And a merry Christmas from Namibia

Our dynamic duo outdid themselves, and drew another festive symbol in the African skies:
https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3....l?dsId=8234078

They wrote:
"Hello friends, after celebrating our Jewish holiday Hanukkah with a 300-kilometer spinning top drawing in the sky yesterday, we wanted to honor our Christian brothers who celebrate Christmas. One of the Holiday symbols is the Christmas tree. So we invested and gave up a good soaring day for a 400 kilometers painting in the sky. We did not settle and decided to decorate the Christmas tree as usual. So at its top we drew a classic star of 30 kilometer. The star was hard and required us to make a continuous flight without thermaling, unfortunately the star was made in a bad area with sinking air and as we finished the star we set direction for potential landing. Finally everything worked out we finished the painting in excellent soaring conditions.
So in my name and in the name of Avron Tal the pilots who draw in the sky,

Happy holiday to all religions
Rafi Lusky - Israeli pilot in Namibia"

Congratulations to Rafi Luski and Avron Tal, and happy holidays to all! Skywriting done in a powered plane seems trivial compared to what these pilots are demonstrating in a glider. Maybe the dearth of reactions here so far expresses a collective surprise that it could be done. No doubt, some of us repeatedly thought about drawing something interesting via the flight trace but always ended up doing the usual things in the air. Looking at the Christmas tree, why not a 21-point (or whatever) task? Completing such a task could be more satisfying than most usual soaring profiles. Properly planned and scaled, a figure-drawing soaring flight could motivate some who might otherwise be timid or jaded about flying a "task". Draw something small and precise near the home field and steadily expand the artwork and skillset as desired. This could be a new thing - sailplane skywriting.

On Sunday, December 13, 2020 at 1:45:03 PM UTC-6, wrote:
Congratulations to Rafi Luski and Avron Tal, and happy holidays to all! Skywriting done in a powered plane seems trivial compared to what these pilots are demonstrating in a glider. Maybe the dearth of reactions here so far expresses a collective surprise that it could be done. No doubt, some of us repeatedly thought about drawing something interesting via the flight trace but always ended up doing the usual things in the air. Looking at the Christmas tree, why not a 21-point (or whatever) task? Completing such a task could be more satisfying than most usual soaring profiles. Properly planned and scaled, a figure-drawing soaring flight could motivate some who might otherwise be timid or jaded about flying a "task". Draw something small and precise near the home field and steadily expand the artwork and skillset as desired. This could be a new thing - sailplane skywriting.

Rafi got some practice in precision soaring when he circled in one thermal with thousands of storks traveling from Europe to Africa in September 1997. Rafi, remember the first World Air Games in İnönü, Turkey?

mandag den 14. december 2020 kl. 01.47.03 UTC+1 skrev Tom BravoMike:
On Sunday, December 13, 2020 at 1:45:03 PM UTC-6, wrote:
Congratulations to Rafi Luski and Avron Tal, and happy holidays to all! Skywriting done in a powered plane seems trivial compared to what these pilots are demonstrating in a glider. Maybe the dearth of reactions here so far expresses a collective surprise that it could be done. No doubt, some of us repeatedly thought about drawing something interesting via the flight trace but always ended up doing the usual things in the air. Looking at the Christmas tree, why not a 21-point (or whatever) task? Completing such a task could be more satisfying than most usual soaring profiles. Properly planned and scaled, a figure-drawing soaring flight could motivate some who might otherwise be timid or jaded about flying a "task". Draw something small and precise near the home field and steadily expand the artwork and skillset as desired. This could be a new thing - sailplane skywriting.
Rafi got some practice in precision soaring when he circled in one thermal with thousands of storks traveling from Europe to Africa in September 1997. Rafi, remember the first World Air Games in İnönü, Turkey?
I remember that day. I was also participating in that contest. Good times :-)
Best regards Mads Lykke, Denmark

On Sunday, December 13, 2020 at 12:33:06 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Our dynamic duo outdid themselves, and drew another festive symbol in the African skies:
https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3....l?dsId=8234078

They wrote:
"Hello friends, after celebrating our Jewish holiday Hanukkah with a 300-kilometer spinning top drawing in the sky yesterday, we wanted to honor our Christian brothers who celebrate Christmas. One of the Holiday symbols is the Christmas tree. So we invested and gave up a good soaring day for a 400 kilometers painting in the sky. We did not settle and decided to decorate the Christmas tree as usual. So at its top we drew a classic star of 30 kilometer. The star was hard and required us to make a continuous flight without thermaling, unfortunately the star was made in a bad area with sinking air and as we finished the star we set direction for potential landing. Finally everything worked out we finished the painting in excellent soaring conditions.
So in my name and in the name of Avron Tal the pilots who draw in the sky,

Happy holiday to all religions
Rafi Lusky - Israeli pilot in Namibia"
Very cool trace......thank you and yes, happy holidays and hope 2021 is better for everyone...