Lauren and I just returned home from the very friendly and fun Florida Ridge HG competition to find our in box stuffed with LOTS of posts. Seems we missed some heated debate regarding helmets and after reading posts from all perspectives, I think the right decision was reached at the meeting. As Marc mentioned, there is no definitive testing proving the ultimate safety of one over the other, especially regarding the possibility of neck injuries, and having recently been involved in some fairly serious gaggle flying I can definitely see the importance of not restricting your peripheral vision.
Now to the FUN stuff!!! The Florida Ridge Comp is billed as a smaller, friendlier competition and it follows on the heels of the Flytec to take advantage of many comp pilots already being in the area. The numbers were fairly small but with people like world champion Oleg Bondarchuk there, it was definitely a competitive group. My rigid wing group wasn't quite so tough but I still had some very good pilots such as Davis Straub, Johan Posch, Campbell Bowen and Russell Brown to contend with.
Lauren competed in the Sport class which pretty much consisted of pilots flying king posted gliders so she didn't have to take on guys like Oleg!!! I'm going to let her tell you about her experience but I don't think she'll mind if I tell you that she won her division and set a new personal best distance while she was at it!!
The first two days of the five day format were blown out and rained out respectively so we were only able to fly for three days. The first day was blue with very light lift and I just couldn't get it together. I was a bit slow in getting launched, lost track of the lead gaggle and finally decked it just before the second waypoint. This was REALLY a mistake because several pilots made goal and put me WAY behind in points.
The second day, however, I flew much better and smarter and had good results. It was a monster 86 mile task with a down wind and two cross wind legs. Linda Salamone valiantly flew for six hours only to come up five miles short of goal. I originally flew with the main gaggle but after 20 miles or so Russel Brown and I broke away and flew together for a big part of the task before Oleg caught up with us. Our rigid wing gliders had a bit more glide than his Combat but his incredible skill kept him right with us and I pimped shamelessly. It was a rare treat and an incredible lesson to fly with and learn from such a legend. After the final turn point Russel tried to break away but then had some problems and Oleg and I overtook him. My instrument was saying that I had goal on glide but Oleg wasn't sure about his wing and diverted to a promising cloud allowing me to take the lead. I was about to explode with excitement when I crossed the finish circle thinking I was first into goal for all divisions. Unfotunately I had forgotten that Davis Straub had taken a chance early on and had gone off by himself well to the left of the course line. He had found better conditions and beaten me by 19 minutes. Still, coming second in my division, beating Oleg to goal (even though he was flying a flex wing) and completing the longest declared task of my life was pretty great.
The final day looked like it might be blown out but the winds backed down to a reasonable level by late AM and a short (36 mile) down wind task was called to make it easy to return in time for awards and the final night party. Lift was extremely light early on but I managed to hang on and once again found myself in the lead gaggle with Oleg and Russell but this time Davis joined our little group. Conditions improved and when Oleg found a boomer about 15 miles out I knew we had goal in hand and winning would be a matter of who left first with enough altitude to make it in. My 5030 said it was time to go but I didn't want to leave too early so I held on for another turn or two while I watched Davis and Russel. Then I saw Oleg pull in his VG and I wheeled out and went on glide right behind him. Davis and Russel quickly followed but I had enough of a jump to hold on for the win crossing the finish line 18 seconds ahead of Davis. Oleg did beat me this time but, of course, he was in the flex wing division.
So even though my poor performance on the first day kept me in fourth place overall, I had taken a first and a second on the last two days and created a HUGE desire to compete again. Damn, this sport is fun!!!!!
See ya'll at Highland for the East Coast Championships!
Paul
Florida Ridge Comp (long)
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Florida Ridge Comp (long)
Woohoo! You go, guy! (But we have the blackmail video of you flying
into Howard's glider to keep you humble.) - Hugh
On 1 May 2005, at 15:56, Paul Tjaden wrote:
> Lauren and I just returned home from the very friendly and fun Florida
> Ridge HG competition to find our in box stuffed with LOTS of posts.
> Seems we missed some heated debate regarding helmets and after reading
> posts from all perspectives, I think the right decision was reached at
> the meeting. As Marc mentioned, there is no definitive testing proving
> the ultimate safety of one over the other, especially regarding the
> possibility of neck injuries, and having recently been involved in
> some fairly serious gaggle flying I can definitely see the importance
> of not restricting your peripheral vision.
>
> Now to the FUN stuff!!! The Florida Ridge Comp is billed as a
> smaller, friendlier competition and it follows on the heels of the
> Flytec to take advantage of many comp pilots already being in the
> area. The numbers were fairly small but with people like world
> champion Oleg Bondarchuk there, it was definitely a competitive group.
> My rigid wing group wasn't quite so tough but I still had some very
> good pilots such as Davis Straub, Johan Posch, Campbell Bowen and
> Russell Brown to contend with.
>
> Lauren competed in the Sport class which pretty much consisted of
> pilots flying king posted gliders so she didn't have to take on guys
> like Oleg!!! I'm going to let her tell you about her experience but I
> don't think she'll mind if I tell you that she won her division and
> set a new personal best distance while she was at it!!
>
> The first two days of the five day format were blown out and rained
> out respectively so we were only able to fly for three days. The first
> day was blue with very light lift and I just couldn't get it together.
> I was a bit slow in getting launched, lost track of the lead gaggle
> and finally decked it just before the second waypoint. This was REALLY
> a mistake because several pilots made goal and put me WAY behind in
> points.
> The second day, however, I flew much better and smarter and had good
> results. It was a monster 86 mile task with a down wind and two cross
> wind legs. Linda Salamone valiantly flew for six hours only to come up
> five miles short of goal. I originally flew with the main gaggle but
> after 20 miles or so Russel Brown and I broke away and flew together
> for a big part of the task before Oleg caught up with us. Our rigid
> wing gliders had a bit more glide than his Combat but his incredible
> skill kept him right with us and I pimped shamelessly. It was a rare
> treat and an incredible lesson to fly with and learn from such a
> legend. After the final turn point Russel tried to break away but then
> had some problems and Oleg and I overtook him. My instrument was
> saying that I had goal on glide but Oleg wasn't sure about his wing
> and diverted to a promising cloud allowing me to take the lead. I was
> about to explode with excitement when I crossed the finish circle
> thinking I was first into goal for all divisions. Unfotunately I had
> forgotten that Davis Straub had taken a chance early on and had gone
> off by himself well to the left of the course line. He had found
> better conditions and beaten me by 19 minutes. Still, coming second in
> my division, beating Oleg to goal (even though he was flying a flex
> wing) and completing the longest declared task of my life was pretty
> great.
>
> The final day looked like it might be blown out but the winds backed
> down to a reasonable level by late AM and a short (36 mile) down wind
> task was called to make it easy to return in time for awards and the
> final night party. Lift was extremely light early on but I managed to
> hang on and once again found myself in the lead gaggle with Oleg and
> Russell but this time Davis joined our little group. Conditions
> improved and when Oleg found a boomer about 15 miles out I knew we had
> goal in hand and winning would be a matter of who left first with
> enough altitude to make it in. My 5030 said it was time to go but I
> didn't want to leave too early so I held on for another turn or two
> while I watched Davis and Russel. Then I saw Oleg pull in his VG and I
> wheeled out and went on glide right behind him. Davis and Russel
> quickly followed but I had enough of a jump to hold on for the win
> crossing the finish line 18 seconds ahead of Davis. Oleg did beat me
> this time but, of course, he was in the flex wing division.
>
> So even though my poor performance on the first day kept me in fourth
> place overall, I had taken a first and a second on the last two days
> and created a HUGE desire to compete again. Damn, this sport is
> fun!!!!!
>
> See ya'll at Highland for the East Coast Championships!
>
> Paul
>
>
>
>
into Howard's glider to keep you humble.) - Hugh
On 1 May 2005, at 15:56, Paul Tjaden wrote:
> Lauren and I just returned home from the very friendly and fun Florida
> Ridge HG competition to find our in box stuffed with LOTS of posts.
> Seems we missed some heated debate regarding helmets and after reading
> posts from all perspectives, I think the right decision was reached at
> the meeting. As Marc mentioned, there is no definitive testing proving
> the ultimate safety of one over the other, especially regarding the
> possibility of neck injuries, and having recently been involved in
> some fairly serious gaggle flying I can definitely see the importance
> of not restricting your peripheral vision.
>
> Now to the FUN stuff!!! The Florida Ridge Comp is billed as a
> smaller, friendlier competition and it follows on the heels of the
> Flytec to take advantage of many comp pilots already being in the
> area. The numbers were fairly small but with people like world
> champion Oleg Bondarchuk there, it was definitely a competitive group.
> My rigid wing group wasn't quite so tough but I still had some very
> good pilots such as Davis Straub, Johan Posch, Campbell Bowen and
> Russell Brown to contend with.
>
> Lauren competed in the Sport class which pretty much consisted of
> pilots flying king posted gliders so she didn't have to take on guys
> like Oleg!!! I'm going to let her tell you about her experience but I
> don't think she'll mind if I tell you that she won her division and
> set a new personal best distance while she was at it!!
>
> The first two days of the five day format were blown out and rained
> out respectively so we were only able to fly for three days. The first
> day was blue with very light lift and I just couldn't get it together.
> I was a bit slow in getting launched, lost track of the lead gaggle
> and finally decked it just before the second waypoint. This was REALLY
> a mistake because several pilots made goal and put me WAY behind in
> points.
> The second day, however, I flew much better and smarter and had good
> results. It was a monster 86 mile task with a down wind and two cross
> wind legs. Linda Salamone valiantly flew for six hours only to come up
> five miles short of goal. I originally flew with the main gaggle but
> after 20 miles or so Russel Brown and I broke away and flew together
> for a big part of the task before Oleg caught up with us. Our rigid
> wing gliders had a bit more glide than his Combat but his incredible
> skill kept him right with us and I pimped shamelessly. It was a rare
> treat and an incredible lesson to fly with and learn from such a
> legend. After the final turn point Russel tried to break away but then
> had some problems and Oleg and I overtook him. My instrument was
> saying that I had goal on glide but Oleg wasn't sure about his wing
> and diverted to a promising cloud allowing me to take the lead. I was
> about to explode with excitement when I crossed the finish circle
> thinking I was first into goal for all divisions. Unfotunately I had
> forgotten that Davis Straub had taken a chance early on and had gone
> off by himself well to the left of the course line. He had found
> better conditions and beaten me by 19 minutes. Still, coming second in
> my division, beating Oleg to goal (even though he was flying a flex
> wing) and completing the longest declared task of my life was pretty
> great.
>
> The final day looked like it might be blown out but the winds backed
> down to a reasonable level by late AM and a short (36 mile) down wind
> task was called to make it easy to return in time for awards and the
> final night party. Lift was extremely light early on but I managed to
> hang on and once again found myself in the lead gaggle with Oleg and
> Russell but this time Davis joined our little group. Conditions
> improved and when Oleg found a boomer about 15 miles out I knew we had
> goal in hand and winning would be a matter of who left first with
> enough altitude to make it in. My 5030 said it was time to go but I
> didn't want to leave too early so I held on for another turn or two
> while I watched Davis and Russel. Then I saw Oleg pull in his VG and I
> wheeled out and went on glide right behind him. Davis and Russel
> quickly followed but I had enough of a jump to hold on for the win
> crossing the finish line 18 seconds ahead of Davis. Oleg did beat me
> this time but, of course, he was in the flex wing division.
>
> So even though my poor performance on the first day kept me in fourth
> place overall, I had taken a first and a second on the last two days
> and created a HUGE desire to compete again. Damn, this sport is
> fun!!!!!
>
> See ya'll at Highland for the East Coast Championships!
>
> Paul
>
>
>
>
-
Paul Tjaden
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:28 pm
Florida Ridge Comp (long)
In a message dated 5/1/2005 11:06:32 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, mcelrah@verizon.net writes:
Damn!!! I thought I bought and destroyed all the prints?AND the negative.
Woohoo!? You go, guy!? (But we have the blackmail video of you flying
into Howard's glider to keep you humble.) - Hugh
Damn!!! I thought I bought and destroyed all the prints?AND the negative.
-
silverwings
- Posts: 1242
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:29 pm
- Location: Bethesda, MD
- Contact:
Florida Ridge Comp (long)
Paul,
Congrats on your flying especially doing a 1st and 2nd. Sounds like the rigid wing is working out good for you. Hope to see you back here.
Congrats on your flying especially doing a 1st and 2nd. Sounds like the rigid wing is working out good for you. Hope to see you back here.
john middleton (202)409-2574 c
Florida Ridge Comp (long)
That's the thing about blackmail - it keeps going and going... - Hugh
On 2 May 2005, at 08:07, Tjadenhors@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 5/1/2005 11:06:32 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> mcelrah@verizon.net writes:
> :
>
> Woohoo!? You go, guy!? (But we have the blackmail video of you flying
> into Howard's glider to keep you humble.) - Hugh
>
>
> Damn!!! I thought I bought and destroyed all the prints?AND the
> negative.
>
>
>
>
On 2 May 2005, at 08:07, Tjadenhors@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 5/1/2005 11:06:32 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> mcelrah@verizon.net writes:
> :
>
> Woohoo!? You go, guy!? (But we have the blackmail video of you flying
> into Howard's glider to keep you humble.) - Hugh
>
>
> Damn!!! I thought I bought and destroyed all the prints?AND the
> negative.
>
>
>
>