Canadian Team Training Camp Days 1,2,3

The weather has not cooperated for flying yet, but it looks like tomorrow it could be the day. We have 25 competitors flying 23 gliders registered in the Camp. The format is a combined cross-country clinic and contest with seminars every morning and contest tasks in the afternoon.

Both Jerzy and I have been able to borrow ASW-27's for the camp to continue practising for th worlds. I am flying Udo Rumpf's 27 (ET) and Jerzy is flying Walter Weir's 27 (2W). In turn, Udo is flying my LS-8 (F1) and Walter is team flying with Luke Szczepaniak in the SZD-55 (XG)

Day 1

Everyone met in the clubhouse at 0900 for registration and a briefing on local procedures and Contest Rules. Following that was a briefing on Airspace in the contest area. At noon we scrubbed the day. In the afternoon we watched a DVD of a talk that George Lee gave at Darling Downs in Australia for a club seminar about cross crountry and task flying.

A steak BBQ dinner was hosted by the Junior Soaring Team as a fundraiser and all enjoyed fabulous striploin steaks.

Day 2
The seminar for day 2 was provided by Joerg Stieber who talked about the different types of tasks, MAT's and AAT's and the strategies that should be used in each task, as well as how the rules apply to each task. The forecast for the day showed a very small window of soaring weather, but not enough for a task so the day was again scrubbed at the pilot meeting.

A Fine Week of Soaring, with Karl Striedek flying in a Duo at Mifflin was enjoyed by many and by the end of the movie the sky had cleared and cu were popping, so a few people flew, but again the window was too small for a task.

Dr Jack showed a small area of good convective activity over Rockton, and he was right. It was raining in Cambridge and Hamilton, but the sliver of sky over top had cu.

Day 3

The seminar today was weather by Joerg Steiber. The topics covered were internet weather sources, a refresher about weather systems and how to read a tephigram. Joerg walked everyone through his routine for forecasting the soaring weather.

The airmass for today was very moist resulting in cloud around 2500' AGL for most of the afternoon. The forecasts called for continued low cloud during the afternoon, but showed a clearing trend between 4 and 5 pm. At the noon meeting the day was scrubbed, based on Dr Jack's predicted buoyanc/shear ratio of about 2.

A few people rigged for local flying and prepared to launch around 2:30 when some light rain moved through, but sure enough, just after 4 pm cu could be seen to the north and before 5 they were overhead. The gliders launched and were able to fly for about an hour in broken thermals.

News!

Willem has withdrawn from the competition, so I am now going to Luesse.

Jerzy will replace Willem in the 18 metre class flying an ASG-29 and I will replace Jerzy in the 15 metre class flying the ASW-27 shown below.

Region 6 - Day 6

The last day was scrubbed. Severe thunderstorms and associated wind gusts were expected throughout the task area.

The day 5 scores were published and I did win the day for a total of 4 day wins out of 5 days and a 995 point third the other day. That put me 5 points off a perfect contest! It also put me 599 points ahead of second place with a total of 3847 points compared to 3248.

The weather was not great for most of the contest, but we did manage to fly 5 days in some pretty challenging conditions and I had a chance to see a 2 plane F-16 formation up close and personal.

Pilot meeting video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZqG6ilN4xk

Region 6 - Day 5

Another flying day today. We waited on the grid in 90 degree weather and almost no wind as high cirrus cloud passed by. The tephi showed an unstable atmosphere, so we were expecting a great day. Finally around 2:30 the sniffers were able to stay up as the cirrus moved away.

We launched the grid and flew a 1:30 hour MAT. I flew through a little bit of rain to get into one turnpoint and was a little worried about getting home. After making the turnpoint, I ducked back to the west of the rain and was able to climb back up and keep moving. The clouds ahead looked better then they had earlier in the day and I started to see some high 2 kt averages - WOW!

I flew 75 miles at 44 mph today and that is certainly good enough to stay in first overall.

Youtube video of the pilot's meeting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoTII7uj9Hk

Region 6 - Day 4

Today was the best day of the contest so far, but still not a bullet-proof day. The forecast was for blue conditions up to about 4500 agl. The list was to be in the 2-4 kt range.

The task was a 2:30 hour turn area with 20 mile circles for a min distance of about 116 miles. We won't bother with the max and nominal distances since no one could make those distances today! Just about everyone was overtime flying close to 3 hours.

I flew about 138 miles at 44 mph today and that was good enough for third on the day with 995 points. The winner and second place were about 0.25 mph faster then I was. My plan for the day was to fly with the 15 m class gaggle and have lots of markers on course and it worked. In fact only one pilot in the 15 m class was faster then me today.

I am still in first place about 600 points ahead of second place. So tomorrow is another get home day - fly with the pack and don't take any silly risks!

Youtube video of the Pilot's meeting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0_B1E8M8I0

Region 6 - Day 3

The day stated off with overcast skies and the sound of rain on the roof. At the 10 am pilots meeting, the CD called for another meeting at noon since the forecast for the afternoon was for soarable weather.

We gridded at 1:15 ad waited, you could see the edge of te cold front to the west with Cu behind it. Once the front passed two sniffers were launched and they stuck, at 14:50 the launch started with a 2 hour turn area task with one cylinder 44 miles to the west. By the time the gate opened we were getting 2-3 kt climbs to 5000 AGL.

I started at 14:47 and ran a good cloudstreet for 31 miles until it ended, then I had to make a major deviation to the north to get to some better looking clouds. The wind was again in the 19 kt range and lift was about 2 kts making the run upwind to the turnpoint challenging. About 2 miles from the turnpoint 1:13 into the task, I decided to head home knowing I would be undertime.

With a 300 point lead over 2nd place going into the day, I needed to get home and not land out, so I did just that. Talking to some of the other pilots it sounds like we all did about the same distance, so It looks like I will preserve my lead - and that was the goal today!

Tomorrow looksl iek we could see some classic post-cold front weather.

Region 6 - Day 2

The forecast was the same as yesterday, weak lift and strong winds. The task was a 2 hour turn area. The ground was still drying out from last weeks rain, so the lift was again dampened.

I spent a lot of time low today, but managed to find something and climb away each time. In the second turn area, I was down to about 1000 ft and drifting away from home, but I had to keep moving downwind to find lift, there was no chance moving into the wind. Eventually I managed to get up to abour 3000 ft and started for home against a 19 kt headwind. A couple of weak climbs and then bang, 5 kts. 20 miles from home and just on glide slope I pushed ahead and after a few tense moments managed to make it home.

There were only two finishers in the Standard Class today and I won the day at 34 mph, but better to get home slow then be in a field!

Region 6 - Day 1

We got a contest day in today, but it was not a great day. The task was a 1:30 hour turn area with a maximum distance of about 91 miles. After a rainy practise day Saturday the ground is pretty damp so a lot of the sun's energy went into drying the ground instead of creating thermals. To add to the challenge today, the winds were forecast to be about 25 kts.

In fact, the weather was weak enough that around half of the contestants landed out today. I was one of four in the Standard Class to get home, along with Chris Gough.

Today was another one of those days where a good defence is a good offence. You can't often win a contest on a day like today, but you can certainly lose the contest if you land out. My goal was to get around and not land out. As it turns out it looks like I won the day in the Standard Class by not getting into trouble and not having any low spots.

The Next Contest

Region 6 at the Ceaser Creek Soaring Club near Dayton Ohio is the next contest on the schedule this summer from 8-13 June.

The flying area and weather are very much like we experience in SW Ontario, with a whole lot less lake effect modifying the weather.

The link for the contest website is:

http://ssaregion6.org/index.php?n=Contest.2008