Going from Fast to Survival Flying and Back
I have been coming to Cordele since 2007. A good friend was my crew and this was my first contest. John Farington knew everyone on the field. He had crewed for most of the pilots and did the Return to Kitty Hawk Race. Ray Galloway was the weatherman, and I had the honor to spend a good amount of time with him over the years. The Best Western was only $27 a night and gas was $2.36 a gallon. Even after all the changes over the past 16 years, the lobby in the hotel has not changed. Several of the staff have changed, sure there is turnover in any business. Here though, the kindness, customer service and genuine southern hospitality is still alive and well in Cordele. From the lady who services the morning breakfast line, to Miss Debbie who is at the front desk, they make us feel welcomed and part of the family. The local restaurants are the same way. Servers we had last year are still here. The people in this small Georgia community really like glider pilots, their crews and families.
After breakfast, we started the process of getting ready for the pilots meeting and task generation. The weather was going to be a challenge with the possibility of storms starting early in the evening. The band of good weather in the task area looked limited and the day was expected to be short. After coming up with a plan with Ken Sorenson, we were off to the pilots meeting.
We had a little fun with a pilot who was complaining about the location of his car after he returned from the flight. Using runway 24 is a lot more inconvenient than 6. It is about a mile from the trailer parking area to the grid and you have to cross an active runway. Pilots tow their ships down and generally leave their car or RV in the grass adjacent to the runway. After the launch, our volunteers, with the help of crews and ground staff, move all the cars back to the trailer area. Now this takes about 45 minutes due to the sheer volume of vehicles. Another issue is some of the pilots do not have any contest ID’s on their vehicle or on their trailer. It is hard to get a car to a pilot’s trailer if you have no idea where it belongs. Consequently, we parked them next to the tent where the pilots meeting is held. So, we shared some of the responses we should have told the guy. Where is my car!!
- We called Carvana and they really wanted it in this bull market. However, we were upset with how little it was worth.
- We figured parking it by the tent, you would find it at the next pilots meeting.
- We thought it was a 4 wheel drive vehicle and it got stuck in the woods. But boy, it was fast for a little while.
Now, back to work. After yesterday’s printer failure, we ran a few tests before the meeting just to ensure that the printer was ready to run. Today we had the first two tasks out and sent out on Signal an hour before takeoff. So much better than yesterday. The last tasks went out just a few minutes later. On the grid, the weather was of some concern to many of the pilots. In the distance of the last turnpoint there were definite signs of thunderstorms in the distance. Things calmed down a little when I showed the radar picture, the storms were actually over the Florida Georgia border. That did not calm my nerves since the weather was going to be challenging. Speaking with the task advisors, we changed all the classes to Task B except for the Sports Class. I was glad we did. As the day progressed a storm showed up between the first and second turn points.
The Open, 15 meter and 18 meter classes had the same task but with different turnpoint radiuses. After starting they went northeast to Cochran, west to Montezuma, then Pineview, Americus and home. The first leg to Cochran was awesome with some of the pilots going to the back at a speed of 87mph. The second leg was tricky. The storm to the north of track did not have a typical shelf to run so many stayed out in the sun. Others risked landout by trying closer to the weather in the dark and stormy regions. That paid off and speeds were kept unusually high. It wasn’t easy though, Sarah had to dump some water (while in the rain) due to big sink and thoughts that maybe this was not a good decision. After 30 seconds, hope began again as she exited the sink. The third leg was in the sun with good climbs and some cloud bases around 5,000ft. There were areas on this leg that were in the blue but still had good climbs. The fourth leg was again a tricky one. A cloud street that formed off course but hinted it may go in the right direction, just didn’t work. In the end we had 4 landouts and one motor start. A relatively new contest pilot (his first contest and first landout) asked for an aero retrieve. Arriving at the airport, the tow pilot noticed the large direct crosswind and the pilot was a little concerned with the CG hook only glider. During the early stage of the takeoff roll, the pilot released when the ship was getting offline. It was a smart decision and we retrieved him by trailer. Winds at the airport were reported as 10 gusting to 19kts but it seemed more to me. Fortunately, the wind was right down the runway. A couple of folks that did not have enough dive brakes extended on rollout got some extra flying time after the landing. Everyone returned safe and we were soon heading off to the contest dinner on a very quaint peanut farm. The food was excellent and the service by our volunteers, superb. Lyn and her crew put on another great event, but no cornhole competition this time.
For the scores, in Open Class, Dick Butler was third, Sam Zimmerman finished in second with Jim Lee winning the day with a speed of 63mph over 183 miles. In 15 Meter Class, Jared Granzow was third, Sarah Arnold in second and Mike Sorenson won the day with a blazing speed of 73mph over 185 miles. He really made that kiddie glider go! For the 18 Meter Class, the battle between father and so continues. In third place was Jim Franz with Steve Vihien in second. Ken Sorenson won the day in the class at a speed of 72mph over 202 miles but lost the race with Mike by .5mph. I love this race inside of a race. I have known Ken for a good number of years and count him as one of my mentors. I know Danny Sorenson since we share similar backgrounds in the military. Mike is a great guy and I look forward to flying with him in the future. In Sports Class, it may not be completely decided. A finish penalty affected the end of the flight for Greg Shugg. In third place was Greg with a 17-point penalty, Tim McGowin was in second and Wally Berry was in first. Less than 17 points separated this group of fine pilots. Remember the talk about “It’s Just the Little Things” from 3 nights ago. This is a perfect example.
Well, the race is over for the day, and it is getting late. See you all tomorrow at the Rules Input Meeting tomorrow. No rest for the weary tomorrow.
Cheers,
Rich