2006 Region 8 Contest - Day 6

2006 Region 8 Soaring Championships
Ephrata, Washington

July 1, 2006 - Day 6 (Contest Day 4)

(Sunday morning July 2nd)
Greetings from Ephrata where the sun is shining, the temperature is
rising, the contest is over and I'm exhausted. Thanks for reading,
bye.

Oh yeah, I guess I have to tell you about yesterdays flights ...

Saturday dawned with a clear sky and looked promising, we all geared up
for what would be a pretty spectacular last day of soaring for the
contest.

The only cloudy note on the horizon was that Steve Mason had slightly
damaged the leading edge of one of his wings during his land-out on
Friday and was unable to fly the last day of the contest.

Pilots meeting was held at 10:00 am as usual and Greg Mecklenburg gave
us all a safety talk about those unexpected things that can happen
during our flights and what to do about them. Things like dive brakes
popping open unexpectedly during a take-off or how a tow line that goes
slack during the initial roll can cause a "sling shot" launch that
can lead to a ground loop. Bottom line, fly the airplane first and be
prepared for the unexpected. Great talk Greg. Then it was on to Steve
Northcraft with the weather. Things did indeed look more promising than
on Friday with high temperatures forecast at 93º and a trigger
temperature of 86º. (NOTE: It occurred to me just as I wrote that last
sentence that I have not been stipulating whether I am talking about
ºF or ºC and that we do have lots of readers from both Europe and
"Down Under" that don't use the Fahrenheit scale. While it does
get hotter than h*ll here in Ephrata some times, it doesn't get THAT
hot!) Steve also pointed out that there was a slight inversion showing
at around 5000 feet but that it should be easy to get past with the
temperatures rising that much. Lift was forecast to be in the 5 to 6
knot range with tops varying in the models between 6000 and 11,000
feet.

With what appeared to be a pretty good day shaping up but with a desire
to have all of the chicks back in the henhouse in time for our banquet
at 6:00 pm, an initial task for both classes was set at a 2 ½ hour
TAT. The first turn was at US Hwy 2 (#42) with a 5 mile circle, second
turn at Creston (#13) with a 20 mile circle and third turn at Mansfield
(#26) with a 10 mile circle. While there was no expectation of a
problem, an alternate task was also given to the pilots shortening the
task time to 2 hours and substituting the second turn at Wilbur (#45)
still with the 20 mile circle. Grid time was set at 12:15 with a
meeting on the grid at 12:30 and a prospective launch at 12:45.

On the grid we determined that the trigger temperature had been reached
and our intrepid sniffer Helmut Gebenus (Y3) was launched at about
12:20. Back and forth along the ridge and back inland along the plateau
sniffing here and sniffing there, looking for lift. Watching him
reminded me of watching an indecisive dog looking for someplace that
smells good enough to go. Helmut reported occasional lift at 1-2 knots,
just enough to stay aloft but not really enough to climb. The wait was
on. Climb a little, sink a little until finally at about 1:05 Helmut
reported that it seemed to have broken loose and that he was climbing
in 4 knot lift to about 5000 feet. That was good enough for me but due
to the loss of time in initiating the launch the alternate task was
called and our launch commenced at 1:16 pm.

Sports class task opened at 1:47 and the open class task opened at 2:10
pm. Pilots had a difficult time in the immediate Ephrata area but once
out over the plateau and about 15 miles from Ephrata the day really
opened up. Lift for the day averaged around 8 knots and thermal heights
were undetermined but one pilot reported to me that he climbed to
12,800 at one point. Virtually everyone agreed that other than during
the start, this was the best day of soaring during the contest.

The gliders began returning just after 4:00 pm and the last was on the
ground very shortly after 5:00 pm. After compiling all the flight logs
and determining the scores we were off to our banquet for an evening of
celebration.

During the banquet, each pilot received a certificate of participation
for the contest that was imprinted over a photograph of themselves.
This is something that Raylene and I have been doing for a few years to
give everyone something personal to take away from the contest.

So, now the news you have had to read through all this drivel to get
to.

The daily winners for the 4th contest day were as follows:

Contest Day 4 Sports Class
3rd Place with 968 points - Tim Martin in his DG-400 with a
handicapped speed of 62.54 mph and a distance of 133.56 miles
2nd Place with 975 points - Dave Burgess in his ASW-19 with a
handicapped speed of 62.97 mph and a distance of 148.63 miles
1st Place with 1000 points - Dick VanGrunsven in his Ventus 2CM with
a handicapped speed of 64.62 mph and a distance of 151.21 miles

Contest Day 4 Open Class
3rd Place with 928 points - Jim Dobberfuhl in his Nimbus 3 with a
speed of 79.05 mph and a distance of 173.7 miles
2nd Place with 950 points - Nelson Funston in his Nimbus 4M with a
speed of 80.91 mph and a distance of 176.13 miles
1st Place with 963 points - Greg Mecklenburg in his Ventus A with a
speed of 82.08 mph and a distance of 176.13 miles

And now for our 2006 Region 8 Soaring Contest winners (drum roll
please) ...

In the Sports Class:

3rd Place Overall with a total score of 3564, flying an LS-7 - Kerry
Richards
2nd Place Overall with a total score of 3619, flying a DG-202 -
Martin Dennis
1st Place Overall with a total score of 3907, flying a Ventus 2CM -
Dick VanGrunsven

In the Open Class:

3rd Place Overall with a total score of 3724, flying a Ventus 2B -
Mike Thompson
2nd Place Overall with a total score of 3910, flying a Ventus A -
Greg Mecklenburg
1st Place Overall with a total score of 3924, flying a Nimbus 4M -
Nelson Funston

So there you have it - the latest, the greatest and the lastest news
from Ephrata for the 2006 Region 8 Soaring Championship. Raylene and I
have once again enjoyed putting on the contest though it's probably a
long way from the most restful week of vacation that you can take. We
hope you have enjoyed reading about the contest as much as we have
enjoyed experiencing it.

In Ephrata, where the sun is shining, the forecast is looking
fantastic, my wife is getting out the vacuum cleaner again - I think
I'll get out of here and go soaring.

Jay Todd
CM, CD, Ops, Teller of Tales and Gladdest of All That it's Over ...