33 on the Ship 🛳️

It is always a very nervous time (and cool) to have something significant (car, airplane, boat, etc) being shipped to and from overseas. My new glider is currently on its way to the United States from Germany 🇩🇪. It is currently in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. It passed thru a significant storm yesterday. That was fun to watch (7m waves)! The ship, the Siem Aristotle, is a car carrier for Volkswagen exclusively and they are willing to take on other vehicles as room permits. The price for shipping the glider trailer (30ftx6ftx8ft) was fairly reasonable price. Only about €2300 Euros total including transport from the glider factory to the port, insurance, packing, paperwork, etc. Not too shabby. Huge thanks the Alexander Schleicher for arranging. Now hopefully they don’t hit an iceberg going over to Halifax, NS in a few days! There are many iceberg warnings in that area! 😳 https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9841029

Brutal day of strategic carnage at the USA 🇺🇸 18,15,&Club class Nationals in Hobbs, NM.

Full report in yesterday’s entry, but ZO (my 33 for the 2024 World Gliding Championships Uvalde USA) took a gear up landing on concrete Uuuoofff!!!). My 18m teammate had a bit of a “moment” during his land out yesterday resulting in some moderate “kinkage” or “crackage” before the dust finally settled. No pics to share but it’s not sounding great, good or mild. I think ZO will be fixed in time for the Worlds by Williams in California, but XC is in a bit of bother and that may not be repairable by mid August. Hopefully another glider can be curated in time to use. 🤞. https://members.ssa.org/ViewContent.asp?mbr=7749575376&cid=2573&display=results

New Playlist: 2023 USA Gliding National Championships Uvalde Texas Flight Analysis Sean Fidler 7T

Just started my latest "light" analysis of each contest task from the USA 2023 18 meter Gliding National Championship. I managed to win again and really flew one of my best ever competitions. I felt very in control the whole event and almost blew it open. The final day was a little less than optimal but my plan was to stay conservative and knew I hade over a 14 minute gap to still win the contest based on the racing task distance. I fill you in more on that later. Anyway, here is the first video for task 1. Subscribe to my channel for updates as more video's of added in the next few days. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlXIESJdn64GoAi08S8l59kxBQTgayUJO&si=YGBks672kyrTu9An

“Somehow” the SSA (USA’s Soaring Govt) has managed to add contests into the IGC rankings in a very peculiar way. 🤔

This FAI Gliding WORLD (isn't that ironic? lol) ranking appears to have been “earned” at a US Regional competition (Perry) for the open class division. This was not (to the best of my knowledge) a US nationals from what is listed in the ranking (REGIONALS). It was flown under US RULES, using US tasking (Area, MATS) and very likely included no racing tasks. Other US pilots, for example ;-), have won 3 US Nationals in a row in 18m (highly attended, strong pilots by both US and FAI ranking standards) in 2021, 2022, and 2023. From an FAI and US rankings perspective, ALL of those contests were far tougher from a ranking of competition pilot quality perspective and all three were US NATIONALS COMPETITIONS, not SSA regionals. But, amusingly, that US pilot is ranked 200th roughly. Yet another example of how the SSA’s beloved US rules are problem (as yet another measurable objective statistic) and how having multiple ranking systems (and no consistent processes) is a highly predictable failure. This FAI ranking is clearly wrong (as are the others that "somehow" came in from these Regionals). This is obvious, yet nobody bothers to fix it. Many have complained but the authors of these contest rankings seem to have ignored those complaints. Very, very interesting. Is it not. #Oligarchy #Kleptocracy Behind the double secret members firewall? Why? 🤦 https://members.ssa.org/ContestResults.asp?contestId=2554&ContestDetailId=28931&ContestName=2023+Region+5+North&ContestDate=4/22/2023&ResultsUpdate=True

Eagle says “eat my wake” pal!

Team 7T is enjoying our US National Soaring Championship CHARLIE SPRATT 18 Meter Class Trophy immensely! After three years of winning it, but not taking it home with us to enjoy, we finally got it (thank you!). It is exquisitely detailed, solid bronze (I believe), and absolutely beautiful. A really cool soaring trophy! I'm very proud to have my name on it. Having three in a row in a field as competitive as we have today is a feather in the cap for sure. The fact that there was no name plate on the trophy when we received it remains our favorite part of the entire accomplishment. We had to have a plate made. It was wonderful. It makes having the trophy in our home, to enjoy for an extended period, incredibly satisfying. So, here it is again for everyone to see. Long sigh of satisfaction..................... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. #Victory

Awesome 2023 “wrap up” video. Incredible scenes!

Nothing, absolutely nothing compares to the sport of Gliding or Sailplane racing. The highest performance aircraft on the planet, racing over incredible mountains and thru incredible weather, against an elite international group of pilots who have reached the summit of something that very few can despite a lifetime of trying. https://youtu.be/eQ4_RXH3VZU

winning and winning and winning and winning 🏆

It's time for a quiet victory lap. It just is. Literally ALL (100%, even AHRS) of my opinions expressed in years of various RAS comments (which they triggered and turned into shit fights as they do with anything they don’t like on RAS, also failed now 😂) and on social media are winning in the Soaring Society of Americas desperate annual contest pilot US rules “opinion poll” despite a decade of various desperate good old boy efforts to try and “tune out” my influence. Hi John. I utilized a long list of sensible, well thought out arguments supported by facts and data 📊. It drive them absolutely nuts. They responded with the pathetic good/nixon FAI rules white paper 😂 offered without counterpoint (aka me, or any of the many other pilots who want FAI rules back in the USA, not hybrid bullshit they came up with after losing the first poll) and posted prominently on the SSA website as if it was law. This along with tons of other shady side bar whispering and internal oligarch political efforts. I laugh and laugh as I read these opinion polls (question logic is see thru and comical) each year and especially laugh the comments (hysterical). Sure there are stubborn tyrants ranting every year about how great US rules are. But every year the GoB’s lose ground, years after I have rested my case. Today the US competition pilots speak for me. And every year the GOB's seem a little more desperate to remain relevant. It brings me so much joy to see so many other pilots echoing my positions and arguments. ITS VERY SIMPLE, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY ZERO UTILITY TO DEVELOPING AND MAINTAINING A SEPARATE RULE SYSTEM FOR THE USA. THIS IS A FACT. THE FAI RULES ARE NOT "DANGEROUS." IN FACT THE SSA RULES ARE ARGUABLY MORE DANGEROUS (Close proximity high speed descending and climbing 2 min max altitude start, criss cross crash assigned turn points (completely unpredictable), having to re-learn new rules constantly or just not even bothering. Etc, etc.) It makes absolutely ZERO SENSE to hold the USA hostage to a failed experiment poorly managed rules system (with no software to support it) except to a tiny minority of stubborn GOB tyrants who have banded together politically to keep FAI rule supporters out of the commuters and to maintain (against the will of the majority of US contest pilots) the failed US rules or die trying. Its just sad. Of course this says nothing about their constant efforts to bait the FAI into adopting their experimental rules via US representation (which goes into the role for the majority US contest pilots who want FAI rules, hating the FAI rules and only are there to change them to their minority position). They don’t like my challenge, not one bit. Good! I was a breath of fresh air for the sport of soaring (entering it at 41) both in terms of views on using a sport as an experiment with ZERO VALUE and in my competitive skill. I was probably a decade ahead of my time, but was damn right (US rules are a failure in many ways), and absolutely spot about the fact that these rules should never have been permanent if not adopted by the FAI despite their 20 year tantrum against the FAI (to which I entered in the middle), which is ongoing. Watching them trigger, plot, dance, tear their hair out, flat out panic (in Good Old Boy circles), attack, and get angry is, sadly, kinda fun. Every way they try and re-ask the same questions (when they get answers they don’t like) on their poll, the answers remain clear. The majority of USA's contest pilots continue to vote for STRAIGHT FAI RULES, just like the rest of the world, despite the GOB's fear tactics and endless propaganda campaigns (poll question commentary aka answer this way!). Sadly, most of these folks trying to force Us rules either do not fly contests anymore or are entirely uncompetitive, or both. Yet the inject themselves into the conversation and desperately try and keep the sport from changing into what the majority wants. This is the opposite of a democracy. It's an oligarchy and clown show. I call these winter months the SILLY SEASON. The GOB's clinging to power (whatever that is in US soaring circles) like a wet cat on the wavy seawall but their grip is fading visibly each and every year, faster and faster. #Winning #WINNING #WINWINWINWINWIN #VICTORY I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like.....it smells like........VICTORY! UUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! 2023 SSA Rules Committee Pilot Opinion Poll Results CombinedDownload

US 🇺🇸 Soaring Team Ranking for 18m Class 2024

Sweep 🧹 😂 Very satisfying and enjoyable to win “three in a row” of the USA’s 🇺🇸 most challenging class (18-meter) at three of the most challenging contest venues in the United States! Nephi, Utah is the USA’s best high speed mountain 🏔️ flying site. World record speeds were achieved by many of the pilots flying at this contest, including the fastest competition task speed ever recorded. Bermuda High is one the USA’s best East Coast “flat-land” thermal soaring sites and the conditions for this one were significantly suppressed making it a great weak weather test. And Uvalde is, simply put, the world famous soaring cloud street factory, home of two world championships with a third coming up in 2024.

2023 IOM Nationals Final Results, Photos…

https://www.iomusa.org/_files/ugd/6111bf_f3bbcaaf24ab45c2a6898b8695580165.pdf https://www.iomusa.org/completed-events This was a very well run event, great venue, and great competition, especially among the top 3 competitors Mark Golison, Peter Feldman and Sean Fidler who were all tied going into the final day. Sean had a poor race but Peter and Marks event came down to the final race as they were literally TIED going into it. Congrats to all the competitors and hosts. The IOM class is as hot as it gets right now!

This is quite interesting…and sad.

Seems to me that there may be tomfoolery on all sides here. Political circus tricks, in any sport, destroys the natural enjoyment of the sport. Rules must be simple, enforceable, and not purely decided at the whim of biased viewpoints. Rules must be evenly applied to all competitors. Despite the inner circles best efforts, many quietly see bias in rules, and poor treatment of some, and simply walk away to do something else. That has been happening far too much in soaring. Many claim it’s been getting rapidly worse over the past 20 years. I can speak for the last ten. It has been rather eye opening. The brazenness of the bias. This path of poor ethics is toxic. There have been FAR too many political power plays in this tiny sport. It’s incredibly annoying. It’s well beyond control. It’s time for a new direction. It’s time to cut it off. Time for new leaders and new standards of leadership. Hasn’t enough damage been done? And for what value? This is getting to New York Yacht Club Americas Cup Selection Trials in the 1970’s level now… https://youtu.be/niWmIDOAFMU?t=1707 https://soaringeconomist.com/2023/09/16/an-open-letter-to-the-ssa-contest-committee/

Thank You For Your Outstanding SSA Contest Reporting Lt. Cmdr. Richard Owen.

Rich Owen (Orlando, FL, ex Navy and Delta Pilot) deserves some serious thanks from the contest pilots and soaring competition fans of the USA/SSA for his steadfast commitment (and writing talent) in writing outstanding contest reports for the SSA contests he attends (many or most) including the seniors championships, which he also essentially runs. Rich puts an enormous amount of effort into writing the daily contest reports for all contest he attends (as well as some others I believe). Thank you sir! Your efforts and time commitments during these already time consuming contests are tremendously appreciated.

Fatal Sailplane Crash in NE Colorado USA Near Wellington just S of Wyoming.

Pilots identity still unknown as of this publishing. My friend deepest sympathy to his/her family, friends, and colleagues. It always hurts when a fellow sailplane pilot is injured in this sport we all love and cherish. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/glider-pilot-killed-near-colorado-wyoming-state-line/ar-AA1g8ag4 https://youtu.be/kPuHQRpOzhU?si=YcT-SBVUfs-kakG-

We did it! US 18m Class National Champion 2023 Uvalde, and a “3-Peat” Completing 3 National Championships in a Row!

https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/usa-18-meter-nationals-and-uvalde-glide-uvalde-garner-field-2023/results/18-meter/task-11-on-2023-08-25/total The final day was just short of a 400km racing task.  As they say in auto racing it’s often hard to take your foot off the gas and not push 100%, and it throws off your rhythm.  This was probably a little true.  I took a little extra height in most climbs, especially my final glide climb, which I went to +1500 ft., and this cost me slightly in speed today as we all know it does.  But in my defense I was trying to protect against weak spots ahead of which there were several today costing a few some serious points.  It was awkward but I got the job done.  Again never really getting critically low (my theme for the contest) and keeping the flight low stress. I certainly could have pushed much harder, and it was nice to have some lead to expend.  That said it’s never fully comfortably and my closest competition definitely made a push and gained a few points, certainly more than I would have hoped.  But, at the end of the day, we got the job done and the future looks bright for team 7T. Huge thanks to the organization here at Uvalde led by Mark Huffstutler.  Mark is the man here in Uvalde and without his passion there would be no major event soaring here in Uvalde.  He has run two world championships here (1991 and 2012) and is running what will likely be his last next summer (2024).  A Herculean effort.  Thank you Mark! Running any major soaring contest requires an incredible effort from a huge amount of people who literally give up two weeks (minimum) of vacation to work hard in numerous contest support rolls.  Sherman Griffith was our Contest Manager, responsible for operations and did a fantastic job.  This was a safe, accident and incident free contest! Ron Gleason from Utah was the scorer.  He managed both winscore for the official SSA scoring and SeeYou and SoaringSpot.com in parallel in preparation for the 2024 FAI World Soaring Championship Uvalde USA next summer.  Scoring is a very time consuming role and Ron was up in the early am and late in the evening checking logs and managing penalties.  Huge thanks Ron. Rich Owen was here flying with Pete Alexander in the 20m and spent an extraordinary amount of time throughout the entire event putting together daily and sometimes twice daily contest reports that were highly entertaining and incredibly complete with info from the days winners on how each task unfolded.  He really works hard on those reports and I (and all the competition pilots, their families, friends and the sport as a whole) are all incredibly appreciative of the work Rich puts into helping the soaring community share in our event.  Rich does this at every contest he attends and has been doing this for the last four or five years.  That is enormous dedication.  Thank you VERY MUCH Rich!!! The rest of the volunteers are too numerous to name.  Tow pilots and clubs who sent their tow planes.  Line crew, social crew, registration, and dozens of other folks who donated their time to help put in a fantastic event.  THANK YOU ALL! To the other pilots and teams, this was an awesome contest flown at a really high level.  It was extremely competitive.  We are ALL continuing to improve and the level is getting extremely high!  It was an extraordinary pleasure flying with each and all of you! Finally, huge thanks to Tiffany and Vaughn for their time, their love and their patience with me! Sean 7T - ASG29

2023 USA 🇺🇸 18 Meter Nationals Results after Task 6

https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/usa-18-meter-nationals-and-uvalde-glide-uvalde-garner-field-2023/results/18-meter/task-6-on-2023-08-21/total https://members.ssa.org/ContestResults.asp?contestId=2548&ContestDetailId=30585&ContestName=2023+18%2DMeter+Nationals&ContestDate=8/21/2023&ResultsUpdate=True  

2023 USA 🇺🇸 18m Nationals Uvalde Results thru Day 3

Rest day today.  Results below (screenshot). Unofficial but VASTLY SUPERIOR SoaringSpot.com link here (SSA stubbornly refuses to use it): https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/usa-18-meter-nationals-and-uvalde-glide-uvalde-garner-field-2023/ UNUSABLE to public SSA link here (facepalm 🤦‍♂️): https://members.ssa.org/ContestResults.asp?contestId=2548&ContestDetailId=30437&ContestName=2023+18%2DMeter+Nationals&ContestDate=8/18/2023&ResultsUpdate=True  

2023 US 18m Nationals Results thru Day 2

The SSA website locks the result info (highly disappointing for those of us who want to share our sport openly) so you likely cannot see the links without paying an $80 membership fee, and they don’t use International Standard Contest Scoring Site, SoaringSpot.com, a scoring site which is well known, public, open, and highly professional…but here is the SSA results link even though you likely can’t open the link 🧐:  https://www.ssa.org/racing-results/

2023 Canadian Nationals Day 4 (Task 3) Recap

Did a video recap today, watch below.  Scores under that… https://youtu.be/pxVO06X0w2M Full results and data on soaringspot.com @ Canadian Nationals Day 3 Results Overall Results Pic of XG on leg one…       More  

Canadian Nationals Race Day 3 Morning

Looks like a convergence day in a narrow corridor (photo 1) to the west of rockton (Sosa).  Narrows more later in the day.  See photo 2 at 430pm.  As always it will be tricky and tough Canadian competitors who know this flying area like the back of their hand…        

Canadian Nationals Day 2 (Task 3) in the books

Congrats to Sergei and Jerzy and all.  Difficult day.  More reporting added here soon on the task itself.  Photos just below are approaching the top of first turn area with scattered heavy showers to navigate around…dicey! SEEYOU DATA - https://seeyou.cloud/flight/public/6iBA3secPdDgevpGEMDMfk# OVERALL SCORES - https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/canadian-nationals-2023-rockton-2023/results/18-meter/task-3-on-2023-08-01/total DAY 2 SCORES - https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/canadian-nationals-2023-rockton-2023/results/18-meter/task-3-on-2023-08-01/daily

Save from 150m 😱 – Canadian Nationals 2023

Long story short, a rain shower (moving south) split the first turn area.  I wanted the distance due to the undercalled 2.5 hour MAT (with showers limiting the final southern turn area) so I went to the left (downwind) side expecting better lift.  This was some risk as the majority of the course and the cu field was right, but this would cost almost all the available distance for the first turn area.  Unfortunately something changed as I committed to the left of the rain shower and the good clouds decayed rapidly leaving me only one option, press forward for the back side sun.  I reached the back clouds at roughly 500 agl but the gamble worked and the thermal was 3.1 knots for 3500 feet.  Lucky, but I had the distance and was able to nearly max the larger second turn area and get back on time.  Won the day!

Day 4 Canadian Nationals

Great soaring weather today but a flooded airport forces another scrub of the day.  😢 Huge thanks to the SOSA club for hosting this contest.  They are doing everything they possibly can but a glider contest on a wet field will completely destroy it, and that’s simply not worth the cost.  So we have Friday as a backup day, 5 remaining possible flying days, and must get 4 competition days in to have a valid contest.  Obviously I am a guest so no biggie, but it’s still hugely valuable for me to fly with the excellent Canadian team pilots leading up to the US 18m Nationals in Uvulde, TX in a couple weeks…

Canadian Nationals Contest Day Three ☔️🌧️⛈️💧☔️🌊

It’s still raining and the SOSA field is wet.  As you can see from the radar a huge amount of rain has fallen last night and this morning with obvious effects on the soaring conditions moving forward.  Also an issue if the grass airport doesn’t dry out before tomorrows gridding process.  They may have to call a potential great weather day if the field is so wet cars and gliders will damage the field. Enjoyed yesterdays short flight.  Learned my K2 batteries (vintage 2017 and 2019 have expired) do not deliver reliable stable power anymore as my voltage quickly fell from 13.2 to 11 in an hour.  Fortunately Dave S of F1 Corp had new K2 batteries here on site!  All set for Uvalde in August. Sean 7T  

Day 2 Canadian Nationals

We launched today (both classes) at 2pm!  But it was weak (barely soarable at first) and the days weather window was extremely tight with a forecasted collapse of soarable weather by 5pm and a minimum required task distance of 140km (to get a valid day per the Canadian rules).  Dave Springford completed the task, but Joerg Stieber had to start his sustainer motor.  So it was just barely achievable.  I flew 50km out to the first turn and headed home to fight another day despite both classes tasks being cancelled.  A good trial run but no need to risk a land out. Tomorrow questionable, then GREAT post cold front soaring weather all next week!  Fingers crossed. Sean  

2023 Canadian 18m Soaring Nationals Day 1

Day 1 - Cancelled on the grid.  FLAT TIRE DRILLS   …A bit of fire smoke, a bit of 30kph SW wind (which here just W of Hamilton and just N of Lake Erie which will eventually wash out the SOSA area of thermals so the launch window is time limited), and an approaching strong line of frontal storms described as a “squall line” by weather services, resulted in a fairly early call of the day by our expert past champion CD (Contest Director) Ed Hollestelle.  The sniffer (single pilot launched before the full launch is opened to check the soaring conditions) was seeing 30kph at 2000 AGL and was struggling to find 2 knot climbs and not be blown into the Kitchener class C airspace which guards the NW (and Toronto the NE).   To make matters worse, we had flatted our trusty main tire 🛞 (original I believe) as we pushed the glider its final few inches into our grid position creating a high pressure race against time for an expected noon launch time (around 11:15am).  We had to move the glider in front of us on the grid forward, and get our trailer positioned in order to use our trailers cradle-jack to lift the main wheel off the ground and begin the replacement process.  The German engineers who designed the ASG29 wheel and brake system received several course words from team 7T as we learned under pressure how to disassemble the main wheel/brake assembly.  Huge thanks to Jerzy S (XG) for lending us his spare complete main wheel assembly and saving us from having to change our tire and tube.  We would not have made the launch without that kind gesture. We got very wet in our “wing water puddle” which we were forced to dump in order to get the glider up on the trailer.  Some muscle from the other pilots helped this process.  Most of the process was easy, but getting the brake assembly and axle lined up and back onto the wheel fork is extremely tedious.  It’s a rubics cube of positioning 5 parts in sequence and is NOT in the manual.  Fing Germans.  😂 After the task cancel meeting we got to do it all over again.  We had to change the tire and tube on our hub so we could return the spare the XG.  That process was far easier with the experience of the grid change.  Huge thanks to TF for the help on all of this!   Todays weather looks like another cancel, and it’s already wet, and the misquotes are vast.  Hopefully it will dry out now.  More as soon as I have something to report. Follow the contest “officially” here on SOARING SPOT - https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/canadian-nationals-2023-rockton-2023/ (Great to see the Canadians (thanks Dave!) adopting the global standard for contest scoring and reporting rather than creating an obscure, unusable, and unfindable outdated website for scoring and reporting like the Soaring Society or America defiantly does… 🤦‍♂️)

Sailplane Stall on Flare: Don’t do this!

In a sailplane, which lands very slow already, there is ZERO REASON, to be dangling on the tail close to stall speed at anytime on final approach, at flare, or at touchdown. The video below demonstrates why. Notice the huge amount of runway still remaining. He was probably tempted to stop before the ground crew, but nearly broke the sailplane, and himself. In fact he may actually have broken the glider, or himself… https://youtu.be/Em551DIpSv0

Kawa reviews AS33

Kawa impressions of AS33. Not the best choice for Grand Prix unfortunately because the smaller wing area, ala the JS3, ala most modern 18m sailplanes. Shocker. I STRONGLY maintain that it is utterly unfair, illogical that in the a “600 kg limited 18 meter class,” the SGP managers choose to use “wing loading” to “equalize” 18 meter class sailplanes. This makes absolutely zero sense. This is non proportional and nonsensical. It obviously favors the larger wing area gliders (Hi Ventus 3 cult…I see your shit eating grins) in the full flight range. Kawa says the 33 climbs “very well” but is “unstable” in all axis in turbulence. Says it requires some effort to coordinate. Well, so does any glider (ASG29, Lak17a, etc) I have ever flown (other than the Arcus, which is a bit of a truck) and if a sailplane doesn’t require some effort to balance in gusts then it’s probably slow in the run. Sounds like it’s a good climber. For me, that’s the key but in this case it should be stronger than the 29 in the glide. Still no objective results from the 33 PROVING it’s performance. Only subjective accounts. https://youtu.be/JZIbqcmvvrQ

New Alpha 2m ALES “SuperLight”

Only 12 oz. fully built including all servos (6) and batteries! Magnificent workmanship. Delicate! I have begun the build at Larry’s shop! 2 weeks I’m guessing until 1st soar!

Awesome InReach to OGN integration

I've created and am running a script that gathers Inreach data (Spot soon) and uploads it to the OGN to be visible on any website that gets OGN data. https://github.com/DavisChappins/InreachToOGN if you want to sign up and be visible. In fact, please sign up to help me test the google forms.” https://github.com/DavisChappins/InreachToOGN

Day 1, US 18m Nationals Nephi, Utah

105 mph and I was still 5th! It was a good day, a reasonable task call for the SSA GOBs, albeit very short as usual. Strong crosswinds on landing created some minor excitement. I could have gone much faster but got stuck trying to max out the second turn area. No big deal. Overall a really fun day in which I was very conservative and relaxed, as planned. Tomorrow looks iffy due to an even higher chance of thunderstorms. Results: https://members.ssa.org/ContestResults.asp?contestId=2486&ContestDetailId=24069&ContestName=2021+18%2DMeter+Nationals+at+Nephi&ContestDate=6/29/2021&ResultsUpdate=True SSA website seems to require SSA membership to view the results webpages. What a mess. Promoting soaring to only those willing to pay for membership? I just don't care anymore. Grid, 35 or so 18m gliders plus 30 or so competing in regionals.

F5J RC Soaring Competition – Greater Detroit Soaring Club – June 13, 2021

I won my first RC soaring competition!!!! Something clicked today and I managed to win every round (six), and ended up throwing out a 1000. This did not feel real. The competition was very tough as usual, similar to the DLG class at the GDSHS. My new Volo F5J 4m was flying very nicely after spending some considerable time reprogramming radio to make it more simple with Larry Markey over the past week. It weighs 47 ounces dry, but for most of the day I flew with 6 ounces of ballast to manage the breeze aloft. My CG was fairly aft 105mm. This felt perfect. It was a breezy day again, 10-15ish, with much stronger winds aloft. The thermals were strong when you found them and there were ample cumulus clouds, but the sink was equally strong and perhaps more relevant. With the North wind direction ridges were more difficult to find and the typical south ridge (tree line) was well downwind. Scores and photos below… All pilots and gliders! Ned’s Report (CD) from Club Google Group June 13, 2021, Good Evening Pilots - Wow, what a day.  We ended up having 13 pilots flying today. Due to the last minute change we did lose two pilots that would have otherwise flown. The contest conditions were certainly breezier than anticipated. Early in the day it was a matter of launching high and holding on.  If you did attempt to circle you  found yourself on an express train headed downwind.  As the day progressed there was more thermalling to be had.  Landings were tough because of the bubbling air down low.  We set up to launch to the NNW and late in the day there was a shift to the NW.  We flew 3 rounds, took a break and then flew the remaining 3 rounds.  The original intention was to fly 7 rounds but a combination of attrition and tired pilots led to the decision to end the contest after 6 rounds.  At the end of the day it was Sean Fidler who bested the field with a top score of 5000 points.  In second place was John Ferguson with 4770 points and rounding out the top three was Ted Flack with 4545 points.  You can review the scores for the entire contest on Gliderscore, the link to which is HERE. Follow the link and you will see a drop down box, click on the drop down, look at today's day, scroll down and you will find: GDSHS F5J Contest 2 (Addison Oaks). I want to thank everyone for helping to make the contest run smoothly.  Thanks to those that helped with the Easy Ups, the landing tapes, and the rest.  We used the field clock for the first time without issue.  There is a little bit of fine tuning still to be done and then we'll be set. I had several pilots tell me how helpful it was to be able to glance over at the clock to view the remaining working time.  Again, thanks to everyone for coming out to fly and making this another great contest day.Cheers,Ned

Fun day of F3K (Discus Launch RC Glider Competition) with GDHSS

SATURDAY JUNE 5, 2021 EXTREME WINDS at the limits of FIA F3K competition were the key theme of this F3K competition day at the Greater Detroit Soaring and Hiking Club filed at Addison Oaks Park north of Metro Detroit. My anemometer showed winds of 20 mph on the surface and it was clear that the fifty foot level the winds were stronger and the gusts even stronger. This was exactly on the limit of formal FAI F3K competition limits and proved to be excellent practice for all of us. A few gliders suffered minor damage and this was expected in such conditions. Fortunately nothing major. The pilots here are all excellent and today the young pilots with high launches had an even greater advantage than normal as the flights were so short in the turbulent conditions. The longest flight was 3 minutes, but the average was around 1 min, and the launch was absolutely critical. I flew well considering my typical last minute arrival and not flying since the last event 1 month ago. This was the first event in which I had used ballast of any sort, and on this day I used full ballast of 60 grams. My first heat was a disaster as I was flying very conservatively, and I paid the price scoring a bottom of the scoresheet 250 points. But I improved and won 3 of the next 6 rounds finishing 5th in a star studded field. Sean

How FAI Soaring WGC France 🇫🇷 Should Have Been Handled… Another Major ISAF Sailing World Championship Cancels Worlds and Changes It’s Designation to a EUROPEANS.

*UPDATE*3 June - The event title is now amended to 'European Championship' following consultation. That way we can look forward to a 'successful' European Championship rather than the likelihood of a 'soft', perhaps disappointing, Worlds. This action feels appropriate and fair with so much of the World unable to join and for many more the trip is either unviable or discouraged due to their local restriction policies. It is expected that overall entry numbers will be largely unaffected by the new title. On the ground it will be a similar event with excellent racing, same size fleet, same charter fleet and the same huge fun. Just a revised title. https://www.rsaerosailing.org/index.asp?p=event&eid=1856&fbclid=IwAR0Pz-kY0GBSfnBUSVh7WzNH278tnt37mrXMg8zYzUyXJINtp8Y1BFrVqds

700 km (almost) out of Ionia, MI (May 12, 2021)

Flew with John Iacobucci in his Arcus M most of the flight. What an incredible day it was to fly. 6-8 knot climbs to 8000 AGL at times, clouds the whole way, some streeting later in the day. Absolutely perfect! https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=8362782 Circling over Lake Wawasee, Indiana Chart of our flight path and altitude during the flight…