Region 6 South Contest

I'm having problems being able to post to the SSA website so I thought I'd post here for the time being.
Practice Day
After four wonderful days of soaring in the XC Soaring Camp, the weather cooperated and practice day contestants merged with regular Club operations. The weather was expected to be slightly less strong than the last day of Camp, but still with 4-5 knot climbs to 5500 feet. There was a chance of overdevelopment which did not occur although we heard some thunderstorms to the east, that already being behind us. CD Frank Paynter (yep, that Frank) called a 2.5 hour TAT with CCSC as the start, a 20 mile circle around Madison County and a 15 mile circle around Double J, then back to CCSC. The start gate was open at the time of each launch. We had one landout, one of our own local fliers, but I don't know if he was on task or not as I left the field to enjoy dinner with my wife for the first time in a week. We have a number of XC Soaring Campers (seven participants and mentors) staying over and they took advantage of another casual day of flying. In addition, those that came in last night were registered quickly so they could assemble and have their practice flights.
We still have a few contestants to arrive and right now tomorrows' flying looks marginal.
Rolf
Day One – Rain Day
It seems that the black weather cloud over Frank has not completely dissipated as the day started out gloomy and continued to get worse. But it was an easy no grid or fly call, that was announced right after our mandatory pilots meeting. Several contestants went canoeing, but got drenched by a mid-afternoon TS and several went to the Museum of the United States Air Force.
Rolf
Day Two – Flying
We had a thunderstorm over the field at 7AM but then it quickly cleared into sunshine. With the sun on the ground all morning, we were gridded by 12:30 and that’s when our sniffer (Frank) launched. A short time later, he tried again and was able to clib to about 2500 agl. Shortly thereafter we launched another sniffer, Don Kroesch in his Genesis. When both started climbing through 3000 feet, we launched the fleets of seven Handicapped FAI gliders and 11 Sports class ships. Everyone was in the air in 40 minutes and the start gates were opened 15 minutes after the last class launch. We had two relights, but then everyone started out on course. The task was a TAT from CCSC to Madison County with a 20 mile radius, then to Lebanon with a five mile radius and return to CCSC. The lift was cycling quickly and the winds increased as the afternoon wore on. Making the day very difficult to get back with only two finishers, Curt Lewis (95) and Jeffrey Russell (TZ). Everyone else was accounted for and landed safely.
Rolf

On Monday, June 18, 2012 7:09:30 PM UTC-4, N11rdbird wrote:
I'm having problems being able to post to the SSA website so I thought I'd post here for the time being.
Practice Day
After four wonderful days of soaring in the XC Soaring Camp, the weather cooperated and practice day contestants merged with regular Club operations.. The weather was expected to be slightly less strong than the last day of Camp, but still with 4-5 knot climbs to 5500 feet. There was a chance of overdevelopment which did not occur although we heard some thunderstorms to the east, that already being behind us. CD Frank Paynter (yep, that Frank) called a 2.5 hour TAT with CCSC as the start, a 20 mile circle around Madison County and a 15 mile circle around Double J, then back to CCSC. The start gate was open at the time of each launch. We had one landout, one of our own local fliers, but I don't know if he was on task or not as I left the field to enjoy dinner with my wife for the first time in a week. We have a number of XC Soaring Campers (seven participants and mentors) staying over and they took advantage of another casual day of flying. In addition, those that came in last night were registered quickly so they could assemble and have their practice flights.
We still have a few contestants to arrive and right now tomorrows' flying looks marginal.
Rolf
Day One – Rain Day
It seems that the black weather cloud over Frank has not completely dissipated as the day started out gloomy and continued to get worse. But it was an easy no grid or fly call, that was announced right after our mandatory pilots meeting. Several contestants went canoeing, but got drenched by a mid-afternoon TS and several went to the Museum of the United States Air Force..
Rolf
Day Two – Flying
We had a thunderstorm over the field at 7AM but then it quickly cleared into sunshine. With the sun on the ground all morning, we were gridded by 12:30 and that’s when our sniffer (Frank) launched. A short time later, he tried again and was able to clib to about 2500 agl. Shortly thereafter we launched another sniffer, Don Kroesch in his Genesis. When both started climbing through 3000 feet, we launched the fleets of seven Handicapped FAI gliders and 11 Sports class ships. Everyone was in the air in 40 minutes and the start gates were opened 15 minutes after the last class launch. We had two relights, but then everyone started out on course. The task was a TAT from CCSC to Madison County with a 20 mile radius, then to Lebanon with a five mile radius and return to CCSC. The lift was cycling quickly and the winds increased as the afternoon wore on. Making the day very difficult to get back with only two finishers, Curt Lewis (95) and Jeffrey Russell (TZ). Everyone else was accounted for and landed safely.
Rolf

WooHoo! We have a contest in the bag! The rest is fun icing on the cake! From my perspective it was a fun day with a smooth launch, probably one of the most worry free that I've seen since I started doing this gig. Great job Frank, Rolf, Tow pilots, and crew. It was great to give Joanne and Harolyne a "rest day" at the retrieve desk!

Gary Adams - GB