Bob,
Thanks for the gracious note.

In soaring, we are at the mercy of the weather. The last 10 weekends at Minden were all good to excellent. (Last Wednesday the smoke was very bad but it abated on the weekend. I second your hope for a miracle end to the fires.) Given Boulder’s fantastic start to the season, the final result would have been different if the Colorado “monsoon” had not played havoc with Boulder’s score on two weekends.

To show how unusual the weather was, Moriarty Soaring (formerly Albuquerque) never finished lower than 4th in the World League during OLC 2.0 (2007 and on) until this year when they had an unusual number of weekends with thunder…their desert must be very green this year.

Boulder and Minden are two of the best sites in the world, especially if a pilot wants to be near “civilization” in a beautiful setting. The “Boulder Convergence” is a very reliable phenomenon that makes it especially attractive for fast flights.

A goal of the OLC Leagues is to inspire pilots to fly more and to that end, Boulder, LSV Rintein, Minden, and many other clubs and the entire sport are winners.

Soar Safe, Have Fun, Go Fast and Far,
Jim Payne