2024 Senior Soaring Championship
By Rich Owen
Anticipation
The wait is over, so I thought, and the 2024 Seniors began with a good practice day. With gliders coming in from all over the United States, the unusually warm conditions in Florida greeted our visitors with sunny skies and little CU. Parking has been a little tighter than in past years, but with help of Billy Kerns and his CAD machine, a plan was developed to get everyone on the field.
It is always great to meet up with good friends that you have not seen since the last contest season. The California mafia parked together around the north oak tree with the leader of the Georgia contingent parked near the path leading to the office. Everyone seems to have their favorite spot and the RV park diagram looks very similar every year. This is the fun that surrounds a glider contest. Started as a summer retreat for northern glider pilots, the Seniors started 34 years ago as idea by Tom Knauff. Tom has left us, but his memory will always be part of the Seniors lore.
After a few days of fun flying, John decided to send us on a 163 nominal Assigned Area Task. After Start A we went on a short northernly leg to Citrus Tower, to the northwest to Chinsegut and then Flying Baron, Gore, Green Swamp and home. Lift was great when we launched with the sniffer reporting over 3 knots to 4,000ft. Our groundcrew steeped into high gear and got the fleet up in typical practice day fashion.
We are very lucky this year with a tow pilot crew that has worked this contest for many years. Three of these young men, relatively speaking since this is the Seniors, we have watched go from newcomers to the aviation profession to seasoned mechanics and aviators. Martin is on the cusp of buying his first Pawnee, Mike is a Captain at Delta Air Lines and Zack went for his airline interview yesterday. Both Martin and Zack are also pursuing their A&P license.
Back to flying. The first leg was a little slow with good cu but weaker lift. It wasn’t unusual to find good lift one climb and struggle to find the next good one. Most of the groups chose wisely to skirt the western edge of the turnpoint area and look to the west to pick up their speed. Two lines seem to draw the pilots in. They were good tracks and our speed started to increase. How far you went into the turn area is always a big question. It was funny when Team 98 turned, we had one more good cloud in the distance. As they say, the last cloud never works and when we returned, a friend verified that fact. Flying a very similar route back to Flying Baron with clouds providing better and better lift, a key decision was how to line up the clouds for the next leg. You must be careful not to turn early due to all the lakes around Winter Haven and Highway 27 always seems to be the fastest route to Gore. Figuring that we would just touch the last turnpoint at Green Swamp (how good could the lift be with a name like this), many ran a line of clouds deep into the circle. Of course, the deeper you go, the closer you get to the lakes on your transit to Green Swamp. The final glides were uneventful, and everyone returned home safely.
At the Seniors the common thought is you want a standard class glider with a good handicap. In a newer FAI class glider, you should come in the 15-meter configuration. In the past few years, two seat gliders have done very well. However, last year a 15-meter JS-3 flown by Jim Lee won the contest. Today in third place was Mike Smith flying a 18-meter ASG-29, then local pilot Peter Scarpelli in another 18-meter ASG-29 with Doug Jacobs shading the ground in his 21-meter ASH-31Mi with a raw speed of 72.72mph, 58.05mph handicapped over the 148mi course. By the way, DJ had the second worst handicap in the field.
The weather looks challenging for the next couple of days as a front is passing the peninsula of Florida. More to come shortly, I’m a little behind in my stories.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
Day One, Take 1
A front is moving into the local area and is expected to cause us some problems. The Pilot’s meeting went well as we covered all the issues pilots have done in the past to ruin a day or to get on the nomination list for the Uff Da award. More about the Uff Da award in a later post. Gear up landings always create problems, but they are especially hard on the contest when there are 8 guys on downwind, base and final behind you. Retrieves are even more of a challenge when you are not located at the airfield you said you were at. Landing out is usually noneventful, unless you give the retrieve office a text stating what zip code you were in. The funny thing is it was the wrong zip code. Even with all the advice that John Good (our CD) delivered, you can be assured that we will see some new and innovative ways pilots can complicate the competition.
Based on a rather dismal forecast, the day was cancelled at the pilots meeting. Luckily it was timely so we could all gather at the local craft beer place, Suncreek Brewery. Others worked on their ships some more, playing with new toys and software updates. Tomorrow does not look good, but the weatherman is never wrong.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
Day One, Take 2
A front is moving into the local area and is expected to cause us some problems. The Pilot’s meeting went well as we covered all the issues pilots have done in the past to ruin a day or to get on the nomination list for the Uf Da award. More about the Uf Da award in a latter post. Gear up landings always create problems, but they are especially hard on the contest when there are 8 guys on downwind, base and final behind you. Retrieves are even more of a challenge when you are not located at the airfield you said you were at. Landing out is usually noneventful, unless you give the retrieve office a text stating what zip code you were in. The funny thing is it was the wrong zip code. Even with all the advice that John Good (our CD) delivered, you can be assured that we will see some new and innovative ways pilots can complicate the competition.
Based on a rather dismal forecast, the day was cancelled at the pilots meeting. Luckily it was timely so we could all gather at the local craft beer place, Suncreek Brewery. Others worked on their ships some more, playing with new toys and software updates. Tomorrow does not look good, but the weatherman is never wrong.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
Day One, Take 3
The morning was warm, and the clouds were very low. Not a bad signal for a morning in Uvalde Texas but not too good for Florida. Breakfast was a nice treat for the early morning risers. Rock Star Donuts provided a tent outside the DG hangar (where all the meetings occur) with a hearty breakfast menu which included a French Toast Donut. I haven’t had the nerve to shock my body with it but everybody says it’s great. The company is owned by the dad of one of the junior pilots. They donate a portion of the proceeds to the US Junior Soaring Team. Steven Tellman is on the Junior Team and is going to Ostrow Poland this summer. He is joined by 4 members of the Lakeland Aeroclub that received funding from a local charity.
At the Pilot’s meeting the first portion went very well right up to the weather brief. Again, the day did not look good but there was a chance. Due to all the rain, we had a few days earlier, the runway was very damp and, in some areas, downright swampy. It was decided to do an open grid and keep the aircraft in the dry center portion of the runway surface. RVs were not allowed to tow gliders to the grid, but everyone helped their neighbor to get all the ships down safely.
I should say “Grid Squatting” is a combination of two words, grid – noun, a framework of spots where gliders sit while waiting to fly, and squatting – verb, unlawful occupation of a spot on a grid for an unusually long period. Well, a bunch of Seniors learned that skill set today. The CD tried valiantly to get a task in, but the weather just would not cooperate. So, the day was called off and we returned to the parking area.
The good news was we had a great Italian dinner catered by Calibra Ristorante of Clermont, FL. This was also US Team night where Steven Tellmann gave a presentation on the upcoming Junior Worlds. In attendance also was Sean Fidler, 18 Meter Worlds Team member, Jim Lee, Open Class Worlds Team member, and Karl Striedieck, Multiplace Worlds Team member. At the Seniors we certainly draw the best pilots in the nation. Janine Accee also brought Penn State Creamery Ice Cream to the occasion while Kerry Huffstutler made a very rich chocolate cake. Thank you ladies for ruining our handicap weights.
Well, the weather looks much better the next few days. We will just have to see what tomorrow brings.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
Day 1 is in the Books
Well finally the weatherman, sun, moon, and stars all lined up to give us a great day to fly. You know the temperatures in the morning were rather cool when the Floridians all returned to their RV’s and put on long pants. It was a great time to show off the red fleece jackets that Mr. Tanjala (owner – Seminole-Lake Gliderport) bought for all the pilots. He specifically did this to recognize all the support we have received from the competitive soaring community.
At the Pilot’s meeting, Kerry went over the results of the previous day. We have not had a contest day yet and we have many gifts to be given out. We did launch sniffers and Kerry decided to recognize the work they did by asking Rick Sheppe to do a score sheet for them. In third place, with a distance of 3.59 miles, was Jim Frantz. We should say that Jim ran his motor for much of this flight. In second place was Dennis Linnekin and Rob Ware who went 3.97 miles and received 52 points for their effort. Unfortunately, they received a 58-point penalty, so no trophy for the former Georgia contingent. In first place, going 70.59 miles with a speed of 29mph was Mike Price. Great job Michael! Now that the festivities were over, Fernando Silva gave a weather brief we were all waiting for. It foretold strong lift to over 4,500ft. Now some of us did not believe it. Not that Fernando isn’t an excellent weatherman, it was just we seemed to have a lot of bad luck lately. We soon found out that was not the case today.
John sent us out on another Assigned Area Task (AAT) that left Start A to Wines, Streamsong, Chalet Suzzanne, Green Swamp, Grass Roots and then Finish. Looking at the task and weather, we figured the winning speeds would be in the mid-sixties. Close, but no cigar. The field was launched, and the task was opened at 2:05pm. Most everyone left very early after the gate was opened since this was a 3-hour task. The leg to Wines was fast due to a line of clouds that took you almost to the back of the circle. Lift during this leg was averaging 3kts to over 4,000ft. Looking out to the west, there were many routes to take you to Streamsong. There was not a clear path that seemed the best, but most pilots seemed to get through this leg without difficulty. It was soon clear that the speeds were going to be faster than expected and we needed to be careful not to come in under time. Going to Chalet Suzzanne there were some nice cu but also some areas that had large blue gaps. Sticking to the cloud fields seemed to be the best answer to traverse this leg. Lift was getting stronger and cloud bases were also getting higher. It wasn’t bad when you rolled into a 6-7kt thermal for 2,000ft. We went to the southern edge of this turnpoint since our LXNav system let us know we had a good chance to be early at the finish. The benefit of going deeper in this turn area was the route to Green Swamp was north of most of the lakes by Winter Haven. I have spent many afternoons stuck over the neighborhoods there. It is not a friendly place unless you are at 5,000ft or have an uninterrupted cloud street to take you over the lakes. After making the turn at Chalet Suzzanne, there were good cu before you passed Seminole-Lake. After that the lift seemed to drop off down low. Staying high and connected to the cloud field was important. Final glides were relatively benign, but everyone seemed to arrive at the same time. Dewey Clawson, our Co-Operations Chief, was on the radio providing timely calls to keep everyone safe. As the pilots hopped out of their ships, you could tell they had a great time. Finally, we got day one in the books.
It is a tradition that we take an announced day off during the Seniors due to the average age of our pilot group. John Good, with the concurrence of the CM, announced that the rest day will be last Saturday so we will fly the next 3 days. Everyone laughed, applauded and the world was safe again. The weather tomorrow looks good, and we are hoping for 3 more days of great racing. Now the scores.
In third place was Karl Striedieck flying with his brother Walter with a raw speed of 65.94mph. We did not have a second-place finisher due to a tie for first place. Billy Kerns with his LS-8 flew 198 miles at a speed of 64.38mph while Pete Alexander and Rich Owen flew an ASG-32Mi 221 miles at a speed of 72.42mph. Both ships received 1,000 points for their effort.
Well, that is all for now and it is past my bedtime. More racing tomorrow and the 20 Meter Nationals start next week. Lots of racing occurring at Seminole-Lake, why aren’t you here?
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
Where Did All the Sun Go To
Mornings start early at Seminole-Lake during the Seniors. By 7am pilots are getting ships ready, Lynn Forbes is preparing the coffee and donuts in the hangar, Eric Tellmann is getting the griddle hot for the breakfast rush and I’m getting ready to take some heat. Being a Contest Manager is always a lot of fun when your friends all gather at your home field to fly. There is always a little bit of ribbing that goes along with it. More on that a little later.
Due to some rain that flooded the south end of the runway, we have been forced to change the way we grid for this contest. We have always had the guest go down to the runway first, followed by the 20 meter and heavy ships that want additional runway for launch. These ships tow down into their takeoff positions on a first come first serve basis. Finally, the rest of the group goes down, and due to the soft condition of the runway, we leave them in a takeoff position also. No pushing the ship off their grid number off to the side, only to push them back on the runway later. Today we tried something a little different to coincide more with what the rules say about rotating the grid. We had 5 groups of short wing gliders go down at different times to stage in position. So, 6 gliders at a time would tow down into takeoff position. No specific spot was assigned but the grid is rotated each day. Everyone approved of the process and we plan to use it during this contest. If it works out, we will send a recommendation to the Contest Committee to try it at other locations.
At the Pilots meeting, awards were given out for the daily winners (we had a tie for first place), and the CD discussed the plans for today. We had 7 gliders that did not clear the runway after landing and the CD requested each pilot to see him in person. My friend Kerry Huffstutler talked about how well I was doing trying to be a pilot. What she meant, I think, was that I was not interfering with her work as my replacement as CM during the contest. What the pilot’s thought was very different based on their laughter.
The Pilots meeting was finished, ships grided on the runway and the task was sent via Signal. The launch was started and soon thereafter the gate was opened. Our CD was sending us out on an Assigned Area Task out of Start C, Avon Park, CFI Plant and then home. The weather was expected to be challenging and we were not disappointed. The first leg was either fast or trying. Some pilots averaged 3 knot climbs while others were happy to have 1.5 knots. Approaching Avon Park the view back home looked dismal. Cirus completely covered the landscape and very little sun was making it to the ground. The route home plotted on See You for all the pilots looked like a bomb burst since we all took very different paths home. Many got stuck low over Winter Haven and had to dig out to avoid a landout. The pilots who started late had an even more difficult time. In the end, we only had one landout and everyone else made it back safely.
When all the chaos ended, we found a shake up on the score. Sam Zimmerman of Perry West fame finished in 3rd place with Henry Retting in second place. One funny story about Henry from yesterday was priceless. When he landed and came to a stop in front of 3 visitors watching the recovery, he asked them to help move his glider to his parking spot. He explained each person’s job and supervised the retrieve, The spectators had no idea they would be a participant in the contest. Way to go Henry, improving glider relations with the locals. In first place was Nico Bennet, a two-time winner of the Seniors with a raw speed of 61.60mph over 108 miles. This contest is always tight. With two days remaining there is only 20 points separating the top 5.
Well, that is all for tonight. Tomorrow is a fly day and there will be another report on this site. Let me know what you would like to hear about the Seniors contest, and we will include it in the story. Until then, good night and fly safe.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
Another Trying Day
After a great dinner last night, it seemed everyone slept in a little. When we went to the hangar to check on the tables and chairs for the pilots meeting, barely anyone was stirring. The breakfast tent wasn’t set up yet and no one had hit the coffee machine. However, it wasn’t long before the RV park started seeing life.
Volunteers are the life blood of contests, and we could not come close to putting on an event this size without an army of volunteers. I will cover their work in this contest tomorrow morning.
The pilots meeting went well until the weather man tried to show the slides that we all like. Unfortunately, the projector wouldn’t work. After a minute of fussing with it someone called out to check the plug. Well of course the HDMI cable had come off after we moved the table for the dinner last night. After solving this crisis, we found this was to be a flyable day, but it was going to be a challenge. Like every day, we were all up for a difficult flight, we just prefer to fly at 8,000ft with 8kt lift! The CD was sending us out on another Assigned Area Task (AAT), since that and a MAT are the only tasks allowed by the rules for a handicapped contest. Setting out from Start A we then went southeast to Wines and then west to Streamsong (a wonderful golf course resort) before returning home. We did pay a visit flying by Lake Wales with their parachuting operation. We have finally found a reasonable solution to issues that we have had for several years. Now it seems we have peace between glider pilots and the skydiving community.
The first leg was either fast or slow depending on the line you took. Unfortunately, I talked Pete into a bad choice which really sunk us for the day. Lift in the start circle was weak and the number of clouds were few. The clouds to the south were forming up well, but you had to get there to take advantage of them. Soon a line formed over highway 27 which the locals all call the Florida ridge. It seems to be the fastest path to the southeast side of the state. The faster you get on it, the better you will do. The winners pretty much did exactly that. Down at Wines the weather was better. Clouds were well formed, and lift was more predictable. Cloud bases were also higher to the west. The run from Streamsong was a choice between two lines. One was a little to the west that took you a little further from the finish, but it was more connected with better clouds. The other was more of a direct line but was a little weaker. A fire in the middle of the leg between Wines and Streamsong caused a few problems. The smoke tended to cut off or reduce the lift to the south of the fire. I wanted to know if anyone tried the fire during this leg. I remember a fire at Avon Park that had such big lift that Tom Kelly lost control of his ship going up. We watched the replay on See You and it was fantastic!
Final glides were all benign and the recovery back at Seminole-Lake was safe and efficient. It is amazing the level of skill and professionalism that our pilots exhibit during this highly stressful evolution. Now watching our older pilots leave their ships after flying 3-4 hours leaves something to be desired. It sometimes takes two tries to get out. Seems like they also like to try and figure out how to email their flight log to the scorer before getting out of the ship. Too bad you missed your turnoff because your partner was playing with his nav system. However, we always have that plan B to make up for unexpected situations clearing the runway.
When all the dust settled, Rick Sheppe posted the scores. In third place was Steve Vihlen, a fellow Viper pilot and a great banjo player. We heard him and Ray Smith our Chief Tow Pilot and songwriter/guitar player strumming their instruments on the pool deck tonight. In second place was our local storyteller and comedian, Henry Retting. If you don’t believe me, ask him to tell you his Taco Bell story. In first place was last years winner, Jim Lee with his good friend and a fellow Delta pilot Joe Bostik. They flew a raw distance of 123.48 miles at a speed of 68.47mph. Great job guys.
Rock Star Donuts put on a wonderful hamburger dinner for the pilots and crew tonight. The beef was excellent, mac and cheese and potato salad were first rate and the service impeccable. Thank you so much for adding to this contest with all your food products and donating to the US Junior Soaring Team.
Tomorrow is the last day of the Seniors contest, and the scores are always tight. Only 53 points separate the top 6 competitors, and the podium is up for grabs. In overall standings, Joerg Stieber from the SOSA club in Canada is in 6th place with Nelson Howe is in 5th place. In 4th is Doug Jacobs with his 21-meter ASH-31Mi. In 3rd place is P7, Gary Ittner, only 43 points out of first. The closer race is between Jim Lee/Joe Bostik in 2nd and Henry Retting in first. Only 12 points separate these excellent pilots. We will know tomorrow who will be taking home the beautiful eagle and American flag trophies. I will try and get another report out in the morning to thank our volunteers and staff for their hard work.
Cheers,
Rich
Hopefully Team 98 Backseater Tomorrow if I’m not fired
Good Morning Seniors Pilots, Crews and Friends,
Yesterday I talked about the importance of our volunteers in every contest. We start working on the Seniors in June of the year before. The first task is to review our notes from the last Seniors when we were recovering from the banquet and wrote down all the issues, missteps, good ideas and input from the pilots. Last year we had a survey that was sent out by the SSA Contest Committee that asked many questions about all contests held that year. We were proud to say the Seniors received very high marks from you but also had some suggestions on what to do better this year. The dinners were well received but four dinners of meat were a little much. The Italian dinner we had this year was excellent and we plan to do it again next year. So, we try and improve the product, “The Seniors”, each and every year.
Something that we are also very blessed with is the volunteer crew that comes together each year to put on this event. The ground crew changes every several years since the kids grow up and move on with their lives. This year, we saw the crew we had a couple years ago graduate college, start new lives in the business world and get married. Now we have a new crop of young men and women to help us out. Some are veterans like Miss Emma, Osirus and Zoser and others come from the Lakeland Aero Academy. They work under the direction of Bill Foster and Dewey Clawson, our Operations Chiefs, who have been with us for several years. The safety and efficiency of the ground crew is directly attributed to these fine gentlemen, although Dewey is from the Air Force.
Registration is always a chore, but no one does it better than Chris Carter and her crew of ladies. She goes through the paperwork that pilots sometimes send in for entry to any contest. That way, when pilots stop by to register, she has everything ready, T-shirts distributed, and any special gift given out.
Retrieve is a call most pilots do not want to make but our team of Ted Haller and Anne Mongiovi was so good this year, they only had one retrieve. How is that for outstanding performance! Now we cannot do a contest without a weatherman, but it is so much better with a great weatherman. Fernando has put an enormous amount of effort to learn from the experts and can be a comedian during the pilot’s meeting to lighten the mood.
When you come to the volunteers that spend the most time working on the Seniors besides the Contest Manager, look no further than this couple. Billy Kerns and his wife Karen absolutely work tirelessly to improve the contest for at least a month before everyone shows up. Billy came up with the parking plan, drew it out on a CAD machine and drew the grid numbers on the runway with Glen Betzoldt and a couple others. The amount of time that was spent producing the new parking diagrams in the Pilot Kit were all Billy’s work. Karen is our grounds keeper, small machine repair person and horticulturist. She plants all the flowers, takes care of trimming all the bushes and makes our grounds look great. This one couple makes putting on the contest so much easier. And by the way, Billy won one of the days this year which isn’t unusual.
Our tow pilots are a great bunch. This year we were lucky to have airmen that all have worked here for a long time. When all the pilots are experienced contest tow pilots, safety and efficiency go hand in hand. Ray Smith is the best Chief Tow Pilot and the CD and CM rely on his expertise in all decisions for launching and tow operations. Thanks Ray for all your help.
If you want to make folks mad, leave out those people who work behind the scenes getting no recognition and expecting none. Lynn Forbes took over the food service job getting all the dinners, table set up, cleanup and organized the food servers for each dinner. Everyone who helped her are heroes in my opinion. Please accept the undying adoration of the staff of Seminole-Lake Gliderport. Her husband Murry was invaluable filling in those jobs that needed attention, but we had no one with the skill to do them. Electrical repair, air conditioning troubleshooting and line operations, he was a champ. I work with Murry at Cordele where he runs Operations and does a super job. I never have to worry about launch operations at Cordele when Murry has the conn.
No one would be able to stay in RV’s on the property without the expertise of our local expert Enrique Mertins. A great friend and former partner in 3 gliders, Enrique is one of my mentors in soaring. He volunteers each year to take 40 RV’s and park them in spaces for about 35. He always seems to put friends who want to stay together in the right place and satisfies most electrical power requirements. He does takes bribes and now I know how he bought his new house. Thank you, Enrique!
Now I have to get ready for the banquet, I’ll continue this article at the banquet when we announce scores.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater, Pete kept me for one more day!
An Outstanding Ending
After the Pilots meeting it wasn’t long before the task was distributed by Signal message. If you have never been to a contest that uses one of the group messaging apps (Signal/WhatsApp), it makes getting out information so much easier. Announcing runway use, grid times, social events, or anything else that the pilot needs, it gets out faster with an app. We like Signal since it is a non-profit, does not keep your data and is easy to use. I would encourage you to give it a try in your next contest.
John Good, our CD, was sending us on course that no one could describe as a “banquet task”. Leaving from Start B we then traveled to Ocala, southwest to Inverness, east to Leesburg, south to Green Swamp, southeast to Gore and then Finish. There were several wrinkles as my pilot tends to explain to me. The start time was a little critical since high cirrus on the west side of the task area was expected mid-day. Inverness is always a very weak area due to a large collection of lakes and wetlands. Leesburg is right in the middle of a several lakes and Class D airspace. Green Swamp, just by the name, is not a strong area of lift. Finally, Gore late in the day and be very tricky. With all the lakes around Winter Haven and the lowlands just north of I-4, this turnpoint can be difficult late in the day. So, the challenge was accepted by the pilots, the grid was set and the launch commenced. Soon the fleet was on task.
On the first leg to Ocala, it was straightforward. There weren’t any cloud streets to speak of but climbs of 2.5kts to 4,000ft were common. Just past Ocala the cloud field lessened and many of the pilots turned at the nominal point. On the way to Inverness, haze, smoke, and fewer clouds to the west made this leg more difficult. A couple of the pilots found themselves in trouble with this leg. After a little time at low altitude, Team 98 was able to get connected back to the clouds and continue on task. Going to Leesburg, everyone turned before the lakes and that was a wise decision. Many local pilots have landed out in this area. The leg to Green Swamp was a series of choices since there was not a clear path to get into this turn area. At this point, there still was good lift and bases rose to 5,000ft. Heading to Gore required a gear shift. The lakes and late day sun angles reduced the density of the cloud field in this area, and everyone had to be careful. Good news was the clouds heading home looked great and final glides were fairly easy. Of course, at the Seniors we have a tradition that we keep the daily scores hidden until the Awards Banquet. When the ships were put away, showers taken, pilots and crews change into clean clothes, everyone met by the DG hangar to get in line for the prime rib dinner.
The dinner was interrupted by the delivery of my brand-new AS-33Es parked in front of the hangar, picked up by my daughter from the port. Of course, I had to open her up and pull the fuselage out of the box. We had to start the dinner, so I had to curtail the bonding moment with my new ship.
The festivities of the banquet always vary due to the individual who is the MC. Kerry is a great person to work with, and she runs the banquet like a well-run business meeting, efficient, funny and on time. We recognized all our volunteers (we hope) who participated every day in making this contest wonderful. From Lynn Forbes, Janet Williams, Janet Frantz, Janine Acee who all stepped in everyday to make sure everything is done from coffee to cleanup. They were also the impetus for getting other volunteers to cover table set up, dinner servers and clean up. Whatever these young ladies did not cover, Dewey Clawson was there to make everything right. Chris Carter received special acknowledgement for her contributions that extended well beyond contest registration. I look forward to working with her at Cordele again.
Our tow pilots received a standing ovation for their work to get all the pilots in the air safely and with smiles on their face. Ray and his crew are being enticed by Kerry to come to Hobbs for the 15/18 Meter and Club Nationals. Now that is long cross country for a Pawnee.
The ground crew is a compilation of Seminole-Lake gliderport young men and women. We are also lucky to have the Lakeland Aerospace Academy young adults and some parents to help out. This is the second year we have given out the Catherine Eaglin Award for the top crew. This award is given to the young adult that showed the most hustle and tenacity while launching the pilots safely. It is named after an outstanding young lady and ground crew leader, who lost her life in an automobile accident during the Seniors several years ago. This year, the recipient was Zosher Lee. He lives an hour away, but his parents routinely drive him and his brother to Seminole-Lake to take lessons and work on the line.
The second award for the night is the Don Wasness Sportsmanship Award given to the competitor who exhibits extraordinary service to the Senior Soaring Championship and provides the happiest environment for everyone. This year our nominees were John Lubon for all the sniffing he did prior to launches, Gary Ittner for bringing the fantastic craft beer to this contest and many more during the year, and Shawn Knickerbocker for housing tow pilots, competitors, gliders (so we do not have them in the DG hangar), hosting the Geezer Glide Party the week before the Seniors and saving our bacon when we ran out of utensils. The winner this year was Shawn Knickerbocker. Thank you, Shawn and Trish, for taking such great care of all of us.
Every year we have such a great team of principal volunteers who have been with us for many years. Fernando Silva our weatherman, Rick Sheppe our Scorer, and John Good our CD. The amount of time you all give us to make the Seniors one of the best contests in the US, is amazing. John can come up with the most reasonable tasks on the most terrible weather day in Central Florida. He is also a very important part of the SSA Rules Committee whose work makes our sport safer and hopefully easier to fly contests. Rick’s work on behalf of all of us with the IGC Rules Committee is something very few glider pilots know about. His personality makes every day at the field a fun experience, unless you win the “Uff da” Award. More on that in a minute. Fernando not only comes up with the weather forecast but also includes some funny background on weather models.
Our first contest award for a pilot is not one that many of us would like to receive. It is called the Uff da Award and if you look at its translation in Norwegian, you can see how the pilots would not like to get it. Our nominees include Colin Mead, who landed out today and had his car keys in his pocket. Friends of Keith Baugh nominated him since this was the first year he qualified to be a regular entry in the Seniors but failed to show up after registering. However, the winner was hard to determine. The scorer received two flight logs with the same IGC file name. One was for DJ who flew a great flight today that shot him to a podium finish in the contest. The other file was a nice flight that was attributed to DJ but was not today’s task but resulted in the Uff da in 2004. Doug used the same stick for 20 years and never deleted the evidence. This is Doug’s third Uff da Award.
Today, the daily winners, which had resulted in a shake up in the scoresheet is next. In third place for today was Henry Retting with Nelson Howe in second place. Winning the last day was Doug Jacobs with a distance of 219 miles with a speed of 71.35mph.
Finally, the overall winners of the 2024 Senior Soaring Championship are next:
10th Place – Robin Clark 3705
9th Place – Dave Nadler 3742
8th Place – Pete Alexander/Rich Owen 3753
7th Place -Billy Kerns 3764
6th Place – Peter Scarpelli 3792
5th Place – Gary Ittner 3802
4th Place – Jim Lee/Joe Bostik 3853
3rd Place – Nelson Howe 3880
2nd Place – Doug Jacobs 3893
1st Place – Henry Retting 3923
Henry is a very worthy winner of this contest that has been held 34 years in a row. We consider him a local pilot and we all are so proud of him.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge two wonderful women I get to work with over the entire year. Kerry Huffstutler has partnered with us for the past two years. As an experienced Contest Manager, she has made this contest better with improvements to our process. Mihaela is always working with us to provide all the support for meals, infrastructure, and office staff. We could not do this contest without their invaluable help.
Thanks for tuning in to these reports. We hope you liked them and stay tuned for the Multiplace National Championship that begins at Seminole-Lake Gliderport on Tuesday. Until then, fly safe.
Cheers,
Rich
Team 98 Backseater
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