2013 Region Nine XC Contest

[lplehmann]

2013 REGION NINE XC CHAMPIONSHIP
(April 1-September 15)


After a four year absence, it is my intention to once again administer a season-long Region Nine cross-country competition. More detailed rules and instructions can be found in the attachment below.


The contest will employ the advances in GPS and web technologies to document and score the contestants’ flights. The winners will be determined by adding up the HOLC points (explanation to follow) awarded for one’s three best flights between April1 to September 15. One can fly on any day of the week, and from any site within Region Nine. There will be several classes (min. 5 pilots): HG Open; HG Kingpost; PG and Rigid.

The use of new technology will, however, place some responsibility on the pilots. To participate one must have a data-logging GPS device and learn how to download an .igc file onto the web. Considering the number of smart phones, stand alone GPS,’ and flight computers owned by pilots, I do not view this requirement as an insurmountable barrier to participation.

To help those unfamiliar with creating, saving and downloading/uploading the necessary .igc flight log files, you will find a number of FAQs in the attachment below that will address such questions. I will try to help contestants, however, there are many online resources available on the subject. In particular, http://www.paraglidingforum.com
contains a number of useful, relevant threads.

In order to publicize flights I have created a contest blog at

http://2013region9xcontest.blogspot.com

which I hope will function as a central point for the posting of flight stories. One of the historical drawbacks of a Region-wide contest has been that until season’s end we were seldom aware of what others had been accomplishing outside of our own backwaters. It is my hope that the blog will foster a sense of community among the contestants.


I wish you all lots of luck and good flying. Damn, but it's been a long winter

Pete

[sailin]

Yes!!!! This is great. Thank you for bringing this back. Hopefully we can get some good participation. Looking forward to a fun XC season.

Jon

[CHassan]

Many thanks Pete. I'll join in the fun (I hope).

[mcgowantk]

Hey Pete

I was just thinking of your XC contest and how much I enjoyed it every year. I will note that after 10 years of competing, I finally graduated from the 60 mile to the open class! I greatly appreciate your efforts to start the competition again. I hope to have the opportunity to fly with you this year.

Take care

Tom McGowan

[Lostgriz]

Sounds fun, thanks for your efforts. It has been 4 months since I flew! Come on Spring!!

[callen]

Pete,
Thanks for hosting this. Also please let us all know if you can double count competition flights i.e. use a flight from the ECC or the Highland Challenge. Thanks

Charlie

[John Simon]

Wow,
Sounds great Pete, thanks for reviving this event. With the Highland Challenge and this, I hope we can all do some serious XC this season.

John

[lplehmann]

Charlie (and others),

Any flights flown in the Region during the contest period can count, certainly including those of your Highland Challenge.

Thanks to the voices of support, let's hope that yesterday's fine flying conditions are a harbinger of (finally) a decent flying season. Pilots got to 7K at both Woodstock and High Point.

Since posting the first announcement I have heard from Marc Fink expressing some frustration with the HOLC sign-up procedure. In an effort to help contestants with that step (and the future one of actually submitting a flight during the contest) I have written two attached documents containing the necessary steps and some screenshots.

Mark Cavanaugh has agreed to host some of the contest documentation on this server. But in the meantime we will have to rely on this thread to allow us to interact. If others have difficulty with the registration process, I would suggest they contact me via PM. If I see common questions or problems I will then formulate more general explanations for the wider community and post them here.

Pete

PS If you want to see how Tom McGowan broke out of the old 60 Mile Club, click on the link below.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1068069281 ... 2751874274

[Lostgriz]

Thanks for all the efforts to host this. I look forward to participating and reading reports of some great XC flights in our region this year.

Matt

[callen]

Pete - If you like I can add the documents to the "links" page on the Highland Challenge website and /or create a separate tab for you on the site. Let me know.

Best,
Charlie

[lplehmann]

The Region Nine XC contest is now into its third week, and I am afraid that both the weather and participation have been well below expectations. The weather will surely improve at some point, but one does wonder about the participation.

Pete

[mingram]

I'm waiting for a few other PG pilots to log some miles so we have the needed 5 participants to compete. We have eager pilots, just need a little better weather.

[lplehmann]

Hi Matt,
It is customary to enter a contest first; not fly and then assess how well one might do before entering. I confess that in my attempt to keep this thing simple I didn't make that point explicit.
Also, I would like to reassure paraglider pilots who might enter that if the required five participants don't materialize, I will fully refund their $20 entry fee.
Pete

[mingram]

Sounds good. I'll sign up and lead the charge for the PGs. I also reposted this thread on the Little Gap, PA club and got the word out on the SW VA/Skywackers group, the Blue Sky group in Richmond, and posted on the CHGPA Facebook.

[mcgowantk]

Hey Pete

I meant to sign up but got caught up in other issues while completing the OLC form. I will check into it shortly. I am definitely looking for some XC miles this spring.

Take care

Tom McGowan

[lplehmann]

Hi All,

After checking the OLC's contest result page for the Region Nine XC contest I am saddened to see an almost complete absence of flights entered by pilots other than me. I don't know if this reflects a. complete indifference, b. poor weather, or c. intimidation from dealing the quirky OLC site's interface.

I can't help with a. and b. But I can help with the OLC site. If you want help either post here, contact me by PM, or call my cell FourOneTwo-973-Zero Seven Zero Eight

Also, a reminder for participants in the ECC. Any of those flights can be counted in the Regional contest, however there is a two week window for submitting them.

Regards,
Pete

[Lostgriz]

For me it has been an issue of weather on the days I can fly. I just uploaded one from a day I won during the ECC, but it didn't count for much. Looking forward to improving on the flights that I have logged.

Matt

[Lostgriz]

Oops, I see that I uploaded the wrong flight....

[lplehmann]

Hi Matt,

In years with poor XC weather such as this one never really knows how worthwhile a flight is until the end of the contest period. Perhaps we'll run into an extended dry period in the summer and we'll all go a hundred miles; and perhaps not. The point is to simply take a whack when an opportunity presents itself and see what happens in the less than "perfect" conditions. One is often surprised by how good a flight can be achieved, and in any event the contest requires three flights, something that all too few pilots achieved the last time I ran this thing. At the end of the day, all one really has to accomplish with the next xc flight is to beat one's own 'third' flight for it to be worthwhile in contest terms.

Lots of luck,

Pete

[Lostgriz]

Thanks Pete. Between the flights that I have from the ECC, the flights that I will have during the Highland Challenge and my non comp XC adventures, I am counting on logging some good flights. Do you actually have to delete flights, or will it simply kick the lower scoring flights out?

Thanks,

Matt

[lplehmann]

Matt,

Honestly, I don't know. I suspect it will keep all of the flights and I will later have to simply do the arithmetic to figure out the winners.

Pete

[John Simon]

I posted a flight or two, once signed up and with a little help, it's easy! Paypal Pete and let's go flying!

[eggzkitz]

So.... is the PG group >5?

And can one pay now and submit flights?

[mingram]

I just joined OLC and submitted my 3 best flights so far, so that's at least one PG participant so far. Pete said he'd refund the entry fee if we don't get enough participation, but I'll twist some arms and make it happen. Let's do this!

[lplehmann]

Jeff and Matt,

At present with Matt's late entry there is a grand total of two paraglider pilots entered into the contest. I would also point out that it is customary to enter a contest first, and then submit flights.

And if anyone does care to enter, an incentive to doing so might be the fact that we're about to have a break in this weirdly consistent southerly weather pattern. There's an actual cold front coming through later in the week.

Regards,
Pete