Salamone, Linda <<Linda_Salamone>>
writes (earlier this year):

While I watch the thermometer hover at around 5 degrees (F!), it's
difficult to get geared up to write about (or even just THINK about) heading out
flying. But reports from the smoking hot Forbes Flatlands meet, a meet I had
hoped to attend in Australia, have me thawing out just enough to put some
thoughts on paper regarding the upcoming US competition season.

I got into competing because, well, I'm really competitive. I don't know if hang
glider pilots are by nature more competitive than normal people, but I know for
sure I'm not the only one that tries to be the longest, highest, farthest flying
pilot at every opportunity. When I won top female honors at a local fun meet at
Ellenville one 'early in my flying career' year, I got the bug.

I realized really quickly that I stepped it all up a notch when in a
competition. I would stretch my comfort zone a bit, and the resulting experience
added to my knowledge base. It helped having a whole bunch of pilots in the air
at the same time to measure against, learn from, debrief with. And not just the
same five guys from home, to whom I tended to defer.

Maybe it was because I was a girl, or maybe it was because I basically just
sledded for the first four years that I flew, but I had been truly coddled, and
getting out of that zone was really important for me to become a better pilot. I
attended a Team Challenge or two before my first "big" aerotow meet.

The first year it was sanctioned, my team took first place. It was intimidating
to some degree flying the Sequatchie Valley with people like Davis, Revo, Bo,
Kevin Carter, bBut the format there, with A pilots doing everything to get their
C pilots to goal, was conducive to really learning a lot from these guys. They
would sit around the campfire at night, talking about the day's flight,
answering questions, and other general bullshitting, while us newbies would just
soak it all up. Which brings me to my whole point here - SPORT CLASS.

I wish that Sport Class had existed when I first headed to Florida to get a
taste of the "big" comps. I remember visiting Wallaby Ranch during one of their
huge meets in 2002 or 2003 and being really overwhelmed and intimidated. I never
saw myself competing at that level then because I didn't see a bridge from where
I was then to that. I eventually made it there, and enjoy a fair level of
comfort in that arena, but I attribute that partly to being female and partly to
being stubborn. But the Sport Class is that bridge for any interested pilot, and
almost every meet around the US is offering it alongside the Open Class.

First up for me this year is the Rob Kells Memorial meet at the Florida Ridge in
mid April. I've been to every meet the Ridge has held, since the first one in
2004. In fact, that was my first 'aerotow' competition, and rubbing elbows with
some of the world's best pilots, was both awesome and intimidating. I'd brought
along my copy of Dennis Pagen's "Secrets of Champions" and mustered up the balls
to ask Oleg Bondarchuk to sign it for me the first day there. Probably I could
have waited until the blown out day we went shopping together at a Ft. Myers
hobby shop- by then he was just a sweet regular guy we were hanging out with who
just happened to be kicking everyone's ass at the meet. He was free with his
advice and knowledge about racing; I asked all kinds of stupid questions but
only understood about a third of what he was telling me.

I learned a lot at that meet, and every competition since has left me with
lessons, some big, some small, some painful, but each time I come away with
something that makes my recreational flying more rewarding (as in kicking local
ass).

And last year, my personal experience at the Florida Ridge meet was some of my
best, most consistent flying ever. The Sport Class has always been well attended
there and this year they're offering discounted aerotow fees to seasoned pilots
bringing new-to-competition pilots to compete. The Sport Class generally has
shorter tasks, relying on more input from the competitors, and can overlap or
end at the same place as Open Class. New pilots can get tons of help with
instruments, other equipment and strategy and share the air with the top dogs.

Next up in 2010 is the Flytec Race and Rally. It begins just after the RKM meet
ends and has a unique format. There is a long list of really hot pilots eagerly
anticipating this competition, and I look forward to being able to finish it
this year.

When that meet wraps up, it's off to Tegelberg, Germany for the Women's World
Championships for me. Then, I probably won't have enough vacation time to attend
some of the other US competitions, but if I could, I'd do the East Coast
Championships (so close to home and such a great group of people), the Big
Spring Open, and then the Santa Cruz Flats Race. Each of these will likely have
a Sport Class offered. Fat chance I'll get to them all especially because a
pesky family reunion has been added to the calendar in August. At least that's
at the Outer Banks so it wants to be flying related.