[QQ] Region 4 North particulars

Thu Sep 8 15:51:47 UTC 2022

I've updated the spreadsheet again, with new columns based on your
feedback.
I've put in a "Y" or "N" or "M" (for Maybe) based on my interpretations of
your email responses.
Please update the spreadsheet as appropriate.
It looks like I'll have a few people for the beginning, and a few people
for the end, and it looks like we'll have coverage.

I'll warn you that I have terrible luck with contests.  I've never attended
a contest where the weather was great.
I've participated in 9 contests, every single one of them has had the
dialog from the contest director: "Wow the weather is terrible this week.
Let's see if we can scrape up a contest with several marginal days."   I
can count on one hand the contest days that were truly excellent weather --
days I reflect upon with fondness.

I had a drug addict friend once tell me "Oh if you took LSD once and had a
bad trip, you should *absolutely* have another LSD trip and if you keep
doing it, you'll eventually have a good LSD trip"   I kind of feel like
this with contests.  I keep showing up and the weather keeps disappointing
me.  It's not that the weather sucks in these places, it's just that the
timing for these is terrible. "Oh you should have been here [the three days
before the contest / the three days immediately following the contest ]!
It was the best soaring I've ever seen!"   I suppose if I keep flipping the
coin enough times, I'll see a result I like.

Here's my contest history:
https://members.ssa.org/MyHome.asp?mbr=2269297242&show=achievements

Truly good contest days in no particular order.  Funny how these are all at
Mifflin.

5 hour ridge adventure with Todd Morris at Mifflin 2021.
<https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=8378269>

This was the one good day at the contest.  I made it out of the starting
gate (lots of gliders didn't).  I made it to the ridge, got to the first
two mandatory turnpoints, and then I made some poor decisions.  If I really
wanted better speed, I would have gone back to that ridge and kept the
speed up.  This was a Modified Assigned Task.  The MAT is essentially "We
chose the first few turnpoints for you. Once you get to those turnpoints,
go fly to a few others at your choice.  Once you get to the time limit, get
home. He who gets the fastest course over his choice of turnpoints wins the
day."   The MAT benefits the guys who know the terrain really well.  They
know "Oh you don't go flying over that area, it's a swamp" or "Oh if you do
this ridge system instead of that ridge system, the mountains are actually
tall enough for you to use"   I hate them.  They are a uniquely American
contest style.    When the Contest Director hands out the task, and
announces that it's a MAT, I want you to look over to me and see the look
of dread and disappointment on my face.   A buncha people landed out on
this day.  Cathy Williams in her LS-8 landed out.  Tom Ward landed out in
9Y.  Dave Hart and Rob Cluxton landed out at the third turnpoint (this was
the part of the soaring day when I really struggled, so it's cool that I
dug it out)

Good Thermal day with Pete Maynard at Mifflin 2016
<https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=5068693>

This was my first really good contest day at my first contest.  The
thermals were great. I used all of them. The old guys who knew this area
really well knew how to use the winds to make ridge runs. Karl Striedieck
used ridge lift for this day (I didn't think it was possible).  I was just
getting used to this flight computer, so I didn't really know how to do a
final glide calculation yet.  I had a brand new computer installed in the
glider the day before my first contest. <- not too smart!

Excellent ridge day with JP Stewart at 20 meter Multiseat Nationals 2018
<https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=6424270>

The beginning of the task day was as marginal as you could imagine.  We
launched the fleet with the expectation that the front would blow through.
We had full water in the wings.  We had a 2000' AGL aerotow to the ridge.
The ridge Just. Wasn't. Working.  We worked little nibbles of lift until
the ridge started working.  You could see the front blow in.  Now the ridge
is working.  JP and I scorched along to all of our turnpoints.  We had a
great run on the ridges as fast as our ballasted glider could go.  We made
a few good jumps in the transitions.

Classic Thermal day at Albert Lea, MN 20 meter Multi-Seat Nationals 2019
<https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=7162568>

I was flying with Mike Hess.  This was a classic racing task.  All
turnpoints were assigned. You fly the course, and the fastest time around
the course wins.  I got skunked, but I enjoyed the day.  I think I came in
last place that day, but I didn't land out!  There were two different times
during this flight that I got low enough to switch to "desperate" mode.
Once at Grand Meadow (when I dumped my water ballast) and once at Henry,
Iowa.  This was when I got below the lift band.  Any lift at all was
welcome.  Chris Norris was co-piloting with somebody in a different glider,
and scooted along above us. "good byyyeeeee Piet!"  In fact, the whole
group left me in their dust on that day.  It was still a fun day, and I
would love to have more soaring experiences like that.

On Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 10:15 PM Piet Barber <piet at pietbarber.com> wrote:

> This mailing list consists of:
>
>    - allisonvdiaz at gmail.com
>    - cjones404 at gmail.com
>    - cwuerker at me.com
>    - good4us at solarservices.com
>    - tbookwalter at juno.com
>
> This mailing list will be disbanded after the contest.
>
> The contest will take place in the first week of October 2022. I'll
> probably drive up there on Thursday night, and start camping early.  I have
> the day off of work on Friday before the contest, and they always seem to
> have fun flying the days before the contest starts.  At least for the past
> few years, they had the pre-contest flying, which was way more fun than the
> contest days.
>
> Chris Jones, I'll need you to sign a special waiver indicating that you
> won't consider this as flight instruction, won't log it as such, and won't
> treat it as flight instruction.  This is for the purposes of the insurance
> policy; they don't let me give flight instruction to non-rated pilots under
> my current policy.
>
> Please reply-all which dates you are and are not available, and we can
> make sure we have full coverage.  I'm keeping this spreadsheet to indicate
> which days people can do which things.  You should have write access to the
> sheet, so feel free to indicate what days you can and can't be there in the
> "notes" section at the bottom of this spreadsheet
>
>
> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/137bIse7RVcPr8iGzmGUia5bSXnCXVlWW16KdsiTqsf0/edit?usp=sharing
>
> --
>
> http://www.pietbarber.com/
> http://blog.pietbarber.com/
>
>

-- 

http://www.pietbarber.com/
http://blog.pietbarber.com/
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