Contest Day 4

“That was not a recreational flight”
“Brutal”
“Wild”
“Washboard rough everywhere”
“My hang glider buddies call this Rodeo Air”
“The Wurtsboro Martini…Shaken and Stirred”

Strong winds played the lead role yet again today. Launches from 5 and landings on 32 were more exciting than usual. Kudos to the tow pilots, line crew, and contestants for handling both safely. A few pilots felt conditions exceeded their safety limits and wisely sat the day out.

Sniffer Gregg Leslie took off at noon, immediately reported ridge conditions were good enough to sustain, and even noted some wave. Tasks opened at 1231 (FAI) and 1317 (Sports). The Sports Class task was the same back-and-forth-and-forth-and-back run from Friday Day 3, with an extra leg. The FAI task was more ambitious, taking pilots down on the Blairstown ridge. This meant navigating a tricky section of ridge that is low, flat, and broken and really cannot be ridge soared, you have to gain enough altitude to transition through.

There was more cu than forecast and cloudbase reached above 7000ft. In general, thermals averaged 5kts and were less broken up to the south. Several pilots found 8-10kt lift, but also equal amounts of sink between thermals. Winds were 310-340 at 28-38kt. There were reports of wave in numerous locations. Patrick Cernuto and Daniel Zelek used it multiple times during their flights, reaching as high as 9500 and 12000ft, respectively. The aforementioned tricky transition from the Wurtsboro area ridge to the Blairstown area ridge bit a few of the FAI pilots, and they returned to Wurtsboro without completing the task.

When they were planning for the day, John Seymour told Gregg Leslie to go for broke and Gregg sure did, running the Blairstown ridge at 125mph and smoking the FAI class with 71.01mph/238.97mi actual, 60mph/201.93mi handicapped. In Sports, the top three actual speeds and mileage were almost identical, but Hank Nixon and Lindsey Chew earn the win in K21 with 52.72mph/107.08mi actual, 58.8mph/119.42mi handicapped.

Overall Winners…
FAI – 1st: John Seymour and Gregg Leslie [Team SM], 2nd: Erik Mann [P3], 3rd: Boris Kubrak [XA]
Sports – 1st: Hank Nixon [K21], 2nd: John Bloomfield [RG], 3rd: Patrick Cernuto [OH]

Thanks again to all the Wurtsboro folks for their hospitality…See you next year!

Janine