Monday, May 31, 2010

Welcome dinner

Thanks to Jayne and Frank for making us feel welcome and for providing tonight's dinner. After the dinner we had our safety briefing:


And here's Frank standing behind the official contest podium:

Thunderstorms

Today was the second practice day for the World Class and the first (of two) practice days for the 1-26s.

But it was not to be. A low pressure system is creeping by and by noon the thunderstorms had started. We're keeping our eye on the good weather coming in behind the trough.

To add insult, Pat Tuckey's RC model suffered an inflight structural failure this morning (before the rain started). The plane is repairable, but not before Pat gets home after the contest.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

First contest flights

It was the first official practice day today.

We had sixteen launches, on a day that was forecast to be weak and possibly overdeveloped.

Fortunately, the cumulus thinned as cloudbases rose, eventually reaching 4500 feet above ground. The gliders were evenly divided between PW-5s and 1-26s, with a couple of the homebased long wingers participating. Between 3pm and 5pm, the lift peaked at 4.5 knots.

The day ended with a most everyone making it home, and smiles all around. Jayne did all the towing (thanks, Jayne!)

Tomorrow we'll have an actual practice task.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Contest season

The contest season has begun in style. We are hosting (concurrently) the 2010 1-26 Championships and the 2010 World Class Nationals. See the contest website for more information.