Local Pilots in Big Springs Com.

[John Dullahan]

Just got back after being out of the country for ten days, checked the oz report, and found that several of our local pilots did extremely well at the Big Springs comp.; an event with a heavy presence of the World's top-class pilots. The major placings: 1st. Craig Coomber, 2nd. Jeff O'brien, and (drum roll): 3rd. our own Larry Bunner!! (Jonny Durand, possibly the world's top-ranked HG pilot, was 5th.) Mitch Shipley, who cut his HG teeth locally, and now at Quest Air, was 7th. John Simon was 17th, Bob Filipchuk was 20th (both ahead of Zac Majors, who was 22nd.), Dave Proctor was 34th, and even with one day's absence, Tom McGowan was 37th. Note that both Dave and Tom came in ahead of Ricker Goldsborough, currently ranked 11th HG pilot in the US. Well done guys!!

[lbunner]

Thanks John, what a blast it was! Even though the conditions weren't as good as last year, I still managed two 100+ miles flights and ~20 hours of airtime. The racing was incredibly tough and finally I flew well on the last day to get a good finish. I know I keep saying it but you guys need to come to Texas to get some awesome flying!

[lbunner]

Big Spring Recap: I flew 5 of the 7 days. Two days were cancelled; one due to winds and one due to massive thunderstorms that built up in less than an hour. The day cancelled due to wind should have been a flying day as the Safety Committee should have waited to see what would happen later in the afternoon. Regrettably, I was on the SC. The 4th day was stopped due to a large cell just off of course line that eventually cut off the first leg. I chose to fly the original task as I wasn't notified that the task had been stopped until I was 40km from goal. Turned out to be one of the best days with strong climbs and wind. Seven of us made goal (203km) and could have flown for another three hours, the sky was that good! Going into the last day I was in 4th place ~80 points out of third. I slept restlessly, thinking about killing my old nemesis; the last day blues. Three comps I was in 2nd, 4th or 5th only to bomb on the last day. I was intent on breaking through to the other side. The day didn't start out well as I left my camelbak and flying pants at the hotel. I rushed there and back just in time to make the ordered launch. I took the 1st start as we called a 165km zig zag task with strong wind and I wanted to get going as I thought it would take over 3 hours to make goal. Unfortunately I wasn't in the best position and ended up going out on my own from 4000' agl. I could see a dusty on course line off in the distance but it was too far away. "Here we go again" I thought as I got below 1000' but hit a good thermal that took me over 5000'. There were a number of clouds near the 1st turnpoint and I used those to get around it on my way to the 2nd. I saw Davis above me at the next cloud and we took it to base at 6800' (9000'msl) before going on a loooonnggg glide into the wind. We split up for the next 20 miles before reconnecting over the badlands (not really bad but looked so compared to the wide open cotton fields). He and several others were well above me and gone before I hit the solid core and took it to 6800' again. Now on my own, I worked several thermals to the 2nd turnpoint worrying about drifting off course line so tried to stay high. I tagged the turnpoint at 5500' and hit lift off a small bluff that took me over 7000'. I know had a crossing tailwind and connected with two more solid thermals to 8000' and 7500' before going on a long 22km glide to goal. I had the numbers when I left but they slowly eroded away. I tucked my body into a clean profile, pulled on full rope and pointed the glider toward goal to the west. Each time I hit zero sink I pushed out and turned toward the south into the wind hoping for one last climb to give me some margin but the lift was never strong enough to turn in. About 2km out I knew I had it and radioed my driver to see how many gliders were in. Much to my ecstatic surprise he responded that I was the first. My 6030 signaled that I had goal just as I crossed over the airport entrance and I did one last turn to land next to the hangars. Yahoo! Now all I had to do was wait to see how the others did. Mitch came in 2nd and O'Brien third. It was a few minutes before Jonny and the rest showed up. I figured it would be close to see who won. That night at the awards presentation, I found out that I was second to Jonny because he took a later start but that I gained enough points on Robin to take third place overall! Finally I beat the last day blues to finish well! Totals for the trip were 733km (454 miles) and 18 hrs 6 min in the air. Proctor is really flying well on his new T2C154 and I heard that Koomber and Jonny took an interest in McGown's glider and that it now has an improved glide. Look out now these guys are flying really well! Y'all come out next year and get you some!

[Dave Proctor]

Big Spring was great again, as usual. We turned it into Highland West for the week: Tug pilots Zac and Jim Rooney were there dragging us into the sky; Local pilots: Bun, Tom, Bob, John Simon, and me. Also a bunch of occasional Highland pilots: Randy Brown, Tom Lanning, and John Beckley. You had to be on top of your launch game to do well. Not from a safety standpoint, but there were over 40 pilots and if you were not careful you could find yourself in the position of not being able to make the last start clock. I ended up lauching only a couple of gliders from the end on two days (pinning off low once and having to go to the back of the line for a relight, and not being able to get my stuff ready for the open window) and paid the price. I made goal the first three days, albeit slowly. The first day was a 62 mile triangle. I glided into the wind at the second turnpoint fairly low, and turned towards goal. I was down to 3100MSL (about 500ft agl) and found some light lift. Eventually turned on and I climbed from 3K to over 12K in one thermal. I finished the course and couldn't get down at the airport due to a reversal of wind and the associated lift being snow-plowed up in front of it. I was at 5K AGL and had to fly 12 miles south to find air that I could get down in. Tom was there soon after I landed and helped me break down and haul my gear out. I was beat from flying with the bar pulled in for what seemed like forever. Thanks Tom. The next two days were 70 and 80 mile doglegs to the north. I felt particularly good about one where I had to do a 12KM crosswind glide to make the turnpoint and then dribble (30-40, sometimes 100FPM) downwind towards goal. I eventually made it, one of the late stragglers, but in. On the 4th task day, Tom and I elected to leave before the first start window. It was looking like there was a real good chance that the task would be stopped and we were hoping to get out in front of the weather and get some miles before stopage. It was a good plan...but I didn't fully top out under a cloud before heading for the next cloud and found big sink all the way down to 500 ft. I worked it, gaining 300 ft until I got to a point where I was drifting fast out of the last landable terrain and had to land, not willing to bet the farm that I would continue to climb. This was a ratty thermal, down low, in strong winds. Not something I wanted to count on hanging onto. Tom did exceptionally well on this day and almost made the turnpoint before it was consumed by rain. Tom did the smart thing and ran down wind to the north, landing in a nice big field in smooth conditions. Good choice, after we got him packed up we went on to the airfield a few miles north and found Tom Lanning there, trying to keep his glider from getting blown away in the now-ramped up winds. I blew the last day, Tom and I were flying together and were hitting some really nice climbs. I was out in front a little and found a thermal that just kept getting better with altitude. I topped it out, and Tom was having a hard time finding the core, so I went on glide alone to the turnpoint. That turned out to be my last climb of the day. I made the turnpoint and turned east (with a strong South crosswind) and glided to the deck. Tom hit a cloud at the turnpoint and almost made the second turnpoint. The hero's of the day were Bun (first into goal) and John Simon who also made goal. This was a really tough task, 100 miles with a strong crosswind on all legs. Bob also flew well, as usual. Congratulations guys.
DaveP

[Pete Schumann]

Cool Beans for our guys way to go to all of you, well done.

Mitch you come up here and I'll still kick your butt on a bike...

Pete