Ed Dumas is presented his Nats Cross Country Soaring Champion awards by Mike Bergerson. Congrats, Ed!
By Mike Bergerson
No rain! It was not as hot and steamy, but we did have some fog and smoke haze. We set up the winch and retriever and had somewhat decent visibility by 10 a.m. The winds had shifted to the southeast from the more westerly winds of the previous two days, placing the winch direction 180 degrees to the opposite field. This left the electric guys and string-launched guys on opposite ends. This worked out very well with great communication to prevent any conflicts.
We had several electric flyers practicing for upcoming events and assisting others in getting their planes set up and squared away. Youth competitor Caliber Brandt was present and flying his Supra Pro, tuning up for the ALES contest the following day. We had Josh Glaab flying his Ultima 2, John Butler with his new Sensors, Tim Johnson and his Plus X models and Randy Everly flying his Sense. It was quite the diverse selection of sailplanes.
The usual pilots were making their runs down the course as well. Ron Smith set out with his new Ultima 2 for a nice run up the north course for a combined total for the day of 1.4 miles.
Wayne Wimbish (with his Explorer) and Anatol Polillo (with his Supra Pro) spent the day flying off the winch. Both had several good flights but opted not to take them down the course. Alas, the weather reared its rainy head about 2 p.m. We packed up the winch and retriever and put away our planes until the next event.
All in all, the last several days were a great success! We had two and a half days with no rain or wind and we had new Cross Country pilots making their first attempts and experienced pilots attaining greater LSF level goals. Many of us were purely ecstatic just to have survived the heat!
When the smoke cleared and the pilots meeting concluded, in third place was new Cross Country pilot, Ron Smith, having flown his Edge and Ultima 2 sailplanes a combined distance of 2.0 miles. Well done, Ron! In second place was Ben Stewart adding Cross Country to his great list of achievements, flying his Ultima 2 down the course for a combined total of 3.0 miles. Congrats, Ben!
In first place, and the new 2026 AMA/LSF Cross Country Soaring Champion, is Ed Dumas. Ed flew a total distance over the three-day competition of 6.2 miles. Outstanding!
A big thank you to Ed for organizing and running a great contest and the guys for stepping up to drive and spot when needed. Well done!
Until next time.
Blue Skies!
