The 1-26 Championship is underway this year, hosted by the Texas Soaring Association in Midlothian. Unfortunately, the Championship got off to a very slow start. The two practice days on the 26^th and 27^th were heavily overcast, with outside temperatures more likened to early April rather than July. The afternoon highs of the low to middle 80’s have left the 1-26’ers with cooled heels while the rest of North Texas celebrated.

The overcast sky did break for a few hours on the 27^th of July, and 1-26s did venture out. Vern Hutchison surprised everyone with his 3+ hour adventure hopping from TSA to Maypearl, over to Venus and then to Waxahachie, proving that all is not lost and invigorating pilots with the hope of improving conditions. Later in the afternoon at the 6:00 PM pilot’s meeting, Vicki and John Wrona hosted a wonderful hamburger cookout. TSA’s resident soaring pilot and parachute packer, Norm Snyder, captivated his entire audience with a 30-minute briefing on parachute operations and safety. Norm’s hands-on demonstration provided everyone with the insight on how parachutes deploy. The pilot’s meeting concluded with an entertaining discussion from Dan Mockler on why the 1-26 Championship has so many rules to fly by.

Bryan Cepak

Dealing with no further improvement with the weather conditions, contest day 1 was initially declared a POST with a one-hour minimum time and each pilot deciding his first turnpoint. A 12:30 PM grid was somewhat unorganized as crewmembers brought their ships together in an uncoordinated fashion. Aircraft spacing rapidly became a problem since the wind conditions were rather strong. With 22 1-26s on the line, it was decided that spacing was not an issue for launch, so the grid was reorganized.

After the grid, everyone waited for improvements in the weather. Grid meetings were called by the Contest Director, Ralph Kolstad, starting at 1:00 PM, then 2:00 PM, 3:00 PM and at 3:30 PM, with the full intent to get everyone flying. Just seconds before the 3:30 PM grid meeting, a rapidly approaching thunderstorm caught the grid by surprise. To everyone’s amazement, the grid was disassembled and all 1-26’s secured with unprecedented efficiency.

Are the 1-26’ers considered drought busters? Ralph declared the 1^st contest day a wash and the Championship reconvened in Waxahachie for good spirits, tall tales and fine Mexican food.

Bryan Cepak

Another wash out on Thursday, as the rain meter at the Texas Soaring Association Gliderport exceeds 8 inches since the storm hit. Pilots spent the down time in the annual business meeting and general socializing. It warmed up a bit in the afternoon, so maybe things will dry out sufficiently to get a launch tomorrow afternoon.

Thomas A. Pressley

Flying was canceled on Friday to give the grass field at TSA a chance to recover from the heavy rain. Although we could have launched from the paved runway, the towplanes would still need the grass for their landings, and with the added burden of auto traffic as gliders were moved, we just didn't want to add any ruts to this near-pristine landing strip. The Weather Channel and the local forecasters are more optimistic for the remaining days of the contest, so hopefully, I'll have something to do starting tomorrow.

Thomas A. Pressley

Due to the heavy rain encountered on the evening of the 28th of July, Contest Day 3 was canceled along with Contest Day 2 due to the amount of water standing at the TSA airfield. All pilots and crews were provided an opportunity to some local sightseeing in the Dallas – Fort Worth area.

Bryan Cepak

At long last, the 1-26 National Championship begins! Since the weather did not provide much in the way of practice days, combined with the canceled contest days due to rain, the Contest Day 4 task was kept close to the TSA airfield with turn points near very land able sights. The task coordinators were concerned about the flooded fields in and around TSA that would keep the thermal activity week. Consequently, the flight task was defined as the following: TSA Start to Draggintail, to Bee Creek and back to TSA. This triangular route was to be flow twice around with a north finish at TSA. The total distance measured at 45.7 miles.

The 1-26s were at the grid at 12:30 PM and the first launch was at 1:30 PM. The start gate opened at 2:22 PM and the 1-26ers were on their way. Keeping the course close to TSA was not a bad idea. Of the twenty-four 1-26s launched, only eleven completed the task. Six pilots landed out. The unofficial top three finishers were,

1. John Wrona at 39.0 mph.
2. Harry Baldwin of the Baldwin/Blomquist team at 37.5 mph
3. Tom Barkow at 36.5 mph

Fortunately, the land outs had short retrievals back to TSA and most everyone was in time for the wonderful Bar-B Que dinner. During dinner, all were delightfully entertained by a barbershop quartet. Immediately following dinner, Dave Mockler presented a slide show on his great adventure at the 2003 World Championships in Leszno, Poland.

Bryan Cepak

Day 1, 7/31/2004, Official results
Assigned Speed Task
59 Start - 17 Draggintail - 05 Bee Creek - 57 TSA - 17 Draggintail - 05 Bee Creek - 58 Finish Line Center
Task length 45.7ml
Number of Finishers = 11, Number Achieving Any Distance on Task = 20, Number Achieving Distance Greater than 30 miles = 12, Valid Contest Day
#	CN	Pilot	Start	Finish		mph		ml	Points	Penalty	Total
1.	432	John Wrona	15:09:33	16:19:55		39.0mph		45.7ml	1000		1000
2.	144	Harry Baldwin/ Del Blomquist	15:12:27	16:25:40		37.5mph		45.7ml	979		979
3.	264	Tom Barkow	14:49:01	16:04:10		36.5mph		45.7ml	965		965
4.	192	Kevin Anderson	14:56:48	16:21:11		32.5mph		45.7ml	909		909
5.	238	Bill Vickland	14:53:44	16:20:29		31.6mph		45.7ml	896		896
6.	190	Bob Hurni	14:54:31	16:22:42		31.1mph		45.7ml	889		889
7.	194	Bob von Hellens	14:52:52	16:26:48		29.2mph		45.7ml	862		862
8.	480	Ron Schwartz	14:55:46	16:30:03		29.1mph		45.7ml	860		860
9.	459	Mitch Bauer/ Bryan Cepak	14:31:57	16:23:27		24.6mph		45.7ml	797		797
10.	125	P. Jonathan Leal	14:29:06	16:21:40		24.4mph		45.7ml	794		794
11.	357	Jim Walker	14:32:36	16:32:36		22.9mph		45.7ml	772	1	772
12.	483	Pete Vredenburg	15:55:34					37.6ml	629		629
13.	097	Fred Steadman/ Marvin Willis	14:26:27					24.9ml	417		417
14.	214	John Denaples/ Pat Denaples	14:36:56					22.0ml	368		368
15.	390	Vern Hutchinson	14:28:07					21.9ml	366		366
16.	469	John Barr/ Steve Graves	14:32:23					21.7ml	360	2	360
17.	574	David Holmes/ Jim Perry	14:23:52					16.3ml	272		272
18.	091	Norm Miller	14:49:36					16.7ml	268	12	268
19.	470	Bill Bentley	15:20:19					9.1ml	152		152
20.	053	Neil Palmquist	14:28:40					9.6ml	147	13	147
21.	429	Russ McAnerny							0		0

Penalties represent missed turnpoints
Powered by SeeYou 2.7^®, Scored by Thomas A. Pressley, Thomas.Pressley@ttuhsc.edu

Contest day 5 proved to be a challenging second fly day. The farm and ranch lands around TSA had begun to dry, but plenty of moisture in the ground still made for weak soaring conditions. Consequently, the competition director Ralph Kolstad and his appointed task team for the day declared the first turn point at Luscombe Acres and a two-hour minimum POST to follow.

Ralph could not have made a better decision to launch all gliders at 1:30 PM. Any sooner and the ground crews would have been taxed heavily with re-lights. Any latter and the lift conditions would have quit on most of the pilots. Nonetheless, the 1-26ers were challenged. Eleven pilots completed the task, but there were seven land-outs.

The unofficial results are as follows:

1. John Wrona wins a second day with a 66.6-mile flight at 33.3 mph.
2. Kevin Anderson made a strong second place finish with 57.4 miles/27.5 mph.
3. Bob von Hellens was a close third place finisher with a 54.8 miles/27.4 mph.

The unofficial overall standing after day 2 of flying is:

1. John Wrona at 2000 pts.
2. Harry Baldwin/Del Blomquist team at 1839 pts.
3. Kevin Anderson at 1813 pts.

Bryan Cepak

Day 2, 8/1/2004, Official results
Pilot Option Speed Task w/ Mandatory First Turn
59 Start - 42 Luscombe Acres - ... - 58 Finish Line Center
Number of Finishers = 11, Number Achieving Any Distance on Task = 20
Number Achieving Distance Greater than 30 miles = 13, MTT = 2 h, MTD = 30 ml, Valid Contest Day
#	CN	Pilot	Start	Finish		mph		ml	Points	Penalty	Total
1.	432	John Wrona	14:56:51	16:55:40		33.3mph		66.6ml	1000		2000
2.	192	Kevin Anderson	15:38:37	17:43:51		27.5mph		57.4ml	904		1813
3.	194	Bob von Hellens	14:58:06	16:54:27		27.4mph		54.8ml	903		1765
4.	480	Ron Schwartz	15:37:36	17:31:06		26.5mph		53.0ml	888		1748
5.	190	Bob Hurni	14:56:16	17:06:00		26.1mph		56.5ml	882		1771
6.	144	Harry Baldwin/ Del Blomquist	14:35:08	16:34:04		24.9mph		49.7ml	860		1839
7.	483	Pete Vredenburg	14:49:16	16:34:52		24.3mph		48.7ml	852		1481
8.	125	P. Jonathan Leal	14:59:36	17:02:11		23.8mph		48.7ml	844		1638
9.	390	Vern Hutchinson	14:31:12	16:36:48		20.1mph		42.0ml	781		1147
10.	091	Norm Miller	14:40:01	17:17:41		19.8mph		52.0ml	777		1045
11.	053	Neil Palmquist	14:30:16	15:42:34		15.1mph		30.1ml	683	16	830
12.	264	Tom Barkow	14:43:06					58.4ml	593		1558
13.	469	John Barr/ Steve Graves	14:37:54					40.4ml	411		771
14.	214	John Denaples/ Pat Denaples	14:32:14					25.6ml	260		628
15.	238	Bill Vickland	14:35:10			20.8mph		25.0ml	254		1150
16.	357	Jim Walker	14:45:05					22.4ml	227		999
17.	429	Russ McAnerny	14:33:58					16.9ml	172		172
18.	574	David Holmes/ Jim Perry	14:36:54					16.5ml	168		440
19.	459	Mitch Bauer/ Bryan Cepak	14:35:34					12.5ml	127		924
20.	097	Fred Steadman/ Marvin Willis	14:43:31					8.7ml	89		506
21.	470	Bill Bentley							0		152
Penalties represent missed turnpoints

Powered by SeeYou 2.7^®, Scored by Thomas A. Pressley, Thomas.Pressley@ttuhsc.edu

Tomorrow may be a first for a contest. We may need to cancel the day because of airspace problems. George Bush is in town, and they are excluding general aviation from the area.

Thomas A. Pressley

Ralph Kolstad hands over the Contest Directorship reigns over to Mike Westbrook, and the excellent CD work is continued. Mike makes 1-26 Championship history by being the youngest CD ever and declares the first TAT for a 1-26 Championship contest.

The TAT decision was brilliant! Uncertain how dry the area had become, but with more promising ROAB soundings, the TAT turn points were defined at Embry to the west of Interstate 35W, and Flying-O near Lake Waxahachie with a TSA finish. Using 10-mile radiuses around the two turn points; the minimum turn area task resulted in a 32-mile flight, and a maximum of 111 miles.

With the TAT, each 1-26 pilot judged his skills according to the lift conditions, resulting in only one land-out! The unofficial results are as follows:

1. John Wrona wins again with 79.9 miles/37.1 mph.
2. Bob von Hellens takes second with 68.5 miles/33.1 mph.
3. Harry Baldwin of the Baldwin/Blomquist team scores a third place finish with 66.4 miles/31.2 mph.

The unofficial overall standing after day 3 of flying is:

1. John Wrona at 3000 pts.
2. Harry Baldwin/Del Blomquist team at 2704 pts.
3. Bob von Hellens at 2673 pts.

The 1-26ers finished the evening with good ol’ Southern style fried catfish in Waxahachie at, of all places, a haunted restaurant.

Bryan Cepak

Day 3, 8/2/2004, Official results
Turn Area Task
59 Start - 19 Embry Ranch - 24 Flying O - 58 Finish Line Center
Task length 31.6ml/68.2ml/111.0ml
Number of Finishers = 17, Number Achieving Any Distance on Task = 20
Number Achieving Distance Greater than 30 miles = 18, MTT = 2h, Valid Contest Day
#	CN	Pilot	Start	Finish		mph		ml	Points	Penalty	Total
1.	432	John Wrona	14:55:50	17:05:07		37.1mph		79.9ml	1000		3000
2.	194	Bob von Hellens	14:33:46	16:38:04		33.1mph		68.5ml	908		2673
3.	144	Harry Baldwin/ Del Blomquist	14:22:16	16:29:58		31.2mph		66.4ml	865		2704
4.	480	Ron Schwartz	15:08:41	17:38:46		31.0mph		77.5ml	860		2608
5.	190	Bob Hurni	14:49:18	16:51:06		30.9mph		62.8ml	859		2630
6.	238	Bill Vickland	14:32:27	16:35:20		28.0mph		57.4ml	792		1942
7.	264	Tom Barkow	14:18:35	16:03:10		27.1mph		54.1ml	770		2328
8.	390	Vern Hutchinson	14:16:34	16:51:18		26.6mph		68.6ml	759		1906
9.	091	Norm Miller	14:30:01	16:27:18		26.2mph		52.4ml	750		1795
10.	214	John Denaples/ Pat Denaples	14:11:41	16:12:21		25.6mph		51.5ml	737		1365
11.	097	Fred Steadman/ Marvin Willis	14:46:32	16:49:22		25.3mph		51.8ml	730		1236
12.	125	P. Jonathan Leal	14:20:53	16:01:11		23.4mph		46.8ml	686		2324
13.	483	Pete Vredenburg	14:30:33	16:31:15		22.8mph		45.9ml	673		2154
14.	192	Kevin Anderson	15:04:51	17:55:43		22.2mph		63.1ml	658		2471
15.	357	Jim Walker	14:25:08	16:58:13		19.9mph		50.7ml	605		1604
16.	429	Russ McAnerny	14:15:20	15:57:10		17.2mph		34.4ml	544		716
17.	469	John Barr/ Steve Graves	15:22:34	16:36:13		16.1mph		32.1ml	518		1289
18.	053	Neil Palmquist	14:46:18					39.4ml	253		1083
19.	470	Bill Bentley	14:31:43					27.6ml	177		329
20.	574	David Holmes/ Jim Perry	14:24:27					16.0ml	103		543
21.	459	Mitch Bauer/ Bryan Cepak							01		924

¹Completed task, flight recorder failure
Powered by SeeYou 2.7^®, Scored by Thomas A. Pressley, Thomas.Pressley@ttuhsc.edu

What does al Qaeda terrorists, the President of the United States and TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) have to do with the 1-26 National Championship? Well, a lot more than anyone would have ever imagined.

President Bush made a fund raising visit to Dallas, Texas, landing at Love Field and then making the short hop over to his Crawford Ranch. This effectively squashed all general aviation activity in North Texas. CD Mike Westbrook was left no choice but to grid the 1-26s at 4:15 PM with an expected lunch at 4:30 PM when the moving TFR would be canceled. The TFR was indeed lifted and pilots were away with a turn point at Maypearl and a 1-hour minimum POST to follow.

Unfortunately, the canceling of the TFR came too late as no pilot had the opportunity to fly cross-country in the weakening afternoon conditions. Westbrook’s intellect and strong leadership skills saved an almost certain land-out day by declaring a no-contest. Pilots meandered their way back and finished the evening at a Waxahachie local Mexican restaurant.

Bryan Cepak