2022 Highland Challenge

A race-to-goal mini-comp recap

by Charles Allen

:The Highland Challenge (HC) is an unsanctioned race-to-goal (R2G) hang gliding competition aimed at gathering friends to fly competitive but fun tasks in a safe environment where pilots can learn from each other. The first HC was held in 2012 at Highland Aerosports in Ridgely, Maryland, comprised four weekends from late spring to early fall, and was scored like any other R2G competition. When Highland Aerosports closed in 2016, the sport and the event lost an important focal point. However, the HC continued, and I changed the format from an aerotow competition to a mountain competition with basecamp at my weekend house in Liverpool, Pennsylvania. In 2021, we resurrected the aerotow format and decided to have it span eight consecutive scored flying days plus one practice day.

Keeping the event unsanctioned had some advantages. Specifically, we could focus on making it fun and fair without dealing with time-consuming processes and procedures. For example, all pilots should have the opportunity for a good start regardless of launch order. Though not enforced, we encourage the first pilot to be towed to a thermal regardless of tow height or time on tow. The following pilots are then towed to the first pilot and encouraged to pin off when in the soarable lift. The last pilots are towed to the main gaggle with no required pin-off altitude and as close to the edge of the start circle as possible. This methodology ensures a better chance of getting all pilots flying together on course in less time. In 2022, I opted to continue with the aerotow format for another friendly event.

The participants of the 2022 Highland Challenge.

Highland Challenge 2022 The 2022 HC started on June 3 and was spectacular; it was the best week of flying I’ve ever had on the Delmarva Peninsula. We towed from a private grass airstrip in Chestertown, Maryland, about 16 miles NNW of Ridgely—the former home of Highland Aerosports and the East Coast Championship (ECC). The field is situated on farmland and has a hanger with power and water, so it can accommodate both tents and campers. The Delmarva Peninsula has similar weather conditions to Florida but on a smaller scale; the Chesapeake Bay is on the west of the Peninsula, and the Atlantic Ocean is on the east, creating a convergence zone with cummies often filling the middle.

Climbs are typically close together and soft, peaking at 400-600 fpm on a good day. The region is flat cropland with no livestock, and few properties have fences or locked gates, so there are abundant spacious LZs, and retrieves are seamless. The first week of June 2022 had ideal weather, and the crops were low, so even the corn fields were landable. This year we only had six pilots participate despite having room for 12—though a few local pilots stopped by to ground crew and wind dummy. We had two Dragonflys on site, but we only had enough pilots competing to justify hiring one full-time tug pilot. However, Ric Niehaus, one of the competitors, was gracious enough to tow a few pilots before flying the task himself. Additionally, some local pilots stopped by and did a few tows in the spare tug.

Task 1 It was a perfect day for this region. Unfortunately, an active temporary flight restriction (TFR) limited our course options since President Biden was at his Rehoboth beach house. We had to under call the task and decided on a 76km dogleg task to the southeast. The first leg was 26km to the east, followed by a 50km leg south alongside the TFR, leaving us an 8km buffer. Goal was Magfar, another grass strip often used in the late ECC.

I launched first, followed by Knut Ryerson and John Simon, and we climbed to almost 7,000 ft. We were starting high with good-looking clouds on the course line, so I led out with John slightly behind and Knut below as the rest of the field was just getting airborne. We were finding good thermals and getting high for the region.

Around this time, Jim Messina and Pete Lehman were at cloudbase in the start circle about to go on course. However, Ric Niehaus decked 2km from the tow field landing at Ben’s estate. Ben, a former HG pilot who owns the tow field, was kind enough to let us host the event at his place. The extra tug was quickly dispatched to Ric’s location for a relight, and a volunteer ferried him a cart saving him from attempting a foot launch aerotow. This clearly would be against the rules in a sanctioned comp, but without those restrictions, Ric got back in the air and even made goal.

Back on course, Knut was having instrument issues, but John and I tagged the first turnpoint then flew the whole 50km second leg to goal together. However, John left slightly before me at the top of the last thermal. Though I could have easily shadowed him from above on the final glide, guaranteeing me a day win, I made a strategic mistake. I opted to fly a straight line to goal, which was left of his line. Unfortunately, my line had more sink, and I had to slow down while his buoyant line allowed him to pull on more speed and beat me to goal by about two and a half minutes.

Five of the six competitors landed at goal, including John, who won the day followed by me in a close second. Despite missing the turnpoint due to instrument troubles, Knut did land at goal. Moreover, conditions were so good that I believe everyone set their site altitude records of over 8,000 ft. After a day like this, we figured the rest of the tasks must be downhill.

Task 2 With a weak forecast for Task 2, we set a short 37km dogleg to the north, which proved tricky despite its

length.

Pete Lehmann towed first, followed by Jim, Knut, John, me, and Ric. Jim and John climbed to cloudbase and started towards the first turnpoint, followed by Pete, who eventually got low and opted to fly back to the tow field instead of completing the task.

I was in the start circle and saw Ric in a nice climb under a decent-looking cloud downwind to the north, albeit off course line, but I opted to glide to it. I arrived low to a dissipating cloud and broken zero to 50fpm lift. With no other options, I changed gears and worked the light lift until it finally turned on. Soon after, I saw 20+ soaring birds nearby and joined them—after 25 minutes, I was able to climb to 5,500 ft.

Though it was a bit late in the day to be starting a task, I pushed forward. I glided down the course line to a cloud and connected with the thermal just 1,000 ft away from the first turnpoint. However, since I was down to 2,200 ft., I decided to take the climb and drift downwind instead of pushing 1,000 ft. upwind and hoping I would find a climb after tagging the turnpoint.

Around this time, Ric had decked it about three-quarters of the way to the turnpoint, Knut opted to land at the tow field, and Pete, after a low save from 850ft., flew back to the tow field as well. With the challenging conditions, pilots were dropping like flies.

At almost 5 p.m., I tagged the first turnpoint and started towards goal. The day was getting very soft. As far as I could see, there was only one cloud left which luckily was right on course line to goal. As I glided, I watched as it slowly fell apart; I arrived at 2,000 ft., but luckily there was still lift. As I slowly climbed in the light lift, I monitored my required L/D to goal as I drifted downwind. (This is my favorite part of the day when you know you’re about to have goal in reach.) Once I had goal made with an under a 10:1 required glide ratio I went on final glide.

Upon arrival at goal, I heard Jim and John (still airborne) chatting on the radio, and they directed me to land in a huge field about 2km past the goal cylinder. It was a stretch to reach as I had to fly over high-voltage power lines but I was lured by the prospect of a waiting driver, wind direction briefing, and cold beer. Upon arrival, I searched the edge of the field, but there was no Jim, no John, no driver, and no beer. Jim and John had hooked a thermal at goal and decided to attempt to fly back to the tow field. They flew about 36km and landed just a few kilometers short. While not as good as the first day, everyone had fun, with John again winning, followed by Jim, and me in third.

Task 3 The weather for Task 3 called for a blue day with strong winds. However, in our desire to have an easy retrieve, we opted for an upwind triangle instead of a downwind dogleg which would have been the smarter choice for the conditions.

Gliders in goal after Task 1.

Jim, Knut, and I were out on the course first and flew together for one thermal past the first turnpoint at Taylor. The wind was a major obstacle—we were drifting 8km downwind with every thermal and barely making ground. John had a zipper issue, went back to land, and opted not to have a second flight. Pete packed it in around Taylor and flew back to the tow field. As for Jim, Knut, and I, we were together until a few kilometers past Taylor, where Knut missed a thermal and glided as far as he could before landing. I managed to stay with Jim until 13km from RT314, the second turnpoint. He found a reasonable climb, but I wasn’t able to connect. It was late in the day, the lift was weak, and the winds were strong. While I was drifting downwind away from RT314 and circling in zero sink, I decided that completing the course wasn’t attainable and I would have more fun flying back to the tow field. As I returned, the bay breeze was in full effect, giving me yet another headwind. However, I made it back with altitude to spare—Pete radioed the wind direction and handed me a beer after landing.

No one made goal, but Jim won the day, landing shortly after tagging the RT314 turnpoint.

Task 4 The weather for Task 4 looked good, with light wind, modest lift, cummies, and cloudbase forecast to be 3,500 ft.—a respectable forecast for the eastern shore. We set a 57km triangle with goal at Ben’s house.

The beginning of the day involved a series of low saves. Though we started out climbing the blue, there were clouds to the east in the convergence zone, and we were clearly on the edge. Decisions at the start of this day were quite varied—Pete went back to the start thermal for a relight before heading onward, I decided to glide downwind on course to a cloud that seemed reachable and in the convergence zone, and Jim saw a wispy to the southwest, and headed for it managing to keep the tow field in glide. He connected with a nice climb and was on his way.

I had a few good climbs but kept finding myself low and needing to scratch out. At one point was at a mere 600 ft. before finding some zero sink to search in. I managed to change gears quickly and having just pulled off a low save from 800 ft. I patiently worked the broken zero to 50 fpm lift, keenly focused on every foot of altitude gain. It took me 5 minutes to climb 200 ft. staying very flat and not banking despite occasional spikes of 100 fpm. I felt like a frog jumping from lily pad to lily pad. After breaking 1,200 ft. the thermal came together and thirteen minutes later I topped out at 3,200 ft.

Jim, John, and I were equidistant from Temple, the

first turn point. However, I was 4km left of the course line and 1,000 ft. below the others. Given my lower altitude, I opted to continue flying downwind and slightly off course line to the next cloud, hoping I could get back on course once higher, and I found a nice thermal that brought me to 3,200 ft. There was a nice stretch of fields going through a forested section heading to Tem-

Post Task 4 merriment.

Charles Allen landing at the beach for Task 5.

TASK 5: We all flew over the ocean and did wingovers for the Dewey Beach crowd prior to landing.

ple, which I followed like a road on glide getting down to 900 ft. before once again finding broken zero lift. I noticed some eagles circling in the area, headed over to them, and quickly got established in the 300-400 fpm core, which took me back to 3,400 ft. As I tagged the Temple turn point, I saw Pete out front thermaling, which was a huge relief. After flying for almost an hour and a half by myself, mostly down low, I was excited for some company. We shared the thermal, but after reaching 3,600 ft, the climb started to fall apart, so I left Pete to go on glide to a nice looking cloud 2km left of course line bringing me closer to the Ridgely turnpoint. As I continued, climbs were stronger and more consistent.

Once over the familiar fields surrounding Ridgely, where I have flown numerous times at Highland Aerosports, a flood of memories came back. I knew the fields well and had a high degree of confidence I’d make goal. I tagged the Ridgely turnpoint, found a good thermal on the final leg, and headed for goal. I arrived fourth into goal, with Pete showing up 20 minutes later.

With 5 of 6 of us in goal, everyone was ecstatic. It was a challenging day, but, at least for me, it was the most rewarding flight of the week. The LZ couldn’t be better; we landed on a beautifully cut lawn next to Ben’s huge saltwater pool. We all put on our bathing suits and raided Ben’s fridge. John won the day yet again, followed by Jim and then Ric.

Task 5 Task 5 was the last day of the comp, and the forecast was perfect for a beach run. Biden had

Pilots at the beach after Task 5.

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left his Rehoboth beach house, so there was no longer a TFR impeding our task. Encouraged by the great forecast, we packed our bathing suits. The task was a 90.5km dogleg to a turnpoint at Willav, a grass strip, followed by goal at Indian Beach. In the spirit of being a fun comp, we put an 8km radius around Indian Beach so pilots could make goal and land at the last viable field before having to fly over the unlandable town of Rehoboth on route to the beach, making the distance to Indian Beach just under 100k. Tom McGown, a local pilot not in the meet, joined us for the day, launched first to wind dummy, and once established in lift, we all promptly started launching. We had some nice consistent climbs that took us quite high. I had to pull out one low save after a long glide, but with patience, I managed to make it back up to 5,900 ft.

Jim made goal first, followed by Pete a few minutes later, and I was 10 minutes after them. I watched Jim and Pete land at Indian Beach from afar and radioed for them to snap pictures of me landing. Indian Beach is private, so it was sparsely populated compared to the dense summer crowds on Dewey Beach just up the coast. We all flew over the ocean and did wingovers for the Dewey Beach crowd prior to landing. John landed about 10 minutes after me and, despite having the fastest time on the course, was third for the day because he took the 2:15 p.m. start clock. Though Knut and Tom didn’t land on the beach, they both made goal landing close to each other at nice fields just inside the 8km Indian Beach goal radius. While the 2021 HC was terrific, 2022 raised the bar. Not only were many personal bests had, but many genuinely unique flying achievements were made, cementing memories that will be cherished and last a lifetime. Despite being a comp, the sense of camaraderie at the HC differs from other events, making it more fun than larger sanctioned comps. In the air, everyone helps each other on the radio, and on the ground everyone is included in the festivities whether in group dinners or sharing stories around the campfire.