Soar Milwaukee Team at the Appleton DLG Contest
Report by Tracy Brown.
Dave and I arrived at the VAM site at 9am well in advance of the pilot’s meeting at 9:30. The first thing I noticed was that the site had a permanent steel open sided structure built on a concrete pad with brand new picnic tables. Excellent, Dave and I didn’t have to unpack the portable shade tent and chairs we had brought with us. The field was quite large and was set up as a power field. The north, west, and south ends of the field were lined by trees. Sloping the tree-line could be an option if all else failed.
The wind was generally out of the south-southwest for most of the day and was very light for most of the day. Thermals were abundant, but I still had trouble catching any of them for most of the day. I’m pretty sure that the reason I placed as well as I did was not my flying ability as much as it was the height of my launches. Rob Scidmore went from 2nd last at the Madison contest to a first place finish with a perfect score. Rob had modified his Logic DLG by replacing his javelin-style tail group with some DLG-style tail feathers and was launching it within 20 feet of my plane, a marked improvement over his launches at the Madison contest. Every time I looked up at his plane, it was higher than mine! He very much deserved his first place finish.
Dave Kraemer had an excellent run also. I was very impressed with the height of his launches as well.
One thing became very apparent to me by the end of the day: I desperately needed to re-trim my planes. I spent most of the Monday after the contest (Labor Day) re-trimming both of my ships. I think I’m much better able to get into and stay within lift now. We’ll see if I’m right at the next contest.
Top Three:
1. Rob Scidmore - Madison (Perfect Score!)
2. Tracy Brown - West Allis
3. Scott Zastoupil - Waupaca