Well I can relate to both ends of this thread.

On the one hand, I was there with my two kids who were
attending their first contest. On the other hand I
had a landout on Day 3 and had a terrible time getting
through to the retrieve office. Cell phone coverage
in the Parowan task area is spotty and I called a dozen
times using a borrowed cellphone - the connection never
lasted more then 10 seconds.

The retreive office was set up in the hangar where
pilots meetings were held. It was the only shaded space
of any size that was available. As such it became a
magnet for folks trying to beat the heat - including
kids - including my kids. I got more than one stern
comment myself from retrieve office volonteers who
were trying to hear instructions from downed pilots.
I felt terrible that I was standing between a pilot
and his retrieve. If someone was a bit sharp about
the ambient noise, I'm sure it was mostly under the
strain of trying to get pilots accounted for. Perhaps
it wasn't understood by everyone in attendance what
the retrieve office does or the challenges they faced
in this contest.

Hopefully we can all be a bit empathetic. Soaring contests
are not all that engaging for those on the ground -
particularly since the start and finish gates have
gone. Kids will be kids and seek some self-entertainment,
but the work of contests goes on for the unthanked
volonteers who make sure we get launched and home every
day.

Andy Blackburn
9B

At 23:48 09 July 2007, Mickiminner wrote:
What the attendees of the contest refused to believe
while there was
that the contest staff had to run the retrieve office
out of the
hangar that all the crew thought was the 'party zone'.
We had
incredible difficulty hearing the radios, hearing the
landouts, and
couldn't even hear the cell phones, when a pilot landed
out. The only
time I remember being stern about the noise level was
with older
kids. The younger ones don't know any better, and
can't help being
bored and having energy to burn at contests. Anyway,
just wanted to
let everyone know that when you see landing cards spread
out with
radios and cell phones, that means that contest safety
is paramount,
before anything else!
Thanks
Micki Minner