Sylmar Spring Air 2015

Great turnout

Late Saturday night, I get an email from airtribune that Zac Majors has registered. I confirm him right away. Then Saturday morning, another registration for Patrick Pannese. Nice surprise that we're getting a few out of towers. Nothing from the Crestline or Elsinore crew. I didn't announce the comp on the SB forum so didn't expect much there.

Checking the weather, BlipMap is down to 4300', RASP shows about 5400'. With no clouds on the mountains, I go with the more optimistic view and proceed to set a task mainly so we could test the check-in procedures for live tracking on airtribune.

After arriving the LZ, I'm surprised that nobody is there yet, but it's only 8:30. Checked the weather and it's still looking the same, conditions look hazy. Airtribune is having issues with check in, We can check-in, see the task for a second or two and then the app goes back to the check-in screen. When others report the same behavior, I abandon the desire to get it going, although it worked well yesterday. Maybe I should have posted a few pi cures first.

People started showing up and getting things setup. It looks like a well oiled machine and in short order the LZ is transformed into a nice looking event. I'm not even sure I could name all of the people that were involved in the Spring Air activities, but thank you to all of them.

I threw the DLG into the air to test the day, one throw and sky out right away, lift will not be an issue today I conclude. Only height will be in question. Still we're setting the task with the more optimistic forecast.

I tap Richard Shaw to help me set the Class task. We decide to not go to West Towers, today and keep the pilots between Lances and the 1500 with a turnpoint at the cemetery.

Rob and I do the Open class deciding early on that we're going to Big T twice. We're not sure that conditions are going to live up to the optimistic forecast, but we still make it challenging by putting a 3k cylinder around McKinley for a total task of 68k.

Shortly after setting the task, I hear Kraig Coomber and Jonny Durand will also be showing up, so it looks like we have a race with our own superstars and some visitors.

Since we have visitors, we have a quick pilots meeting and discuss weather and a few clues on how to navigate the east end of the course.

On top of the mountain, we change the open class task removing McKinley shortening the task to 58k. Still plenty challenging for the conditions we're now seeing on top. Plenty of trucks on launch, we can see that having multiple starts are definitely needed as we will not get all of the pilots off in time for the first start time.

In the air, lift is good but choppy, I struggle to get above 4400' so it would appear early on that the Blipspot will be more correct and going to Big T will take some good gliding and sometimes nerves of steal.

Rob and Ken Andrews report taking the first start time, I'm really not in a position to start until 11 minutes after the start clock opens but I;m about 4600' and decide this might not happen again and head to Big T. Rob and Ken are staying together. As I'm headed east I see the hoard headed to the start cylinder.

Pushing low most of the way east, I rely on the expectation that Trash will work and get me high enough to continue into Big T. Lift continues to be choppy testing my nerves. I get to about 4500' and leave for Big T, but the glides are not going all that well and turn around at the road with 3600'. Later I'll learn that pilots will have gone much lower. So I pussed out I suppose.

Meanwhile Rob is coming back very low and needs to stay on the mountain if he has a chance at regaining his altitude. He still needs to tag the cemetery if he hopes to continue. This slows him enough that the 2nd starters will close the gap. Meanwhile Ken comes back equally low, lower than ever before he later admits, and completely misses the cemetery turnpoint, effectively taking him out of the race.

Strong Lift

Arrived in the LZ about 1130, threw the DLG into the air and immediately climbed out quickly. Had a quick 8 minute DLG flight landed and put it away. No question about the rate of climb and how well lift was organized. Flew the practice day task today and launched about 12 minutes before the first start clock (1400). Strong lift with altitudes about 5400' early on. Tomorrow we can expect the same with slightly warmer temps. Took the second clock waiting for Jonathan, completed the coarse in 39 m...
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Saturday's Forecast (2 days out)

So according to the RASP, looks like we'll have clouds, light winds from the south, and lift to about 6k, with good climb rates around 500'/min HCrit = How high we gettin?   Rate of climb Cloudbase Potential @ 1400
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Practice tasks created

I've added the practice tasks for Friday. I don't really plan on updating them as they should normally be doable on most average days. Use these as practice to reaquaint yourself to your instrument and navigating tasks in preparation for Saturday. If you turn in your instrument on the practice day, I'll score it, but it will not count against the comp.   Open Class Task Start = 1500 1.5km entry start TP1 = 1500 400m TP2 = Lances 400m TP3 = WestTwrs 400m TP4 = Cemetary 400m GOAL = Locals 400m Sta...
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Weather just keeps getting better

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Practice day added

In effort to get more experience with Airtribune, I've added a practice day to the comp. We'll be running a practice on Friday, if the weather holds out. Right now there is a 20% chance of rain. We'll check the weather throughout the week and the task will be adjusted accordingly. The task will not be very long and is meant to give us some idea how viable live tracking will be in Sylmar. I encourage everyone that has an android phone to participate.
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Live tracking via Airtribune

I'm working on adding live tracking this year using the service on Airtribune. Here's what it will look like when we get it all registered and pilots are using tracking. Looks like this service is only available to android smart phone users and those that have spot trackers. You'll be able to register for the comp using a computer but live tracking will not be available unless using one of those devices. Currently the service is under review but should be available by tomorrow. Those wanting to...
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Weather links we'll be using

Here are some of the weather links we'll be watching this week. I think wind will be our only criteria we need to watch. Rain isn't likely given the current 10 day forecast.   http://airsites2000.com/weatherstations.htm http://usairnet.com/cgi-bin/launch/code.cgi?sta=KVNY&model=avn&state=CA http://www.soaringpredictor.info/rasptable2/RASPtable.html http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?s=cp9 http://www.drjack.info/BLIP/RUC/SPOT/FCST/kagelmt_ca.txt http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecstation  
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10 day forecast

SoaringSpot has changed, so got a little learning to do. I've gotten past most of it and I'm now looking at the forecast for next weekend. Looks like really nice conditions and if it works out, we're going to have a great contest.
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Date Change

We're postponing this years Spring Air for a month to allow the club to better understand and heal after the tragic loss of one of our fellow pilots. The format will remain the same and I'll get the bew date updated as soon as I get to a system with SeeYou.  Right now, we're targeting the 6th of June 2015. Please get the word out. 
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