Big Spring 2014

[mcgowantk]

Well, another year at Big Spring is in the bag. To say that we had good flying conditions this year would be a great understatement. Conditions were epic for the entire week. Not only did we fly each of the seven days of the comp, but each day had strong climbs, plenty of clouds and high cloud bases.

I flew for more than 30 hours and 1000 kilometers in seven days, including three straight days of over 100 mile flights. My shortest day was 3 1/2 hours and 120 k’s and I only landed because I was at goal. There were plenty of pilots from Region 9, including Dave Proctor, John McAllister, Peter Kane, and Matt Christensen, and JD Guillemette.

Cloud base varied from 10,000 to 13,000 msl (which would be 8,000 to 11,000 agl). Every day we had great clouds marking thermals and fun challenging tasks. Some days we flew dogs legs down and cross wind, other tasks had stretches into the wind, triangles, and one day that was pretty much down wind for 129 miles. To top it off, you can land pretty much anywhere in that part of Texas. The land is as flat as a ping pong table and the wind is predictably from the south.

And it gets even better. The town is a big supporter of the meet. We had volunteers help with the launch line (despite the heat and Texas sun), the use of an air conditioned hangar, another hanger that we could use to set up out of the wind and sun, and last but not least, a cooler full of ice cream.

There was a large sport class and almost every pilot had personal bests, including distance flown.

Big Spring has to be the best place to fly I have ever experienced. As long as they hold a meet there, I will try to make it.

I will try to post a couple of pictures later.

Tom McGowan

[jimsmess]

Sounds like an awsome event, every day after work I was following the live spot tracking (JD had one) it was pretty cool watching the the progress during the task. Glad you all had good safe week
Jim M

[Dan T]

Congratulations Tom!

You've raved about this meet for nearly as long as I can remember. I hope you continue to fly it for years to come.

Dan

[Dave Proctor]

I have to echo Tom's sentiments regarding conditions this year. They were hands down the best ever in my 9 or 10 years going. I ended the week with 29 hours and lots of miles. I had three consecutive flights over 100 miles, and in one 4-day stretch mid-week I had 20 hours. Longest flight duration was 5:50. I 'lawn darted' on the first day, only flying for 1:30. I will be back next year.

[lbunner]

Dave, you are too funny; lawn darted on a 1 1/2 hour flight! I guess everything is big in Texas. lol Great reports guys, the only thing missing was the day 6 sport pilots made the 105 mile goal. I've never seen so many tired happy faces at a comp. The closing ceremony was a raucous loud bash that included a $35 voucher for food at an awesome steak house! Unbelievable hospitality from the town of Big Spring, outstanding coordination by Belinda and Davis, excellent support from the airport, smooth tows from Russell Brown and his gang, and then superb soaring conditions all resulted in a week that far exceeded anyones expectations. I heard one sport pilot talk about 10 personal bests set during the week. Amazing! And as you can see, it is not about the racing, it's about the flying!!