PW-5 Contest in Marfa! (KMRF)

[tonycondon]

Southwesternerners,

The World Class (PW-5) Sailplane Contest this year is being held in beautiful Marfa, West Texas, June 20-29. The Word Class is unique in that all the pilots fly the same aircraft, the PW-5, so that pilot skill and luck are truly tested. The soaring is going to be great and the pilots will be pushing their machines and abilities to win the championship. It should be a great time and I wish I could attend. This would be a great way to get exposed to the sport of soaring and get in on some of the action. No doubt that help running wings, rigging, or even crewing would be appreciated. Watching the ships come in from long cross country tasks is pretty exciting.
Marfa was the site of the 1969 National Championships and the 1970 World Championships. Both were won by the legendary George Moffat in his Open Cirrus "XX"
Burt Compton, head of the Soaring Safety Foundation, NAFI Master Instructor, owner of Marfa Gliders, and all around good guy reports that the bermuda grass around the hangar is green and hopes that some World Class records will be broken that week.
Hope some of you guys can make it down there, it should be a blast.
Check out www.flygliders.com for some more info

 

[Steve]

I saw that on one of the online aviation event calendars. I even ordered Compton's Tow Plane Pilot manual and Transition to Gliding off of Bob Wander's link on the Marfa gliders website. Something I'm definitely interested in.

I'd like to go for the week myself. I wonder if they are set up for camping on the field. A little expensive to rent a car and stay in town for that length of time. But I'd enjoy working the flightline if they need the help.

 

[tonycondon]

Steve, I dont think you can pitch a Tent at the airport, but RV camping is allowed and encouraged. The airport is only like a mile or two from town, you could probably hitch a ride out in the morning with someone. Comptons Tow Plane manual is great, its the ONLY book on towing out there. Bob Wander is another all around good guy, a hell of an instructor and a blast to hang out with. Definitely give Burt an email and let him know you are interested, I bet he will try to work something out for you.

 

[Steve]

I'll drop him a line and see what shakes out. Unless they're prepared to support "out-of-town" volunteers I'd rather not press the issue to much, as organizers of events like these usually have a pretty full plate already.