggle to our right, circling. The lowest glider I was with was less than 400’; I was at 1600’ when we found the 400+ fpm lift. This brought many of us to 4,500’, but we were now 5 miles from Coleman. The ground for miles all around Coleman was in the shade.

Things really slowed down. I was with a gaggle of 10+ gliders. We stopped to work several weak thermals at 200 fpm just to stay up. Five miles past Coleman toward the second turn point at the 50-471 junction, the sun came out and we had better climbs.

Two miles before the second turn point I climbed back above 4500’. I made the turn point at 3800’ and went on to a thermal 2 miles past. I was 11.5 miles from Quest. As I was climbing past 4,000’, my vario said I had Quest on a glide. After the time I came up 1.8 miles short, I continued to climb until it said, “what the hell are you waiting for” At least 8 gliders all went on glide at the same time. I was the highest of the bunch.

I went through a couple of miles of sink where I had to slow down a bit. This time that last 3 miles my ground speed was closer to 70 mph. I crossed goal at 800’, you could not pry the grin off my face with a crow bar. For the first time since I have been in Florida, I feel like I learned something. I would never use my new thermaling technique in strong lift, but out here it is the ticket. As I said earlier, I think I may have made the top ten again. All of the big guns were already back when I landed, but I saw many rigids on the ground today, and I also saw 3 or 4 land after me.

As I am finishing up this, the turbine tug made its first real flight. There is a joke going around that whoever flies behind it will have to double up their weak link.

Thanks again to Ron for setting me straight (pun intended) on how to thermal in Florida.

Today I found out that Mark P. did not have a Cam Helper. He set all his records without it. Davis has had one for over a year. I gave one to Mark to help even things out. Hopefully he will break a lot more records.

Thursday, April 25 Day 6

I finished 9th in class V for yesterday’s task, which moved me up from 15th to 12th place overall. I saw my first bald eagle in flight yesterday. I also had my first near mid-air with a large bird. It was some type of raptor. I was on glide and so was the bird, heading directly toward each other. The bird was looking down. Just about the time I was going to push out and go over, the bird saw me and did a wild looking maneuver, we missed each other by less than 6 feet.

I can understand why they usually don’t tow in high winds. When you launch from a mountain site, you may have to deal with the wind for a few seconds, until you are away from the hill. Under tow you have to deal with it for several minutes. Luckily all the tows so far have been relatively smooth. When I got my aerotow rating with Hungary Joe, at Crazy Creek, CA, we were towing in 500 fpm thermals and ratty air. I have yet to have any tows like that here in Florida. It is smooth enough that I am able to zip up my harness, and make adjustments to my instruments while on tow. At the start of the Wallaby comp, I had 7 tows under my belt, now I am up to an incredible 17 ;-)

Nancy did a great job chasing us yesterday. There was no easy way to follow us on the way to the Coleman turn point. There was construction on some of the roads and she had to take some detours, but she stayed up with us the entire way. If we make it back to goal, driving can be a thankless job, but I feel much more secure knowing that she is down there and can find us if we run into some bad luck.

It really helps having Rich here. He has been to so many of these comps that he is an endless source of information. I hope I have not been slowing him down.

Tish (the flying fish) has been sneaking around squirting people with a big water gun. Several of the pilots snuck up behind her and threw her in the pool. Then at the end of the pilots meeting they poured a container of ice water over her. That should cool her off for a while.

The primary task is to Avon Airpark to the south. The secondary task is also to the south, Chalet Suzanne and back to Quest. They called the primary task to Avon Park Airport.

The sprint to the tow line is getting more interesting. Pilots are getting real competitive. There were several ground collisions. The start times were moved up for today. Launch opens at 12:00. At 11:55 there were very few CU’s visible. All times were pushed back 15 minutes.

I towed early, only about 6 pilots ahead of me. CU’s started popping up at 12:30. I found the gaggle of the big guns, and just before the 1:30 start I lost them. I did hook up with a gaggle of flex wings and soon found several rigid wings to fly with, Ron Gleason and Jim Yocom to name a couple. We flew together for most of the task. They lost me at one point, but as I was chasing them I found a thermal that was 800+ fpm. I took it to cloud base. This gave me the height to get above them for most of the rest of the task. Everything was as good as a pilot could hope for, good climbs to cloud base. Very seldom did I get below 4,000’.

Then came the glide from hell. From 5,000’ 22 miles out, I and about 20 other gliders went 10 miles without a single thermal. I could see gliders landing behind me. At 1,200 feet someone found lift. We circled in it at 100 fpm up for a long time. I moved over about one half mile and found 400 fpm. Soon everyone joined me. The lift got very weak at 3500’. Most everyone left, including me, which was a mistake. We were 11 miles from goal. We found out later that it had rained in that area 10 minutes before we flew over.

I guess everyone figured we would hit something before goal. We didn’t, I landed .9 miles short of goal. I saw 15 to 20 gliders land in a field 1.5 miles from goal. I was later told that 9 of the top 10 flex wing pilots were in that field. There was a field ahead I was sure I could make. All I had to do was fly over houses and trees and I would have it. I cleared the power lines by 30’ and made a quick left turn to land. There was no real landable field for the last ¾ mile. A couple of minutes after I landed, Robin Hamilton landed in the same field by slightly more margin.

I caught and passed Rich in the last thermal, another mistake. He made goal by 100’. He found a small thermal seven miles out that gave him enough to make it. I had made two 360’s in the same thermal and only gained 50’ and thought I could find something better.. He feels really great right now. It looked like 10 rigids made goal. I was probably the closest rigid to goal that did not make it.

At the start, I found that I could not thermal as well as Christian or Alex. Several times I was 200’ below them but could not catch up. I tried to follow them at the start but lost them around the clouds. I have one more chance to chase the lead gaggle.

Friday, April 26, Day 7

There was a television crew out on the flight line two days ago. They got footage of me landing and came up to me while I was carrying my glider back and did a short interview. It went something like this: “Well, how does it feel?”, me “How does what feel”, reporter “flying hang gliders”, me “it feels great”, reporter “what’s it like to make goal?”, me “a hell of a lot better than landing out” etc. Luckily I had my helmet on so no one will recognize me.

The turbine tug has been flying every evening. I did not realize it when I first looked it over, but it has an in-flight adjustable prop, just like the big boys. It also has beta range, meaning it can reverse pitch. What this really means is it can back up while on the ground. Something to see: a tug backing up.

As for my slowing down in thermals, a couple of people warned me of the dangers of a spin. I am fully aware of them. I thought I reported that I would not fly like that out west. Here in Florida, I have not experienced any rough air. Maybe the lead gaggle smoothes it out before I get there ;-). I did have to slow down just before goal two days ago because of the trashy air just before Quest, but flying that fast, it does not take a lot to make it feel bumpy. I think back to my first flight at St. John (CA). I was going up at 1400 fpm on one side of the thermal and down at 1200 on the other. I got scared and left after only 3000’ of this. I asked some of the other Sonoma Wings pilots about it after I landed, and the common reply was, "You should have stayed, it smoothed out after another 3,000’". Now it just seems like a good day (true story, it was the St. John fly-in August of 1999, launch is 6,000’).

I placed 9th for the day in yesterday’s task. I passed most of the lead flex wing gaggle. Most of the pilots who made goal were in the gaggle a mile behind the lead gaggle.

The pilot’s meeting was more laughs and prizes. Cristoff, one of the Germans, flew the wrong task yesterday and had the best flight of his life. The task for today was Quest-Cheryl-Quest-474,33-Gator-Quest. The total distance was 70 miles. The committee wanted to keep the pilots close to Quest so we could all get back in time to have the awards tonight.

By 12:00 CU’s were in the sky and the first competitor towed. I towed at 12:15. I wanted to make sure I could get a good start. I found the rigid wing gaggle and about 15 of us all took the 1:15 start time. I was keeping up until the second thermal. It took me two 360’s to find the core, and by then all the top pilots were 1,000’ above me. I slowly fell behind.

I was flying alone again; I swore I would not do that. At several miles from the first turn point, I found a really good one that was 600 fpm+ all the way to 5,000’. I was able to glide all the way to the turn point and a few miles back. I saw a glider turning ahead of me and came into his thermal at about the same height. We worked two thermals together. He went on a really long glide. I was slightly behind and to his right.

Once again, I stumbled on another 600+ thermal. I was back above 4,800’. I lost sight of the other glider. I spotted some gliders turning two miles ahead. I headed straight to them, but before I got there, they left; there was no lift there. I spotted them again to my left. They were really low. I came in over them at 1800’ agl. There were five rigids below me and one above. We worked a lot of zero sink. After what seemed like twenty turns, I and the rigid above me spotted a bird climbing out to our right. We both headed over and found 400+.

We topped out above 4,000 feet and headed for Quest. The next thing I know I am in a thermal with Ron Gleason and although I did not know it at the time, Mark Poustinchian. (he was free flying the task). We worked together (with me mostly pimping) to the 474-33 turn point and back to Quest. I dropped behind again, but found a nice 600+ thermal all to myself. This put me on top (except for Christian and Alex who stayed 1,500’ above us all the way to goal).

I took the lead to the Gator turn point and found a thermal. Then four of us worked together to about 4,300 then we went on glide. Just as we were passing Gator on the way to goal, Heiner came in over us, stinking high, got the turn point and took the lead. We were all flying as fast as we could to get to goal. We had a 10 mph head wind, but there was a lot of lift on the way back. My arms were aching from stuffing the bar. About ½ mile from goal, I realized that I was going to be under 100’ when I crossed. I had to slow down and fly with one hand to unzip, because I did not think I would have enough time to do it after I crossed goal.

Christian and Alex finished several minutes ahead of our group. Heiner finished two or three seconds before me and I was two or three in front of Ron. It was quite a finish. If no rigids took the last start time and burned up the course, I placed 4th for the day - Yahoo!!! I was the sixth pilot to cross the goal; the Swifts were one and two. The first flex wings came in ten minutes behind us.

I owe much of my success the last couple of days to Ron Gleason and Rich Sauer. Ron told me how to fly my Atos in Florida (although he waited until I bombed and was not a contender J, and Rich taught me how to find these Florida thermals.
I am posting this now and am going to go enjoy the festivities. I will post about the party tomorrow.

The awards presentation was great. Stand-up Dave (Glover) was “on” last night. He told a story about his aero towing lesson with Bill Moyes that had me crying, I was laughing so hard. I hope someone recorded it on video. I was presented with the “Best new competitor” award. I received $100 and a nice plaque (suitable for hanging as Dave would say). I really appreciate the recognition. I was really trying hard to figure out how to be competitive in these comps. Only two pilots made goal on all seven days. It goes to show if you can make goal every day, you can do well.

I found three things that are required to win. They may seem obvious, but before I came here I did not realize how much.

1>        You need a good start
2>        You have to be able to find the good thermals
3>        You have to be able to work the thermals to the max.

If you have a bad start, it is almost impossible to catch up. These pilots fly really fast and don’t waste much time.

You can try to pimp your way around the course, but at some point you will come in low, the thermal will be gone, and you will be on your own. It took my talking to a lot of pilots to figure out where to find the thermals (I am still not very good at this).

I thought I was pretty good at thermaling. Then on one of the first tasks, I was in my thermal doing great (or so I thought) when the lead flex wing gaggle joined me from below, and in a few minutes climbed up through me and were gone, no hello, no goodby, no kiss, just left me standing at the door. Boy was that a wake up call. I finally learned how to thermal the last three days of Quest. The only pilots I was unable to climb up to were Alex and Christian. Too bad I don’t have the chance to study them more. I was very frustrated at the end of the Wallaby. I was trying my hardest and could not figure out what I was doing wrong. I was not having much fun until things started to click. Now I’m sorry it’s over.

It is worth it, at least once, to enter one of these comps, just to see how you stack up and where your weaknesses lie. Flying against the best in the world is a very good lesson.

Some stats for the two weeks I was here: My GPS trip log says I flew 1,596 miles (this includes circling in thermals); My vario totaled 39 hours and 6 minutes of air time; I climbed 322,281 feet; I made goal 5 times; My highest ground speed was 85 mph.; my best climb (5 second average) was 800 fpm. Total tows: 11, lifetime 18. Weak link breaks: 0. Re-tows: 0. Times caught my privates in my zipper: 0. Motrin consumed: 24. Downtubes broken: 0. Injuries: 0.

We made the trek over to Wallaby today to repair my crate and get the glider ready for shipment. Rich had to crate 3 gliders for Rich Burton. I figured that since I was not going to be in the sun very much today, I would forgo the sun screen. Oops! Fixing the crate took longer than I thought and I got my first Florida sunburn.

Malcolm has been extremely helpful in receiving and shipping my glider. He goes out of his way to help us pilots. I don’t know how he does it, but he seems to know everyone’s name, and there were almost 100 pilots here for his comp. I can’t thank him enough.

Both Wallaby and Quest have been great places to fly. They seem different in personality, but I can’t say which is better. I think each pilot will have to make a choice (or not) as to which place better suits them. If you are planning a trip to Florida to fly, I would suggest flying at both parks.

Death gaggles: they were not as bad as I was told they could be. Flying in them was a Zen-like experience. As I was going around I would be aware of the pilots around me, but at the same time I'd be feeling the air and trying to adjust my position without cutting off other pilots. I don’t know if I ever cut anyone off, no one ever said anything to me.

The Exxtacy sucks as a comp glider. It climbs well, but drops like a stone on glide. Same can be said for the La Mouette Top Secret. If not for Andy’s exceptional ability, that glider would be at the back of the pack. The Atos-C is not the next generation glider after the Atos; it is just a very small step. What the German pilots liked most about it was not the performance, but the lack of slop in the control frame, which gave them better handling on landing.

The cost: I do not get vacation time and neither does my wife. If I factor in lost wages (the bills don’t stop just because I’m not there), the total cost is above $7,000. This does not include the cost of the equipment necessary to be competitive. If I lived close enough to drive, camped out, didn't need a rental car etc, and got vacation pay, my cost would have been closer to $1,200. I worked 250 hours of overtime last year to save up the money and come here and compete. In comparison, for me to go to King for a week probably cost $3,500.

One of the pilots mentioned to me the cost of the gliders and tugs over Quest just after they had all towed up. It worked out to $1,825,000 for 85 flex wings, 25 rigids, 21 tugs/trikes and all their equipment, harnesses, etc.

Most of the pilots/gliders I saw were trying to be competitive with very few round base tubes, draggy harnesses, etc. All the effort to clean up the drag would not make much difference on a normal XC flight, but at the speeds you need to fly to keep up (I typically flew 38 to 40 mph between thermals), drag becomes very important.

I felt very uncomfortable for the first week flying in Florida. There were no mountains to help me determine the direction I was flying. I soon learned the major roads around here and used my GPS more to determine direction. Driving around, it looked like there were very few landable LZ’s. After that first week, I never worried about LZ’s; they always seemed to be around when I needed one, though I was very careful about swamps, forests, locked gates etc. My glider seems to float more in this thick air than what I am used to, therefore I have been using up more ground on landing than I like. I still had to bundle up to fly. I wore a T-shirt, heavy alpaca sweater, XC skiing jacket, balaclava, and insulated gloves. The heat was comfortable, and the humidity bearable. It never got hot enough to wear shorts.

It was nice to meet so many pilots that I know only from the list. One of the best pilots I know of is Mark Poustinchian; he is also one of the nicest people I have ever met. I want to thank him and Samantha for letting me use their phone line all last week, and letting my wife entertain Oscar, the parrot. I hope to see many of you out west this summer. See you at launch and in the air.

Vince Endter