Big Spring 2011

[mcgowantk]

Hello from Big Spring. We have had two tasks so far. Results are here http://soaringspot.com/2011bsn

The first day was pretty soft. Most pilots needed two tows to get up and away as the area was heavily shaded. However, the sun started poking out of the clouds late and we were able to get up. Top of lift was low due to the overcast conditions and lift was weak. We also had to go around a small cell of rain on course line. I made it to just short of the first turn point about 25 miles out but a few pilots (including Larry Bunner) were out on course earlier and got up again there and made it to the second turn point. I believe Larry was second for the day.

The second day had the feel of Big Spring. Hot, high cloudbases, good lift. We did a 100 mile dog leg task and the majority of the field made goal. It was a great day and a number of people set personal records for distance. Dave Proctor made goal but Larry went down as he was pushing fast and got stuck in a soft spot. Bob Flipchuck finished well today too. There were lots of good clouds to fly to on course and lots of dust devils to mark lift. Larry said he drove through a dusty that was ½ mile across. I had a couple of good thermals to 11.5k (about 9000 agl). Larry tried to talk me into final glide from 22 miles out due to the nice tail wind, but lots of sink had me chicken out. I thermalled up another 1000 feet and then had it into goal with more than 2000 to spare. I should trust Larry more! A great day with lots of happy faces.

I will try to post from time to time as long as I am not too sore from all this flying.

Tom McGowan

[John Dullahan]

Tom,
Thanks for the Big Spring report. Congratulations on making goal and getting a very respectable score on day one. Keep the reports coming!

John

[John Dullahan]

Tom,

Sorry; congratulations on coming 6th overall on day one, just behind one of the big guns, Zac Majors, and making goal with a solid performance on day two.

John

[mcelrah]

Tom,
That sucks that you are getting so sore from flying that you can't post.
Way to go!
-Hugh

[hefalump]

Looks like Larry "Killer Bee" Bunner was first inot goal yesterday and Bob Flipchuck made to goal too. Great job guys!!

Davis seems to be flying very well, good for Davis!!

[hefalump]

Wow!!!! Bob got robbed! 0.6km short. Figure it was a 400m radius finish cylinder, so he was only 200m short.

[mcgowantk]

We are home a lttle early (I will explain later) so I can summarize the last two days. Yesterday was forecast for good climbs and good clouds, so a 230 some mile task was called. The day turned out to be blue with high cirrus, so we did the backup task, a cross wind 146 mile task to Mule shoe. The day looked pretty poor, but we are here so we towed up. It turned out to be pretty good, with climbs to 11.5 msl in the blue. Crossing blue steets were tough for me. I continually got low, then climbed out. The hero of the day was Bob Flipchuck. I saw him very low at 5:00 60 miles from goal. I thought he would be landing so I took off since I had just finished another excellent 500-700 climb. However, Bob flew until 7:30 and made it to goal. Unfortunately, he had the goal cylinder at 4000 meters not 400 meters, so he meandered around the airport and landed, just missing the goal, which he easily would have made.

Today was forcast to be light winds, so they called a 90 mile triangle. It turned out to be another epic day. Many pilots made goal, despite the 10 mph winds. Great climbs of 700+ to over 10k with awesome clouds and dust devils. I flew poorly and landed after 4 1/2 hours on the second leg. Larry made goal, of course but Bob landed short. He left a thermal at the second turnpoint thinking it would mark lift for the pilots behind him, then sunk out But the hero today was Dave Proctor who made goal! 5 1/2 hours in the air and got in around 7:30. Well done Dave.

That's two more epic days under our belt. I have more than 14 hours in the past four days and maybe close to 300 miles. Others have done as well or better.

That's all for now.

Tom

[markc]

I think it's totally cool that we've got "four of our own" out there, flying big and racking up miles. Keep the reports coming about Larry, Dave, Bob, and Tom, it's very fun to hear at least a few details about each day!

Sky-out guys!

MarkC

[carweill]

Enjoy the stories.
3 more days more fun.
Hope you all have more great flights.

Carlos

[Ashley Groves]

Congratualtions to all and thanks for posting, even though it leaves me jealous.

[deveil]

as penance for getting all that airtime in the month of August, they should be required to give a ‘how i spent my summer’ talk at the next meeting. well, maybe not required, perhaps humbly requested. in return they might could pick the toppings for the pizzas.

[mcgowantk]

Day 5:

After a long 90 mile triangle yesterday, folks were tired so they called a shorter task - just kidding. The day was forecast to be stronger lift, higher clouds, and lighter winds than yesterday so they called a 120 mile triangle. That would be the longest triangle ever called in a hang gliding meet. Conditions were once again epic. Many climbs of 700+, great clouds and light winds, at least at altitude, and plenty of dust devils to mark thermals on the ground. I flew a little better today but you need to move fast to finish such a long task. I was gliding between thermals, on average, around 65 kph while the big guns were doing 85 kph on glide. I had a great flight going until half way to the second turn point, then I got really low and had to dive downwind to a cloud forming on top of a low mesa. I was able to just hang on and climb up from maybe 500 feet (it felt like a lot less than that but my vario said 500) drifting a mile in broken lift averaging zero to 100 up. Then a saw two hawks circling just downwind, I flew to them and that thermal was 600-700+ to 11k msl (about 9000 feet agl). From there I was able to work my way back up wind to the second turn point and head down the final leg, but the day was dying a little earlier than yesterday. I landed maybe 57 ks short of goal after just over 5 hours in the air. Dave was still recovering from his long flight yesterday and decided to land just after the first turn point. Bob and I flew together for a while at the first turn point but he stayed on course to land 30 ks short. The hero today was Larry Bunner who flew like his tail was on fire. Larry won the day and was one of 5 to make goal.

Due to the drought this year there are not crops, must mile after mile of flat brown dirt fields to land in or send up strong thermals. Not only are the flying conditions unbelievable but the conditions for easy XC are unequalled. Take your choice of 1000 acre fields to land in.

Two more days.

Tom McGowan

[mcgowantk]

Day 6

The task committee called a short to medium lenght task today because people were getting tired. That meant a 107 mile dog leg task to Levelland. It was more windy than yesterday and mostly blue, but the lift was there and there were plenty of dust devils marking thermals. I flew for 4 hours, reached 11k msl and made goal. I think the vast majority of pilots made it in to goal. Larry finished fast but did not win today. Bob also made it in pretty fast. Dave took a tow but sunk out back at the airport. I was slow but started early and took my time. The lead gaggle caught me a few miles from goal. i was higher than they were but I could not keep up with them on final glide. I had the bar as far back as I could reach and they still had another 10 mph on me. It was impressive to watch them race into goal.

Tom

[markc]

Unreal. Every year it seems, Big Spring yields amazing conditions and major miles. And every year, I've heard
the reports and wished I was there. It's never worked out for me.... But I have some hopes for 2012! With any
luck the comp will still be going strong, and I'll get to see just how badly I really suck!

Keep the reports coming, we're cheering you on!

MarkC

[lbunner]

Mark, you would really excel out here. With your skills I am confident you would set many personal bests, longest flight, highest altitude gain, making goal etc. This is just an incredible place to fly. The people are outstanding; free opening and closing ceremony dinners, free ice cream, hangar storage for the set up gliders, great restaurants. You gotta make this next year.

[Roger]

Mark, you would really excel out here. With your skills I am confident you would set many personal bests, longest flight, highest altitude gain, making goal etc. This is just an incredible place to fly. The people are outstanding; free opening and closing ceremony dinners, free ice cream, hangar storage for the set up gliders, great restaurants. You gotta make this next year.

I agree. I came here with 7 hours for the year and I leave with 13:37 for the week (I was sick day 6) and 275 miles. And those stats are pitiful compared to the rest of the pilots. I learned a lot and met some great people. The town of Big Spring falls over itself to make us all feel welcome. Two examples of the people; Glen Volk lost his wallet some where on a road near the airport, a local picked it up, drove to the hangar, hunted him down and returned it. My driver (a 19 year old) drove my truck 111 mph (per the Garmin GPS). I texted him "so how does my truck handle at 111MPH?" Long story short, he felt so bad about it he came back to the hotel (we didn't check the GPS until after the comp) and he offered to refund all my payment to him for the week. (I only took $80 because he killed my mpg the whole week.)


As for the conditions and the comp. AWESOME! I am a zero when it comes to these things, but I can say that the whole tone of comps has changed since my only foray into them in '96. The big guns, Larry, Zac, Glen, Bostik, .... are open books. They don't seclude themselves and keep their knowledge. They will take their time to explain to you your track logs, offer advice, discuss the conditions, techniques, anything. Amazing. Its a different world compared to the cloak and dagger days of the past. I look forward to returning. It's a great atmosphere.

I had the best week of hang gliding I have ever had. I flew my first 100 miler, made my first goal (at a sanctioned meet), had a top 2 favorite flight, learned a bunch, met some incredible pilots and people, and all while not being scared. I could go on... This place is incredible! Its should be a "bucket list" item for every hang glider pilot. Even if you have no interest in comps but just want to learn, have fun flying, and meet some genuinely great people (Larry and Zac to name a couple), this place is the place to be.


did i say i had a good time?

[Dave Proctor]

I think this was my sixth trip to Big Spring and the best by far. We assembled an awesome collection of pilots for our group: local pilots Larry Bunner, Tom McGowan, Bob Filipchuk, myself, Pittsburgh pilot Pat Halfhill, plus Peter Kane, Roger, and Mark Bolt. We hired two drivers and retrievals were awesome for our truck. I flew my first hundred miler making goal on Monday's task, but the highlight of my flying was completing the 90 mile triangle in wind. I was slow, spending 5:54 in the air. I was the last pilot landing back at the airport in front of everybody. I know this is going to be hard to believe but after all that time to get stiff in the harness I nailed the landing. To top it off our old friend Mitch (commander) Shipley came running out to greet me and help carry my glider back to the hangar. When Tom and I started flying XC Mitch was our Godfather of XC, dragging us on great flights at all the sites, teaching us much. Mitch flew an awesome meet. Tom and I were thrilled to see our old friend flying so spectacularly. Good job Mitch!!! Larry, Bob, and Tom all flew well, much more consistently than me. The others in the 'crew' also flew well, Roger, and Peter making their first 100 milers as well on Monday's task and cranking up the miles and hours.
You should really consider Big Spring if you want to fly XC in the best conditions in the country. And I fully concur with Bun when he says that MarkC should come next year.

[mcgowantk]

My rough totals in six days of flying were over 20 hours and over 450 miles xc. As you might guess from the numbers, the last day was cancelled because it was blown out. This is just a two second computation so I could be wrong. It included three hundred mile flights and two attempted triangles, one 5 hour day, three four hour days and one three hour day. I was ready for another long day so that I would be sore the whole drive home but that will just get me pysched to come back next year. I believe Big Spring offers the best xc conditions in terms of nice but not scarely lift and excellent 1000 acre fields as LZs.


Next year is tentatively scheduled for July 22-28. The format is likely to include the US National open distance championship as a separate event (in addition to the normal meet format) so you can go down wind if you are up for a long retrieve.

Tom

[lbunner]

Here's my recap of the 6 days

After an abominable world championships in Italy, I was excited to be heading to the US Nats in Big Spring, TX. This area offers the most consistent conditions in the country. I have flown there for at least 5 years now and cannot recall more than a day or two that was cancelled during the entire period. Interestingly, it rained from Dallas to Big Spring on the morning of the practice day. This was the first rain received in over 6 months. The area is very dry which is very good for us hang glider pilots.
Day 1 I am on the task committee. Davis is doing the weather. It looks pretty weak for today with quite a bit of wind. We call a 110km task northwest to Ackerly, then northeast to Gail and west to Lamesa. Unfortunately, we never got very high and no one made goal. Joe Bostik flew over my head high just past the first turnpoint and almost made it to goal. I landed in the same field as Davis Straub but squeaked past him to take second. With nobody at goal, the point values were very low. I am happy with second though.
Day 2 The good conditions return and we call a 164km slight dog leg to the north. The dog leg will keep lesser experienced pilots away from unlandable terrain before going the last leg over wide open farm fields. It has been so dry here that ½ the fields are barren. If you don’t irrigate you don’t have a crop. I took the second start at 1400 and had two nice climbs to 9000’msl on course. I left the group I was with and headed to an excellent cumulus cloud. I flew right under it but found no lift. I saw smaller cu’s on courseline to the north and headed to their way only to see them dry up just as I arrived. I now was down low in rough terrain (how ironic) and lost a turbulent climb down low finally putting the glider down in one of the few open fields in the area. Years ago, I would have been very upset with such a bad flight but my attitude has changed somewhat. I came to this competition with the objective to win it. I flew hard on this day and perhaps just a tad too fast as I never was in synch with the thermals. Of course as I was packing the glider, I looked up to see a number of gliders fly over my head thousands of feet higher! My nephew Zack is driving for me, Tom McGowan and Dave Proctor. He picked me up before I was finished packing (Excellent job!). Both Tom and Dave made goal. I couldn’t have been happier for them with just a few remorseful pangs for my pitiful performance. I finished 29th today and am in 24th overall. Davis won the day flying very fast.
Day 3 The task committee calls a record 380km (236mi) task to Parma and a backup task to Muleshoe (yes we are in Texas) of 242km (150mi). The reason for two tasks is that the weather models aren’t consistent. They all predict good strong winds but are not in agreement about the cumulus clouds. Some pilots are grumbling about calling such a big task because we won’t get back until very late. The committee changed the task to Muleshoe when the expected clouds didn’t materialize. I takeoff around 1300 and leave on the third start clock at 1400 in a good climb to 8700’. I hold the hammer back a little after landing early yesterday and find myself struggling again in the same area. I finally claw my way back up to 9000’ and connect with three good strong thermals at 700fpm as I follow the courseline north. There are no clouds to mark the lift but there are huge dust devils in the barren fields below that show where the good climbs are. Just past Lamesa I catch a group of gliders from an earlier start. They are flying around a huge dust devil but I don’t find the strong climb and decide to leave. A couple km’s later I hit a strong thermal over 800fpm at one point and top out the lift at 9500’. After a long glide, I spot Davis circling down low to my left and fly to him. I eventually catch 600fpm and get to 9700’. There are cumulus clouds to our north marking the way and I fly to them. The climb rates stay the same but it is obvious cloudbase is much higher. I take three climbs to 11000’ and one last climb to 13000’ before going on final glide to Muleshoe. I arrive at the airport to find no one there! Woohoo, I win the day! When asked to describe my flight at the pilots meeting the next morning, I tell the group that I flew the same as I did the previous day (when I finished 29th) only this time I made it to goal. I move up to 9th overall today.
Day 4 The winds are much lighter today so the committee calls a 143km task to the northwest to Patricia then due east to 11T and finally south back to the airport. Gary Osaba reports from his sailplane that the conditions are the best yet. I launch and get to 10000’ just before the 1320 start. This was the highest I had been this early. I thought I needed to leave early today to get around the course before the conditions started to wane. This was a miscalculation on my part as conditions stayed strong late into the evening. I flew with Mitch around the first turnpoint where I got low and had to dig out above a football field. The lift turned on to the best climb of the day at over 1000fpm to 10500’. Two more excellent climbs put me under a building cloud street. I was flying east to the next turnpoint into a south crosswind. Although the clouds looked better to the north, I was worried about drifting too far north and then having to struggle upwind to get the 2nd turnpoint. I elected to fly to the southeast where there were fewer clouds. This was my mistake for the day as I struggled in two climbs before finally getting up high again. I made the last turnpoint and headed on to goal. Two more good climbs put me on final glide to the airport. I finished 11th for the day and maintained 9th overall. Dave Proctor also made goal today climbing in one last thermal at over 700fpm at 1900 in the evening. Unbelievable!
Day 5 We call a bigger triangle task of 202.6km. The committee discusses the current world record speed for the course. The conditions are going to be so good that we think the record could fall. It is held by Attila Bertok from Hungary at 42km/hr. Gary reports from the air that the conditions are better than yesterday. Wow, how can it get better? This time we fly northeast 66km, west to Lamesa 65km and southeast to Big Spring 70km. I’m in good position to start at 1340 but Zippy signals me to hold back for a later clock. The start clocks are 20 minutes apart. At 1400 we start right at cloudbase at 10500’ which is the best start of the week for me. The course is long, I expect it to take about 5 hours so I pull the bar in and fly fast from thermal to thermal to the first turnpoint. Zippy gets out ahead of me but on the second leg to Lamesa I hit 5 climbs around 1000 fpm and catch him and many others at the 2nd turnpoint. I hit 800fpm at Lamesa and top out 2000’ above ten other gliders. I continue on as I’ve had excellent luck on my own this flight. The headwind is significant, up to 15mph as I glide toward goal. I climb up in three more good thermals and have the numbers (10:1) to get into goal. I pick up the speed but end up plummeting in strong sink and have to slow down to find another climb. Eight km from the airport, I’m down to 1500’ searching and hearing David Glover in my head saying “It’s better to come in a few minutes late than it is to land short”. I finally find a climb that eventually turns on to 700fpm. I take it up until my instrument shows that I have a 7:1 glide into goal. I turn on the afterburners crossing the finish line at 600’. I am the first into goal by 10 minutes; only five pilots make it. My task time is 4:20 which equates to 46.6km/hr possibly a new world record! I now move up to 5th with two days to go.

[PKane]

Great write up Larry! And thanks for being on the task comity you and the others did a great job all week. I had a great time flying in Big Spring. I flew my third longest flight of 101 miles and made goal that day. The next day I didn't make goal but had my second longest flight of 106 miles. Two back to back 100+ mile days! That was amazing. I also had my personal best altitude gain to 12000 feet. What a week! All in all I had 16 hours and 395 miles. I think I said somewhere else but you don't get those kind of numbers here on the east coast! If you want to get some hours and miles in you should be in Big Spring TX next year!

[sailin]

Way to go to all the east coasters that made it out to Big Spring......sounds like you guys did awesome out there!!! Also a huge thanks to all of your write ups...for an new pilot, these things are great!!!!

Way to go guys and thanks!!!!

Jon