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The Enjoyment of Soaring
The VSA (Valley Soaring Association)
exists for the purpose of promoting the enjoyment of the
sport of soaring.
The pinnacle of success for
a glider pilot is to achieve the furthest distance possible,
given the existing weather conditions on that particular
day. Some days are limited to short flights, while other
days will allow flights over an extended distance, but you
never know what you could have done, unless another pilot
is flying on that same day. The best measurement of accomplishment
for a glider pilot is the speed flown.
Standard courses have been established
here at Williams Soaring Center. They are used for racing
series, allowing pilots to measure themselves over these
standard courses as well as to measure their performance
against other pilots who flew on that same day. This competition
standard is called the VSA Racing Series.
As with all soaring activities
conducted from Williams Soaring Center, safety is paramount.
Pilots are encouraged to enjoy themselves to the fullest,
but to conduct their flight within the limits of their abilities.
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Overview
The VSA
Race Series, has proven to be a popular event with all pilots
at Williams Soaring Center. The first year of the series
was in 2004, and has consistently been composed of a total
15 or 16 race days. The first Race Day of each year is typically
held in March, with the last one being near the end of the
soaring season, the same day as the WSC Oktoberfest.
This racing
series is intended to encourage soaring pilots to enjoy
cross country flying. The tasking format is designed with
safety, probability of completion, strategy, and degree
of challenge with the variety of weather conditions in mind.
This series is not intended to be a training or entry point
of novice cross-country pilots.
This will
be a single race series with each race held on a Saturday.
The Series will consist of a single class and all speeds
will be handicapped based on the model of glider being flown.
The schedule of Race Days is posted following the rules
below.
The underlying
purposes for the race series are:
- Add to the enjoyment of soaring
- Provide an arena for, and to encourage competition
- Encourage pilots to challenge themselves
- Establish a set of Standard Courses
- Encourage pilots to sharpen their racing skills
- Recognize those pilots who are able to develop good racing
There are a total of 26 standard courses.
Six begin and end at Williams, seven at the Three Sisters
turnpoint, and thirteen at the Tree Farm turnpoint. The
large variety of courses from each gate allow pilots to
select from a variety of the 100, 200 or 300 kilometer courses,
depending on the location and strength of the soaring conditions
on that particular race day. All course are triangles and
are grouped according to their approximate size (100k, 200k
and 300k). A pilot must fly at least one course from each
of the three groups and have accumulated the most points
in order to win the series.
Pilots are encourage to communicate with
the other pilots as to which Starting Gate they are planning
to start from and which course they are attempting to complete,
thereby allowing other pilots to compete on the same courses
with each other.
Rules, schedule
of race days, and list of approved courses are detailed
below.
See Webmaster-Notes
See Regional
Rules for 2008
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The Rules
1.
Open to all Pilot that are REGISTERED for this contest.
In order to be REGISTERED
for this contest, your name must be added to the
Score Sheet by the Contest Director or by the
FBO. To register you must be a current, paid-up
member of the VSA, and have contest level experience.
The Race Series is not intended to be a training
or entry pont of novice cross-country pilots.
Check with The CD or FBO before attempting to
fly a task that you wish to have scored.
The
race will always be held on a Saturday as scheduled
below, and there is no requirement for a minimum
number of contestants to constitute a race day.
Points will be earned by any contestant who completes
a task on a scheduled Saturday Race Day.
3.
Rules.
a.
Only one pilot needs to launch on a scheduled race
day in order to have his flight scored.
b. Tasks. A contestant
may choose to fly any one of the authorized tasks
and fly the turn points in either forward or reverse
order.
c. Class. The Race Series
will consist of a single class.
d. Handicap. The pilots
raw score will be handicapped on a CH based handicap
system. Pilots are allowed to carry water ballast,
however pilots with water ballast will carry an
additional 3 % handicap.
e. Scoring.
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The
pilot who posts the fastest speed for the day
(after the appropriate handicap has been applied
will be awarded 1000 points for that day. Other
pilots will receive a percentage of the 1000
points, based upon their own speed relative
to the speed of the winner. Points will only
be awarded for speed (no points will be awarded
for "distance only" or for incomplete tasks).
-
To allow
for the increased challenge posed by longer
tasks, bonus points will be added to total points
scored for each flight as follows:
25 points for each 200k task
50 points for each 300k task
f. Maximum number of flights: A pilot may post
a maximum of two flights per day for scoring.
For example, if there are 16 race days scheduled
in the season, then a total maximum of 16 flights
may be posted. Thus, if a pilot submits two flights
per day on each of the first eight race days in
a 16 day series, then he will have submitted the
maximum, and thus, he will be ineligible for competing
any further during that season.
g. A contestant may "fly" any number of different
courses on a single race day, but only two different
courses will count for scoring. A contestant may
re-fly a course as many times on a single day
as desired, but only the highest-scoring flight
on that course will be counted that day. A course
flown in reverse order is not considered a different
course.
h. In order to qualify as the winner, a pilot
must have accumulated the most number of total
points in the Series, and must have completed
at least one of each of the three triangles, that
is, one 100k, one 200k and one 300k triangle during
the race series.
i. Pilots may fly different gliders or may change
configurations at their option, with an appropriate
change in handicap as determined by the CD.
j. The start and finish gates will be one statute
mile radius cylinders and 5,000 feet above the
stated elevation of the gate turnpoint. Procedures
used for the Start and Finish will be consistent
with SSA regional contest rules.
k. The turn point cylinders will be one quarter
of statute mile (0.25) radius cylinders.
l. Validation of reaching a turnpoint:
a) Flight trace must show two solid GPS fixes
inside the cylinder to be valid.
b) Missed turnpoints will have the following
penalties:
i) Turn points with less than two full GPS
fixes within the cylinder but two within one
half mile (0.5) statute mile radius will receive
a 100 point penalty.
ii) Turn points with less than two full GPS
fixes within the cylinder but two within a
one mile radius will receive a 200 point penalty.
iii) Turn points with less than two full GPS
fixes within a one mile radius will be disqualified
and receive zero points.
4.
Claiming and submitting flights.
a. Flight record/ log
must be submitted/ posted in order to receive
points. Only flights recorded by GPS flight recorder
acceptable to the CD will be considered for scoring
in the race series and the flight record/log must
be submitted to the scorer in a media form that
is acceptable to the CD.
b. The Landing Card must list the specific course(s)
that is/are claimed on that date. The scorer will
not try to guess which course you are claiming.
You must tell him/her via the Landing Card.
c. Flight logs and landing cards must be submitted
not later than 5 PM on Tuesday following the race
day.
d. Flight logs and landing cards may be submitted
either in person or via e-mail. In email, state:
model of glider, competition class, and course(s)
claimed (max of two per day).
e. All submitted and claimed flights are final.
A pilot may not substitute a better flight for
one submitted earlier, or revise which task is
claimed. Flights submitted may not be withdrawn
at a later date.
At
the end of the series, thanks to the generosity
of Williams Soaring Center, a winner will be recognized
at the Annual WSC Oktoberfest and will receive a
purse of $500 in credit for tows and rentals.
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The Tasks
(Please print his list
of tasks/courses,
for use as a handy reference,
both preflight and in flight)

Google Earth File
If you would like to have
Google
Earth on your computer, and
you would like to see the turnpoints in 3d, then
download this file - WSC07C-GE.KML
however, you will need to save this file on your computer
so that you can then open it, AFTER you Open the Google Earth
Program.
The Williams Turnpoints
List
The contest turnpoints
are included in the "official" Williams
turnpoint list for 2007.
Visit the SSA
TP Exchange to download the "wsc_07d" file
that is applicable to your GPS equipment.
SSA TP Exchange
is on the web at... http://soaring.gahsys.com/TP/Williams/
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Illustrations of the Courses
There are a total of 26 courses,
and you may go around each course in either direction,
however it counts as the SAME course, regardless of direction
flown.
All courses are triangles.
Six course use the start and
finish gate at Williams

Seven courses use the start
and finish gate at 3 Sisters

Thirteen courses start and
finish at the gate at the Tree Farm

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