2026 RC Soaring: Summary

By Mike Bergerson

Wow, there's nothing better than two solid weeks of Glider Camp. Getting “Casa Muncie" set up a couple of days before the start of Cross Country let me get settled in, toss a few gliders about, and soak up the Muncie atmosphere. There was some smoke in there from the northern Minnesota and Canadian wildfires, but it really wasn't that bad in the beginning. There were a few small rain showers here and there that cleansed the air a bit, but later on, it was difficult to see a white-winged glider if you were skied out downwind. It was so bad for me at times that I painted large fluorescent orange stripes on the white wing tips of my Ultima 2 one morning during the F5J Team Selects. It really worked!

Cross-Country was a huge success again this year with at least 15 pilots showing up to fly their quiver of sailplanes. DLG guys showed up to trim their ships and help out with the festivities. A few of them took their chances on the course and did well. Ben Stewart finished second in overall distance and he logged his 2K fly-and-return goal. Ed Dumas won this one with ease and was interviewed by AMAs Terry Dunn regarding the ins and outs of Cross Country flying. As for me, I finally got my combination XC and Unlimited sailplane trimmed by the end of the third day and logged a massive sunburn to start my glider camp experience. Hence my unusual fashion statement for the remainder of the Soaring Nats.

ALES was another great Thermal Duration contest run by CD Norm Poti. It was helpful practice in the Muncie air to get ready for the F5J Team Selects that followed it. We flew eight rounds in two days, skirting severe inclement weather over the two-day weekend. David Immanuel, aka Guy Random of the Eastern Soaring League clan, won this event to become 2026 AMA/LSF ALES National Soaring Champion.

The US F5J Team Selects was the crown jewel of this year's Soaring Nats with CD Norman Poti and his scoring crew at the helm for the next three days of intense competition. There were 60 pilots all flying for their own reasons, be that a spot on the next US world team, a chance to see how they stack up against the top pilots in the country, or just to fly 5J with their friends at the Nats. The weather conditions for the three days of competition were diverse to say the least. Nice conditions on Monday, very windy on Tuesday, and a compromise of the previous two days for the third and final day made the competition challenging. After an expertly managed competition, the top three F5J pilots for this year's Nats and the new US F5J World Team are Jon Garber, your 2026 National F5J Champion, Josh Glaab in second, Milan Bregman in third, and in fourth, alternate Joe Dougherty. Remember, the F5J Worlds will be held at AMA after the 2027 Nats.

Next was F3L, just a bunch of eight-year-olds running around, playing “planes,” and being well supervised by CD Jon Garber. This is easily the absolute most fun you can have with a glider. You have four and five-man teams all competing with 2-meter wooden sailplanes for a 6-minute flight and a 100-point landing inside a 9-minute window.

We had eight lanes, each set up with a “team fort" (pop-up tent). Grown men chased high-starts and planes to get each of their team pilots his best chance for success. The camaraderie was evident with competing teams helping their neighboring teams get high-starts to their pilots when that team’s primary high-start was compromised. Great friends and great times were complemented by two days of outstanding weather and flying conditions. This is my favorite event, for sure. Jon Garber took first and another national championship with a perfect score of 10,000 points in 10 rounds.

The last two days of Glider Camp were filled with winches, tow hooks and a couple of motor-launched sailplanes. With the newly minted AMA mixed launch rules in effect, Wayne Wimbish ran a nice relaxed “Bifecta.” We managed six rounds each of Unlimited TD (Thermal Duration) and Nostalgia-class competition. The Unlimited class was dominated by Explorers and a couple of Supras. There were some gorgeous pre-1980 Nostalgia-legal designs that flew majestically over the next two beautiful weekend days of wonderful weather. We were threatened Sunday morning, but the skies cleared and we flew five more rounds. Mike Lachowski became your new Unlimited TD National Champion and Ed Dumas is your Nats champion in Nostalgia. The 2026 AMA/LSF Soaring Nats was all packed up by 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon. With all the talk of great days, of more in the future, and all the goodbyes said, everyone rode off into the sunset leaving behind another memorable Soaring Nats. As always, Glider Camp rules!

Blue Skies!