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18M Nationals 2025 Wrap up from Rich Owen:Its OverI cannot say that the contest was a good one for Team ZO. However, for...
06/12/2025

18M Nationals 2025 Wrap up from Rich Owen:
Its Over

I cannot say that the contest was a good one for Team ZO. However, for Team 90 it was a wonderful time and a great evening with friends at 16 East (a nice restaurant in town).

Today the weather was forecasted to be a good day. Cloudbases were expected to be higher than yesterday, and the lift was supposed to be stronger. However, that was not to be true. The launch started around 1215, and it looked like it was going to be a great day. At the start, the cloudbases were a little lower than expected. This is the Nationals, so we set out on course. The task for the day was to start over Cordele, Adel, Douglas, Pineview and Finish. The first leg was a little slow with low cloud bases and weaker than expected lift. Sean Fidler set out early like a good champion should. You could see the start roulette begin early. But when you factor in a 3+30 minimum time, you had to start early or you would not make it back in time for the awards ceremony! It was slow going if you stayed on the rum line. Off to the west, lift was a little better. After the first turn, there was a line way off to the north that looked good. Most of the competitors took the safe line inside of the course. Still, the speeds were not bad. At the second turn you could see the rain coming towards home. How far you went at this point determined how far in the rain you must go. The northern route between the first and second leg did not look too bad now. The third leg headed you right into the rain at the last turnpoint. Those that handled the rain at this point did great for the day. If you tried to go around the rain, you started motors. If you tried to go across the abyss, you started your motor (that was me, but I did go more miles than the winner). In the end, the best pilot won.

For the day, Erik Nelson finished in third with Nelson Howe in second. Winnning the day was Gary Ittner, who has won more Nationals than any other pilot than Karl Striedieck. The overall winners for the 18 Meter Nationals are third place was Sarah Arnold (in a 15-meter ship), second was Erik Nelson who put up a great run at the end. Erik did win the fastest speed during the Nationals on day one. A great friend, Bob Fletcher won the 2025 18 Meter Nationals. Congratulations Bob for a fine win. You have been flying extremely well all year. Keep it going in Hobbs (can I team fly with you?).

It was a great contest, and we have to say thanks to a few folks. Ron Ridenhour took over as CD when I wanted to fly in this contest. Thank you, Ron, for your time, the most precious thing we have. Lyn Forbes, you and Murray say you will not be back. We will see about that because this contest depends on you guys. Chris and Gary, I love working with you at the Seniors and Cordele. I will be back as your CD if you don’t want Ron to reprise his role. Martin, your tow operation is safer and more efficient than any other contest in the US. Thank you to all your tow pilots. Eric and the Lakeland Aeroclub adults, thank you for all your help at all our contests. You are the future of aviation in the US and we count on you to be the professional aviators and mechanics in the future.

And finally, to all the people who read these reports and encourage their grandkids, kids and friends to get into aviation. Please send them to Seminole Lake Gliderport to get their add on or initial rating. Sorry for the self-enfacing plug.

Hope you follow all the other contests on schedule. Please volunteer and assist in getting your club to host these great events.



Cheers,

Rich
Team ZO

Hot air balloons provided a colorful distraction for pilots prepping their gliders for the last day of the 2025 18 Meter...
06/11/2025

Hot air balloons provided a colorful distraction for pilots prepping their gliders for the last day of the 2025 18 Meter National competition. Conditions looked much improved from yesterday, so the CD sent them out on a robust 3.5-hour task.

18M Nat's final day weather from Scott:Commercial ForecastA 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after...
06/11/2025

18M Nat's final day weather from Scott:
Commercial Forecast
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 4pm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph.

Synopsis
- Isolated showers and thunderstorms across central Georgia this
afternoon and evening, drier over north Georgia.
A frontal boundary is slowly pushing across the ATL metro early
this morning, with areas of fog and mostly clear skies along and
north of the boundary, and a few showers and thunderstorms to the
south across central Georgia. This boundary will push a little bit
further south into central GA by later on this morning,
Current thinking is that it will stall just north of a line from Columbus to Macon, with isolated showers and thunderstorms this afternoon and evening to
the south of the boundary. A few storms could be strong with gusty
winds, small hail, and frequent lightning, but severe weather is
not anticipated.
Aviation Forecast
Can`t rule outa SHRA/TSRA near ATL today, but the better chances for SHRA/TSRA will be at Columbus - Macon after 4:00PM

Wind
Surface: 3 Kts SW
Aloft: 3 Kts SW
Clouds
Cu’s starting around Noon, there will be some high and mid level clouds above them, that will degrade the day depending on their thickness.

Thermal Heights
Thermal heights should slightly below 3,000 FT AGL at 12:30 and over 3,000 FT AGL by 1:00PM, from there they will continue to increase, and get capped slightly below 4,000 ft AGL, Thermal heights should be strong until 5:00PM and start declining from there.

Recommended Area
Better day than yesterday, but not a boomer. I would avoid tasking to the North NE, to stay away from the stalled front located roughly Columbus to Macon, SE seems to be a better tasking area. Make allowances for a later start than I have predicted, things have started slower than anticipated with some regularity. Thunderstorms are a possibility, with the slow wind speeds they are not going to move very fast, I would give them some turn areas large enough to move around them.

Grid noon, expect 1st launch 12:15 expect 3 hr. Area task

Rich's report(s) from Monday's rain out day and Tuesday's contest day 5:A Two Day ReportYesterday I was tired after havi...
06/11/2025

Rich's report(s) from Monday's rain out day and Tuesday's contest day 5:
A Two Day Report

Yesterday I was tired after having to put ZO into the box, so I did not do a report last night. I did start it but fell asleep before it was done. So, here is yesterday and today’s flying report.

There are many things we can do when a rainy day gives us a day off. We have had our fair share of days off this contest, but the future looks good for the last two days.

This evening, we had a Rules Input meeting which is the first time pilots can make suggestions for the 2026 rules. If you do not know about how competition rules make it into our contests, look up Rules Committee under governance in the SSA.Org site. The rules committee is made up of 4 elected members who serve a 4-year term. Andy Blackburn, Sarah Arnold, Tony Condon and Rich Owen are the serving members currently. Our boss is John Cockrane who is the chair of the Contest Committee, which is an appointed position by the SSA Board of Directors. If you would like to serve on the rules committee, when the announcement comes out via email that there is an opening, go to your regional director and tell them you would like to run. Your name appears on the ballot and all pilots on the Pilots Ranking List can vote.

This meeting was very good. We have had several issues that will likely result in an improvement to our rules. Here are some of the topics we covered.

PEV vs Energy Limited Starts – which start is better, how can we keep heads down in the cockpit to a minimum, add maximum altitude limit to a PEV start.
FAI Combined Handicaps – when Standard and 15 meter is combined, the handicaps do not work well when ballast is allowed. Out west the difference between the 2 classes is much greater than in the east. Polish handicap system does seem like a very good alternative.
Site Selection & Contest Calendar – keep from overlapping certain contests so we can go to both, ie. 15/18-meter, 18-meter/Open and Sports/Club. Do not put lesser attended classes at sites that have a hard time getting minimum numbers of ships. We do not want to lose Nationals due to site selection. How about keeping certain Nationals at the same site.
Team Flying with Communication at Nationals – this is the first year we tried it. Some liked it, most had questions. This will be brought up in the survey.
Tasking too Short during US Nationals – length of tasks does not match the WGC. Also, pilots expect lots of landouts in WGC events. Insurance is a key factor in the US contests trying to get everyone back to the home airport safely.
Combine Nationals to reduce number of large contests – 18-meter stand alone, but combine Open/20-meter. Combine 15-meter and Standard, Sports and Club Class stands alone. Having 4-5 Nationals we could schedule them one per the months of April, May, June, July and August. That would make scheduling so much easier.


That was the report from yesterday. Today we had an early Signal message from the CD that we were flying today! All the gliders were in the box but soon they were assembled and on the grid. At the pilot’s meeting the weather forecast was not great but we could see more sun than we had seen in a few days. The launch started around 1:15pm and soon the gate opened at 2:00pm. Cloudbases were low, around 3,300ft and the day was going to end early. Most of us left the gate early and suffered between 1,800ft agl to 3,100ft agl. The pilots that were leading the contest were playing a little start gate roulette and stayed in the start area 30 after everyone else left. We will cover what they did since most of us early starters used the iron thermal to get home. The gaggle consisted of 5E, S8, 90, SK, and SZ. It seems 5E started twice but could not get any help, so he went back. Finally, 90 headed out and the gaggled followed. The task today went from overhead Cordele, Perry, Peterson, Lilly, Warwick and Finish. The first leg went down I-75 which is normally a great route to follow. However, the lift was broken and cloudbases were low. Bob Fletcher took a more easterly track with the gaggle going slightly westerly. Bob got down to 1,000ft after the turn but managed to get up. On the second leg, he was by himself and got down to 600ft. Now he is in a pure glider, so all those folks saying motorgliders have an advantage cannot imagine what it is like on days like this. I think pure gliders should carry 12 gallons of water all the way around the task. (😊) The second leg was more overdeveloped near the turnpoint, but after the turn the weather turned much better. If you were high at this point the rest of the flight was not too bad. However, Bob was 300ft below finish altitude just 1.3mi from the finish circle. He happened to get a good thermal to get him over the edge. Sarah got the same climb and turned in a great flight. In the end, Bob Fletcher finished in third for the day and Sarah Arnold was in second. Winning the day was Erik Nelson who has been climbing up the scoresheet.

Tomorrow is the last day of the contest, and it will be another challenging day. The top 2 are separated by only 63 points. Third place is 111 points out of first, but you never know what could happen. One of our competitors landed out today who led most of the contest. Anyone in the top 3 or 4 could walk away with the trophy. Stay turned for the report later in the day tomorrow for the results.

See you tomorrow and watch the exciting flights on We Glide while you are at work!



Cheers,

Rich
Team ZO

18M Nats Day 5 Wx.from Scott:Cordele Weather 2025.06.10Commercial ForecastShowers likely and possibly a thunderstorm bef...
06/10/2025

18M Nats Day 5 Wx.from Scott:
Cordele Weather 2025.06.10

Commercial Forecast
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 9am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 9am. Partly sunny, with a high near 87. Southwest wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Synopsis
rain and thunderstorm chances continue over central Georgia, but without a severe threat. isolated afternoon showers and storms in central Georgia.
central GA continues to see periods of
showers and thunderstorms developing on the wet side of a moisture
gradient over the area. A frontal boundary will start to push into
north GA from AL/TN later on this morning, and lead to a drying
trend over the next few days. This front is expected to stall out
somewhere across central to southern GA, and will reinforce the
moisture gradient across the area. Anywhere along and south of
this boundary could see rounds of showers and thunderstorms
through this afternoon and evening, but weak instability and
shear will create a near-zero severe weather threat.

Wind
Surface: SW 5-6 Kts
Aloft: 12-14 Kts SW
Clouds
Low clouds this morning will burn off with Cu’s expected after 2:00PM

Thermal Heights
It appears that we could launch about 1:30 into 2600 FT AGLcloud bases.
Model consensus indicates being able to thermal over 3,000 FT AGL shortly after 2:00 PM
With the lift remaining below 3500 FT AGL, falling off fairly rapidly after 4:00 PM

Recommended Area
I see the possibility for a low short task that no one’s going to like today. The front that is on the GA/TN border this morning is expected to move SE, and then stall somewhere between Atlanta and Cordele this afternoon. Cordele will be on the wet side of the front, so as the low clouds burn off, and the Cu’s start to form, the chance of thunderstorms starts to increase. A thunderstorm in the wrong place will move a task from the possible to the impossible category fairly quickly. Thunderstorms are not expected to be severe, BUT they are still thunderstorms.

Briefing: from CD plan on an area task of 2 hours with alternates backing down in time. Grid time 13:00

Too much rain and not enough sun forced the CD to cancel the 18 Meter Nationals task for Monday. But tonight's pizza and...
06/09/2025

Too much rain and not enough sun forced the CD to cancel the 18 Meter Nationals task for Monday. But tonight's pizza and beer party give pilots, crew and staff something to look forward to.

Cordele Weather 2025.06.02.09 from Scott:With multiple inches of rain this am AND more on the way, Monday is cancelled ...
06/09/2025

Cordele Weather 2025.06.02.09 from Scott:

With multiple inches of rain this am AND more on the way, Monday is cancelled with hope for tomorrow and Wed. looks very promising.

Commercial Forecast
Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 3pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 87. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

Cordele had a significant thunderstorm early this morning

Synopsis
daytime heating will lead to sufficient instability
(MUCAPE 1000-2000 J/kg) for increasing pop-up shower and
thunderstorm activity by early this afternoon. While a few of
these storms could be strong, the start of the severe thunderstorm
threat will generally hold off until the 3-4 PM timeframe, and
then last throughout the evening hours. This threat will be driven
by a line/complex of thunderstorms that is expected to push into
north and central GA by late afternoon and evening. There is
inherent uncertainty in the timing and strength of this complex of
storms,

Wind
Surface: 9Kts SW 16KT Gusts
Aloft: 19 – 20 Kts W to SW
Clouds
The Cordele day started off with a 6:00AM Thunderstorm, By 11:00 AM there will be a pretty significant cloud deck from 5-40K FT, this will thin out a bit after 2:00PM followed by the increased risk of thunderstorms.

Thermal Heights
The model consensus is that the available lift will be above 2,500 FT AGL a little after 2:00 PM and will remain below 3,000 FT AGL for the remainder of the soaring Day

Recommended Area
SkySight, using the HRRR model, indicates that the contest turnpoints in Florida will be useable from 12-4PM, with unflyable weather between Cordele and there. Those turnpoints are really long way from here BTW.

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