Soaring Seminars

2018 Cross Country 101 Seminar

OVERSubscribed with 40 RSVPs!
Great Attendance with pilots from GA, SC, AL & FL

2018 Seminar

Beginners learn how to comfortably fly their first distance flight.

Date: Saturday January 27, 2018 Time: 9:15am -2:45pm EST
Location: Southern Eagles Soaring, Warm Springs Roosevelt Airport southerneaglessoaring.com
What: A seminar (and lunch!) to prepare pilots to fly their first cross country.
Who: Any glider pilots interested in learning how leave glide range of the pattern - now or in the future.
Why: Pilots who learn to fly XC & Racing tend to get more out of soaring , stay in the sport longer, and enjoy years of camaraderie with fellow pilots. Cross country soaring skills will take your flying to the next level.
Cost: Attendees are asked to contribute $15 for lunch & expenses.

Program:

9:30-11:40
-Silver planning: How to plan & execute that first x-country/Silver C 50 km/31 mile Flight. Planning, nav, decision heights, landing out, flight documentation.   (Wally, & Chris)
-Prerequisite skills before trying this, basic skills. badge ladder.   (Wally)
-Thermalling better (Eric)
-Courses that make sense from Warm Springs.   (Chris)
-Dual practice you can do with an instructor or experienced pilot. (Chris)
-Posting to OLC. (Chris)
-Good reference books. (Wally & Chris)

11:45-11:55 Touch on flight computers like XCSoar and flight analysis in SeeYou. (Chris)

12:00-12:30
-Landing out, better. Having never landed out is a barrier to feeling comfortable leaving the nest. (Wally)
-Learn some best practices and some stories. (Wally)
-Hear about are upcoming outlanding practice day - with instructor and club 2 seater. (Chris)

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:40-2:45
-How to communicate you location, contact crew, help your crew with a checklist (Chris)
-Glider assembly/disassembly and trailering - until you have done it - it seems like a big scary barrier. Learn how to retrieve yourself or your buddy (and occasionally both). (Wally & Chris)

Depending on the weather we can also fly afterwards.

RSVP by January 20th to reserve your spot and so we know how many burgers to make. Space is limited so RSVP now. Plan to bring a chair.
please forward this invite anyone interested in flying cross country some day...

Presentation by Chris Ruf, Eric Carden & Wally Berry

Chris has flown state records in GA & TX, and hopes to fly more than the 500km. He helps organize the GTA - Georgia Tennessee & Alabama race series and often serves as Competition Director. He has flown many GTA, as well as SSA Regional and National Competitions.

Wally has flown many long flights in GA - looking for any excuse to head for Cordele or Alabama. He has been a Regional Soaring Champion multiple times. He served as Competition Director at the 2017 Cordele 15m, Standard & Open Class National Races, and has flown several National Competitions.

Eric Carden - soaring coach, will be speaking on the art of thermalling.

Course materials:

SES_Cross_Country_101_2018.pptx - PDF

Prerequesites_for_XC-SES_101-Seminar-2018-Berry.pptx - PDF

WB_Outlanding_presentation_2018.pptx - PDF

Eric Carden's Thermalling & Cross Country Soaring Course

Here are what I consider my two most valuable videos:
"How to Thermal: 'Easy as 1-2-3' Method": This is a six-minute lesson that I think would serve every new thermalling pilot well - and would even help most experienced thermaling pilots (though the title might offend their egos).
Thermaling 101 Handout

"Thermaling 101 (How to Stay in a Thermal)": This is a 75-minute recorded webinar expanding on the "Easy as 1-2-3" thermalling method and teaching other beginner-level thermaling concepts. Near-Miss Thermals Handout
These two videos have probably been more helpful to pilots than all my other material combined. My main passion (related to teaching soaring) is helping pilots learn to thermal reasonably well, because without that skill, they're doomed to a life of sled-runs (and don't have much hope of meaningful XC). :-) Thanks, Eric

2017 Glider Competition 101 Seminar

The seminar was a success with a full house of 29 attendees from SES, and as far away as Huntsville, AL, Sylacauga, AL, somewhere in SC, and Jacksonville, FL. We had an engaged audience and some good questions too. Might be getting some new racers soon!Beginners learn how to comfortably fly their first race day & have fun too!What: Seminar to prepare pilots to fly their first contest. Not focused on how to win, but on how to avoid a lot of common beginner mistakes.Who: Any glider pilots interested in learning how take the leap into racing - now or in the future. Why: Pilots who learn to fly XC & Racing tend to get more out of soaring , stay in the sport longer, and enjoy years of camaraderie with fellow racers. Racing hones your cross country soaring skills and will take your flying to the next level. Beginning racers are often impressed by how much their flying improves and by how far they can fly on days they once considered marginal.

Course materials:Glider Competition 101 Seminar.pptx . PowerPoint 2010+
Glider Competition 101 Seminar.pdf . PDFChecklists: US Team PDF, also Cross Country Checklists.doc Click for Warm Springs Training Task List

Much of the Content is based on the SSA Guide to Competition &How to Prepare for and Fly your First Contest by Hank Nixonhttp://www.ssa.org/ContestRules - see especially the guide at the end.Calendar http://www.ssa.org/ContestCommittee?show=blog&id=3110http://www.dragonnorth.com/djpresentations/ Andy Davis’ article and othersXcsoar.org