The Regional Party is Over
Sorry we were a little late getting yesterday’s report out. If you did not read it, please take a minute and catch up with the story.
This morning the mood around the breakfast table was pretty lively. Everyone was looking at score sheets to see how far out of the podium they were. A request was made to fly the Watermelon Capitol Queen, Ms. Adahy Pritchet, in a glider. Amazingly enough, Sean Mc Gowen offered to take her flying in the club’s tow seat glider. She showed up early to watch the end of the launch with her parents. We definitely made an impression on Adahy and her parents with the smoothness of the launch. While the pilots are flying, the ground crew is off to lunch. Now of course, they must stop by Dairy Queen for a snack after lunch. The ships should be back in about 2 hours, so I might join them on the Dairy Queen run, the CD needs nourishment.
KZ crew set up a kiddie pool so I can cool off between takeoffs and the fleets return. It was nice the other day when the water was nice and the quiet was peaceful.
The races were close and we flew a lot. So, who is going to win the Regional contest? It is anyone’s guess right now. Yesterday we discussed the closeness of the various classes. Greg Shugg in Sports only needs to fly a conservative race to win his class. Kevin Anderson is no slouch and Greg cannot afford to make a big mistake. In 18 Meter it is much closer between Ken Sorenson and Jim Frantz. Today will decide the race and there are a few pilots that can steal the podium away. Well, I’m off to lunch and Dairy Queen. See you in a couple of hours.
The tasks for 15/18 and Open were nearly the same. One twist I thew in was a two lap circuit around 3 turnpoints. After the first circuit you were within sight of the home field and had the opportunity to quit. The mental anguish of being so close, but you had another lap to finish, must have been cruel. Part of sailplane racing is the mental game. This was good practice for those who want to excel in the sport. You just cannot quit just because it is hard. Being able to shrug off the disappointment is a good way to see if you can develop the mental toughness to succeed. After starting, most of the fleet went south to Tifton, China Hill, Landfill, Tifton, China Hill and home.
The day was a little different than the forecast said. The leg down to Tifton was way weaker and the cloud bases lowered approaching Tifton. Task speeds dropped dramatically, and since this was an assigned task, the ability for the 15 meter and 18-meter pilots to get home was in doubt. As time went by at the airfield, it looked like my plan for a good, assigned task was not going to work out. Just when I was starting to get worried, the ships started arriving. Today resulted in 7 landouts or engine starts. Not bad for the wide variance of weather from the forecast on an assigned task. The reason most CD’s do not want to use the AT or Racing Task, is due to situations like this.
Now for the scores, starting with the regional. In 18 Meter Class, Franz finished the day in third place with John Murray climbing on the podium again. In first place for the day was Ken Sorenson with a speed of 73mph over 234 miles. Overall, Jim Franz finished in second and Ken Sorenson won the contest by flying very consistently and not making any big mistakes. Hard to beat Ken when he is on. In Sports Class, Team Mertins and Patton in their trusty DG-1000T finished in third while Joe Reeves in Whistling Dixie finished in second. Winning the day was Kevin Anderson with a speed of 56mph raw over 139 miles. Greg was starting to sweat now. The gap between him, and Kevin was very close. Overall, it wasn’t that close at all. In third for the contest was Tim McGowin with Kevin Anderson finishing in second with Greg Shugg getting his first regional win. He finished 21 points ahead of Kevin. Nice win Gregg!
In the Nationals, 15 Meter Class, we had a tie between Jared Gransow and Sean Murphy. Robin Clark won the day at a speed of 69mph over 260 miles. In the Open Class, Sam Zimmerman finished in third with Jim Lee in second. Dick Butler took third with a speed of 74mph over 264 miles. Jim Lee is 217 points behind DB and Dick cannot afford to give an inch to this very skilled aviator.
The awards presentation was very well done by Chris Carter and Lyn Forbes. The gifts were handed out and the tailers started leaving for those that live in Atlanta and other parts of Georgia. We hope you all had a great time, and you will put us on your list for next contest season.
Good Night,
Rich