Home | News | SSB | Towing | Instruction | Weather | Directions | Series | Photos | More
Each year the Soaring Society of Boulder runs a Summer Soaring Series. The purpose of the series is to encourage cross country soaring by SSB members of all abilities and to select a club champion.
Need the series entry forms?
Need a copy of the rules?
SSB Summer Soaring Series Flight Stories 2004
Last Update - October 24, 2004
Gold Division Colin Barry ( 2764 points ) 7/2/2004 Discus B 1076 pts 382 sm 500 K Out and return Colorado state record attempt flown out of Salida. I flew dry as the wind changed to the west and I do not like towing up hill at Salida. After the tow I flew up to Buena Vista to make my start and then headed for my next turnpoint which was south of Taos, NM. There was much cruising at 17,500 on this flight with only one difficult transition on the outbound leg where I nearly landed at Crestone. After the flight I found that a new record had been set the previous month. Oh well…
7/5/2004 Discus B 904 pts 321 sm Declared Salida, Tennesse Pass, Blanca Peak, Mt Columbia, Salida for a 517km task. The area in the north of the task area was full of virga and over development so I flew a conservative approach into the first turn point. Conditions got good on the run down to Blanca Peak after I passed Buena Vista. On the run back from Blanca Peak the valley north of Salida was completely in shadow and the sky north of BV was very dark. Fortunately as I reached Methodist Mtn the sky just started popping cu's. My final turnpoint was just in the perfect position as I would not want to proceed any further north into the heavy rain. My electronic decalration was Tennesse Pass to Blanca Peak which was a new state sports class goal record.
7/11/2004 Discus B 784 pts 278 sm Sky looked great and I declared and completed a task to the North. I didn't have the correct database so I used WinPilot’s task declaration feature to create two mobile turn points. My turns were Gold Hill, Near Horse Creek, Meyer Ranch, Near Carter Lake and Boulder. There were definitely two phases to the day with the first having strong climbs to 17,500 while the last half from Poudre was flown in pure survival mode and with much determination. Flown dry in low winds which made for big regular thermals.
Bob Carl ( 2439 points ) 5/23/2004 Ventus 2A 1044 pts 404 sm The first day of Phil's contest was pilot's choice. The weather looked good to the north with a convergent line running along the foothills due in large part with the strong westerly wind. My declared task was Lee Hill, Colo/Wy state line, Woodland Park, Halligan Res. and finish at Kossler lake for a total distance of 389 miles. The leg to the line was fairly easy with lots of rotor lift. The wind was westerly of up to 35 kts at 17,000. The turn was made and I elected to follow a cloud street that was forming due to the convergence. That leg is 139 miles and it took forever due to the wind switching south at 44kts about Estes Park. I made the turnpoint and found a boomer that topped out at 17,700. The clouds looked dark towards Boulder and I didnt find much in the way of lift until I was close to Lyons. I about pulled the plug at this point because I was down to 9800 but worked back up to 12,000 and continued to Halligan. Made the turnpoint and followed the convergent line back to Kossler. I was going to fly more to get a 750k flt but things were pretty dead at this time. Total elapsed time was 6:32. I am declaring 389 miles x3x .883 for my handicap plus an additional 15 miles after Kossler.
5/5/2004 Ventus 2A 856 pts 323 sm 500k task on May 5 was Gold Hill, Perry Park, Crystal Lake, Bailey, Kossler. Flight time was 5 hrs with very good lift along the foothills both south and also up north. Not much happening in the mountains except sink and rotor. I experienced sink from NW of Ft Collins to Crystal Lake and had to work a puny 2k rotor SE of Crystal to get back to the foothills. Overall a very good day with first leg to the south a definite advantage. Experienced 10-12k thermals over I70 & 470 taking me up to 17,700. I didn't get much below 13,000 the entire day.
7/3/2004 Ventus 2A 539 pts 204 sm Declared and completed Salida, Buena Vista, Blanca Airport, Salida
Gary Baughman ( 2200 points ) 5/23/2004 ASW 28 916 pts 321 sm I declared a 500K flight with start and finish at Gold Hill. The turn points declared and flown in order were Red Feather, Bailey and Colo/Wy Line. (321 miles) I had trouble getting started and after going through the start at Gold Hill I got down to 7550' near the old Beach Plant and took a long time to get back up to altitude to be able to continue. I encountered rotor, wave and thermals and at the end of the day a lot of head wind trying to go south to the finish. This completed the diamond badge. Note 25 bonus points for completing a badge leg,
7/2/2004 ASW 28 694 pts 250 sm Flight from Salida to Harvard Mt. , Mosca Pass, Harvard Mt. and Salida. Good conditions for all of the flight, just a typical Salida day!
8/24/2000 ASW 28 590 pts 263 sm Declared start at Gold Hill, turn at Horse Creek, finish at Gold Hill for a 300K out and return. Completed the 187.7 miles in 2 hours and 18 minutes at 81.38 MPH, state record pending. The clouds were very good going north to Horse Creek but looked even better south! After finishing at Gold Hill, I took a 3 minute climb and flew to Bergen Park, Lyons and Boulder for an extra 75 miles at an average speed of 120 MPH.
Ivan Jaszlics ( 2049 points ) 7/3/2004 Discus CS 947 pts 348 sm Declaration (verbal to John Seaborn: PONCHA RIDGE (38:28.710N 106:03.940W) - TRES RITOS, NM (36:08.100N 105:30.660W)- PONCHA RIDGE Distance: 530.3 KM = 330 mi = 990 x 0.939 = 930 Points After crossing finish line did the following 1-point bonus flight: Ponch Ridge to Point X (38:38.006 N 106:04.129 W) to Salida for 29.3K = 18 mi x 0.939 = 17 pts Total Claim = 947 Pts DESCRIPTION OF FLIGHT Declared Poncha Ridge - Tres Ritos, NM - Poncha Ridge 530.3 K O&R. Most of the flight was in good conditions, except being a little dicey at the turnpoint. At the end of the flight visibility was reduced starting at Blanca Peak due to smoke. Added a few bonus miles at the end.
5/7/2004 Discus CS 725 pts 260 sm Declaration: Kossler Lake - Woodland Park - Canyon Entry - Buffalo Creek - 1V5 401 km declared three-turnpoint flight = 249 mi x 3 pts = 747 pts + 11.1 miles North to Point X (40:11.982N 105:15.668W) near Lyons, then to Lemons Field 39:59.466N 105:13.096W (constructive outlanding, if you wish) for another 25.2 miles for a total of 772 pts x 0.939 handicap factor = 725 pts. Release: 7318 FT Finish:11586 FT Declared: Kossler Lake - Woodland Park - Canyon Entry - Buffalo Creek - Boulder. 1st leg was mostly straight flying bnetween 16 and 18K as was the third leg and the forth one (except lower). After crossing the finish line I have used the altitude to glide a few extra miles as the lift was dying out.
7/5/2004 Discus CS 377 pts 230 sm Made 3-point declaration: Start: Harriet Alexander Field, Salida - to Tennessee Pass - to Valley View - to Leadville - Finish Salida What I actually did was: Alexander - Tennessee Pass 95.2 KM Tennessee Pass - Valley View 137.8 KM Valley View - Alexander 43.4 Total for 2 pts/mi 276.4 K = 172 mi x 2 pts x 0.939 = 323 pts Continuing from Salida to Leadville I was stopped somewhat beyond the latitude of Mt. Harvard (= "point Chicken" at 38.55.705N, 106:12.309W), from which I returned to Salida. 2 x 46.4 K = 92.8 K = 58 mi x 0.939 = 54 pts Total claimed = 377 pts DESCRIPTION OF FLIGHT Made 3-point declaration: Start: Harriet Alexander Field, Salida - to Tennessee Pass - to Valley View - to Leadville - Finish Salida for 434.1 K. Flight went reasonably well until last leg to Leadville, at which point a storm with low cloud base interfered... At Point Chicken (38.55.705N, 106:12.309W), I chickened out and returned to Salida
John Seaborn ( 1511 points ) 7/2/2004 Ventus 2B 656 pts 366 sm Start Point: Release North of Salida AP Turn Point 1: North of Leadville Turn Point 2: Near Antero Reservoir Turn Point 3: Newett Mine Turn Point 4: Blanca Peak Turn Point 5: NE of Leadville Finish/Goal: Salida Pre-declared Statute Miles Claimed: 188 SM Undeclared Statute Miles Claimed: 178 SM This was an excellent day in Salida, CO. I declared a 300km Out and Return state record flight and added distance before and after the record course. The record is now pending at 92.91 MPH by completing 188.6 miles in two hours and one minute. On the record portion of the flight average climbs were 7.1 knots and 21% of the flight was spent circling. The total distance for the day was 366 miles.
6/7/2004 Ventus 2B 573 pts 648 sm Start Point: Gold Lake Turn Point 1: Turn 1 (South of Taos, NM) Turn Point 2: Turn 2 (North of Christman nr Ft. Collins) Turn Point 3: Turn 3 (Barker Res nr Nederland) Finish/Goal: Boulder Pre-declared Statute Miles Claimed: 273 mi Undeclared Statute Miles Claimed: 375 mi Total Flight Miles: 648 mi (1042.6 km) Badge Legs Completed: No Colorado State Record Application Description of Flight - With temperatures forecast in the high 90's and a very dry air mass aloft the day looked good on paper. The WX phone service recording was indicating 1700+ fpm to 22,000ft with time of over development listed and "none". The winds aloft were forecast in the 15-25 range out of the south west at altitude which is on the high side. The declared task was south of Taos back to near Salida, down to Crestone and home. I launched at 11:40 to the west and had some difficulty finding a good climb. The start point was Gold Lake (at the west end on Nugget Ridge) and this was crossed at 12:23 for a rather late start. The first turn was the tiny town of Tres Rito SE of Taos, NM 273 miles distant into a 19-20 knot headwind. While South Park was showing terrific clouds passing over Mt. Evans took an age and was done very conservatively. Many thermals were choppy and broken due to the wind. As I neared Salida there were no cu on the Sangre De Cristo Range until around the Sand Dunes. I crossed to the windward side of the mountians at the north end and ran south with an occasional climb. The run from the dunes to the first turn was easy and straight forward. The first leg took 3:36 for 75.7 mph. I turned north at nearly 4:00pm. As I approached Blanca Peak from the south on the way back it looked like Salida had over developed and a line of thick verga ran back toward Mt. Evans so it was time to deviate to the north east across the south end of the wet valley near Yellow Hat and up the front rage which had a good deal of verga by this time as well. I ran up to the foothills with the idea of going past Boulder and decided on Christman near Ft. Collins plus a little. This leg was 311 miles and took 3:27 for 90 mph. I turned Christman at 7:26 then did one long glide up a dying street to the final turn near Nederland and back to Boulder landing at 8:15pm. The flight was done very conservatively primarily due to not having a driving crew. Flight Time: 8:38. Task Time: 7:52. Average speed: 82.3 mph. Average lift 7.2 knots. Thermaling 1:39 (21%). Straight Flight: 6:13 (79%). Actual flight distance 658.9 mi, claimed distance 648 mi, Flight distance using the three turn rule was 633.5 mi for an as yet unofficial State Record. Thanks to Rod Smythe who agreed to pick me up in his power plane if I landed out at an airport. Special thanks to Gary Baughman and Al Ossorio who kept tack of me via radio. Ed Cook flew his Citabria on a final glide intercept mission and took some good pictures as we flew formation on the way home. And of course my wife Brenda for helping to put my wings on.
5/8/2004 Ventus 2B 282 pts 320 sm After a week of the best soaring Boulder has seen in years, Saturday dawned with a big band of high cirrus in the NW. It looked bleak but the Skew-T and other indicators showed excellent soaring. The declared task was Start Lee Hill, Meyers, Chugwater, Kimball, Owl Canyon and back for just over 400 miles. A good deal of glaciated cloud/verga to the south made the decision to turn back and head North an easy one. The run to Chugwater NW of Cheyenne was an easy one with strong lift, good climbs including an average 11+ knot climb and good streeting. Turning Chugwater the only path home involved going west and Laramie looked inviting with cu and a fast ride home. Task time: 3:49. Average speed: 83.6 mph. Average lift 7.2 knots. Thermaling 39 minutes (17%). Straight Flight: 3:09 (83%)
Bill Hoadley ( 1116 points ) 5/23/2004 Ventus B 616 pts 312 sm Declared Lee Hill, Lookout Mt (between Estes Park and Poudre Canyon), Athanasiou, Rustic, Boulder. Flew White Pine, Idaho Springs, Boulder as bonus miles. The declared 300K went fast in N-S rotor lift. Bonus miles flown to admire the mountain scenery. Felt like a wave day with some thermal support.Declared miles 187, bonus miles 125.
8/24/2000 Ventus B 500 pts 188 sm Declared Gold Hill, Horse Creek (WY), Gold Hill for a 300km out and return. Pretty late summer day, with impressive clouds, some virga, but only one storm for the day, off course near Long's Peak. Some streeting and some strong lift, though I didn't always climb in it. A very enjoyable flight.
Phil Ecklund ( 386 points ) 5/28/2004 Ventus 2A 386 pts 139 sm The FarFunGlide flight started from a relight around 3:30. The first flight was never going to break out of the valley, so a landing and high tow was in order. After towing west of the continental divide, no lift was encountered until eastbound at about Gross Reservoir. A release was followed by a climb to about 15,000. (See file for exact details.) I headed straight toward a line of clouds that lead north of Class B above Denver International Airport. Since I had a transponder on board, I contacted approach control and got a squawk to enter into the transponder. I told them I planned to operate between 16,000 and 13,000 feet msl. They gave me some higher restrictions but rescinded them later. I could always fly to clear the edge of Class B, if I needed to. I was just south of the northern edge of Class B, south of Greeley. A huge storm developed on course that caused a gust front moving north. I was able to ride the front to about 15,000 for part of the way. Inbound traffic to DIA was forced to hold at Sidney, since gusts and windshear closed DIA. I gave a PIREP (pilot weather report) on ceilings and visibility on the North edge. Some flights were requesting to descend to fly in VMC clear of the storm. About 40 miles out from Sidney, I started final glide 4000 feet above the glideslope on the Cambridge LNAV. I did some acro above the pattern at Sidney, made a safe pass over the lake in front of Cabella's, and entered a right base for landing on the taxiway heading 30. I rolled to the end of the taxiway and pushed the glider into the grass. I finished tying the Discus 2b with stakes with just about the time the gust front hit the airport. The winds were howling with light rain. Look at the pictures of the Discus with much tumbleweed wedged against both sides of the glider. (First from the gust front, then the next day from the opposite direction after frontal passage.)
Mark Terry ( 265 points ) 6/7/2004 DG505-18m 265 pts 292 sm Jamestown-Mt Evans-Laramie-Idaho Springs-Boulder.
Doug Weibel ( 206 points ) 8/14/2004 Discus CS 206 pts 220 sm This flight came about by getting in the middle of the "discussion" between Ivan and Colin on what conditions would affix a GOLDFISH to your flight. No precise answer to that question, but 47 and 7U agreed that we would declare a decidedly non-goldfish task for the day. The forecast was so-so, so we decided that off into the great unknown was the answer, and came up with the goofy task of Kremmling for a declared turnpoint with the condition that you must perform at least one inverted acro maneuver over the turnpoint to add sufficient style. I was the only soul lucky enough to get over the divide, where the air mass was decidedly better. I ended up flying Gold Lake, Kremmling (with acro!), Steamboat Springs, Walden, Longs Peak, Eldora, Mt. Thoridin, Boulder
Silver Division Rod Smythe ( 1075 points ) 7/15/2004 Grob 102 640 pts 187 sm This was my third attempt at the Dalhart Camp on this FAI triangle. Sometime ago I discovered that the FAI rules were changed last October to require either and out and return or an FAI triangle for a Goal Flight. An FAI triangle is a nearly equilateral triangle, not like the "flat" triangles that we have used previously. I discovered that Miller Field, the Borger vor, and Guyman Airport formed an FAI triangle, with a perimeter of 300.99 km. Perfect! My first attempt, on Sunday, resulted in an ignominious landout in a field about 10 miles southeast of Sun Ray. Dick Hogue and Phil Grandmason graciously rescued me. My second attempt, on Wednesday, resulted in a trip to the Borger vor AND RETURN. Progress. Thursday looked like a good day, and it started early for a change. There was good lift, but also large, blue patches. Crossing a large blue patch to the vor, I found that the good clouds were farther away than I thought, but near the airport at Hutchinson, TX. I found lift right over the runway, and got up to cloudbase at 12,000'. After turning Guyman in the blue, I again got to cloudbase, and began to think that I might make it home. At Stratford, 20 nm out, I was low, and it looked blue the rest of the way. The only possibility seemed to be to head southeast, away from Miller, but towards some clouds. I left the Stratford Airport behind, and flew low over the fields, trying to stay up and find some lift. Finally, I got a little lift, only 10 ft per turn at first, and finally got up to cloud base, and made a final glide into the wind, arriving back at Miller at 2,000 agl. I think that this triangle is a great task. It covers a lot of territory, and has a good number of airports and landable fields along the way. I hope that it becomes a classic.
4/17/2004 SGS 1-34 285 pts 119 sm An attempt to use the Three Turnpoint Rule The three turnpoints (Mt. Evans, Lookout Mt. and Squaw Mt.) were chosen because they provided a number of possibilities, including doing a 300km flight, if conditions were really good. I got off tow NW of Gold Hill at 10,800', and immediately got into trouble. I was down to 8,500' over Lee Hill, when I found some more lift and worked my way west and north. After an hour and a half, I was in the wave at 17,900' a little east of Allenspark. At one time I noticed that my groundspeed was down to 7 mph, and from the trace, it appears that I actually went backwards, which has been an ambition of mine for some time. Having some altitude, it was time to travel, so I headed for Lookout Mt, which is close to Signal Mt., clearly visible in the NE corner of the Park. There was a strong SW wind, so I carefully watched the GPS as I rounded my turnpoint and got back into the lift and headed south. I found a lot of sink, so I was heading back towards Boulder, when at 11,000', I ran into some lift north of Jamestown, and got back up again and, encouraged, headed south. Southwest of Mt. Thorodin, I ran into more sink and turned east towards Boulder once more, finding some lift again at 12, 000', which took me up to 14,000'. After that I bumped along until I got fairly close to Squaw Mt. and descended through 13,000' for the last time. I was going down but getting closer and more worried. At last I could see visually, that I had it made, and turned and headed home. I was trying to maintain minimum sink, and the strong wind gave me a ground speed of 90 to 100 mph. After awhile, it was clear that I would make it, and not have to head for a landout in the plains. In fact, I found more lift coming over Boulder Mt. and arrived at that Airport at 10,000'. Around Boulder Mt. the GPS gave me a low voltage warning, and then shut itself off. I restarted it, and it managed to live until I crossed the field to the north side, when it died for good. After a successful four hour flight, I was pretty excited, but the next day, the trace showed me that I had missed the Squaw Mt. turnpoint by 387'. I now realize that I was headed directly into a very strong wind, and when I turned 90 degrees left, the strong cross wind made it a larger angle and I missed the turnpoint, but it was a great flight, anyway. This flight had endless ups and downs, but the last was a real up, when Colin informed me that my 387' miss was ok, according to our "racing turn" rule, which only requires that you get within the 0.25 sm cylinder surrounding the turnpoint.
4/1/2004 Grob 102 150 pts 143 sm Release altitude was about 11,000 feet at a point between Gold Hill and Gold Lake. The following waypoints are selected from points along the GPS track. Gold Hill Estes Park Mt. Evans Lyons Spanish Hills Climbs to +17,500ft
Bronze Division Gary Haynes ( 224 points ) 10/23/2000 DG808-18m 88 pts 104 sm Boulder local flight
10/3/2000 DG808-18m 70 pts 82 sm Boulder local flight
10/2/2000 DG808-18m 66 pts 78 sm Boulder to Horse Tooth and back
To review the IGC files click on theicon
Take a look at the series rules here.
Home | News | SSB | Towing | Instruction | Weather | Directions | Series | Photos | More
Web created by John Seaborn, Doug Weibel, Mark Terry, Colin Barry
Report SSB Web problems to the Webmaster