Mark Groves flew his Supra in ALES.
By Mike Bergerson
Good morning, Muncie! The final day of Altitude Limited Electric Soaring (ALES) is in the books. ALES is the everyman Thermal Duration event. You can fly everything from a foam Radian to a 4-figure carbon slipper. With ALES occurring prior to the F5J Team Selects, the top pilots were practicing and the competition was tight. There was only one point separating the first few places! These guys are consistent, and it only took a missed second of time or one 45-point vs. 50-point landing to knock you off of the podium. There were only 10 points between first and fifth!
The day started out as any soaring day, with the folks in the first round doing their best to seek out every second they could in the still morning air. It was popping just a few rounds later. The air was available with a good read and a strong desire to run downwind. Many pilots made their times and landings, while others succumbed to Muncie madness and landed early, having found nothing, nada, zero, zilch in the way of rising air. It’s frustrating to be turning just a few feet below another pilot and watch them ascend while you sink out.
The preferred flight plan of the day involved running 180° downwind to catch a thermal over the Free Flight (FF) guys. It's unnerving to have little FF skyrockets shot into the air while you're circling above. It was obvious to both disciplines that we were marking thermals for each other.
Wayne Norrie campaigned his foam Radian well against the higher-end sailplanes. All of the pilots appreciated his ability to fly the small sailplane to its limits. John Garber came out on top of the pile, with Steve Wilcox Sr. just 1 point behind! Steve Wilcox Jr. finished 3 points behind his dad, with Randy West a few points behind him and John Butler in fifth, just 10 points behind the leader.
When asked about his win over his son, Steve Sr. replied, “Age and treachery” to chants of “who's your daddy”... apparently, he didn't teach Steve Jr. everything that he knows!
Contest Director Norm Poti handed out the “extra prizes” for the competition. Jeff Duval had the most 10-minute, 50-point landing flight scores with six and won $100. The $100 middle-of-the-pack award went to Wayne Wimbish in 26th place, and the $100 last-place award went to Art Mansfield, who flew in every round with a score and no zeros.
With the F5J Team Selects a day away, everyone is focused and looking forward to a great competition.
Blue Skies!
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