Ben wrote:
Ben wrote:

Paul Remde wrote:

Hi,

I just created my first soaring video for YouTube. It is and time
lapse (interval recording actually) film of the process of bringing
the gliders out to the runway, gridding up and launching. It was
filmed at the 2007 Albert Lea MN Soaring Contest. The contest
included the U.S. Open and 18 m Nationals and the Region 7 Sports
Class contest. The Sports Class contest had ended before this
footage was taken.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6l0pFIGBYtk

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

Sorry for my ignorance as a newbie who stumbled onto this discussion,
but after watching the movie, I still can't see exactly
what the object of the glider contest is. It appears to involve some
type of full scale board game involving moving the gliders as game
pieces around on a
large outdoor grid of some sort, according to some complex and arcane
rules that must
be written down somewhere, as per the references to "gridding". It looks
something like chess perhaps? Are some gliders more powerful than
others like the Queen or Bishop and can knock other less powerful
gliders off
the "grid"? Or what actually is going on in one of these "soaring
contests"?


I did notice that early in the movie, some gliders seem to line up on
one side of the large central dividing area and others on the other side
facing them. Are those on opposing teams? But eventually they all seemed
to end up in a jumble in the central dividing area of the contest board.
The central dividing
area between the opposing teams of gliders seems to be occaisionally
invaded by another faster air vehicle that looks a lot like a small
business jet. What role do those play in the contest?


They shoot down the trolls :-)

HTH,
Shawn