Nephi Utah OLC/Cross Country Camp (Aug 7-11) Official Update #1

This message was sent to all registered participants but I wanted to post this on RAS in case it gets caught in a spam filter...

Our little outing of 15-20 or so gliders to check out and enjoy Nephi in August has exploded into almost 50 registered gliders! Wow!!! We received varied advice from people with some saying to keep it small and hoard all the fun Nephi has to offer to ourselves and others have said open up the flood gates and let’s properly christen Nephi as the next great western soaring destination.

After very careful consideration and working directly with the City of Nephi we feel comfortable that Nephi can readily handle such a large (and crazy fun) event that 50 gliders, pilots plus their crew and families will provide. You are all welcome to come! Due to last minute drop outs inevitable at any glider event we recommend letting your friends know that there might be last minute space and they should still register soon with a good likelihood of getting in even when the registrations pass 50. We want a full house.

Status of the Nephi event:
1. I have met multiple times with Nephi airport, city and county officials and they are very excited to have us come enjoy their town and airport. That is actually an understatement. They are very enthusiastic of gliders using their airport and have caught the vision of Nephi becoming a soaring mecca with eventually yearly soaring events taking place. They are bending over backwards to accommodate us for our August event and for future soaring at their airport. Again, they have a virtually new condition but unused large airport that they are desperately wanting to get anyone to start using.

2. We will have a water truck provided to ensure adequate pressure for filling lots of gliders so plan flying wet! Yes, oxygen will made available for sale at the airport by the Utah Soaring Association as a fundraising project for glider safety equipment.

3. We have identified permanent designated tie down areas on the airport next to the taxi way that could accommodate 100 gliders if needed. Plan on tying down in the grass with your own stakes. This includes staking your trailer down as well.

4. This event is not a formal contest with all participants flying racing tasks. Many pilots may choose to fly the day’s task(s) but many will want to do their own thing and we will have gliders going in many different directions in the sky. Because there are only daily task winners and not a cumulative winner at the end of the week, it takes all pressures off feeling forced to fly a given task, abandoning a task or just wanting to fly some cross country for fun. Plan on gliders taking off and flying out in all directions that look interesting or promising weather wise.

Therefore, this needs to be a MANDATORY PowerFlarm Event to help improve collision safety for all participants. All gliders MUST use a functioning PowerFlarm during all flights. If you do not have one or do not want to install one before this event you may rent a portable PF unit for $50.00 for the week which includes shipping costs. Don’t let the PowerFlarm requirement keep you from coming.

More info on the rental units may be found he www.williamssoaring.com/powerflarm/rent.html It is highly recommended that you do not wait to the last minute to place your order for a rental unit as gliders without will not be towed for safety reasons!

We have negotiated with one of this event’s sponsors, Craggy Aero at www.craggyaero.com for Nephi participants who do not yet have a PowerFlarm to get a group rate discount of $85.00 off normal pricing on a PowerFlarm unit with rectangular Butterfly Display. Thanks Richard at Craggy Aero! PowerFlarm is here to stay and has already proven to save the lives of some of our glider friends. Please strongly consider permanently installing a unit in your glider to protect yourself as well as other pilots. Give Richard a call at 530-905-0062 and tell him you are a Nephi pilot to find out more and feel free to ask him lots of questions.

5. The county fair will be taking place at the same time just a mile or two south of the Nephi Airport. Bring your spouse and family! There is lots to do during the day at the fair and remember that Nephi is just 10 minutes away from Provo with half a million people, malls, water parks and tons to do. The fair officials said at our last meeting that they think it would be cool to see the gliders streaking home dumping water on the crowds. No joke, we are welcome and even encouraged to cool off the grand stands folks on final glide.

6. Yes, we are getting discounted rates on local hotel(s). The county economic development person asked for us to let him personally set it up so he gets some good PR for doing his job. Funny how smaller towns work. We hope to send out a separate email within the next few weeks with info to make reservations at a group rate once we hear from them. Thanks for your patience.

7. We are 99% done with a Nephi turnpoints file. We just need to finalize start/finish points. Plan on the files being available for download on our next email to you in a few weeks.

8. $$ We have not cashed any checks sent in yet but will start doing so this week. If you have not sent in your $100 yet to lock in your place please do so now and for sure before the end of April. Please note that due to high demand and limited entry spaces, any no shows at the event will not be refunded. If you can’t come – please contact Bruno ASAP so we can allow another pilot waiting to come to take your spot.

Send your $100 deposit/entry fee to:
Bruno Vassel IV
Attn: Nephi Event
1865 Hickory Ridge CT
Draper, Utah 84020

While we are talking money please be aware that obviously tows are not included in the low entry fee. Every day you decide to fly you will be charged tow expenses and also a $20 ferry fee. We did not want to add the additional ferry fee into the entry fee since some pilots will not be flying every day. Thanks for understanding.

Everything is falling very nicely into place. The Utah Soaring Association has agreed to officially host this event. This very well run club has many dozens of active members and we will be staffed with many local volunteers to help make this event safe, run smoothly, and be fun. Don’t let the larger size of this event get you nervous even if you have never been to an official glider get together or contest before. You will have a blast and meet lots of great new soaring friends and get to see and fly over Utah's amazing landscapes.

This will be a sanctioned SSA event and we are carrying the normal SSA event liability insurance. Therefore, all participants must quality per SSA requirements to take part in the event. This is not hard as each pilot just needs to be an active SSA member, have adequate insurance per SSA guidelines, have a parachute per seat, sign a liability waiver, etc. Please make sure to bring your documents with you. No need to send them in to me.

Sorry for such a long document but we just wanted to keep you all up to date on the progress of this event and we can’t wait to see you all in August!

Bruno Vassel IV, B4
Nephi Soaring Event Manager

Just a little pump for your site, though it appears you don't need it. In the late '70's I came in low at Nephi at6:30, and connected to a shear line over the hills to the west and climbed to 17999 at 1000 fpm, also used Nephi and Payson race track as turnpoints for my 1000 K out of Parowan.

Have fun

Gary apKemp

Thanks Gary. There is nothing so nice or as welcome as finding that end of the day 10 knotter that gets you away from a field and lets you get back home.

Bruno - B4

Just wanted to comment that it sounds like you've gone above and beyond to make this event a very positive experience for everyone. Good luck and enjoy some great soaring! I have also enjoyed visiting your Phoebus website and watching your many excellent soaring videos over the past few years. They have made non-flying days a bit nicer for me.

Brian Lott

On Saturday, April 6, 2013 6:32:17 PM UTC-6, wrote:
Just wanted to comment that it sounds like you've gone above and beyond to make this event a very positive experience for everyone. Good luck and enjoy some great soaring! I have also enjoyed visiting your Phoebus website and watching your many excellent soaring videos over the past few years. They have made non-flying days a bit nicer for me.



Brian Lott

Thanks for the kind words Brian. These soaring videos have been great fun to create over the last 5-6 years and share with the world. They are in no way perfect in either the soaring techniques of this still learning pilot or the videography and editing but they have been a labor of love and seem to be enjoyed by at least some people when they can't get out to soar themselves. Hopefully much more footage to come this year including from the Nephi event!

Fly safe,
Bruno - B4

Here is update #2
Hello gliding friends!
Here is info about the hotels for the Nephi soaring event in August. I was told these are the best two in town. Fingers crossed. Please note that we will be there the same week as the county fair and these hotels gets booked 100% full.

The good news is that right now only 3 rooms have been booked during our event dates so if you act QUICKLY and book your room(S) you will not have any problems. Please don't procrastinate because these will fill up for sure well before August! There is also no reason to wait because both hotels said that they will NOT charge your card until you arrive and you only need to give 24 hours cancellation notice to not be charged.

Both of these hotels have free breakfast, a pool and hot tub. They are both within a mile of each other and 4 miles from the airport. Please just tell both of them you are with the "Gliding Event" to get these discounted rates plus tax.

Best Western
1025 S Main St, Nephi, UT 84648
Phone435) 623-0624
All rooms $69.79

National 9 Mount Nebo
2160 S Main St, Nephi, UT 84648
Phone888) 481-3973
Single Queen $42.95
Double Queen $47.95
Triple Queen $52.95
King $55.95

RV Campground within 10 minutes up the canyon near Nephi. I was told it is an amazing place: http://bigmountainrv.com/

ANYONE WANT TO SHACK UP TOGETHER TO SAVE $$?
If you are interested in getting a roommate or two to share costs of a hotel room, please email . With splitting the very low rates of the National 9 hotel it will be pretty hard to justify camping out. Find a roommate and enjoy a daily shower - and we will enjoy you more too. I will create a list of your names that email me and then send the list to everyone on it so you can work it out amongst yourselves.

Turnpoints Files
We are proofing the final files and will release them next week with another email announcement.

Link to more info about the area around Nephi. Great info for things for crew and family to do: http://juabtravel.com/

Again, have a great weekend everyone and please keep spreading the word. We have just a few slots left to completely fill up this first ever Nephi soaring extravaganza.

Fly safe,
Bruno Vassel - B4

On Tuesday, April 2, 2013 2:41:40 PM UTC-6, wrote:
This message was sent to all registered participants but I wanted to post this on RAS in case it gets caught in a spam filter...



Our little outing of 15-20 or so gliders to check out and enjoy Nephi in August has exploded into almost 50 registered gliders! Wow!!! We received varied advice from people with some saying to keep it small and hoard all the fun Nephi has to offer to ourselves and others have said open up the flood gates and let’s properly christen Nephi as the next great western soaring destination.



After very careful consideration and working directly with the City of Nephi we feel comfortable that Nephi can readily handle such a large (and crazy fun) event that 50 gliders, pilots plus their crew and families will provide. You are all welcome to come! Due to last minute drop outs inevitable at any glider event we recommend letting your friends know that there might be last minute space and they should still register soon with a good likelihood of getting in even when the registrations pass 50. We want a full house.



Status of the Nephi event:

1. I have met multiple times with Nephi airport, city and county officials and they are very excited to have us come enjoy their town and airport. That is actually an understatement. They are very enthusiastic of gliders using their airport and have caught the vision of Nephi becoming a soaring mecca with eventually yearly soaring events taking place. They are bending over backwards to accommodate us for our August event and for future soaring at their airport. Again, they have a virtually new condition but unused large airport that they are desperately wanting to get anyone to start using..



2. We will have a water truck provided to ensure adequate pressure for filling lots of gliders so plan flying wet! Yes, oxygen will made available for sale at the airport by the Utah Soaring Association as a fundraising project for glider safety equipment.



3. We have identified permanent designated tie down areas on the airport next to the taxi way that could accommodate 100 gliders if needed. Plan on tying down in the grass with your own stakes. This includes staking your trailer down as well.



4. This event is not a formal contest with all participants flying racing tasks. Many pilots may choose to fly the day’s task(s) but many will want to do their own thing and we will have gliders going in many different directions in the sky. Because there are only daily task winners and not a cumulative winner at the end of the week, it takes all pressures off feeling forced to fly a given task, abandoning a task or just wanting to fly some cross country for fun. Plan on gliders taking off and flying out in all directions that look interesting or promising weather wise.



Therefore, this needs to be a MANDATORY PowerFlarm Event to help improve collision safety for all participants. All gliders MUST use a functioning PowerFlarm during all flights. If you do not have one or do not want to install one before this event you may rent a portable PF unit for $50.00 for the week which includes shipping costs. Don’t let the PowerFlarm requirement keep you from coming.



More info on the rental units may be found he www.williamssoaring.com/powerflarm/rent.html It is highly recommended that you do not wait to the last minute to place your order for a rental unit as gliders without will not be towed for safety reasons!



We have negotiated with one of this event’s sponsors, Craggy Aero at www.craggyaero.com for Nephi participants who do not yet have a PowerFlarm to get a group rate discount of $85.00 off normal pricing on a PowerFlarm unit with rectangular Butterfly Display. Thanks Richard at Craggy Aero! PowerFlarm is here to stay and has already proven to save the lives of some of our glider friends. Please strongly consider permanently installing a unit in your glider to protect yourself as well as other pilots. Give Richard a call at 530-905-0062 and tell him you are a Nephi pilot to find out more and feel free to ask him lots of questions.



5. The county fair will be taking place at the same time just a mile or two south of the Nephi Airport. Bring your spouse and family! There is lots to do during the day at the fair and remember that Nephi is just 10 minutes away from Provo with half a million people, malls, water parks and tons to do. The fair officials said at our last meeting that they think it would be cool to see the gliders streaking home dumping water on the crowds. No joke, we are welcome and even encouraged to cool off the grand stands folks on final glide.



6. Yes, we are getting discounted rates on local hotel(s). The county economic development person asked for us to let him personally set it up so he gets some good PR for doing his job. Funny how smaller towns work. We hope to send out a separate email within the next few weeks with info to make reservations at a group rate once we hear from them. Thanks for your patience.



7. We are 99% done with a Nephi turnpoints file. We just need to finalize start/finish points. Plan on the files being available for download on our next email to you in a few weeks.



8. $$ We have not cashed any checks sent in yet but will start doing so this week. If you have not sent in your $100 yet to lock in your place please do so now and for sure before the end of April. Please note that due to high demand and limited entry spaces, any no shows at the event will not be refunded. If you can’t come – please contact Bruno ASAP so we can allow another pilot waiting to come to take your spot.



Send your $100 deposit/entry fee to:

Bruno Vassel IV

Attn: Nephi Event

1865 Hickory Ridge CT

Draper, Utah 84020



While we are talking money please be aware that obviously tows are not included in the low entry fee. Every day you decide to fly you will be charged tow expenses and also a $20 ferry fee. We did not want to add the additional ferry fee into the entry fee since some pilots will not be flying every day. Thanks for understanding.



Everything is falling very nicely into place. The Utah Soaring Association has agreed to officially host this event. This very well run club has many dozens of active members and we will be staffed with many local volunteers to help make this event safe, run smoothly, and be fun. Don’t let the larger size of this event get you nervous even if you have never been to an official glider get together or contest before. You will have a blast and meet lots of great new soaring friends and get to see and fly over Utah's amazing landscapes.



This will be a sanctioned SSA event and we are carrying the normal SSA event liability insurance. Therefore, all participants must quality per SSA requirements to take part in the event. This is not hard as each pilot just needs to be an active SSA member, have adequate insurance per SSA guidelines, have a parachute per seat, sign a liability waiver, etc. Please make sure to bring your documents with you. No need to send them in to me.



Sorry for such a long document but we just wanted to keep you all up to date on the progress of this event and we can’t wait to see you all in August!



Bruno Vassel IV, B4

Nephi Soaring Event Manager

Hi Bruno,

Just set up a pmt through my online banking to secure a spot in the Nephi event. Could you please confirm once received.

Thanks,

Blake