A Day for the Books
The 18 Meter Nationals are finished and soon the results will be announced and will be in the books. I’m going to add up all the hours and kilometers flown by all the competitor’s and post it on RAS next week when I get home. The task committee warned us at the morning meeting this was not going to be a banquet task. We were starting from the same point we have for the last few days. After the SW Start we journeyed to Huntington Mountain, Cricket Mountains, Table Mountain and Finish. The launch was a little slow due to a couple of relights, strong crosswinds that paused the launch for several minutes and a change of runway after two thirds of the ships got airborne. Our leader, Sean Fidler, had to relight and was the very last person to get airborne. When the task was opened there were several ships that struggled to reach a good start altitude. Finally, everyone seemed to get out of first gear and we were off to the races. The leg to Huntington Mountain was fairly easy when you followed some clouds to the left of the course. At the turn point there were some very nice clouds that strong climbs. The decision was whether or not you went to the back of the cylinder. Cricket Mountain caused some problems with some pilots getting disconnected from the clouds and forced to take weaker thermals to get back into the correct height band. If you stayed high in the top third of the height band you were able to cross the desert without too much difficulty. Going to Table Mountain the clouds were starting to fall apart, there was a good amount of sink on the lee side of the hills and it was hard to get final glide. David Coggins started final glide 2,800ft under and made it back home from 115km out. So, some folks had an easier time than others. Tim Taylor got on a cloud street that was 15km off track but had an easy time to get home.
The awards are now being announced. The winners for the day were, in third place was Thomas Greenhill and in second place was David Coggins. Someone who is not a stranger to the podium, in first place for today was Gary Ittner. The overall contest scores are, in fifth place was Jim Lee with 7311 points, fourth place was David Coggins with 7315 points, third place was Andy Blackburn with 7345 points and in first place and the winner of the Charlie Spratt Trophy is Sean Fidler with 7455 points. The winner of the Charlie “Lite” Minner 18 Meter Speed Trophy was John Seaborn for his 118mph flight from yesterday.
In their winner’s speech John talked about the number of times he has placed second in Nationals. However, I was at the 18 Meter Nationals in Hobbs when John flew a flawless championship and won very easily. He is always a man who is very humble, very free with his time and one half of the nicest people I know. Brenda is his rock that keeps him grounded and always moving forward.
Sean was very emotional since he really did not realize he won the contest. Placing 18th for the day, he had a very tough day. After launching near the end of the group, he came back for a relight and was the last man airborne. It was a tough flight, but there no giving up for this tough competitor. I’m sure Tiffany is very proud of him while she is taking care of their son Vaughn. His nickname is “Juice Bear” since he is always carrying a juice box with a straw. We all missed them at the contest but Vaughn is still a little young for this heat.
Here are some of the folks we deserve to thank for this great contest.
Mike Hendron, Utah Soaring Association
Lynn Ally and Ron Gleason for the weather
Launch Logs and Retrieve was ably David in the TP Pawnee, John in the C-182 “Mike”, Jake in the Cal Air and Matt in the Bird Dog.
Operations were run by Bill Goodrich and was assisted by Ron Gleason. On the crew was Bruno the V, Beth Ann, Owen, Katie, Sarah, Sadie, Joel Indrebo (yes that one), and Jace. They all did a wonderful job and I enjoyed speaking to them before the launch.
18 Meter Task Advisors were Bruno Vassel, Tim Taylor, and David Lenoard.
Our Scoring team was Sandra Danoff and John Godfrey. They have had their imprint on at least 5 contests this year. They are our go to people when it comes to hard problems. I had the pleasure to CD the Region 5 South contest when Sandra was the Scorer. John was our CD at the 18 Meter Nationals in Seminole-Lake in 2018. I love them both and especially their wonderful dogs.
Our Contest Director was Marshall McClung, a friend from back East, Marshall is the consummate southern gentleman. He provided an exciting, challenging and fun contest with lots of help from the staff.
And then there was Bruno. A You Tube wonder child and Contest Manager that has no peer in the west. This was a well-run contest and very enjoyable. I cannot wait to get him in the 2-knot lift of the east coast! Thanks, Bruno, for the great time.
Well, time to end the contest and get back to normal life. I head off to the Team 98 house where Pete and I are heading for Napa and wine tasting! A perfect end of another great contest (if you don’t look at my score). Always have fun and remember, we are very lucky to have friends like the ones we have in the soaring community.
Best Regards,
Rich Owen
Team ZO