I met a bunch of great pilots, especially Bob (Fling?), a student from Lookout who graciously let me fly not one, but two! of his pristine gliders-- a Northwing Horizon ET 180 and THE one and only Freedom 170 w/ full Mylar, WW down tubes+speed bar, and cross-bar fairings that won the Texas Single Surface Shootout (flown by Davis Straub - last year?). Bob ended up turning an ankle on the first day and didn't fly the rest of the weekend, but still lent me his gliders, AND helped carry them out and set them up. I was concerned about Bob's choice to subject his gliders to the sand and sun, especially if he wasn't flying, but he insisted. Talk about generosity!
It was a great education for me- flying the different gliders. I flew the Horizon the first two days and I guess Bob thought I was flying well enough to get a day with his baby. Handling differences was what you would expect. I actually flew better on the double-surface Horizon than the single-surface Freedom. The base tube at trim on the Freedom is a good bit forward of where it is on a Falcon and the Horizon, and I often ended up flying fast and overshooting. I've read a little about pilots changing wires to move the bar back to a more "normal" position. The Freedom was very smooth and launched and landed like butter.
A highlight of the weekend was "cheating" on the speed run team relay by flying the almost straight-line course with the Horizon on half VG while everyone else was flying Falcons, Pulses, or the equivalent. I got recruited by a band of misfits and we ended up tied with Paul Voight's team the first day
I'm looking forward to returning next year for the 40th Spectacular!
