2009 Schweizer 1-26 Championship/ World Class Championship (Part 1)

June 24, 10:55 PMAlbuquerque Soaring ExaminerConnie Buenafe

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Marvin Willis and Cathy Williams arrive in Moriarty, NM for the 1-26 Championships

Six PW-5s and fifteen Schweizer 1-26s have descended on Moriarty, New Mexico for concurrent contests; the Schweizer 1-26 Championships and the World Class Championship. Pilots and their crews began arriving Friday, June 19. Most contestants have come from southwestern states, but a few hail from as far away as Delaware and New Jersey. Texas has the best representation with eight pilots attending, followed by California with five. New Mexico is represented by ASC club member Pete Vredenburg.

The World Class Championship began Tuesday, June 23 and end Thursday, July 2.  The 2009 1-26 Championships begin Wednesday, June 24 and run through Wednesday, July 1.  Both competitions are hosted by the Albuquerque Soaring Club (ASC) and Sundance Aviation.

Monday, June 22
Monday, June 22 was a practice day for both contests. The task called by Mitch Hudson, contest director, was a 300 km (185.91 mile) diamond distance starting and ending at Moriarty with turn points at Claunch and Lamy Junction. Five PW-5s and six 1-26s were in position at grid time.  An additional six 1-26s launched later in the day.

Bob Quas (440) was one of three 1-26s to complete the 300 km task.

The weather was perfect, with cloud bases at 18,000 ft and thermals to 17,500 ft. Five of the six PW-5s were able to complete the task along with three 1-26s. Bill Snead, 6W, was the high point plane for this practice day, with Pat Tuckey, 4K, coming in a tight second.

It was a practice day for the contest organizers as well. The line crew was short handed as two members missed their connection in Atlanta the day before. ASC Club President, Bob Hudson, who had the weak links for the contest, was hospitalized Sunday night. And at the end of the day, two of the tow planes could not be refueled because credit cards were rejected at the pump.

The line crew scrambled and managed to find Tost and Schweizer weak links for each of the tow planes prior to launch. Sylvia Szafarczyk along with Bob Talarczyk, who had come out to take photographs, stepped into the breach to hook up and launch the gliders. By Tuesday, the errant line crew had arrived; Mark Mocho had manufactured a complete set of new weak links; ASC club treasurer, Mary Hawkins, had managed to resolve the credit card issues; and Bob Hudson was out of the hospital.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday was a contest day for the World Class Contest and a practice day for the 1-26 Nationals. With more moisture in the air the weather was not as favorable as Monday. A high overcast covered much of the sky west of the field in the morning. By the end of the pilot’s meeting cumulus over the Sandias and the Manzanos were already threatening to overdevelop. Rain and Virga could be seen south and west of the field by launch time.

Two tasks were called for the PW-5s. Both tasks started and ended at Moriarty. Task A called for turnpoints at Clines Corners and Cedarvale. Task B had turnpoints at Vaughn and Clines Corners. All six PW-5s were in position at grid time. The task for the 1-26ers was the same as Task A, but with Schweizer scoring. Nine 1-26s were in position at grid time. An additional five 1-26s launched later in the day.

True to the safety briefing, the storms south of the airfield began producing strong outflow winds as they collapsed around 4:00 pm and returning contestants were faced with a 25-30 mph crosswind out of the south. Bob von Hellens was towing his 1-26 (244) back to the tie-down area when the gust front hit. His glider tried to become a kite and probably would have flipped if not for the quick reaction of Mitch Hudson. John Savage was on final in his PW-5 (4JS). He was able to touch down safely but weathervaned into the wind and ended up in the weeds south of the runway.

PW-5s line up on the launch grid for the start of the World Class Championship

Francois Pin (FP) carried the day for the World Class contest earning 975 points for completing 182.53 miles at an average speed of 58.11 mph. Patrick Tuckey (4K) was a very close second. Both were among the three PW-5s (Thomas McKnight/67 was the third) and two 1-26s who landed in quick succession on the emergency crosswind runway west of the tiedown area. The grass strip is very rough and is bounded on the north by a barbed wire fence and on the south by a wide shallow ditch. None the less, all five pilots managed to put their ships down safely. Ground crews were scrambling to move the gliders off the mowed strip as soon as they rolled to a stop in order to clear the field for the next pilot. The gliders had to be towed across the ditch to reach the paved tiedown area. Bill Snead elected to land his PW-5 (67) on one of the north-south crosswind taxiways.

 Ron Schwartz earned top honors for the 1-26s, completing a distance of 75.8 miles at an average speed of 30.3 mph with Bob Hurni (190) coming in a very close second.

Three 1-26s landed out. Del Bloomquist landed at Estancia Airport in 144. Cathy Williams (94) and Vern Hutchinson (390) both landed out in remote areas.

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