NWSS Thermal Duration Contest Results

SASS
Dennis Otter Memorial Thermal Duration Contest
August 26-27, 2000
CD'd by Waid Reynolds and Sherman Knight

The weather outside  my window at 6:30 AM on Saturday morning was not what we hope to see at the dawn of a soaring contest day -- rain, low clouds and wind ala November. This kind of lousy weather has become standard  for SASS contests this year with all three of our club TD contests having been washed and/or blown out. I had mixed emotions about this day, as my son and his new bride were in town from Salt Lake City   for the weekend and I really wanted to spend time with them. Still, the CD has to make a show of at least being ready in case the weather improves. So, I packed the car and headed for 60 Acres.

Torrential rain and high winds were waiting for me near Bellevue -- full speed windshield wipers required. Things were looking good for an early call of "no contest". It was not to be, though, as the skies lightened and the pavement was drying by the time I reached Kirkland. At the field, not a drop of rain had fallen and the clouds were breaking up, revealing areas of blue. OK, a contest we will have!

Soon, a number of the clubs "doers" had arrived and contest preparations were in full swing. Competitors began rolling in shortly after that. Setup went smoothly and the assembled throng of about 16 pilots commenced flying at 10 AM with a 5 minute International Duration task. Lift proved to be reasonably plentiful, though staying up could be challenging at times during the day. 8 rounds were flown on Saturday with 5 and 7 minute tasks being most plentiful. One round of 10 minute ID and one of 3 minute Precision were flown, as well. The weather was very pleasant with enough clouds around to keep the temperature comfortable, but not so thick that they shut down the thermal activity.

Sunday dawned with much more pleasant weather, and continued to offer good soaring. 6 rounds of mostly 10 minute ID were flown under the inimitable tutelage of Sherman Knight, who directed the contest on Sunday.

Congratulations to Bill Henley, one of our newest additions to the contest ranks, for taking home the gold in Open Competitor -- his first win! Dave Beardsley, an old hand at winning contests, walked away with the top spots in both 2M Combined and Open Expert. Way to go Dave! It was great to see young Bill Henley, Jr. and his cousin Andy Brown having a friendly and enthusiastic battle for top Novice in the 2 meter class flying Bill Senior's beat up Highlander. In spite of the Highlander's space shuttle like performance, the boys still had a blast.

Many thanks to all who helped with the contest, especially Pete Hinze, who ran the retrievers and kept the winches going through most of the contest. It's great to have a bunch of guys turn out who are willing to help with the chores!

Here are the final scores: