The camp is organized similar to conferences I have attended. Each day, lectures start at 8:00am sharp and go through 11:30. Then there is a pilot’s meeting and weather briefing, following by gridding the gliders. All afternoon is spent flying with a “lead pilot” (more on this later). You return for dinner, then there are usually evening sessions from about 7:30pm to 9:30pm. So for 5 days, it is flat out soaring and sleeping, with a little food thrown in. After 5 days I have to say I was exhausted, but very pleasantly exhausted. There were 15 attendees, coming from as far as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Colorado.
This year's camp was organized by Chad Moore and David Prather. They did a super job and really worked hard to put on a professional camp. Both Chad and David know a lot about soaring, and Chad is something of an expert on meteorology. There are a lot of varied topics in the camp, but the core of the camp is learning how to do the math surrounding cross country soaring and then applying these rules it in a controlled environment, where you feel comfortable "pushing the envelope" a bit. Attendees are separated into groups of 2-3 which have about the same skill level and glider performance. This small group then flies together with a "lead pilot." Our lead pilot was NCSA member Dick Horn, who did a great job of shepherding us around. Especially on a blue day, it really helps to have a more experienced pilot along judging the safety of the situation, and maybe even marking a thermal for you. Most low-time pilots are (rightly) pretty conservative about glide angle. You have to get used to being an honest 18:1 away from pattern altitude. This can be a bit unnerving 10nm out. It really helps to have someone like Dick Horn along to double-check your assessment. Also, 3 ships working together have a much better chance of finding a thermal than one pilot in isolation.
Gradually, you begin to feel more comfortable being a ways out from the airport. Finally, you suck it up and make the jump to flying local at the next airport, and then the next, and so on. Since airports in the Nevada basin are spaced about 20 miles apart, this means having to get to 12,000 feet to make the hop to the next airport. Since Air Sailing is a lot easier than Truckee to get back to at the end of the day, there is a lot less pucker about a $150 retrieve or a fire drill with the glider trailer. So, in a lot of ways, the XC camp lowers a lot of the barriers which keep pilots like me flying local and gives you a chance to step out.
Another big learning experience, at least for me, was dealing with the airport topology. The 2 runways are mostly dirt and are significantly up/down hill (!?) I had never landed on dirt before, never took off with a serious tail wind, and never landed uphill or downhill. Also, I had never really flown any serious ridge before. The first day, it looked like tow pilot Charlie Hayes wanted to run me into the side of the Dogskins Mountains, so I figured my time for ridge flying had just arrived.
If you do end up going to the XC camp or the companion Thermaling Camp (usually organized by our own Rolf Peterson) here’s a little check list of things to consider.
- Sort out how you’re going to get the glider there and back. This means either disassembling and towing (traditional), or getting an aero tow in from Truckee (and maybe back, too.)
- Bring a warm sleeping bag. It regularly got down to 32F when I was there.
- Air Sailing is at the end of 5 miles of dirt road. Leave the Ferrari home.
- Air Sailing is pretty isolated. You’re either going to be doing a fair amount of driving "commuting" into the Reno/Sparks suburbs for food, or you have to plan ahead with cooler and camp stove.
- Be prepared to devote 5 solid days to nothing but soaring.
Personally, I can’t think of a better way to spend a week.
--Bill Brown
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