Final Contest Day
A big thank you to Chip Haskell for the following report.
June 11, 2022
Saturday’s contest actually started Friday night with the Lion’s Club/Chamber of Commerce sponsored Low Country Boil. After a wonderful meal, there is a watermelon seed-spitting contest, judged by the Cordele Watermelon Queen (Cordele is the world’s watermelon capital; and, yes, there is a Queen). After much review of the SSA seed rules on weights, handicaps; and, the seconds required a seed must be in your mouth before a valid start, we had a contest. Eric Tellmann, father of contest pilot Steve, won the day with a 34 foot jettison of said ship. The Queen was regally pleased with the technique.
Friday’s model were not promising and we awoke to conflicting Saturday models as to “weather” we would have a good day or not. Consensus was that we would be in for a good day, albeit a late start. Last contest days can be tricky. There is equal tension between competitive forces and the pull to start respective treks home.
Racing won the day and the launch started around 1:00 pm, with all classes starting tasks by 2:00 pm. All three classes tasked to the Northwest with a 2nd turn East towards Perry and then the final back to Cordele. All three classes were tasked with roughly 100 nominal miles and 2 hour tasks. (I believe FAI may have gone to Task B, moving from Assigned Task to a Turn Area Task).
The 1st leg was a decision on where to cross Lake Blackshear. To use 1930 football parlance, it was either student body left or student body right, as the center looked a bit soft. I believe those that elected to take the Northern crossing had an easier time. Arriving to the Americus area, we were treated to a shower in the middle. If you elected north, it made the next turn points towards Perry a bit more manageable.
The sky cycled aggressively and the racers who elected to start earlier did not have the over-development at the 1st turn point that dampened (pun intended with shower above) the spirits of the late starters.
If you were able to make the turn, the rest of the route home was markedly easier. However, the last 20 miles to Cordele saw some higher cloud coverage that made it a bit of the challenge for those that had hoped to bump on final glide. (The harder part was looking at the sky on the drive to dinner from 5:30 to 7:00, uh beautiful, bellowing pillows of CU, with clear above, of course)
In 18 meter Fernando Silva won the day and the contest, with Mamad Takallu and Steve Vihlen taking overall 2nd and 3rd. In FAI, Werner Ruegger won the day and the overall rankings were Jake Alspaugh, Billy Kerns and Werner, going 1, 2 and 3.
Sports Class provided the final day excitement. Team Mertins and Patton won the day and subsequently rose from third place to finish first overall. Gregg Shugg finished second overall followed by Tim McGowin.
It was a great week. We all got to see Colin Mead’s newly finished, just-off-the-boat LS. It was beautiful. And, Gary Carter was able to put his newly finished wings on HK. I bring this up because after having seen a few of these refinished ships, you have options for older, beloved sailplanes than just the “boneyard.”
I must finish the report with this contestant’s sincere thanks to Cordele Racing, LLC (and I know that I speak for all of us). In no particular order Chris and Gary Carter, Gary’s sister Janet, Lynn and Murray Forbes, Mitch Deutsch, for all the month’s organization. Tow pilots Walt, Zach, Martin and John. Line brothers Team McGowin, Jack Tellmann, and Kason, they ran a wonder line. Remote scoring from Sandra Danoff and John Godfrey. And, of course, Scott Fletcher for weather and Marshall McClung for CD. (As to contest jobs between weather and CD, I am not sure which is frying pan and which is fire but both are damn hot.) I hope that I didn’t leave anyone out.
Finally, as a new racer to the community, please indulge me make a plug for R5S. It is a great place to start a racing career. It is extremely well-run. The task area is large and the good land-outs are plentiful. I have heard many experienced racers say – If you want to start racing, you want to start with Cordele. Come join us next. Who knows, maybe you can spit 35 feet in an Open Class Watermelon Seed.
Charles “Chip” Haskell
37 (and #021, sorry, always need to promote my 1-26’ers)