Come race with us!

The Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association (M-ASA), serving the greater
Washington/Baltimore/Harrisburg area for more than 50 years, will host
several "M-ASA Weekend Opens" each season at its Mid-Atlantic Soaring
Center (W73) in Fairfield, Pennsylvania (about 8sm WSW of Gettysburg).
These will be in addition to our three annual events: the Region 4
North Contest in May; the 10-Day Weekend in July; and Oktoberfest.

Over the years, M-ASA has established a strong community of
cross-country pilots who participate in the club's Task Day
Championship. Every weekend of the season, weather permitting, we
conduct sailplane races from our Fairfield facility. Tasks are
designed to accommodate the wide range of pilots and sailplane
performance represented by the more than 160 members and 80 privately
owned gliders in the club.

We want to extend an invitation to cross-country pilots of all
experience levels flying in the mid-Atlantic, southern New England,
and the Ohio Valley to come race with us. Be our guest for a weekend
of racing, socializing, and having fun at one of the country's most
charming gliderports.

Here's how it works. The club's task day chairman will keep an eye on
the weather and the status of the P-40 TFR. On Thursday morning, if it
looks like we're going to have a nice weekend and the TFR will be
inactive, we'll declare a task day weekend and publicize it via the
RAS and an e-mail blast. Let us know if you intend to come, and we'll
save you space on the grid.

Non-member pilots are asked to pay a nominal fee ($25 for a 30-day
limited membership). This will entitle you to tows at club rates
(about $15 to 2,000 agl) behind one of our Pawnees, camping, use of
showers and other facilities, and as much beer as you care to drink
from the community barrel. Saturday night we'll conduct a pot luck
barbeque on the airfield, and follow up with other diversions.

How good is the soaring here? When it's good, it's really good. Last
weekend we conducted two three-hour MATs. Saturday's winner flew 360
miles at 81 mph. Sunday's winner flew 240 miles at 75 mph. The
previous weekend we only raced on Sunday: the winner flew 122 miles at
56 mph. We've seen speeds of over 100 mph on ridge days, but low to
mid 50s is typical (high 50s to low 60s with water).

If you live within several hours drive of Washington DC, keep an eye
out for our announcements. If you'd like to be on the e-mail list,
reply to this post.

We'll be looking forward to seeing you in the skies above Fairfield
real soon! Want to know more about M-ASA? Follow this link:
http://www.m-asa.org

Chris O'Callaghan (OC)
M-ASA Task Day Chairman