great report JJ. Those were the good old days. '72, is that El mirage,
Minden, ?

Must have been having a senior moment, make that '82 at Minden or about that
time period. I do remember the SSA's "Spring Surprise" of 1984 when the 15
meter Nats were held at Ephrata. About March '84 we were told that the
Manufacturers Certificated Gross Weight (in the country of origin) would not be
exceeded. Very bad news for me and my Libelle. After modifications and with old
JJ stuffed in that tiny cockpit, It weighed 680 lbs.without any water. The GW
of the H-301 was 660.

JJ went shopping for a used 20 right before the Ephrata contest. That was a
memebrable contest, the tasking was exactly the same as a very successful
nationals they had run about 10 years earlier. Only problem was the weather
wasn't the same. Lots of over-calls and that led to our "Competition
Committee", with 2 competitors on it to advise the CD on not sending us out
into all that black stuff, west of Ephrata and perhaps the CD should consider
sending us over towards those puffy little clouds to the east.

That contest also had 4 mid-airs which led to a firm rule not to allow more
than 65 entrnts.
Those were the days, have many fond memories of my 301. Turned out I should
have stripped down the Libelle and taken it to Ephrata, because the weather was
so lousy that we ended up flying dry on most days, anyway due to the weak
conditions. She would have done well because climbing was her strong point.
JJ Sinclair