[MT-ALES] Soaring Masters West

[Carl A Thuesen]

Luke,

Thanks for the inside report!  We were all pulling for you.  Nice job of consistent flying to hang right in there!

I was so wanting to be there!!!!  Armstrong called me right after the first of the year, inviting me to come out and fly with them if I was going to be in PHX.  Unfortunately, we did not plan a winter trip to AZ this year, as in some years past.

If you don’t mind someone to split gas money with, maybe we could travel together to some of these far contests, like RMSA.

First flights of the new year for me yesterday.  Doug and I hit the sod farm and it was perfect conditions.  There was almost no wind at all, 50+ degrees, and we had a very rapid temperature rise in the morning.  Thermal city!  We both easily put up several flights each of 20 - 30 minutes duration and utilizing several thermals.  Speck out, descend and grab another thermal.  Rinse and repeat!  What a great way to start the season.

C’mon up to Columbus or Helena if you have a spare weekend.  ;^ )

Carl 



On Mar 2, 2026, at 3:00 PM, Luke Waters via MT-ALES <mt-ales at lists.webworks.net> wrote:

These emails somehow ended up in my spam folder, even though I am getting other Montana club messages. I just saw them now, otherwise I would have replied sooner.

The Soaring Masters West was a good contest. Well attended, great hosts, and fully catered with good food. The effort didn't go unnoticed, John Armstrong and other club members really want to make this an inviting contest. There were several first timers there and I think everyone had a good experience. 

They originally planned fly-offs, but changed to all normal 10-minute rounds in the week leading up to it, maybe due to over 40 pilots signing up (slightly less actually competing). 

The field wasn't ideal, but they're doing the best with what they've got. Field is mostly dirt with some fake turf John got from a high school football field for the landing zone. The turf strip is a little wider than one landing circle, and about 10 lanes long. The turf is slightly better than landing on the rock hard desert dirt. That made landings a bit less forgiving than the normal sod farms or soft grass, at least for me.

Saturday had some great flying, solid conditions allowing some medium to low launches. I was happy to fly the light model all day.

Sunday morning was a little more interesting starting off with a strong, laminar but buoyant west wind layer around 200 meters, while ground winds were light east. The strong west layer slowly descended over the first several rounds. By the 3rd round we were dealing with it on the ground, blowing dust and tumbleweeds, nearing FAI limits. I was also glad to be flying a 50oz strong model with ballast options and enough power to push upwind for some higher launches. 

The wind wasn't very turbulent, and flying continued. There was some carnage, partly from pilot errors and low downwind maneuvering, but also due to the wind direction being almost exactly 90 degrees to the (fixed) direction of the landing lanes, making some approaches extra spicy.

Several pilots packed up early, including me. The 1,000-mile drive home also influenced my call, but in hindsight I should have stuck it out. After about an hour the wind eased some, and they got some good competitive rounds at the end that shook up the leaderboard.

Garber and Milan both flew solid all weekend, Jr also flew great on Saturday turning up the risk with some low launches starting in the first round. The Muncie Nats/team selections should be competitive and really fun to watch this year. 

I got away with no damage to my gliders, and made it home Monday morning just before snow started, so I don't feel too bad about leaving early. I'll definitely go back, but I hope they can find a way to get back onto a sod farm by the October contest. 


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