[LASS Soaring] LASS Mid-Am RES Results, briefly

[Brian Kopke]

Thanks Ben.  See everybody tomorrow.

Brian

On 8/24/07, Ben Wilson <ben at thelocust.org> wrote:
>
> Windy and HOT today in Louisville.  Felt more like Texas than
> Bluegrass.  No spec-outs today!  Just try to capitalize on the fast
> moving lift, and oh yeah, don't go behind the trees.  Only 10 guys this
> Friday morning, but they were ready to go.  Two winches with retrievals
> - open winches all day.  CD Ed Wilson had us jumping through some hoops
> with some "old school" tasks - duration, precision duration and then the
> "triathlon" event.  A lot of a head-scratching was seen (I was one of
> 'em!) regarding the specifics of these tasks, but here's the deal in
> brief:
>
> Duration - normal thermal duration with a landing
> Precision - normal thermal duration, but with a bonus of up to 100
> points for landing within the last thirty seconds of the task time, and
> a landing
> "Triathlon" - both Duration and Precision, but with the Precision bonus
> being available at every even minute (2,4,6,8,10).  So then, a guy who
> lands at 2 minutes (120 seconds) on the nose would get 120 points + 100
> point bonus, which would be better than the guy who landed at 3 minutes
> (180 points vs 220 points).  Interesting stuff, that....
>
> Well, I was going along just fine in the first two rounds (10-minute
> duration and precision), with Tony Estep sticking pretty close, but then
> I just couldn't make it back over the trees that had sustained me for
> the previous two rounds (despite Ken Marks' excellent and enthusiastic
> timing), and I stuck my NATS-Wood-Winning Polecat EZ Bubble Dancer in
> the Nature Preserve.  That plane has seen a lot of action, from nose-in
> crashes to being stuck in a tree at LAST year's Mid-Am to having it's
> rudder blown off at the NATS this year and I thought for sure this time
> was it!  I wandered around in the woods awhile until Ken Marks came to
> rescue me again and he made a beeline through the backyards of some
> really nice homes to find it.  I was out in the street of the
> neighborhood looking for a Bentley with a smashed windshield or a
> gardener knocked unconscious... but then I saw Ken hotfooting it down
> someone's driveway, plane in hand - and only one hand!  It was still in
> one piece, ready to fly.  Amazing.
>
> That round and the next two were all 10-minute triathlon, and almost no
> one got into the bonuses - no one wanted the ignomy of a 2-minute
> flight!  The winds had kicked up to about 15 MPH and the last task was
> decided to be a 5-minute precision.  I hit 5:00 on the dot and had a
> landing to claw my way back up...
>
> Top Four (scores to come)
>
> 1st - Tony Estep (composite Bubble Dancer)
> 2nd - Nelson Itterly
> 3rd - Ben Wilson (EZ Bubble Dancer)
> 4th - AJ Bhattacharyya (Scooter 3M)
>
> There was a little carnage today, with Hank Gullet's Danny losing a
> rudder (but making it safely back to the ground) and Tony Utley having a
> center-panel failure on a nearly-brand-new AVA.  A closer look revealed
> the top spar cap popped loose - possibly due to the wrapping thread
> being sliced by the un-rounded sparcaps.  Drela mentions "aggressively"
> rounding those caps to keep a stress riser from forming right there.
> Never seen an AVA do that before!  Taco'd the wings.   It is repairable,
> though...
>
> Weather is looking much cooler next two days, with high 80s both days
> and a slight chance of rain on Saturday afternoon.  Hope to see you there!
>
> Ben Wilson
> Louisville Area Soaring Society
> http://www.louisvillesoaring.org
>
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