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topic: Larry Bunner

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Mountain High Red Rocks Hang Gliding Academy »

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 12:07:47 am GMT

Before the Red Rocks Competition in June

Davis Straub|Larry Bunner|Owen Morse|Red Rocks Foot Launch HG Competition 2023|Rich Reinauer|Richard "Ric" Caylor|Robin Hamilton|Timothy "Tim" Delaney|WolfPack Hang Gliding|Zac Majors

Ric Caylor writes:

PLEASE NOTE: The First Virtual Ground School Class (VGSC) Has been postponed to February 5th, 2023.

Mountain High Red Rocks Hang Gliding Academy

Before the competition is a three-day "Red Rocks Mountain Academy," held June 14th - 16th, this clinic is designed to help pilots enhance their high-altitude flying skills and enjoyment through safety, awareness, critical situation analysis, and best practices of proper communication and survival gear. Our team of female and male mentors includes world record holders and national champions. They will lead ground school classes, a launch and landing clinic, navigation strategies, and aviation-assisted training. We will also offer several zoom ground school training sessions over the winter as part of the Academy. How often do you get advanced training opportunities like this from experts? If you’re looking to enhance your high altitude or xc skills, this is not to be missed!

Virtual Ground School Informational Classes

These zoom ground school training sessions are a part of the Academy and may be purchased as a package separate from the in-person practical flying. The High Mountain Hang Gliding Red Rocks Academy is designed to help pilots enhance their high-altitude flying skills and enjoyment through safety awareness, critical situation analysis, best communication practices, survival gear, and more.

Zoom Classroom instruction format. 60 min. max with Q&A. A 30 min extension at the mentor’s discretion is expected. Zac Majors will host classes. Scheduled for consecutive Sunday evenings starting at 6:00 pm PST starting on February 5th, 2023. The Following are slated but not guaranteed.

High Mountain Competition Flying. By Robin Hamilton

Strategies, Experience History Profile, and Applied Safety Mitigation. By Robin Hamilton

Oxygen 101. by Tim Delaney

Garmin InReach 101. By Rich Reinauer

Weather and High Mountain Flying Conditions. By Davis Straub

Reporting Accidents, Mishaps, and Close Calls. By Zac Majors

High Mountain Flying Secrets. By Owen Morse

Flying With Intent to Improve Performance. By Larry Bunner

Sign up by purchasing online at https://wolfpackhanggliding.com/shop/

You will be emailed a Zoom Invitation a day before the class.

Please note that the Zoom Ground School Classes are included if you are enrolled in the RRHG Academy or a registered Competition pilot.

Please email Ric at <Ric@wolfpackhanggliding.com> with questions.

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Bunner and his brother in Nebraska »

Wed, Sep 21 2022, 3:32:56 am GMT

Chasing the weather

Larry Bunner|Rob Bunner|Miller Stroud

Larry Bunner writes:

Flying Where the Weather is Good

Flying weather in Illinois and Wisconsin is quite dynamic. The soaring season is from April to November and pilots who fly locally can accumulate upwards of 75 hours during good years. Typically there are about 5 epic flying days in the spring time and late summer. These days occur post frontal when dry air sweeps down from the north and northwest. Epic flying is roughly defined as atmospheric conditions that produce downwind flights in excess of 200 miles and triangles greater than 100 miles. However the bulk of the summer, gulf moisture is dominant resulting in tamer conditions with weaker lift and lower cloud bases. In addition our sites are located upwind of Lake Michigan approximately 50 miles and even though the weather flows from the west, this huge body of water has a significant impact tending to suppress the soaring conditions.

For several years my brother Rob and I have noted that the conditions to the west in Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Nebraska are markedly better on almost any given day. Top of the lift is higher and climb rates are stronger. We discussed revamping our old static towing gear so that we could become more mobile with our ability to fly. Last month we took our gear to Whitewater, WI the local aerotow site and practiced doing short tows. All went well. Two weeks later Rob called and stated conditions looked great out west. I quickly checked and saw epic conditions for the next four days with top of the lift upwards of 10000’ above the ground and strong climbs over 1000fpm. A day later we were on the road headed to central Nebraska. I spent the previous day scouring Google Earth to find roads (> 1 mile long) that we might use to tow our gliders. Ten roads were located that appeared to be clear of obstructions and were long enough for us to tow our gliders.

On Tuesday morning our excitement was palpable as we headed north of Gothlenburg. However as we neared our first road close to Arnold, it became apparent that the criteria used to select the roads was flawed. The roads were either too rolling, fences were too close or the bushes seen on GE were trees none of which would allow for safe towing operations. Looking closer on GE the other roads in NE all had similar issues however several roads in northern Kansas looked more promising so we scrambled south to check them out in hopes we could fly on Wednesday. Unfortunately they all had similar issues. Our excitement turned to dejection.

There are a couple methods we use to tow using a static line. As the name implies the line is not reeled in or paid out using a drum/reel. The line is laid out on a long road or runway. One end is attached to a hydraulic cylinder on the back of the vehicle. Hydraulic line from the cylinder runs to a pressure gauge mounted on the hood of the vehicle, the other end is attached to the pilot/glider. One method is to drive the vehicle down the road away from the pilot (into the wind) pulling the glider up from behind at a specified pressure on the gauge. The second method is to stake down a pulley at the vehicle end then running the line through the pulley before attaching it to the hydraulic cylinder on the vehicle. The vehicle is then facing the pilot and is driven toward the pilot to pull the glider into the air. There are benefits and disadvantages to both methods. The straight line tow will get the pilot higher for the same length of line but requires more road/runway. The pulley tow uses less road/runway but doesn’t get the pilot as high. The pulley tow can be done on a long airport runway and does take less turn around time between tows as the line doesn’t have to be wound back up on the spool and then laid back out.

With tow roads not an option, we decided to look for airports with long runways (>5000’) where we could use the pulley tow method. The Rooks County Airport in Stockton, Kansas looked perfect. Airnav provided the phone number for the manager so I gave him a call and asked if there were any issues that would impact us from towing our gliders there. He was quite amenable to us using the airport so we drove there posthaste to check out the facilities and lay out the line. Unfortunately there were significant gullies on both sides of the runway where dirt was removed during construction to build up and level the surface. Again it was not safe to tow there. We retreated tails between our legs, found a motel in town and considered calling it quits.

Wednesday morning, we retrieved our gear from the airport and found a Chinese restaurant in town that served breakfast.?? We walked into the place and there was a long table where a few old gentlemen were eating. One stood up and asked us to join them. So we did. It was an hour of local history tales and talking about flying that can only happen in a tiny town in the middle of America! People were filtering in and out. We met farmers, the banker, the 95 year old patriarch and a host of others all interested in why we were in their town. We finished our eggs and bacon, yes at a Chinese restaurant! and departed these kindred souls with spirits lifted. There was another airport 30 miles west of us that looked better than Rooks County and the airport manager was again encouraging us to come and fly so we took our last shot and headed to Hill City, KS. The Ag plane business owner at the airport welcomed us and provided the lay of the land. He even offered for us to use the main runway instead of the grass area as there wouldn’t be any traffic that day. Woohoo, we’re gonna get to fly!

The airport area was much flatter and over 5000’ long; elevation at 2100’msl. We laid out the line on the grass next to the runway and staked the pulley on the south end. The weather forecast looked great with light southerly winds, top of the lift over 12000’msl and cloudbase even higher. As there were only the two of us, I was to fly first and planned to do a triangle around the area. Once ready, the winds were crossing from the east (unlaunchable) but finally turned to the south long enough to give it a go. The first launch attempt was stopped by a premature release just a few feet off the ground. We adjusted the release line length and repositioned the glider and SUV to go again. It was well after 2:30 before the wind aligned with our tow path and Rob pulled me into the air. The launch went smoothly and he increased line pressure to maximum. Shortly after, the gliders’ nose pitched up in strong lift and began climbing too fast for my liking (thermal) so I released from tow at 2750’msl. Instinctively turning left into the wind over the runway, I quickly lost 200’ so extended my turn downwind and found lift. It took ten turns to get back to release altitude and was now ensconced in the thermal continuing to turn while drifting northwest at 11mph. This unexpected wind was too much to fly a triangle so I radioed Rob that I was heading downwind. He encouraged me to go as he retrieved the line and repacked the vehicle before heading out to chase after me.

I was not out of the woods yet. The thermal petered out at 3700’. A vulture was thermalling to the south earlier so this was the most likely direction to fly. After losing 700’ (now down to 900’ above the ground) I found a strong climb that started at 350fpm and peaked at over 1000fpm up to 9600’! Altitude normally provides margin to relax but the strong lift had some very rough edges to the point of being violent. The glider went weightless at one point and the wires twanged hard making me double check the handle on my reserve parachute. Even the glides were turbulent; I wasn’t comfortable pulling VG beyond ½ for a long time. However for the next hour it was relatively easy staying between 7500 and 10000’ as the thermal spacing was reasonably tight. Cloud base was much higher but climb rates above 9500’ decreased rapidly. Clouds kept forming downwind so it was an easy decision to leave for more promising lift. The wind continued out of the SE at 13-16mph so there was decent push. North of Oberlin, KS the climbs became softer, more elusive to find and difficult to stay in. The top of the lift was now under 8000’ yet the cumulus clouds still looked high and robust. There was a cloud street northwest of McCook, NE. If I could get high enough these clouds would be the ticket to some fast miles.

The panorama laid out to the northwest was a colorful tapestry of agricultural land and hills. The sandy barren soil, dark green irrigated crop circles, rectangles and squares of variously hued brown and green farm fields were interspersed with sage green hills, starkly eroded ravines and exposed bedrock. It was a sight to behold for a flatlander from Illinois.

Approaching McCook I left the foothills below 2000’ above the ground. The alluring street to the north was close but not reachable at my altitude. To the west-northwest near Culbertson there was a large flat black bottomed cloud marking good lift. Three times I climbed above 7500’ drifting toward this cloud to my northwest and finally felt I could migrate north to connect with the street. The glide north took me down to 4700’ before finding a thermal. The day was waning yet the climb still took me to 8600’. Rob was now underneath me as I glided north again. The awesome street north of McCook had dissipated. He stopped at a stockyard and watched me thermal up under the last cloud in ~400fpm to my highest altitude all day at just over 11000’. I recently learned of a feature on the Blade that shows all airports on the map when zoomed in to the 20km level. It also shows the glide ratio required to make it to the airports (thanks Pete). My map showed that the airport in Wallace, NE was a 7.5:1 glide to the north. It appeared in view but something didn’t look quite right. Rob put the hammer down clocking ~90mph to get to the airport and confirmed that there were objects in the field along the runway that pinched off the most probable landing area. I hit a small thermal and gained 500’ as I scouted the area for an acceptable field. Continuing north was not an option as there were few landing options for many miles. Rob headed east of town and provided wind speed and direction into a large field just off the highway. I touched down nicely and hiked over to the road 4 hours and 52 minutes after launching from Hill City about 200km away.

The sun was low on the horizon as we loaded the glider and began the long trek back to Hill City. Our immediate plans were to fuel our bodies and vehicle in McCook, get a motel in Oberlin overnight and head back to Hill City in the morning to get Rob in the air. As we headed south of Wallace the sky turned milky and appeared to be fogging us in. We were befuddled as it was still fairly windy and 90F outside, well at least until we rounded a curve and saw the stockyard. A huge plume of methane gas was floating overhead and migrating north. The likely source of my last thermal was now visually evident and somewhat unbelievable that cows could generate such high amounts of gas through flatulence, belching and manure pond processing. I have a better picture now of the impact that livestock can have on greenhouse gases. What one can learn on a cross country excursion!

My SUV is a Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. It has an air suspension system that is kept pressurized by a small compressor to keep the shocks filled with air. Back in June the compressor failed. Due to supply chain issues and backed up automotive repair shops the compressor wasn’t scheduled to be replaced until September. This didn’t stop me from using my vehicle in low rider mode on hang gliding trips to Texas and now Kansas/Nebraska. Heading toward Oberlin, the right front tire had a blowout; it was completely shredded. We limped into town on the spare, tired and dejected once again. The next morning I scoured tire shops in the general area for two tires. The only place to have this specialty tire was back in McCook. We were already gathering all the tow gear in Hill City so flying was not an option as tires were now our top priority. Two new tires were installed and we headed back to Illinois.

We had plenty of time to identify the positives (not many) and areas for improvement going forward. The action item list is long and I am actively working it down. Our preparedness for this trip was significantly lacking. The awesome conditions in Nebraska motivated us to give it a go even though we had few practice tows under our belt. Below is a partial list of our lessons learned.

1. Establish specific criteria for identifying potential tow roads using Google Earth; flat open roads with no power lines, trees or fences.

2. Identify airports in small towns (less traffic) greater than 5000’ long that have open areas along the runways. Use state airport directories for the upper midwest to aid in selection.

3. Tow equipment:

a) Procure two drogue chutes, one for each end of the towline. These will shorten turnaround time by keeping the line in the air longer so that once the pilot releases, the driver can speed up to pull the floating line directly to the pulley. Also, the second chute can be staged at launch and connected to the end of the line once the driver disconnects the line from the hydraulic cyclinder. This saves having to drive back to the pulley to retrieve the chute from the line and then taking it back down to the next pilot.

b) Add 500’ of line to the overall length (5000’ total). It was omitted from our reel due to initial space considerations. Now that the line has been stretched out, it is a smaller diameter therefore more line can be added to the reel.

c) Procure heavier duty jumper cables for reeling the line back in at the end of the day.

d) Splice the line together with a fid versus loops.

e) Tie more weak links.

f) Procure more Quick Links and the right sized rings for the tow bridles and end of the line.

g) Procure another three ring bridle.

h) Set up and test the over/under Miller Stroud release.

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Go long in Texas 2022 »

Thu, Aug 18 2022, 1:39:47 am GMT

Alexandra "Sasha" Serebrennikova|Cowboy Up|Flytec|Go long in Texas 2022|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Icaro|James Race|Jon Irlbeck|Ken Millard|Larry Bunner|Makbule Baldik Le Fay|Mark Moore|Masayuki Takeo|Matt McCleskey|Mick Howard|Moyes|Rich Reinauer|Rick Mullins|Robin Hamilton|Tiki Mashy|USHPA|Wills Wing|XC

The original stated intent of the Go Long Texas event was to offer pilots of all experience levels the opportunity to fly simple cross country flights in what are some of the best conditions on the planet starting from the Texas Gulf coast. The event is not set up as a competition between pilots, rather a challenge for each pilot to fly their furthest, seeking personal best (PB) flights in a supported environment of camaraderie. This year’s event had 31 pilots flying over the week from July 17-24th from Cowboy Up Hang Gliding base in Wharton, Texas. The event was a spectacular success! The raw statistics:

178 launches and only 12 re-lights, mainly pilots choosing to take a short flight or for equipment issues. Pretty much everyone that wanted to get underway on an XC did. Every time, every day

  • 31 pilots, 27 Personal Best flights, 6 pilots each with 2 PB’s during the week
  • 11,822 total miles flown
  • 52 flights > 100 miles
  • Site record (241 miles) broken 3 times during the week and is now 308 miles
  • No Safety incidents, accidents
  • 31 super happy pilots and Organizers

Weather Conditions

The conditions were consistently good through the week with high pressure dominating Central Texas and provide a generally SW-SSE flow through the flying area. There is also a historic drought across the State that has for sure helped with soaring conditions. Wind speeds were mostly moderate during the week at typically 8-14mph along the course line. Early morning cloud streets were present pretty much every day we flew and with consistent lift and fairly high TOL at 4000’agl+ by 1200 hrs. Base rose during the day and further north on the course line reaching over 8,000’msl most days and up to 9,500’ on the best days. Lift was big, fat and consistently strong on most days – 600-800fpm was “normal”. With the dry ground and strong daily heating (temps > 100°F for most of the day), it was possible to fly in thermal till sunset. Probably after sunset too.

The “Stories”

With so much flying and downwind distance flown, most of the pilot interaction happened in the morning pilot meetings. There were endless great stories from the previous day’s flying. Pilots like Maria Alexandra and Takeo making their first cross country flights on Falcons. Ken Millard “I’ve been trying to fly a hundred miles for the last 10 years and yesterday I went 162 miles”. Ken then went 220 miles a day later. He even went again on the Sunday after the event had closed with no arranged retrieve driver to crack off another 200 miles. And he got back to Wharton the same day! James Race similarly hadn’t done a hundred miler and still hasn’t. But he did go over 200 miles, but yet that hundred miler still eludes him. Even the elder gentlemen got into this – both Larry Bunner and Robin Hamilton getting new hang gliding PBs at 289 and 308 miles respectively.

Rich Reinauer had 5 flights totaling 878 miles and almost 33 hours airtime. He broke his PB twice (244, 256 miles) and had the site record twice. One of the key organizers of the event, Matt McCleskey, got his first 100 miler and then had a second long flight where he flew back north to his hanger in Navasota to park his T3 with his Kit Fox. Jon Irlbeck, a Sports class hero from GL2021 for his threepeat on PBs at that event (and namesake of the Jon Irlbeck Award for multiple PBs at the GL event), could alas manage only a couple of >100mile PBs this year. Jon did have a late evening breakdown where the local State Trooper offered assistance, brought water and carefully checked in on Jon till he was picked up. Yes, this is Texas.

For the aforementioned Jon Irlbeck award, it was close between the 6 pilots each with 2 PBs but after the duration PB tie-breaker, James Race was the recipient of the handsome carbon full face helmet sponsored by Icaro. Our other award of the smart grey Flytec jacket went to Mick Howard for outstanding sportsmanship.

Thanks to:

A big thanks to key organizer Tiki Mashy, Cowboy Up and the volunteers Sahaar Moghtader, Makbule Baldik, Matt McCleskey, Read Bixby, Masayo Eda, Takeo Eda, Mark Moore and Henry Wise that set up and kept the event running flawlessly.

Our Tug Pilots were Rick Mullins, Gregg Ludwig and Tiki, providing perfect, fast tows into the Texas morning skies. A big thanks to Tiki and these gentlemen.

We are also grateful for all of our drivers. They probably didn’t realize what they were getting themselves into when they signed up for this event with long retrieves pretty much every day. The latest return to base was around 4:30 am from close to the Oklahoma state line… There were no real vehicle dramas and the one time we had a vehicle issue, other pilots immediately set out to help retrieve the pilots involved and get the vehicle fixed.

We had wonderful sponsor support for this growing event – everything from T-shirts to helmets and even great deals on new gliders. Sponsors were Flytec, Icaro, Moyes, USHPA and Wills Wing. Many, many thanks.

See ya next year.

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Go Long in Texas 2022 »

Sun, Jul 24 2022, 1:59:53 am GMT

New Wharton / Cowboy Up site records

Cowboy Up|Larry Bunner|record

Today Larry and Robin set new site records flying to the northwest of Fort Worth. Larry Bunner writes:

I went ~290 miles and set the new site record. Unfortunately it only lasted an hour as Robin went 308!

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Go Long in Texas 2022 »

Fri, Jul 22 2022, 3:11:10 am GMT

Day Five

Cowboy Up|James Race|Ken Millard|Larry Bunner|record|Rich Reinauer|Tiki Mashy

Tiki Mashy writes:

Rich Reinaur, 244 miles, the record for Go Long, and Cowboy Up.

Larry Bunner writes:

We set a 226 mile task to the NNW. Again many PB’s, Rich Reinauer set the site record at 244 miles surpassing Robin’s previous 241. Pete and I flew together all day landing in Stephenville for ~237, Mick made almost 230, Ken Millard increased his PB from Tuesday to 211 miles, James Race went over 100 miles (~150?), just a crazy good day. Pete and I were shutdown by a cunim but still managed to get an hour in overcast skies. There are even more PB’s. Incredible weather all week!

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Go Long in Texas 2022 »

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 12:24:54 am GMT

Day Four

Ben Dunn|Danny Jones|Fred Kaemerer|Jim Yocum|Ken Millard|Larry Bunner|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Nathan "Nate" Wreyford|Rich Reinauer|Tiki Mashy

Larry Bunner writes:

Texas Go Long is full on with drought conditions making for some good flights. A lot of personal bests and many 100+ milers. Pete L and I teamed up and on day 1 flew ~130 miles to Madisonville, day 2 Robin, Mick and Rich Reinauer did the same to Madisonville, day 3 we set 300km to the NE and Pete and I made 290km on a mostly blue last 70 miles. Mick, Rich and Ken Millard also got close.

Tiki Mashy writes:

Go Long in Texas day 4 another great day!!
Robin 181 miles Palestine Tx
Ben Dunn Palestine Tx
Danny Jones Centerville, Tx
Jim Yocum 176 miles
Still Flying (still in the air) near Palestine,Tx:
-Nate Wreyford
-Fred Kaemerer

https://cuhanggliding.com/golongintexas/

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Boot Skids

Sat, May 28 2022, 9:47:33 am MDT

Knee pads

harness|Larry Bunner

"Larry Bunner" ‹lbunner@aol.com› writes:

Finished up the boot skid for the Havana and Hero harnesses. I also make knee skids that I have been wearing for 3 years now. If pilots are looking for a skid to protect their harness boot, contact me at 717-659-1353 or the email address above.

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Flying Far in the Midwest

Fri, May 20 2022, 6:27:52 pm MDT

Krzys' 275 mile flight

Andria Lea|Greg Dinauer|Jarotron "Jaro" Krupa|Jerzy Kolacz|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|Marek "Braveheart" Kadamus|Radomir "Kuri" Kurka|Wilotree Park|XC

"Krzysztof Grzyb" writes:

We all have had enough of this cold and wet weather. It is already half way through May and we (midwestern pilots) have not had good weather this season yet. In order not to fall into the hang-gliding depression, a few days hang gliding flying trip to Wilotree Park FL turned out to be good medicine. See here:

As a maniac always observing the weather forecasts, last Friday morning flashed a lamp of hope for me that this Monday May 16, 2022 may give us a pleasant surprise.

Day by day, slowly the cross country forecast for Monday looked better and better. On Sunday, I was sure that I had to start working to achieve this flying day. Jaro Krupa promised to tow (it is a pity that he did not fly this day, but he complained that he was feeling bad). Jerzy Kolacz (my friend) promised me a few months ago that if the weather is good, he will chase me. Of course, he took a day off for this “event”.

Now I'm in contact with Larry Bunner and Greg Dinauer that we're flying tomorrow. Unfortunately, Larry had an appointment for Monday and he couldn't go, Greg did have some different urgent issues.

I had a mixed feeling when checking 6 forecast models at 6.00 am this Monday, 4 of them were OK (6-7K, 25mph, Buoyancy/Shear 2-3), two others were optimistic (8K, 20-22mph, BS 4-5). All models showed a local deterioration in conditions NE of Lafayette and around the IN-OH border (BS1-2). So everything is ready for fun then let’s go.

Old rule - you won't know unless you fly.

Driving at 7.30 am to Cullom with Jerzy on board, Larry confirmed my optimistic forecasts with a max lift of 9.5K - he also noticed this uninteresting place north of Lafayette.

We were the first with Jerzy in the launch area already at 9:15 am. Andria Lea appeared a few minutes later, smiling as usual (Professional PG Pilot) who was on her way to work. Then, Jaro with "Kuri" (Radomir Kurka) and "Braveheart" (Marek Kadamus) came together.

Circa at 10:30 "Kuri" took off, followed by "Braveheart" both of them left with the wind in broken zero sink slowly lifting themselves up. It's my turn. Take-off at 11:00 NW wind on the ground 10-15 mph. After releasing, I was flying against the wind to the nearest cloud, without any lift I had to land. Little “dancing” landing, quick battery changes in the spare vario and restart.

My departure at zero sink was around 11:20am. It took me a long time to scratch myself up to 4K. Later it only got better. I was very conservative at this point to stay as high as possible because with the height BS ratio was higher but at lower altitude, there was weaker lift with broken thermal. After almost 1 hr flight I was able to touch the CB @ 8700ft! Flying east, the cloud base was a little lower, max 8.5K where the downwind was around 20-23 mph from the WNW. Coming to Lafayette I took the north path to avoid Air Space, both PG pilots took the South Path and they landed at a similar time when I was close to them. They made 100 and 80 mile XC flights! (They were a little disappointed.)

Flying the north side of the airspace sky looks better to me (where is the bad spot?) There it is; 20-30 miles East from Lafayette huge “blue hole” and very weak clouds around it. It slowed me down a little but I was able to find some thermal under the blue and sunny sky. This time fire helps me. I did not see any birds higher than 1000 ft above ground the entire flight.

Around 4:40 pm Jerzy invited me to OH state. Love IT!! Coming to Dayton Air space I had some headache because the perfect sky was just above the airport. Here I had to run south to the only cloud in the area. She happily picked me up and I was able to safely fly over the area between Dayton and Cincinnati where there is hardly any landing place. Passing over the PG landing site of the record (240 miles 2020) Jaro’s flight and later over the road 68 I had a meeting with a Boeing 737 which was flying from the North-South direction below me around 800 ft. I did not notice any collision.

I tried to extend this flight but the sky was already stable and blue. I landed at 6:30 pm (7:30 local time) in Washington Court House, OH. It was 275 miles from Cullom. Jerzy came 10 minutes later when I finished breaking down my glider. We came back home at 2:30am. Jerzy went to work at 7:00am (I'm so sorry…) I'm working remotely today.

Lots of fun, a lot of turbulent air, new experiences and a lot of thanks to Jerzy and Jaro.

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Cold and Windy

Tue, May 17 2022, 3:20:19 pm MDT

Krzysztof Grzyb goes far

altitude|Dustin Martin|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|record

Larry Bunner writes:

Sorry for the small graph:

17-22knots from the surface to the TOL at greater than 10000' A little cold at 26°F. Krzys the only pilot able to fly on Monday. Should be 200+ miles today. We shall see.

Krzys flew 444.92km (276 miles) in 7:14, top altitude was 8874' with multiple climbs over 1000' and greater than 500fpm. It was truly an epic day.

He launched the first time just after 11:00 but despite the cu’s over head could not get up. His next launch was an hour later.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:grzybk/16.05.2022/16:20

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Sun, May 1 2022, 6:26:15 pm MDT

The podium

Fabiano Nahoum|John Simon|Larry Bunner|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

#1 Larry Bunner (center), #2 John Simon (left), #3 Fabiano Nahoum (right)

Larry, middle; John, on his right; Fabiano on his left.

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Sun, May 1 2022, 6:07:28 pm MDT

A bit of a disappointment

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Not everyone was disappointed, of course.

The forecast for the day:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Saturday, April 30th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 2pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 2pm and 5pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 85°F. East wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east wind 9-11 mph, cloud cover 66% increasing to 70%, chance of rain 23% increasing to 56% at 2 pm

RAP 13, 1 PM:

Surface wind: east-southeast 8 mph (11 mph 2,000') gust 10 mph
Updraft velocity: 620 fpm
TOL: 5,600'
Cu: 3,100'
B/S: 8.7

RAP 13, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east 8 mph (11 mph 2,000') gust 11 mph
Updraft velocity: 540 fpm
TOL: 5,700'
Cu: 5,400''
B/S: 7.8

CAPE shows little chance of over development here and to our north and northwest, but good chance to our south and southwest.

Area of no lift north of Williston.

SkewT shows no cu-nimb development here as the high temperature is only 80°F.

It turned out that we did get thunder storms and rain, but only after 7:30 pm. Some pilots experienced a few rain drops while on course.

We were back down at the west end for a launch into the east wind yet again. The sky didn't look all that great, more like the previous day when we had very disappointing lift. None the less there were in fact better conditions.

Bobby Bailey towed me up again, so far every time. The lift was weak but definitely there at about 120 fpm, much better than the day before. Slowly climbing drifting to the west at 9 mph I found 250 fpm and got up to cloud base between 4,000' and 4,300'. I played keep out of the cloud for 15 minutes as we drifted to the edge of the 5 km start cylinder (why didn't we set it to 8 km?).

Unfortunately, we still had 15 minutes to wait for the first clock. Larry suggested flying to a cu to the northeast inside the start cylinder. I followed him a ways to his east as we headed for the cu. Down from 4,300' to 3,100' I found 160 fpm and Larry came over under me. I was able to only climb to 3,700' before it stopped. We still had seven minutes and were at the edge of the start cylinder.

I headed west back toward the launch. The lift on the southeast corner of Wilotree Park didn't work well enough and I was forced to land and relaunch.

Jim Prahl towed me to the north and after pinning off I headed straight downwind to landable patch of cleared area where I found 200 fpm at 1,300' AGL. Larry came in about 100' over me and then as we got up Konrado came in under us. We were able to climb to 3,000' and take the second clock.

I found 100 fpm over the southeast corner of the nursery and then 225 fpm over the southwest corner to 3,900' where I joined up with four or more pilots flying the Sport Class task.

I heard from Larry that he was getting up at 300 fpm by Center Hill 7 km to the north and despite not being that high went for the good looking clouds in that direction. Down to 1,300' AGL I found almost 300 fpm to 3,900' drifting at 10 mph to the west south of Center Hill.

On the west side of Center Hill there were Thaise and Leonardo turning at my level and I climbed up to 4,100' with one turn before heading for the first turnpoint at Cheryl.

The ground was almost completely shaded from west of Center Hill to well past the turnpoint. I got the turnpoint at 2,000' and headed north to get under a dark cloud. I then saw Konrado turning just a little higher than me. I went under him but found 4 fpm. There were two fires just to the west. I should have stayed with Konrado as he got up and so did Thaise who later came under him also.

I tried the fires and they didn't work, so I tried other fields with no luck.

Larry got up at the turnpoint and headed east, but for him and Konrado it was just a long glide to landing east of the forested area that is north of Center Hill.

It was a crucial error to leave Konrado and not work further under the dark cu and to go for the fires. If I had stayed with Konrado I would have had a great opportunity to stay in third place.

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Sun, May 1 2022, 8:30:57 am MDT

The big picture

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Larry Bunner won the 2022 Paradise Airports Nationals (one of a series of three competitions that determine the 2022 National Championship) by a very significant margin. He could not be happier (except maybe when attending one of many graduation ceremonies for his grandchildren, which he'll be doing this week).

How did it go?

On the first day we had a long out task (186 kilometers) to the north-northwest in an east-southeast wind. Larry, John Simon, and I were the last pilots still in the air and the furthest out at 6:30 pm. Larry chose to head for the last cu in the semi convergence to the north on the west side of High Springs. Getting that last cu allowed him to go just a bit further than John or I.

On the second day, the giant task around the Green Swamp, John Simon won the day, but Larry was close to goal (a little less than 7 km short) in fourth and now behind John by 164 points.

Larry won the task on day 3, a triangle to the northwest, by making up for a low altitude start (thereby staying out of a lead gaggle), taking a different route after the first turnpoint at Kokee getting north of the spreading cu that put the leading gaggle, including John Simon, on the ground just after the first turnpoint. That put him over 300 point ahead of John.

On day five, after a cancelled day, we had an extremely weak day. Larry chose to launch at the end of the staging line instead of ninth. There were numerous relights and a number of them after 4 PM (including John Simon). Larry asked his tug pilot to take him almost straight south past the spread out cu that was shading Wilotree. He found 300 fpm west of Pine Island Lake to cloud base at 4,500', while everyone else struggled and more likely landed.

Pedro Garcia was able to fly the longest distance, but jumped the gun as he launched near the front and was blown out of the 8 km cylinder. Larry was able to find good lift going to the first turnpoint and made three turnpoints to get first for the day on a day worth only 200 points, and only about 125 points than those you didn't get out side the 5 km minimum distance cylinder. He was now a little less than 400 points in front of John, which is a fairly comfortable amount.

On day five it was unclear if we would have safe flying conditions given the high chance for rain, and we called a local triangle in the area with the least chance of rain according to a couple of the models. Larry was way down at 12th for that day, but John Simon was close by ending up 9th. Pedro won the day after a relight.

So with three wins and a fourth he was able to end up a little over 300 points ahead of John. Being in position to catch John after the first two days, his decision to take an alternative route around the shaded area on day three (and be forced by circumstances to start way behind the lead gaggle) was the key to victory. He gains a few more points on the 200 point day, so that going into the last day meant not necessarily winning the day, but not losing the competition to John.

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Sun, May 1 2022, 7:35:11 am MDT

Results from the last day, day six, task five

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Results:

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

Open task:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 56.12 691.8
2 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 51.94 652.1
3 Ric Caylor Moyes RX 5 Pro 48.48 624.5
4 Raul Guerra Icaro Moyes RX 45.21 591.4
5 Rob Cooper Wills Wing T4 45.45 590.2
6 JD Guillemette TBD 42.53 555.9
7 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T3C 42.16 551.2
8 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 41.40 538.5
9 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 41.71 536.6
10 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 40.86 527.4

Final

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Larry Bunner USA Wills Wing T3 144 Team 3323
2 John Simon USA Aeros Combat C 12.7 2986
3 Fabiano Nahoum BRA Icaro Laminar 14.1 2749
4 Pedro L. Garcia USA Wills Wing T3 144 2728
5 Luke Waters USA Moyes RX 3.5 2681
6 Giovani Tagliari BRA Aeros Combat C 13.5 2603
7 Davis Straub USA Wills Wing T3 144 2546
8 Rich Reinauer USA Wills Wing T3C 2534
9 Mike Glennon COL Moyes SX 5 2389
10 Marcello Pereira BRA Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 2174

Sport task:

# Name Nat Glider Time Distance Total
1 Attila Plasch M USA Wills Wing U2 01:19:42 39.24 991.3
2 Thaise Caroline Galvan F BRA Moyes Gecko 01:18:58 39.24 853.6
3 Leonardo Ortiz M COL Aeros Discus 01:26:16 39.24 809.7
4 Douglas Hale M USA ? Gecko 155 20.42 372.7
5 Richard Milla M USA Wills Wing U2 145 18.10 323.2

Final:

# Name Nat Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 T 5 Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz M COL Aeros Discus 991.8 859.3 801.1 331.7 809.7 3794
2 Thaise Caroline Galvan F BRA Moyes Gecko 388.9 857.8 282.7 232.2 853.6 2615
3 Richard Milla M USA Wills Wing U2 145 756.7 717.0 716.5 98.2 323.2 2612
4 Attila Plasch M USA Wills Wing U2 115.3 325.9 270.3 218.9 991.3 1922
5 Tim Delaney M USA Wills Wing Sport 3 135 566.4 905.9 430.2 0.0 0.0 1903

https://fb.watch/cL6leG3tdx/

https://fb.watch/cL6D847gFM/

https://fb.watch/cL6GHm4uLa/

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Fri, Apr 29 2022, 9:43:30 pm MDT

A strange day five

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

The forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Friday, April 29th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

Mostly sunny, with a high near 85°F. East wind 5 to 15 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east wind 11-14 mph with gusts to 18 mph not starting until 4 pm, cloud cover 36% increasing to 46%, no chance of rain.

Model surface wind and gust forecasts for 1 PM:

GFS 10 mph, east slightly northeast
ICON 9 mph east, 25 mph
NAM 12 12 mph east
NAM 3 13 mph east, 14 mph
RAP 10 mph east, 13 mph
HRRR 10 mph east-northeast, 13 mph
NWS 13 mph east, none

The forecasted surface winds and gusts are somewhat lower than those forecasted for Thursday. Surface wind at Leesburg airport is 9 mph at 8 am, yesterday it was 13 mph.

HRRR, 1 PM:

Surface wind: east-northeast 10 mph (13 mph 2,000') gust 13 mph
Updraft velocity: 600 fpm
TOL: 6,400'
Cu: 6,200'
B/S: 8.1

HRRR, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east-northeast 11 mph (13 mph 2,000') gust 14 mph
Updraft velocity: 600 fpm
TOL: 6.900'
Cu: 6,900''
B/S: 9.1

The Sport Class chose to go first at 12:40 PM. Nobody stuck. They tried again, a few stuck and some came back for a third try then a few would later try a fourth or fifth time.

Finally the open class pilots got their chance, some stuck, most didn't. I waited at the end of the launch line instead of launching 7th, so got a late start, which was fine. After suffering a broken weak link behind Jim Prahl, I had Bobby Bailey tow me up again and it was fine. I just made sure that I didn't let my left wing dip, as many of the pilots before me did.

There were spread out cu's shading the ground all around. I saw JD circling to the south and heard from Larry that he was thermaling at 300 fpm a few kilometers even further south. I pinned off and went toward JD. For the next ten minutes JD and I circled around with one other pilot gaining 200 feet and losing 200 feet.

Perhaps tired of getting nowhere fast as we drifted in a 14 mph east wind, JD headed off east and the other pilot disappeared. I headed toward some small cu's out over the sunshine instead of the shade that I had been over since launch and found nothing landing just outside the 5 km minimum distance cylinder.

Larry had got up in extremely weak lift and Pedro had been blown out of the 8 km start cylinder and was on his way out ahead of anyone who was still in the air (Raul, Larry and Pedro).

When I got back to Wilotree Park around 4 PM a few of those who had landed back at the park instead of heading out in weak lift, were launching again. John Simon, JD, Ric Caylor, Mick Howard, and Ian Snowball. They were able to make a few kilometers. Eighteen pilots got the minimum distance.

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Fri, Apr 29 2022, 8:38:39 pm MDT

Results, day five, task four

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Results:

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

Open task:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 62.52 200.9
2 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 77.61 166.0
3 JD Guillemette TBD 38.69 158.8
4 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 32.01 144.7
5 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 30.64 140.9
6 Raul Guerra Icaro Moyes RX 20.06 115.1
7 Ian Snowball Moyes RS 4.5 14.37 103.1
8 Ric Caylor Moyes RX 5 Pro 11.51 95.3
9 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5 Technora 7.58 84.4
10 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 5.37 77.2

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 917.5 767.3 955.2 200.9 2841
2 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 886.5 962.8 455.0 144.7 2449
3 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 876.3 759.5 557.4 77.2 2270
4 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 690.9 737.3 675.6 76.0 2180
5 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 835.3 621.8 563.4 76.0 2097
6 Marcello Pereira Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 553.0 873.0 568.5 76.0 2071
7 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 769.5 751.6 467.4 76.0 2065
8 Mike Glennon Moyes SX 5 540.1 953.8 467.3 76.0 2037
9 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 833.0 555.3 481.5 166.0 2036
10 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T3C 726.1 420.9 759.4 76.0 1982

Sport task:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 24.25 331.7
2 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 14.49 232.2
3 Attila Plasch Wills Wing U2 13.28 218.9
4 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 11.39 195.6
5 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 5.00 98.2

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 991.8 859.3 801.1 331.7 2984
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 756.7 717.0 716.5 98.2 2288
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 566.4 905.9 430.2 0.0 1903
4 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 388.9 857.8 282.7 232.2 1762
5 Artiom Markelov Wills Wing Sport 3 155 206.6 100.4 1000.0 98.2 1405

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Thu, Apr 28 2022, 3:12:33 pm MDT

Day four canceled, too windy

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Morning Soaring Forecast for Thursday, April 28th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

Mostly sunny, with a high near 86°F. East-northeast wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Currently at 8 AM blowing NE 13 mph with no gusts at Leesburg airfield.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east slightly northeast wind 13-14 mph with gusts to 18 mph, cloud cover 35% to 40%, no chance of rain.

Model surface wind and gust forecasts for 1 PM:

GFS 11 mph
ICON 9 mph, 24 mph
NAM 12 15 mph, 10 mph (That's weird)
NAM 3 17 mph, 21 mph
RAP 8 mph, 11 mph
HRRR 13 mph, 18 mph
NWS 13 mph, none

HRRR, 1 PM:

Surface wind: east-northeast 13 mph (18 mph 2,000') gust 18 mph
Updraft velocity: 500 fpm
TOL: 4,800'
Cu: 4,600'
B/S: 3.9

HRR, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east-northeast 16 mph (23 mph 2,000') gust 22 mph
Updraft velocity: 440 fpm
TOL: 4,900'
Cu: 0'
B/S: 2.8

The winds were forecasted to be stronger to our north and much lighter to our south and we in the middle. But the winds were just at the edge of acceptable here at Wilotree Park, so the safety committee called the day.

At Leesburg Airport to our north:

Time Wind
(EDT) (mph)
15:53 NE 15 G 22
14:53 E 17 G 24
13:53 NE 14 G 22
12:53 E 13 G 24
11:53 NE 15 G 24
10:53 NE 16 G 21
9:53 NE 15 G 22
8:53 NE 16 G 23
7:53 NE 13

At Kissimee to our south east:

Time Wind
(EDT) (mph)
15:56 NE 15
14:56 E 17
13:56 E 17 G 21
12:56 NE 15 G 18
11:56 E 14
10:56 NE 13
9:56 NE 10
8:56 NE 13
7:56 NE 6

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Thu, Apr 28 2022, 3:10:26 pm MDT

Flying day three

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

The task to the northwest:

Wilotree 5 km
Kokee 2 km
Baron 3 km
Wilotree 400 m

83.8 km FAI triangle

The forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Wednesday, April 27th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 89°F. Calm wind becoming west-northwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Hourly afternoon forecast: west-northwest wind 6 mph increasing to 7 mph and turning northwest, cloud cover 66%, 20% chance of rain increasing to 31% at 5 pm.

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: west slightly northwest 5 mph (6 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 6,200'
Cu: 5,400'
B/S: 10.0

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: northwest 7 mph (9 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 7,100'
Cu: 6,700'
B/S: 10.0

Temperature at CB at 2 PM: 48°F (6,700')

CAPE shows no chance of over development

Noon conditions: Lift: 520 fpm, TOL: 4,100', Cu: 0', surface winds west 5 mph

A front is coming through before 2 pm

Got pulled up behind Bobby's tug again. I'm gonna get killed doing this. No more. Tight circle kept me at the higher speed as I moved out to get outside the spinning.

There were plenty of cu's nearby in the 5 km start cylinder and with the northwest wind pushing us back toward Wilotree I was able to climb to 4,800' at 300+ fpm just before the start window opened. I was 3 km from the edge of the start cylinder but Larry had radioed earlier that he was down to 2,700' at the edge of the cylinder so I wanted to stay with the good clouds and lift. This made me a bit late for the start along with a dozen other pilots.

Climbed back to 4,800' south of Mascotte just outside the start cylinder and headed for south of the nursery south of highway 50 and turned in some 125 fpm before heading west again for a nice cu just south of the intersection of 469 and 50 where I found 385 fpm to 4,500'. I was calling all the lift to Larry who was low and following.

Gliding along south of 50 to the west into a 5 mph head wind I was down to 2,400' just east of the lumber mill at highway 471 when I felt that there was good lift in the sunshine to the south of the cloud I came under. Sure enough I was soon hitting bits of 700 to 800 fpm on the 20 second averager. I called it out to Larry and he came in under at 1,200'.

I left at cloud base at 4,300' and headed for a long northwest to southeast black bottom cloud with sunshine on the southern side. Seemed like a big cu like that would be producing. Six kilometers from the turnpoint at Kokee I found lift that averaged 650 fpm all the way to cloud base with a few pilots coming in underneath me.

Nicked the Kokee turnpoint and headed north east and down to 2,500' before I found 300 fpm to 4,200' drifting east at 8 mph. Larry was still a ways behind me, but I kept up the reports as he worked with a dozen other pilots to head toward the Kokee turnpoint.

Heading east-southeast to get on the sunny southern side of an elongated east to west cu I found lift just north of the town of Webster. It was only about 200 fpm but it got me to 4,600' right near the bottom of the long cu. The pilot above me headed north. I headed under the cu to the east with Fabiano just behind me.

I didn't know it at that point but all the leading gaggle had gone down just to the north of me. Maria radioed that she was climbing to my north a few kilometers under the black cloud while I was just on the southern edge of it.

I didn't find any lift under the cu as I headed for Center Hill. There was more cu's ahead and an open sky away from this cu in a few kilometers just past Center Hill. I came in under a cu but there was no lift. I headed for the next one, but there was also nothing there. I was getting low and Maria radioed that she was landing 15 km from the second turnpoint at Baron.

I was down to 1,200' heading northeast up highway 48 just seeing if my good luck from the first three days would hold out, but it didn't look promising. Larry had heard that Maria had landed and that I was low and he had already made the decision to go a different route than the pilots that he was flying with and went north from Kokee toward Bushnell instead of east toward Webster and the black cu. He wanted to get away from the cu and knew that we had to go north at some point so it might as well be as soon as he got Kokee.

I floated along for quite a while but then down to 300' AGL I needed to make a turn and land on the little dirt road in the field. It was a short walk to the gate. Fabiano landed next to me.

Larry was able to get up at Bushnell while almost everyone else was going down. He now had a sky full of little cu's that he used to get himself to Baron and then south back to Wilotree to win the day.

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Wed, Apr 27 2022, 7:35:52 pm MDT

Results, day three

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Results:

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

The lead gaggle, nine pilots, all went down within 3 km of each other just after the first turnpoint. Larry, following the gaggle that was following me, decided to not follow them or me and turned north south of Bushnell instead of going toward Webster and the black cloud ahead and was able to find nice cu's in the unshaded ground north of that cloud, the cloud that rained on Claudia.

Open task 3:

# Name Glider ES Time Distance Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 16:19:36 02:49:36 83.41 951.3
2 Rob Cooper Wills Wing T4 17:03:40 03:13:40 83.41 855.0
3 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T3C 17:46:09 04:16:09 83.41 756.3
4 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 64.13 672.9
5 Marcello Pereira Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 47.59 566.2
6 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 46.90 561.1
7 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 46.12 555.1
8 Claudia Mejia Wills Wing T3 136 42.67 520.2
9 Ric Caylor Moyes RX 5 Pro 42.56 512.6
10 Ian Snowball Moyes RS 4.5 42.31 511.5

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 917.5 767.3 951.3 2636
2 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 886.5 962.8 453.1 2302
3 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 876.3 759.5 555.1 2191
4 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 690.9 737.3 672.9 2101
5 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 835.3 621.8 561.1 2018
6 Marcello Pereira Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 553.0 873.0 566.2 1992
7 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 769.5 751.6 465.4 1987
8 Mike Glennon Moyes SX 5 540.1 953.8 465.5 1959
9 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T3C 726.1 420.9 756.3 1903
10 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 833.0 555.3 479.5 1868

Sport task 3:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Artiom Markelov Wills Wing Sport 3 155 01:56:09 49.38 1000.0
2 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 02:20:31 49.38 801.1
3 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 02:36:28 49.38 716.5
4 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 26.12 430.2
5 Douglas Hale ? Gecko 155 23.63 384.8

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 991.8 859.3 801.1 2652
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 756.7 717.0 716.5 2190
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 566.4 905.9 430.2 1903
4 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 388.9 857.8 282.7 1529
5 Artiom Markelov Wills Wing Sport 3 155 206.6 100.4 1000.0 1307

https://fb.watch/cG18_kqR9-/

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Wed, Apr 27 2022, 7:35:09 pm MDT

The flight, day two, Tuesday

Bobby Bailey|John Simon|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022|XC

The task committee chooses to go around the Green Swamp the long way:

Wilotree 5 km
Panolk 3 km
Clinton 3 km
Fantsy 5 km
Wilotree 400 m

153 km

The forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Tuesday, April 26th, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS, Today:

Sunny, with a high near 90. Calm wind becoming north-northeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Hourly afternoon forecast: south-southeast 3 mph or less until 11 am then east surface wind 3 mph at noon turning to east-northeast at 1 pm at 3 mph and 5 mph north-northeast at 2 pm, cloud cover 4% increasing to 31%, no chance of rain. If we launch at noon it should be light southeast.

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: north 3 mph (4 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 680 fpm
TOL: 6,400'
Cu: 4,800'
B/S: 10.0

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: north slightly northwest 3 mph (4 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 680 fpm
TOL: 8,000'
Cu: 5,100'
B/S: 10.0

Temperature at CB at 2 PM: 44°F

The launch time got moved back again, but this time because pilots weren't just organized to be ready in time. Launch opened at 12:50 pm with a forty minute window and the start gate opened at 1:30 PM.

Bobby Bailey towed me up, but seriously his plane just does not go fast enough. I need 36 to 40 mph to keep from wandering all over the place. Only when Bobby starts doing tight circles can I push myself to the outside to speed up enough to get the glider under control. Thankfully he is very happy to do tight circles but that doesn't help right after coming off the cart. From now on I'll try to tow behind the tugs with more powerful engines.

The average lift varied between 250 fpm and 325 fpm in the start cylinder and I was able to stick around cloud base at 5,100' before quickly heading out to take the first start time. Once again there was 500+ fpm southeast of the nursery and I was soon at 5,200'.

I headed west-northwest to get under the cu's south of Center Hill. The three pilots in front of me headed north-northwest to cu's straight to the north. When I go under the cu's there was Pedro and the lift was weak. A few turns and we headed north to just south of the mines on the west side of Center Hill where we climbed at almost 500 fpm to 5,400'. I had found the lift first so I was quite a bit higher than Pedro or Larry and had to leave the thermal as I got into the mists. I was in touch with both of them on the radio.

Two strong thermals on the way to Lake Panasoftkee and I was with Pedro and Larry but again quite a bit above them and leaving at cloud base. At 5,600' and 5 km from the turnpoint I went with an Aeros pilot to get the turnpoint with the idea of coming back to the strong lift that we just climbed up in.

When I got back I missed the lift not going far enough east and continued on to the south I found lift on the northeast corner of Bushnell and climbed to 5,900', but Pedro and Larry did find the lift when they came back to the thermal before the first turnpoint and got to cloud base much quicker and got out ahead of me.

It was the sixteen kilometer glide to the north end of the mines where I was limited to 140 fpm to 4,100'. I dove for a black cloud to the south-southwest and got punched out of the sky at 700 fpm down. I chose that direction to avoid the shaded area due south and now I was headed for the sunshine to the southwest of the dark cloud.

Down to 1,800' and way way west of the course line I took 350 fpm to 4,700' and then scooted to the southeast to another good looking cloud at the western edge of the Green Swamp. John Simon, who started 20 minutes later, joined me as we climbed to 4,300'.

Heading into the Green Swamp the cu's didn't work so I bailed for the land fill to the south to find 300 fpm to 5,000'. A little further south-southwest I found 240 fpm to 5,300' just before the turnpoint at the intersection of highway 98 and 471.

260 fpm got me back to 4,200' to the south east toward Rockridge Road and highway 98 intersection. I didn't find anything as I searched around and kept track of where there were landing areas to the east toward the turnpoint at Flights of Fantasy.

Down to 1,100' AGL over a big open area with no roads I noted that there were houses to the south and I could hop the fence to get to one of the roads in the subdivision. I also tried my luck right at the border of the open space and the trees mixed in with the houses.

I found 160 fpm as I noted that there were little wisps forming over me and also to me east a bit. Climbing to 3,100' I moved over to the east a bit to get under the better looking cu's and found 370 fpm that took me to almost 7,000'. I was 10 km out from the turnpoint so went straight for it.

There was a field that was burning right at the northern edge of the 5 km turnpoint at Fantsy and then I noticed that a small high cu was forming upwind (to the east) of the smoke. I was able to get under the cu and climb to 5,500', but not back to 7,000' which would have been very nice.

It was now almost 5:30 pm as I headed north toward the little cu's forming in that direction. There was a dark mass of clouds a bit further to the west and maybe that was convergence as we expected a sea breeze.

I worked some light thermals and then over a forested area by Green Pond road while keeping an eye on possible bail out fields I worked two thermals, one after another, from about the same place, climbing to 6,200' at a little over 200 fpm. Finally at 6:11 pm I headed north toward a set of dark cu's hoping to find just enough to get me into goal.

It was a long glide to just west of the Seminole Lake Gliderport and I was down to 2,500' working 43 fpm. Leaving at 2,700', when I knew it would take about 4,000' to make it to goal, I headed for a fire to the north-northwest as well as to the sunny western side of the dark clouds to the north. Neither worked and I glided until 5 km from goal.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/26.4.2022/16:57

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3065118

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2022/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Tue, Apr 26 2022, 9:29:38 pm MDT

The flight, day one

John Simon|Konrad Heilmann|Larry Bunner|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022|Pedro Garcia|Rich Reinauer|XC

The original task was an out and back up and down highway 33 which is the north/south road next to Wilotree Park. We did this because of the RAP forecast for east winds.

Morning Soaring Forecast for Monday, April 25th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

Sunny, with a high near 87. East wind 5 to 10 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east surface wind 9 mph increasing to 11 mph, cloud cover 21% increasing to 30%, no chance of rain

RAP, 1 PM

Surface wind: east 7 mph (10 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 6,10'
Cu: 5,100'
B/S: 9.1

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east 7 mph (10 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 680 fpm
TOL: 7,400'
Cu: 6,700'
B/S: 10.0

Temperature at CB at 2 PM - 46°

Suggested Task:

Task committee meeting 9 AM
Pilot briefing 10 AM

Noon conditions: Lift: 580 fpm, TOL: 4,800', Cu: 4,100', surface winds east 7 mph

Launch 12:30 PM

Launch spot west launch area

Task start 1:30 PM

Wilotree 5 km
Fantsy 5 km
Baron 5 km
Wilotree 400 m

125 km

But the launch crew had us setup to launch from the northwest corner because of the surface winds were southeast, then five minutes before the launch opened they moved us south to the west launch area for the forecasted east winds. I had previously viewed a satellite photo showing southeast clouds to the northwest so the task committee had changed the task to send us to the north-northwest first to Dunnellon and then to a small airfield south of Lake City.

We didn't get to launch until 1:20 PM instead of 12:30 PM because of all the moving around. This would make it very difficult to make goal 186 km away given that the start gate would open at 2:20 PM.

I was third to launch and got off tow at 1,300' when my vario showed 1,200 fpm. I climbed to cloud base at 4,600' eighteen minutes after I started my tow and was ready to get on with the task. I would have to wait around for over half an hour before the start gate opened. It seemed like every pilot was in the air including the sport class pilots within half an hour.

After hanging around at cloud base for what seemed like forever I headed to the west to Mascotte, took a few turns in less than 200 fpm drawing in a number of pilots who would stay with that climb and moved to the west to the southeast corner of the nursery to find 500 fpm on average to cloudbase. Rich Reinauer and Konrad were with me. Larry Bunner was nearby.

Heading northwest toward Center Hill I found 500 fpm to cloudbase at 4,800' again after a 7 km glide. It looks like the day would be very strong. After gliding to the northeast of Center Hill and another strong thermal to 5,100'. Leaving at 5,100' the three of us headed for the cu over the cement plant to the west of the prison. We would normally be quite a bit further to the east but the east wind has pushed us west. There was a cu over the prison but it was further away.

It was a twelve kilometer glide and at first the thermal did not work. I was the lowest of the three and was down to 1,100' AGL before I found some lift at 170 fpm. This got me to 2,200' where I could feel a bit safer and I headed west to find better lift as I saw Rich turning. I was able to climb at 200 fpm to 3,800' drifting over highway 301 and almost to I75. Larry Bunner was nearby, but his radio didn't work so I missed the strong thermal that he had that got him up and over the swamp to the east of Lake Panasoftkee.

Way west of our normal route I found 200+ fpm at Coleman to 3,400' and kept creeping north not getting above 4,000' until I got west of I75 north of the intersection with the Florida Turnpike and I75. 400+ fpm got me back to cloud base at 5,400'. Marion Oaks lay ahead.

Southeast of Marion Oaks I climbed again at 400+ fpm to 6,100'. There were lots of thick black-bottomed clouds to the northwest on the southern edge of Marion Oaks, I flew under them but only found 250 fpm for a few turns.

At 5,000' I headed for more cu's to the northwest, but I didn't find anything. I could see pilots high turning in them but when I got to the northwest corner of the big open field west of Marion Oaks, there was no lift and I was down to 2,400'. I headed into the sunshine and the blue to the east then to the south over the open field assuming that I would have to land.

Down to 900' AGL I found lift at the edge of a treed area next to where I had assumed that I would be landing. At 350 fpm I climbed out to 5,500'. This was enough to get me over the trees and houses to the northwest where I spotted some pilots going up fast. Again an average of 500 fpm got me to 6,100' just south of the optimized turnpoint at Dunnell airfield.

There were scattered cu's to the north and it was a 13 km glide to get to the next thermal that averaged 400+ fpm northwest of the Ocala Airport (way high above it and outside the airspace).

I could see that there were a whole lot of lakes/water to the north near the course line and the cu's were to the west (downwind) of the course line, so I went to the northwest to stay under the cu's. Turned out this would have been our normal route anyway.

It was after 5 PM by the time I got to Williston but found 300 fpm average there to 4,900'. The lift to the north was mostly weak. I was surprised to see Pedro coming at me from the north south of Archer. He and John Simon and others had been further east in the blue and they had not been doing well so Pedro and John came west to get under the cu's.

Pedro and I worked together some miserable light lift northwest of Archer and then he got a bit higher and went north. I found some 367 fpm lift a little further to the northwest and climbed back up finally to 5,600'. Pedro was soon landing. John was a ways behind.

A little northwest of Newberry I found a thermal that averaged a little less then 200 fpm. It was getting quite late after 6:30 pm (sundown is at 7:56 pm). I looked up and there was Larry about 100' over me. We climbed to 4,000'.

I headed out first going to the north to the next little wisp, but didn't find anything. There was another cu further north that I didn't go to as it looked like a lot of trees in that direction. Actually it's not that bad.

Larry went to the next cu and got up well. I went to the northeast to land near High Springs. Larry was able to get high enough to cross the river and land north west of High Springs 10 km north west of me.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/25.4.2022/17:25

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3065117

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2022/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Tue, Apr 26 2022, 9:08:00 pm MDT

Results, day two

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Results:

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

Day Two Open:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 04:29:22 148.34 962.0
2 Mike Glennon Moyes SX 5 04:49:14 148.34 951.5
3 Marcello Pereira Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 05:12:37 148.34 867.0
4 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 141.50 753.9
5 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 143.26 746.1
6 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 139.70 738.6
7 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 141.69 724.1
8 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 139.70 699.8
9 JD Guillemette TBD TBD 127.47 632.5
10 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 127.63 625.3

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 886.5 962.0 1849
2 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 917.5 753.9 1671
3 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 876.3 746.1 1622
4 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 769.5 738.6 1508
5 Mike Glennon Moyes SX 5 540.1 951.5 1492
6 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 835.3 612.2 1448
7 Marcello Pereira Icaro 2000 Laminar 13.7 553.0 867.0 1420
8 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 690.9 724.1 1415
9 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 833.0 538.2 1371
10 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 681.8 625.3 1307

Day Two Sport:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 85.15 906.7
2 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 77.55 859.3
3 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 78.72 858.7
4 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 66.32 717.9
5 Dean Funk Moyes Gecko Pro 59.19 619.7

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 991.8 859.3 1851
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 756.7 717.9 1475
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 566.4 906.7 1473
4 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 388.9 858.7 1248
5 Dean Funk Moyes Gecko Pro 376.8 619.7 997

https://fb.watch/cH88jSU1mV/

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Tue, Apr 26 2022, 6:45:57 pm MDT

Locals rule, day one

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

Results:

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5668/day/open-class

Open class:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 168.34 917.5
2 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 160.27 886.2
3 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 158.32 875.8
4 Fabiano Nahoum Icaro Laminar 14.1 151.12 834.0
5 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 150.31 831.6
6 Giovani Tagliari Aeros Combat C 13.5 140.66 763.9
7 Rich Reinauer Wills Wing T3C 132.35 717.5
8 Luke Waters Moyes RX 3.5 125.78 679.8
9 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 124.68 671.1
10 Claudia Mejia Wills Wing T3 136 114.84 614.3

Six locals out of the top ten.

Sport:

# Name Glider Time Distance Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Aeros Discus 01:41:59 56.91 991.8
2 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 02:09:50 56.91 756.7
3 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 49.76 566.4
4 Mitch Sorby Wills Wing U2 145 02:31:20 56.91 511.0
5 Thaise Caroline Galvan Moyes Gecko 32.91 388.9

https://fb.watch/cH8J6xd-dJ/

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2022 Paradise Airsports Nationals »

Sun, Apr 24 2022, 6:23:45 pm MDT

Lighter east winds than forecast

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022

After four days of strong east winds, with the skies also full of cu's, we finally have a day with a forecast for lighter east winds, and a reality of even lighter winds, with a sky full of cu's and strong lift. Here's the Sunday, the day before the competition starts, forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Sunday, April 24th, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS, Today:

Mostly sunny, with a high near 85. East wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east surface wind 14 mph increasing to 16 mph, gusting to 18 mph increasing to 22 mph, cloud cover 30% decreasing to 25%, no chance of rain

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: east 9 mph (14 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 5,400'
Cu: 4,600'
B/S: 6.0

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east 12 mph (18 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 660 fpm
TOL: 5,700'
Cu: 5,600'
B/S: 5.7

Suggested Task:

Wilotree 3 km
Dunnell 8 km
Williston 1 km

109 km

or

Wilotree 3 km
Turn33 1 km
Wilotree 400 m

40 km

Leesburg Airport (to our north) is reporting variables winds 6 mph at 1 PM. We've got even lighter winds from the east at 2 PM.

Here's what the sky looks like:

We'll see which task pilots attempt.

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Still dealing with possible cu-nimbs

Sun, Apr 17 2022, 8:16:12 pm MDT

A shorter Sunday flight

John Simon|Larry Bunner|Pedro Garcia|Rick Reinhauer|XC

The Sunday forecast even more so calls for rain.

Morning Soaring Forecast for Sunday, April 17th, 2022 at Wilotree Park.

NWS, Today:

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. South wind around 5 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: south slightly southwest surface wind 3 mph turning north northwest 6 mph, cloud cover 45% increasing to 60%, 42% chance of rain after 2 pm.

RAP 13, 1 PM:

Surface wind: south slightly southwest 5 mph (7 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 560 fpm
TOL: 4,800'
Cu: 4,600'
B/S: 10.0

RAP 13, 4 PM:

Surface wind: south 2 mph (2 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity:520 fpm
TOL: 5,200'
Cu: 0'
B/S: 10.0

RAP and NAM 3 are forecasting rain nearby at 4 pm and here at 5 pm. NAM 12 at 6 pm for rain.

John Simon points out that the rain chances are worse to the northwest so that we should head south, but a short leg to the north to start to go with the wind would be okay.

The task is to Grass Roots airport up highway 33 to the north, 12 km, back south to the intersection of highways 474 and 33, 28 km, and back to Wilotree Park, 17 km.

I get ready around 10 am as I like to be ready just in case. With the forecast for rain I'd like to get flying earlier. John Simon comes over and proposes the new task (see above) and says for the first time he'll start early, which for him means 1 PM. Larry is late to get going for the first time I've seen it, so I'm the only one ready to go at noon when we seen the cu's over head and high enough.

I take off at 12:20 pm long before anyone else is ready. I figure that the cu's will be my guide posts. I get dropped off under a nice one upwind to the south and climb up at 150 fpm to 3,500'. Yup, the lift is weak and the cloud base is low, but it's fun flying.

As I look to the north there is a huge blue hole. To the south the sky is full of good looking cu's. I call for us to reverse the task, which Pedro and Larry do. John Simon and Rick Reinhauer will continue later with the original task. There is a 5 mph head wind. (Turns out that the cu's are a false indicator of the lift for the day, as the lift is in the blue and the cu's show where the lift was but isn't now.)

Heading south the lift is weak under the cu's and I'm stuck low just outside the 3 km start cylinder for 30 minutes before I finally find 250 fpm to 3,600'. This is slow going for sure and now everyone else has launched and is finding it tough sledding. I lose 1 to 2 km for every thermal I find. The head wind picks up to 7 mph.

Topping out at 3,800' I head south toward the Seminole glider port only to find 42 fpm there. Heading west in an attempt to find anything or at least a pleasant field to land it and down to 1,400' I find 150 fpm to 2,900' now 2 km northwest of the glider port.

I head south but the little wispies that I see ahead don't work. The cu's have not been working at all, and it is only in the blue that I can find lift as the wispies form over me after I get there. At 2,600' west of the glider port and 3.5 km short of the turnpoint I turn around to get under some wispies to my north.

They fail to provide any relief and now I'm heading downwind with an 8 mph tail wind. Down to 1,400' I work 31 fpm to 1,700' before losing it. Down to 700' AGL just before a big landing area I work the tree line in an area where I think I can find lift. It is 77 fpm back to 1,400'. I string a couple more of these 77 fpm thermals together and make it back to Wilotree Park.

Larry is able to make it to the southern turnpoint back to Grass Roots and then back to Wilotree Park. John and Rick do the original task without ever getting low. Pedro has an issue with his harness and turns back 7 km from the first turnpoint to the south and lands at Wilotree.

Larry notes that the rain was 5 miles to his west when he got to Grass Roots. It barely rained here but there was rain all around us. The cu-nimbs did come from the northwest. At 9:40 PM they are to our east.

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Working our way around the Green Swamp

Sun, Apr 17 2022, 8:14:40 pm MDT

We weren't certain that we could make it

John Simon|Ken Millard|Larry Bunner|Mick Howard|Pedro Garcia|XC

This was the forecast for Saturday:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Saturday, April 16th, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS, Today:

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Calm wind becoming south southeast around 5 mph in the morning.

Hourly afternoon forecast: south southeast surface wind 6 mph turning west northwest, cloud cover 30% increasing to 40%, 15% chance of rain after 2 pm.

HRRR, 1 PM:

Surface wind: south southeast 3 mph (4 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 540 fpm
TOL: 4,300'
Cu: 4,200'
B/S: 10.0

HRRR, 4 PM:

Surface wind: east northeast 7 mph (7 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity:500 fpm
TOL: 4,400'
Cu: 4,100'
B/S: 9.2

Suggested Task:

1 pm launch

Quest/Wilotree 3 km
T7598 7 km
T98471 3 km
Quest/Wilotree 400 m

94 km

We were concerned about the chance of rain for the day as we could see that that would come from cu-nimb development.

Before our projected launch time of 1 pm we watched the sky as the cu's formed away to the east and southeast of us, but not any where near us. It would be tough to do this task without help from the little white puff balls. Just before one they got closer and I got pulled up at ten minutes to one.

The lift was weak and while I was able to climb up 1000' I was stuck around 3,000' flying with Ken Millard. There were plenty of cu's around but they weren't providing much love.

Heading north, south of Mascotte, I was working 5 fpm at 1,700' before heading further north to just south of the chicken coops north of highway 50, when I finally found something to help me up from 1,400'. 200 fpm got me up to 3,700'.

I followed a cloud street that kept me up to the west southwest into the Green Swamp when I caught a glimpse of Larry Bunner climbing a bit to my north south of highway 50. That thermal averaged almost 400 fpm and cloud base was 3,800', not that high. We would expect much higher bases for a trip around the Green Swamp.

We flew west along the northern edge of the Green Swamp and a bit south of highway 50 hitting little bits and pieces of lift until a few kilometers before the lumber mill at highway 471 we found 550 fpm on average to 4,100'. Mick Howard came in underneath us, but John Simon was low north of 50 and soon landed.

Plunging into the swamp west south west of the lumber mill we were not high enough to make it over the swamp and had to change directions and head north to see what we could find. Larry headed straight north and I veered to the northwest still over the swamp to find 400 fpm on average to 4,500' with Larry coming over to join me.

This was plenty of altitude to make the jump to the south west to the mines. Larry followed and Pedro Garcia showed up below him. We climbed at 250 fpm to 4,500' again at cloud base and headed for the 7 km turnpoint to our southwest.

I lost Larry and Pedro as I nicked the turnpoint and then headed southeast back into the swamp to get under a cu. The lift was broken and weak and finally I headed back west to get under a better cu and climbed at 540 fpm to 4,600' while Larry pushed further into the swamp and found better lift than we we had been in. Pedro was further west having to turn around and go back north to find better lift south of the first turnpoint.

I headed south southwest along the highway toward Dade City finding lift and climbing back to 4,400' before going on a long glide toward the landfill to the south southeast. Pedro stayed to the west like I had been over the highway and was finding good lift behind me.

Larry was just above me north of the landfill and the lift was weak at 135 fpm as I climbed back from 2,100'. Leaving at 3,000' I headed south to hook up with Larry and then Mick joined us as again we found weak lift at 130 fpm to 4,200' an altitude that we needed to make another jump over the swamp to the second turnpoint. In the mean time Pedro was finding 700 fpm and catching and passing us to our west and south.

Pedro took the second turnpoint from quite a ways south of it and lined up a cloud street heading over the swamp right back toward Wilotree Park. The three of us worked 250 fpm in the 3 km turnpoint cylinder and looked to head east toward the much better cu's in that direction.

Climbing to 3,800' well south of where I would usually be at this point in the task we were faced with a northeast head wind. I heard on the radio that Larry and Mick were headed to the northeast to Famish and I chased after them. The cloud street that Pedro saw was disappearing.

Down to 1,400' just southwest of Famish I climbed back to a mere 2,500' at 200 fpm. Conditions were deteriorating. It was almost 5 PM. Larty and Mick were not doing all that well either. Pedro didn't have his radio so we never heard from him.

North of Famish I climbed at 75 fpm to 2,200' but all the cu's any where nearby were gone. Finally I headed west to find an appropriate landing field as Mick got up in a fire a few kilometers to the southwest and Larry got low further south of Dean Still Road.

Mick was able to make it a few kilometers further to land next to Dean Still, Larry landed a few kilometers to my west at Famish. Pedro was the only one to make it back. All other pilots went down early.

What I hadn't noticed was there there was a cu-nimb way to our west that was shading all the ground to the east and cutting off the lift. Pedro got there ahead of us and got across the swamp before it shut down. We didn't get any rain.

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3059213

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2022/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/16.4.2022/16:49

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

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Taking proper precautions at the Nationals

Sun, Apr 17 2022, 5:12:46 pm MDT

There is no need to spread COVID-19 around

Taking proper precautions

COVID|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022

Pilots should take care to keep from getting infected and infecting others. Because this is a hang gliding competitions you will have ample opportunities to stay outside and away from others which will significantly reduce your chances of triggering a super spreader event. The recent Green Swamp Sport Klassic was a super spreader event because pilots and others did not act in a rational manner when confronting an ongoing pandemic with a new super infectious variant of the virus, B.A.2 (and sub variants).

It is so easy to keep yourself healthy with just a few behaviors.

  • Stay outside and away from people.
  • If you have to go indoors, wear a N95 or equivalent mask.
  • Get boosted with the latest round of vaccinations
  • Take a home-based test for COVID-19 if you feel ill.
  • If you test positive isolate yourself.

Could these practices not be more obvious?

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Mon, Apr 11 2022, 12:17:35 pm MDT

Unofficial last day on Sunday?

Armand Acchione|COVID|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Wallaby Ranch|Wilotree Park

There were two days of early morning landing clinics and then on Sunday with light winds pilots flew with four or five making it to Wallaby Ranch. Pilots are flying on Monday with east-southeast winds 5-10 mph. Krys Grzyb is here from Chicago. Armand is here with his Swift from Toronto.

The Klassic was a super spreader event, the first time COVID-19 has shown up at Wilotree Park, with at least six cases, none requiring hospitalization. Sort of like the Gridiron dinner: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/67-attendees-test-positive-covid-high-profile-dc-dinner-rcna23763

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Fri, Apr 8 2022, 6:36:53 pm MDT

Only two days of flying?

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|weather

We only flew on Sunday and Monday due to weather/rain/wind issues. Likely will not fly Saturday. On Sunday the flyable weather returns and it looks like a good week ahead.

Pilots had great learning opportunities to try to make up for the lack of flying.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Wed, Apr 6 2022, 7:52:12 pm MDT

Day 4

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|Jim Prahl|Wilotree Park

Here is the forecast for Wednesday:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Wednesday, April 6th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly between 2pm and 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 90°F. Southwest wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Hourly afternoon forecast: south west surface wind 16 mph gusting to 21-22 mph trending toward west-southwest, cloud cover 50% decreasing to 30%, 25% chance of rain after 2 PM

No front nearby (which means that launching to the southwest should be possible)

NAM 12 (this model and NAM 3 come the closest to the NWS surface temperature at 3 pm), 1 PM:

Surface wind: south-southwest 11 mph (15 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 560 fpm
TOL: 5,400'
CU: 3,100'
B/S: 4.4

NAM12, 4 PM:

Surface wind: west-southwest 15 mph (19 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 500 fpm
TOL: 4,300'
Cu: 3,300'
B/S: 3.1

Suggested Task:

Launch 1 PM

Quest 3 km
Midflo 1 km

41 km

Winds were reported by Jim Prahl to be 25 knots at 500'. The day was cancelled.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Tue, Apr 5 2022, 5:28:27 pm MDT

Day 3

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|weather|Wilotree Park

Here is the forecast for Tuesday:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Tuesday, April 5th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

A slight chance of showers between 11am and 2pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. South-southwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Hourly afternoon forecast: south surface wind 14 mph gusting to 18 mph trending toward southwest, cloud cover 27% increasing to 37%, 30% chance of rain after 2 PM. No front nearby.

RAP (this model comes the closest to the NWS surface temperature at 1 pm, NAM 12 closest at 5 PM), 1 PM:

Surface wind: south 14 mph (22 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity:440 fpm (NAM 12: 660 fpm)
TOL: 3,300' (NAM 12: 4,100')
CU: 0' (NAM 12: 3,800')
B/S: 1.9 (NAM 12: 3.8)

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: southwest 15 mph (23 mph 2,000') (NAM 12: 15 mph south-southwest, 20 at 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 500 fpm (NAM 12: 660 fpm)
TOL: 4,300' (NAM 12: 6,700')
Cu: 0' (NAM 12: 4,900')
B/S: 2.5 (NAM 12: 5.5)

Here is what it looked like at 2:30 PM:

Here at 6:06 PM:

Yes, there was rain northeast of Gainesville and Ocala with an approaching front in Georgia and the Florida panhandle at 5:10 through 6:05 PM with strong southwest winds.

Leesburg airport showed south 13 mph winds from 1 PM to 2 PM, which would have been our launch time. We were measuring earlier 10 mph gusting to 15 mph, south. It would have been possible to launch pilots and have them be reasonably safe, but this is a Sport Class mentored competition and the safety director was not willing to take that chance. A couple of mph less wind and it not trending south-southwest and all would have been fine.

Unfortunately, we expect even worse conditions for the next two days, at least.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Mon, Apr 4 2022, 8:58:59 pm MDT

Results

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022

https://airtribune.com/2022-green-swamp-sport-klassic/results

Day 1:

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 Mike Pattishall Icaro Laminar 18.11 511.7
2 Willie Vaughn Moyes Gecko 155 18.07 510.8
3 Ephi Blanshey Wills Wing U2 145 15.74 456.2
4 David Pendzick Wills Wing U2 14.37 424.0
5 Javier Figueras Moyes Gecko 155 13.48 403.4
6 Charles Cassady Wills Wing Sport 2 155 12.97 389.3
7 Artiom Markelov Wills Wing Sport 3 155 12.94 388.4
8 Kate West Airwave Pulse 9 11.63 344.5
9 William "Goat" Modzelewski Wills Wing Sport 2 155 9.89 288.0
10 Carl Jacobsen Wills Wing Sport 3 Race 155 9.29 274.2

Day 2:

# Name Glider ES Distance Total
1 Mike Pattishall Icaro Laminar 15:38:08 38.79 1000.0
2 Monty Monta Avian Puma 38.53 787.0
3 Javier Figueras Moyes Gecko 155 37.59 773.9
4 Juan Orphee Wills Wing Sport 3 155 34.68 722.7
5 David Pendzick Wills Wing U2 27.94 586.3
6 Carolina Orphee Wills Wing Sport3 135 26.80 566.3
7 Willie Vaughn Moyes Gecko 155 26.80 566.2
8 Andrew Vanis Moyes Litespeed 4 24.70 517.0
9 Carl Jacobsen Wills Wing Sport 3 Race 155 18.27 357.0
10 William "Goat" Modzelewski Wills Wing Sport 2 155 11.44 248.4

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Mon, Apr 4 2022, 8:23:30 pm MDT

Day 2

Artiom "Alex" Markelov|Belinda Boulter|Bobby Bailey|Flytec 6030|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|William "Goat" Modzelewski|Wilotree Park

Here is the forecast for Monday:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Monday, April 4th, 2022 at Wilotree Park:

NWS, Today:

Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 85. Light east wind becoming east-southeast 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Hourly afternoon forecast: east surface wind 7 mph trending toward southeast, cloud cover 25% increasing to 40%, 18% chance of rain after 4 PM.

NAM 3 (this model comes the closest to the NWS surface temperature), 1 PM

Surface wind: East-southeast 11 mph (13 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity:640 fpm
TOL: 4,600'
CU: 0'
B/S: 5.4

NAM 3, 3 PM:

Surface wind: southeast 9 mph (10 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 700 fpm
TOL: 5,600'
Cu: 4,300'
B/S: 9.4

Stark disagreement in the models this morning. I'm guessing 1 PM launch time. Hoping to get to goal by 3 PM.

Suggested Task:

Quest 3 km
Panolk 400 m
39 km

The cu's weren't forming right over us, but they were to the south, so we pushed back the start to 1:30 PM. The mentors are staying in their same launch order and they are rotating the mentee teams through us, so I was first to launch again, just as the cu's got to us.

I've got William "Goat" Modzelewski and Artiom "Alex" Markelov (from Belarus) as mentees. Bobby Bailey was assigned to haul up the mentors, so he pulled me up straight to the south toward the flat looking cu that hadn't quite reached us. I got off at 2,000'. I then spent four minutes in zero lift, not a great sign to my mentees who were to be pulled up next to me. Unfortunately Goat broke a weak link. I think Alex got towed up and a bit later Goat somewhere near me.

After the first few minutes I lost altitude to where I didn't find lift until I was down to 900' AGL southwest of Wilotree Park and over the edge of the swamp west of highway 33. The thermal was tight and I climbed out at 124 fpm to 2,500' drifting at 9 mph to the northwest. Unfortunately my two mentees landed and had to launch again.

Another climb a bit further northwest got me to 3,900' and that made it so I could go back up wind to hook up with my mentees, but it was unclear to me who was who. I think Goat landed again and Alex was above me at 4,200', according to what I heard on the radio. It looked to me that I had hooked up with one mentee that I would be able to help and that Goat was on the ground and I wasn't sure it he was going to launch a fourth time as Belinda told me that he was out of his harness.

Alex, I think, climbed to 4,800' and said that he was heading west. I was at 4,500' and headed in that direction also. There was a nice cu just to our west. When I got to the cloud Alex, I think, said that his vario was dead (Flytec 6030, I think). He couldn't tell me his distance to the next turnpoint. That was the last I heard from him.

I searched around that cu to see if there was better lift but found nothing so losing 1,000' I then headed north. I wasn't finding anything over the nursery, nor over the ground cleared race track so headed west for highway 469 which would have provided a good retrieval and it has proven to be a good area for lift previously as well as sporting somewhat open fields.

Down to 1,000' I found almost 200 fpm and when I looked up there must have been half a dozen gliders over me. We all got high, 4,700' drifting to the north-northwest as the wind was now 10 mph predominantly from the south.

We all (or about all) hooked up again over the mines northwest of Center Hill. There was someone else's mentee just below me (I was at the top of the gaggle), so I decided that I would just stick with these guys and then show them the next lift.

At 4,300' I headed west to get to the next turnpoint at Cheryl (a north/south grass strip) and sure enough the blue glider followed. I wasn't that much help as I only found 80 fpm and then 40 fpm to 3,200' at 11.5 km from the goal. But the pilot was doing alright next to me.

I went on glide toward the next two good looking clouds but didn't hit anything so I just kept going getting lower and lower. The wind was 11 mph out of the south, so with an L/D required of 10.3:1 it looked like I could make it. I came across the 400 meter cylinder with 600' AGL and given all the fences there at the east west air strip and the north wind I headed for the field just to the north which was huge and parallel to the highway. I was the only one to choose that humongous field.

One pilot who landed just short of goal, not at the air strip, hit a fence and broke his arm.

I had a moment to talk with Goat and that only lead to further confusion on my part. I will speak with Alex tomorrow and see what happened to him.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022 »

Sun, Apr 3 2022, 8:35:58 pm MDT

Day 1

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022|Wilotree Park|XC

Here is the forecast for Sunday:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Sunday, April 3rd, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS, Today:

Areas of dense fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 81. Light north-northwest wind becoming north 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Hourly afternoon forecast: North surface wind 7 mph, cloud cover 45% decreasing to 20%, No chance of rain

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: North-northeast 7 mph (12 mph 2,000') (NAM 12: north 8 mph surface, 10 mph at 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 280 fpm (NAM 12: 560 fpm)
TOL: 1,500' (NAM 12: 3,300')
CU: 1,000' (NAM 12: 3,100')
B/S: 1.0 (NAM 12: 4.4)

RAP, 4 PM:

Surface wind: north-northeast 6 mph (9 mph 2,000') (NAM 12: 7 mph north-northeast, 7 mph at 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 360 fpm (NAM 12: 660 fpm)
TOL: 2,800' (NAM 12: 4,100')
Cu: 2,600' (NAM 12: 0')
B/S: 2.7 (NAM 12: 9.0)

My guess is a late day, launch maybe 3 PM, open distance task right down highway 33. Or goal at DS and 33.

There are really two forecasts here. NAM 12 has a surface temperature forecast that is 6° higher than the RAP forecast and much more in line with the NWS forecast for the daily high temperature. Given how poor things look with the RAP forecast we decide to see if the NAM 12 forecast is more likely to be the case.

Each mentor has two mentees. I had Juan and Carolina (a couple) for the first day. We were also assigned first to launch. I want the tug pilots to put the mentor and the mentees together but only Juan is brought over to where I am circling to the west of Wilotree Park. Since I'm the only glider in the air I don't know why the other tug pilot didn't do what they were supposed to do, so while Juan was deposited 500' over my head, Carolina had to fly over to us and came in 200' below me.

I was climbing in 99.9 fpm (on average) lift but we figured that the day would be weak so I was happy to hold onto anything. After climbing to 3,100' with Juan nearby, but Carolina lower I suggested that we head a little bit to the southwest where Larry had chased his one mentee (the other had left lift and gone back to relaunch, which surprised Larry). They were quite a bit lower but climbing well.

At 80 fpm we climbed to 3,400'. It was a lot of fun flying in these weak conditions and you just had to be patient. After hanging in zero for four minutes Larry headed out chasing his mentee to the southeast toward Erie Lake. I followed suggesting to Juan and Carolina that we should follow Larry in order to stay with other pilots which would give us the best chance to stay up in the blue conditions.

In front of and below us the mentee and Larry started turning so there was some lift on the west side of Erie Lake. For the next eight minutes I gained and lost 200' at 2,400'. This did not go well for Juan and Carolina who lost more altitude and were forced to land. If we had found better lift at first then they would have been able to get up and continue south toward goal at Dean Still and 33.

Finally Larry and I found 100 fpm a bit further south while Larry's mentee found even better lift further east and got up higher than we did. Larry should have flown over to join his mentee, and because he didn't he soon lost him. Turns out Larry was not able to actually communicate with any of his mentees.

I headed south-southwest toward some scraggly cu's that had started forming this late in the day (after all we didn't launch until 3 PM) while Larry went south-southeast trying to find his n=mentee. The cu's didn't work and I had to keep going south coming over a do not land field (where I had landed before) at 1,500'.

I found lift at 167 fpm on average and was soon joined by Larry and a sailplane. We were just northwest of the Seminole Glider port. We climbed just on top of the sailplane to 3,500' then followed it o the next cloud to the south-southeast climbing under that cu at 166 fpm (average) to 3,800'. Larry said he got to 4,000'. My Blade said that I had goal on glide.

Heading south we came back to highway 33, after being way west of it the whole time given the north-northeast wind. I found a spot where I had found lift a number of times before and Larry and I worked 86 fpm back to 3,200', which was more than enough to make it to Dean Still and 33.

I picked out a super big (1,000 acre) field that was especially long in the north/south direction and looked some what dry as all the fields around it looked completely soaked from the heavy rains yesterday. After we landed and walked our gliders to the fence line on Dean Still the land owners came up and were greatly excited to see us and had lots of questions. They stayed the whole time while we broke down.

Our driver, Sharon, was right there as we landed and had been following us on Live360 in a special group that we setup just for our truck. The landowners let her drive in through three gates that they opened up for us.

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Our most recent 2022 Supporters/Subscribers

Tue, Mar 15 2022, 1:07:08 am GMT

We so very much appreciate them

Benjamin Friedrich|Carlos Morinico|Daniel Guido|Efren William Fierro|Frank Havermeyer|Greg Kendall|Huw Parsons|Jürg Ris|Larry Bunner|Moyes Delta Gliders|Oliver "Ollie" Gregory|Scott Weiner|Stephan Mentler|Sue Bunner|supporters|William Comstock|Wings to Fly ltd

https://OzReport.com/supporters.php

  • Benjamin Friedrich
  • Carlos Morinico
  • Daniel Guido
  • Efren William Fierro
  • Frank Havermeyer
  • Greg Kendall
  • Huw Parsons
  • Jürg Ris
  • Moyes Delta Gliders Pty Ltd
  • Oliver Gregory
  • Scott Weiner (Yes, you can)
  • Stephan Mentler
  • The Bunners
  • William Comstock
  • Wings to Fly ltd

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2022 Green Swamp Klassic »

Tue, Mar 8 2022, 5:19:41 am MST

Mentored competition

Airtribune|competition|Davis Straub|Green Swamp Klassic 2022|Greg Dinauer|John Simon|Larry Bunner|Richard "Ric" Caylor|Robin Hamilton|Timothy "Tim" Delaney|Zac Majors

Ric Caylor writes:

I would like to bring to everyone's attention the forthcoming (April 3-9) Green Swamp Klassic event to be held at Wilotree flight park (ex Quest) in Groveland, Florida.

The mentored competition has been conducted for a number of years now, and has been remarkably successful in providing a low-stress education in cross-country flying and modern competition. The format involves three or four less experienced pilots being teamed with a highly experienced competition pilot who will act as their coach both on the ground and in the air. He/she will instruct the rookies in soaring tactics, competition strategy, setting up of flight instruments, advice on weather, and any of the myriad small and large skills that go into making a well-rounded pilot. While these lessons are particularly focused on competition flying, most of what is taught and learned is universally applicable to our daily flying. Participation in the Klassic is therefore something that will be rewarding to any pilot wishing to improve their skills.

In addition to the individual attention received from the mentor, there will be group talks on specific skill-areas of advanced flying. But the core element of the week's activity is the opportunity to fly in a low stress, but fully modern cross-country competition, over almost ideal terrain under the guidance of a host of truly excellent mentors. Among those committed to serving as mentors are many of the top-ranked pilots in the US, including many time US Champion Zac Majors, and multiple pilots with World Championship experience including Robin Hamilton, Davis Straub, John Simon, Larry Bunner, and Greg Dinauer, and Tim Delaney, to name only some of them. They are damn good pilots, but as importantly they are friendly, accessible and eager to share the fruits of their decades of experience.

Some pilots may be turned off by the notion of "competition" flying, but this event is far more about a week of flying a lot, and learning within a rich and friendly environment.

There are still a number of slots available, and if you would like more information about what is involved, please visit the following Airtribune site,

https://airtribune.com/2022-green-swamp-sport-klassic/info

On the website, click on one or two of the Green Swamp Memoirs at the top of the Summary page. They will give you a snapshot of what the event is like from the point of view of past participants.

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The Long Way Around the Green Swamp

Sat, Feb 26 2022, 4:53:28 pm MST

Derrick Turner and Larry Bunner made it around

Derrick Turner|Larry Bunner|Wilotree Park|XC|XContest.org

Here is the forecast and task:

Preliminary Soaring Forecast for Saturday, February 26th, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS, Saturday

Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 86. Calm wind becoming east northeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Hourly forecast: east northeast wind 6-7 mph, cloud cover 9% -> 14%, no chance of rain.

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: east southeast 4 mph (5 mph, 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 620 fpm
TOL: 5,600'
CU: 4,800'
B/S: 10.0

RAP, 3 PM:

Surface wind: east 4 mph (4 mph, 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 700 fpm
TOL: 6,700'
Cu: 5,600'
B/S: 10.0
Temperature at CB: 55°F

Task:

Quest 3 km
PANOLK 3 km
T7598 7 km
T98471 3 km
Quest 400 m
Launch at noon
128 km

Larry's flight (he was out in front):

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:lbunner/26.2.2022/17:02

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

I went down on the first leg, but had an extremely interesting save at 500'.

Larry writes:

It was an easier day than yesterday. Strong climbs, good clouds and some luck allowed me to fly faster even though cloudbase was lower. Best average sustained climb was 583fpm with many in the 400's. Highest point was 5100'.

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A competition size FAI triangle task

Fri, Feb 25 2022, 4:14:49 pm MST

Away from any chance of a sea breeze

John Simon|Larry Bunner|Maria Garcia|Pedro Garcia|triangle|Wilotree Park|XC|XContest.org

This was the forecast:

Preliminary Soaring Forecast for Friday, February 25th, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS, Friday:

Areas of fog before 8am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 86. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the afternoon.
Hourly forecast: wind 2-3 mph, cloud cover 12%, no chance of rain.

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: south 4 mph (5 mph, 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 5,600'
CU: 4,400'
B/S: 10.0

RAP, 3 PM:

Surface wind: southwest 3 mph (4 mph, 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 620 fpm
TOL: 5,400'
Cu: 4,800'
B/S: 10.0
Temperature at CB: 58°F
Sea breeze from the west at Dade City at 4 PM starting on the west coast at 1 PM

Task:

Quest 3 km
Kokee 2 km
Baron 3 km
Quest 400 m

84 km - FAI triangle

John Simon wanted a task over the open, unpopulated areas to the northwest so I set up an FAI triangle to the west pretty much along highway 50 to Interstate 75, then to the northeast over the Florida Turnpike and the ever encroaching Villages and back to Wilotree Park.

I was pulled up after Larry Bunner and finally found 200+ fpm to cloud base at 3,800' on the northeast corner of Wilotree, while Larry worked lift to my south. I headed out as I got to base and found about 400 fpm in the first two thermals that were well marked by the cumulus clouds. This got me a bit north and down wind of the course line.

I dove into the northern edge of the Green Swamp to get under darker looking cu's and got about 300 fpm to cloud base at 3,700' just east of the lumber yard at 471 and 50. I didn't find any solid cores after that and before the Kokee turnpoint and was at 3,300' 3 km east of the edge of the turnpoint cylinder. I ran to the turnpoint but was getting 700 fpm down.

Nicking the turnpoint and heading northeast down to 1,5000' AGL I found 300+ fpm back to cloud base at 4,700'. I could speak with Larry who was close behind. Pedro and Maria Garcia were also coming after us.

There were plenty of cu's straight down wind (5 mph) to the northeast toward Baron. I shaded a bit to the upwind side to get to better looking cu's and I was able to climb to over 5,000'.

I found 200 fpm just before the turnpoint and climbed to 5,000' as Larry came in low below me and didn't find that thermal. I headed south to the next set of clouds. There were plenty of cu's ahead and some thermals averaged 400 fpm.

Down to 2,400' east of the chicken coops in Mascotte I found 250+ fpm to 4,000' and came in way too high. Not long after Pedro Garcia landed next to me after he skipped the Baron turnpoint. Larry was next in and finally Maria who really appreciated not landing between Baron and Wilotree. Apparently John didn't fly.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/25.2.2022/17:06

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3015126#

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2022/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

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Around the Green Swamp in 2022

Wed, Feb 23 2022, 7:16:36 pm MST

This was not a rest day

John Simon|Larry Bunner|Mick Howard|Wilotree Park|XC|XContest.org

Despite having flown 9:30 hours the previous two days, the forecast was way too good to not take a stab at flying around the Green Swamp. Pedro, John, Mick, and I took a shot at it while Larry had to go to the airport to pick up his wife.

Here is that forecast:

Morning Soaring Forecast for Wednesday, February 23rd, 2022 at Wilotree Park

Sorry about not getting out a preliminary last night as we got in late.

NWS:

Today:
Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 87°F. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the morning.
Hourly forecast: southeast wind 5 mph, cloud cover 28%, no chance of rain.

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: south southeast 4 mph (5 mph, 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 640 fpm
TOL: 4,900'
CU: 4.300'
B/S: 10.0

RAP, 3 PM:

Surface wind: south southeast 0 mph (0 mph, 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 620 fpm
TOL: 5,900'
Cu: 4,900'
B/S: 10.0
Temperature at CB: 53°F

Task:

Around the Green Swamp

Quest 3 km
T7598 7 km
T98471 3 km
Quest 400m

94 km

On Monday Mick flew 100 miles. On Tuesday John Simon, Larry Bunner, and I flew 100 miles.

Of our group, I launched first just after 12:40 PM. I was able to quickly climb at almost 300 fpm to cloud base at 3,600'. A low cloud base, but fine for before 1 PM. The sky had been full of cu's since around 10 AM and now they were high enough.

I could just follow the cu's to the west going over the Green Swamp south of highway 50. I found strong lift, up to 400 fpm on average and stayed near cloud base. As I flew to highway 471 south of the lumber mill I could see that the better clouds were to the south, so I headed south up the road 4 km to get to the south/sunny side of the clouds and down to 2,300' over the Green Swamp hooked into the lift. There were appropriate bale out LZ's to the south and back to the north.

I was able to climb to 4,400' at 200 fpm on average which made it possible to get over the rest of the Green Swamp to the west. There were cu's in that direction, so that was also a good sign.

The lift was good (250 to 400 fpm) and I was able to stay high and nick the 7 km turnpoint near it's southern edge. I was able to go back over the Green Swamp to find good lift, but had to run to the southwest edge down to 2,200' to get to the sunny side of the next cu and climb to cloud base at 4,700'. I kept getting right to base.

I kept hitting good lift and ran for the turnpoint to the south with its 3 km cylinder. The turnpoint at 98 and 471 is known to be a sink hole. There was a nice looking cloud just to the north of the turnpoint, 1 km inside the 3 km cylinder that looked like all the other clouds that were producing good lift. I was way out in front.

That cloud didn't work and down to 2,500' I spent the next half hour in weak, disorganized lift, typical of this spot. Finally Pedro who launched just behind me came in low at 1,700' as I was back up to 3,500' and slowly climbed out. As I flailed about not finding any good cores he came up through me and then we flew to the east to find better lift in the next set of clouds.

I was able to climb at 450 fpm to 5,200'. I guess I should have gone to these clouds earlier. John and Mick came under me low.

Pedro took off to the east, north east as I headed east south east to get on the sunny side of a continuous cloud street. The goal was back to the northeast over the Green Swamp once again. This is all happening over the Green Swamp.

As Pedro went ahead I found strong lift 6 km to the south of the course line and then heading north came over John Simon and below Mick Howard as we penetrated deep into the Green Swamp and a long ways from landable fields.

We dove deep in following a line of cu's that didn't produce much lift, but maybe kept us from falling too fast. It wasn't until we got to the northern edge of the Green Swamp that we found weak lift. Mick found better lift just behind us, but John and I worked 100 fpm to 3,600' eight kilometers out from Wilotree Park.

Mick was able to climb to 4,000' behind us as we worked our way up and went into goal. Pedro was already there. John and then I made it in a few minutes later.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/23.2.2022/17:43

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3014314

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100 milers

Wed, Feb 23 2022, 7:14:56 pm MST

Five hours in the air

John Simon|Larry Bunner|Mick Howard|Wilotree Park|XC|XContest.org

On Tuesday, Larry Bunner, John Simon, Mick Howard and I flew north northwest out of Wilotree Park with a goal at a small private airfield just south of Lake City, Florida, 186 km away. Here was the forecast for the day:

Preliminary Soaring Forecast for Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS:

Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 83. East southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Hourly forecast: east southeast wind 8 -> 9 mph, cloud cover 14% -> 19%, no chance of rain.

RAP, 1 PM:

Surface wind: south southeast 9 mph (13 mph, 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 680 fpm
TOL: 5,700'
CU: 5,200'
B/S: 7.5

RAP, 3 PM:

Surface wind: south southeast 7 mph (10 mph, 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 700 fpm
TOL: 6,400
Cu: 6,000'
B/S: 10.0
Temperature at CB: 54°F

Task:

Quest 3 km
Dunell 8 km
Lkcity 400m

186 km

No one made goal (I set a goal distance that I didn't think that anyone could make in February), but three pilots went 100 miles and Mick was not too far behind.

I was towed up right behind Larry and saw him circling high to my south as I had Kasey take me to him. I found the better lift below Larry after a bit of a search and slowly climbed out to 3,700' when Larry came back under me at the edge of the 3 km start cylinder.

The sky had enough cu's, but not nearly as many as Monday. I stayed high the first few thermals, but then hit a rough patch by Center Hill despite the nearby cu's and was down to 1,600' over open fields but a long ways from public roads. south of the prisons.

I worked weak lift just to survive and after struggling for a half hour was able to finally find 200+ fpm back to 3,800'. Everyone had caught up and passed me by then.

I was able to work light lift west of the prisons and over Coleman to 4,200' so that I had enough altitude to get over the trees. John Simon called out lift just north the Florida Turnpike over some chicken coops, and I was able to find that lift.

The climb rates improved and I approached Marion Oaks at 4,200', much higher than on Monday. The cu's lined up to the northwest and I was able to climb a couple of times to 4,600' which made the crossing over houses and trees a lot more comfortable and I got to the Dunnellon turnpoint at 3,900', 2000' higher than Monday.

AS I flew north over the horse ranches John, Larry and Mick were nearby, although I couldn't see them. There was plentiful lift and I kept climbing to 4,600' and suddenly there was Larry right next to me. We went on glide and then I took a sharp turn to the west to pick up lift near a lumber mill then flew over the Williston airfield to pick up lift right over the runways starting at 3,700'. I lost Larry when I turned west.

The winds turned a little bit more southerly and I headed almost straight north west of the town of Williston. The clouds were thinning out and I then headed north northeast to get under some and worked 100 - 140 fpm. It was already after 4:30 PM and sunset is at 6:20 PM. I caught some light lift over fields that had been growing trees but now were brown.

I headed northwest over Archer with the wind back to southeast and toward open fields as there were just trees to the north of me.

I came in over John Simon circling over Newberry. Looked like they were building houses to stash people away as there couldn't be that many jobs out there. I found a bit better lift over a fire that was quickly out just a kilometer to his north and called him over. We climbed out at 122 fpm to 3,900' as Larry came in near us, although too low for us to see him. Mick was a bit further behind. It was 5:20 PM and the sun was low.

We didn't find any lift and landed just on the south edge of High Springs, 105 miles at 5:45 PM, 35 minutes before sundown and almost 5 hours after launching. Larry landed at 100+ miles just behind us. Mick didn't get quite as far, but made 100 miles on Monday.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/22.02.2022/17:43

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3013857

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Cross Wind to the Northwest

Mon, Feb 21 2022, 9:36:41 pm MST

Quartering tail wind

Jim Prahl|Larry Bunner|Mick Howard|Peter Hall|video|XC|XContest.org

Larry Bunner, I, and Mick Howard took on the task of heading to the north west to cross with waypoints at Dunellon (to keep us out of airspace at Ocala, and Williston, to get us further north (it wasn't enough) to the airfield at Cross City (over a hundred miles).

The wind was east but it would every so often turn southeast. Larry launched from the northwest corner of the north/south runway in such a cycle (which was the plan). I was ready after him but the wind switched to east when I got ready. Fortunately, it was light, so I took off anyway.


https://OzReport.com/pub/images/mp4/22022launch.mp4

Thanks to Peter Hall for the video.

While Larry was struggling to find lift and getting low, Jim Prahl hauled me over the swamp to the east and we found very strong lift. While on tow my Blade hit over 1,500 fpm multiple times. When I pinned off I climbed at an average of 350 fpm to 4,700' while Larry was down to 1,300' and searching. The wind was blowing 10 mph out of the east.

That would be the best lift and the highest I would get while I worked between 100 and 200 fpm for the next hour before I finally found 220 fpm to 5,400' northwest of the intersection of the Florida turnpike and I75, 46 km into the flight.

The sky had been full of cu's right from the start so we were all connecting the dots. Larry got up after catching sight of some birds and Mick was just above me after catching up.

Marion Oaks was ahead, a subdivision with few landing areas and lots of trees. I normally like to come over it at over 5,000', but I arrived with 2,600'. The cu's showed lift ahead so I continued over the trees and found 123 fpm and a bit later 400+ fpm to 5,600', plenty of altitude to make it over the remnants of the Florida canal, where we ride single track, over the next populated area and to the turnpoint at the 7 km cylinder around the Dunnellon air field, another remnant, this time from World War II.

Down to 1,900' at the turnpoint I climbed out at 350 fpm to 5,700' and was rewarded with a line of cu's lining up right toward the turnpoint at Williston airfield. I could stay high and climbed to over 6,000' just before the 5 km cylinder turnpoint at the airfield. Mick was nearby, but he was down to 1,600'. Larry was nearby, but we couldn't communicate with him as his radio wasn't working. Mick and I had been exchanging information all along the flight.

After getting the Williston airfield I headed to the nearby cu's due west. It was almost 4:15 PM. Sunset was a little after 6 PM.

The Cross goal was 70 km to the west northwest. The cu's did not produce much lift and by the time I got to the treed swamp to the west I was down to 3,800'. The sun was low on the horizon, there were lots of large flat cu's just to the west casting shadows over the swamp area, I was looking almost directly into the sun and I could not make out any landable or retrievable areas to my west. It was twenty kilometers to the other side, which I couldn't see.

I headed north along a north/south road that hugs the tree line over cultivated fields heading for cu's and more open fields to the north. I was down to 2,000' before I found lift and started climbing over the swamp at less than 100 fpm. I needed to find much better lift but it was almost 4:40 PM.

Mick was over me at 4,500' also drifting over the trees and climbing to 5,900'. This was the place to cross the swamp as it was thinner if you just went a bit further north.

I didn't get above 3,400' and still couldn't see the open accessible fields 16 km to the west northwest when the cu's dried up around 5 PM. I headed back to the east to find a big field to land in.

Larry had turned around at the swamp and landed back at our normal landing field at Williston, as he wasn't able to contact us. Mick made it over the swamp, but it was late and he was not able to make it over the next treed area, the Suwanee River to Cross City airfield. He came within 20 km.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/21.2.2022/17:41

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3013281

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Larry landing today

Thu, Feb 10 2022, 9:33:03 pm MST

The drogue came along for the ride

drogue|landing|Larry Bunner|Peter Hall|video

Video by Peter Hall.

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Low and slow in Florida

Thu, Feb 10 2022, 9:28:59 pm MST

We do a triangle even when the going gets tough

Larry Bunner|triangle|Wilotree Park|XC|XContest.org

Here was the forecast in the morning updated from the nigh before:

Preliminary Soaring Forecast for Thursday February 10th, 2022 at Wilotree Park

NWS:

Thursday
Sunny, with a high near 69°F. Calm wind becoming north northeast around 5 mph in the morning.
Hourly forecast: north northeast wind 7 mph, cloud cover 5%, no chance of rain.

RAP, 1 PM

Surface wind: north northeast 4 mph (8 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 540 fpm
TOL:3,100'
Cu: none
B/S: 6.0

RAP, 3 PM:

Surface wind: north northeast 3 mph (3 mph 2,000')
Updraft velocity: 560 fpm
TOL: 3,800'
Cu: none
B/S: 10.0

46°F at TOL, strong inversion so no cu's, so there is no point in waiting around for them. With a fairly low TOL, no cu's, little wind, but sunshine, we should be able to do a short task.

After consulting with Larry Bunner who had looked at the HRRR3 forecast which showed a tongue of weak lift coming from Lake Apopka to our east northeast we decided on a task to the north and west.

Task:

Quest 3 km
GRASSO 1 km
T50469 1 km
Quest 400m

32 km

After pinning off Larry and I worked weak lift (40-60 fpm) 3 to 5 km west of Wilotree Park barely getting up to 3,000' three times in a 7 mph east northeast wind. Finally we found some better lift over 100 fpm and climbed up to almost 3,600' and decided to head north toward Grass Roots airfield, our first turnpoint.

Even though the lift was weak and we couldn't get very high, we had been able to find lift so that made the prospect of at least tackling the short task seem worthwhile. The sky was devoid of any cumulus clouds, or any clouds nearby. We'd have to stumble onto the lift.

I didn't find anything until north of Mascotte and down to 900' AGL north of the chicken coops. Larry was working week lift still south of highway 50. At 190 fpm I was feeling pretty good and climbed to 2,800' over the field owned by a really cranky lady. I was soon down that low again over the Grass Roots airfield thinking that I might be landing nearby. After a while Larry showed up just over me and we climbed out at 130 fpm to 2,400' before heading west. We were both finally able to get to 2,800' just off from the airfield and we headed southwest.

With lots of flooded fields and lakes ahead I was aiming toward dry landable areas that also might produce some lift. Neither off us found much of anything. I was soon down to 800' AGL near highway 469 while Larry headed south and was down to 500' by highway 50.

At that point survival was the point. I was pretty restricted in how much searching around I could do and I stuck with whatever poor lift I had. I was staying up in 24 fpm when after 10 minutes I found by far the best lift of the day averaging 366 fpm and topping out at 570 fpm at 4,000'. It was just a little off to the side of the thermal that I was circling in about 0.3 km away. I was following all the birds below me.

I headed southeast through the turnpoint and back toward the goal at Wilotree Park. I was looking for better lift now that I had experienced the good stuff, but again was finding weak lift, which I didn't stay in for long. Soon I was back down to 700' AGL with a 7 mph head wind and 4 km to go to make it back. My Blade said that that would require 21:1 glide.

I worked 90 fpm over some landable fields as the required glide ratio decreased to 9.7 by the time I topped out the lift (or so it seemed) at almost 1,800'. It didn't seem like that would be enough to make it back given the headwind. I pushed east hoping to find more lift from 5 km out.

Despite the headwind the glide didn't seem that back. There were possible bale out fields along the way in addition to all the trees and lakes. I hadn't landed in any of these fields before but they didn't look too bad. I wasn't finding any more lift.

Two kilometers out I was at 700' AGL and watching all the fields to my east thinking about how I would avoid the cows and the trees scattered in them. As I approached highway 33 which is on the west side of Wilotree Park I checked to make sure that I could cross over the tall high tension power lines and land in the field just to the north of Wilotree if needed. Also, I could still land on the west side of the highway.

I crossed the power lines looking about how I would turn and land in the east west field but I kept watching the south east end to see if I could cross the trees and make it into the Wilotree Park field. The air seemed to be a bit buoyant down low at 225' AGL.

I crossed over the last stand of trees on the west side of the runway and headed south as my air speed increased from just above 30 mph to just above 40 mph. I could see from the flags that I was heading down wind fast, but I assumed that there had to be a bit of an east component. I turned to head east at 60' AGL and slowed right down for a nice landing.

I have never come in so low to Wilotree and would rather not do that again.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/10.2.2022/18:55

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/3005134

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2021 US XContest National Champion

Tue, Jan 25 2022, 7:05:12 am MST

Larry Bunner

Bruce Barmakian|Cory Barnwell|COVID|Davis Straub|Flytec 6030|Greg Dinauer|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|John Simon|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|Maria Garcia|Mick Howard|Pedro Garcia|Wilotree Park|XC|XContest.org

This past year has been a challenge on many levels; Covid, death and weather were constants throughout. Covid acted as a veil that constantly reminded of the need to take care and precautions to keep us all healthy. Although not directly impacted, the potential issues continually lurked in the background. This summer death knocked on the door too many times (having lost several loved ones) and in spite of our best efforts took Sue’s beloved mom from us.

The weather was inconsistent and challenging to predict. The winter/spring season in Florida never really set up with the conventional southeasterly flows up the peninsula. When southerly winds did briefly occur, they ended up being blocked by stationary fronts north of Ocala. There weren’t any 100 miles flights to the north this year.

In the Midwest (Whitewater, WI), typically cold fronts will pass through on a weekly frequency starting in late July. It wasn’t until mid September that a strong cold front finally passed through that resulted in a good flight however the soaring duration was limited by the number of sun hours at this time of year.

Even the weather in the usually reliable west Texas was hard to predict. The coastal plains were inundated with moisture in early summer that retarded the development of normally hot arid conditions expected in late July and early August. A week in Cotulla, Texas was somewhat of a bust. A number of pilots gathered there to be towed up by Gregg Ludwig on his super trike with setting records in mind. Even though we had all of the logistics aligned, two days of torrential rain limited our best efforts. I hadn’t seen west Texas so green before.

Yet it wasn’t all gloomy. Florida is a great time in the winter and spring as a significant number of like-minded cross country (XC) pilots gather at Wilotree Park to fly preset tasks on the good days. Davis Straub, Greg Dinauer, John Simon, Mick Howard, Pedro and Maria Garcia, Corey Barnwell and a host of others fly together on most days to enjoy the sweet Florida conditions and improve their skills.

Although the southerly conditions didn’t get established this year, there were a number of decent flying days. February and March resulted in about 45 hours of airtime but no big cross country days to speak of. A week of exceptional weather started off the month of April and on the 4th a large group went for it on a 100 mile triangle around the Green Swamp. John Simon, Pedro Garcia and I managed to make it.

The next day looked good for an out and return task with light winds and high cloudbase. We set a task to fly south to Gilbert Airport and return north to Baron Airport and then back south to Wilotree (~100 miles). Davis, Bruce Barmakian and I completed the task in epic cumulus cloud filled skies.

The conditions the next day were almost a repeat so we set another big task to the south to Suzanne Airport and back to Wilotree. Davis and I flew together the entire flight. The task was ~90mi so as I neared Wilotree I found a good climb and decided to fly further north to get an additional 10 miles to put me over 100 again.

On the fourth day, conditions still looked good with mostly blue skies but high top of the lift so we again set an aggressive task to the south to Lake Wales and then back to Wilotree. To get 100 miles we would need to proceed further north to Grass Roots Airport and back to Wilotree. We flew together to Lake Wales and back. Davis landed at Wilotree however just as I approached the airport a gaggle of vultures popped out of the field climbing very fast. I joined them and climbed back up to 4500’. A convergence line of clouds formed a couple miles to the west and was producing excellent lift up to 600fpm. Cloudbase at 6700’ was enough altitude to glide north to Grass Roots Airport and back to Wilotree for my fourth 100+mile flight in four days!

The conditions indeed had been epic with strong climbs up to 1100fpm (>700fpm average) on two of the days and tops above 7000’. Two weeks of competitions started the next weekend however the weather had turned for the worse. There were only two good days during the period. The rest were mediocre at best with low, slow climbs and few clouds. By the end of the month it was time to head back to northern Illinois.

The four 100 milers in Florida:

Back on my home turf, I connected with Kris Grzyb from Aurora, IL who I have flown big flights with for over 25 years. We share the same strong desire to push ourselves for long distance and he is probably the best cross country pilot in the US. Thankfully for me anyway he logs flights under his native land of Poland (lol!).

In early May strong spring conditions set up for three days of good flying. Kris had to work on May 11th however my brother Rob met me in Whitewater, WI to fly in strong post frontal conditions. We didn’t have a driver but decided to go for it and figure out retrieval once we were done flying.

I launched first and climbed in successive thermals to 5000’, 5500’, 6700’ and 7200’. The spacing between thermals was tight and for three hours my lowest point was above 4500’. Temperatures up high were brutally cold (less than 25°F) however I was reasonably prepared with heat packs in my shoes, multiple thermal layers, bar mitts and heat packs for my hands. At one point the thought crossed my mind how wonderful it would be to soar in these conditions and be toasty warm. I didn’t get hypothermic but did have to run in my harness to keep my core temperature up.

Unbeknownst to me the surface conditions at Whitewater worsened after my launch so Rob elected not to fly. He knew the conditions would be better the next two days so decided to drive the chase vehicle to pick me up. We weren’t using radio’s so had no idea he was on route. About 100 miles out high cirrus shaded the ground and ever so slowly cooled the environment including my body temperature.

I’m a strong believer that eliminating distractions is the key to excellent performance and am driven to remove those distractions that impact my ability to focus on the task at hand. Unfortunately the cold was getting to me and once that started my thoughts about the length of time it would take to get retrieved were becoming dominant. I began looking for towns in the distance suitable for a landing. The optimal place would be an airport however after over-flying several towns I touched down in an open field on the outskirts of Metamora, IL 4hrs 40min in the air and 153 miles from launch.

Unbelievably Rob arrived 30 minutes later. After a 2 hour ride back to my house we checked the weather for the next day and found that the conditions improved with light and variable winds and top of the lift at 10,000’!

Whitewater to Metamora:

We met Kris at Whitewater early. He had followed my tracker for the whole flight the day before and was chomping to fly a big one. He planned out a 207km (128mi) FAI triangle to the southeast to Ringwood, IL then west northwest to Avon, WI and finally back to Whitewater. Temperatures at the top of the lift were predicted to be 15°F so it was going to be a very cold day. I dressed similarly as the day before but added a neoprene no fog face mask.

Kris was off early and on course. I followed and headed southeast but a few clouds later was down to 1700’; quite disappointing after having topped out above 7300’ on the previous two climbs. After digging out and struggling to get high again and seeing the clouds on course line thin out, the decision was easy to just follow a better cloud line.

The task was abandoned and I flew a new route to the south using the Flytec 6030 to determine distance to takeoff. The line was good for 30 miles just past Harvard, IL where it then diverted to the west which was perfect to get me back on the original course line.

The last climb at the southern terminus took me over 9000’ for the first time and the clouds to the west were strong too with multiple climbs over 8500’ and one climb rate at a peak over 1200+fpm.

West of the Rock River the lift was more elusive; flying under multiple clouds resulted in little gain but there were better looking clouds further west. I spent an hour searching for a good climb and eventually found one near Durand, IL that was solid and took me to 9400’. The path north now looked epic with flat, black bottomed cumulus marking the lift along the way. The next four climbs were over 8800’ with one strong climb at ~750fpm average to 9859’ the highest of the day.

East of Evansville, WI I decided to return to Whitewater so headed east toward Milton. This leg of the flight was uneventful with several good climbs until I was high enough to glide back to the airport for a good landing. The flight duration was 5hrs and 35 minutes and total distance was 120miles. Kris flew the original task and made it back as well. Rob had an awesome flight too.

The third day showed lift over 10500’ (the best I can recall in the area in 45+ years of flying) however there would be higher winds from the southwest as the day progressed. Kris set a monster task to fly around the city of Madison and its airport over 150 miles. Although neither one of us completed the task, Kris did manage to get ⅔ around the course and I did around 60 miles. The notable part however was that both of us thermaled up to cloudbase and I reached 10,497’ in one climb.

It was almost another month before I flew again. The 2nd of June looked to be epic again so Kris and I set another task around the city of Madison. A dry wedge of air was centered over the area and the forecast was for light winds with cumulus clouds rising to over 9000’ at the peak of the day. Kris and I both completed the 150+ mile task in just under 8 hours. I posted the story of our flight in my blog: https://tinyurl.com/ymy9nccp.

The two big triangles in Wisconsin:

The rest of the summer didn’t produce any big flights. Even Cotulla, TX was woeful at best. In September, I was able to spend a couple days flying with friends in SE Oklahoma at the Panorama site on the Talimena National Scenic Byway. The site is beautiful and the pilots are a great group. On the 16th I flew for 5hrs 20min and approximately 120 miles. This story is also in my blog: https://tinyurl.com/ycknfnmn. This was my 8th flight over 100 miles this year. The best six were long enough to get awarded the XContest US National Championship for the second year in a row.

2021 US XContest National Champion Larry Bunner

https://www.xcontest.org/2021/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.xcontest.org/2021/world/en/pilots/detail:lbunner

For the year, I ended up with 51 flights, just over 136 hours and 2279 miles.

Ayvri:

https://tinyurl.com/4hteuksz
https://tinyurl.com/4wnpddmu
https://tinyurl.com/5n7zkvym
https://tinyurl.com/4sd8aeut
https://tinyurl.com/y2vm7mwc
https://tinyurl.com/4b6mcmnm
https://tinyurl.com/mrzhuzje
https://tinyurl.com/2p954h4f

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Registration Open for Florida Spring Competitions

Thu, Nov 25 2021, 9:47:52 am MST

Finally Airtribune responds

Airtribune|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2022|Stephan Mentler|Wilotree Park Nationals 2022

You can now register for the Florida competitions being run by Stephan Mentler.

https://airtribune.com/2022-paradise-airsports-nationals/pilots

https://airtribune.com/2022-wilotree-park-nationals/pilots

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Southeast Oklahoma

Fri, Nov 12 2021, 1:02:31 pm MST

Buffalo and Panorama

Larry Bunner|XC|XContest

https://lbunner.blogspot.com/2021/11/1-1-1-1-microsoftinternetexplorer4-0-2.html

The straight line distance from Panorama to Connerville was 102 miles. The international flight tracking contest, XContest factored in the huge dog leg and credited me with ~120 miles. Time in the air was 5hrs 20 min. This day ended up exceeding my expectations 100 fold and wouldn't have happened without Greg volunteering at the last minute to drive (being not fully aware of what he got himself into).

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Listening to the voices

Mon, Nov 1 2021, 11:50:09 am MDT

A statistical approach?

Attila Bertok|Flytec 6005|Garmin GPS|Larry Bunner|Nathan Wreyford|radio

Nathan Wreyford «nathan.wreyford» writes:

As a constant student of group decision making, sports psychology, and statistics, I learned a lot on this flying camp. In the planning of the week and during the week, there was definitely a bit of the Abilene Paradox at work. It is one of my favorites. Often described as a problem of agreement management rather than conflict management. Conflict management is tough. Agreement management, tougher.

I need to figure how to make better use if any of a radio. I find it odd there aren't more people who would rather ditch the distraction. For me, I loathe them for many reasons:

They rarely work for everyone in the group.

They encourage the group to change task. Safety decisions are personal. The decision to change task becomes too easy when it gets to be a grind.

They encourage people to not make a task, thinking "we can talk about it later."

Distraction. I thoroughly believe in my internal algorithm for finding and using lift. I like other pilots as data points, but not much else. I fear someone "helping" me find a climb. It is also that I do not understand my internal algorithm for choosing a direction, a search pattern, etc. I only know that it produces better than average results. Statistics are at the root of my operations in the sky as they link observation with the ability to gather evidence and make decisions. At this stage in flying, much of that is basal ganglia operation rather than frontal cortex but I still like to keep as much frontal cortex free as possible.

Having said all of that, I do like getting real time data that can only come from a radio. Often, I call my driver and ask for the positions of others.

Everyone has different approaches for strategy and instruments. I find that interesting. I am always amazed at the data Rich has available to him while flying - sectionals, airports, landable LZ's. Then you have others like Attila Bertok who dominated Big Spring with a 6005 and a Garmin.

Larry Bunner responds:

Regarding radio: It should be used to improve results. There aren’t many who use it well. My mantra on radios is to keep it very simple; location, altitude, climb rate and cross track. When pilots have their communications protocol worked out the overall speed goes up.

I must say that when you and I flew up toward Batesville and we met briefly before I got LZ suck, radio talk would have been beneficial. We were together for a ways out of the airport and then got separated visually anyway. My last climb prior to heading to the cloud you were under was the strongest and highest altitude all day for me. If we could have communicated I am confident we would have picked a good line together.

The advantage obviously comes in maximizing the climb rate. Say we both enter under a cloud separated by 500 meters. I hit 300fpm and call it out. You call 400fpm. Now I decide whether to come to you or stay put but constantly visually monitor your progress. You then report 500fpm. Bam I’m coming to you! We top out together and head on glide to the next cloud but separate by maybe 0.5 - 1 km to maximize our chances on getting the next strong climb.

You are slightly ahead when I hit a ripper out in the blue. I call to you and you come back where we top out quickly and head out to the next cloud again only much higher now. We did do this to some extent on this flight but it was very inefficient. It is somewhat of an art (learning curve) to get it down. But it is well worth the time investment.

In regard to radios being distraction, this does happen but for me I just shut out when things get dicey or I ask for some silence.

2022 Green Swamp Sport Klassic »

Fri, Oct 15 2021, 7:05:31 pm MDT

The Airtribune web site is up

Airtribune|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2022

Check out the great stories from the previous Green Swamp Sport Klassics. (Also, right here.)

https://airtribune.com/2022-green-swamp-sport-klassic/blog

Registration appears to be open now.

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Krys' Drogue Incident 8-15-21

Thu, Oct 7 2021, 10:43:50 pm MDT

New and untested chute

bridle|drogue|Greg Dinauer|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|Moyes RX|triangle

Larry Bunner reports:

On 8-15-21 Krys Grzyb and Greg Dinauer set an 83km triangle task from Twin Oaks airport in Whitewater, WI east to East Troy, northwest to McDermott airport and then southwest back to Twin Oaks. Greg aborted the task early and flew back to the airport. Krys was doing well getting over 5200’agl on nine climbs. He tagged the first two turn-points and was headed back to the airport.

To this point he had been in the air for 2hr 15min of which over 1½ hours was above 4200’. The winds were 5-9mph from the southeast. Sustained climbs over 1000’ were averaging about 350fpm with one climb averaging 770fpm. He found a thermal just past the last turnpoint 18km out and climbed 300+feet to ~4400’. He needed about a 12:1 glide to get back with a crossing tail wind. He confidently left the last climb knowing he could make it and even if he hit increased sink, he would hit a thermal soon enough.

He went on a long glide sinking over 300fpm and was soon down below 1000’. He selected a narrow field of grass along a farm for his LZ. Approaching from the southeast at 500’ he unzipped the drogue pouch and began extracting it from the pocket. His intent was to deploy it near the ground but the drogue slipped away and accidentally deployed.

Immediately the glider turned right and his sink rate increased to 600+fpm. He pulled in on the control bar, the glider began to pitch down and the sink rate increased to over 900fpm (peak). Thinking the drogue malfunctioned, he reached back to grab the bridle but couldn’t find it. He instantly began to correct for the turning dive. With extreme effort the glider rounded out pointing downwind and just above the corn. The glider, slowed somewhat by the corn, whacked in hard but the glider and Kris were miraculously unharmed. Pretty shaken, he called to the airport to get a retrieve; Greg and Chico showed up quickly to help get the equipment out of the corn.

Krys has used a drogue chute for many years. This particular drogue was developed to train runners to improve their speed. It has one long bridle that runs back to the chute shroud lines. These lines are short relative to the length of the bridle. He used this type of chute for several years with the drogue deploying aft of the keel. This spring he purchased a new drogue from a different manufacturer and replaced his old worn one. He did not compare bridle lengths before installation. Up to this flight the new drogue had not been tested/deployed. After landing, Kris discovered that the keel had penetrated between the shroud lines and the drogue was affixed/centered around the keel.

The bridle length was a couple inches shorter than his previous drogue. When the drogue accidentally deployed, the position of the drogue effectively provided a lifting surface on the end of the keel. When the control bar was pulled in to increase sink rate, the forces on the aft end of the keel decreased the nose angle further thus progressively increasing the sink rate (to the point the nose was pointed at the ground). It took close to all of Krys’ strength to push the bar out far enough to overcome the resistance to level out the glider before entering the tall corn.

In the moment, he focused entirely on recovering the glider turn and descent and felt there wasn’t enough time or altitude to throw his main parachute. His Moyes RX 3.5 sprogs were at the factory settings. Corrective actions that Krys has taken or intends to take include: shorten bridle to prevent keel interaction, add an extra line to one of the shrouds and the harness loop to give access to the pilot to deflate the drogue, and adding a drogue release so the drogue can be cut loose from the pilot.

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Flying the Dry Line

Thu, Jul 15 2021, 5:57:19 pm MDT

It's almost like flying from Zapata

Makbule Baldik Le Fay|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Ken Millard|Larry Bunner|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Makbule Baldik Le Fay|Matt McCleskey|Mick Howard|Nathan Wreyford|Pete Lehmann|record|Ric Caylor|Richard Milla|Rich Reinauer|Robin Hamilton|weather|X Flight 2019

The Texas crew is making a very smart move (if hang gliding and weather history is any guide). Here is what Larry Bunner writes:

We begin our south Texas encampment next Monday. Ten pilots, one super tug and some good weather should put produce some epic miles!

Most of the X Flight crew that flew from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada in 2019 are back together again to fly in an cross country encampment starting July 19. Robin Hamilton and Larry Bunner have put together this event that will be based out of Cotulla, TX for the week. They will be joined by X Flight member Pete Lehmann who has vast experience in the area having flown out of Zapata for many years (which is the site of many world record hang glider flights).

Venerable tow pilot Gregg (Kim) Ludwig will provide the “mountain” that we need on his super trike to get us high over the west Texas plains. Also joining us will be the multi aviation skilled Mick Howard, Rich Reinauer, and Nathan Wreyford all veterans of previous encampments out of Refugio and Falfurrias, TX.

Rounding out our group will be Texas pilots Makbule LeFay, Richard Milla and Matt McCleskey and relative newcomers Ric Caylor and Ken Millard.

Our intentions for the week are to take advantage of the early morning soaring conditions that start over the coastal plains and fly north through The Hill Country of west Texas onto the Edwards Plateau and beyond.

Looks to me like they will be launching out of the Cotulla-La Salle County Airport. This is just slightly north east of our preferred route out of Zapata. It is along interstate 35 which heads from Laredo to San Antonio. It is about 170 km (105 miles) north of Zapata and 110 km north northeast of Laredo.

They won't have to worry about Laredo airspace and they won't have to worry about less than optimal retrieval options between Zapata and Laredo.

From this venue they will have the option of traveling up along highway 83 toward Uvalde, and then along highway 55 toward Rock Springs and beyond into the panhandle.

The issue is will they have the early morning cloud streets (the over running) that you get in Zapata that allows for you to go far and fast while not getting high but always under a very visible set of cloud streets. Of course, this is very dependent on the location of the high pressure, hopefully south of New Orleans.

Larry writes:

The terrain to the north is much friendlier than Zapata. We'll see how well the morning streeting is. All of us will be flying with GPS and linking them to Loctome. This app provides location and altitude among other parameters for our drivers and also allows Loctome subscribers from around the world to watch our flights (ie. all of us in one group). It's like Life360 with altitude, climb rate and distance.

Doesn't look to me that you need to subscribe to follow along: https://loctome.com/live

They have a great opportunity to go far if we look at the long term conditions. Here is the soil moisture:

It looks pretty dry in west Texas all along their route.

https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/Soilmst_Monitoring/US/Soilmst/Soilmst.shtml

You can follow the local weather at launch here: https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=28.454&lon=-99.2185#.YO9s90xMGcw Looks to be generally southeast for the next few days, which is what you want. Looked good on Wednesday as I write this.

I'll be following the weather forecasts on https://www.xcskies.com/map.

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Another South Texas Adventure

June 16, 2021, 8:26:02 MDT

Hot and Far

Another South Texas Adventure

Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Larry Bunner|record|Robin Hamilton|sailplane

Robin Hamilton Robin2808 writes:

We are again heading out to the South Texas flatlands for a week of aerotow fun in July 19th-25th. Gregg Ludwig will bringing along his mega trike and we have eight pilots confirmed for the trip with up to four more slots available to interested pilots.

This year we have several possible start points for “base camp” and will make a selection closer to the time (1-2 weeks), based on weather pattern and ground conditions. Needless to say, barring any tropical weather event, the July cross country conditions in south and west Texas are typically extraordinary with more 300 and 400 mile hang glider flights (and the world records) than anywhere else on the planet.

Start Location Options:

Refugio, best for early start and best overall distance potential, but will be best in SE wind direction and if coastal plain is not too wet. Also a very friendly airport and airport manager.

Junction / Rock Springs, both located on the south end of the Edwards plateau. Junction is known, and friendly and there are many local accommodation options.

Rock Springs (Edwards County airport) is located ~48 miles SW of Junction and offers possibly friendlier terrain immediately downwind. Accommodation likely to be more restricted than Junction especially if annual rodeo is on. It is right on the traditional route for most of the big flights coming up from Zapata.

Hobbs NM is higher elevation and offers an option to fly on the dry air side of the dry line. Typically excellent soaring conditions and track record of successful sailplane and hang gliding competitions and records. Less likely to have significant tailwinds of TX start points and likely needs O2 and arctic clothing for the extended time at altitude.

Decision made based on:

1. If Coastal Plain dry and winds S-SE direction, go to Refugio,

2. If NO for 1 and Edwards Plateau conditions good (e.g. no larger tropical system affecting all of gulf side) move up to Junction or Rock Springs.

3. If NO for 1&2 then move to Hobbs and other side of dryline

If there are pilots out there interested in joining the South Texas adventure (and it always is) July 19th-25th, please contact Robin Hamilton (Robin2808) or Larry Bunner (lbunner).

White Water 250 km FAI Triangle

Fri, Jun 4 2021, 8:26:31 am MDT

More good conditions in the Midwest

James-Donald "Don" "Plummet" Carslaw|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|triangle|Wills Wing T3

Flytec 6030|James-Donald "Don" "Plummet" Carslaw|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|triangle|Wills Wing T3

Larry Bunner writes:

The extraordinarily epic weather continued this week in the upper Midwest with multiple soaring days. On Wednesday high cloudbase (9000’) and light winds warranted a long triangle task. I awoke early to confirm the weather was holding and selected two 250km tasks one of which I extended to 300km in the event the climb rates were exceptionally strong. On my way to Whitewater, WI our longstanding aerotow park that friend Danny Lange operates, I fired off a text to Kris Grzyb about the weather. He responded that he was leaving work to come up and fly.

The top of the lift was predicted to be over 5000’ at 10:00 so the plan was to be ready to takeoff when the cumulus clouds started popping. Kris arrived and we selected a 250km FAI triangle around the city of Madison in a clockwise direction to ensure any high clouds that may arrive from the west later in the day wouldn’t shut the conditions down.

Airspace would be an issue should we have any drift however there was plenty of room on this task to divert should we need to. Danny pulled me and my Wills Wing T3 Team 144 up at 11:11 through a lot of sink before finding lift under a nice cloud to the north. The climb was strong at 430fpm to 7500’, unbelievable for so early in the day. Clouds were lined up to the west toward Lake Koshkonong however the lift near the lake was broken. Better clouds to the northwest resulted in good climbs, one with Kris to over 8200’ right at the edge of a nice street.

The day was shaping up well however the street didn’t work very well for me as I flew under multiple clouds missing the lift and plummeted to 800’ above the ground. A lucky climb over a a farmer on his tractor plowing his field took me to 8000’ at an average climb rate of 424fpm. Whew back in the game again however Kris was long gone.

I continued to plow west under four clouds without a decent climb before managing to get back above 7000’ again at the first turnpoint. It took a long time to get there and I began to doubt whether the task could be finished however the clouds to the northeast looked powerful with dark flat bottoms indicating strong lift. The next climb was to cloudbase at 8700’ and I hit 8 in a row topping out near base in each thermal with the best average climb at 702fpm and top altitude over 9200’. And with that I was at the second turnpoint of Gilbert in just over 2 hours.

On this leg I was beginning to feel fatigued so gorped down a Clif Shot Espresso energy gel, chased it with some water and within minutes the tenseness in my lower back was gone.

Radio problems kept Kris and I separated most of the flight. I could hear him sporadically (and he, me) however the communications were garbled with a lot of static; not really discernible. It was tough to leave the line of clouds that led to Gilbert however the last leg of the flight was 78km back to Whitewater to the southeast. Unfortunately there was big blue hole on the course line with the only reachable clouds to the south.

It turns out both of us took this path. Flying toward the Madison Airport was a bit daunting as we were staring right down the barrel of the main runway. Thankfully no air traffic was on our flight path. I climbed from 3600’ to 6200’, took a look at the airspace on the 6030 map page and knew the only legal path was to head east. This was a good decision as I topped out at 8500’ and headed southeast where Kris was thermaling under the next cloud. Our contact was only temporary as he left up high and I took another path. We never saw each other again.

The climbs were now suppressed as the day was getting long; 250fpm was the new norm and the lift was super smooth. The cumulus clouds were dissipating rapidly so the visual clues of lift were farther apart and less prominent. South of US Rte 94 I found a thermal in the blue and settled in for a long climb. I relaxed and concentrated on maximizing my climb eventually leaving at 7400’, 20 miles from goal needing a 16:1 glide ratio to make it in.

Heading southeast on a long glide into the blue I was maintaining my numbers but wasn’t confident they would last. Off to the east near Jefferson there were the remnants of the last clouds in the sky so changed direction to get one last climb. Ever so faint wisps of cloud were forming before the clouds in front of me where I eventually found lift, starting at 100fpm and slowly ramping up over the next 15 minutes to 450fpm. I left at 7000’ now needing a 10:1 glide with the 6030 showing that I would arrive at 2000’. Woohoo, I was going to make it.

The final glide was surreal as I flew over familiar territory noting the landmarks beneath with the airport slowly rising in the distance. The roller coaster of emotions from the day were now peaking after the low 800’ save early in the flight to the 1000+fpm peak climb on the second leg to this, the thrill of flying my longest triangle. I was totally stoked. There isn’t anything much better than to set an aggressive goal that is on the edge of being achievable and then going out and making it happen. I touched down at the airport after flying for 7hrs and 56 minutes and over 250km (150 miles). Kris arrived ahead of me and was already celebrating with a fine Polish beer. What an incredible day!

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The US National Team

May 19, 2021, 11:33:21 MDT

The US National Team

Eight spots reserved for the 2021 World Championships

Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Gary Anderson|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Robin Hamilton|USHPA|US National Team|Willy Dydo|Zac Majors

https://ntss.ushpa.aero/ntss1/index.php

Pos Name Points Comp 1 Comp 2 Comp 3 Comp 4
1 Zac Majors 1534 609 PAN2021 482 SCF2018 443 WPN2021
2 Bruce Barmakian 1452 393 PAN2021 385 QA22019 352 WPN2021 322 BSN2019
3 Robin Hamilton 1385 561 SCF2018 467 PAN2021 357 WPN2021
4 Davis Straub 1270 396 SCF2018 338 PAN2021 280 BSN2019 256 WPN2021
5 Pedro L Garcia 1265 496 PAN2021 492 QA22019 277 WPN2021
6 Kevin Carter 1126 445 PAN2021 412 QA12019 269 BSN2019
7 John Simon 1120 437 QA22019 400 PAN2021 283 WPN2021
8 Willy Dydo 1089 377 PAN2021 293 BSN2019 230 WPN2021 189 QA22019
9 Larry Bunner 984 413 QA12019 310 PAN2021 261 WPN2021
10 Gary Anderson 951 315 PAN2021 262 WPN2021 209 BSN2018 165 BSN2019
11 Kevin Dutt 917 497 PAN2021 420 QA22019
12 Phil Bloom 812 420 SCF2018 392 PAN2021
13 Patrick Pannese 669 341 SCF2018 328 WPN2021
14 JD Guillemette 645 264 PAN2021 232 QA12019 149 WPN2021
15 Derrick Turner 634 333 WPN2021 301 BSN2018

I won't be going and pilots are being surveyed right now to see who wants to make up the team.

The Midwest is the Best

Mon, May 17 2021, 3:25:53 pm MDT

Larry and Kzry

dust devil|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|PG|triangle|XC

Larry Bunner «Larry Bunner» writes:

This week in the Midwest we have had just epic flying conditions; actually the best I have ever experienced.

On Tuesday, post frontal conditions provided decent northerly winds (up to 19mph) a solid lapse rate but cool temps (58°F) on the surface and less than 25°F at cloudbase (about 8000'). My brother Rob and I were the only ones to venture to Whitewater, Wisconsin where Danny Lange was waiting to give us a tow. The winds were expected to tail off throughout the day and were blowing a steady 10+ when I launched at 11:40 and pinned off in 400fpm to 5000'.

The second climb was better to 5600'. I was gliding south to Highway 43 when I saw dust devils on the ground already. Clouds were prevalent and lined up in nice long streets in a slight southwesterly direction. I chose to push a little east to ensure I would clear Rockford airspace even if I got low. Not to worry though as the next climb averaged 500fpm to 6700'.

I stayed high for the next two hours thermaling to between 5000' and 7800' with two notable climbs averaging over 900fpm. The best climb was 998fpm which I gained 1200' in three turns.

As I approached the Illinois River I could see high cirrus off to the south. Winds shifted to northeast and the climbs decreased notably with cloudbase now at 6500'.

I began to worry about retrieve as I wanted to get back at a decent time to fly again on Wednesday. The plan was for Rob to fly local and then come and retrieve me. It wasn't a solid plan though because the winds were strong enough up high that I thought he might not be able to stay at Whitewater.

I continued to the SSW under the milky skies getting reasonably good climbs and having no real problems. Approaching Peoria, IL airspace I decided to spiral down from 4500' and landed in Metamora at 248km.

I walked the glider out of the field and called Rob. He said the winds in Whitewater never died off so he decided to go on chase and was only 20 minutes away. Woohoo! he picked me up and we were in my hometown of Byron, IL at 7:40. We checked the weather before retiring and noted climbs to 10000' and L&V winds.

Larry's flight: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:lbunner/11.5.2021/16:41

On Wednesday, we headed out early to meet Kris Grzyb ready for a big triangle. Kris is the best cross country pilot in the area and my good buddy. He already planned out a 204km triangle that I scrambled to get into my instrument. The forecast remained the same and the plan was to fly SE to McHenry IL then WNW to Brodhead, WI and back to Whitewater I mentioned that conditions to the SE didn't look as good but the plan was set. He got the jump on me launching at 11:17 and was gone. We didn't see each other the entire flight. I followed at 11:51.

Conditions were again outstanding with average climbs as high as 765fpm and cloudbase over 9800'. Early on I changed my plan to abandon the task and fly the clouds as the route to the SE had sparse clouds. I flew a southerly line under an excellent cloud street and turned west ~10 km south of Harvard, IL while Kris tagged the first turnpoint and did the same. I had another good line of clouds to the west and zoomed from cloud to cloud staying high.

Northwest of Rockford the clouds began to expand outward and I flew through several small climbs searching for the stronger lift I had been getting. The size of the clouds made zeroing in on the lift more difficult and just short of Durand, IL at 3500' under a big cloud I was getting antsy. Twenty five minutes later I was over 9200' and headed north.

A beautiful powerful looking street was laid out in front of me. All I had to do was connect the dots. Four thermals over 9000' and I was in line to run further north up toward Madison and then come back SE to goal. Clouds looked good toward goal directly as well. Fatigue from the nine hours I had been in the air the last two days won out and I headed back to Whitewater arriving high and struggling to get down.

In the mean time, Kris made the second turnpoint and reached goal before me however continued on north to Jefferson before returning to the airport. My flight was over 190 km and 5½ hours. Kris crushed it with a 243 km FAI triangle and 7 hours. What a day! Many soared at Whitewater this day, Rob managed 3½ hours and topped out over 9000' four times. We all left our gliders set up as Thursday was going to be epic as well.

Larry's flight: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:lbunner/12.5.2021/16:51

Krzysztof Grzyb's flight: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:grzybk/12.5.2021/16:17

On Thursday, we were all back for more. Conditions were to be light west wind with cloudbase at 11200'. We chose a 250 km triangle around Madison, WI. Kris got off first again and I was not far behind launching at 12:07. Danny pulled me into a thermal right over the training hill on the airport, did one 360 and waved me off.

I climbed straight up at 450 fpm to 8300'. The climbs weren't as strong however the lift was higher. The further northwest we went the winds picked up out of the southwest and the clouds began expanding out again. I had one climb to 10,497' which is the highest I have ever been in the Midwest.

Unfortunately the clouds continued to thicken and eventually shaded out most of the ground. I ended up landing in Arlington north of Madison. Kris continued on toward the second turnpoint but eventually turned back toward Whitewater under the ever thickening skies landing south of Fitchburg. I only managed 2:50 in the air and 90km and Kris went for 173km.

Krzysztof Grzyb's flight: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:grzybk/13.5.2021/16:47

Rob had another good flight topping out over 10200' on a lengthy flight. The week was over for me as the conditions in Whitewater for Friday were to cloud over early. Kris however had one more vacation day and decided to chase the good conditions to the east.

On Friday, he headed to Napannee, IN to tow with the paragliders. He reports: this time the wind speed was a little stronger between 7000'-9500' than all models show. The average lift speed was slower than days before and significant sink between thermals. Much nicer flying was under huge rolled Cumulus Clouds (less head wind) but damn nasty cold.

Funny thing was when the owner of the house where I landed and two buddies showed up, they came with 1 shot gun and 2 other guns instead of with three beers for thirsty pilot. Thanks to driver John Enrietti for all day companion.

Kris ended up with 153 km and another 6½ hours totaling over 18 hours and 575 km for his three days.

Krzysztof Grzyb's flight: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:grzybk/14.5.2021/17:00

Due to my decision to return to Whitewater instead of following the street like Kris did I ended up with 528 km for my three days.

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Go Long In Texas, Full Up »

Thu, May 13 2021, 10:54:51 pm EDT

FOMO

Glen Volk|Go Long In Texas 2021|Greg Chastain|Jim Yocom|Larry Bunner|Makbule Baldik Le Fay|Robin Hamilton|Rohan Taylor|Sara Weaver

https://cuhanggliding.com/golongintexas/

Confirmed Pilot List
Jonathan Irlbec Read Bixby
Tavo Gutierrez Doug Hale
Rick Maddy Sujata Sen
Charles Cozean Carl Boddie
Makbule Baldik Matt Mccleskey
Robin Hamilton Larry Bunner
Eduardo Fonseca Sara Weaver
Michael Williams Greg Chastain
Bob Fisher Soham Mehta
Glen Volk Tyson Taylor
Majo Majors Ron Berry
Rich Reinauer James Race
Nate Wreford Mitch Sorby
Richard Hiegel German Boliviar
Mick Howard Jim Yocum

Every Day Since the Competition Ended

May 5, 2021, 12:48:43 pm EDT

Every Day Since the Competition Ended

Maybe it will rain tomorrow

Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

This is what the sky has looked like every day since the Wilotree Park Nationals ended on April 25th:

The cu's started forming at 9:30 AM.

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 25, 2021, 10:14:20 pm EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Task 4, the last day

Attila Plasch|Bobby Bailey|Butch Peachy|competition|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|John Simon|Konrad Heilmann|Leonardo Ortiz|Moyes Litespeed RX|PG|Robin Hamilton|Tim Delaney|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021|Zac Majors

The Replay: https://airtribune.com/play/5021/2d

It was a difficult day to end a meet that proved to have difficult days. The day started with a little bit of rain as a thin line of thunderstorms brushed by, then dark skies for a few hours which made the prospects of staying up seem remote, then after 2 PM the sky started to open up, the clouds went away and we had a blue day. The wind was out of the west but not nearly as strong as all the models as well as the National Weather Service predicted with not so strong gust factors either.

Yes, Derrick, Willy Dydo, and Alan Arcos took off and only Derrick was able to stay up for a good while before landing. The task committee then changed the task to an open window. Pilots were very reluctant to get going while there were start gates because they feared getting blown out of the 5 km start cylinder with weak lift and strong winds (those were forecast at least).

Pilots kept hesitating which is why we changed to task to make it so there would not be a penalty for leaving the start cylinder, but finally they started launching after 3:30 PM, and I was able to get pulled up by Bobby Bailey at 4:06 PM. It was the best tow I've every had from him as I insisted that he tow me straight up wind and do not do any turns. With the wind still seeming to be strong I wanted to get upwind as far as possible and he took me as far as Osborn field.

We had been in lift it seemed and I found 300 fpm right off tow. I was all alone and could not see any other pilots so I was completely happy to be turning at a radius that maximized my climb rate without having to look after other pilot's circling. That did not last long. Bruce immediately came over to me, just above me and JD just below so at least they were not a bother. Then Zac and Robin, but again Robin was below and Zac up with Bruce, but it was starting to get crowded. At least no one else was at my altitude. Bruce was 60 feet above me.

The wind was only 12 mph out of the west, so all the scary forecasts about 22 mph at 2,000' were not the case and I wondered why the pilots who had gone up earlier reported strong winds and kept us on the ground.

Alan Arcos, Derrick Turner and John Simon joined the thermal and things got very choppy. You can see the result of going in and out of the core on the SeeYou altitude graph. We quit going up for a few minutes then slowly climbed to 3,600'.

Following Zac we all headed southwest into a 17 mph west wind. We found it a bit to everyone else's east and nine pilots came together to bother each other in another weak thermal (100 fpm). I was only able to climb to 2,700' before JD and John Simon lead out and headed southwest again.

They found weak lift just west of highway 33 at 1,400' I came in at 700' and wasn't willing to stay under them for more than one turn not finding anything. There was a very inviting field to the north a little and I landed there followed soon by Alan Arcos and Butch Peachy.

After that it was only six pilots left in the air and slowly Robin, Zac and Bruce had them drop out below them. Zac and Robin were able to make it a total of 30 kilometers down the course line landing near the mines north of Wallaby Ranch.

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Task 4:

# Name Glider Distance (km) Total
1 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 29.76 112.8
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 29.66 112.6
3 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 25.89 100.7
4 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 15.92 77.4
5 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 14.24 72.3
6 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 13.86 71.2
7 JD Guillemette Moyes RX3.5 11.30 61.5
8 Mick Howard Moyes RX 3.5 9.40 53.8
9 Tavo Gutierrez Wills Wing T3 154 8.72 51.1
10 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 7.96 48.0
11 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 7.55 46.3

Finals:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 661.2 781.1 864.1 112.6 2419
2 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 674.4 832.1 639.6 29.9 2176
3 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 310.2 805.3 916.8 112.8 2145
4 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 421.7 710.5 880.4 100.7 2113
5 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 633.1 856.0 439.9 72.3 2001
6 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 408.7 796.3 735.4 29.9 1970
7 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 379.3 750.8 720.6 48.0 1899
8 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 133.3 742.6 752.9 71.2 1700
9 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 220.0 814.5 629.6 0.0 1664
10 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 447.3 706.7 463.6 38.6 1656

Sport Class Final Results (they didn't fly on the last day):

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 Total
1 Leonardo Ortiz Moyes Litesport 4 308.3 673.5 514.7 0.0 1497
2 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 213.4 787.2 408.2 0.0 1409
3 Rick Warner Wills Wing Sport 2 155 102.7 635.2 567.7 0.0 1306
4 Jordan Stratton Moyes Gecko 155 133.8 748.1 368.9 0.0 1251
5 L.J. Omara Wills Wing Sport 3 155 151.0 726.4 353.8 0.0 1231
6 Attila Plasch WillsWing U2 209.2 852.9 161.0 0.0 1223
7 Bill Snyder Wills Wing U2 145 150.5 538.8 410.4 0.0 1100
8 Bill Monghaloe Bautek Fizz 0.0 742.2 350.7 0.0 1093
9 Kelly Myrkle Moyes Gecko 118.5 657.2 277.5 0.0 1053
10 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 147.3 504.4 380.5 0.0 1032

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2771828

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/25.4.2021/20:06

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals - Midair During Task 3 »

Sat, Apr 24 2021, 7:40:01 pm EDT

Pedro and Tyler collide while thermaling

CIVL|collision|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

Below you will see frames of the period just before and at the time of the collision taken every two seconds from their track log files. You can make your own interpretation of who should have done what to avoid this incident. Tyler is the red glider (978) and Pedro the blue one (969). I have left the pictures at their original size as taken on my computer.

Be aware that at launch Pedro's instrument measured 140' and Tyler's measured 120' of elevation (GPS altitude). Therefore the altitudes displayed in these frames could easily be off from each other by 20' (or more) or not at all.

You can make your own interpretation of what you see here. Note the different climb rates between the two gliders. Both gliders were flying after the collision and both pilots followed the CIVL section 7 rule: "A competitor involved in a collision in the air must not continue the flight if the structural integrity of his glider is in doubt."

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2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 24, 2021, 7:11:15 pm EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

We don't go that great up wind when it is windy

Dragonfly|Larry Bunner|PG|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

Dragonfly|Larry Bunner|Naviter Blade|PG|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

Replay of the task: https://airtribune.com/play/5020/2d

On Friday, after a delay to move the start box to the west side of the east/west runway we had the first start window at 3 PM. Launch went smoothly for the open class, but there were further delays for the Sport Class.

I had a galloping tow behind Mick Howard in his 582 2-cycle powered (under powered) Dragonfly and when the rope went completely slack at 1,600' and we both went sideways, him to the right, me to the left, I pulled the release, but the weaklink (200 lbs.) broke at the same time and the bridle went for an unexpected flight into a small pond. We had just been in 400 fpm so it was easy to turn around and start climbing.

Half a dozen pilots were soon at cloud base which was over 4,000'. There were plenty of cu's and they were all working and you just had to be careful about the 11 mph southeast wind and not let it blow you too far outside the 5 km start cylinder. I was able to start at 3:04 PM as I watched the count down on the Naviter Blade and listen to its messages about when to get to the edge of the start window. It seemed to know exactly when to go.

With a strong southeast wind we were racing over the ground at almost 50 mph. There were multiple cu's ahead so little worry about finding lift. The first turnpoint was downwind to Center Hill.

With everyone in the first thermal along the course line we were going up at 400 fpm on average to 4,900'. After touching the turnpoint at Center Hill we headed north toward the 15 km turnpoint cylinder around Dallas, a waypoint at the northwest corner of the Villages. The waypoint had been expanded to account for the delay at launch.

It was 12 km to the next thermal from the previous one with a 17:1 glide ratio. A 300 fpm climb rate and then the next thermal just northwest of the prisons and south of the Turnpike at 400+ fpm to 4,900' before heading for and tagging the Dallas turnpoint just on the south edge of the Villages.

Now we had to turn into the wind and things did not go as well. The lift miraculously got much weaker with a climb of 100 fpm and then a little less than 200 fpm over a lake on the north side of the Turnpike with a 13 mph east southeast wind. About a dozen pilots were all in the lead gaggle just north of the Turnpike.

I left the thermal at 3,800'. We were getting to almost 5,000' just a few minutes earlier. Now we weren't getting as high as we would like heading into the east southeast wind. The half dozen gliders above me headed a little more southerly as I headed right down the Turnpike trying to get upwind of the course line back to Wilotree Park. Zac was heading that way also as there were good looking clouds in that direction and a lot fewer clouds south of the Turnpike.

The back and forth had begun. I found 230 fpm 4 km to the east and climbed to 4,300', then went east again and climbed to 4,500' at 150fpm with Larry Bunner. Heading toward the better looking clouds north of the Turnpike I was able to gain a total of 8 km to the east and get upwind of the course line but I was now down to 2,700' and not finding anything.

I saw Larry turning back behind me and turned around to see if I could get up in that thermal. That cost me half the distance I had gained and I found only weak lift that I'm able to use to climb to 2,500'. Larry got to 4,000' and flew to the south southeast landing soon there after.

I hooked up with Maria Garcia in the light lift and after topping out we headed south east toward the east west road for a safe landing with good retrieval. Down to 900' AGL we found a little spot of lift and started turning in an extremely pleasant climb. We climbed at 80 fpm and then I noticed Tavo Gutierrez circling below us just south of the highway and went over to him to find almost 200 fpm. I climbed to 3,800' over the prisons losing 4 km.

Topping out I headed east down the highway toward highway 48 and along the Turnpike toward a good looking cloud but found a net pf no gain at 1,000'. I should have just kept going, but I turned around and landed in a friendly field to the west. The lift was negative on the upwind side of the cloud. Retrieval from the Turnpike was not as easy as from the surface roads, but it was possible.

Pilots were scattered about in this area except for Bruce, Zac and Robin who while also had to do back and forths were able to get further south and a lot closer to Wilotree Park.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/23.4.2021/18:23

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2768418

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2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 24, 2021, 9:16:41 EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Results from Task 3

competition|Davis Straub|Gary Anderson|John Simon|Konrad Heilmann|Larry Bunner|Moyes Litespeed RX|Raul Guerra|Robin Hamilton|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021|Zac Majors

Replay of the task: https://airtribune.com/play/5020/2d

Results: https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Task 3:

# Name Glider Distance (km) Total
1 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 75.84 916.8
2 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 71.22 880.3
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 69.74 863.9
4 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 58.18 752.1
5 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 Team 57.76 744.5
6 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 56.55 734.5
7 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 55.36 719.6
8 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 54.59 706.8
9 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 53.99 697.3
10 Raul Guerra ICARO Laminar 14,1 52.77 674.1

Cumulative:

Name Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 2306
2 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 2146
3 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 2032
4 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 2013
5 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 1940
6 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 1929
7 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 1851
8 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 1664
9 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 1629
10 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 1618

From Zero up to Hero

April 22, 2021, 11:14:32 pm EDT

From Zero up to Hero

Fastest for the day

Larry Bunner|PG

John Simon|Larry Bunner|PG

John Simon|Larry Bunner|PG

Luck often plays a substantial part of how the competition day goes. Today it played a major part for me. I proposed a task in the task committee meeting which was then substantially changed but still had the same goal near the Gilbert airfield in Winter Haven to our south. Given the forecast for a poor blue day with light lift, a seven mile per hour northeast wind, and a low TOL, the task was shorter than the day before (when only three pilots made goal). This was my first piece of luck.

In the pilot briefing I suggested that we change the start radius to 5 km from 3 km because of the "lake effect" from Lake Apopka. This was agreed to. My second bit of luck.

I was last off because I got a zero for the first task having left the 3 km start cylinder way too early. I was just looking for a safe place to land after I put myself in a position to be unable to make it back to Wilotree Park for a relaunch un(like almost all the open class pilots were able to do). But, I was happy to be last because given how many relights there were on Wednesday, and how poor the day looked. I wanted to be reassured by all the pilots in the air, that we could stay up.

We moved the launch back to 2 PM because the TOL at 1 PM was forecasted to be 2,200'. It wasn't forecasted to be much better at 2 PM, 2,400'. We would open the task at 3 PM, when the forecast said that we would get to 3,000'. So we just had to stay up for an hour (if you launched first) at low elevation until 3 PM.

I launched at 2:30 PM behind Greg Ludwig on his powerful trike. After losing 400' I was able to climb to 3,200' which seemed to be the TOL. I quickly lost all that was gained and it looked like a day very much like the previous day where it was hard to get high near the flight park. Also I was now in gaggles that were just terrible with pilots who do not know how to put their glider up on a tip. This made the lift very broken up as you could only be in the core for brief moments.

Finally I had had enough after losing 300' in the gaggle where I had been able to get to 2,800' and headed south southwest toward a much smaller gaggle of Sport Class pilots. It turned out that they were circling just at the edge of the start cylinder, my next bit of luck.

Unlike the forecast (see previous article) the winds were very light, 2 mph. We would have had an out and return task if we had known that the winds would be so light. But now they very much served my purposes because I was able to climb in the gaggle near the edge of the start cylinder without being blown way south of it.

I got to the gaggle low, 1,800', which made it so I didn't have anyone to contend with in the gaggle (more luck) and 30 seconds before the second start window opened. I could see all the pilots high above me take off for the second start. I was too low to join them and had to wait fifteen minutes (and not twenty) for the third start time. A next bit of luck.

The thermal continued for fifteen minutes as I drifted to the south. First 160 fpm, then 44 fpm as I slowly climbed to 3,400'. The main benefit was that I could just keep turning and not lose altitude and with the light winds I could stay close enough to the start cylinder to make it back (against a light wind) to get the 3:30 start time. Perfect luck.

I flew back, took the start time at 3:31, down to 2,800' and flew back to join a gaggle of Sport Class pilots 2 km south of the start cylinder. Now in the task committee we wanted to have the Sport Class pilots fly to their goal (3 km cylinder around Dean Still) with the Open Class pilots. Now I was using them to provide markers down the course line (and I was going to stay very close to the course line unlike on previous days). This was an additional very important bit of luck.

I was able to jump from Sport Class gaggle to Sport Class gaggle, for a total of four gaggles including the first one at the edge of the start cylinder. The next gaggle after those four to the south southeast (south of 474) was an Open Class gaggle and there was Larry Bunner who I was on the radio with. I had caught a bunch of the pilots who had started fifteen minutes before me.

The forecast told us that things would improve as the afternoon progressed. And things were improving. Better lift and I climbed in this gaggle to 3,700'.

Now it was jump from marker or gaggle to the next one and race to catch up with the guys ahead. Larry and I were working well together and when we got in a thermal at about the same altitude we did not do these stupid flat turns, but put our gliders up on their tips and spiraled up like actual pilots. So refreshing, like when we were flying alone together the week before the first competition.

We found our last thermal just north of Fantasy of Flight north of I4 and were able to get to almost 3,300'. When the lift slowed down it was time to go to chase John Simon down who had been with us on the last few thermals and had left early on this one. It was almost 11 kilometers to goal and I recall reading on my instruments that it was 13:1. We head about a 4 mph tail wind.

Seven kilometers into the glide I was getting quite nervous down to 1,600'. I was passing up possible safe landing areas and it didn't look like there was any ahead. I was about to go over a small lake.

Down to 1,150' AGL on the north side of the lake I could see the swamp ahead but there seemed to be an open area between new houses just on the east side of the lake if needed. Coming to the south side of the small swamp (trees) on the south side of the lake I was down to 650' AGL. Then I hit 100 fpm lift. A real piece of luck.

I wasn't aware that I was within half a kilometer of the 3 km goal radius as I just couldn't read my instruments in the glare of the sun low on the horizon.

I was able to climb 400' which made it very easy to get to the preferred landing fields. It was also a waste of time because I probably could have made it there from 650' AGL. At times like that your instinct for survival is screaming at you to be as safe as you can be.

Nice fields at goal. Lots of pilots showed up.

Given all the luck I had and the fact that I was able to catch a good number of the pilots who started 15 minutes before me I was able to fly the fastest to goal. I therefore got the most time points. Because I started 15 minutes behind I got less leading points and less arrival points so I ended up in sixth place.

From bad luck (and poor decision making) to good luck and better decision making given the hands I was dealt.

It's all here: https://airtribune.com/play/5018/2d

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/22.4.2021/18:31

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2767333

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2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

Thu, Apr 22 2021, 9:45:15 pm EDT

Results from Task 2

competition|Davis Straub|John Simon|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Robin Hamilton|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021|Zac Majors

The forecast for the day:

How is Thursday different from Wednesday?

The wind shifts from northwest to northeast.

Day starts off sunny.

Be aware of the lake effect where Lake Apopka suppresses the lift just to our east and over us.

Winds are lighter at 4 PM (about half the wind speeds on Wednesday).

There will be a high pressure centered on the Florida/Georgia border.

Six degree lower surface temperatures and lower high temperature for the day, 79 vs. 84.

NWS:

Thursday

Sunny, with a high near 80. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Hourly forecast for the afternoon: Northeast surface winds at 9 mph decreasing to 7 mph, cloud cover 7% dropping to 4% by 4 PM.

https://www.wunderground.com/maps/surface-analysis/24hr

Shows cold front in Miami at 2 PM tomorrow, clear skies to the north.

HRRR

1 PM:

Northeast surface wind at 1 PM: 9 mph, 2000' 11 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 3,300'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 440 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 3,300'

B/S at 1 PM: 3.4

Cloud cover 7%

4 PM

Northeast surface wind at 4 PM: 7 mph, 2000' 9 mph

TOL at 4 PM: 3,800'

Updraft Velocity at 4 PM: 460 fpm

CB at 4 PM: 0'

B/S at 4 PM: 5.6

Cloud cover 9%

Skew-T:

1 PM:

TOL: 3,200'

Temperature: 56 degrees at TOL (73 on the surface)

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Task 2:

# Name Glider SS ES Time Speed (km/h) Total
1 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 15:15:00 16:38:39 01:23:39 32.2 856.0
2 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 15:15:00 16:40:26 01:25:26 31.5 832.1
3 Pedro L. garcia Wills Wing T3 144 15:15:00 16:42:06 01:27:06 30.9 814.5
4 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 15:15:00 16:42:13 01:27:13 30.9 805.3
5 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 15:15:00 16:42:43 01:27:43 30.7 796.3
6 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 15:30:00 16:51:20 01:21:20 33.1 783.8
7 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 15:15:00 16:44:19 01:29:19 30.2 781.1
8 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 15:15:00 16:47:53 01:32:53 29.0 750.8
9 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 15:15:00 16:48:09 01:33:09 28.9 742.6
10 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 15:15:00 16:50:43 01:35:43 28.1 718.8

Cumulative:

# Name Glider Total
1 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 1507
2 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 1489
3 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 1442
4 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 1205
5 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 1154
6 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 1132
7 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 1130
8 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 1116
9 Pedro L. garcia Wills Wing T3 144 1035
10 Austin Marshall Wills Wing T3 154 1012

Eleven Sport Class pilots made goal with Attila winning the day and he is first overall afater two tasks. See results at link above.

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 21, 2021, 9:35:24 pm EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Results from Task 2

Butch Peachy|competition|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Robin Hamilton|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/results

Task 1:

Name Glider Time Distance (km) Total
1 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:17:35 73.84 674.4
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:18:00 73.84 661.2
3 Derreck Turner Moyes RX 4 02:34:19 73.84 633.1
4 Thaisio Feliz Moyes RX5 Technora 66.74 476.6
5 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 60.60 447.3
6 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 56.17 421.7
7 Patrick Pannese Wills Wing T2C 52.49 408.7
8 Alan Arcos Icaro Laminar 13.7 55.57 379.3
9 Butch Peachy Moyes RX 3.5 49.54 328.6
10 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 40.43 310.2

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 21, 2021, 4:16:36 pm EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Rain on day two, but blue on day three

Task 1:

Zac and Tyler way far in the lead.

Tyler and then Zac first and second for the day. All other pilots who are in the air are 40 km behind.

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2021 Wilotree Park Nationals »

April 19, 2021, 8:50:04 pm EDT

2021 Wilotree Park Nationals

Rain

It cleared up around 3 PM, but didn't show much prospects of lift then. We went for a bike ride, https://www.strava.com/activities/5156726742.

Good chance of rain on Tuesday then things clear up on Wednesday.

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2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 7 »

April 17, 2021, 5:54:36 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 7

Cancelled

The southwest wind was too strong. If the wind direction had been south, southeast, south southeast, west, east, northeast, northwest, or north, the speed would have been fine. The results at the end of day 6 are the final results.

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2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 6 »

April 16, 2021, 8:30:48 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 6

Results

competition|Davis Straub|Filippo Oppici|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|Phill Bloom|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo|Zac Majors

https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

# Id Name Glider Time Distance (km) Total
1 948 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:56:52 57.74 342.0
2 973 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:57:35 57.74 334.7
3 979 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 02:57:36 57.74 332.4
4 978 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:58:22 57.74 329.8
5 974 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 23.20 168.4
6 985 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 19.23 152.8
7 957 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 12.96 132.0
8 969 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 12.90 131.8
9 946 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 12.68 130.8
10 967 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 12.11 127.9

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 6 »

April 16, 2021, 7:43:02 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 6

Blue Sky|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|PG|Wallaby Ranch

You know, every now and then
I think you might like to hear something from us
Nice and easy but there's just one thing
You see, we never ever do nothing nice and easy
We always do it nice and rough

The forecast:

NWS:

Today

A slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 8am. Partly sunny, with a high near 82. West wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Hourly in the afternoon: 6 mph west wind at 1 pm increasing to 8 mph west northwest by 4 PM, cloud cover 64%. Hourly and daily forecast do not agree on high temperature with hourly displaying 78 degrees.

RAP

1 PM:

Southwest surface wind at 1 PM: 6 mph, 2000' 8 mph , 4,000' 14 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 5,100'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 600 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 4,000'

B/S at 1 PM: 8.0

4 PM:

West southwest surface wind at 4 PM: 10 mph, 2,000' 14 mh, 4,000' 14 mph

TOL at 4 PM: 6,100'

Updraft Velocity at 4 PM: 620 fpm

CB at 4 PM: 5,100'

B/S at 4 PM: 7.0

This is what it looks like most of the day:

Every once in a while it will open up and there will be sunshine on the ground., Cu's form under the high level clouds and there are spots of rain here and there.

We've got a hell of a task:

Wilotree Park to Gore and then back to Wallaby Ranch.

There is some reluctance to launch given how dark the sky looks at times. They delay the launch by 40 minutes so it's not until 1:20 that pilots start launching. Kasey pulls me up at 1:40 above everyone else but two pilots at 2,100' (2,000' AGL). I'm right under those two pilots that are off by themselves and under a weak looking cu. Everything looks weak under the high level clouds.

I climb to 2,800' but fifteen minutes after I pinned off I'm back down to where I started. Despite unrelenting circling and joisting with one pilot after another, half an hour after I launched I'm down to 800' AGL at the south end of the field. I climb at 6.6 fpm until I find 160 fpm west of Wilotree Park and climb to 2,200'. I was previously very concerned about how all of us would land at the same time at the park, which it looked like we were going to do. There were many relights.

After a few different thermals and lift at around 130 fpm I'm able to climb to 3,200'. I'm only 2.5 kilometers from Wilotree, but hanging with four or five other pilots downwind to the east.

I follow the pilots I'm near to the southeast to where just outside the 5 km start cylinder they find 144 fpm and I join in. Pilots are landing every where behind us.

It is all dark and shaded to the south along our course line. We get to 2,900' and then the six of us head south into the darkness. For over 6 km we glide and it looks like we are going to land (as two pilots already did) just north of the mines. Down to 900' AGL I spot Zac below us just north of the mines and to our east when he begins to turn. We come over him and start turning in lift that averages 134 fpm. I'm on top of him for at least 5 minutes when I lose my focus for a second and suddenly I'm on the bottom and out of contact. I see the five pilots I was with climb up faster and get away from me.

I head southeast to get under where they have stopped for lift but it takes me nine minutes to get back up to 3,000' and I can no longer see the other pilots.

I'm just east of the mines but in an area where retrieval will not be easy unless I drop straight down. I've got to go south following where they went to get south of highway 474. I head for the best looking patch of cumulus cloud but there is no lift there. I'm down to 1,400' at 474.

South of this east west road there are very limited access possibilities for quite a ways. I feel that I need 3,000' to chance going out south of the highway. I can see to the south that there is blue sky and lots of cumulus clouds that look so much better than anything that we have been flying in., but they are too far away for a pilot who is as low as I am.

I search around near the highway but not finding any lift land in a field just to the north of the road.

The pilots I was with are able to make it to the cu's and then complete the task.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/16.4.2021/17:40

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2763323

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2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 5 »

April 15, 2021, 7:55:32 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 5

Very windy and overcast

Bobby Bailey|competition|Davis Straub|Filippo Oppici|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|PG|Raul Guerra|Robin Hamilton|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

Replay: https://airtribune.com/play/5009/2d

Forecast:

There is a large mass of clouds moving from west to east in the northern Gulf. We saw a bit of this on Wednesday in the morning before the clouds to the north and west disappeared.

NWS:

Thursday

Increasing clouds, with a high near 87. South wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Hourly in the afternoon: 11 mph southwest wind at noon increasing to 15 mph by 5 PM and turning west, cloud cover going from 19% to 50% then 71% at 5 PM

HRRR

1 PM:

Southwest surface wind at 1 PM: 14 mph, 2000' 21 mph, 4000' 22 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 4,800'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 500 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 4600'

B/S at 1 PM: 4.3

4 PM:

West southwest surface wind at 4 PM: 13 mph, 4,000' 21 mph

TOL at 4 PM: 3,900'

Updraft Velocity at 4 PM: 400 fpm

CB at 4 PM: 0'

B/S at 4 PM: 1.4

So we expect a windy and gusty day with the upper level clouds coming completely over us, but letting in filter sunlight. With the southwest direction we first look at a task to the northeast but conclude that with the high winds the safety factor finding landable areas would be very narrow. I propose a cross wind task to the north hoping that we will get lighter winds and it will be soarable.

Results: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

Task 4: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5009/day/open-class

# Name Glider Distance Total
1 JD Guillemette Moyes RX3.5 26.72 192.0
2 Raul Guerra Icaro Laminar 14.7 23.65 177.4
3 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 23.67 177.3
4 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 23.59 176.8
5 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 23.54 176.2
6 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 23.12 173.4
7 Konrad Heilmann Moyes Litespeed RX3.5 Technora 22.75 169.0
8 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 22.40 165.1
9 Austin Marshall Wills Wing T3 154 18.32 122.0
10 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 18.07 120.7

Cumulative: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5009/comp/open-class

# Name Glider Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 2972
2 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 2936
3 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 2916
4 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 2845
5 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 2844
6 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 2599
6 Raul Guerra Icaro Laminar 14.7 2599
8 Kevin Carter Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 2541
9 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 2283
10 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 2220

There was no Sport Class task today given the high winds forecasted.

The winds at launch were within our pre assigned parameters (20 mph south and 10 mph west - so 15 mph southwest). The safety and meet director were monitoring the winds at launch and their criteria was 10 - 15 mph with no gusts over 5 mph. That's what they got.

The high level clouds from the north came near us but there were plenty of cu's underneath them. When I got pulled up after not choosing to go in the first round I pinned off in lift at 1,500' behind Bobby Bailey. I quickly climbed to 5,200' at 335 fpm despite all the upper level clouds. I was drifting at 12 mph out of the west southwest. I wanted to get to the west side of the 5 km start cylinder, which was not all that easy to do.

Heading west and then climbing back to 5,000' it was time to go to get the first start clock.

After the task opened we all raced to the northwest and found lift west of Groveland again back to 5,000'. I followed three pilots ahead and over me and found 350 fpm to 4,500' behind them and they had to come back to me.

As we went further north under the upper level clouds, but still toward cumulus clouds, the lift deteriorated. As we came over Grass Root airfield at a little less than 3,000' we spotted Zac Majors circling low on the north side. We climbed at 140 fpm to 3,300'. Zac headed off to the northwest low and we all lost track of him, except maybe Austin.

I'm only able to climb to 2,800' in the next thermal at 124 fpm. Others get higher. We are all being pushed to the east northeast and there is a small gaggle northeast of the Turnpike. I don't find any lift under them at 2,600' and head west toward the open fields on the south side of the Turnpike and near highway33. I note that the wind is 22 mph out of the west.

Making very slow progress against the head wind, down to 1,200', and not being able to make it to my preferred field to the west I turn east to be able to land near highway 27. There is a huge field there and I come in at 500' and stay prone and on the base tube all the way to the ground not wanting to get turned. My ground speed is less than 5 mph when I land in a nice soft field. It is very turbulent.

Kevin Carter measures 30 mph when he is coming in to land, hits 1,500 fpm low, and just keeps heading into the wind and landing. J.D. gets out ahead of everyone and wins the day.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/15.4.2021/17:34

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2762660

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 4 »

April 14, 2021, 10:24:21 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 4

Task 3, more blue then a few cu's

Attila Plasch|competition|Filippo Oppici|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|Phill Bloom|Raul Guerra|Robin Hamilton|Tim Delaney|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo|Zac Majors

The forecast:

NWS:

Wednesday

Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Light southeast wind becoming south southeast 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Hourly in the afternoon: 7 mph south southeast wind , 38% decreasing to 23% cloud cover

RAP

1 PM:

South surface wind at 1 PM: 6 mph, 2000' 7 mph, 4000' south southeast 6 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 4,400'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 580 fpm

CB at 1 PM: none (with south southeast there is almost always cu's)

B/S at 1 PM: 9.7

4 PM:

South surface wind at 4 PM: 6 mph, 6,000' 6 mph

TOL at 4 PM: 7,700'

Updraft Velocity at 4 PM: 720 fpm

CB at 4 PM: 7,500'

B/S at 4 PM: 10.0

The Task:

Quest 3 km
Turn33 3 km (Intersection of the Florida Turnpike and highway 33)
T33D 3 km (Intersection of Dean Still Road and highway 33)
Quest 400 m

Results for Open and Sport classes: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

Task 3 Open: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5007/day/open-class

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:24:22 991.2
2 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 02:24:24 981.9
3 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 02:24:32 973.1
4 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 02:25:03 963.5
5 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 02:25:27 958.0
6 Phill Bloom Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:26:24 931.8
7 Kevin Carter Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:27:05 920.9
8 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 02:30:02 900.3
9 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:30:47 898.2
10 Bruce Barmakian Aeros Combat 02:39:58 838.2

Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 928.2 980.4 898.2 2807
2 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 822.3 954.9 981.9 2759
3 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 806.6 941.6 991.2 2739
4 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 815.0 945.7 973.1 2734
5 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 779.4 991.7 900.3 2671
6 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 650.1 961.5 963.5 2575
7 Kevin Carter Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 655.4 865.4 920.9 2442
8 Raul Guerra Icaro Laminar 14.7 754.7 832.7 834.4 2422
9 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 634.3 580.8 958.0 2173
10 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 787.1 503.1 804.5 2095

Sport Cumulative:

# Name Glider T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Tim Delaney Wills Wing Sport 3 135 828.3 954.8 504.2 2287
2 Ken Millard Moyes Gecko 155 624.4 598.6 986.6 2210
3 Douglas Hale Moyes Gecko 328.3 581.1 772.6 1682
4 Ric Caylor Moyes Gecko 170 137.6 989.3 475.5 1602
5 Abishek Sethi Wills Wing U2 145 563.4 547.4 462.5 1573
6 Richard Milla Wills Wing U2 145 624.4 533.6 411.9 1570
7 Attila Plasch WillsWing U2 285.5 479.2 704.7 1469
8 Soham Mehta Wills Wing U2 145 327.7 581.6 524.1 1433
9 Richard Sibley WW T2 144 450.6 361.3 350.6 1163
10 David Hayner Wills Wing Sport 3 155 247.0 438.6 475.1 1161

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 3 »

April 13, 2021, 10:16:54 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 3

Task 2, in the blue

competition|Filippo Oppici|Gary Anderson|John Simon|Kevin Carter|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|Raul Guerra|Robin Hamilton|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Zac Majors

Live and Replay Open task: https://airtribune.com/play/5004/2d

Results for Open and Sport classes:

https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results

Task 2 Open: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5004/day/open-class

# Name Glider Time Distance (km) Total
1 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 02:55:37 90.70 991.7
2 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 02:56:25 90.70 980.4
3 Robin Hamilton Aeros Combat 13 02:56:36 90.70 961.5
4 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 02:56:48 90.70 954.9
5 Pedro L. Garcia Wills Wing T3 144 02:56:55 90.70 945.7
6 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:56:58 90.70 941.6
7 Kevin Carter Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 03:15:26 90.70 865.4
8 Raul Guerra Icaro Laminar 14.7 03:22:46 90.70 832.7
9 Gary Anderson Wills Wing T3 144 85.53 591.0
10 John Simon Aeros Combat C 12.7 82.16 586.8

A blue day with a north wind and a mixed forecast that made us unsure if we would have a lot of lift or just a little. Later the day turned out very well with climbs to 6,000' and sustained 500 fpm.

The Sky Wants Us to Return

Mon, Apr 12 2021, 11:10:54 pm EDT

The forecast was an utter failure

competition|Davis Straub|Filippo Oppici|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|PG|Phill Bloom|Tyler Borradaile|Wills Wing T3|Willy Dydo|Zac Majors

We were confronted with a forecast that said we were going to get to only 3,000' and have really light lift. None of that was true but it made life difficult for the task committee. None the less with Larry Bunner's guidance we called a great task that took advantage of the superb conditions and got most of us back to Wilotree Park.

Now we have to be concerned about why the forecast was so wrong and how to deal with the fact that the forecast for Tuesday is similar. Likely we'll just grab another forecast from our set of models and also go with whatever Skew-T brews up for us.

Given our great uncertainty about the forecast we called for an elapsed task with no leading or arrival points. We were concerned that it would be difficult for pilots to hang around for an hour in poor conditions. As it turned out there was no reason for that.

I was about the third pilot to get hauled up as a few pilots in front of me backed out and went to the end. Phill Bloom was first off and I was hauled up right under him. We climbed right to cloud base at 4,100' and then sampled nearby clouds wondering who would go first. Raul left early.

Larry and I left a gaggle of about half a dozen of the top pilots to go to the next cloud just outside the start cylinder and got up back to cloud base. When they came to join us in the lift we headed back and got a later start time by about three minutes. We then caught back up with them.

The task was a bit complex:

There were cu's around and we just hopped from cu to cu, which is why we didn't follow straight along the course lines:

There was plenty of lift under most of the cu's and at one point it averaged 500 fpm for 3,500'.

The results can be found here: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5003/day/open-class

# Name Glider Time Total
1 Zac Majors Wills Wing T3 144 01:46:52 981.2
2 Kevin Dutt Aeros Combat C 13.5 02:04:54 804.8
3 Willy Dydo Wills Wing T3 136 02:05:27 800.3
4 Pedro L. garcia Wills Wing T3 144 02:06:40 790.5
5 Filippo Oppici Wills Wing T3 144 02:06:47 789.6
6 Tyler Borradaile Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 02:06:48 789.4
7 Austin Marshall Wills Wing T3 154 02:08:55 772.6
8 Larry Bunner Wills Wing T3 144 02:11:43 750.8
9 Davis Straub Wills Wing T3 144 02:13:13 739.2
10 Kevin Carter Tbd 02:15:57 718.5

Sport Class results here: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/results/task5002/day/sport-class

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/12.4.2021/17:08

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-open/

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2761334

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2021/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20210405&gliderclass=hg1

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 1 »

April 11, 2021, 12:17:08 pm EDT

2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 1

We have crushed the drought

Belinda Boulter|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|video

It's hard to believe that it will only be from one to two inches of rain today (Sunday).

We have not had anything like this in the five months that Belinda and I have been here:

Those folks staying in tents will be most unhappy. Looks like a warm day tomorrow, sunny, with a north wind.

The Sandhill Cranes can eat and drink at the same time:

https://vimeo.com/535653182 by Randee Azzar.

Discuss "2021 Paradise Airsports Nationals - day 1" at the Oz Report forum   link»

A Spanner in the Works

April 9, 2021, 11:10:34 pm EDT

A Spanner in the Works

There to tighten the nut on the Blade's arm.

Larry Bunner

I was waiting for the tug to come back and pull me up after it took up Larry Bunner and decided to pull out the little 10 mm wrench that I had stowed away in my harness attached to an older thin bridle line. I started to pull it out and it just wouldn't move. I took off my harness and followed the line around in the harness to see where the wrench was.

I was pretty amazed to find that it had traveled on a rather long circuitous journey and was now up and through the slot in my slider on the back plate. It was difficult to even dislodge it so it was hard to imagine how it got half way through the slot to begin with. I took the wrench and its lanyard out of the harness and put them away in a safe spot so that that wouldn't happen again.

As I thought about it something occurred to me. Recently I've been having difficulty grabbing the right down tube. I then realized that I've not been rocked up as usual and was reaching for the downtube too low. I began to see that the wrench would have kept me from rocking all the way up and I just hadn't noticed. I've taken out two down tubes because I had trouble getting my hand on and up the right down tube.

Since that discovery I've had two landings without this being an issue. I've rocked up earlier and went back to my old favorite "monkey bar" landings.

Discuss "A Spanner in the Works" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Around the Green Swamp the Hard Way

Mon, Apr 5 2021, 8:27:16 am EDT

John Simon, Pedro Garcia, and Larry Bunner make it around

John Simon|Larry Bunner|PG|XC

Here's the forecast and the task:

NWS:

Sunday

Sunny, with a high near 76. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Hourly in the afternoon: East northeast surface wind 7-8 mph, 20% cloud cover

HRRR 3:

11 AM:

East northeast surface wind at 11 AM: 7 mph

TOL at 11 AM: 5,700'

Updraft Velocity at 11 AM: 520 fpm

CB at 11 AM: 5,100'

B/S at 11 AM: 9.3

Cloud cover at 11 AM: 20%

1 PM:

East northeast surface wind at 1 PM: 3 mph, 2000' 4 mph, 4000' east 2 mph, 6000' east 2 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 7,200'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 680 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 6,600'

B/S at 1 PM: 10.0

Cloud cover at 1 PM: 28%

Temperature at CB: 35 degrees (dress warmly)

6 PM:

TOL: 8,200'

Updraft velocity: 500 fpm

CB: none

B/S: 10.0

Task:

Quest 3 km
Panoak 3 km
Clinton 3 km (keep us away from airspace)
Fantsy 3 km (keep us over landable areas)
Quest 400 m

156.5 km

The hard way because it is much longer than our normal way around the Green Swamp.

Larry and I take off just after noon as the cu's get close to Wilotree Park. But we don't get any lift and getting down to 700' AGL at the southwest corner of the field, I find a bit of lift and after a few turns Larry comes in under me. I'm happy that he isn't at my altitude as I do not want to be dealing with another pilot and trying to get up from low at the same time.

It averages 260 fpm to 4,100. We leave with Larry just below me at 3,800'. We climb together in the next thermal just southeast of Mascotte to over 5,000'. As I'm a couple of hundred feet over him I lead out.

Larry finds better lift behind me which I don't go back for and he gets out in front. Getting low to the north he finds 440 fpm to 4,800' while I work weaker lift behind him before finally coming in underneath him. I'm now 7 minutes behind him.

I come under him in the next thermal and now I'm just two minutes behind as we climb to over 5,000 east of the Lake Panosofkee turnpoint. He makes the turnpoint at 4,600' and heads south. I find weak lift along the way and make it at 3,100'. Now I've lost touch with him.

Pedro and John show up at the turnpoint after launching later than Larry and I. I try to hook up with them but whenever I circle with them, I lose altitude. Finally I give up and head south east, get low and then work weak lift again before I find 300 fpm to 4,600'. John and Pedro have found better lift to my north and get high and out in front of me. I turn down the volume on my radio as I figure I'm now way behind and don't need the distraction.

Larry moves quickly to the south toward Clinton but gets stuck low south of Kokee. John will soon pass high over him getting strong lift to Larry's northeast. Larry will finally find the almost 800 fpm to his south and climb to 6,500'. Meanwhile a little to his north on the south side of Bushnell I get down to 2,100' before finding 400+ fpm and climb to 6,000'.

A 9 km glide puts me back down to 2,600' over non landable areas and I have to turn around and go back to a large bail out field. Searching around at 1,000' AGL I find 550 fpm to 6,300' which will let me clear the non landable areas to the south.

There are cu's all along the route to the south near the western edge of the Green Swamp. At Dade City I again have to back track to get under a better looking cloud and climb to 6,300'. Back tracking will be a feature of both my flight and Larry's.

I can't get to cloud base after Clinton where the route takes us over trees to the southeast. I have to go back a couple of times and off course once to get under better looking clouds. I also have to work some weak lift, but keep searching for 500+ fpm. I don't get back to near cloud base until southeast of the turnpoint (not used on this route) at 471 and 98. There are plenty of dark cu's ahead but I don't find any lift under them. The ground it too shaded. I'm been getting the lift on the west (sunny) side of the cu's and now I'm heading east to the next sunny patch.

It doesn't work even under a strong looking cu and I have to go back again to land in a convenient spot.

Larry also got low at Clinton but didn't have to go back to get up and found lift that got him to 6,800' before 471 and 98. Pedro and John were out in front now.

Larry got low before Fantasy but was able to put four 300 fpm thermals together to get past the turnpoint and up to Dean Still and 33. He then made a big back track to climb to 6,800' just northwest of that intersection. Because we could see the cu's we could back track to the best lift and did it often.

That wasn't quite enough to make it in and he had to stop at 1,000' AGL and climb to 1,800' to make it in with 500', a little after 6 PM. Six hours of flying.

Larry's flight:

My flight:

John was in first followed by Pedro, then Mick, who took the abbreviated route and then Larry.

Monday looks even better with lighter winds. Maybe an 11 AM launch?

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/4.4.2021/16:11

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-open/

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2755423

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2021/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20210405&gliderclass=hg1

What is with these forecasts?

March 27, 2021, 10:09:26 pm EDT

What is with these forecasts?

The cu's keep arriving late in the afternoon

Larry Bunner

John Simon|Larry Bunner

John Simon|Larry Bunner

Mick Howard takes off at 11 AM to try out his new Moyes Litespeed. He is able to stay up as long as he likes and there are cu's nearby, but he can only get to 2,000'. He decides to land around noon and go for lunch. Later when he flies after 1 PM he is unable to connect with the lift and lands back at Wilotree Park.

The forecast from Friday night for Saturday:

NWS:

Saturday

Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 92. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Hourly in the afternoon: Southeast surface wind 7 mph, 49% cloud cover drops to 22% at 1:30 PM.

HRRR 3:

Southeast surface wind at 1 PM: 4 mph, 2000' 5 mph, and 4000' 5 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 4,900'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 570 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 4,400'

B/S at 1 PM: 10.0

Task:

Quest 3 km
T7598 7 km
T98471 3 km
Quest 400 m

94 km

or if the fire in the Green Swamp is still causing a problem:

Quest 3 km
Panoak 3 km
Baron 3 km
Quest 400 m

80 km

Looking at the HRRR 3 forecast we thought that there would be cu's by noon but they all dried up as Mick flew. I should have reviewed the updated forecast in the morning as it showed that the cu's would not be happening. HRRR 3 would continue to show no cu's and RAP would say that there would be a plethora of them. Turns out they were very sparse.

When I got to launch I found that my radio was having some problem so I turned it off. This was a mistake and I should have gotten out of line and launched after fixing it. If we are flying together we need to be able to communicate.

I launched around 1 PM and saw Larry turning upwind to the south but didn't go to him and instead climbed in weak lift then found 160 fpm to 4,000' under a cu on the west side of Wilotree Park joining up with Maria Garcia. The wind was 8 mph out of the east southeast.

I figured that I'd stick with Maria and help her get around the Green Swamp. But then with so few cu's around it didn't look like a very promising task.

We headed west with me without any idea of where anyone else was. We worked more weak lift together and I had to go back east to get under a cu and Maria followed just below. I was being very patient. We were climbing at barely over 100 fpm and only getting to 3,800'

Circling just south of the nursery I spotted Cory Barnwell climbing in his Fizz on the northeast corner of the Green Swamp. I flew right to him and climbed at 80 fpm to 3,900'.

I was not aware of the fact that at about this time Larry was on the west side of the nursery climbing up fast from 400'. He called out his potion and climb rate and Cory took off to the north to his location while I continued to climb slowly. I could soon see Cory climbing well although I didn't see Larry. Maria, who was well below me, soon followed Cory and started climbing a few kilometers to my north.

My second mistake was not figuring out why Cory and then Maria had gone that way which wasn't in the direction of the task, but toward Lake Panosoffkee, our alternate task. Cory said that he wasn't going to try to go around the Green Swamp as no king posted glider had ever made it all the way around, so I thought he was taking on the alternate task. I didn't think that Larry might have called him and told him where the lift was.

There were no cu's on our course line. There were cu's to the north and northwest. It would turn out that going around the Green Swamp would require going much further north than is usually the case in order to hook up with the cu's.

Looking to the west, not seeing great prospects of completing the around the Green Swamp task in that direction I decided to see if I could fly back to Wilotree Park. There was a big fat cu over the nursery to my east and I went for it.

That cu was dying and all I got was zero sink at 2,900'. I was facing a head wind with no cu's between me and Wilotree Park. I decided to run for it down wind to find a place to land. Without a radio I couldn't keep my driver appraised of where I was going. They didn't have Live360 on their phone.

I was quickly down to 800' AGL over a large field but the cu's were nearby and I was going up at 75 fpm. I wanted to find a better field with easier driver access so I hung on to the weak lift as the wind picked up out of the southeast to 11 mph.

I was wondering how the other pilots were going to make it on the west side of the Green Swamp against the head wind.

Climbing up to 1,100 AGL I moved over a little to the east and found 180 fpm which got me to 3,200' a little west of Center Hill. The wind had picked up to 15 mph out of the southeast.

I kept finding lift and cumulus clouds every where as I went quickly down wind searching for a nice LZ. I tried first at Cheryl, an actual north/south grass strip but there was way too much lift there and I was going up not down, so I headed for the Lake Panosoffkee airfield.

Just south of there I spotted a wide field just south of the landfill that would handle a southeast landing approach. Despite continuing to find lots of lift I was able to put it into the field with no issues although a bit of a walk out.

Meanwhile the other pilots had made the northwestern turnpoint going around the Green Swamp and now were very slowly making their way south. John Simon, Cory Barnwell, Maria Garcia, Max and in the lead Larry Bunner. But the wind and not being able to get super high made it difficult and everyone landed on the western side with John on the southwestern side. Larry landed in the landfill.

We were able to drive down 471 north/south through the Green Swamp and pick him up.

We'll see if tomorrow's forecast of plenty of cu's actually happens. I'll also check in the morning for an update.

Discuss "What is with these forecasts?" at the Oz Report forum   link»

A lot of time looking at the ground

Fri, Mar 26 2021, 10:05:26 pm EDT

It looked like we would get high

A lot of time looking

Greg Dinauer|Larry Bunner|PG

The forecast for Friday:

NWS:

Friday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. South wind 5 to 10 mph.

Hourly in the afternoon: South southwest surface wind 8 mph, 29% cloud cover.

HRRR 3:

South southwest surface wind at 1 PM: 8 mph, 2000' 11 mph, and 4000' 11 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 5,900'

Updraft Velocity at 1 pm: 580 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 4,900'

B/S at 1 PM: 8.5

At noon:

TOL: 4,100', 420 fpm, CB 4,270' (RAP), B/S 5.6 (so early launch may be possible if the cu's show up, which is likely)

Sea Breeze:

There is a forecasted sea breeze from the west. Surface wind turn more westerly around 4 PM around Brooksville and 5 PM at Groveland. Cu's mostly gone by 5 PM.

Cumulus cloud base will almost be 7,000' at 3 PM.

Task:

Quest 3 km
Kokee 3 km
Baron 3 km
Quest 400 m

82 km

Despite the forecasted 11 mph south southwest winds I figured that with us getting quite high we would be able to overcome them.

The early morning started off with a Zapata, Texas like overrunning with low clouds filling the sky and moving quickly to the north. After a while the clouds separated and there were dozens of cloud streets stretching from south to north as far as we could see to the east and west.

Bunches of pilots were ready to go as we watched the cloud streets disappear later in the morning and just a few cu's appear at noon. Finally a little after one we decided to just get going and hope that the cu's would appear later as they had the previous day.

Larry Bunner was not going first after not hitting any lift on Thursday and I took off after Greg Dinauer at 1:15 PM. Other pilots wanted to see how we did.

Kasey took me to a nearby cu west of Wilotree Park and I climbed to 3,300' but essentially stopped there when the lift went to zero. Heading south with Greg we found lift at 900' AGL at the south end of the field and worked our way back to 3,400' This recovery from 900' was to be a precursor for the day.

Six pilots got together over Groveland and got in each others way as we climbed to 3,600' and then headed west. Apparently pilots had forgotten how to gaggle fly without much practice lately.

There was a dark looking cu south of Mascotte and we all joined up again climbing at almost 240 fpm to 4,200'. This was the strongest lift so far. The cu's were very sparse and there weren't any others nearby that looked this good. I was almost an hour into the flight and had barely gone any where. The wind was cross at 7mph. We were not getting at all high.

We climbed in 144 fpm a few kilometers over the nursery back to 4,000' as the south wind pushed us to the north of highway 50. There were a few cu's off in the distance toward the sawmill.

Heading west we all spread out and separated losing track of each other as we got low by the mine just north of 50. Not finding any lift I was down to 1,400' on the east side of the mine while Larry was further south climbing slowly. None of the pilots I was near was finding anything.

I saw a cu back east toward highway 469 and dove for it. In search mode down to 700' AGL I found lift over a nice open field and a wind that appeared to be out of the southwest at 6 mph.

At this point I figured that my task had changed. My task was now to stay in the air and get up from low. Everything else could wait until later. I was watching the nearby fields very carefully to make sure that I had a safe landing area as it was not at all assured that I would get up.

I climbed to 3,000' and then when the lift gave out headed south southeast toward a huge field that I was familiar with and that had a nice cu over it. 13 fpm got me back to 2,000' and downwind further north and over my next good looking LZ where Mick and I had also previously landed this year (it was a bit down hill).

I flew north back to the next good looking LZ and again at 900' AGL I found lift, this time 240 fpm and climbed to 3,800'. To the north it was mostly swamps and fields that were only accessible by paths so I wanted to stay near my good looking LZ's.

I headed south southeast toward the best looking cu's that I had been watching for a while. It looked like they sort of lined up for a route back toward Wilotree Park. As I was doing all this low work the cu's had started to fill up the sky and they made it much more likely that I would in fact be able to get up, not just stay in the air and perhaps get high enough to make it back to Wilotree Park, my next task.

While I was watching LZ's and staying in the air, other pilots were having trouble landing back near the mine with one pilot suffering leg damage, two broken down tubes and a concussion and another with a sprained ankle. Only Larry, Tiago and I were still in the air, but that would not be for long as there was a fire pumping smoke toward the Kokee turnpoint and cutting off the lift just before the first turnpoint.

I climbed to 4,200' three kilometers north of the chicken coops and headed in the direction of the next cu's but they had moved further east and they were no longer lining up for a good run back to Wilotree Park. Quickly down to 3,100' and what looked like a south southeast head wind, fewer landing options and no cu's where I wanted to head for I turned west and went back to the previously visited huge field that had a nice black cloud on its eastern edge.

I figured that the wind was still southwest on that side of the cu and sure enough by heading north once again on the western edge of the cu I was able to climb at 250 fpm to 4,500'. Now the cu's lined up and I was able to easily follow them back to Wilotree Park. Everyone else was down and some were being rescued while I was all set for tomorrow.

All that took three hours. Sometimes your task is not the one that you started out with, but can be very interesting and challenging none the less. I had turned down the volume on my radio so I had no idea how others were doing as I needed to focus.

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2745314

Discuss "A lot of time looking at the ground" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Substantial clouds come with the southern flow

March 19, 2021, 8:08:45 EDT

Substantial clouds come with the southern flow

They are there to invite us to fly

Larry Bunner|PG|sailplane

I've been good about getting sunscreen on my nose and cheeks, but today I missed it and I'm pretty red as is Larry Bunner. Lots of sun, wind and cloud today.

Here was the forecast:

NWS:

Monday

Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Light south southeast wind becoming southeast 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon.

Hourly in the afternoon: Southeast surface wind 7 mph, 30% cloud cover

HRRR 3:

Southwest surface wind at 1 PM: 6 mph, 2000' 7 mph, 4,000' south southwest 6 mph (Note the conflict with the NWS on wind direction)

TOL at 1 PM: 5,400'

Updraft Velocity at 1 PM: 560 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 4,400' (RAP)

B/S at 1 PM: 10.0

Sea Breeze from the west (and east east of Orlando) at highway 301 by 3 PM. Winds turn more westerly during the afternoon. TOL at 4 PM at Wilotree at 6,400'.

With cu's noon launch is possible:

TOL: 4,600'
Updraft Velocity: 520 fpm

Task:

Quest 3 km
Kokkee 2 km
Turn33 1 km
Quest 400 m

74 km

Launch from the north or northeast end.

We got out to our magic circle on the northwest end of the runway (not including the northern section north of Groveland Airport Road) early and waited for the cu's to appear overhead. When the sky filled up we got in line and launched. I launched right after Larry at 12:50.

Pinned off at 2,100' and climbed at a little less than 100 fpm in a 7 mph southeast wind with Larry coming over to join me. Once we got to 3,200' in the weak lift we headed to the next closest cu to the northwest, down wind, and climbed to 4,700' just west of Groveland.

With an 11 mph south southwest wind we climbed back to 4,700' after heading west and not losing much west of Mascotte and just north of the Green Swamp and highway 50.

Larry proceeded not finding much west along highway 50 while I headed a bit to the north to get under a good looking cu over the sand mine. 200 fpm got me back up from 2,600' to 3,500' but I was dribbling along to the west not finding much and Larry was working weak lift to my south along highway 50.

Headed for some greenhouses that have worked for us in the past and climbed back up from 2,600' to 4,200' before shifting over to a good looking cloud just a tiny bit to the west. That produced 500 fpm to 5,400', which was cloud base. Larry found some good lift to the south then also.

An 8 km glide to Kokee got me there with 3,800' and the next thermal right at the edge of the cylinder and up to 4,800' just a few kilometers ahead of Larry. Larry announced he was taking the alternative route and heading north to Lake Panasoffkee. I decided to join him.

The cu's were there along the course but the lift was around 200 fpm. The wind was now 11 mph out of the southwest. After tagging the Panasoffkee waypoint I headed northeast over the swamp to get back to 4,700' in light lift. The prisons and the mines were to the east and I headed for them. Larry was out in front. I headed further southeast toward a good looking cu over the mine building just before the prisons, while Larry was up by the Turnpike.

I came under the cu at 3,400' and indeed it was quite good averaging 450 fpm. Quickly two sailplanes came in under me. Then three sail planes came in over me. By the time I left at 5,200' I had been flying with eight sailplanes in this one thermal. I didn't go too near the top of the lift as I didn't want to suddenly disappear on these guys. The top three left very quickly also.

After nicking the next additional turnpoint at Baron I searched going east north of the Turnpike at the southern edge of the swamp getting down to 1,900'. I found ratty 200 fpm which was not a bit pleasant to circle in but necessary to get back to 3,200' and drifted back into the Baron cylinder. Did that again just a touch to the west to 3,600'.

Went out to the south and then back to the west to get under some cu's and back down to 2,500' for my third swipe at Baron. But this time it worked with the thermal much better behaved over the flat lands and I climbed at 340 fpm to 5,700'. Larry was a few kilometers to my east.

Heading south I came near the turnpoint that Larry called at the Turnpike and highway 33 but decided to forego it. I found 400 fpm up to 5,800' and worked to stay in visual contact with the ground.

Found 200 fpm right under Larry but misinterpreted his call out and left the lift right under him to find little to nothing to the south. Worked up to 2,500' just north of the nursery but that gave out and I headed south across the nursery hoping to get under a good cu. That didn't work.

I had to pick out a field just south of highway 50 and as I figured out the wind direction (south 5 mph) I ran into some lift at 700 AGL. It was almost 100 fpm so I figured that I would stay in it long enough to make a good decision about where to land.

The lift continued as I drifted north back over the non landable nursery and improved to an average of 300 fpm. It was 4:20 PM. I took it to 5,600' which was plenty of lift to make it in after Larry made it.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/15.3.2021/16:48#fd=flight

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-open/

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2738335

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2021/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20210313&gliderclass=hg1

Discuss "Substantial clouds come with the southern flow" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Counter Clockwise Around the Green Swamp

March 15, 2021, 8:34:19 EDT

Counter Clockwise Around the Green Swamp

Would there be cumulus clouds?

Larry Bunner|PG|sailplane|Wilotree Park

John Simon|Larry Bunner|PG|sailplane|Wilotree Park

John Simon|Larry Bunner|PG|sailplane|Wilotree Park

The morning forecast:

When does the sea breeze come in from the west?

NWS:

Today

Sunny, with a high near 85. Calm wind becoming south southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Hourly in the afternoon: South southeast surface wind 6 mph, 4% cloud cover

HRRR 3:

Southeast surface wind at 1 PM: 4 mph, 2000' east southeast 6 mph, 4,000' east southeast 6 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 4,900'

Updraft Velocity at 1 PM: 580 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 0' (but with this wind direction, very likely to be cu's)

B/S at 1 PM: 10.0

4000' winds at 4 PM by Dade City 2 mph south

TOL at 4 PM: 6,000'

Updraft velocity: 560 fpm

Can you launch at noon (11 am sun time)?

TOL at noon: 4,300'

Updraft Velocity at noon: 520 fpm

Solar noon is at 1:34 pm

As I noted last night there is a sea breeze from the west coming inland in the afternoon. By 4 PM it is between Brooksville and Dade City. By 5 PM it is just east of Dade City. The forecast yesterday was for a south southwest wind at 4,000' at Dade City at 5 mph at 4 PM. Today the 4000' winds at Dade City at 4 PM are forecasted to be 2 mph south.

In order to avoid the sea breeze Larry Bunner wants the task to change to counter clockwise as per below. This allows us to go somewhat downwind to the northwest corner of the Green Swamp and then head south along the western edge, getting back away from the sea breeze on the eastern side later in the afternoon. We'll be able to come north back to Wilotree with a light south southeast flow.

Task:

Quest 3 km
T7598 7 km
T98471 3 km
Quest 400 m

94.3 km

Launch from the northwest corner - the magic circle.

Good days it still appears through Wednesday.

So the two major questions were would there be cumulus clouds and would we get stopped by a western sea breeze that would cut off the lift. The HRRR 3 model on XC Skies and the Skew-T graph showed the cu's just above the inversion layer. But with a south southeast flow I felt that almost every time there are cu's. But the day didn't start off that way and with daylight savings time that messed with people's perceptions.

The cu's didn't start showing up until almost 1 PM (about solar noon) and they were very sparse. I towed up right behind Larry Bunner at 1:26 PM and heard him say that he was going to take a high tow so I held on also. There was a cu 5 kilometers to the south and we held on until we got near it, me at 3,900'. There were three sailplanes under it also. We climbed to 4,800'.

With a 4 mph east (tail) wind we headed west toward the first turnpoint on the west side of the Green Swamp. The cu's were over the Green Swamp just south of its northern border at highway 50 and we just went from one cu to another. Greg found some better lift behind us and was soon up with Larry and I. We all have flown together a lot so it is easy for us to team fly.

The cu's were getting further and further to the south into the Green Swamp. We found a good one over highway 471 south of the sawmill and climbed to 5,300'. This committed us to go deeper into the swamp. We took a chance heading toward the western edge with what we felt was enough altitude to make it, but found 300 fpm over a small clearing not that far from some bail out fields and climbed to 4,500' at 300 fpm. This assured us of the chance of making it to the west and landable terrain. It's always exciting going around the Green Swamp.

The circumference of the first turnpoint is just a couple of kilometers passed the western edge of the Green Swamp and we found 340 fpm before we got to it and drifted into it with the east wind. Heading south we flew into a 5 mph south southeast head wind. We flew back to over the Green Swamp and lost connection with Greg who stayed further west.

Flying south toward the rapidly diminishing cu's (soon it would be all blue) we found 400 fpm to 5,400' on the southwest corner of the landfill. These site has often worked for me before.

Now it was time from another jump across a patch of Green Swamp to the southeast. Larry and I spread out and I spread out a little too much as I lost track of Larry.

We both got stuck by the second turnpoint at the intersection of highway 471 and 98. It took me a couple of back and forths before I found 225 fpm to 4,600'. This was the highest I would get after this turnpoint. Thankfully there were a few cu's at the turnpoint. Larry got up and headed southeast to get under a few cu's that didn't produce any lift for him.

I figured I was high enough to make it 11 kilometers due east across this patch of Green Swamp. There looked like some emergency bail out fields along the way. Nothing that you would actually want to land it though.

I heard from Larry that he was just ahead and circling in nothing at 2,000'. I came into his field at Famish at 2,100' and found lift on the northwestern corner and Larry came in over me. There was a small sail plane way down below us (Steve Arndt?) and it was hard to believe that he would get up from so low.

After climbing at 130 fpm I left with 2,900'. Larry was above me and left also. We were flying together again but I couldn't see him.

Gliding for 4.5 km I was down to 1,600' and checking out the fields along Green Pond Road. None the less I was feeling some lift and turning around getting a better feel for the appropriate field. I felt that at 4:54 PM (3:54 sun time) the day was getting late and it was hard to see how we (Larry had joined me) would make it in with no more cu's to help out. We stayed and climbed at 185 fpm to 3,900' (Larry was higher).

Yet another jump over the Green Swamp to just west and south of the intersection of highways 474 and 33, to a field that I have landed in a number of times and feel confident about. Down to 1,900' I found 130 fpm and Larry soon joined me right on the western edge of the field over the trees. We had a 3 mph southwestern tail wind.

More Green Swamp and over to the Seminole Glider Port where almost all the competitor gliders were parked (not the one we saw earlier barely over Famish). Larry was climbing up on the east side and I finally found good lift on the south end of the runway where Larry had originally found it. He was climbing high and I was struggling.

One wants to be at about 4,000' when leaving the glider port for Wilotree Park. I had to leave at 3,200' when the lift gave out (or I lost it). I continued north along the edge of the trees and the open fields. There were bits of lift and 6 km I found 160 fpm which got me too high and it was easy to get to Wilotree but difficult to get down.

Larry, me and later Pedro made it back. John Simon, Mick Howard, Maria, and Greg all landed short. Going earlier was the better option.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/14.3.2021/17:25

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-open/

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2737892

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2021/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

http://wxc.fai.org/module.php?id=22&date=20210313&gliderclass=hg1

Discuss "Counter Clockwise Around the Green Swamp" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Chatter on the radio

March 13, 2021, 7:43:14 EST

Chatter on the radio

Larry Bunner has a reminder

Larry Bunner

Hey all, just a friendly reminder to keep our communications in the air to the point and informative.

Today there was quite a bit of unnecessary chatter which can end up being a distraction to fellow pilots.

First off, I am guilty of it as much as anyone so this message is for me too!

The goal in XC communications is to share critical information so others can take advantage of it if so inclined. In the past if we wanted to share our good fortune, we would call out location (ie: distance from waypoint and cross track), altitude and climb rate.

On occasion it is good to call out a person by name (when they are in sight) to a good climb. When someone calls you to a climb, it isn't necessary to say anything more than "copy" so the sender knows you heard them.

When calling out a climb, it is very helpful to give the rate in fpm versus "I've got a good climb over here". Also it is better to share perhaps your average climb rate rather than the peak surge you are going through ie: underpredict and let the pilots determine whether you are climbing better than them so they can make an informed decision regarding whether to stay where they are or to head your way.

If you are in an area by yourself and get a good climb, share it so others know what is out there. If you are at the tail end of the group, there really isn't any need to share critical information as everyone is out ahead of you.

I have to say it was awesome today having everyone's radio working and on the correct channel (my radio worked great Thursday, I was just on the wrong frequency, lol). So let's tighten up the communications so we can improve our group performance in the air.

Discuss "Chatter on the radio" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Out and Return to the Fantasy of Flight

March 12, 2021, 7:14:48 EST

Out and Return to the Fantasy of Flight

A cross wind task

Fantasy of Flight|Larry Bunner|PG|triangle|Wilotree Park

A strong cross wind turns an out and return into a triangle by creating very well defined cloud streets.

After two days of "strong" east winds we decided that the winds were going to be light enough to launch going to the east and to fly south and then back north. This was the morning updated forecast:

Will there be cu's? After two days of high cu's and a similar wind (now with a slight bit of south) you would think so. The NWS and HRRR 3 say there is 20% cloud cover.

NWS:

Today

Sunny, with a high near 79. East wind 5 to 10 mph.

Hourly in the afternoon: East surface wind 8 mph, 20% cloud cover.

HRRR 3:

East surface wind at 1 PM: 8 mph, 2000' 10 mph, 4,000' 10 mph

TOL at 1 PM: 6,400'

Updraft Velocity at 1 PM: 640 fpm

CB at 1 PM: 0'

B/S at 1 PM: 8.7

Skew-T says maybe cu's.

TOL at 2 PM: 6,900'

Task:

Seems that the winds are a little too strong for around the Green Swamp (maybe tomorrow) so a cross wind task instead? I'll ask pilots what they want to do.

Quest 3 km
Fantsy 1 km
Quest 400 m

81 km

I was second to launch after Larry Bunner at 12:18 PM. The wind was 15 mph out of the east southeast. The lift started right from the start as we climbed out at 850 fpm. Pinning off in light lift I then headed downwind to get under Larry and climbed to 4,100'.

Larry headed southeast and I followed from below a little to his north side and found 700 fpm under the copious cu's. It was absolutely smooth and I had no idea I was climbing so fast at first. Larry was a kilometer to me south quickly getting smaller.

I climbed to cloud base at 5,000' and followed Larry to one side from a thousand feet over him. I marked the next two thermals and kept an eye on Larry to make sure that he was following. His radio was on the wrong frequency so I couldn't give him any help other than showing him the lift.

I climbed in the fourth thermal up the front face above cloud base and waited for Larry. I really wanted to fly together and get close enough so that we could signal each other visually. Unfortunately Larry got to base and headed south without passing close by so I didn't see him as I flew in and out of the mists. Finally I headed south and saw him circling at my altitude just ahead at the next cu. I was disappointed that he didn't wait for me there like I had waited for him at each of the previous thermals. We wouldn't be flying together after all.

Heading south 8 km past 474/33 I came in under Larry and then moved a bit east in sink while Larry moved a bit west and found 700-800 fpm. I found 500 fpm from 2,600' and climbed to over 5,100' drifting west at 9 mph. I was on my own.

The thermals averaged between 400 and 600 fpm and I climbed to over 5,000' just south of Dean Still. The wind was 5 mph out of the east northeast. The cu's were streeted east to west. The run from Dean Still to Fantasy of Flight looked not too inviting with only a few cus' ahead.

I didn't find any lift on the 9 km glide to just 1 km downwind of Fantasy. There was a cu to the east of Fantasy but lakes between me and it and I was down to 2,100' and headed for the nearest dark cu on the downwind side over land (and houses).

A dark cloud street formed right over Fantasy heading west. I was under it and searching all around finding light lift and finally finding 300 fpm to 5,000' in a 12 mph east southeast wind. I used the cloud street to get upwind and make 7.5 km to the turnpoint and then to the east southeast edge of the cloud street. I wanted to get upwind of the course line after being way down wind of it attempting to get myself back in the game.

I headed north cross wind, cross the sink area between cloud streets toward the next black-looking cloud. I had been finding lift on the south upwind sunny side of the clouds. I searched around and drifted downwind until down to 1,600' I finally found it along with a few buzzards getting back to cloud base at 5,000'. The wind was still 12 mph out of the east southeast, totally cross as we expected.

I headed due north to Dean Still to get under the closest cloud that I thought that I could connect with. I didn't feel that I could make it to the north east to get under the further cloud. I climbed at 200 fpm from 3,400' to 4,300' before I ventured directly upwind over a forested area hoping to make it high enough to feel comfortable when I got to the cloud to the east northeast.

I made it and climbed at over 400 fpm to 5,700'. This extra altitude was a great gift as I was going over areas that were off the main road and where I didn't really want to land. I headed north northeast to cu's 4 km southeast of 474/33. There I found 350 fpm to 5,800'. I wasn't that far from the Seminole Glider Port. It looked like I could make it back to Wilotree Park despite the cross wind.

I found a few light thermals north of Seminole that I hung on to just to make sure that I could make it back with plenty of altitude. The cu's were still looking very dark and I was not having a problem getting under them. It was easy to make it in.

Only Larry and I ventured out today although lots of people flew. Looks like at least two more days of east winds that are light enough for cross wind tasks. I'm sure more pilots will join us.

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2736583

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2021/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/11.3.2021/17:18

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

Discuss "Out and Return to the Fantasy of Flight" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Supporting the Oz Report »

March 9, 2021, 8:28:29 EST

Supporting the Oz Report

Overwhelmed

Davis Straub|John Simon|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Oz Report|Scott Weiner|Wilotree Park

I'm working here making sure that everyone gets acknowledged for their contribution to supporting the Oz Report. With every day windy since Friday evening, I've been working on making Wilotree Park look the best that it can as well as riding the bike (today with Mitch Shipley as he continues his recovery). This evening I have the opportunity to again call out those who have been extra helpful in providing support, but I must say I appreciate every thing that I get from my readers.

Special thanks to Larry Bunner (who is not here right now but went home to visit his wife and will be back soon), Michael Tryon, John Simon (he's here and wants to fly), John Dullahan, Scott Weiner (who sold a lot of gear on the Oz Report Classifieds), Ronald P Gleason, Bill Belcourt, Mick Howard, and Vincent Collins.

Here are our supporters: http://ozreport.com/supporters.php

As you know, all we are asking for is a subscription payment of $20/year.

Seems simple enough. Like most content on the internet, you get to read the Oz Report for free. The trouble for us, not you, is that there are not enough hang glider pilots in this world to make advertising pay for our web hosting costs.

Please, help us out. Support something that you find useful so that it can continue to be there for you.

Options:

1) Click paypal.me/davisstraub.

You should see this:

Type in the amount that you want to send in for your subscription.

Click "Next"

You should see something like this:

If you can contribute from your PayPal Balance or from your bank account that is connected to your PayPal account, please do as this incurs no PayPal fee.

2) If instead you are using a credit card to make this contribution, click this button:

3) Another way to do this is, click here: https://www.paypal.com

With this option please click the "Send&Request" tab.

Type in my email address which you can discern from "davis" and I'm at "davisstraub.com". (I have to write it this way as we hide email addresses here at the Oz Report.

Click "Next."

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If you consider me a friend then click the "Sending to a friend" button.

Enter the amount here:

If you’d rather just send a check for $20 or more (US Dollars only, please), please feel free to do so.

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Groveland,FL 34736

If you send a physical check, be sure to send me your email address so that I can register you as a subscriber.

These are our supporters (if you are not on the list and have donated to the Oz Report, email me and I'll make sure that you are recognized): http://ozreport.com/supporters.php. Some of you who I've missed in the past did write to me and made sure I knew just how important the Oz Report was to them. If I've missed you, please do tell me.

4) This last option. Come over to the Oz Report support web page and sign up to support us: http://ozreport.com/support.php. Or click here:

Thanks to all our supporters: http://ozreport.com/supporters.php who have kept us going and paying our bills over the last twenty five years.

Friday Before the Rains

March 7, 2021, 8:24:53 EST

Friday Before the Rains

We grab a blue day to fly

Larry Bunner|PG|Wilotree Park

John Simon|Larry Bunner|PG|Wilotree Park

John Simon|Larry Bunner|PG|Wilotree Park

We know that hang glider pilots love cumulus clouds because they can actually see the lift. Otherwise we are out there trying to find it without being able to see it. Makes for an interesting quest.

We knew that Friday would be blue with no cu's and a light northeast wind. But without cu's pilots aren't clued into the reality that they should go down to the launch area at the regular time anyway. They just aren't as motivated.

There were a bunch of pilots who had made their way down to the west end of the east-west runway for launching into a light east northeast breeze. I was off third at 2:30 already an hour and a half late. Without Larry Bunner here there was no one to push us into going "early."

I got pulled to 2,400' but lost 1,000' searching for lift. Down to 1,300' over Wilotree Park I worked 100 fpm on average until I moved over to the northwest a little and found 300+ fpm to 4,000'. Kinsley Sykes had come in under me earlier but must have flown away.

Moving to the northwest to the Mickey Mouse lake I hooked up with Mick Howard and we climbed back to 4,000' before heading northwest toward Mascotte. We could see John Simon far below.

The lift was strong and we climbed to over 5,000' just south of highway 50, 5 kilometers south of the chicken coops. I took a straight glide to the north side of the chicken buildings but lost track of Mick as he was to the east going up highway 33 and getting low.

I found 200+ fpm on the north side of the buildings and climbed back to 4,500' and Mick and John struggled low over highway 33. Heading north west of 33 I kept an eye on John as he headed for the Grass Roots airfield. I was over a thousand feet higher than him but he wasn't doing all that well.

I was able to find the lift in the southwest corner of Grass Roots and climbed to 4,100' at 200+ fpm. John struggled down much lower, was getting up at 100 fpm, then came over to get under me but didn't find it and after a while landed at the airfield.

Mick was working south of me and continued to slowly recover and get over 3,000'. I headed north toward the normal turnpoint of the Turnpike and highway 33, although today our turnpoint was a bit further north. Down to 1,200' I found some weak lift and started working it just southwest of the Turnpike and highway intersection.

I climbed back to 3,400' inside the 1 km radius turnpoint cylinder and decided to call that turnpoint good enough. I wasn't getting high enough to make to safely to the 3 km radius cylinder around the Baron airfield. Mick agreed. John was on the ground.

I turned around and headed south as Mick came in to get the Turnpike and 33 turnpoint. A thick layer of clouds came over to the west obscuring the sun. It did not look great.

I was able to get a little lift heading south but not enough to get up high enough to have a reasonable shot of making it back to Wilotree Park. The lift was light and the ground was shaded. It was after 4 PM.

I searched around, but didn't find anything and soon was landing with John Simon at Grass Roots. Mick came in right after me. What a great place to land. No problem swooping it a bit.

We all left the windows rolled down in the truck to enhance dispersion of viral bits (and the air conditioner was on a fritz also). Thanks to Joann for her invite to join the ride back. It was a lovely spot for her to retrieve also.

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2732259

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/5.3.2021/19:28

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Pilot Entry Fee Goes Up March 10th

March 7, 2021, 8:08:17 EST

Pilot Entry Fee Goes Up March 10th

$100 per competition

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021

https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/info/details__info

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/info/details__info

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A Near Cyber Death Experience

Wed, Mar 3 2021, 8:23:21 am EST

We almost lost it

COVID|Facebook|Oz Report|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|Wilotree Park|Wilotree Park Nationals 2021

You might have noticed that it's been a tough year for most of us. Hang gliding continued without many competitions which would have lead to gatherings which were either frowned upon or completely forbidden by the authorities. Here in Florida we continued life outside where it is is 19 times safer (https://bestlifeonline.com/coronavirus-indoors/). Due to travel restrictions we canceled the Sport Class, Rigid Wing and Women's Worlds as well as all the Nationals competitions. Same for Big Spring.

Now a year later we are planning for the 2021 Paradise Airsports and Wilotree Park Nationals in April to be run under COVID protocols with continued international travel restrictions: https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/info and https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/info.

During the year of crises mode we also decided to move to a new web server to reduce our costs. This transition has not been without numerous glitches as the Oz Report is a complex web site. For example, yesterday the host automatically updated PHP which caused all sorts of problems for Scare. Hopefully over time the situation will stabilize.

At one point we considered just going strictly on Facebook which would relieve us of all the web hosting issues (the high cost being the primary concern). We also were getting most of our content via Facebook posts, so it made sense to go to our Facebook version of the Oz Report.

This would mean that we would drop our email push of Oz Report issues. Also, those who find Facebook objectionable would no longer get to see our content. After a few disappointing experiments we decided to leave well enough alone. There is a Facebook version of the Oz Report and a stand-alone version. Sometimes content from the Facebook version comes over to the stand-alone version.

You can just go to the Oz Report on Facebook and ignore your news feed: https://www.facebook.com/ozreport

We don't know where things stand with our readers. We've decided not to publish every weekday unless there is news every weekday. Before it was publish or perish five days a week for 24 years. Now we are taking a bit more relaxed attitude and publishing when something interesting is happening, and hopefully with a new year and good changes to our pandemic situation coming, there will be more interesting things happening.

Thanks to all the Oz Report readers for their support over the years.

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Flying Toward Keystone

Sat, Feb 27 2021, 11:15:31 pm EST

With a ten mph tail wind

John Simon|Larry Bunner|Robin Hamilton|Wilotree Park|XC

Larry Bunner and I were off first long before anyone else at 12:30. I was pulled to just south of where Larry was climbing and he immediately joined me as we climbed at an average of 460 fpm to 4,700'. With a southeast wind at 14 mph we headed to the north northwest where we continued to find climbs under the west side of the cu's climbing up to 5,300' by the time we made it to the Florida Turnpike. We shared the air with bald eagles and hawks.

We were out there alone together with our pilot friends still on the ground back at Wilotree Park. When you find 500 fpm lift after getting off tow, you know that you launched later than you needed to.

Heading into the Villages north of the Turnpike Larry wanted to go to the north northwest although there was a great cloud street straight north of us a little east of our normal route near highway 301. I felt it was a mistake but went with him as he lead from below. He later agreed that we should have followed the much better street.

Just east of Wildwood we climbed at 200 fpm to 4,300'. At that point Larry lead off again from below to the north northwest. There was a dark black cu straight north of us that I wanted to head toward after we climbed up to 5,300' but Larry had already left before we could continue our climb so I followed. There was a clear mistake as we we flying into a blue hole. Larry later agreed.

We found 100 fpm at 2,500' and tried to find a better core climbing to 3,200' before we started losing altitude. Larry said he was heading north into the blue. By that point I had had it. I saw a nice dark cu to the northwest and headed for it.

Down to 2,400' I found 500 fpm under the cu. I climbed to 5,400' while Larry was down to 1,500' and working light lift. When I got to cloud base I headed toward him to the north.

Larry was turning in 300 fpm way down below me and I told him to come a little to the east where he found 600 fpm. I was soon at cloud base and told him I'd wait under the cu at the Leeward airfield just to the north. He got there quickly as I stayed out of the cloud on its western edge, the edge where all the lift was on this day.

Larry had had it also. He said lead out. I was still over him as I had been most of the flight so I took off at 5,700' to the north. It was a 16 km glide to the first landable field to the north. There were a few widely spaced cu's in that direction.

To the north northwest there were plenty of good looking cu's toward Ocala and I wanted to get under them, although there are few landing areas at all. With Larry following I headed for the best looking clouds.

There was no lift under the cu's. The problem was their western edges were far to the west of us. We couldn't get to them. After 12 km we were down to 1,400' with only one nearby landing field of any length. We had to stay near it and soon landed there. Larry used his drogue chute. I ducked under a phone line and past a tree to land in the second half of the field. I had scoped it out enough to know that I could do that.

Everyone else had landed earlier or soon would be except John Simon and Robin Hamilton. No one made goal.

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Round the Green Swamp in February

February 26, 2021, 9:27:37 pm EST

Round the Green Swamp in February

This global warming thing is working out

John Simon|Larry Bunner|Robin Hamilton|triangle|Wilotree Park|XC

The morning update forecast for Friday

A Green Swamp Day

Larry Bunner writes:

Slight inversion at 11:00 that stops lift at 2400'. Inversion breaks by noon with TOL at 5300'. When we see clouds we should go even if it is at 11:30. The winds at noon per skew T are ESE at 4kts at the surface going to zero above 4000'.
1:00 SE at 3kts going more south at 3 kts up high tol 5700'
2:00 SE at 4kts southerly up high at 4kts tol 6000'
3:00 SSE 4-6knts tol 6000'
4:00 SSE 7-9knts 6200' so perhaps we go clockwise around the swamp
5:00 SSE 7-11knts 5800'

NAM12 and RAP show convergence on the west side of the swamp slowly migrating east with good clouds over the entire area

Looks like swamp day to me.

NWS:

Today

Sunny, with a high near 85. Calm wind becoming south southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Hourly in the afternoon: South southeast surface wind 5-6 mph here at Wilotree Park.

HRRR 3:

Southeast surface wind at 1 PM: 3 mph, 2000' southeast 4 mph, 4,000' 3 mph south southeast

TOL at 1 PM: 5,700'

Updraft Velocity at 1 PM: 620 fpm

TOL at noon: 5,100'

Updraft Velocity at noon: 540 fpm

4000' winds at 4 PM at Dade City: south 7 mph

Task:

Quest 3 km
T98471 3 km
T7598 7 km
Quest 400m

FAI triangle

94 km

This is our clockwise around the Swamp task back to Wilotree Park.

Larry Bunner was watching the cu's forming and had been looking forward to launching at noon, which he did when there were enough cu's forming nearby. Most pilots were waiting for stronger conditions and a later launch. I waited for 50 minutes and then had Jim Prahl haul me to the south to 2,900' where I connected with some cu's and climbed at 300 fpm to 4,700'.

The sky was not full of cu's but they were around. The wind was out of the southeast at 4 to 6 mph. I headed toward Larry who was just north of the Seminole Glider port. I got there at 1,600' while Larry was above me at 3,000' and climbing.

The lift was broken and it was a struggle at less than 200 fpm to get only up to 2,800'. Heading south southeast and down to 1,400' it was again a struggle to only get back to 2,800' again at 200 fpm. The lift was broken up. Larry was further south and doing much better. Everyone else was now launching after 1 PM.

Heading further south it was not going well. Down to 600' AGL I finally found some scraps of lift and held on looking for better landing areas. There was an 8 mph wind out of the east southeast.

I kept hanging on and searching for better nearby and going over the trees but with a landing field to the south. The lift kept improving and being more consistent. I drifted back a few kilometers but finally climbed to 4,500' and saw Pedro Garcia, John Simon, and Robin Hamilton to my west a couple of kilometers at my elevation.

Heading to the south side of the Green Swamp gliding into a 9 mph south head wind I hooked up with Pedro and John and we climbed to 4,900'. Pedro had to turn around and go back to Wilotree Park because he had tandems to do.

It was a short glide to the next cu and we climbed to 5,900'. Robin Hamilton had come in underneath us.

The next glide was 11 kilometers to the southeast corner of the Green Swamp, the last place where you need to get high before cross over the swamp to the first turnpoint. John found something just below and behind me and we were able to climb to 4,800' with a 6 mph southwest wind pushing us back a little.

Down to 2,100' just near the turnpoint I climbed back up as John found better lift to the north and topped out at 5,200' with a 7 mph south wind pushing us up the course line to the second turnpoint.

With that nice tail wind it was extremely easy to head north. I quickly caught back up with John and climbed to 6,000' at 400 fpm. Robin was just behind us.

There were some good looking clouds in the 7 kilometer radius turnpoint further north and I took them to 5,100'. We could hear from Larry that he had been struggling at the turnpoint and not getting up, but as we got close he finally was able to climb up. The wind was 8 mph out of the southwest, a tail wind to get us home.

We would normally head straight east across the Green Swamp toward Wilotree Park but we were at less than 4,000' on the western edge. With the wind direction and the cloud spacing we heading east northeast toward open landing fields and highway 50, as well as the inviting cu's. I was able to climb to 5,200' under them.

After that thermal the lift was weak along highway 50. The wind was out of the southwest at 9 mph, but I could continue to the east northeast. Coming over the huge nursery north of highway 50 and Mascotte, I just settled into ubiquitous 70 fpm and climbed to 3,900'which gave me an easy 9 km cross wind glide to Wilotree.

Larry, John, Robin, and I made it around. Others abandoned and returned to the flight park. Pedro had to go to work. A few landed out. A busy day at Paradise Airsports.

Tomorrow the winds are stronger out of the south southeast and we may have to fly a downwind task.

The Florida 2021 Spring Competitions

January 19, 2021, 9:09:03 pm EST

The Florida 2021 Spring Competitions

They are happening

Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021

https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/info/details__info

April 10th through the 17th.

Competition flying 11th through the 17th.

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/info/details__info

April 18th through the 25th.

Competition flying April 19th through the 25th.

There will be plenty of social distancing and everything will take place outside.

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The Florida Competitions in 2021

November 27, 2020, 10:35:06 EST

The Florida Competitions in 2021

The new meet organizer

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|COVID|Paradise Airsports Nationals 2021|Risk Retention Group|USHPA|Wilotree Park

Stephan Mentler <team> writes:

To my fellow competition pilots, the Florida based hang gliding competitions - in April of next year - are moving forward pending official USHPA re-sanctioning.  This includes the Paradise Airports Nationals, Wilotree Park Nationals, and the 2nd FAI Sport Class World Championship.  The respective competition dates along with registration process is provided on the Airtribune sites.  

https://airtribune.com/2021-wilotree-park-nationals/info

https://airtribune.com/2021-sport-world-championships/info

https://airtribune.com/2021-paradise-airsports-nationals/info

The competition organization understands that there will remain many unknowns regarding COVID-19, even with the development and distribution of a vaccine.  Pilots who sign-up for a competition and submit payment will be entitled to a full refund of entry fees minus $3.00 (three dollars) or the foreign equivalent if they are unable to attend due to impacts of COVID-19.  This includes government-imposed travel restrictions, government-imposed restrictions on sporting events, surges in cases, pilot illness, pilot family member illness, etc.  The $3.00 (three dollars) is retained to pay for anticipated non-refundable Organizer competition expenses.
 
There are a couple of changes - other than the impacts of COVID-19 – from previous years of Florida hang gliding competitions.  The first and most impactful is the retirement of Davis and Belinda from official Organizing and Meet Directing duties.  As competition pilots, we owe them an enormous debt of gratitude for their personal sacrifice and doing what can be a thankless job.  Without their commitment to organizing the Spring Florida competitions from the Green Swamp Klassic to the Nationals series, I suspect that the Florida and Big Spring competitions would have died-out a long time ago.  Thankfully, they have volunteered to help the new organization team, as needed to get things going for next year.  
 
This gets us to our second change.  In my role as the primary Organizer for next year’s Florida competitions and also considering the long-term prospects for U.S. based race-to-goal competitions – I along with two other competition pilots founded a hang gliding competition specific non-profit organization - the Hang Glider Racing Association Corp (HGRAC), a registered Florida non-profit corporation.  This was done upon the advice of past and potentially future organizers and several attorneys.  
 
A little background - some of the requirements enacted by the Risk Retention Group (RRG), for a competition to be insured, transfers a substantial level of risk to competition organizers.  This includes the potential for the RRG to refuse coverage for incidents that would be beyond the control of the organizer.  Without the creation of a competition specific organization as an additional protection for organizers, it is unlikely that anyone would have stepped in to organize another hang gliding race-to-goal competition in the U.S.  To be fair, the RRG has been made aware of the concerns and their leadership is working to resolve them – but in the interim - the HGRAC will be the entity under which I along with one or two other potential hang gliding competition organizers will organize U.S. based race-to-goal hang gliding competitions.
 
The HGRAC is currently composed of a president and two Directors.  The two Directors are Ben Dunn and Cory Barnwell.  Ben is a former multi-year Open Class U.S. National Team member and Cory is an experienced Open and Sport Class competition pilot.  We will be looking to appoint additional Directors if and as the HGRAC evolves.   

The comp organization email address is <team>.

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New Wisconsin State Record - 209 Miles

Mon, Aug 10 2020, 7:19:49 am MDT

Larry makes an ordinary day into an epic flight

Flytec 6030|Greg Dinauer|Larry Bunner|Naviter Blade|record

Larry Bunner writes:

After an excellent spring here in the midwest, things slowed down a bit of late with soarable conditions but high humidity limiting the climbs and altitudes seen back in May. Our first cold front of the summer passed through on Monday bringing cool dry air to the region. Post frontal air masses mean good conditions and for Tuesday, August 4th XC Skies was predicting 10-15mph north surface winds (20mph at the top of the lift) and fair climb rates up to 6000’msl (mean sea level) cloud base later in the afternoon in Illinois. The Buoyancy Shear (BS) ratio was low as expected due to the stronger winds so the lift would be very turbulent however it would be better further to the south. The Skew T diagram (my favorite weather tool) substantiated the info from XC Skies and showed solid soarable conditions by 11:00. The temperatures at the top of the lift were expected to be in the low 40’s so cold weather clothes would be necessary to keep comfortable.

I spoke with Greg Dinauer in the morning and stated I would get to Whitewater, WI early and be ready to go by 11:00 with the intent to launch once the clouds showed the conditions were solid. Short lived cumulus clouds began forming at 8:30 on my drive to the flight park and slowly began filling the sky as we set up. Chico Sulin volunteered to be our chase driver so we were all set. Greg was towed up at 11:20 to a building cloud street to the northeast and immediately climbed to 4500’msl in 500fpm (feet per minute). I towed up at 11:30 directly to the north. We hit some fair lift and Danny began a broad circle to the west. The winds were already strong and we weren’t very far from takeoff. I feared getting off near the airport in weak lift would put me in a tough position, so I tapped on the line to try to get him to take me further up wind. In my zeal I inadvertently activated my release and separated from the tow plane! Having to land and relaunch entered my mind but the lift was solid as I slowly climbed to 4100’msl (3300’ above the ground) at 133fpm . Greg reported that he landed south of Whitewater Lakes 14 miles to the south. This intensified my focus and I hung on to the next thermal for every bit of altitude exiting at 5000’msl. I thought for sure the day was on however the next few clouds did not deliver and soon I was at 1500’ looking for a suitable landing field. Luckily I latched on to a gnarly bubble that was dumping me on the backside repeatedly as I circled but was slowly gaining altitude. Eventually the lift expanded and there was lift all the way around, taking me to 4200’ (3400’agl). Whew!

XC flying for me is all about maximizing the day. It’s about getting to the site early, getting prepared, assessing the conditions and then launching as soon as is practical. It is critical to be very conservative at the beginning of the day, stay as high as possible and Do Not race. Then during the meat of the day put the hammer down as conditions dictate only to switch gears again late to hang onto any lift regardless of strength. If a pilot can do this and glide from the last cloud to the ground then I would call it an epic flight! This is in contrast to an epic day however. An epic day would be one that has strong lift, high cloud base, early soaring conditions, beautiful cloud streets and strong wind. A day like this leads to big miles.

Switching gears once again after almost decking it, I flew to every little cloud within my downwind periphery and worked them for all they would offer as I passed over the state line into Illinois. The size of the thermals made it difficult to get a complete turn in lift but I had figured out by now that this was how the day was going to be. It was a bit like riding a bucking bronco but thankfully I was flying a Wills Wing TIII Team 144! The handling on the 144 is so easy it feels as if I am on a much smaller glider and even though I was circling in very rough air I was relaxed and confident I could maximize the lift to stay aloft. I kept telling myself to just hang on. With winds aloft at 16-23mph, any lift that kept me climbing was drifting me at a good speed down wind.

Two hours elapsed before I found another good thermal that took me over 5000’msl (4200’agl). I could see better developed clouds to the south and west but just couldn’t quite get to them until I found a solid climb north of Sycamore, IL (about 60 miles from takeoff). From then on I was feeling more comfortable as the clouds were better developed with nice black bottoms and were distinctly lined up in streets (a series of clouds with a very short distance between them). For 40 minutes I stayed relatively high and cruised downwind to Hinckley always scanning for the best clouds and planning my next moves. To the west a robust cloud street formed so I pressed to the SW to connect with this good line. Initially the street didn’t produce the strong lift that the clouds were indicating, I groveled along underneath looking for that monster climb but instead sank like a rock to 2700’ twice before connecting with a stronger core just south of the Fox River near Sheridan that took me back above 5000’.

The thermal drift was now to the southeast and still strong. I was reading wind speeds aloft at ~20mph. Ahead I could see I was on line to fly over the Illinois River and a large cooling lake for the LaSalle Nuclear Plant. From previous experience I knew that large bodies of water can adversely affect the lift down wind so headed further to the southeast to keep me over dry land. Just before the river I connected with a line of clouds and surfed in the lift underneath only turning a couple times when I hit 700fpm. This put me in great position at 5800’ to cross the river and continue down the east side of the lake. Fortunately on this day the water in the lake was considerably warmer than the air due to the warm effluent coming from the nuclear plant so clouds continued to form downwind and the lift remained relatively good.

I have two instruments mounted on my control bar, the Flytec 6030 and Naviter Blade, that provide information that maximizes my ability to soar. They are actually flight computers that provide visual and/or audio cues for altitude, airspeed, climb rate/descent, distance from waypoints, speed to fly, wind speed and more. I have been using the 6030 for over a decade now and am very familiar with the information that it provides. I purchased the Blade a couple years ago as it has a couple of additional features lacking in the 6030; a color map and a thermal assistant. The map provides a high resolution picture of the terrain, roads and towns and more importantly shows controlled airspace in the area that must be navigated around. The thermal assistant gives a pictorial of the strength of the thermals and audio alarms that help the pilot get centered in the stronger lift more quickly. I use both instruments as I am trying to wean myself from the 6030.

After the river crossing, I was heading toward Pontiac, IL a waypoint that was programmed into the instruments that would keep me on a path clear of controlled airspace between Bloomington and Champaign IL. My track to this point was very slightly east of due south. Just north of Pontiac I thermaled up in my best climb to this point at 390fpm to 6100’. Knowing that I would need to navigate around airspace soon, I chose to head SE where the clouds were aligned in that direction. Two thermals later I had the best climb of the day at 449fpm and maxed out at 6309’. I could clearly see Champaign off to the SSE and knew that I’d have to deviate to the east. Fortunately there were good clouds in that direction and I was able to pass just south of Rantoul and skirt around the airspace.

The clouds began to change quickly as the sun descended late in the day. The lift in each thermal became lighter and lighter. I was now hanging on circling and drifting sometimes circling in no lift but knowing I was moving quickly down wind. I had intermittent contact on the radio with Chico and Greg, however they knew my location from the Life 360 app that we all use for tracking. I did hear Greg state that I had just passed over them. I didn’t see my SUV as I was too intent concentrating on the lift and continually scanning for a field to land in. Glancing at my instrument, I was nearing 200 miles. And knew that the current state record (202 miles) was within reach. I just had to hang on. I flew toward one last cloud over a tractor cutting hay and found weak lift. I circled and circled drifting and drifting until there was no more.

In this part of the state there was nothing but corn and soy beans as far as I could see, not another hay field in sight. I maneuvered south to a grass strip of land thinking it was an airstrip but it turned out to be too rutted to safely land in. I now resigned myself to land in the soy beans and after 7 hrs and 4 minutes in the air I unceremoniously landed in 4’ of soy beans 100 yards from the road. I was struggling to lift the glider and slog my way to the road when to my surprise Chico and Greg pulled up and graciously helped extricate me from my predicament. Greg informed me that I set the state record. He was the previous record holder. I was super tired but also super stoked as I finally broke the 200 mile barrier this year after two flights earlier in the year came up just short (190+).

Well, all in all, it wasn’t an epic day as I only topped 5000’ (above the ground) four times and only had three sustained climbs above 300fpm the entire day but it was certainly an epic flight for me as I launched early in questionable soaring conditions and flew to the last cumulus cloud before succumbing to terra firma once again. I am incredibly grateful to enjoy this sport at 66 years of age. Many thanks for the support I get from my wonderful wife Sue, flying friends and Wills Wing. Chico and Greg did an outstanding job keeping up with me and getting me back at a reasonable hour, for this I owe them big time. Thanks all!

209 miles from Whitewater

Thu, Aug 6 2020, 2:41:30 pm MDT

Larry Bunner finally goes over 200 miles this year

Larry Bunner|PG

We are awaiting the details. South to Homer, Illinois on Tuesday.

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/2594334

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Marfa Expedition Day 1

June 22, 2020, 7:36:05 MDT

Marfa Expedition Day 1

Piddling around

Larry Bunner|Marfa Expedition 2020

cart|Larry Bunner|Marfa Expedition 2020

Larry Bunner writes:

Sunday was a bit of a cluster for day 1. We had the last minute details to work out and met with the Airport Manager and Airport Administrator (who flew in from Corpus Christi). Once they found out the qualifications of all the pilots, things went smoothly. They have provided a hangar for the week for a nominal fee and have given us the ok to tow from the taxi ways.

Rich Reinauer kicked things off by towing soon after noon, sank out and then towed up again and thermaled on out of the airport heading east. He landed a short distance away at Alpine due to some short lived over-development on his course track.

After short adjustments on the tug I was lined up on the cart when my harness zipper broke thus putting me into repair mode for the afternoon.

Glen had a fine flight doing a triangle to Alpine, Fort Davis and back getting to 15300'.

Mick Howard launched last and had the flight of the day proceeding up highway 17 through the Davis Mountains and onward to the NE. Last I heard, he was near Pecos and quite high. Robin and Nathan arrive to fly tomorrow.

The forecast on Monday is for west wind 5 to 15 mph, 102 degrees. Tuesday northeast wind. Wednesday east wind.

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Marfa Expedition

June 21, 2020, 8:24:16 MDT

Marfa Expedition

Southwest Texas

Glen Volk|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Larry Bunner|Robin Hamilton

Larry Bunner writes:

Well, here we are a year later and the three of us (Robin Hamilton, Glen Volk, and I) who flew to Canada last summer are back together for a reconnaissance mission flying out of Marfa, Texas for the next week.

Gregg Ludwig will be doing the towing on his Super Trike and we kick it off today. Gregg has been doing south Texas encampments for four years now and is an expert tow pilot.

Mick Howard, Nathan Wreyford, Rich Reinauer, and Patrick Pannese are also here to fly. We are all amped to fly the mountains and break off some big flights. Wish us luck.

If you want to track our flights you can go to the Marfa Expedition group on the Flymaster website url. Here's the url for the Marfa Expedition: https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=3275&pwd=8a581b00931f9fc3943fc276266d8

300+ km in Texas

June 20, 2020, 8:18:06 pm MDT

300+ km in Texas

Gavin McGlurg is in Hebbronville

Larry Bunner|PG|record

Larry Bunner|PG|record|Robin Hamilton

He flew to 30 miles north of Leakey today before the cu-nimbs to the west on the Dry Line blocked the sun. Light winds made for slow going.

He is there with other paraglider pilots towing, likely at the airport. Hebbronville is 45 miles north east of Zapata and has been used before as a starting point for paraglider flights (keeps them over a more accessible area and away from Laredo airspace).

Larry Bunner is on his way to Marfa and so is Robin Hamilton.

I'm helping with the weather forecasting remotely here in Boise for both record camps.

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212.5 miles

June 12, 2020, 6:42:10 pm MDT

212.5 miles

Kzry in the Midwest

Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|record

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:grzybk/11.6.2020/17:01#fd=flight

Larry Bunner writes:

Yesterday Kris flew from Cullom, Illinois to Eaton, OH some 213 miles. Top of lift was 8800'. He had good climbs but not great and a decent push. Unfortunately, the cloud dotted sky led into a 30 mile blue hole before the cloud streets reformed. It was the blue hole that ended the flight with plenty of sunshine left.

He is on a roll this season with two flights over 200 miles (one an east of Mississippi River record), one 193 mile flight and one 100+ mile triangle. The Midwest is cracking right now. Unfortunately I couldn't partake yesterday as I was installing a new septic system at my flip house.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-open/

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Larry and Krzy in Indiana

Tue, Jun 2 2020, 9:57:52 am MDT

Blowing from the north

Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|PG

Larry writes:

On Saturday, Kris and I decided to test out his tow rig again at Cullom, Illinois (southwest of Chicago). Conditions looked to be quite good with a brisk north northwest wind turning north at the Indiana/Illinois border. We set our sites on going to Kentucky.

Big John towed me up around 11:30 into a fat thermal and I took it to cloudbase at 5300’. Kris meanwhile had a line break and had to relaunch with some delay. He took off around 12:30.

We both had no trouble darting from cloud to (the cloud spacing was tight early) as we headed SSE down the state and eventually into Indiana.

South west of Terre Haute, Indiana, a thick fast moving narrow band of cirrus blew through from the west momentarily stopping me cold as the ground shaded over completely. I saw it coming and headed to the south east trying to outrun it but it was moving at well over 50mph and very quickly overran my path. I changed gears and went into survival mode telling myself to stop for any lift. Until this time average climbs (from thermal entry to exit) were in the 400-500fpm range with peaks in the 800fpm range.

At 3500’msl I felt a bubble and searched out a 50-100fpm climb. Thirty minutes later, I was back at 5800’. The cirrus was now gone and the clouds were looking robust again.

Meanwhile Kris was charging hard from behind hitting three 500-600fpm climbs to help close the gap. He was far enough behind that the cirrus was gone by the time he cruised through the overcast area I had encountered (timing). He spent over an hour cruising between 5000 and 6000’ only stopping briefly to grab some precious altitude before pushing on. I could tell he was getting close as his radio transmissions were now clear as a bell.

The problem was that back at launch we got too amped up when we saw clouds forming at 10:30 and didn’t take the time to put in a task. I had Franklin, Kentucky in my instrument but he had a different waypoint. So our communications were useless relative to our locations.

After digging out under the cirrus overcast, conditions improved markedly. I was able to stay higher and had my best climb of the day west of Wheatland, Indiana to 6000’. The cumulus clouds now were thinning out and there was a heavily forested area to the south so I diverted to the south east to ensure my track was over landable terrain. I thermaled up under the last cloud and glided downwind landing near Velpen, Indiana. Kris took a slightly different track more to the south and did the same landing near Somerville. We ended up with 301 and 300km respectively. Woohoo, what an awesome day.

As is his habit, John Enrietti was “johnny on the spot” pulling up to me just as I put the last strap on my Wills Wing T III (awesome glider BTW) and soon we had Kris and headed back. I made it home at 3:00am and spent Sunday recovering. Kris of course went flying again (beast). Our two flights put Kris in first and me in second place for the hang gliding world online Cross Country contests (XContest and Leonardo). Not bad for a couple of Midwestern flatlanders, eh?

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-open/

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2020/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

Bunner and Grzyb go long again

May 30, 2020, 7:38:43 pm MDT

Bunner and Grzyb go long again

Around 200 milers from Illinois into southern Indiana

Facebook|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner

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Looks like Krzy went half a kilometer further a bit to Larry's west.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:grzybk/30.5.2020/17:29

The US way way ahead: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national-teams/

Poland rising basically due to Krzy.

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Rich Reinauer sets new site record

May 25, 2020, 11:01:13 MDT

Rich Reinauer sets new site record

Alamogordo

Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|record

Larry Bunner writes:

Rich went 195 miles yesterday from Alamogordo. More details soon.

His flight from the day before: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:Richreinauer/23.5.2020/18:47

142.5 km.

The world ranking of nations:

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national:US

Krzy flies for Poland.

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Cold Weather Flying

May 14, 2020, 7:28:53 CDT

Cold Weather Flying

They are outside staying safe

Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Larry Bunner|PG

Larry Bunner writes:

This spring has been very good weather wise for hang gliding here in the Midwest. Multiple cold fronts passing through have resulted in extremely dry atmospheric conditions and therefore strong thermic days. The air has been so dry we have missed the typical cumulus development that helps us fly faster. Yesterday was another of those days with winds out of the west a t 10-15mph, sparse cumulus formation but strong lift.

Kris and I again braved the cold temperatures (20F) and opted to do a 100 mile (160km) triangle. We flew from Whitewater, WI southeast to Wilmot near the Illinois border and then west into the wind to Beloit, WI before returning to Whitewater. Our average climbs for the day were stronger than Saturday however the upwind leg was difficult and took us over 2 1/2 hours to complete.

Kris got the jump on me again and headed back toward Whitewater but then instead flew further to Fort Atkinson before coming back to land at Whitewater.

From Beloit I made it half way back before having to dig out of a soft area. Down to 2000' above the ground I found some weak lift that I slowly worked up to 2700'. I spotted a cloud shadow indicating a cumulus cloud, forming to the west of me and decided to leave the weak lift and flying 2 miles upwind to get under the cloud. I was rewarded with 400fpm and circled in the lift back up to 7000'.

The remainder of the flight back to the airport was uneventful and I landed at the field 6hrs and 5min after takeoff. Top of the lift was 8300'msl this day.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:lbunner/12.5.2020/15:54

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-open/

Almost: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/ranking-hg-national-teams/

https://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/league/world/2020/brand:all,cat:2,class:all,xctype:all,club:all

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:grzybk/12.05.2020/16:47

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388 kilometers from Illinois

April 11, 2020, 11:04:22 EDT

388 kilometers from Illinois

Paragliding

Larry Bunner|PG

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:flyboy0871/10.04.2020/15:36

Jaro Krupa
date : 10.04.2020 10:36 =UTC-05:00
launch : US Cullom
glider : 777 Gambi
airtime : 7:57 hours

Larry Bunner writes:

High temp for the day at the surface was 45F and at top of lift a whopping 17F.

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Wills Wing T3 136

March 13, 2020, 9:10:12 pm EDT

Wills Wing T3 136

There is such a thing

John Simon|Larry Bunner|Wills Wing T3|Wilotree Park

It probably isn't ready to be announced by Wills Wing but Pedro Garcia is flying Claudia's and says that it is a wonderful glider. He flew just behind Larry Bunner who was flying his Wills Wing brand new T3 144  today for about ten kilometers and they had the same glide ratio. Both Pedro and Larry don't weigh that much.

A good flight today with Larry Bunner, John Simon, and Pedro Garcia flying south to Famish then to Fantasy of Flight and then back to Wilotree Park. Betinho and Carla flew from Wallaby to Wilotree. My right scapula muscle was aching so I took a rest day.