2004 Team Selection
First off, the helpers, course judges and scorekeepers deserve all our thanks for putting on a smooth running contest. CD Phil Renaud and his field marshall Dave Corven did a fine job of putting it all together on relatively short notice and with a low helper turnout. All of these guys did a great job, while putting up with a gaggle of the most high-strung competitors that soaring has to offer.
On to my particular high-strung gaggle. Joe, what can I say. Joe has managed to teach (okay, cajole, harass, occasionally pummel) me over the years to the point where I can give him a thrashing once in a while. Cool. Darrell Zaballos is (as Tim Renaud put it) the best speed caller I'm ever going to get. And Tim, well, Tim has the unique ability to kill off crazy ideas on demand. Without you guys it never would have come together.
Finally, I really need to thank Don Scegiel, who gave me the opportunity to fly the hard-to-get Estrella. There are lots of good sailplanes out there for F3B, but I was able to make peace with this one, and I am grateful.
Contest Report
Muncie in October provided us with three days (plus a practice day) of nice, flyable weather. Winds were 5 - 10 mph all three days with occasional lulls and hurricanes. Temperatures were in the 60s and low 70s with only a little sprinkle of rain Saturday morning.
The wind blew from a different direction each day. We decided to try something new for F3B and line up the winches into the wind:) All of the teams were pretty light on ground crew, but the generally upwind launches kept the amount of line crosses and the usual cluster-ummm down to a minimum.
Duration was flown first thing each morning. Conditions varied from easy to downright scary, with some rounds being won with 6 minute flights. The lift cycles in the morning conditions were really far apart - the tough air would usually span two flight groups. Going from flying an Icon, which was born for this sort of thing, to the Estrella, which was decidedly not, was a bit of a shock.
Distance followed in the more active, mid-day air. Conditions were never really bad or really great - the lowest winning lap count was 14, the highest 29. The lift was certainly strong enough for 30+ lap wins, but the persistent wind prevented any really big lift from sitting on course for all 4 minutes.
The Georgia squad, led by their hot-shot pilot Randy Chronic, had a pretty novel distance approach - pick a spot and make the lift come to them. It sounds sort of dumb, but with the wind and cycling, you could blow quite a few potential laps chasing the air around. Meanwhile, Randy is just flying straight and smooth, cranking off laps and taking points off of far more experienced F3B pilots. No more help for you guys.
Finally speed was flown. Conditions were pretty consistent with almost no one doomed to a 22 second run by intractable air. The last speed task on Sunday had the most active air, but the cycles were so fast that you could probably get some decent air if you spent the entire working time looking for it.
Overall the contest was the smoothest that I can recall. Very little in the way of reflights, no protests I can recall and very little intra-team shouting matches. Another first!
Of Note:
D'Anne Thompson putting together two 17 second speed runs, personal bests for D'Anne and very nicely flown.
Tom Kiesling ingeniously winning the all-up, last-down F3B task by hooking into the high tension lines with his stretch Caracho. Managed at least 9 hours of "hang" time.
In conclusion, a good time was had by all and I think we have a pretty strong team for Finland. Go Team USA!
Gordon
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