NWSS Thermal Duration Contest Results

SASS
Soar 2000
July 22-23, 2000

CD'd by Dave Beardsley and Sherman Knight

A memorable contest: the turnout was light, the weather was foul on Saturday morning and late afternoon, there was considerable carnage among the gliders, and even a few minor injuries, not to mention the CD being hospitalized. To add to the hassles, the winches and retrievers decided to be cranky all day. Only the supreme efforts of Pete Hinze and his Helpers saved the day.

The contest got started on Saturday around 10:00 or so. We flew 5 rounds by 1:00. 5,7,7,10,10 in any order w/ spot landings, no launch windows. The pilot could declare the task after landing. The CD  gave everyone 1/2 hr of "practice" before the first official launch since the weather was so bad, they could decide whether to risk it for the whole day or not. At 1:00 we had a pilots meeting during our lunch break and decided to keep flying. We did 5,7,10 in that order. The CD had to call the contest and not count the last 10 min round due to lightning - the last 2 pilots were in the air and all they had to do was finish the round for it to have counted. But, the lightning and thunder was quite close, and after consulting with Red, Dave decided we had to shut it down. Nobody made all their times on Saturday.

Feeling very ill, Dave Beardsley ended up in the emergency room on Saturday night after the contest. Sherman Knight took over on Sunday (thanks Sherm!). We flew the same tasks. The weather was better but still not great.

Here are the final scores: