For those that don't know, the Tennessee Tree Toppers home base is just north of Chattanooga, overlooking the town of Dunlap, TN.
First off let me say that the Tennessee Tree Toppers are a GREAT club. The people are friendly, the flying is wonderful and the facilities are amazing. The main launch is Hensons, a NW site that features a wonderful radial ramp at an MSL of 2300' with the huge LZ below being an easy glide out and sitting at approx MSL 850'. Although the ramp looks out at NW orientation into the beautiful Sequatchie Valley below, it handles a cross from both directions fairly well. And one of the really neat features about Hensons is that the club OWNS both the launch and the LZ!! At launch they have built several structures, including a clubhouse with cooking appliances, running water and WiFi!!! Also on the property are flush toilets, hot showers, a covered pavillion and a bunch of camp sites!!! All at launch!!! It was sweet!!!!
On the other side of the valley, and a bit further south they have an SE launch known as Whitwell (that is the town right below) which is a nice looking cliff launch. Unfortunately I didn't get to fly Whitwell on this trip.
The Team Challenge is set up to encourage the education and experience of pilots interested in learning to fly XC in a mild competition format. We are put on teams of 5 with all different skill levels mixed in. "A" pilots are experienced pilots with lots of XC experience, "B" pilots are pilots with a moderate amount of XC experience, and "C" pilots are pilots with little to no XC experience. Most teams were comprised of one or two "A" pilots, one or two "B" pilots, and one or two "C" pilots. An "A" task was called, a "B" task was called, and a "C' task was called each day of flying. Scoring was set up to encourage the team focus to be getting the "C" pilots to their goal, while still having challenging tasks for the "B" and "A" pilots. Everybody gets something out of this experience, regardless of your skill level. There were pilots from Washington state, New England, Canada, Colorado, Florida, New York, Virginia and more!!!
In addition to the actual flying part of the Team Challenge there is also the seminar/discussion part of it. We had a bunch of the big guns there including Dennis Pagen, Mike Barber, Terry Presley, Tom Lanning, Dave Hopkins and more ace pilots that I am forgetting to name!!!! It was an incredible amount of skill and experience present, and everyone was more than willing to open themselves to discuss everything and anything hang gliding. Everyones goal was to impart as much of their skill and experience on the rest of the participants at the meet. Really cool!! We had seminars ranging from weather to restricted landing fields, to competition flying, to XC considerations, to launching to landing, and many, many more.
Although the weather for flying during the comp wasn't exactly cooperative I can't say that I was disappointed with anything. It just meant more seminars from the ace pilots and more time to pick their brains. In addition, I had arrived a week earlier at Hensons and had gotten some flights in before the start of the comp.....so that helped
One of the flying days we did a launch and landing clinic with Pagen and Barber. Our launches and landings were video taped and then played before the entire meet that night....and critiqued by Pagen and Barber. A little nerve racking but INCREDIBLY helpful and important. We only had one true task day called but it was an amazing day. I made goal and had one of my favorite flights yet!!! Setting off for a pre-determined goal and making it was awesome. Along with the great seminars and flying (when the weather cooperated) were all the little things that make hang gliding and the hang gliding community so neat to be apart of. Spending a week in the mountains, overlooking the beautiful Sequatchie Valley, and literally having hang gliding for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday, with people that love what you love..............it was,.... well....., AWESOME !!! I'll be going back next year. Maybe as a "B" pilot
Jon