OHIO VALLEY SOARING SERIES 1999

Marc Gellart, OVSS Coordinator

Lima, Ohio

1999 is beginning a bit on the cold side in the Ohio Valley, but the coming soaring season is on the horizon and the forecast is for good thermals and great competition. After the inaugural 1998 season, the Ohio Valley Soaring Series is back for it’s second year of supporting the contest flier in the Ohio Valley.

With the help of the Ohio Valley’s great RC soaring clubs, such as the League Of Flight by Thermals in Ft. Wayne, Indiana; the Dayton Area Thermal Soarers in Yellow Springs, Ohio; the Cincinnati Soaring Society in Cincinnati, Ohio; the Bluegrass Soaring Society in Lexington, Kentucky; and the Louisville Area Soaring Society in Louisville, Kentucky, OVSS has brought a focus to competition by supporting and rewarding the competition pilot. In addition to these great organizations, the soaring and radio control industry is lending it’s support even at this early date with donations by DJ Aerotech, SR Batteries, and Skybench Aerotech towards the year end participant raffle that will be held at the new LOFT/OVSS Fall Round Up at AMA’s National Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana. With the addition of the Fall Round Up, there will be seven contests that will be part of the OVSS in 1999. They are:

May 22 & 23 - CSS Memorial Contest - Duane Bentley CD

June 5 & 6 - LOFT Weekend - Mike Remus and Bob Steele CD’s

July 10 & 11 - LASS Nats Warm Up - Ed Wilson CD

July 29 &30 - AMA Nats

August 14 & 15 - DARTS Man-On-Man Challenge - Bob Massmann and Jerry Shape CD’s

August 21 & 22 - BSS Mid-American Championship - Buzz CD

September 4 & 5 - LOFT/OVSS Fall Round Up - Marc Gellart CD

Just as in 1998, the rules for OVSS will basically remain the same, including no cost to fly the series (but any contributions are gladly accepted to defray expenses). The only change will be that since there are six contest weekends and the Nats involved, a flier will have seven scoring opportunities with his or her best five normalized scores to count. To review the rules concerning scoring, please examine the accompanying attachment for all the 1999 rules. Also attached is the 1999 Application for Scoring that a new flier will need to fill out and either mail, fax, or e-mail the information to Marc Gellart at the addresses given on the form. All fliers that were signed up in 1998 are automatically on the 1999 list.

Again this year, there will be the year end participant raffle* with even more products and prizes for only the fliers of OVSS. Fliers earn chances for the raffle for each contest day they fly. So, for 1999, a flier can have thirteen chances in the raffle if they have flown all the contest days in the series for the year. Last year Don Harris of Columbus, Ohio won the DJ Aerotech 2M Monarch in the raffle and was also the first Season Champion. It could have not been won by a more deserving and great sailplane pilot.

If you are a competition orientated pilot, take up the challenge of OVSS and come out and fly with the best in the Ohio Valley.

*OVSS Coordinator is not eligible for any year end participant raffle prizes.