2016 Twisp OLC Camp

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The 2016 Twisp OLC Camp is now in the history books, and it was a memorable experience for all involved.

Fourteen gliders (the most ever at Twisp) were entered in the OLC Camp. A total of eighteen glider pilots from ES, SGC, and PSSA attended. Several pilots flew Twisp for the first time, and many made personal best flights with regards to distance, maximum altitude, and OLC points.

Evergreen Soaring’s 30Y and SGC’s 78P, flown by Phil Anderson, Charlie Longley, and Keith McLean, provided towing. Many thanks to these tow pilots, who made the whole thing possible.

The week started off with an interesting cross Cascades aerotow attempt by Fred in the Chinook. After releasing near Darrington due to cloud cover on his first attempt, Fred took a second tow later in the day during the Arlington training operation and made it to Twisp.

The soaring weather proved to be good almost all week in Twisp, with light winds on most days and lift (mostly thermals, with a few reports of wave) as high as 13,000 feet. Many flights went deep into the North Cascades and out into the Columbia Basin. There were a couple of landouts at airports (Methow State and Lost River), but no off-field landings. By Thursday and Friday, many pilots were becoming so exhausted by the repeated high-quality soaring weather (and resulting long flights) that they were taking days off or packing up to head home.

One of the most interesting flights from a geometrical standpoint was a 500-km triangle flown by Chris Young: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=5164291

The best OLC flight of the week was flown by Ron Clark, reaching as far east as Davenport:

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=5166763

Ron Clark cleaned up in the OLC contest, taking home both the Best Flight Award (690 points) and the Best 3 Day Total Award (1898 points). Chris Young won the Runner Up Award for the second best 3-day total (1676 points). Tony Puglisi was bestowed with the highly coveted Crowd Favorite Award for his landout at the Lost River airstrip north of Mazama.

Thanks to Bill and his motor home, we had a nice air-conditioned lounge to use for the week, and the Chef Steps crew created a great dinner for us (smoked ribs) on Thursday. The airport locals were friendly as usual and welcoming of our soaring efforts. The OLC camp was also visited by a reporter from the local Methow Valley News paper, and was featured in the June 29th edition with a nice article entitled “Lofty Solitude”.

So, all in all, the 2nd Twisp OLC camp was a great success. Great weather, good flights, good company, and no forest fires! See you next time.