Racing

Charlie- Agreed. Technology today obviously can bring almost any sport (including soaring) to the screen. I am just discouraged because the use of such technology is very expensive. I thoroughly enjoy watching the Sailplane Grand Prix videos. However, to my knowledge, the US GP race at Ionia did not utilize the technology. The only videos I have seen are not particularly inspiring. Perhaps a better video will be coming?

ps. I like your idea for adding a bit more challenge to sailing.

Lets make it happen. One hitch, given the demographics of sailplane pilots can we find any that don't have any (prescribed for age related ailments) prescriptions on this list?
http://www.usada.org/wp-content/uplo...ed-list-en.pdf

On Friday, August 12, 2016 at 11:29:22 AM UTC-4, wrote:
Lets make it happen. One hitch, given the demographics of sailplane pilots can we find any that don't have any (prescribed for age related ailments) prescriptions on this list?
http://www.usada.org/wp-content/uplo...ed-list-en.pdf

If you're high enough on the IGC ranking list,or at an FAI/IGC sanctioned event, you are testable. Positively, they've exempted soaring from the ban on oxygen.

See http://www.fai.org/cimp-anti-doping-...doping-testing

We learned much for SGP USA. The big mistake was allowing people "the choice" of spot trackers. Some (John Mittel) let me talk them into buying a cheap android phone and installing IGC droid. This worked amazingly well. Next year SPOT will not be allowed. Both InReach (30 second) and mobile tracking will be MANDATORY. With those requirements, a SGP or even a an SSA task will be much more interesting to watch. In many ways this combination provides equal or better tracking that some of the more famous SGP videos you're referring too.

Videos: we did not spend a ton of money on videos. Our goal was to hold the first FAI SGP event in the USA, safety, have fun and gain experience. We succeeded in all catagories. Especially the fun! Personally, this was BY FAR the most fun I haveever had competing in gliders since I began flying contests. Many others expressed the same feelings. It was great practice and the learning g curve was straight up. For videos, focused on the human experience and the winners interviews. We used a good friend in the sports video production industry but the rain days at the end of the contest hurt us as we had hedged the majority of his schedule toward the end of the contest. I think the best video is the probably the video Garret shared. I was so busy I chose to not do gopro in the cockpit.

It would cost between 10-15k to do secure high quality video production during the SGP event. That is really only one major sponsor.

Next year will be even better. How much better will depend of sponsors. We have some pretty good sponsors in discussions for 2017 already...

Sean

On Friday, August 12, 2016 at 4:18:40 PM UTC-4, Sean wrote:
We learned much for SGP USA. The big mistake was allowing people "the choice" of spot trackers. Some (John Mittel) let me talk them into buying a cheap android phone and installing IGC droid. This worked amazingly well. Next year SPOT will not be allowed. Both InReach (30 second) and mobile tracking will be MANDATORY. With those requirements, a SGP or even a an SSA task will be much more interesting to watch. In many ways this combination provides equal or better tracking that some of the more famous SGP videos you're referring too.

Videos: we did not spend a ton of money on videos. Our goal was to hold the first FAI SGP event in the USA, safety, have fun and gain experience. We succeeded in all catagories. Especially the fun! Personally, this was BY FAR the most fun I haveever had competing in gliders since I began flying contests. Many others expressed the same feelings. It was great practice and the learning g curve was straight up. For videos, focused on the human experience and the winners interviews. We used a good friend in the sports video production industry but the rain days at the end of the contest hurt us as we had hedged the majority of his schedule toward the end of the contest. I think the best video is the probably the video Garret shared. I was so busy I chose to not do gopro in the cockpit.

It would cost between 10-15k to do secure high quality video production during the SGP event. That is really only one major sponsor.

Next year will be even better. How much better will depend of sponsors. We have some pretty good sponsors in discussions for 2017 already...

Sean

Why not put 2 inexpensive OGN receivers (about $100 ea and some internet bandwidth - you could probably get an ISP in the area to provide it for free advertising) in N and S of task area - and use the FLARM echoes (you would have to mandate OGN sign-up and no stealth)? You could also put OGN trackers in towplanes. You can get great coverage, cheap, in the lowlands. No added complexity in the glider; FLARM is already there. SPOT is not intended for NRT tracking, it's a survival aid. OGN also gives you altitude... which makes the race interesting and gives the commentators something to say. SGP is for the spectators and to grow the sport...


Dan

Dan-

You suggested 2 OGN receivers "N and S of the task area." What sort of reception range are you anticipating? Most of the SGP races I have seen (excepting Ionia) are in the (many) hundreds of kilometers, often in the mountains or other inhospitable terrain. Could be a problem in the western US.

You suggested 2 OGN receivers "N and S of the task area." What sort of reception range are you anticipating? Most of the SGP races I have seen (excepting Ionia) are in the (many) hundreds of kilometers, often in the mountains or other inhospitable terrain. Could be a problem in the western US.

I was thinking of Ionia, which is pretty flat (only place in the U.S. which shows interest in SGP that I'm aware of). In similar terrain (Eastern Ontario, Canada), we get pretty good coverage with 3 receivers. Look at http://ognrange.onglide.com/#,max,al...space;circles; you can see the coverage. Much comes from the CNF3a receiver, Hawkesbury and Kars receivers are new (we hope to put one to the NW in the hills of Quebec to cover out there). In the mountains, you can put the receiver on a mountain and gain LOS (many have antenna farms anyway). The CNF3a receiver is 30m up - on the top of our large hangar - and we see 100 km if the glider is high enough.

I see newish receivers in Minden and Colorado (maybe someone in the 94th FTS could put one on the hills thereabouts?), so you can watch the tracks from them and judge what you need. If ridge flying, you'll need a bunch (higher the antenna the fewer the receivers); if it's thermals and you're bumping class A, you won't need many receivers. I'm working on a mobile system which we'll take to Lake Placid wave camp; we expect good coverage of the lucky lads and lasses in the wave with a single receiver.

It cannot be any worse than a SPOT with a few missed messages!

Dan

Ionia will have one shortly.