Pete, Why are the Barns So Big

When you go to a contest, you will find a whole different group of people.  Most are professionals, or have jobs that are very interesting.  During the after flying debriefs around the lawn chair circle, you get to meet these pilots and crews.  Yesterday I was sitting having a beer talking with Evelyn Tovar who is Robin Clarks wife and a good friend.  All of a sudden, I saw a very large tarantula crawling on the side of Terry Stroud’s crew Josh’s face.  He happens to be a professional chef and everyone raves about his food.  I wonder where that spider went after he left the circle. 

I forgot to mention a radio call that went out over the contest frequency when a gaggle was closing in on Danny Sorenson.  An unknown pilot came up and said “We’re coming for you Danny”.  I had to laugh since this was a quote from Jack Nicholson in the movie the Shining.  Sometimes you need a funny respite in the middle of the flight.  On the same day, Pete was flying and I was enjoying the warm cockpit and New Mexico and Texas scenery.  We had a great lunch at a local deli and I feel asleep in the back seat.  I awoke when Pete was calling my name.  I’m sure he was thinking something was wrong.  Any military pilot can tell you that if you are not eating, flying or sleeping, you are wasting time.   

During the pilot’s meeting, Marshall held up a car’s fuse panel and said this was found on the ramp.  One of the pilots remarked, “Looks like it is from an old Subaru”.  Of course, everyone laughed since Marshall drives a Subaru.

Our weatherman gave us another great briefing.  He did hedge his bets since SkySight forecasted over development (OD) in part of the task area.  In his written comments that accompany each brief, Richard did include a possibility of OD in the task area “as a cover your butt remark”.  Today though, the weather forecast was a little off.  There was no over development but we did have higher than expected winds aloft that affected thermal structure and strength.

Also, during the pilot’s meeting we did get to meet Tracy Stogner who is the person responsible for constructing the scraper that keeps the runway and ramp available for glider contests.  The scraper is towed behind a truck owned by the Hobbs Soaring Club.  Unfortunately, the truck was stolen a little while ago.  Luckily the scraper was not on the truck at the time.  Tracy convinced his boss that he should donate a pickup truck to the club, and his boss did it. Thanks Tracy for all your hard work making Hobbs Army Airfield a safer place to operate.

We talked about how generous the glider pilots have been to the ground crew with both their time and money.  Today the ground crew was treated to anything they wanted at McDonald’s.  The total bill for this excursion was over $110 dollars.  This money and other gifts came from donations from pilots, crews and families.  I do not want to embarrass anyone but I feel compelled to mention their names. 

• Kerry Huffstutler                  
• Pete Alexander
• Andy Blackburn
• Jim and Kathy Lee
• John and Laura Lubon
• Gary and Chris Carter
• Melissa and Rick Indrebo
• Keith and Jeanette Baugh
• Marshal McClung
• Dan Mockler
• Rich Owen

Thank you for making this contest a memorable event for these young kids.  Their experiences during this contest will make it much easier to get another ground crew based on the way they were treated by everyone!  Whenever a pilot was closing their canopy, the kids always wished us a great flight.  Of course, this would not have been possible without the guidance of Melissa Indrebo and Jeanette Baugh.  These den mothers certainly took great care of the kids!

Since we were talking about the pilot’s meeting, two of the more important folks required for any contest event is a great weatherman and scorer.  We were very lucky to have both slots filled by outstanding people.  Richard Kellerman gave us great information on the weather and helped make tasking so much easier for the CD and task advisors.  He made us laugh almost every day with some tidbit hidden in the brief.  Tom Pressley was the scorer and our only complaint was we could not buy him a beer to help ease the pain of all the penalties that were accessed during this contest.  Thank you very much Richard and Tom.

Roger and Janet Clark came from Tucson Arizona to help out during the contest.  Needless to say, they were a God send.  Roger filled oxygen and both of them filled critical spots in the contest staff.  Thank you very much for sharing your time and helping Michelle.

I guess I should talk about the flying, but I really do not want to.  More on that latter.  Open Class was sent on an Assigned Task that left from Start B and then went to Caprock Station, Littlefield, Lamesa, Mabee Ranch, Denver City and Finish.  Starts again played an important part of the flight as the clouds were cycling pretty fast.  A few pilots set off on the task only to get bogged down on the first leg due to the clouds falling apart.  It seemed the first two legs were places where pilots had trouble.  If you could get past those legs, the task was easy. Most pilots attained final glide well before Denver City.  Final glide reports were mixed.  Several pilots reported heavy sink all over the task area but especially on final glide.  It was not uncommon to find 10kts of sink on course. In the end, the best pilots over the last few days did very well.  In first place was Dick Butler with a speed of 157kph (98mph) over the 547km (340mi) task.  Nice job Dick, you finished about an hour and a half faster than Pete and I.  In second place was Jim Lee who has been charging up the scoresheet.  In third place was John Lubon flying an ASG-29-18.  Nice flying everyone.  I do have to tell you a little about the Team 98 flight.  Our start was fantastic.  We had a good game plan, waited to let the clouds form on the first leg and set off for a good flight.  We made the turn at 157kph (98mph, yes just like our contest ID), and the second leg looked great.  Unfortunately, it was my leg and I got us into trouble after passing up some 3kt thermals.  Sink hit us hard and we were farming around Littlefield, hence the title of this article.  It took us a looooong time to reconnect with the clouds but we never gave up.  When we were low, we didn’t do anything stupid.  We always had an airport in range and we kept the glider in the air so something good could happen.  Upon landing, the party was in full swing by our parking site.  Thank you to Keith Baugh, Scott “The Red Baron”, and Rick Indrebo in helping us bed down 98 after our odyssey. 

The 15 Meter Class had a similar situation.  They went on their own Assigned Task from Start C, Crossroads, Muleshoe, Lamesa, Andrews, Hamilton and Finish.  Again, the first and second legs were a little weak if you did not time it just right.  Rick Indrebo struggled a little on these legs but said after Muleshoe the weather got much better.  There were still areas of sink you had to be careful of, but he was able to run down some of the competitors that started earlier.  Final glide had the sink streets and late climbs were executed to make the finish gate but 2 pilots did get finish penalties.  David Leonard broke the chain and finished in first place with a speed of 150kph (93mph) over the 518km (321mi) task.  Second place went to Rick Indrebo and third was won by Erik Nelson.

For the overall race to the finish, in Open Class, the top three pilots are secure with a position on the podium.  Dick Butler at 7596 is 231 points ahead of second place Jim Lee at 7365 and 94 points ahead of Dan Mockler in third.  These three pilots have the ability to reel each other in.  Tomorrow will be a great race.

Overall, in the 15 Meter Class, Rick Indrebo has a pretty good lead at 7755, a 224 point advantage over second place Erik Nelson at 7531. Erik is 43 points ahead of Gary Ittner who is in third place.  The other pilots in the top 5 in 15-meter could possibly make it on the podium still.  Jae Walker and David Leonard certainly have the skills to do it.

We are all looking forward to tomorrow.  It will be another fly day, which will make 9 out of 10 contest days, and each one was a unique and fun flying experience.  In the morning I will have another post to talk a little more about the people who helped put on this contest.  Finally, the banquet will be the scene of the final post for this event.  Winners’ remarks and scores will be discussed and I hope to do some live interviews with the pilots.  Until tomorrow, have a good night.

Cheers,

Rich Owen
Team 98 Backseater