I'll second that. I've flown the Fairfield regional many times, and at several times during the year (it's moved from July to Memorial Day to October) and this is the best: a great contest at a time of year we don't (at least here in the East) always think about flying that much.

As QT said, we flew all 7 days, 5 of which were tasks, 4 of which were scored. They included a weak thermal day, a challenging ridge day, a good thermal day, a "classic" ridge mission of 240 miles in the mountains, and the closing day designed as a ridge task that we flew in wave for the first half and in strong thermals under a nearly solid overcast for the second half.

Camping at M-ASA's gliderport is convenient. Dinners and social occasions were a nice treat and the nightly campfire circle made for some nice discussions. The club really supports this contest and, as a result, I believe a good time was had by all. Check out the "gallery" photos on the SSA contest reports page.

Unfortunately it conflicts with both the Mt. Washington wave camp and the Chilhowee Oktoberfest weekend but think about putting this one on your calendar next year. Great way to close out the competitive season in the U.S.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.