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The 2001 U.S. World Class National Championship
Dottie Thomas-Pin and François Pin
Once again, Cordele, in
southern Georgia, provided the ideal conditions for competitive racing.
Abundant fields with low or no crops lay everywhere in the task area and
made out-landings very safe. The Cordele-typical varied weather, bringing
days with ideal popcorn Cu at 5,000 feet, days with blue thermals and 15-kt.
winds, days with tiptoeing starts under low spreading-out clouds, and days
of "dodge-the-late-thunderstorms," tested all racing skills. CD Charlie
Spratt's calls, and a few irrigation areas, provided for varied and challenging
tasks, in which gear-switching abilities often were the key to completion.
The extremely pleasant and warm welcome of our hosts, Dub and Cecile Cooper
who run the Cordele Flying Services and FBO, and the always friendly and
supporting attitude of the people of Cordele, who offered us two barbecues
at the field, a fish fry at Lake Blackshear Park, and a diner/pool party
at the Colonial Inn, completed the ideal atmosphere for the contest.
 Despite
three pre-registrants unfortunately having to cancel at the last minute
because of health, business, and family problems, eleven PW-5 pilots were
on the grid, vying for this year World Class National Champion title, a
very encouraging number for this 5-year old FAI Class which shows continued
growth. Discussions among the contest attendees and with many of the far-away
pilots who shied away from the long drive to the East coast this year, indicate
that the growth pattern will continue, with participation numbers likely
increasing by another 50% at next year's Nationals, now confirmed for Uvalde,
TX. Even more encouraging were the entrants statistics showing 27.3% participation
by youth, 9.1% by women, and 36.4% by current U.S. Team members, percentages
believed to be the highest ever in any FAI Class Nationals. Three sponsorships,
paying for full registration fees, were awarded this year to the participating
young pilots, and pledges and contributions already received for next year
indicate that these record statistics numbers will continue their upward
trend. Many sponsors helped us, and we would like to convey our sincerest
thanks to all of them.
From Day 1, it became clear that the four U.S. Team members (Danny Sorenson,
Pat Tuckey, François Pin, and Michael Robison), Bill Snead of world records
fame, Jim Gager of past hang-gliding championship fame, and Charlie Yeates
of past Canadian Team fame, were neither kidding nor rusty in their flying,
and had come for highly competitive racing. François won Day 1 with a speed
of 47.01 mph, followed by Danny at 44.84 mph, Michael at 43.57 mph and Jim
at 42.32 mph.
On Day 2, François and Danny tied for first place, while Pat took third,
and Bill's 4th place moved him up to third overall. Watermelon requires
a lot of water to grow, and Frank Reid discovered that fact with a long
glide to land in the middle of Tifton's thermal-killing irrigation area.
While getting low in the same area, Jayne Reid recognizes the trap and "goes
for the interstate" to escape the bad air. Her GPS showed the most amazing
trace: a 15-mile straight line at altitudes between 800 and 1000 feet right
above I-75. With good fields within reach all along, Jayne said that she
was never worried and kept on cruising without circling in the weak thermal
bubbles kicked off by the interstate and the traffic. Tiptoeing her way
forward low enough to read the big green exit signs, she finally took a
good thermal at the Ashburn exit that brought her up to final glide and
home. Avoid melons and keep on trucking…. A stationary front overhead the
next day gave us a rest day and an opportunity to sample the gourmet cuisine
at famous Daphnee's Lodge near Lake Blackshear.
Day 3 was dry and blue with 15-kt winds from the northwest. Most spent more
than thirty minutes bucking the headwind in weak thermals just to get to
the edge of the 5-mile radius start cylinder. The leg to Americus and back
yielded three land-outs. All the others experienced the joy of last-minute
saves from below 1000 feet. Pat and François claimed the records while demonstrating
the turn-on-a-dime ability of the PW-5 by recovering from 425 and 450 feet,
respectively, a feat that they claim they would not have pulled off with
their other ships (ASW-27 and Discus). Danny won the day to take the overall
lead from François, while Pat's 2nd place, Michael's 3rd, and Charlie's
4th for the day brought them up to the top five overall.
Day 4 gave another turn in the lead positions. The first leg to Leesburg,
upwind and crossing Lake Blackshear and the nearby swamp, yielded six land-outs.
Exiting the swamp area on the way back, the thermals improved and the remaining
five pilots made great speed downwind to Hawkinsville using good streets.
By then, a gigantic thunderstorm had covered the entire northern sector
of the task area, spreading a darkening shadow on the track of the third
leg to Veteran Memorial. Gear-switching again, with slow progress upwind
in the last little bubbles of lift under the threatening overcast. Charlie
showed that he excels at that game, being first home and winning the day
at 36.89 mph. François was the only other finisher at 35.55 mph, reclaiming
the overall lead by 30 points in front of Danny who landed two so short
miles out. Coming back from the retrieve, Pat's glider showed some stress
cracks on the fuselage about a foot behind the wind roots, which unfortunately
forced Pat to pull out of the contest.
The threat and percentage of thunderstorms was forecasted to increase every
day from here on. Indeed, every day showed progressively later trigger time,
later launch, lower cloud base at the start, and earlier time of thunderstorms
hitting the field shortly after the finishes. Day 5 was a 3-hr PST which
six pilots completed. Danny won it at 42.58 mph, followed by François at
41.16 mph, reducing François's overall lead to 4 points. Day 6 was a 2 and
1/2-hr PST with Eastman as the first mandatory turnpoint. CD Charlie Spratt
explained that he preferred to intentionally devaluate the day while giving
everyone a chance to complete the task before the thunderstorms hit, rather
than creating a massive land-out or a massive tie for the day with everyone
coming back under-time. A good call, as no one landed out despite very low
cloud bases during the early part of the task, and only three were forced
back home under-time. Danny again won it at 40.75 mph, 0.5 mph faster than
François, to reclaim the overall lead by 7 points.
Day 7 dawned with some overcast and the early cloud wisps were very low.
Our great weatherman, Harry Senn, decided to go and sniff by himself what
his forecast predicted as a marginal but still do-able contest day. Despite
finding cloud bases at 2,000 feet, Harry reported that "the atmosphere was
juicy" and that cloud bases should rise. When he reached 2,500 feet, the
launch went on. It took some time for the bases to rise to 3,300 feet. Charlie
Spratt again had called a 2 and 1/2-hr PST for the same reasons as the day
before and, as soon as the gated, everyone was gone within minutes
as all could see a large storm cloud forming right above the first mandatory
turnpoint at Hawkinsville. All averaged high speeds up to 70 mph to the
first turn flying downwind under the low massive cloud streets, however,
still arriving just a bit late to avoid the rain. Five were forced down,
while the other five made the turn and escaped the area as fast as they
could. From here on, it was a set of decisions between following cloud streets
upwind and avoiding overdeveloping areas. Frank played it safe and chose
the areas with less convective buildup, paying for it with fewer thermals
that were chopped by the wind. He got home, though, with a speed of 22.11
mph. Michael came back under-time for a speed of 29.38 mph, while Charlie
averaged 30.51 mph and François 41.12 mph. Danny blew everyone's socks off
by gambling on the streets upwind all the way to the swamps at Warwick,
then dashing downwind to Rochelle and returning by Pineview for a rolling
finish with a speed of 47.13 mph and an overall lead of 92 points. This
47.13 mph speed not only exceeded François's 47.01 mph on the first day
to earn Danny this year's Oran Nicks Award for the fastest speed at the
World Class Nationals, but also approached the winners' speeds for the day
in the Region 5 Standard Class (Sam Giltner at 48.00 mph) and 15 meter Class
(Alfonso Jurado at 51.47 mph), both in ballasted ships with greater than
45:1 L/D. A few mouths were observed to dropd when pilots looked at
the results, and Danny and his PW-5 earned a well deserved respect.
Day 8 was not to be. The steadily more humid conditions of the past days
continued their trend. We gridded, launched when the sniffer past 2500 feet,
and the whole fleet milled a long time bumping up to a cloud base at 3200-3300
feet AGL. Things looked clear to the Northeast and Southeast, but the day
was scrubbed when a light rain sprinkle hit the field. Conditions improved
later in the afternoon but it was judged too late to attempt anything. The
following and last day saw us grid at 12:30, just to retreat rapidly to
the trailers when a storm approached from the west. The Award ceremony took
place at 3:00pm under an impressive thunderstorm with lightning displays.
At the morning pilots' meeting, learning that she needed to head home early,
and knowing for sure who it would go to, we gave Jayne Reid the award for
the Top Placing Women in the World Class Nationals. With her constant smile
and good humor, Jayne promised to help recruiting to double the percentage
of women participants at next year's Nationals in Uvalde.
Danny Sorenson is our 2001 World Class National Champion and received both
the new perpetual World Class Championship Trophy, a delicate crystal eagle
offered this year by Peak Soaring, and the perpetual World Class Championship,
Youth Division Trophy, a  beautifully
etched PW-5 graciously offered by Bill and Nancy Snead. With sixth and seventh
place overall, Michael Robison and Michael Riley, our two other Junior participants,
received the "new-comer scholarships/sponsorships" of $1,000 and $500 awarded
to the top placing contestants having never previously finished in the top
ten of a National contest, to support their future contest entry/registration.
Bill Thar received the "Dare to Soar" worry bead as the most improved pilot
during the contest. The final cumulative scores and standings are shown
below, and additional day-by-day scores and reports can be found on the
SSA Website at www.ssa.org/contests.
This was a wonderful contest, with challenging and varied conditions and
tasks, high-caliber competition, superb and safe flying, and most importantly
the very friendly, gentle, and pleasant camaraderie typical of the World
Class contests. We never saw anything but smiles and happiness on all the
participants' faces, even in the typically most somber moments of returning
from retrieves in muddy fields. Many people helped us make this a fun and
safe contest, including our several anonymous sponsors and generous donors
of prizes, trophies, and youth sponsorships. Our sincerest thanks go to
all. Coupling this contest with the Region 5 Regionals was definitely a
win-win for both contests. It also allowed us to benefit from the support
and help of the highly experienced Cordele Team, including Clyde Taylor,
CD Charlie Spratt, weatherman extraordinaire Harry Senn, scorer Jack Woodhead,
Bob and Lynne Davis, the two most efficient line boys in the sport Matt
and Mike Sorenson, computer wizard Fernando Silva, and the many tow pilots
(some coming from as far as Pennsylvania and Florida) Gary Wackerhagen,
Miller Wilder, Richard Miller, Frank Wilson, Anita de Villages, Karen Geisinger,
Perry Thomason, Hartley Falbaum, Michael Wegner and Rolly Clark, as well
as our FBO hosts Dub and Cecile Cooper. Our dearest thanks to all.
Happy and safe flights. See you next year in Uvalde. |
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