The Great Got Going Early, All Others Need Not Apply
Today was a fine day of soaring, but the time you started had a great impact on your score. Team 98 was the first aircraft of the entire launch to get airborne on this sunny day. Now you may ask why was that an issue? When you have too much time to ponder an problem, you usually over think the answer. That is exactly what happened to us. The more important story here is the first National competition win for the Team of Dennis Linnekin and Ben Mayes. Before we get to that story, let me tell you about our outstanding tow pilots. Nick Mayes is the Chief Tow Pilot for the contest and has done a superb job of tackling a number of interesting problems. Not only has he run a fine contest tow operation, but he has also been the FedEx delivery service of the contest. When gliders break, parts are flown from Williams Soaring in the pristine C-182A flown by Nick. Now these aren’t the usual parts you might need like gear doors and trailer fenders. Would you believe Rex had an Arcus engine, a propeller, and everything else under the sun that we needed to keep our ships running. With Nick, are a group of fine young men that fly the Williams Pawnees and one fine old guy named Paul Armstrong who flies Mount Shasta’s C-182. Aidan Onisko stopped by the Team 98 van today and I had a chance to talk with him. He is a fine pilot now and he will have a great career in the future. Sterling May and Randy Akana are also on the team. I especially like the paint job on Sterling’s Pawnee. It looks like a P-51 scheme with invasion strips. In the tough environment of mountain flying, these pro’s make it look easy. Thank you, gentlemen, for keeping us safe as we climb up Craggy and Gunsight.
Dennis’ and Ben’s flight started just like any other. They self-launched to reduce the load on the tow pilots and followed the CD prescribed path to the tow release point. Now, when the CD is your father and you are the last to launch, how much slack do you think you will get on Father’s Day. If you guess none, your right! Rex asked Ben to call him when the engine was shut down. Now the engine still has to be cooled down before it is stowed and the pilot must return to the altitude and location of the tow release point. Soon as the report that the engine was secured, Rex announced that he 20 Meter task would open in 10 minutes. Undaunted, Dennis and Ben completed all their tasks and prepared for battle. The first climb they could take after getting back to tow release altitude was an 8kt elevator ride which they took to 12,000ft! Talk about a great start. After Craggy they traveled slightly east of the marbles (I don’t know, that’s what the locals call it) on a 425k Assigned Task. We were sent to Wright, Carter, Dry Lake, Mt Hebron Summit, Duzel (they never do a task without this point, it always works!), R-Ranch and home. The convergence line was marked with cu and the early starters got the up cycle, Team Dennis and Ben turned Wright and Carter and joined the convergence line that went almost all the way to Dry Lake. During this run they never got lower than 2,000ft below the clouds or had to take any thermal less than 6kts. Now at Mount Hebron they achieved final glide but not without some antics. What would you expect from a front seater that was a retired Delta pilot and an aggressive young man in the back seat? Early in the first legs Ben was heard to say, “Dennis, I smell Mylar melting!” Dennis replied, “We better slow down, your Dad’s gonna be mad if we mess up the Mylar on Father’s Day”, so they slowed down 30kts. You have to understand that we were getting to 16,000ft during this task. All kidding aside, they flew a fine task, finishing in first with a raw speed of 156.25kph over a 425km task. Well done boys! Finishing in second, and taking over second overall was Team Texas, Jacob Fairbairn and Mike Westbrook. Third place went to John Cochrane and Kempton Izuno.
After all the flying was over, we had a great meal (unless you were a vegan), and live music. The Papa 7 Brewery finally passed out it’s last red solo cup of craft beer so Noelle is going to pick up the slack tomorrow. The sun set was beautiful and Mount Shasta looked great in the waning light. This site is not only a fun place to fly, but it is also beautiful in a high desert way. Well, it’s late and my pilot is pretty demanding in the morning, so good night and our best wishes to all the fathers in this great country of ours. Hope you had a wonderful Father’s Day!
Cheers,
Rich Owen
Team 98 Back Seater