2006 Region 8 Contest - Day 2

2006 Region 8 Soaring Championships
Ephrata, Washington

June 27, 2006 - Day 2

Greetings once again from Ephrata where the sun is still shining and it
is getting hotter. Today was 102º and pilots and staff felt every
degree of it - at least until the pilots managed to get high and the
staff managed to get back to the clubhouse.

Our pilots meeting was held at 10:00 am where we were all treated to a
description and See You viewing of the winning flight in each class.
Tom Dixon then gave us a safety talk of preparations for bail-out in
the unfortunate instance that it becomes necessary. Not the procedures,
the preparations - an interesting and informative distinction. While
pointing out how a pilot can become entangled in headset wires, water
hoses etc. Tom mentioned that those of us who fly with a relief system
that attaches to an external catheter may not separate from the glider
quite as easily as we might have imagined should we have to leave in a
hurry. Certainly something to consider.

Weather was briefed by Steve Northcraft who told us that we should
expect weather and lift similar to yesterday with thermal tops slightly
higher than yesterdays. The task was then provided to each class -
identical tasks, a 3 ½ hour MAT with the first required turn point at
Nills Corner (#29). Since the lift was so strong yesterday we decided
to grid earlier at 11:45 with launch beginning at 12:15.

Our launch started badly and went downhill from there - not from a
technical standpoint but from a lift standpoint. The pilots were having
some real difficulties getting into and staying in the lift and with a
field of 20 gliders, we had a total of 15 relights. Two additional
gliders had the opportunity to get to know one of the local wheat
farmers much better when they couldn't make it back for a relight and
landed in the same field - on opposite sides. Once the gliders were
in the air and into the lift the day proceeded far better with most of
the pilots indicating that they were getting up to 13,000 feet or so.

Gliders began returning to Ephrata around 4:30 with the last landing
about 6:30 pm. Once the scoring was finished the day looked like this:

Sports Class
1st place for the day was Tim Martin in his DG-400 - 1000 points,
with a handicapped speed of 64.49 mph and a distance of 229.25 miles.
2nd place went to Dick VanGrunsven in his Ventus 2CM - 931 points,
with a handicapped speed of 60.05 mph and a distance of 223.53 miles.
3rd place was Kerry Richards in his LS-7 - 898 points, with a
handicapped speed of 57.92 mph and a distance of 215.98 miles.

In cumulative scoring the standings a
1st - Dick VanGrunsven with 1931 points
2nd - Tom Udd with 1762 points
3rd - Dave Burgess with 1751 points

Open Class
1st place for the day was Greg Mecklenburg in his Ventus A - 1000
points with a speed of 79.84 mph and a distance of 299.68 miles
2nd place for the day was Mike Thompson in his Ventus 2B - 984 points
with a speed of 78.58 mph and a distance of 274.34 miles
3rd place for the day was Nelson Funston in his Nimbus 4M - 974
points with a speed of 77.75 mph and a distance of 282.66 miles

Cumulative standings for Open Class a
1st Nelson Funston with 1974 points
2nd Greg Mecklenburg with 1969 points
3rd Mike Thompson with 1951 points

That's it for today - from Ephrata where we hope fervently that the
launch goes better tomorrow than it did today.

Jay Todd
CM, CD, General Flunkey, Glider Pusher Backer, Towline Hooker Upper,
Wing Runner and whatever else is necessary