Quachita

Low hanging fruit (Buffalo Mountain)

Mike Kelsey <kelsey.mike> writes:

This was the third annual running of the Ouachita Mountain Hang Gliding and Paragliding Series.  (http://www.ouachitahanggliding.com/Series/series.html).  The 2007 series provided even more tasks available to the participants with the addition of the Triangle Tasks.  Most of the launch sites had up to two Triangle Tasks available for which points were awarded.

23 pilots were able to garner some points in the Ouachita Mountains Series.

Mark Stump of Dardenelle, Arkansas (Atos V, H4), came in first place for the second year in a row with a total of 2358 points.  He concentrated on the Triangle Tasks and other XC Tasks that were available at the launches near his home (conveniently located in the Mt.  Nebo LZ).

Coming in Second Place with 2350 points was Roy Mahoney of Monroe, Oklahoma (Atos VR, H3) missing taking first place by only 9 points.  Roy garnered a number of Maximum Altitude Gains at several sites as well as several Personal Max Durations at a number of sites and an Open Distance, Roy also accumulated the most Work Day Points, by spending a large number of hours improving the road access to the Heavener Launch.

Third Place with 2044 points was Warren Flatt of Fort Smith, Arkansas (Wills Wing, Talon 150, H5).  Warren got out early in the season to grab some low hanging fruit, the First Flight points of a couple different launches, several max duration points, as well as a best altitude above launch at one site.  Warren rounded out the year with some great XC flights gaining points in Open Distance, Out and Return, Pre-defined Goal, and two triangle tasks completed.

Fourth Place went to Jason Gray of Greenwood, Arkansas (Wills Wing Sport, H3) with 1799 points.  Jason enjoys flying lots of sites and he did well in accumulating a large number of Personal Max Duration Points at a number of sites.  Jason also got the Max Altitude Points at Short Mountain and points for 8 hours of Work Day Points.  Jason also won 1st place Hang 3 Pilot.

Fifth Place went to John Jenkins of Dardanelle, Arkansas (Wills Wing Sport, H3) with 1339 points.  John grabbed some First Flight points off Short Mountain early in the season, and collected a number of Personal Max Durations as well as two Open Distance flights.

Sixth Place went to Mike Kelsey of Mena, Arkansas (Wills Wing Talon 160, H4).  Mike collected a number of Personal Max Durations and completed two Triangle Tasks.

For complete view of the 2007 results, go to http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p8qZX4r52Ie-_WDc6yWXcKg.

For 2007 we had established a Handicapping System for many of the tasks with handicapping according to either Hang Rating or to type of wing flown.  2007 also saw a significant growth in the number of Paragliders coming to the Ouachita Mountains to fly.  Britton Shaw of Fort Smith, Arkansas came in 9th place overall, and also won the "Most Improved Paraglider Pilot" award and the First Place for Paraglider Pilot.  We also have a number of new H1 and H2 pilots and Tim Carls of Mena, Arkansas won First Place for the Hang Two pilots.  The Triangle Tasks proved to be very popular.  You can see the Established Triangle Tasks at http://www.ouachitahanggliding.com/Series/Triangles/triangles.html.

We wrapped up the season with an Awards Banquet, on January 5th 2008 and we had 37 pilots show up.  A big thanks to all the pilots that participated and to our sponsors, Wills Wing, Moyes USA, Flytec, Mojos Gear who have supported us through the past three years in this grass roots activity.

The Ouachita Mountains Hang Gliding Series is open to any pilot that has appropriate rating for particular launches in the Ouachita Mountains.  There is no fee to participate in the Ouachita Mountains Hang Gliding and Paragliding Series.

For more information about flying in the Ouachita Mountains, go to www.ouachitahanggliding.com.

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