Lore From the Log of 4J

Ron Leonard

The 1992 Region 10 North Regionals drew 27 contestants from all over the country. There were 12 entries in Sports class, 9 in standard and 6 in fifteen meter. On the practice day, the winds blew like crazy. The winds at 4000' were 60+ mph, surface winds were 25-30 mph. Only the club 2-33, Dennis Brown in his Libelle and Ned Wilson in his Nugget flew. The frontal system that brought all this wind was lying just north of the field and had been stalled for over a week.

On Day 1, the winds reduced slightly (20-25) and the forecast was for moderate soaring conditions. My brother Steve the Competition Director sent the FAI classes to Garden Plain, Norwich, Kingman and return, about 85 miles. Sports class was given a 2 hour post. Sitting on the launch line I was convinced it would be a 2 hour battle for me to get into the wind to Kingman. Boy was I ever wrong. When I took my tow the sky was filling in with nice Cu's. I climbed to about 6500' msl and took my picture. Having a strong preference for going into the wind in the feather-weight HP-16, I headed south. A beautiful cloud street was forming which headed right for Kingman. I dove into the wind along the street going steadily downhill until I passed Casleton, about 5 miles south of Sunflower. Then much to my surprise I began climbing as I cruised down the street. I climbed most of the way to Kingman and I believe I made only one circle all the way there. I shot my picture of Kingman and headed back north.

I had only used 30 minutes of my 2 hour task, so I definitely needed to go somewhere else before I went home. In an arc from the southwest quadrant to the northwest, the sky was beginning to darken. The cloud street I had just come down extended well north of Sunflower, so I decided to head for Burton, about 15 miles north east of Sunflower. As I passed Sunflower, the storm line was definitely darkening and moving closer. I had to spend several minutes circling on the trip to Burton, but I didn't mind. Going north, I was still making 25 mph even as I circled. The going was still good on the cloud street, and I lost very little altitude going from Sunflower to within a 3 miles of Burton. I had to turn east off of it and go the last 3 miles into the blue to get my turnpoint picture. I fell like a stone, those 3 miles cost me 1000'. As I went in for the picture I considered going on North to Moundridge. I had only been out an hour so far. At this point I guessed that the storms had covered Kingman. I began to get nervous about being caught out and decided to go home, and maybe go after Arlington. As I went back to the cloud street to proceed to Sunflower I saw CL, a Libelle, above me also going to Burton for a turnpoint.

I arrived back at Sunflower with only 1:18 expended. The storms were moving slow and decided I would try to get high and go up wind toward Garden Plain. Kingman and Arlington were both in the shadows, but if I got caught in weak weather I would be up wind and able to drift home. I got one weak climb and headed southeast. Things seemed to be dying rapidly, possibly from could air pushed by the storms. As I glided away from Sunflower, I decided I would continue to the point where I could just glide back and no further unless I contacted GOOD lift. I got down to about 2000' agl and turned back to take a finish. As I dove for the line I thought I had really blown it only really taking advantage of 1:18 of my 2:00 to cover distance. I crossed the finish at about 600' agl and 90 mph to join three other ships in the traffic pattern.

It turned out that almost everyone in sports class was caught as I was. Only one pilot finished with over 2:00 on course, AF5, and he only went to Kingman. KC Alexander was the winner for the day by a wide margin and I took second. About 30 minutes after I landed, the storms reached Sunflower producing strong winds, rain and lightning. A blue hole at Norwich and the storms which followed me in got most of the FAI class down. In 15 meter, there was only one finisher. In standard, 3 of nine completed the task. My decision to come home from Burton turned out to be a good one. Cathy Larson in the Libelle CL decided to go on north after getting her picture of Burton. The storms killed the lift before she could get back. She landed out.

Over night, the front passed through. The next day we sat on the grid and sweated it out. It was hot, calm, and very muggy. The sniffers could not get high, only 2500' agl. Finally at 3:00, Dad got above 3000' agl and the decision was made to launch. Unfortunately, conditions in the vicinity of Sunflower were still anemic. The competition director decided that with the late start and weak conditions he should call it off. I flew local for about 2 hours chasing a variety of beautiful glass birds. The only thing I wanted to do less than go cross country that day was not to go.

Wednesday, the winds were moderate out of the south and the forecast was once again for weak conditions and possible storms. The Competition Director sent standard and 15 meter to Anthony and Kingman and gave sports another 2 hour post. I worked my way up in moderate lift in the blue waiting for the task to open. The fiberglass tornadoes made a nice substitute for Cu as thermal markers. As I waited for my start, I circle with 3 Discuses. The pilot of one of them later expressed surprise at not being able to outclimb me!

I took two start pictures, the later of which was illegal because it was to soon after the first and headed into the wind and blue to Kingman. The FAI classes were gagling over Kasleton waiting to start and marked a nice first thermal for me. As I went south it seemed that most of the sports class ships were doing the same. I had company most of the way to Kingman, but this time the going was not nearly as easy. I thought about heading east to the Cu's on several occasions, but decided to get Kingman first. I decided finally to dive ahead of the pack, get my picture of Kingman and come back upwind to them. I reached Kingman with a bit more than 2000' agl and turned back northwest for the gaggles. This was much lower than I had hoped for. The next gaggle was at Varner (5 or 6 miles away), and having no nearby indications of lift I went for it. At about 1200 feet I finally got to the gaggle and contacted lift. Sweating profusely I ground round and round slowly climbing back to a comfortable altitude. Next I headed due east to the clouds.

I thought about going back to Sunflower for my second turn, having already invested several miles in that direction, but the Cu's beconed. A few miles east there was a beautiful field fire at the end of a street which pointed to Norwich. I went east to the fire and had a spectacular climb. Perhaps I should have gone to Garden Plain next, it was closer than Norwich, but the clouds looked better toward Norwich, and I felt that I needed all the help I could get to make progress into the wind. If I tried to go south without some streeting it just wouldn't work very well. So I headed to Norwich.

At Norwich, I spotted KJ, an ASW-20 piloted by John Wells. He had already taken his picture and was heading north but was below me considerably. After Norwich I went to Garden plain and I used my altitude to catch up with John. I considered going on north to Burton, but the clouds seemed to quit around Mount Hope, and I would use up my 2:00 nicely just gliding back from Garden Plain. A few miles north of Garden Plain I got to about 6000' msl and headed for home. The Cu's ended here as well, the final glide would be about 20 miles in the blue and might not have any more lift. Once again it was looking dark to the west. John put his nose down and went up and away from me, I fell like a stone in heavy sink for several miles. Only half way home from Garden Plain I was down to 2500' agl, not enough to make it back and make a pattern. I blundered into weak lift in the blue and slowly gained back another 500' feet. While I circled I heard John Wells finish. I guess I just didn't spend enough on my final glide! Finally I headed on in nervously ticking off the miles and altitude. I arrived at sunflower with around 800' at 90mph.

My flight would give me 3rd place for the day. KC Alexander made another great flight that day from Sunflower to Kingman, to Harper to Wellington and back, almost twice my distance! Unfortunately for him, the leg from Wellington to Sunflower crossed the ARSA at Wichita. Even though he steered well clear of the ARSA, the rules forbid any task which has a leg through an ARSA or TCA. As a result, KC's task was reduced to Sunflower, Kingman, Harper, and his time on course stayed the same. His misfortune would leave me in 1st place overall.

Thursday it rained. Just about everybody in the Contest went to the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson. Several competitors just went home. Friday we lined up and watched the Cu's from just a few miles too far away. At 3:00 on Friday, the CD called it a day.

With only two day's of competition, the contest was a washout as far as SSA was concerned, no seeding points or medallions would be given. I was very disappointed to not get an official contest, but did enjoy the week at Sunflower. I got to spend some time visiting with some very interesting people from all around the country. I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all the KSA folks who worked so hard to make the contest happen.