Johan Gericke reporting from Ephrata on the JS1

Johan Gericke reports from Ephrata on the USA 18m nationals, where Dale Kramer (the comeback kid was the daywinner on Monday, and where the Bill Elliot, last year's champ, is in second place in the JS 1, a few points behind Tom Kelly (#711) - sorry Tom, my money is on Bill ;-)

"Greetings from Seattle

I have had an unusually interesting trip so far. Usually my trips are not much more than seeing the inside of hotels and conference rooms, which are the same everywhere. This time has been different.

In ten days I have had winter and summer and then winter and summer again. This morning it is winter, in the middle of summer. I have been on three continents and two islands. I have been in 10 different aircraft types, although three of those never took off.

I had Sunday and Monday off. In thise two days I flew a 1953 v-tail Beachcraft Bonanza (as P2, naturally) for over 200 km, helped to de-rig a DG1000 and driven many 100’s of kilometres – just exploring. On Monday alone I saw different landscapes of lakes, forested mountains, Karoo-like bush, harsh life-deprived rock and large rivers. I saw the shimmer of heat on a runway and snow on the mountains right next to the road in the middle of summer. In one day I used the heater in the car, the aircon on full blast and then the heater again. I have driven through the city listening to blues and jazz, through mountains listening to classical and through “corn” fields listening to hardcore country music:

We can take you for a ride on my big green tractor
We can go slow or make it go faster
Down through the woods and out to the pasture...

After this introduction, I would like to share the soaring highlight of yesterday. I drove out to a place called Ephrata (sounds like ‘freighter’ when the locals say it) which is where gliding happens around here in summer. When I got there I was somewhat surprised to find that the national 18m championships were happening. The field was just starting to launch. I was even more surprised, as I walked onto the launch area, to find myself next to an 18m ship with the contest call sign “JS1” boldly on the tail and “Revelation” on the side below the canopy. What surprised me most was how suddenly I felt proudly South African when I heard a few local pilots remark “Oh, that JS1’s b’n doin’ pretty good this week...”

The JS1 turned out to be S/N 2, apparently used as a marketing sample and lent to US glider pilot Bill Elliott for the duration of the contest. I helped out a bit at the launch point and saw it take off. A very promising Cu street stretched for miles in the direction of the day’s task. Cloud base later turned out to be 9000ft, over a 1200 ft runway. When the field was launched, and clearly no chance for me to get a flight on a contest day, I went exploring some more. I was back when the first gliders returned. One had landed out. The JS1 came back first after a 3.5 hour area task. I did not stay to see what the others did, but SeeYou showed an average climb rate of around 3.5 m/s in thermals and an average speed of over 150 km/h for the JS1. Bill was beaming.

Bill, who normally flies an ASW27, is not new to the JS1. He won the USA 18m Nationals in it last year in May. So far he is in second place this year. The contest ends on Thursday.

I took the opportunity to try on the JS1 cockpit for size. It’s good for at least my six-foot-one-and-half length. Bill is quite a bit shorter than I am, but needs more width, and is also happy with the cockpit. We were both impressed with the superb view over the shoulder. Bill confirms easy handling and super climbing performance. Even though it is only S/N 2, it nicely finished, not giving the impression of a prototype at all.

Related links:
http://www.jonkersailplanes.com/latestnews.htm

Today it is back to hotels and conference rooms for the rest of this week.

Fly safely.

Johan Gericke"

Dear Johan, i did some flying in #1 and you cannot tell that it is a prototype either, well finished and flies really well.
EY