Tom David with his Vinco TR.
By Mike Bergerson
I woke up this morning to nice temperatures and moderate ground winds. Wait just a minute… Oh yeah, it's Muncie. Never mind.
Today was a complete flip from the previous day's conditions. The uppers were moving out of the east at a pretty good clip, but you could fly a standard-weight ship (40 to 45 ounces) and penetrate well. Once you descended through that layer and the easy surfing it provided, it was a different ballgame altogether. The winds were fairly light and there was lift, even that early in the morning, to fly a ten-minute task from150 meters. You just had to find it!
With the nicer weather and mild conditions, the scoreboard began to change. Getting your time and landing became much easier as the thermaling conditions improved. There were some really nice flights to be had. We flew four more rounds for a total of eight on the weekend.
When the final flights were scored, we had a new AMA/LSF Soaring National Champion. On the score sheet, his name was “Random Guy”, in the real world, he’s David Emmanuel from New York and a member of the ESL (Eastern Soaring League). Congrats, David on a well deserved win! John Lovins, from the great state of Colorado, finished second and Jeff Duval, from the beautiful state of North Carolina, placed third.
CD Norm Poti also had a few surprises for the contestants. There were cool prizes for the most 10-minute flights with a 50 landing score. That prize was split between Tom Keisling and Randy Everly, each with two. Next, was the middle of the pack prize for finishing exactly in the middle of all the contestants. In this case, that went to 20th place. Mr. Everly got that one too! Last but not least, the contestant who posted a viable score in every round but still ended up with the lowest score got a prize too! That went to Don Richmond from Virginia, who at 91 years old, is still competing and flying regularly.
After the ALES awards ceremony, the LSF pilots’ meeting for the US F5J team selects was held. There was lots of cool stuff there. All will be revealed in the next Nats Soaring News.
Blue Skies!
Josh Glaab getting ready to fly, with Tom Keisling timing.
Randy Everly finished 20th and had two 10-minute-50s to win two of CD Norm Poti's special prizes. Randy won this event last year.
Randy Everly receives his Middle-of-the-Pack prize from Norm Poti.
Ron Smith manned the tent and flew in the contest.
Ryan Woebkenberg and his well sun-screened sailplane.
The scoring tent.
Tom Keisling and Randy Everly receive their prizes for tying in the 10-minute-50 prize category.
