[LASS Soaring] "FSS2 Orlando Was Good, and Supra's Proved Super Again:-)"

[Ben Wilson]

Congrats, dudes!  Excellent report, Gordo.  And way to go, Tony! 

GordySoar at aol.com wrote:
> Got up, got out of bed, ran a comb across my head....
>  
> It was cold this morning for Florida..about 38 I'd guess, light winds 
> sunny.
>  
> My pal Tony Utley, his son Graham and I headed down the road to the 
> field about 8am. Pilots meeting was 10am.
>  
> Tony flew his favorite, the AVA and I am now flying the Supra 
> exclusively for awhile to learn it. My Sharon safely resting in its JT 
> Models bag for a few months ahead...a much deserved rest.
>  
> This was #2 in the Florida Soaring Society series, 20 pilots 
> (LSF5!!!!! qualified) showed up to do battle in some interesting air.  
> Cold breezes were moving thru and the buzzards were circling no higher 
> than about 200'.
>  
> Its MOM Seeded, and the way they decided to do this one (always 
> looking for the best way to do MOM down here!) was to have light 
> groups of 4 pilots working off two winches with fast retrievers.
>  
> Winch #1 was also Winch #3, and Winch #2 was also Winch #4.  So two 
> pilots lined up at each winch.
>  
> Pilot # 1 launched first as was chosen via a drawing.(as were all who 
> launched in the first round), then Pilot #2 launched immediately since 
> the winches were spaced far enough apart to avoid line fouls. By the 
> time he was up, Pilot #3 was already on his way up and then #4.  Aside 
> from the usual and occasional line breaks or snarls, things went 
> really smooth. 
>
> First round was 6mins, at the end, all the pilots were seeded 
> according to their scores, and divided up into groups...the top guys 
> in each group moving to Group #1 who would start each round except for 
> the last, in which the last group would lead, working down to group #1 
> last. That's a really nice twist, it throws in a sort of twist which 
> could mean at the end of the day, the leaders might end up in smeg.  
> By the way the Top group was not allowed to launch until the sky was 
> clear,  no 'bird-dogs' to help indicate!.
>  
> I lead the pack from the beginning I think, with Jim Thomas right 
> along side, (not sure because we stayed neck and neck).
>  
> Jim likes to have a 'count up' which confused his timer and that 
> caused a snafu for one of Jim's flights....lost seconds and a rushed 
> landing....for 25 points. (he was at 75 points for all the other 
> rounds I think)  That gave me a small lead.
>  
> I got in trouble on two of the rounds, but managed some fun saves and 
> a pair of 100 landings.  It came down to the final round, with me 
> having about 90 points cushion on JT.  My now famous statement "It was 
> mine to lose" applied again (TNT and Tangerine memories :-).  If we 
> should both get our times, and I were to zero the landing and he hit a 
> 100, he'd move up.
>  
> The delay between the last round and our launch seems like an eternity 
> because of end of day line snafu's (I got a line break right about on 
> release, and that sent a snaggle into the line, then once it as cleared.
>
> By the time the lines were ready, the bunch of buzzards who'd been 
> indicating had moved off, and it was time for an educated guess.  I 
> guessed to follow the wind and skied on the way out.  Jim got some too 
> as did I think about everyone in our group. 
>  
> Okay so it was going to be a landing contest.  The landings were 
> simple runway landings, 6" from the line was 100, about 12" from the 
> line 75, and about 25" was 50, and a bunch after that was 25. I'm 
> figuring about a 6' measuring stick.
>  
> The wind calmed for the most part, right up the tape. I didn't have to 
> worry about seconds since I had a nice time lead, but I did have to 
> get at least 50, but I really wanted another 100, since I had been 
> just short of on two for 75's.  I came in first with an 8:02, and 
> while it hit for 100, fairly gently, it plowed the sand for another 
> just missed....and a third 75.
>  
> No matter what JT did, it was over, but being the artist he is, he 
> dropped his Supra right in for a 100 and a 7:58.
>  
> That made World's Heaviest Carbon Supra #1 and JT's Supra Lite #2.  
> There was only 1 Perfect flying and while it looked like from the 
> first launch that it was going to dominate (/To the Moon Gracie!)/ It 
> was not to be his day.
>  
> Louisville's own Tony Utley really showed that practice helps, he 
> placed 6th in a really tough group with his AVA, getting time and 
> hitting landings.
>  
> Mike Popescu was campaigning his new Pelican 140", and it looked very 
> much like it was gonna be a grumpy day after his first ucky flight, 
> but he got his game back on track for some amazing flights and 
> consistent landing points.
>  
> Mike Williams took 3rd by the magic of MOM scoring...he out flew his 
> groups and pumped up his score in our last group. (forgot which plane 
> he was flying.
>  
> Likely scores will be posted on http://www.soar-fss.org/ later this 
> week.  In the mean time, the winds are supposed to howl tomorrow 17mph 
> for most of the flying day, which will thin out the ranks and maybe 
> even call it. I'll be there for sure.
>  
> In my mind, JT was the top pilot today...I just got the spare LSF5 win :-)
>  
> Gordy
> PS - by the way, I have my Supra set up with the JW Thermal Mode mix 
> set up described on Horizon's 9303 website.  It presets the camber per 
> Drela, mixes rudder an aileron on the right stick, with mostly rudder 
> as a priority, very little aileron and that with no Differential and 
> some Expo on aileron too. VERY unusual feel, and you'd better know 
> when to turn it off, but WOW, talk about a timer extender!
>  
>  
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Soaring mailing list
> Soaring at louisvillesoaring.org
> http://lists.louisvillesoaring.org/mailman/listinfo/soaring
>