Region 5 South Contest Report

It’s Hot Down Here in the South!

The trailers started rolling in last week as the Mid Georgia Soaring club held their annual GTA Race and cross-country camp. The weather is continuing to provide outstanding soaring conditions for the Region 5 Regional in Cordele Georgia. For those of you who are not familiar, Cordele does not have a commercial operation or local club. It is just a southern town that enjoys having glider pilots descend on their community for a couple of weeks of fun. The whole town knows when we are here and welcomes us like any other southern city that has open arms for their family.
Chris Carter is running the show with Lyn Forbes as co-contest manger. Together they are adding life to a contest that has a fabled history in Region 5. We had a free flying day on Saturday for competitors to work out all the bugs in their ships. Saturday night we provided a class in the Best Western lobby on how to fly faster. Today was the first official practice day and what a day it was. Scott Fletcher briefed the weather this morning as a potentially great day. With high hopes, the task advisors of Dennis Linnekin, Rob Ware and Wally Berry designed a task to test the pilots bold enough to rig on this practice day. The 18 Meter, and 15 Meter Combined Class were set on an Assigned Task just shy of 300k. For those not familiar with the metric system, that is just less than 186 miles. Each class had an easy run to Douglas as the first turnpoint but had to turn into the wind for a long leg to Berrien. This turned out to be the deciding leg for both classes. John Murray put in a great flight of 70.08 mph over 181.42 miles followed by Alan Smith who has just returned to racing after a long layoff. Not to be outdone, the 15 Meter Class put in a fantastic run. John Mittell turned in a 73.70 mph over 177.09 miles to win the fastest speed of the day award. I am sure this was a result of someone complaining that the 15 Meter task sheets were printed on pink paper. When I responded that they should buy a glider with 3 more meters of wingspan, the fight was on. Fernando Silva, who did not fly today, bet me the 15 Meter Class would beat the 18 Meter Class each day of the contest. A good bottle of wine is up for grabs and I’m sure, my fellow 18 Meter racers will prevail…..I hope.

An experienced competitor In Sports Class won the day at 60.18 raw and 55.86 handicapped. Kevin Anderson and his DG-400-17 beat the rest of the field by over 4 mph. I have to brag now, Jim Zombakis from the Tampa Bay Soaring Club is one of my mentees. He turned in a great flight but returned 15 minutes early. If he had continued on course a little longer, he would have been in 3rd place for the day at a handicapped speed of 50 mph. By the way, he is a first time competitor!!!!
We have just returned from the Mandatory Safety Meeting and hopes are high for this week. The airport, staff and pilots are ready. For those of you not here this week, sorry you had to work. We will raise our glasses to you at our no host cocktail party tomorrow night under the tent. Join us next year if you can. Stay tuned for more action tomorrow.

Rich Owen

Towering CU and a Bet!

After a great dinner at the Ramada Inn last night, everyone returned today for a knock down fight with cu climbing to 9,000 feet and lift that we don’t get often in the southeast. At the morning pilots meeting Fernando Silva and I made a bet regarding what class was going to be the fastest.. The 18 Meter Class was slightly slower yesterday than the top guns of the 15 Meter Class and a bottle of wine was wagered.
We had to takeoff on runway 24 again today due to forecast winds that did not materialize until after the launch was complete. Sometimes it’s best not to roll the dice on the first day of the contest. A 300k Assigned Task was called for both the 15 and 18 Meter Classes. This was met with smiles from some pilots but others might have been a little worried. At the front of grid meeting John Godfrey asked if we were going to send up some sniffers. Well I looked around, the
18 Meter Class was in front of the 15 Meter Class and there were cu climbing above 4,000 feet. So, I looked right at John and said, no, but I guess that is why we gave the 15 Meter Class pink task sheets!
The launch started at 12:30 and soon the 18 Meter Class was away. John Murray covered the 194 mile task at a very respectable 75.13 mph. Unfortunately, the 15 Meter Class lead by Fernando Silva covered their 168 mile task at 78.75 mph. More impressive was the top 4 pilots in 15 Meter beat all of the 18 Meter guys. Sports Class may have a new Sarah Arnold and at least it remains in the family. After winning the Region 5 North contest, Jason Arnold is repeating today winning the day after towing his share of the entire field. His winning speed of 69.86 mph (64.97 handicapped) covered 182 miles which was more than the winner of the 15 Meter Class. Chris Carter and Lyn Forbes finished the day by putting on a no host cocktail party complete with watermelon margaritas and very heavy appetizers. A keg of Stella was provided by Cordele Racing LLC, thanks Mitch! Tomorrow looks like a little more of a technical day so maybe my 18 Meter boys can even up the tally!
Cheers,
Rich

How close can it get?

We are still trying to find a way to effectively communicate with competitors via mobile devices. A trial use of an application called What’s App may be a solution. After 3 days we have about half of the pilots using the service. It is free and relatively easy to use without having to ask my grand kids to help. We distribute tasks, messages, grid sheets, and social activity reminders. I woke up this morning to a question via the app of whether a rest day was in consideration for the day. A quick scan out the window revealed a beautiful Cordele morning. Remembering the advice from a relatively famous CD, Charlie Spratt, I responded “If it’s not raining, we rig and grid!�
Walking into the contest admin trailer, Scott Fletcher our weatherman, was hard at work getting the latest information to form the basis of setting our tasks. Of course, he was wearing headphones, with his back to everyone and fingers dancing across the keyboard deep in thought. During the pilots meeting a question came up regarding the process of the soaring forecast. He said that he tries to say a lot of things about the weather so that maybe some of it actually happens. Scott is not only a great weatherman but his t-shirts and sense of humor are legendary. He is a pleasure to work with!
Speaking about the weather, it was looking like another rip-roaring day in Cordele. However, some high clouds were threatening to dampen some of the task area latter in the day. The satellite view showed high cloud cover and we were hoping that it would pass to the north. After the 15 Meter Class was almost done with the launch, we decided to back off the 300k Assigned Task for a Turn Area Task of the same nominal distance. Soon after we switched the 18 Meter Class to a TAT before takeoff. Sports Class had a closer in TAT that would not be affected by the coming weather. After the start the sky got better and the speeds were really starting to rise. Changing to the TAT had the benefit of allowing the pilots to fly a longer flight in the 3 hours allowed. Climbs in the 4-8 knot range up to 8,000 ft were being achieved by most of the pilots. The 15 Meter Combined Class again ruled the skies by beating out the 18 Meter guys by a mere .04mph! Fernando Silva won the day again with a speed of 77.13mph over 232 miles. Francois Pin and Billy Kerns took 2nd and 3rd. Jim Frantz put in a valiant performance covering the same 232 miles in 77.09mph with John Murray and George Green finishing 2nd and 3rd. The top two in Sports Class are only separated by 10 points with Kevin Anderson finishing first today at 69.92 raw and 63.17 handicapped over the 178 mile TAT. Jason Arnold finished second and maintains a slight lead over Kevin for the overall lead. Wally Berry finished in 3rd for the day. It is anyone’s race and there are a number of pilots behind them waiting for the first open door.
Tomorrow is another race day and there may be a little more moisture in the air. A chance of rain is forecast but it should not prevent us from flying. Hope the boys are getting a good night’s sleep, they are going to need it tomorrow.

Rich

Great reports Rich! A little Charlie Spratt style in there.

P3

On Wednesday, June 5, 2019 at 12:01:39 AM UTC-4, Rich Owen wrote:
How close can it get?

We are still trying to find a way to effectively communicate with competitors via mobile devices. A trial use of an application called What’s App may be a solution. After 3 days we have about half of the pilots using the service...

Rich

- why not stick to the standards, SMS text messages, email, and a web page (a real web site, please not Facebook). Put downloadable documents (task sheets, weather forecasts, grid sheets, etc) on the web site. If they are suitable stand-alone files (PDF, JPG, PNG) they can be downloaded into the mobile devices for later off-line use.

A fine day almost spoiled

The day started like any other day in Cordele with the exception of the weatherman. Scott Fletcher was up early putting the wings on his ship and then stopping the rigging process. Even in his mind, he could not convince himself that we would fly this day. Soon he was at his desk in the scorer’s office, with his headphones on, pouring over all the data he has to sift though to provide the weather brief. If you would see how much work our weathermen do to support a contest, you would buy them all the beer they want!
At the pilots meeting, the banter between the 18 Meter pilots and the 15 Meter Combined continued. Fernando Silva had beat the 18 Meter winner and he pointed that out in his winner’s speech. Today was going to be a different situation. Scott told the pilots today was going to be tough. When the meeting adjourned, Dennis Linnekin, Rob Ware and Walley Berry (our task advisors) meet to work out a safe plan to fly the day. We had to go with a Turn Area Task due to the wide differences in weather model predictions. The day was going to end early and there were going to be showers outside the path of our tasks.
At grid time the task sheets were just being printed. With What’s App help, the task got to half the pilots about 10 minutes early. Murray Forbes (OPS) got the ground crew to put together another great launch! Our crew was made up of young people from 14 to 22 years old. Soon after the Sports Class got airborne it was apparent the planned start circle was not going to work. A quick change of start circles and switch to task B got the class away from the airport area and on their way. The 18 Meter and 15 Meter Combined Classes got their change on the ground which made the roll call and data entry much easier and safer for the pilots. We launched the 18 Meter Class and sent the 15 Meter ships right behind them. Unfortunately, the short winged ships got the wrong end of the stick when the weather took a turn for the worse and their task was cancelled.
While waiting on the ground the weather around the airport would look good and then very depressing. There was still lift but the overcast was getting thicker. The tasks were just the right length as the ships started coming home when things were getting completely overcast. Only one ship landed out, just 3 miles from the airport. He had final glide on the number but elected to land. Arriving from the south at Cordele there are very few options in the last couple of miles for an outlanding. The pilot executed superb judgment in doing a safe landing in a good field.

In Sports Class, Jason Arnold won the day traversing the 93 miles at 57.12 mph raw. What was more impressive though was Jason took off after the 15 Meter ships, had a longer minimum time task and towed until all the ships were airborne. I would be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t sure if he would make it back before the overcast shut down all the lift. Joe Reeves finished second and Wally finished third. In 18 Meter, John Murray won the day at 63.36mph over 97 miles. John flew a great flight and expertly avoided the poor conditions around the last turnpoint. Jim Frantz finished in second with Steve Vihlen in third. Steve saved his flight from a climb starting at 1,400ft between the second and third turnpoints. Great job Steve!!!!
During the recovery today we had a TV crew filming some of the landings. Tim McGowin was landing and we set up a little demo on how our ground crew works. Tim stopped right in front of the camera at the end of the runway while Mike Kanabe (Chief Tow Pilot) caught his wing. Tim’s son put the tail dolly on and the ship was removed from the runway in less than 10 seconds. Now that will be on the nightly news as a highlight reel!! Tonight, we are heading to the community center for a cat fish dinner put on by the Chamber of Commerce. The whole town supports this contest in a whole host of ways. From golf carts, tents, food, and gift cards at local restaurants for the ground crew, we could not do this contest without their help. Thank You Cordele!!!
Tomorrow the weather will give us another challenge but we will address it safely and professionally. See you all tomorrow.
Rich

On Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 1:41:15 AM UTC-4, Rich Owen wrote:
A fine day almost spoiled

The day started like any other day in Cordele with the exception of the weatherman. Scott Fletcher was up early putting the wings on his ship and then stopping the rigging process. Even in his mind, he could not convince himself that we would fly this day. Soon he was at his desk in the scorer’s office, with his headphones on, pouring over all the data he has to sift though to provide the weather brief. If you would see how much work our weathermen do to support a contest, you would buy them all the beer they want!
At the pilots meeting, the banter between the 18 Meter pilots and the 15 Meter Combined continued. Fernando Silva had beat the 18 Meter winner and he pointed that out in his winner’s speech. Today was going to be a different situation. Scott told the pilots today was going to be tough. When the meeting adjourned, Dennis Linnekin, Rob Ware and Walley Berry (our task advisors) meet to work out a safe plan to fly the day. We had to go with a Turn Area Task due to the wide differences in weather model predictions. The day was going to end early and there were going to be showers outside the path of our tasks.
At grid time the task sheets were just being printed. With What’s App help, the task got to half the pilots about 10 minutes early. Murray Forbes (OPS) got the ground crew to put together another great launch! Our crew was made up of young people from 14 to 22 years old. Soon after the Sports Class got airborne it was apparent the planned start circle was not going to work. A quick change of start circles and switch to task B got the class away from the airport area and on their way. The 18 Meter and 15 Meter Combined Classes got their change on the ground which made the roll call and data entry much easier and safer for the pilots. We launched the 18 Meter Class and sent the 15 Meter ships right behind them. Unfortunately, the short winged ships got the wrong end of the stick when the weather took a turn for the worse and their task was cancelled.
While waiting on the ground the weather around the airport would look good and then very depressing. There was still lift but the overcast was getting thicker. The tasks were just the right length as the ships started coming home when things were getting completely overcast. Only one ship landed out, just 3 miles from the airport. He had final glide on the number but elected to land. Arriving from the south at Cordele there are very few options in the last couple of miles for an outlanding. The pilot executed superb judgment in doing a safe landing in a good field.

In Sports Class, Jason Arnold won the day traversing the 93 miles at 57.12 mph raw. What was more impressive though was Jason took off after the 15 Meter ships, had a longer minimum time task and towed until all the ships were airborne. I would be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t sure if he would make it back before the overcast shut down all the lift. Joe Reeves finished second and Wally finished third. In 18 Meter, John Murray won the day at 63.36mph over 97 miles. John flew a great flight and expertly avoided the poor conditions around the last turnpoint. Jim Frantz finished in second with Steve Vihlen in third. Steve saved his flight from a climb starting at 1,400ft between the second and third turnpoints. Great job Steve!!!!
During the recovery today we had a TV crew filming some of the landings. Tim McGowin was landing and we set up a little demo on how our ground crew works. Tim stopped right in front of the camera at the end of the runway while Mike Kanabe (Chief Tow Pilot) caught his wing. Tim’s son put the tail dolly on and the ship was removed from the runway in less than 10 seconds. Now that will be on the nightly news as a highlight reel!! Tonight, we are heading to the community center for a cat fish dinner put on by the Chamber of Commerce. The whole town supports this contest in a whole host of ways. From golf carts, tents, food, and gift cards at local restaurants for the ground crew, we could not do this contest without their help. Thank You Cordele!!!
Tomorrow the weather will give us another challenge but we will address it safely and professionally. See you all tomorrow.
Rich

Thanks Eric. Been pretty busy lately. We do a racing clinic every night at 8 discussing the various phases of contest flying. So far we covered Start Strategy, Enroute Decisions, Speed to Fly, and reviewed Sailplane Grand Prix flights that Sean Fidler narrated. We also review contest flights by class. DL, DI and WB have been great Task Advisors and Scott Fletcher is a superb weatherman. This team is the reason why today’s task was safe and fair. The pilots also deserve a shout out for their operations in the vicinity of the airport and working together on course. It was a shame we couldn’t get 15 Meter Combined another day. I’m afraid we may be done at Region 5 South. This low may stick around through Saturday. Oh well, off to Hobbs!

This aspiring contest pilot finished in the middle of the Cordele sports class with a huge grin on his face. With this posting I want to encourage as many pilots as possible to come to Cordele for next year's 50th contest anniversary. The best news for next year is that the same management team will be doing it again!

There is so much to like about Cordele! Conditions were so good on flying days that even I exceeded 60 mph and set 3 personal bests. The tasks were such that all pilots were likely to complete them, yet the very good pilots had plenty of opportunity to fly further and faster. The weather briefings were understandable and strategically useful. The other contestants freely shared what they knew with less experienced pilots. There were enough towplanes that I think it took less that an hour to launch the whole fleet. The CD conducted a seminar and discussion every evening to cover lessons learned in that day's contest. There was enough room to assemble and tie down all the gliders and more. And finally, when the nasty weather arrived the contest management cancelled the rest of the contest ---- much better than sitting on the ground during three days of thunderstorms!

In short, next year I'm going back!

Glad you had fun!
I have flown sites that promote the "pilot experience" over the years. They usually also include crew/family.

Hope you come back to there.
I wish to return to US completion Soaring soon.....
I have access to equipment, just not enough time to be "US current" let alone comp ready......totally 2 different things....