20-Meter National Contest
By Rich Owen
Bus Class Heads to Florida
The practice day of the Multiplace Nationals is in the books. Down here we call this the bus class after Uncle Hank’s name for the two seat gliders. Almost every team participated in the Senior Soaring Championship and the ships that are new, had at least one pilot in the Seniors or have flown at Seminole-Lake. Local knowledge is not a factor in this contest.
Marshall McClung is our CD and I am fulfilling the role of CM again. Yes, I am crazy, but I get to work with some very talented individuals. Dewey Clawson is our Operations head and is ably assisted by Jack Brinckerhoff. John Godfrey is our remote scorer and Fernando is our remote weatherman. We are also training a couple of people to be CM’s and they will share hosting the morning meeting and monitoring the launch. Our goal is to get more folks able to work in contest management or to be better suited to help contest staff. If you do not train people, you can never expect them to do the job well.
Registration was again handled by Chris Carter. I do not know what we would do if she and Gary were not Region 5 residents. Chris takes care of 3 contests a year and I’m proud to work with her and Lynn Forbes at the Region 5 South contest in Cordele.
Tony Prizzi is one of our CM trainees and gave up a lot of his vacation to work this contest. Jennifer may give it a try with Mihaela. Maybe we can get these folks a chance to run their own contest in the future.
The pilots did not have to go far coming to this contest. Most stayed in their RV and trailer parking spots after the Seniors. No 4-day drive for these folks. We only had 3 days off after the Seniors and I wish I planned better. Another day or two would have been nice.
Marshall did the morning meeting in the DG hangar with Dewey giving the Operations portion and Michael Marshall doing the weather which was provided by Fernando. Dewey was professional and to the point. Michael had a little fun with his presentation since the weather forecast was very optimistic. The winds in the morning were blowing 15 to 25 mph and the sky was very blue. The local pilots were a little leery of Fernando’s prediction. When they asked Billy Kerns what he thought, Billy responded, “I have beer in my car.”
The meeting was suspended and the travel to the grid was started using the same method we used in the Seniors. We break up the grid into groups and assign them a time to travel to the grid. They park on their spot ready for launch. No moving the ships at “grid time” so there is little chance of damage or hurt backs moving the ships around on grass. Everyone loves it. With 3 tow planes for the 20 ships, the launch was completed in just over 35 minutes. The task was an Assigned Area Task with a minimum time of 2 hours. After the fleet was launched and task opened, it was apparent that the day was not as good as forecasted. It was still a good time to check out the ships and knock off some rust from the last couple of days. We did have one landout, but it was uneventful since it was at a very good airport.
Tomorrow is the first day of the contest and the weather appears to be favorable for the next few days. So, stay tuned for a great contest and more reports from Florida. I would say sunny Florida, but I think I would jinx it. Oops, I did it again. Talk with you tomorrow with scores and more from the Multiplace Nationals.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
CU or Light Blue, that is the Option
Well, we did not have an option today as the skies were totally blue and the temperatures were chilly. We woke up this morning to 47-degree temperatures and many of the pilots in the RV park returned to their bus to retrieve winter coats. The Florida folks do not have winter coats, so we just wrapped blankets around ourselves until the Pilot’s Meeting. Today was better than last year when someone took a picture of gliders covers that had frost and light icing on it.
The Mandatory Safety Meeting was held at 9:45am and many topics were covered. Staying out of airspace that you do not belong in was a top subject. Over the last couple of years, we have had several airspace incursions into Class B airspace. With all the high-tech navigation systems we have, you would think we could stay out of closed airspace. Clearing the runway to make room for the next ship is also high on the list. After a short 15 minutes we went right into the pilots meeting agenda. Chris Carter, a great friend and experienced Contest Manager, will do all of our meetings and act as the CM while I get to go flying with Team 98. The tow pilots had 3 ships for the 17 gliders which gets the launch done very quickly. Operations asked if the pilots could tow down closer to the ship in front of them since we do not have 12 kids to push the gliders back like in the Seniors. We are a little on the old side for this contest. Weather was presented by Michael Marshall, and again he did a wonderful job of mixing information with a little bit of humor. That is why he got the job. Soon it was time for me to bring up some items and I remarked that the gliderport was closed and the CD had total control of the airfield. Just then a Junkers A50 Junior did a touch and go and then a full stop at the airport. With a little egg on my face, I went to investigate how this ship landed at the gliderport during the competition. Well, it turned out to be a good friend and new neighbor at Seminole-Lake. How can I get mad at someone who offers you to fly an aircraft as unique as this.
The ships were sent to the grid around noon, and we waited for the temperatures to rise and get the contest going. Joerg was our sniffer and at about 2pm told us the launch should proceed. Due to the late time of day, the task was changed to a 2 hour Assigned Area Task. Leaving from Start C overhead the field, we went southwest to Green Swamp, northeast to the intersection of Hwy-474 & 27, south to Chalet Suzzanne and then Finish. The lift was very weak in the beginning, and it did not improve for a while. Soon we were getting adequate lift strength and altitude, so the task was opened. There were several small gaggles that were trying to get as high as they could for an unlimited altitude start. It seemed no one wanted to lead out for the first leg, imagine that. Soon as one left, the whole group started to file out in sequence. There were several paths chosen, but none were a clear winner. The first leg was slow and a little tentative. Some chose to go a little east of nominal to avoid the weak condition over the Green Swamp. The next leg wasn’t nearly as bad. There was lift and the achieved altitudes were getting higher. Soon we were turning south and heading to Chalet Suzanne. This was the biggest problem of the day. Weak lift, and very low cruising altitudes made this leg the biggest problem. Leaving the last turnpoint, Team 98 hit a 3.8kt average climb that took us to 5,000ft. From there we went over 35 miles before we saw our next climb. Passing Gore airport, we saw many gliders at 2,000ft struggling to climb. We passed two gliders with their engines running heading home. Pete and I are no dummies. After a short discussion, we decided to head north and get over I-4 to connect with the last lift we found. Arriving at our target point at 1,700ft we connected with a climb to get us home. We knew we were going to be early, but we did not have to start the engine and end our day. Soon we had 98 back under cover as the rest of the gliders came home. Many spent a long time to get back to Seminole-Lake and a few had to start motors. At the dinner we found that almost everyone had very low saves. The winner was a save from 900ft for a non-motor glider. Nice to have that lower wing loading. Everyone made it back to the field safely and the chaos of the score sheet was held to a minimum.
When the ships were put away, we had a nice pizza welcome dinner in the DG hangar. Everyone had a good time, and we are all looking forward to the good weather tomorrow.
The scores for the day were very low due to the short length of the task. In third place was the team of Juan Mandelbaum and Phil Gaisford, with Michael Marshall and Hal Woodruff in second. Winning the day with a blistering raw speed of 54.55 over the distance of 112.01 miles was Jim Franz and Jared Granzow. For their efforts, they obtained a total of 445 points. A win is a win, and this contest is going on for another 9 days. Stay tuned for all the action in this clash of the buses.
Good Night All,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
Cool Blue and CU, Finally
The pizza party was a success on several levels last night. Shawn Knickerbocker allowed us to store the DG-1000 in his hanger so we did not have to set up every day for the meeting and dinners. Thanks again Shawn for all you do for Seminole-Lake! We had a good number of volunteers step up to help set up, serve and clean up after the party. Although most of the pilots were here for the Seniors, it is always good to see our friends a little longer in the season.
This morning was very cool again, and the forecast called for a nice soaring day. Billy Kerns and Jim Lee are our task advisors and we could not be in better hands. Marshall was a little more positive than all of us and sent us out on a 201-mile racing task. The gridding has been going very well and we were ready well in advance of the sniffers launching. We group the ships in sections marked by designations like Group A, B, C, and D. The sniffers were all Canadians that we consider local pilots (they live down here several months a year), and they became known as Group “Eh”.
Dave and Joerg took off a little too early for the conditions, but we did not know that until they were in the air. We had hit trigger temperature that should have gotten them to 2,500ft easily. After launching, there were very little comments from them until the CD made a query. Both were below release height and not climbing. This was the first of several launch delays of the day. The longer we went, the more the task was changed down the card until we reached task C. Then, the CD gave us a back up Assigned Area Task just to cover all the bases. It was not needed though and we were soon off on our racing task. After Start C we headed east to the intersection of Hwy 474 and 27, then south to Wines, further south to Avon Park, Wachulla and Finish. Fernando guessed that the winning raw speed would be 70mph and he was very close.
The start area was filled with buses trying to get higher than 3,500ft to start. Smoke coming from a fire over 10 miles away blew over the west side of the gliderport and did cause some issues. Soon a nice thermal appeared right at the start line and got us all up to 3,700ft before heading off to the first turnpoint. It was blue but there were clouds in the distance. A few wisps started but created very little lift and caused a few of us to circle a time or two. That was the difference between many of the competitors in the top half of the score sheet. The gaggle that started 8 minutes after the first groups found a better run to highway 27 and caught the front runners before Avon Park. The run after Wines was not too bad, some pilots found they could soar down a dense cloud field and not have to thermal. One or two good climbs highlighted this section. From Avon Park to Wauchula, there were several ships that got low on this leg. Those that chose to drive hard often found themselves looking up 1,000ft to their fellow pilots. I know what that feels like, but today I was the guy looking down. After Wauchula, there were two or three good choices of lines going north. One was well west of the direct path home and lead you right up to the Class B airspace at Tampa. Hope is not a strategy and we decided not to hope it kept us out of the airspace. Second was a line that took you slightly east of the path home and had two nice lines of clouds you could choose from. It looked like a bomb burst when we reviewed the flights. Everyone had a different path home. There were many 40 plus final glides, and everyone made it back home safely. In the end it was an enjoyable and challenging task. Thanks Marshall and our task advisors.
In third place for the day was Team Mandelbaum and Gaisford, with Team Lee and Joe in second. In first place for the second time was Jim Frantz flying with Jared Granzow netting a raw speed of 69.14mph over the 149-mile course. Congratulations guys! Now Jim, when is Jared going back to work so the rest of us can have a chance to win?
After the ships were put away, Team 98 went to the Suncreek Brewery for dinner and a bite. Several of the staff headed to The Red Wing, a local favorite of the glider community. It is located on Highway 33, heading north towards Groveland, about 10 miles. Great food in a homey atmosphere.
Well, that is all for tonight. Tomorrows weather looks like a cross between the end of days and a summer shower. Only the weatherman will know, and a decision will be made at 8am whether we will fly or not. Until then, fly safe and hug your dog.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
The Weather Was Here, and It Wasn’t Beautiful
At 8:00am a high-level meeting with contest management (CD, CM, Michael, Mihaela and Fernando) resulted in a Signal message that stated the day was cancelled. When I looked out the window, even my dog Regal did not want to go outside. Everyone, I think appreciated the early decision so we could get some extra rest. Most of the group have been here flying for over two weeks and we did need some downtime. Our volunteers needed to get a day off also.
Team 98 decided to get together and head for a breakfast at Cheeser’s Palace Café which is in downtown Clermont, just a block up from the Suncreek Brewery. It is a small, cozy place with great food and superior service. Pete loved their Belgium waffle while I had the healthy breakfast of a cheese omelet. I would certainly recommend it for breakfast or lunch.
This afternoon I had a chance to play with the new ZO, an AS-33Es that was delivered on Friday. It wasn’t long before I had several pilots looking at the ship. Pete has had one for 3 seasons and gave us a 2 hour cockpit checkout. Luckily Jared Granzow is a CFI-G and will sign us off for insurance purposes. Much better to have someone who owns the ship and a CFI-G be there for the checkout. We configured the FLARM Fusion and worked on the LX 9070. Jae Walker fixed an issue with the ramp jack which was greatly appreciated. I need to put my toolbox in the trailer very soon. After everything was done, I could not find my cellphone. Well, I must have left it in the ship. We pulled it out twice, called everyone who was there and still couldn’t find it. Finally, we started pinging the phone and then Sean Fidler walks in. He picked it up with his phone and had it in his pocket. Tragedy was averted.
While pre-flighting the hangar for dinner, we found the kegerator was dead. A quick call to Mihaela and we found Tony Prizzi had already gone into town to get the Co2 refilled and to obtain a standby keg for the rest of the contest. Volunteers like this make all the difference in a successful contest.
We had the lasagna dinner that everyone liked at the Seniors tonight. It is always difficult to find food in quantities large enough for the group that is flavorful and hot. Thank you to all the volunteers that helped serve.
So, laundry is done, we have resupplied our groceries and the gliders are safe. The weather tomorrow looks tough, but we are ready to get back into the skies again. Until tomorrow, have a good evening and be safe.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
It Was the Best of Times and the Worst of Times
When dawn broke, the sky was completely overcast, and rain was forecasted for late morning. Everyone was standing around getting their ships ready but not taking off covers or removing tiedowns. So, we gathered around the Dunkin Donut collection to solve the world’s problems.
During the pilots meeting everything was going fine. Operations, tow pilots, CM, daily winners and the safety brief was given. Just when you think we came to find out if we were going to fly today, Marshall adjourned the meeting. Oops, well Michael got up and started the weather brief with a question. Who was confused when they looked at the weather this morning? A few pilots rose their hand and Michael added, even the weather was confused when we looked at all the models with the remote weatherman Fernando Silva.
After the meeting one of our pilots stopped by with a dilemma. He locked himself out of his RV and his spare key was not where he usually kept it. Well, Michael to the rescue again. It helps to be young and thin to shimmy in the open window to rescue this red faced retired Delta pilot, and it wasn’t me.
We started the day with a 50-50% chance of flying, it went to 40-60% chance after the meeting. We spotted all the ships on the grid and the sun came out. Cu were appearing in the north where it was not supposed to be. Expectations for flying started to increase and soon, the order was given to launch the fleet.
The CD was sending us out on an Assigned Area Task from Start C to Flying Baron to the north, then Tilden Groves to the south, further south to Gore and northwest to Green Swamp and then Finish. Cloud streets started to form to the west and the clouds were forming up nicely. Plans for the task were changing due to the improving weather conditions. It was late in the day when the gate was opened so we wanted to get going right away. The first leg to Flying Baron was not bad. Good Cu marked the way but there were some blue holes when approaching the Villages. Once you were at Flying Baron, the Cu to the south kind of dried up. There was a stretch of blue and ragged clouds that we had to get by. If you dodged that minefield, after Tilden Groves you had closed airspace by Disney World. Some of the pilots got trapped between poor lift and airspace issues. Once around the airspace, there was a nice run down to I-4. Time was an issue and we thought we were going to be under time. It wasn’t until later we found ourselves downwind of the lakes around Winter Haven outside of our height band. Team 98 spent a long time down low, but we limped along and made it home. Many pilots hooked up to a cloud street to Green Swamp and smoked the rest of us. Great flying guys! In the end, we did have one motor retrieve, but everyone made it back safely.
The scores for today have not changed very much. In third place for the day was “The Team Seans” consisting of Sean Franke and Sean Fidler. In second place was Team Jim Lee and Joe, again. In first place, with a raw speed of 59mph and a distance of 151.95 miles, was Team Jim Franz and Jared Granzow. This makes 3 firsts in a row for these aviators.
Looks like we may fly the next four days in a row. Maybe someone will knock Jim off the pedestal, or he will just keep up the great flying. Good night everyone.
Cheers,
Rich 
Team 98 Backseater
The Windy City Had Nothing on Us
The morning broke over Central Florida and already the pilots knew we were in trouble. I can tell when everyone starts waking up. Our internet slows to a crawl when the pilots start checking early morning weather. The skies were completely overcast, and the wind was blowing so much the glider covers looked like Grand Ma’s skivvies blowing on the clothesline.
Today looked like a problem day for more than just the weather. First thing in the morning, the coffee pot refused to work until we hit it a few times in the right spot. However, coffee was not available for the pilots meeting, but everyone had their favorite donut, so all was good with the world.
Chris led off the meeting with yesterday’s winners, presenting them with soaring DVD’s thanks to Paul Remde and Cumulus Soaring. Everything went well until the weather brief. Normally, Fernando is a very happy presenter, always positive and humorous. With him operating as a remote weatherman, Michael has to provide that humor. So far, he has done a great job. He introduced us to Octavia, the octopus. She has a very special talent for predicting the clouds for the day. When she is purple, we will have clouds. When she is blue, well you get the idea. Michael pulled her out and she was purple. Great news for the pilots until Michael remarked that the clouds won’t help you today. As we went down the slides, conditions were going to be low clouds, 20 knots of wind and an early end to the day. Fernando usually provides some comment about the day, today he just said, “Good luck”.
So out the door we went, just as the coffee pot finished brewing. Gridding went well since we have been doing it since 5 March. We all sat around the parking lot at the end of the runway solving the world’s problems. Books and quilting were discussed by the crews while the pilots wondered how the day was going to progress. At 2 pm, the CD called for the sniffers to prepare to launch. To all of us, it looked like Marshall was being very optimistic. The sky was completely overcast at 2,500ft and the winds were gusting to over 20 knots. The sniffers went to their ships, and you could tell optimism was not in their thoughts. Soon after Marshall called the grid to a meeting and announced that the day was cancelled.
The de-gridding process went very well under Dewey Clawson’s direction, and soon all the ships were under cover just as a small rain shower came by. Once back in the RV park, several small gatherings sprung up. Team 98 piled into Pete’s van with cheese and crackers. Soon we had several folks inside talking about life, liberty and the SSA rules. Well maybe I was the one trying to talk about the rules to see how the pilots felt about the new 2024 version. One pilot asked if it was ok to eject the backseater to reduce ballast. I told him that it was required to have 2 pilots occupying a multiplace glider, but it did not say you had to return to the field with them. By the way, this was not Pete talking.
Soon it was time for our ribs and chicken dinner provided by Texas Roadhouse. It was a great dinner, but our luck for things breaking kept coming. The kegerator’s regulator sprung a leak and drained all our Co2 from both bottles right before the dinner. Luckily, Tony Prizzi came to the rescue with some canned beer. It was a very nice evening, but you could tell the long days were starting to catch up to our pilots. Well, not quite all of them. After I get done with this report I’ll have to see if the rest of the folks are finished with the hangar. Then I can turn off the lights and close the door. We never kick folks out of the hangar when they are having a good time. Unless of course, we have to get ready for the pilots meeting.
I hear Tony snoring upstairs so I guess I should close this out with a short addition from our former Delta pilot in Atlanta who retired and went to California. “We enjoyed a lovely afternoon in 98’s motorhome reminiscing about contests and pilots, crews, and situations long past. If your ears were burning, that’s why!”
Good night,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
Masters of the Air Takes Over Multiplace Nationals
After yesterday’s cancellation, everyone seemed to have a very pleasant evening. Dinner was good, conversation was adult and calm pervaded over the entire group. Little did anyone know that today was going to be something out of Masters of the Air. Let me back up.
The morning routine has become almost second nature by now. We have been doing the same thing every day since before the Seniors. For most of the pilots, this is our second contest this month. We all have a certain parking space for our car, and Pat Kroesch was very kind to move my car after each launch. That kind of care from other competitors and crews is what makes this sport so much more fun. The sniffers were launched, and the grid was told to get ready soon as the first report came in. Well, the weather had something else to say and the first launch was delayed. In the weather brief, Michael parroted what Fernando’s concerns were for the day. Today was to be an early start with good lift and reasonable top of lift. He also said that the day was going to end early, around 3:30pm. The CD was sending us out on a 3:00 hour Assigned Area Task from Start C, south to Weeks, then east to Gore, a long leg downwind on the energy line to Williston and then a turn at Chinsegut before heading to the Finish.
My family loves to put together puzzles at the house in Orlando and during the summer at the house in Pensacola. We always have a 1,000-piece puzzle going somewhere. When the grandkids come by, we try and get a few pieces in the right spot while talking about our day. It is a relaxing environment. Pete talked today about flying a task is like solving a puzzle. We get a weather brief that is based on a guess, not a predetermined shape of a puzzle piece. The sky changes with wind, topography and the sun. Nothing is a constant. But we take each piece of this puzzle and try to make the best of it. Today was a perfect example.
The first and second legs were fast or very difficult depending on when you started. Early and late starters were not in the best position on these legs. Many got low around Gore. The leg to Williston was downwind along the energy lines that were abundant. However, you could hardly fly a consistent line with good lift. Sometimes the east side worked, other times the west side of the line was better. The key to this piece of the puzzle was to stay connected to the clouds in the upper part of the height band and not get low. For those that did not heed this advice, they paid a penalty in speed, altitude gained, or they got to do the infamous gas can retrieve. Where you turned in the Williston turn area was another piece of the puzzle that caused problems. We were downwind of the finish running a nice energy line. After entering the turn area, we were trying to use the magic of the LX-9070 to estimate the return leg. We put the turnpoint in Chinsegut at the minimum distance point and turned when the computer said we would be 5 minutes over time. Other pilots continued downwind along the energy line. We knew going into the wind was going to slow us down a bit and the forecast spread out looked like it was going to be a reality. Good call Fernando! We had to fly by Inverness which is a very weak area. This leg looked like a scene out of Masters of the Air. Ships were coming down like B-17’s flying over Germany. We didn’t have flak or ME-109’s, but we did have almost no sun, lots of wetlands and clouds that had very little blue around them. Before flying, Pete and I discussed how we would attack this piece of the puzzle. We wanted to be upwind of this area if possible. By the time we got there, the downwind section was better due to a cloud formation that headed south that looked better. We were able to get a climb here to keep us connected and above 4,000ft. We were patient and did not let our speed get too high when the lift got weak. I must give credit to QQ for a climb that we found but he located the core better and we were able to get to cloudbase and head south much faster. Thank you Piet and Henry! Since we were flying faster on this leg than expected, we had to go further into Chinsegut. Lucky for us, we were right along the wind line heading home. We flew very conservatively on this leg, spending most of it at best L/D. Even 2.5 miles from the finish we did not know if we would make it without a finish penalty. Finally crossing the finish line, we had a short discussion if we were high enough to make a normal pattern with the headwind leading to the downwind. A quick decision was made by Pete to enter a normal downwind since we were number one and a tow plane was just taking off and heading to the west. A safe landing ensued in the 15-20 knot crosswind. Today was brutal.
As the families were looking to the skies like WW-II crew chiefs waiting for their B-17’s to return, calls were coming in requesting trailer retrieves and aero retrieves. In the end we had 9 engine starts, 2 landouts and only 3 finishers, 2 of which had finish penalties. It was a bad day for the 100th Bomb Group. Fortunately, no one was injured, or any glider damaged in this mission.
In third place was Piet Barber and Henry Retting in QQ with Jim Frantz and Jared Granzow in second place. Jim asked me to try and get his name spelled correctly in my articles. Sometimes it is a little late and I get a little sloppy. Sorry Jim, I’ll try and get a little better as we go along. Jared, I want to say from all of us, we are glad you are leaving so other pilots can have a chance at winning a day. Robin, take care of Jim and keep him on the straight and narrow. Finally, winning the day with a raw distance of 191.5 miles at a raw speed of 60.54 mph was Team 98, with Pete Alexander and some guy named Owen riding along in the backseat.
The ships are put to bed, pilots and crews are fed and the RV park is very quiet. There are still 4 more days of flying available to us so there is still lots of excitement in store. Stay tuned and we will try and entertain the pilots sitting in the snow and ice. Spring is here and your ship will be back in the air soon. It would be smart if you spent a little time in the air with your favorite CFI-G to knock the rust off your flying skills before tackling that big XC flight you always wanted to do. So, fly safely and have a great week.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
The Day that Never Ended
When you are at a glider contest for a week, you seem like you have been working for a month. Try doing a big regional and a national contest only 3 days apart. Not only are the pilots tired, but the volunteers are a little worn out also. The positive side friends that you only see at the Seniors are here for a month. It is good to walk through the RV park and see all the folks having fun and sharing adult beverages. Walking down the flight line I stopped by and spoke to the crews that lined the runway. Many of the people had their books out, talking about where they are going to do laundry when we get airborne and other housekeeping chores that are completed by loyal crews. We also have a book club that meets at all the contests in Region 5 and a quilting group that gets together for fun.
Today was just another day at Seminole-Lake. Seminole, our gliderport dog, went out in the morning to chase all the rabbits away from trailers and the car park while expecting a food handout from the pilots for his labor. He is such a good dog, and everyone loves him.
The CD started the pilots meeting and went through the normal routine, then Dennis Linnekin wanted to make a presentation to Jim Frantz. Jim, you see, has a specialized glider that you can fly at night with night vision googles. This jet also has a jet engine to self-retrieve from hundreds of miles away. Well Dennis was worried that Jim might be overwhelmed with this ship, so he provided him with a special pair of googles that worked great during the day. It consisted of 2 beer bottles, put together with red, white and blue electrical tape and it looked like a pair of binoculars. The catch phase from the manufacturer was, “We turn Day into Daylight”. Everyone got a great laugh out of that! We miss Dennis in Region 5 but the folks at Truckee and Williams Soaring are happy to have him.
When Michael gave the weather brief, he included a short statement from Fernando that just said “We need to talk”. We knew this was going to be another fun day.
Marshall sent us out on a racing task today going from Start C (overhead the field using a start line), northwest to Cheryl Lane, south to Avon Park and then to Myakka Head and Finish. We had a tow plane go down for an airspeed indicator that went bad early in the tow sequence. With all the bugs we have in Florida and all the precautions we take to keep them out of our equipment, they still love airspeed indicators. It should be ready to go tomorrow.
After we got airborne, we had a heck of a time getting up to cloudbase. Others that were launched towards the end were treated to a 5 knot climb to 4,200ft. That was the kind of day that lasted till after dinner was served. Only problem was, many of us were still flying. The first leg to Cheryl Lane was a little slow, with clouds that were not well formed and no clear line to the turnpoint. As we approached the turn, we saw many gliders at low altitude searching for lift. Seeing this we stayed high and took some weaker lift to stay in the upper portion of the lift band. Escaping from this turnpoint we proceeded to Avon Park. Everyone knows that you must be careful going there from the northwest section of Florida. Flying over the lakes around Winter Haven can be treacherous. However, if you transition over to highway 27, it is much easier to go south. That is what we did, and it paid off until we got to Avon Park. The sky became very gray with very little sun making it to the ground. When we passed over the airport there, we saw a couple of gliders on the field and one that was at pattern altitude. We were only 500 ft above that guy thinking we might join the party. Luckily, we got up with the help of an Arcus that found some weak lift that allowed us to move to the better clouds. Back up at altitude, you really couldn’t let you guard down. At Myakka Head there was a weak area, but soon you were back at cloudbase and running a great energy line back to the finish with a 7-knot tailwind. This was much better than the 15-knot headwind we had yesterday. When we came overhead the field, we were surprised there were very few gliders on the ramp. Team 98 landed at 5:40pm and by the time we got the ship tied down, dinner was served. Too bad there were very few pilots back from the task. Jennifer saved the day by calling the vendor for dinner about 4pm and found out they had forgot about the order. Fortunately, they were able to fill the order and the Penne alla Vodka dinner was very good. In the end, we had 5 gas can retrieves (started the engine to get home) and 2 landouts. One was in a supposed airport where I had personally retrieved a friend from the same field. Seems like it is no longer an airport, but it still shows up in the Florida Airport Directory. Something we must fix for next year’s turnpoint database. During dinner the scores came out. In third place was Michael Marshall and Hal Wooduff. You probably do not know, Hal has a gyrocopter that he let Michael fly. Living in California does something crazy to you. In second place was Jim Frantz flying for the first time without Jared Granzow. Robin Clark is in the back seat and provides great local knowledge to keep Jim’s streak alive. In first place again, was Team 98 with Pete Alexander and a part time author, Rich. They flew the 208-mile task at a blazing 59 mph. In the office, our staff watches the pilots and of course they root for the locals. When Pete and I were stuck at Avon Park everyone heard them yelling “Move….Move”. Guess our tracking system showed exactly what we were experiencing.
Well, the hangar is cleaned up thanks to the hard work of the guests and our staff. Seminole is lying on his couch sleeping and I’m finally done with the nightly report. We would like to thank all the crews that are helping with the launches since the kids are back in school and our older crews are a little tired. It is always great to be a contest organizer when there are so many guests and other SSA members that come up and ask, how can we help. The template that shows the tasks on We Glide is done by Ken Sorenson in Texas. Weather is provided by Fernando Silva in Atlanta and scoring is expertly done by John Godfrey in the Raleigh SC area. Chris Carter and her husband Gary changed all their plans to fill in for me as the CM during the contest so I can fly. Gary has never had these many steps on his Fitbit in a long time. Dewey Clawson and Jack Brinckerhuff run Operations and they have been worked to the bone. Thank you all for your kind support of Seminole-Lake Gliderport and all the pilots really appreciate your service to the competitive soaring community.
Good night,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
Weather Weather, It Has to Get Better
Experts call the weather pattern we are in now, El Nino which I believe in Spanish means boy. Well, boy I wish we had a girl in our weather pattern. The jet stream has descended into the lower portion of the US which has disturbed our normal excellent soaring conditions during the spring. This is highly unusual, and I have not seen this for the last 10 years. We still get good soaring, just not “buckle up and hang on” type of weather.
I made a swing around the field early this morning checking on conditions, our flags that Dewey planted to mark the first gliders spot on the grid and the office, to see if my Dunkin coffee was delivered by Mihaela. She takes very good care of all the volunteers, and she knows I love Dunkin coffee. While in the office I had a good conversation with our CD, Marshall. The weather today was not good, and he asked me what I thought. Told him I was trying to just be a pilot and didn’t look at the weather until the update occurred around 9am. That brought a smile to his face, and it did the same to mine. Being a CD is a great job when the weather is super. When it isn’t, you have to make tough decisions that can upset pilots. Thank you, Marshall for being our CD!
The morning meeting started with Chris Carter (our super CM) talking about all the volunteers who helped set up, serve, and clean up for last night’s dinner. She called them the “Dinner Elves”. I thought that was the best description of these folks that give their time and energy to help the contest be successful. Chris, thank you for being our CM and Jennifer for being Santa’s helper in mustering the elves to do dinner last night. Mihaela was picking up Anda at the airport last night and was unable to be Santa. Tony Prizzi was always on the periphery standing by to handle anything. Thanks to Tom the Chief Tow Pilot who installed the new regulator on the kegerator. It is so good to have that much depth in the lineup at a contest.
As the meeting progressed, the winners were hailed (Pete and I got some nice socks that said “Don’t Worry I’m a Pilot”), the tow pilots said we had the third tow plane back in service, Ops thanked the pilots for the grid operation at the north end and then the weather brief began. Now Fernando is always very optimistic in his forecast. Even if the weather is poor, he always tries to make it seem better, just in the way he presents it. Michael, not so much. Fernando sent him an email that just said, “No Good”. Well, Michael tried to convince us that a task was doable. Many in the audience scoffed at the idea but one person shouted out that “Susie was hungry”. This refers to our pet alligator at the south end of the runway and she might need a snack that could be provided by our weatherman.
Mashall made the correct decision and cancelled the day. Looking back, even Michael agreed that a national level task could not have been flown. We did get a briefing from our Chairman, Mike Shakeman on the status of the SSA and the changes they are making to improve our society. A rules input meeting followed, to get pilot’s input on the 2024 rules. It was a productive discussion, and we have some good input to take back to the committee.
After the meetings were concluded, we all spread out to do nonflying stuff. Team 98 joined up with Team Williams Soaring and half of Team QQ to have lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Pepe’s. Margaritas and tequila were served, and everything was right with the world. Later, I played with my new AS-33Es in the hangar making sure the water plugs were installed. I saw a friend that had a 29 that forgot those little plugs and ended up with 3 inches of water in the cockpit. Not a nice scene.
Even though we did not fly, it was productive and a fun time. I want to highlight a fellow writer and someone I plan to follow. Her name is Ritz de Luij, and she writes a very well-read blog simply called Soaring. This blog is seen all over the EU and you can find it by going to soaring.eu. Ritz is following everything that we are experiencing at the Multiplace Nationals and is using some of my write ups in the blog. I feel honored that my writing is making it to the soaring community in Europe. We may be from a country that is many thousands of miles away, but we all share the same love of soaring. Thank you Ritz for sharing our stories from America.
That is all for tonight. We are hoping to fly tomorrow but the weather does not look promising. Friday will be a fly day though. Until tomorrow, fly safe, and follow Ritz.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
Weather, Weather It Didn’t Get Better
We are getting a little tired of the weather pattern this month. Next week looks great for boating, flying and anything else you want to do outside. We are still trying to get day 6th in, but we fell short one more time. Tomorrow looks like a good day to fly. This afternoon the sun came out; the winds were still 15 gusting to 20 knots.
At the pilots meeting, the normal progression of talking heads made their pitch on the status of the runway, tow planes, ground support personnel and launch crew. When we got to the weather brief, Fernando could not be on the morning call with the CD and it was raining outside. The CD decided to hold off the decision to cancel the day until later in the afternoon. We were to come back for another pilots meeting at 12:15pm, ready to tow down to the grid immediately after. The weather late looked good, but the day was going to end early. If we could get into the air by 2pm, we might have a chance.
The second pilots meeting was held and yes, we were gridding. This process went very well and soon all the ships were in launch position. Looking at the low clouds, the CD was looking for a break. Finally, the order to launch 90 came and Bob Fletcher went into the bleak looking sky. He was reporting 2,300ft maximum height at 1 to 1.5 knots. Time slipped by and Bob finally made it above 2,500ft, the minimum height for launching the grid. Unfortunately, Bob reported very weak climbs and few thermals to keep everyone airborne. The CD made the right decision to cancel the day and send everyone back to parking after Bob landed. Tomorrow is the last day of the contest, and it should be a good day, I hope.
After almost a month of competitive flying or preparing for another contest, our staff and volunteers need to get a little praise. We will cover half of the staff tonight and the rest we will talk about tomorrow. Jack Brinckerhoff and his wife Jo have helped us for the Seniors for several years. They are the modern nomads, traveling in a slick 5th wheel trailer and matching cab style truck. They had their motorcycles in the back and always camped in the same spot every year. Jack always has a smile on his face and Jo makes sure he is kept in line for us. This is their last year on the road. The motorcycles are gone, and the truck and trailer are for sale. We will not be graced with their presence next year. Jack is looking to settle down in Greenville SC. They deserve a break, and we are really going to miss them.
Tom McLinsky was our Chief Tow Pilot and he did a wonderful job. This was his first time as “The Chief” and he did not let us down. Not only were the launches safe and efficient, Tom took care of many problems that could have spelled disaster. The kegerator died during one of the evening dinners and he fixed the issue quickly. Pilots without beer at dinner time is like dogs without their squeaky toy. He also took care of some minor issues with the tow planes that could have affected the quick launches we were expecting. Thanks Tom, Izumi and George. You guys did a great job, and all the pilots appreciated your safe tows.
Tony Prizzi was a jack of all trades. He was like the energizer bunny, stamping out fires, making sure the trash made it out in the evening after the dinners, setting up and breaking down the dinner service. No matter the job, Tony was on it. The folks at the Aardvark know him by name. He made several trips into town to get Co2 bottles refilled when we had a leak in the system. Thank you, Tony for the time you have invested into Seminole-Lake this month. Soon I hope you will join us on the grid as a racing pilot.
Jennifer, what would we have done without you during these 4 weeks? The office is a madhouse during contests. Pilots asking all sorts of questions that you had to find the answer to. Keeping track of all the tows, helping with retrieves, recording aero retrieves, and processing all the bills. Your attention to detail and personality made this event much more pleasant and fun. I see you running a contest in the very near future. Keep up the great work.
Well, I think I will go to bed early tonight. Check the scores and just see how close everyone is at the top of the leaderboard. I think I will forgo this look and not put any pressure on Team 98 tonight. We will do our best again tomorrow and finish with our best foot forward. Have a good night and we will bring you some excitement tomorrow. Please watch the race on weglide.org. Thank you, Ken Sorenson for putting the template on weglide so we can see the task. This makes a huge difference for all the families and crews watching from the ground.
We have had some of the best pilots in the US flying for the last month here at Seminole-Lake. Next year we will be having the 35th version of the Senior Soaring Championship and the US qualifier for the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix. It will be an exciting year for us at our little gliderport in Central Florida.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
Weather, Weather It Finally Got Better
Sorry that this report is a day late. Last night was the awards banquet and we had a great time and I’m sure you would not have liked the report with tons of misspelled words and poor grammar. It is a beautiful morning at Seminole-Lake, but it is also a sad time with all the pilots pulling out this morning. However, the Mid Georgia Soaring Club is coming down for a week to enjoy the sunshine and great soaring conditions.
The morning meeting yesterday had some goodbyes since Dewey and Nancy were leaving after the launch. Running Operations is a tough job, but working at it for a month sets a high bar. The weather brief was significantly better than the day before and we were excited to go flying on the last day. The ships were gridded, and the launch began about 12:15. The 20 meter ships were sent up and everyone was getting good climbs to over 3,000ft right away.
Marshall was sending us on a racing task in the blue. It was a challenging route that left from Start C, south to Sebring Florida where the racecourse is on the airfield, west to Myakka Head and north to Finish. The distance was 185 miles and there were several spots that were always a little weak. If you took the direct route to Sebring, you could potentially have airspace trouble with Orlando’s Class B and the Avon Park bombing range restricted area further south. The area within 20 miles of Sebring is filled with lakes and low land terrain. After the turn, the run to Myakka Head is not bad but there are some areas with no infrastructure or telltales to show you where the lift is. Coming home late over Lakeland can be fast or treacherous.
At the start, Pete and I wanted to get on course early and avoid a late arrival over Lakeland. We found a good starting point on the line and left hoping to hide our departure. Unfortunately, we had a few folks right behind us, but the race was on. We had two markers in front, and we had a good thermal at the end of our first glide. Then we made the turn down highway 27 where most of the infrastructure and mobile homes are great thermal generators. About 2/3’s of the way down this track, a fork in the road presents itself. Do we keep on the infrastructure or make a more direct line over the lakes. We saw HA and BH well to our east on a more direct path, but they were very low for a long while. They got a great climb and caught up to our altitude. Meanwhile, we had DT with us also. His goal was to stay with us the whole day since he had first and we were in second. We made it around Sebring and headed west. Getting lower than we wanted, there was not any good lift around. WS was with us now and slightly ahead. They were flying faster than us (we wanted to preserve altitude here) and we were a little to the north. Soon we hit a little ripple that turned into a 5kt thermal to over 4,500ft. That was needed and now we had quite a few gliders around us. We tip toed to Myakka Head and turned north. We were out climbing DT and maybe we could leave thermals a little sooner and drop him to the ground. The last leg was getting soft, and we found ourselves in some very weak thermals. Approaching Lakeland airport, we were only 500ft above their Class D airspace and we gave them a call just to be safe. Lakeland is always glider friendly (if you use your N number) and they work with us when we need a little help. After passing the airport and some small lakes we had a very strong thermal that got us to final glide and a Mc 4.5 glide home. We beat DT for the day but Jim Frantz and Robin Clark flew a great contest.
Soon the ships were in the box, and everyone gathered in the DG hangar for the banquet and awards presentation. No contest could be held without the support of volunteers and our gliderport neighbors. The tow pilots were all Seminole-Lake employees, and we are very lucky to have these great aviators. Tom McLinski was our Chief Tow Pilot and he did a super job.
Our contest staff of Fernando Silva (remote weatherman), Michael Marshall (on site weatherman), Ken Sorenson (posting the OGN template so we could see the task on Weglide), John Godfrey (remote scorer), Jennifer Lange (office supervisor) and our task advisors Billy Kerns and Jim Lee.
One award that we usually do not present unless it is the Seniors is the Uff Da Award. Look up the Norwegian translation on Google. The CD and our on site weatherman have a phone brief with Fernando every morning at 8am. After the conversation, Marshall said his goodbyes to Fernando and started a conversation with Michael on the days weather. They started talking about how the forecast they had every day was opposite what we really had. A voice came from Marshall’s phone saying, “You know Guys, I’m still here”. Marshall forgot to hang up the call. For that, Marshall received the Uff Da Award during a telephone announcement from the head of the plenary committee head of the Uff Da, Rick Sheppe. Not to be outdone, we asked Michael to join us in front of the crowd. For his help in doing the weather we gave him a Seniors red fleece jacket (he said it didn’t like it earlier), with a gift card from Taco Bell for $5 (he loves Taco Bell burrito’s) so that we could fatten him up for a visit with Susie (our gliderport alligator) we gave him a blow up replica of Susie. During one of the weather briefs, Michael said we could fly when it was obvious the weather did not support racing. One of the crowd commented, “feed him to Susie”.
Our CD Marshall McClung did a great job sending us on challenging tasks that really tested the entire field. We always enjoy contests that he is the CD and we look forward to seeing him in Perry for the Region 5 North contest next month. Thank you Marshall, for being our CD. Marshall did give Vaughn Fidler (our youngest contest crew) a t-shirt for Super Kid, 20 Meter Nationals. Jacob, our youngest contest crewman on the line was also given a t-shirt from Marshall.
Finally, I had an opportunity to thank the two ladies I work with on the contest. Chris Carter and her husband Gary have been friends of mine for a long time. I work with Chris, and her cohort Lynn Forbes, in the Region 5 South contest where I help as the CD. Chris did the contest CM work, so I had the opportunity to fly in this event. Her selfless dedication to our sport makes every contest she runs more fun and successful. Mihaela is the company’s main supervisor at Seminole-Lake Gliderport and a great friend of all the pilots who fly here. If she wasn’t as good in her job, we may not have this great site to fly from.
Now for the good part, the winners. Coming in third for Day 6 of the Multiplace Nationals was Team Banarhall and Ludeman. In second place, the two Sean’s, Sean Franke and Sean Fidler. Winning the day was Team Pensacola, Mike Marshall and Hal Woodruff flying in a borrowed Duo from Costal Soaring Association.
The overall placement of the top five finishers for the 2024 Multiplace Nationals were;
5th place – Banarhall/Ludeman
4th place – Marshall/Woodruff
3rd place – Mandelbaum/Gaisford
2nd place – Pete Alexander/Rich Owen (Go Team 98!)
And in first place was Jim Frantz flying with Jared Granzow and Robin Clark. Jim and his fellow pilots flew a fun and safe contest, being much more consistent than any of the other teams. Well done Jim, Jared and Robin, you certainly deserved the win and your first National Championship.
Well, that is a wrap. Now I am heading to the hangar as just another pilot and put together my AS-33Es for the very first time. Hope everyone enjoyed the contest from the comfort of you home. Hope next time, you will be able to join us for the Seniors or another contest at Seminole-Lake Gliderport.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
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