East Coast Championship 2014

[FlyingFelix]

Day 4 for the ECC was for me one of the most spectacular flights ever - I flew with the leading gaggle inside and out of the start circle and a 3'rd of the way to goal, then went towards the Sport class goal following gaggles of hawks and black vultures. As I made it in at goal I hooked yet another boomer and I was going to keep going for the Open class goal, but decided I was way too exhausted after a while and returned and landed at my goal. I was hoping I'd see some other pilots come in (shared joy is double the joy) but after the cloud curtain came in things shut down.
My joy was cut short when our driver told me what went down back at the airport - I've been wondering why no one was launching seeing the start gaggle was doing so well (launch was cancelled while rescue crews were at the airport)...I couldn't see from up there what happened; I went back looking through my flight video and all I can find is a glider appear right next to the fuel tank after I was making a 360 - it happened while I was pointing the other direction...
I'm very sorry John Dullahan went through such a scary event. He's a great, positive guy and wish him a quick recovery. Seems like this comp has been plagued with several mishaps, hope this is the end of it.

[krryerson]

5th day, Thursday June 5th ECC:
Today turned out to be much better than we all predicted. No hick ups also... .
We started all around ~3:00PM after Charley got his thermal and flew away for the Open Class. Many Open Class pilot did really good and Bruce Barmakian made it to goal.
For the sport class: Hugh McElrath was the only pilot that made it to the goal, 32.7km. It was strong NW wind, which made us drifted in thermal and you really had to work hard to stay in it. Often very weak lift and I was never over 1600 feet during my flight. Came to a large forest/wooded area and decided to play save and land short after 5k. However, again the best pilots did make it fare and was able to find and stay in strong lift, which got even better later. For more, go to http://www.soaringspot.com/ecc2014/ and to http://ozreport.com/1402011864.
Knut

[mcelrah]

Ya, I came back for a relight and got a late start about 4:30 - it took that long for solar heating to catch up after frontal passage and the overcast breaking up. Took forever to get to cloud base and leave the start circle: my flight was an hour and 20 minutes, but only 37 minutes after breaking the start circle. Got to cruise on glide under a cloudstreet (first time!) climbing without turning - had to pull in to stay out of the dark cloud bottoms. This took me off the course line and when the lift ran out, i had to move farther from course to work the sunny side of the clouds. Final glide without a beep and just squeeked into the generous 2 km goal circle turning base to final, landed between rows of foot-high corn aligned with the wind - did not step on even one plant!
- Hugh

[mcelrah]

Sallie spoke with Joanne Dullahan last night: spine surgery was successful, they had to do less than expected and John got relief from pain. Another update later today. - Hugh

[mcelrah]

Four of us in sport class landed together at goal - 30 miles/50 km - fun times! Took well over 2 hours - pooped! - Hugh

[krryerson]

Day 6th:
Fantastic condition today, and many Sport Class pilots made it to the goal. I was one of the first pilot's to start and quickly got company after circling up in a thermal at Highland. Topped out at 3.5k. Than made it slowly to south east. After riding high for 10k, I decided to speed up. In that process I lost 1000 feet before I found more lift. Got a few hundred feet up and lost it. Did get down to 1600 feet and again found some lift and again lost it. Ended up 600 feet before I found lift again and was forced to land. Big mistake, flying alone on a day like this for me. Landed after ~16k.
Still trying to figure out what went wrong, but having to deal with strong lift/sink and relative strong wind, really made it challenging for me. What was the magic formula?
Think I should have drifted more with the wind to pick up the real core and more. Also using the GPS to stay on the thermal. Though, it was a great day for many CHGPA pilot's and again Hugh and Felix made it to the goal. Richard Elder was short by ~1k to goal. And don't forget Ward made it to goal also.
Finished up the day with a great dinner at Harrys: http://www.harrysonthegreen.com/index.html
Knut

[jimrooney]

I decided to speed up

Still trying to figure out what went wrong

I don't know much, but I suspect that these two things might be related.

[Ward Odenwald]

Yesterday was a good day to be an ECC wind dummy. I was second off the cart at ~12:40. Here are some images from the flight south to Seaford.

Ward

[mcelrah]

Where's the "like" button? Thanks for the pix, Ward!
- Hugh

[mcelrah]

As of yesterday, John was walking around a bit, hoping to get out of hospital tomorrow. - Hugh

[mcelrah]

6 of us made it to sport class goal (me first - ha!) at Skydive Delmarva. Interesting interaction among meat bombs, hang-gliders and Twin Otter jump plane. No hard feelings. Absolutely spectacular conditions; I spent the last 20+ miles between 3 and 5 grand with good confidence that the next cumie would be productive. 7 straight days of flying (a few got caught when they stopped launch on the second day). Felix already had sport class won, so flew the open class task today. Soraya made goal the first time ever. Michele had a personal best distance. All hail Adam, Sunny, Davis and the whole crew for a great comp! - Hugh

[krryerson]

Great comp week ECC; but did not fly tactical good the 2 last days; though, had a lot of fun time up in the air. Today I was one of the first to start. Flying with 6-8 open class pilots and 2-3 sport class pilots in thermals the first 15 min was like a symphony. We all kind of glided in the same thermal's in and out like a classical concert. We topped out at 5200 feet, before starting on the task/waiting for the start window. Than did see all the open class pilots racing south east and tried to follow them to the next thermal, in hope of reaching them/the thermal. Though lost them fast and in the end had to land after only 14 km. Lesson learned again: Wait and take it slowly and stay high.
Did land in a cow field with no animals, no crop and no damage to any plants or any thing. After a few minutes on the ground a very angry farmer came. My advice, do not land on this property: N38' 51.737 W075' 47.020.
More to come from other pilots soon!
See http://www.soaringspot.com/ecc2014/ for results.
Knut

[mcelrah]

Knut,
Sorry you had a bad experience with the farmer. Thanks for your enthusiasm and leadership every day, launching first and relighting every day when the rest of us were trying to pick the right moment. *Somebody* has to go first! - Hugh

[jimrooney]

https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2 ... !1s0x0:0x0

[lbunner]

Congrats to everyone on an awesome competition. Even though I wasn't there, I tracked all of the flying on SeeYou every day so was able to live vicariously through your flights. Bruce flew lights out all week and earned a well deserved victory. I especially liked following the Sport Class. The tasks kept getting longer and longer with more people making goal each day. Just what this class of competition is meant to do. Congrats to Felix and Hugh on duking it out for first and second. My only regret is that I couldn't be there to join all the fun; next year for sure!!

[Ward Odenwald]

https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2 ... !1s0x0:0x0

[mcelrah]

Dullahan update: he's still in University of Maryland Medical Center Baltimore Shock Trauma, trying to wean off IV pain meds, but no go yet. We got his car back over the bridge courtesy of Jim Prahl and Zack, who used it to get to their flights from BWI. - Hugh

[mcgowantk]

I just wanted to add my thanks to the Highland crew. I could not have had more fun flying the last two days of the comp. A very friendly bunch of pilots flew in the meet and there were many volunteers to help things go smoothly. We also had a great dinner to wrap things up. Thanks for creating such a fun place to fly.

Tom McGowan

[FlyingFelix]

THANK YOU to all at Highland Aerosports! These guys deserve all the support we can show them.
The comp was a terrific event, I'm happy to have been there. Some great flying was had every day of the comp, I couldn't ask for more. I learned so much this week it would be hard to quantify.
I stayed overnight after the closing ceremonies, packed it all up in the morning, then took a flight on Bertram's 144 T2 (partly C) today before heading home. What a joy, the "dark side" of topless gliders is quite beckoning! I found it great, a pleasure to fly; stayed up about 50 minutes (Bertram wanted to fly as well), got in 3 nice thermals, took some long glides, some fast flying, landing seemed straight forward - what a cool wing! In one word I'd describe it as: easy. I'll keep flying my beloved Discus for now but may make the switch in the not-too-far future if the right glider comes along
Looking forward to sharing the skies with all you guys soon!

Felix.

[XCanytime]

Just talked to John today around noontime. He should be getting discharged from Shock Trauma this afternoon. Bacil

[Dave Proctor]

I have to echo the sentiments of Tom and Felix. Thanks to Sunny, Adam, the tug pilots, task committee, and all those who helped out. I know this is big undertaking and it always turns out awesome. A great group of pilots, also as usual. Sorry I missed the ceremonies Saturday night but I really needed to get home. Thanks again guys, can't wait to get out there and fly again. Also thanks to Kari and Cindy for the awesome retrieves.