Fri Nov 26th – DLG and RES

The Gordon Report Fri – DLG and RES

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DLG was a tough event this year with both a solid group of 14 contestants and weather to try every one of them. No round was a gimme and many talented pilots were seen struggling to make it back on field after srties downwind. At times we had 10 to 15 mph winds with the occasional stronger gust but it meant there was a fine line between deciding to stay in lift and work it or “chicken out” and return to the field. The tree line was working pretty well with a southerly blowing all day almost square on but it was also fraught with danger as these tall pines seem to reach out and clasp little DLG’s if you go too close. Nathan Miller exhibited a lot of talent as he ran downwind on many occasions and returned home. As can happen though sink got him twice and tree retrievals became a new skill for the Miller brothers. We had a couple of new comers with Kris Van Nostran going ahead in leaps and bounds in just his second DLG contest to even take a 1000 in one round. Well done Kris. Ian Baillie from GA also came and joined the fun with his Taboo and learn’t some new things. Keep at it Ian. Keep flying and practicing the tasks and you’ll get better and better.
In the end it was my partner for most of the day Ed White who prevailed with a very carefully planned contest to win. Ed made all the right choices and was conservative enough to make it home every flight and not get a zero for landing out. This cost him time but in the end he had enough points to sneak past Nathan Miller who was the one to beat with some great flying downwind. Not making it hime twice hurt his scores though. I managed to pick up the 1000 points in each of the last two rounds to make it from Group B into Group A and then to 3rd at the finish. Great result for my old Vixen and thankyou Ed and Ray for great calling as well.
Raed did a fabulous job of organizing and CDing the event. Thanks Raed. You are great for our DLG community. Dunno what we would do without you.
RES pilots meeting was conducted by Rich Kiburis just before 1:00pm and shortly after 1:00 the first round got underway. 12 pilots were registered for RES which was a bit disappointing but considering the weather it was a pretty good number of players with these ships. The landing zone was set up with 100 point AMA tapes 1 point off for every 3 inches away from center out to 300 inches. I reckon great landing zones and a true measure of the landing skills without the “in or out” system other zones produce. Rich set 8:00mins as the max which was always going to be difficult with the lack of sun and the wind.
The lift was difficult to read and remain in with such gusty conditions and round one saw myself and Nathan Miller as the only pilots to break 6 mins. I won the round with a 6:08 and a 98 with Nathan 2nd with 6:05 – 86 and Rusty Carver 3rd with 5:09 – 18. With the honors callup that meant us three would launch 1st for round 2.
We were called up and once again the conditions were tough with no real decent lift strong enough to stay with and get out for a max. The result was a round win by Rich with a 6:00 – 78 and Al parsons 2nd with a 6:42 – 23 and Nathan taking 3rd spot in the next callup with a 5:47 – 0. I got my just desserts when I flirted with the tree line once too often and for the 2nd contest in a row found my sailplane treed for a zero. I hope I have learned just how close is “too close.” I am the owner of the Buzzards Tree Frog currently and the way I have been going it will remain clinging to my flight box for some time to come.
Round three saw some decent lift sweep through the field for the 1st time in the afternoon session and a large bunch of Buzzards also came out to play as the got a “blender” of soaring goodness going just downwind of the field. I flew my 2M Sagitta 600 as a backup and managed to enjoy a great ride with the birds to make an 8:00 max but couldn’t figure out how to get the little 2M anywhere near the zone in a stiff brezze. Nathan Miller and Rusty Carver also hooked to up to score 2 other maxes for the 1st 3 maxes of the day.
Round 4 was away with Nathan launching 1st followed by Rusty and then I with the Sagitta. As often happens with the honors callup the air was not kind and I was back on the ground in 2:52. Nathan and Rusty also were well short but Rich Kiburis and Lance Ropke picked a better time to launch and found enough air to get better than 7:00 minutes. Lance Ropke has continued to impress with a huge improvement in his flying skills since last year. Al Parsons also flew a great round to be 3rd in honors for the last round 5.
A couple of pilots had dropped out with problems so the rounds were being flown very quickly with a plan to be completed before 4:00pm. Rich announced Rd 5 was to be the last and launched first in the callup. He did not find good air but Lance and Al didn’t fair too badly to record good scores. Once again though the 98 minutes was hard to reach and the round was won with an excellent flight by Lance of 7:25 and 75.
This strong finish by Lance saw him move up the rankings to take 3rd place in the contest. A fantastic effort and a long way from the Sportsman I saw flying at Kennyworld last year. Great job Lance.
2nd place was taken out by our famous CD Rich Kiburis. Thanks to Rich for doing a great job of getting the contest going and getting 5 rounds in so quickly. Excellent stuff.
There are no prizes for guessing who was the winner. Nathan Miller is a genius at reading the air and flying his sailplane with precision. It is great to watch a guy who is so consistent and we need to improve our game a lot to get our noses in front of him at TD contests in Florida. Great job Nathan. You were easily the deserving winner on the day.
We had a great contest in very very tough air with probably the smallest number of maxes flown of any contest I have ever been at.
47 flights were made and just 3 maxes were achieved and all in the same round 3.
It’s great to see the depth of talent improving in Florida also with flyers like Lance getting better and better.
Looking forward to UNL tomorrow.
Gordon

Complete Scores 2010 Tangerine Dlg
Complete Scores 2010 Tangerine RES Friday

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