Burbank Fire and TFR (problems?)

Smokey Morning

2 Days out and the weather looks great!

More Dahlsten Cup Preparations

Late into the night preparations are still being accomplished to make this a enjoyable day for all the competitors and free flyers alike. I finished the RACE configuration for the 3 classes last night and should be ready for pilot check in on Saturday morning.

Pilot check in will likely involve scribbling down some pilot and glider information at the check-in table and downloading of the waypoints into the GPS that the pilot checks in with. Check-in will take about 3 minutes maximum.

Recordings during the Dahlsten Cup

As an added bonus, I plan to record the radio transmissions of the "Open" or Comp Class during the heat of the battle. I hope I can get everything going while trying to have a good time.

I made some recordings on Sunday (the 25th) to test the quality. It's pretty good but I deleted a bunch of the good stuff when I was setting everything up. You can hear Andy (boy your radio is sounding good) and Phill as they fly together towards Big T (I think). Anyway take a listen here for the sounds of things to come.

Changes to the sport class?

Last weekend prior to the club meeting in the LZ, several pilots discussed their opinions about the format of the sport class with me. Generally the pilots holding the discussion were "disappointed" that the sport class was open to only gliders that have a kingpost. They felt that competing against the likes of Phill Bloom, Andy Pryciak, Ron Wiener put them at an immediate disadvantage.

They felt that the sport class should be open to any glider the pilot chose to fly. The biggest "hurdle" with that is that it presents classes within a class. Although that can be accomplished it doesn't easily present a clear winner, or that the topless gliders would automatically be at a huge advantage.

I am working on creating a "Tiger Tag" like system for a year long contest to handle this kind of thing. But I'm a ways off because of formula issues and time.

Bottom line, it might be too late to change the format. More later....

Chili Cook-off Entrants Wanted

Although a bit late in the game, SHGA Dahlsten Cup is sponsoring a chili cook-off.

Seeking entries for our Dahlsten Cup 2005 Chili Cookoff. If you make a sweet, spicey, meaty or a mean chili, we have a chili contest just for you!

Entries need to serve at least 16. Your chili may be meaty or vegetarian.

We need helpers and judges too!

Please contact Lynn McLaughlin for details (get her email address or phone number from the SHGA member section)

Turpoints for contest set (get them here)

Here's the map of the turnpoints that will be used during the 2005 Dahlsten Cup. You can also download the turnpoints in several formats (if you're so inclined). If I missed a format you need or want, just email me which format you require, you'll need to get my email address from the SHGA member site if you don't have it.

Turpoint Downloads
Comma Delimmited Format (.csv)
G7toWin Format (.g7t)
MapSource Format (.gdb)
GPX Format (.gpx)
Google Earth Format (.kmz)
CompeGPS Format (.wpt)
SeeYou Format (.cup)

Dahlsten Cup Format Set

At the BOD meeting last night at the WindSports house, the competition committee worked very late in effort to usher in a new era for the Dahlsten Cup. It was generally agreed upon that the winners of the previous Dahlsten Cups were usually your best pilots in the club. In keeping with that tradition, the competition committee decided the cup would be awarded to the Comp Class winner. Here's the meat of what was decided upon:

2005 Dahlsten Cup will be held on October 1st
The event will be comprised of three classes. Comp Class, Sport Class, and Floater Class.

The Comp Class (Open Class) will compete for the Dahlsten Cup. Entry into the comp class is NOT limited to glider type (if you think you can compete on a single surface or king-posted glider then you can enter the comp class). The task will be a pylon race format with an entry start likely on the extreme end of the course. The course is a timed event with 2 start times (likely). The winner will be the fastest pilot that completes the course in the shortest time. All scoring will be done by CompeGPS and RACE.

The Sport Class is limited to king-posted gliders only. This class is primarily designed to expose intermediate pilots to competition racing with turnpoints and GPS verification, in a pilot friendly environment. The task will be similar to the Comp Class with a less demanding task, but all the same rules as the Comp Class.

The Floater Class is open to all single surface hang gliders and paragliders. The task will consist of an accumulation of turnpoints. The pilot that gets the most number of turnpoints in the shortest period of time wins. This winner is likely to be the pilot that tags the most number of turnpoints.

All turnpoints used during the Dahlsten cup regardless of class will have a .25 mile radius. If you have never flown a task that requires you to be within a .25 mile radius, know this............. you better be right over the turnpoint if you want to score the turnpoint. The higher you are the greater the opportunity for error. Pilots that are using a GPS they can see should pay attention to the distance parameter to the next turnpoint. If you see it counting down below .25 miles then you have successfully tagged the turnpoint. It's VERY important that all pilots become familiar with their GPS to do well in this contest.

Turnpoints and pictures of the turnpoints will be posted here soon. The turnpoints will be in Google Earth and G7toWin and SeeYou formats. The pictures will likely be from Google Earth maps.

Backdoor at the 2005 Dahlsten Cup preparations

After the successful comp run in Elsinore, I've decided to start yet another blog for Sylmar's annual Dahlsten Cup. I will try and post information both to the Sylmar forum and the blog to reach the widest audiences.

Already the SHGA BOD is busily preparing for this year's event all the while hoping that the Forest Service will not shut down the forest like they have in the past. So far we've been lucky and no major fires have broken out despite all the available "fuel" from this last years extreme rain event. Although this weekend at the Elsinore comp we could see some pretty big fires burning near Julian (San Diego desert area).

It looks like many of the BOD members are on board (no pun intended) with a format change for this years Dahlsten Cup, ushering in a GPS requirement as to join the 21st century. The GPS will be for turnpoint verification and may be used for duration verification as well. Call it lazy if you want but the tarp era of flying is long overdue for replacement. Key board members feel there is enough spare and backup GPS's around to make this a requirement for entering this years contest. But this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the whole event, and there are SO MANY other preparations going on to make this years contest one of the best in a long time.