Region 12 S. Warner Springs # 711 reporting

Well folks, I am out here in Warner Springs, enjoying
Region 12 South. Today, as you can see on the SSA website, some folks
put down some speeds. We even had the towpilots go up in a Grob twin,
and end up with 1143 guest points. Ya, they had the best times of their
life.
When I came here, with water to the west of me, LA Basin,
smog, and water to the east, I was wondering just what would come true.
Well, today came true, with really good shear line flights, and if you
are like me, well, I just had to stop every so often to climb in 8 to
12 kt. lift. Off of tow, I had 10.5 kts. on the averager to 11
thousand....at 11:45 a.m.
Garret Willat, and his lovely wife Renna, and his family
are putting on a show of shows for us. We have our daily pilots
meetings under shade trees, on a grass lawn, with daily gifts to the
winners. What about the soaring? Well, its good, really good, and a
little like Montaque, being somewhat of local knowledge. But the
soaring pilots here will share with you what you should do, and they do
know the area extremely well.
Every night we have dinners, either at the airport or go out
to the local resturants. Friends, food and laughs all are being shared.
The 2 towpilots shared at dinner their racing tactics. Thermal only
going downwind, stay below start altitude for a while, and don't land
out. Of course, the shear line was working big time, and not only can
you see it, but a can of free breeze could be used to help get the
smell out. .
Your going to have to put Warner Springs on you contest plan,
as they want to keep putting on a show. We have several folks from ASA
here. Today TS1 had a great flight and after he landed was smiles
from ear to ear. GW came to life and had a smokin flight in 15 Meter.
So, for next year, or next time, keep Warner Springs in
mind, its a new racing site, but Garret has put in some time here, and
as CD, is doing a great job. Every morning at the pilots meetings he is
going over the days tasks, making sure even the new guys are getting
filled in, with the rules, etc. After you learn the area, it will
reward you better than you could of ever hoped for.
I'll post more notes later on, but for now
Thermal tight, Soar high, Fly Safe, # 711 reporting.

Wow, Tom, can't wait to hear about your flight today in Day 4.

16mph faster than the second place finisher -- now that's a spanking!!!

2NO

711 -- I don't see a report from Day 5 (Friday) on the SSA contest
results. Que pasa?

I flew over the task area in a Bonanza around 4pm and it looked like
the sheer line was working pretty good ...

2NO

wrote:
711 -- I don't see a report from Day 5 (Friday) on the SSA contest
results. Que pasa?

I flew over the task area in a Bonanza around 4pm and it looked like
the sheer line was working pretty good ...

2NO

Garret had a 6am flight to the UK this morning to participate in a
contest over there so he was busy last night getting packed for his
trip. Hopefully Renee will finish posting the scoring once she has
Garret on his way.

Yesterday, Friday, didn't live up to the weather forecast. We quickly
decided to change to task B for all classes, a 2hr TAT with a 124 mile
nominal distance. Even this task turned out to be a struggle for almost
everyone.

The scoresheet was really shaken up for the Open and 15m/Standard
Combined classes because 711 and SKY landed out in Open class, and GW
and FWS landed out in the combined class. The Sports class had two who
landed at Warner, GO and XPT, but didn't finish the task.

Here's what I can remember regarding final standings from last night's
awards banquet:

Open Class

1st Place - Orion Kingman (W)
2nd Place - Tom Kelley (711)
3rd Place - Tony Smolder (TS1)

Combined 15m/Standard Class

1st Place - Dan Ladd (8N)
2nd Place - Don Finnell (KD)
3rd Place - Chuck Deerick (FWS) ??? (This one I'm not sure of)

Sports Class

1st Place - Bill Richardson (4W)
2nd Place - Dean Chantiles (GO)
3rd Place - Jerz Rossignol (GC)

There was one other new award presented. Garret commissioned a trophy
for the fastest flight during the contest (handicapped to make to fair
for all). The trophy is a museum quality SHK-1 model that will stay at
Sky Sailing. The annual winners will have their name engraved on a
plate. The detail on this model is unbelievable. We're told that over
700 hours went into building it.

The first name on this new trophy is Tom Kelley (711) for his 95+ MPH
flight. Orion and Tony also had very fast flights, but the handicap
factor gave Tom the win. Congratulations to 711.

These are the UNOFFICIAL final results from the banquet awards.

We had a really fun contest. Lots of great flying. A very big thank you
to the Willat's and all of the Sky Sailing crew for hosting this event.

Thermal tight, flight high, land safe.

Bill Richardson
4W
(I don't check the fourwhiskey email address)