Hang Gliding and Paragliding Volume 44 / Issue 2: February 2014 | Page 45

The plan is to launch from the 3800’ Chelan
Butte and see how far we can fly.

T

he 32nd annual Chelan Crosscountry Classic was held June
30 to July 5 in beautiful Chelan,
Washington. I agreed to share the
position of meet organizer with Lori
Lawson, accepting the responsibility of keeping this legendary meet
going. It’s a low-key, inexpensive, fun,
biwingual meet with plenty of glider
classes that allow pilots to compete
against like-performing gliders.
Perhaps the most important meet attributes are its positive learning environment and goal of giving fledgling
XC pilots a bigger taste of adventure
through mentorship with seasoned
XC veterans.
Prior to the meet, Lori and I updated the rules, adding some waypoints
closer to the Butte to encourage lessexperienced XC pilots to try small triangles, as well as some new mountain
waypoints for paragliders to attempt,
should the weather on “the Flats” go
flat. We changed some waypoints
and eliminated others to avoid busier
airports and keep our small, quiet
machines away from those big, loud,
spinning-propeller flying machines.
We removed a bogus rule that allowed
top pilots to do a safe, small triangle
and then go back out for more; instead,
top pilots would have to dream big and
fly big. We really promoted the meet to
both hang and para veteran XC pilots
LEFT Davidson DaSilva.

looking to battle for air superiority,
as well as to intermediate XC pilots
who provide the new blood and energy
essential to keep this meet going. And,
by the way, I also decided to compete
in the meet… Hey! Even meet organizers are entitled to some fun, eh?
The plan is to launch from the
3800’ Chelan Butte and see how far
we can fly. Each pilot chooses his/
her own task to maximize his/her
score. Our playground generally is the
Waterville Plateau (the Flats), between
the Columbia River to the west and
Banks Lake to the east. Ten points are
awarded per mile flown for a straightout, open-distance flight. Thirteen
points are awarded per mile for an
out-and-return and 15 points per mile
for a triangle. For out-and-returns and
triangles, the points are awarded only
if the pilot completes more than half
of the final leg. A 100-point bonus is
added for landing back in Chelan (the
drivers really like this rule). All flights
are scored based upon each pilot’s GPS
track log. A really good score for the
day is 1000 points, which is equivalent
to a 100-mile straight-out flight. The
meet consists of six days during which
each pilot’s best four-day scores are
added to determine final scores and
standings. Pilots are separated into
classes according to the performance
of their gliders, including two paraglider classes—Sport and Serial—and
three hang glider classes—Kingpost,

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