Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

Want to thank each and every one of the Kagelites for good event we put on Saturday May 3rd. I thought most things went extremely well with a bit of an exception regarding the days task being too optimistic. But with the forecasts being somewhat conflicted and our pilot list weighted with some big names like Kraig Coomber and Jonny Durand I think the task committee went for a very aggressive task call.

So from the viewpoint of the scorekeeper/competition director here’s my take on the day:

The weather was forecast, in my view, was generally overdone on the RUC BlipMap and the local area RASP forecasts. The BlipSpot was a bit closer to the mark on altitude but from what I could see, no model predicted the winds we saw, so that one was a complete bust. Forecasts that I was researching called 11mph from the S. Looking at the data we pretty much got 18 -20 from the SE all day with gusts higher. I believe we may have gotten a better result had these winds been more like the forecast.

Forecasts aside and the tasks overcalled most of the pilots made the most out of it and our best pilots showed that given tough tasks they had what it takes and made goal. Congratulations to Rob Burgis for winning the day (ol guys rule). Andy Pryciak took second and Kraig Coomber took third although his time was actually the fastest time, but due to scoring formulas and start times he ended up 60 points behind Andy.

We still have some typical GPS problems so a few GPS clinics may help. Two pilots recorded no tracks (one because the track log was full and not wrapping, and the other one I never did figure out why the track didn’t record). On the 5030 setups several pilots indicated that the flight computer indicated the start cylinders were entered but the west towers TP wasn’t entered when clearly it was. Needed a bit more time to investigate that but I was a bit time compressed by the time that theme was common.

Some notable visiting pilots included Jonny Durand – AUS, Konrad Heilman – BRA, Greg DeWolf (Fly America fame, former Sylmar Instructor, Author, and photographer), ETeamers Bill and Marilyn Soderquist, Everyday Mike, Greg Launt and EteamJack.

Even some paraglider pilots showed up but many had to wait because the wind shut them down until later in the day. Rome was busy making sure our visitors adhered to our day use fees and making sure there was plenty of envelopes for the pilots to fill.

Thanks for the hospitality, Great food and good flying. Flew for 2hrs
landed only because I had other obligations. Scarfed up on some really good barbecue before Heather and I had to leave. Concentrating on spot landing lost site of the wind direction and got cross winded so I ended up in the rock quarry. Made an exceptional landing only because I knew it was gonna hurt if I didn't. So thanks again. P.S. I flew in the very first Sylmar flyin back in
1984 and the place is still fun to be at.

Chip, Katherine and Mike,

Thanks for doing such a great job for us! It was fun...

Chip, Would you please post all the results for us? And, if anyone recalls the results for Spot landing we can add them in for overall results.

See y'all soon,

Lynn

Chip:

I want to personally thank you for directing the competition. Yes the tasks were tough, but the results were still fair. It's tough to second guess the air and the pilots who won completed the course and were clearly the best pilots that day.

I had a great time and was happy to both participate in the competition and enjoy the food and the camaraderie. I couldn't have done that without the help of yourself, Lynne, Katherine and Kathy. Thanks also to Don and his wife for the chili and Kim for the pasta salad and coleslaw and to BJ for the tables. There were other contributions and I feel bad because I don't remember or know who brought them. If I forgot anyone else, please forgive me!

Any event such as this is the result of a team effort both organized and unspoken. It was great to see the participation by our pilots and those of our brother (sister?) clubs.

I promise I'll clear my track log next time!

Good air to all,

Mike

Results of the open class with leading points

Resuls of the open class but removing the leading points coefficient

I took a look at the results with different scoring paramenters to see how things change regarding the scoring formulas. I believe after looking at both results that using leading points for tasks here in Sylmar does NOT accurately depict how well a pilot is flying.

I believe in the future all comps should be scored without the leading points coefficent unless there is ample time between launch and the start time. In this case there was not enough time between the time pilots actually launched and the start time.