Practice Day 2 afternoon report
Good afternoon race fans! Mitch Hudson reporting from Chilhowee, TN and the 2021 Club class nationals. Today is practice day number two, and the morning pilots meeting was an introduction to contest management and a quick forecast from Weather Guru Tony Condon who (In summary) said “It’s ‘gon rain!”. Right now, looking out the window of the clubhouse, I see breeze out of the South and blue skies, but this is a recent development (About 2 PM), and with the unstable atmosphere, the thunder storms are expected to roll in quickly as soon as we get some surface heating. Local flying might be OK, but from my eye, launching in this short window is a sure way to get caught out and in trouble quickly.
The rules at this contest are a hybrid of FAI rules, and US rules that are melded together. For example, all distances will be in Kilometers, and all heights in feet for the race. This is a product of the SSA rules committee’s hard work in trying to make our races more like a world soaring event. The rules committee has done a good job, however some things are still a little “fuzzy” to many pilots, and the mandatory safety briefing to be held tonight should shed some light on the subject. I’m certain Mark will do a good job briefing the new rules to the contestants.
On another note, it has been close to 15 years since I have visited this wonderful site. The amount of work Sarah and Jason have put into the place is incredible. They have done a great job of making this into a world class facility for sailplane racing. I highly recommend a visit if any glider pilot happens to be in the neighborhood. If one looks closely enough, you can almost see the blood, sweat, and tears that were shed making this place what it is today. Without dedicated people like these two in our sport, soaring would quickly wither and die. Bravo Zulu to both Arnolds for their hard work and devotion!
With this, I will sign off for the day. We are all hoping to race tomorrow, but once again, the weather forecast looks bleak at the moment. No one minds hanging around the airport catching up with old friends, but it’s clear preparations for the start of the race have come close to being concluded, and the start of the race is almost upon us. As Charlie Spratt used to say when pilots grumbled about having to assemble and grid on an obviously rainy day, “Did y’all come here to race gliders, or did you come here to tour the local area???!!!" Until my next update… See ya at the airport!
(Wow, it feels weird to type that)
-Triple Alpha