In the 1980's The PASCO Board approved of a trophy that was devised to encourage cross-country glider flights. After being deposited to a glider field, pilots at that site were responsible to fly it to another glider site. It was considered shameful if pilots were unable to fly it to a new location.
It was originally an old duck's head- nailed to a piece of wood and was in the possession of Gary Kemp when it became transformed. As Gary recently explained the history of the trophy ....."....the old trophy - the Duck's head wasn't "lost", my dog ate it. My dad carved a new duck's head on a plaque and I flew it to the CCSC glider port, which at that time was in in Delano ... "
As might have been expected the old duck's head (the one carved from wood) really did become "lost" soon after "The Trophy of Shame" was presented to the Central California Soaring Club. A few years later, a new trophy was crafted, and the rules were drastically modified and formalized.
A hand carved walnut egg became a Trophy of Pride rather than a Trophy of Shame and has since been referred to simply as "The Egg". To document successful captures a log book was initiated to accompany the Egg. See the news story at the bottom of this page , published in 1991, describing the inauguration of the new trophy .
The Egg was deposited at Crazy Creek Soaring on their opening day in the early 1990's and was soon captured by Chico Soaring, and later by Vacaville. Throughout the 1990's the Egg bounced between Rex Mayes' Gliderports (Lagoon Valley / Vaca-Dixon / Williams) and Crazy Creek, but did not travel to any of the other Region 11 Gliderports, such as Byron, Truckee, Montague, etc. Finally, in May 2002 Hollister Pilots captured the Egg from Williams. See the story at ...http://www.soarhollister.com/xc/articles/pascoegg.htm
Several unsuccessful attempts were made to recapture the trophy by pilots from Williams, but each ended in failure. The most noteworthy during that period was accomplished in Mar, 2003, when five or six pilots set out to capture the trophy, with two pilots getting within glide distance and one actually flying over the airport at Hollister, all documented on digital movies as well as flight recorders (see Sergio for further info). None landed because a pilot from Avenal had captured the trophy earlier in the day. The trophy bounced between Avenal and Hollister for the next two years. Stories were written about the exploits and usually published in the PASCO periodical - The Westwind.
A tentative rule change was made that eliminated the requirement to fly the trophy back via a return glider flight. Thus, in July 2003 a flight was made from Minden to Avenal to bring it to the mountain gliderports, but again the trophy eluded capture. It had apparently been taken back to Hollister a few days earlier, where it remained until April 2004.
In December, 2003, the PASCO Board formally approved a new set of rules governing this Capture Trophy, but they were not published in the WestWind until May, 2004. In the meantime the word spread, and pilots from Cal City, a Region 12 gliderport, flew into Avenal and, according to one of the local Avenal pilots, the trophy was stolen. Because it had been so long since the rules had been written and the revised rules were not yet published, many pilots were not fully knowledgeable of the actual rules governing this trophy.
Since they were the ones to let it leave, the pilots of the Central California Soaring Club (CCSC) at Avenal were obligated to bring the trophy back, but in this ironic twist of fate the trophy once again became "lost" while it was in their custody - just as the had lost the original "Duck's Head - The Trophy of Shame" in the 1980's. The Egg was at Cal City, but it belonged at Avenal. The pilots from Williams were intent on keeping the trophy alive, and began negotiations with the Cal City pilots.
On May 9th, 2004, Gary Kemp stepped up to the plate and launched from Williams Gliderport and headed south on the 243 mile glider flight from Williams to Avenal, in hopes of establishing a new home for the Egg within Region 11. Rex Mayes, FBO at Williams contacted Cal City, immediately after Gary's launch, and agreement was reached that if Gary made it to Avenal, which is where the Egg actually belonged (according to the rules) Cal City would ship the Egg to Williams via post. Only one other flight from Williams to Avenal had never been accomplished prior to this day. Gary was advised of the agreement, felt it might be possible to make it to Avenal, and headed out across the Delta, at 5,000 feet, on his 243 mile flight. The flight was successful and the Williams gliderport awaited the arrival of The Egg.
In June, 2004 a pilot flew from Bishop to Cal City, and this served as a method by which the Egg could continue it's journey, at least partially following the official rules. While the trophy was at Cal City, Cindy Brickner graciously transcribed the original log book which had accompanied it, and entered it into an early version of a digital spreadsheet which we now have on line and is referred to as The Egg Log ( see link to the spreadsheet at top of this page). It should be noted that due to communication disconnects, the Egg Log on line is not always a true reflection of the actual paper log book that accompanies The Egg along its journey. However, every attempt is made to keep the on line log as accuarte as possible.
The Egg was then available for capture at Bishop Airport from July to August, 2004, at which time it was captured by pilots from Truckee. See that story at http://www.valleysoaring.net/egg/silverfox.htm .In May, 2005 a capture was made, transporting the trophy back to Williams, completing the broken circle from Avenal to Williams, via Cal City, Bishop, and Truckee.
On May 28th, 2006, Ramy Yanetz dove off the Diablo Range
and was able to find a climb in a blue thermal from 2,000 ft near
the Rio Vista Airport. He continued north, past Williams and then
landed there to claim the Egg for the Hollister Rowdys. See photo
story at
http://www.valleysoaring.net/egg/2006/tg/
On June 15th, 2006, Ramy announced ... .Yesterday Yuliy flew in to Hollister from Byron to capture the egg. He landed at 7PM so no one was there, but his flight is valid and on OLC so the egg now belongs to Byron.
In January 2007 there was a capture from a wave flight from Williams to Byron with a couple of notables doing the flying -Rex Mayes and EJ Endrebo in the same ship.
During 2007 The Egg "bounced" between Byron, Hollister and Williams, until a couple of late season efforts were made in October. See story that describes the efforts in early October of 2007.
Please keep the Egg Log up to date
All attempts to capture the egg should be documented and logged. It is all part of the fun of having the PASCO Capture Trophy.
If an Egg capture flight is done ( successful or not), please send the following info about your flight via email ASAP (within 48 hours) to: gliding@sonic.net Take a look at teh Egg Log before you send in your Claim Form. See what needs to be on that log - stuff just like would be put into the Egg FLight Log Book - except we don't care about N number - but model of glider flown would be useful info.
Date ... ____________________
Pilot Name .._______________
Flight Time ..._______________
Glider Model ...___________________
Gliderport Launching capture attempt ..._______________
Gliderport Relinquishing The Egg ...___________________
Description of Flight / Comments / Notes ... ____________
(These comments should be similar to the Remarks that are written
into the Paper Log book that accompanies The Egg)
Note: It is the responsibility of the pilot who is capturing The Egg to insure that all requirements for a legal capture have been met according to the rules ( PASCO member, minimum distance flown, etc). The above info will be entered into the Egg Log on line by one of the Egg Elders at the earliest.
If you wish to write a story and even include photos, email your photos and story along with the Claim Form above. Here are some requirements of a photo story.
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Tell the story in an interesting manner
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Provide photos that meet these specs...
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max file size of each photo not bigger than 250K
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Set resolution of 72
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width of photo of 1,000 pixels
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Rename every photo in the following mannerNumber each photo- start with 01 and continue upward - use less than 30 photosGive the photo a caption or title, and make that title the name.For example, four photos might be labled this way...01-Bob Jones on tow from Byron - going to get the Egg. jpg02- Bob Jones Passing over Montery Bay heading south.jpg03-Bob Jones flying his Libelle over Moro Bay heading north.jpg04-Bob after landing at Hollister captures the egg.jpg
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If the Egg Log or these web pages are not being kept up to date within a reasonable time, please do not hesitate to volunteer to take over for the current Egg Elder. You may become an Egg Elder by simply volunteering your efforts.
The Log may be seen at ...http://www.valleysoaring.net/egg/egg-log.htm
Pilots at the gliderport who lost the egg should immediately let everyone know The Egg has been captured by another gliderport and that it is essentially no longer available for capture at your location. Send out a message to your local discussion group, post notices on your local forum, bulletin board or chat page, and post the info to other regional gliderport pages if at all practical. Doing so will avoid disappointment for pilots looking to capture The Egg at the wrong gliderport, and may motivate other pilots to plan a capture flight to the new location of The Egg.
The pilot who captured the trophy is obligated to send out the news within 48 hours at the latest, so that all other pilots in Region 11 will be aware that the egg has been relocated. Get the word out ASAP. Be sure to send a flight report for publication in the Egg Log within 48 hours, as detailed above.
Physical possession of the Egg is not critical, however, let's keep track of it. The glory is having your name in the log, not in having possession of The Trophy. If The Egg is not available for the capturing pilot to take it home with him, then it seems reasonable the it should be delivered to the capturing pilot ASAP. If you had captured it and brought it to your gliderport, then you should consider it your responsibility to ship it to the new home of The Egg.
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Current Rules of The Egg
First is a paraphrasing of Rules for the Egg - suitable for printing. Following that are the Official Rules.
Paraphrasing:
1.
a. The Pilot must be a current member of PASCO. (Anyone may join,
membership is open to all.)
b. Flight must be a nonstop glider flight from a Region 11 gliderport
to the current home of the trophy (The Egg).
c. After capture, the trophy belongs to and must be handed over, or
delivered to, the gliderport from where the flight started.
d. Trophy will remain at this new home until captured again.
(Editorial Notes: Typically, the egg is handed over to the pilot upon
arrival, in lieu of delivery to the new gliderport, and typically,
the pilot takes a tow, and attempts to fly back to the origination
gliderport, however, there is no requirement to fly the egg to the
new location, and the return flight does not need to be successfully
accomplished.)
2.
a. Trophy must remain within Region 11
b. The trophy must reside at a gliderport capable of towing gliders.
3. Minimum distance to be flown is 100 km
a. Altitude loss from place of release from tow to landing shall not
exceed one percent of the distance flown.
b. A single turn point, defined by the pilot will be allowed, if needed,
to meet either or both the minimum distance and the one percent altitude
loss requirements.
Examples:
Example 1. If release from tow is 100 km (62 statute miles (sm) from
location of The Egg, and a direct flight is planned, then max tow
altitude is approx 3200 ft (0.62 sm) above destination airport
elevation -( it is important to address elevation of destination Airport
in this computatuion). This would meet the minimum distance rule of
100 km and meet the one percent rule for altitude loss.
Example 2. If release from tow is 8000 ft (1.52 sm), and destination
airport is at sea level, then a minimum of 152 statute miles must
be flown to qualify for the minimum distance ( 100 x 1.52) using the
1 percent rule. If the Egg is closer than 152 miles ( as in this example)
then the pilot must fly to a single turn point in order to extend
the flight to a minimum of 152 miles.
4. Release from tow need not be directly over either departure airport.
5. Trophy should be kept at the gliderport, but if it is not available, it should be shipped immediately to the new owners.
6. Motorgliders may be used, but must take the equivalent of a pure glider tow.
7. The honor system will be used (flight recording devices are not required, but a copy of the flight trace would be appreciated for posting here in the archives).
8. PASCO Board of Directors specify the rules.
9. A Log Book will be a part of the trophy. Both successful and unsuccessful flights will be logged. The current owners shall bring the trophy and log book to the annual end of season PASCO Awards Banquet, and each flight will be recognized publicly.
Note: Since we now have a spreadsheet version of the log book, a current copy of the log in spreadsheet format will should be attached to the Official Log Book. A copy of the Official Rules should also be printed, and attached to the Official Log Book.
Bob Korves, at the request of the PASCO Board undertook the job of revising the rules governing the trophy. He presented drafts, and solicited input from PASCO members throughout the year in 2003. The PASCO BOD approved the proposed final draft in May 2004, and have since published these revised rules. See the July issue of WestWind at... http://www.pacificsoaring.org/westwind/WestWind%20July%202004.pdf
Here is a reprint of the current official rules from the above article:
