Vaughn Wins First New England Towing Championship

By Dennis Cavagnaro

As I got the word from both the tug pilots, I walked away from the crowd looking up at a beautiful blue New England sky.  The sky hinted a touch of early fall, warm winds but not hot, and a sun that seemed to be on cruise control.  We were approaching the end of a great flying summer, one that produced many good XC days, multiple personal bests and a new New England XC record!

But I found myself being quite stubborn. Like a child after a tasty dessert I wanted more, one more XC day…..

The contest had gone well. We had 20 pilots sign up for what was to be the first Tow Contest ever run in New England. It was the recommencing of our regional tournament after a few years of cold storage.  We had two rounds featuring a 19-mile triangle and   20 mile out and return in marginal late year XC conditions. We had 6 pilots new to XC sign up to get their first “landing out” experience. One of those novice flyers, Brian Boudreau got the first two turn points in his FIRST XC and came in 8^th for the day! He never could get the smile off his face and even though he landed, his feet never touch the ground.

The first day had its moments and as I released the first day I just had a sigh of relief that I was in the air and no worries. Then as I worked a thermal up I saw 14-year-old Crystal Winslow coring inside of me, scratching to get over Morningside and head for the first turn point. Wow! What is happening here?  We landed together in a hilly pasture hidden from view until you were right over it. She made her approach and landed like it was second nature….

I turned and walked back toward the pilot tent and called for a huddle with the task committee….

The second day was marginal and we looked to the next 3-day weekend for another two rounds.  Saturday was too strong but Sunday was excellent and we called for an out and return to Fall Mt. Launching was going slow and Steve Prepost, our Safety Director, was cracking the whip. After a few pilots rolled out I was turning to talk to Jeff Bernard when we heard a loud cold snap. I turned around to see my first canopy deployment in 27 years. It was scary as hell and we all held our breaths as our regional Director Doug Sharpe came spinning to the earth over the hill and out of view. Got to be right over the river, I thought. But if you weren’t a religious man, you might have reconsidered as Doug came down in a patch of brush between rocks and the Connecticut River, unharmed and ready to go shopping for a new wing.

Tell him to throw a new chute in while your at it Doug, good to see you at the party.

The task turned out to be more cross wind, and lift was hard to find on the way back. I got up to 5,500’, which was reportedly all there was to get.

I told the task group that the tug pilots were ready but they warned “it’s a hang 4 day Dennis, There will be LOCKOUTS!”

We knew it was over. The old risk / reward evaluation would simply say that this day if flown was not going to change the results or add any validity, that Mark Vaughn won both days and Jeff Bernard clearly in command of second place. Game, set, and match for Mark Vaughn.

Epilogue

I walked away a bit frustrated feeling defeated in getting the 3 rounds in. Then as I broke down my glider I saw Peter Klein, an old Hang Gliding buddy from the 70’s who got out of the sport and was just getting back into it. He was smiling and thanking me for helping put on the meet. I asked how he did yesterday and he said “I didn’t go anywhere but had my biggest altitude gain ever! It was great I fly around for hours!”

I smiled small victories I thought… it’s all about small victories.

Many thanks go to Jonny Benson and Kathy, Cary, Les and Keith for the tugs, my safety guy Steve Prepost, Gary for his help organizing and being the first on the scene for Doug. The task group of Tom, Bob, and Jim, Also never least to Dave “Tower of Power” Baxter, Big Jeff and Phil Haynes for making it all possible in the first place. They’re the guys who till the garden that grows the pilots

From the President

By John Arrison

Another flying season is nearing its end, in New England anyway. It has been a quiet year for the Club with no big controversies.

Accomplishments this year include repairs to the road at West Rutland and the return of the regional competition. Many thanks to Denny for doing a great job running regionals this year. In the past the responsibility of running the regionals has been rotated among the members. Let's think about who would be willing to run the regionals in 2002.

The club party at Ted's was a success. Although it was not soarable on the mountain, it didn't rain. About 125 people were in attendance. We do have two problems with the party: first, few people help with the set-up and clean-up; and second, the party costs a lot of money. We are going to have to discuss
these problems before next year.

Don't forget election of officers will take place at the October meeting. I'm sure that everyone is just itching to be an officer, and that all 180 members will be present. See you there!

Special Thanks

By Gary Trudeau

I would like to thank two of our members for stepping forward and taking charge of a large project that benefited all of us. The project was the access road to launch at West Rutland. The two members that stepped forward were Peter Kelly and Jim Bulno. Both Peter and Jim spent a lot of time arranging a contractor and supervising the project. The road came out great and we should all thank them when we see them.  Thanks Peter and Jim.

Rutland Turns on

By Crystal Winslow

This Saturday September 8 was epic at the Rut. After some stone-kicking at Morningside's parking lot a flock of pilots loaded up and we we're all off to the mountain.  Gary, my dad, and I we're one of the first to arrive at the top besides the paraglider pilots. I hiked my glider over to launch and began to set up in a not so wonderful spot. As I was starting to stuff battens Gary said,"Crystal you might not want to set up there because I can guarantee you'll get boxed in." I moved my glider to a better spot when I was finished setting up and by now everyone had arrived. The paragliders we're launching and I went over and sat around watching them just barely stay up on the ridge. I was also watching one of the PG pilots coming in to top land and having a not-so-graceful tree landing. It was about 12:00 when the lift and the wind totally died and I watched in horror as all of the paragliders sank out. At about 1:00 I was getting my gear ready to go. The lift started to build and the paragliders were starting to soar again.  We launched one hang glider and I watched it sink out. Then we fetched another couple of victims to go. I watched them start soaring. It was now 2:00 and I was next. I walked up onto launch with Gary and Ron as my wire crew {Thanks}. The cycles were only about 3 seconds long; every time I would pick up my glider the cycle would be gone. Finally I saw the trees calming down about 300 ft down the ridge, I picked my glider up and just ran for it. My wings weren't level but I pulled the nose in and ran as hard as possible. I was off onto the ridge at 2:10 and stayed as close to it as I dared. I started gaining and when I came around the spine I found that I was level with launch. I turned back into the bowl and when I came back again I found that I was now about 100ft above launch. Then as soon as I got a teeny bit closer to the ridge I started to climb rapidly. I started gaining 550fpm consistently. The highest I got above launch was about 1300ft. After I soared with all of the hang gliders and paragliders for a few hours I looked around and realized the only pilots left in the air were Stevie, Ken, Aric, and a few paraglider pilots. Around 5:00 I once again looked around and saw only a handful of people on the ridge. I was looking at the gliders trying to figure out who was still up and I saw Stevie...flying with his feet HAHAHA.  At 6:00 I began to get sharp pains in my wrists. It was almost unbearable but I was going to go for one more hour despite this because I would need the experience for going XC and soaring Ascutney. I saw Gary on the launch and though he was either trying to get me to come down or he was launching. I continued flying and used the rear cables to steer {just experimenting}  After my watch beeped at 7:00 I decided I had enough and knew that, since Gary wasn't on the mountain, he would be down in the LZ waiting for me to land. I stuffed the bar and buzzed past launch to see if there was anybody in the setup area...It was completely empty. I did a few wingovers and continued to the LZ. I flew up the highway,  SE down the LZ, and set up my approach. I got my legs out of my boot and was surprised that I couldn't feel them. At this point I decided to wheel in to save me some pain and a possible nose in. I had a nice roll in and walked the glider over to the breakdown area where Gary said,” Well it’s about time you landed!" It was very fun, Thanks everyone!   

New Rules for Africa LZ

By Gary Trudeau

  The officers of the VHGA would ask all of it members to take note of the new rules for landing in the field we call Africa. The officers were forced to make a new rule regarding the exiting of this field. We are now to exit the field by the southwest corner not by the northwest corner near the pond. Exiting by the southwest corner will bring you onto the road just a little further up than the old way. This rule is in response to some of our members still driving down the driveway of the home owner. This LZ is very important to the club and we do not want to put the right to land there in jeopardy. Please remember this is the bailout LZ not the main LZ. Thanks  

Becoming Bywingal

By Gary Trudeau

Most of us have talked about becoming bywingal at one time or another. Yes flying both hang gliders and paragliders. But how many of us actually follow up on it? After years of talking about it I finally took the first step to become bywingal. I bought a paraglider last winter. I would recommend taking a lesson at Morningside instead of buying one, but I knew I might not follow up on it if I only took a lesson.

Well here I find myself with a paraglider and not trying to learn how to fly it. Before I knew it was September and I have not even taken it out of the bag. Well I told myself I had to stop making excuses and start forcing myself to learn to fly it. At this time I should have just taken a lesson to get myself on the right track. But being as pig headed as I am, I thought I could teach myself. Well let me tell you it is not as easy as some of my friends make it look. I made more than my share of mistakes. I think the only thing that saved me were that almost every paraglider pilot was more than willing to help me a little and let me know when I was doing something wrong. But then again they might have been getting a kick out of watching this hang 4 make a fool out of himself. Ha Ha.

A friend told me that I needed to learn to ground the glider more than anything. So even before I went to try to launch the glider I found myself practicing ground handling. After several days of just practicing ground handling I decided that I needed to try to get it in the air. I went part way up the training hill and tried to launch the glider. Friend who were there got a real good laugh out of that. Thank God for a couple friends and Jeff for giving me some advice to get me started or I might still be there on the hill making a fool of myself.

I knew if I could get the glider in the air I could figure out how to fly it. But then again my paragliding friends have given me a hundred lessons just I never had a glider in my hands. I made my share of mistakes but I picked it up fairly quick. I believe my hang gliding experience gave be the basics that new student has to learn.

In a little less than a month I found myself launching form the top of Morningside and soaring few hundred feet above launch. After that I started thinking about getting my rating and maybe going to West Rutland. I still got a lot to learn but I am on my way.

In the beginning of the article I wrote about most of us talk about becoming bywingal. Well why not. This goes both ways hang glider pilots learning paragliding and paragliding pilots learning hang gliding. It will defiantly give you a new respect for the pilots flying the other type of wing. But do it the right way take a lesson from Jeff at Morningside.

To finish up I got a laugh from a hang gliding friend of mine while standing on launch at Morningside on day. He said “Us hang glider pilots think that paraglider pilots launches are atrocious but then again they think our landings are”

Thanks From Cirrus Corp.

By Pete Judge

We the members of Cirrus Corp. (Pete Judge, Matt Carr, Brooks Ellison, Tim Donavan, Collette Carlson, and Jeff Porter) would like to thank the members of the VHGA for their support and generous donation to help defray the cost of the taxes on the bailout landing zone of the Mohawk Trail. We encourage you to come down and fly this wonderful site with us.

Again thanks from all of us.

My First XC

By Crystal Winslow

Well as all of you probably know I had my first X/C this summer, but I decided to write a story about it {since a few suggested} Saturday morning {after some debating} I joined the ranks in the Regionals and got my place as 16th to tow. When my turn came up I jumped onto the cart with my snazzy speed sleeves and hooked up. I got the o.k. and I was off. Jimmy was right in front behind Les in the flightstar tug. At around 2000' I released at about the same altitude as Jimmy, then started thermalling in a weak 120-180' and got to about 2200'. The thermal that we were in started diminishing so I continued to the top of Morningside but by the time I got there I was at about 1400'with no lift to work I began to tell myself to go off and land so I could maybe have another chance. But on the way back I hit a thermal that was at a steady 250 fpm. I started thermalling and in a matter of minutes I was back at 2000' I looked back and found that there were a few more gliders coming to join me {including Dennis in his ATOS} While I was thermalling I found that I fell off to the side of the thermal and was at the bottom of the stack. So I flew over to the gaggle but at the time with only 1300'. I continued to thermal and got to the top of the gaggle, but then I fell over the side again and ended up at about 700'. I was flying with Stevies radio {thanks} and heard some crackling noises coming from it, but considering it was in my pocket and I was setting up an approach, I thought nothing of it. Come to find out it was Gary telling me to come back to Morningside. At the moment I was looking at a possible bailout LZ just before the intersection where you turn to go to Ascutney. But as I was setting up for an approach I hit another thermal and went back up to 2000' I got back into the gaggle and continued towards Green Mountain. As I was flying over the town I began to once again sink out. I had my eye on the soccer field but at the altitude I was flying I wouldn't be able to make it. So at that point I began to look for a bailout field. I saw a few large open areas that I could land in, but I hit a thermal and got back at altitude enough so I could make the soccer field. At this time I was approaching arrowhead {behind the Claremont middle school} and I was at about 400' over the top. The Ultra Sport, Litespeed, and ATOS all landed in an uphill field behind arrowhead and since I was beginning to sink out I decided I would land with them. After they all went down I flew over the right side of the field and turned straight up the middle of the LZ and landed next to Dennis. I was told that flight was 3.75 miles, not a long XC but it was awesome to me. Thanks Steve and Dennis for letting me fly the meet.

Plymouth Warning

By Nicola Cauchy

In August, I had a conversation with Dennis Hayden who is a resident at 71 Sanderson Dr., in Plymouth. Dennis asked me to pass on his concern over our intrusions in his privacy. His home is one of those mid-way to the gap just North of the main cliff, and Dennis feels deprived of his privacy when some of us fly much too close to his home, in fact "right  through his back yard" (which includes the dune itself in the limits of his property) and just at window-level.

Dennis asks that we please avoid all low-altitude flight along that section of the cliff, adding that his neighbors share the same concern. While they understand that we sometimes loose lift and have little choice but to head off the beach, then gliding past their windows, they request that we refrain from flying below the levels of the roof ridges and that we remain horizontally as far away as safely practicable from their windows.

Please pass on the message to anyone whom you think may be concerned. Let's keep paragliding and hang gliding in Plymouth beautiful and happy for all!

Hang Glider Parachute Deployment & Life Saving Recovery

By Doug Sharpe

I was rolled out to tow. I was number two in the lineup so there was a lot of anticipation by lots of pilots about their up and coming flights. In my Wills Wing HPAT I had been advised to fly with my “Digital” VG ON.

Every thing checked out and I waved to go on tow. Kerry Lloyd was tow pilot in the Moyes dragonfly tug plane. The tow plane headed north climbing out to the right heading toward the river from Morningside.  I noted moderate thermal turbulence on climb as several times I had to climb up to where the plane got lifted to and then several times I had to descend down to where the tow plane went down to. This process did not bother me. We kept turning right and headed over the knoll to the west of Morningside heading toward the gravel pit and west and toward the river. Eventually, the plane began to turn left back toward Morningside. At this point the plane was approx 1600 ft. AGL. As the plane turned right my nose came off tow a bit to the right. I immediately jumped on the left side of the control bar to try and weight shift control the glider back to being on tow.  In an HPAT glider when the VG is on 100 percent this can be hard to do. I have experienced this same difficult turn correction phenomena in thermal flying where I could lower nose pitch to help recover, or just go with the turn, but on tow this was not possible. I believe jumping on the control frame to the left might have caused a yawing turn but not a rolling turn.  Under tow my nose attitude was high and I believe there is a position with the glider in this situation where it can be very difficult to recover a turn that has started as it was with the VG on.  I believe it might have been possible to correct this situation before it accelerated if I had flipped the VG lever off. This would have given me the better turn control to the left to allow me to get out of the situation of the nose starting to go off to the right. Anyway I did not think to take the VG off. Also, I knew taking the VG 100 percent off in that glider can cause other towing issues. It causes the glider to yaw right and left. At times, this can also make it difficult to control for other reasons and if this happened you would want to put the VG back on again. I have done tows under both ways with mixed results at different times. I felt most comfortable trying to leave the VG on and attempting to resolve the nose right attitude.

Anyway, I found myself in a nose to the right off tow attitude with the turn to the right appearing to be getting worse. I could feel the glider wing loading increasing. I had expected that if it got too strong my weak link would just break and I’d go off tow. This has happened before. In retrospect, I could and perhaps should have hit the tow release lever at that point and consciously dropped off tow.  At the time this was happening I didn’t believe the pressures were such that there was a real problem.

As I veered off to the right, I suddenly got into a position where my bank angle accelerated very quickly from 20 –30 degrees to 90 to 100 degrees. As this was occurring I heard a loud popping sound, which I believe was the Keel tub failing. Before I knew it I had rolled right over and the glider began to tumble and spin and I knew the glider frame was broken. I think for a moment my body was being spun around quite a bit. My recollection of it is clear, it did not feel jolting but rather like a rhythmic swinging around in circles as the glider spun. I knew I was spinning in circles, and I could see the horizon.  I remember thinking in the past when I have practiced throwing reserves in reserve deployment clinics how will I know if I should really throw the reserve or not.  In the situation I was in, I was surprised because it was so crystal clear that the chute needed to be thrown. I did not even hesitate in my decision to throw for a second. The delay that I experienced between failure to chute deployment was related to how I was initially flung around and me needing to get my arms in a position were I felt I could throw. The tow pilot said it took between 8–12 seconds for my chute to deploy and I estimate that I lost 600 ft. in that time.

I remember being in a head slightly down position with my feet up against the sail looking upwards at the wing tip. I remember looking down, looking at the horizon, seeing my spin, then looking up and grabbing my chute handle, pulling it out and then tossing it upwards and to the right and seeing it deploy. My next thought was Jesus it&rsquo;s awful small. But it was all I could do, and I think it helped slow my decent enough to save my life compared to what would have happened without it. After the chute was out I straitened out with my legs pointing down to the ground.  Apparently during the throw I caught my right arm in the deployment line or my harness lines.  I tried to get it out by pulling as hard as possible at least 3 successive times. But I could not get it free. I was quite worried that having been caught would be bad upon landing as it could pull my arm very hard. I remember looking down and seeing my self approaching the tree canopy below. I had no directional control and I was going in where ever I came to the trees.  I finally stopped trying to deal with my arm and tried to get prepared for going into the trees. I remember thinking &ldquo;Hear we go&rdquo;  I was more afraid of going into the trees and hitting branches and or being skewered by some branches or hitting a solid tree trunk mass. I could not see through the canopy to what was below.  I believe at this point I was probably falling somewhere between 15 to 20 mph down as the parachute canopy was to small to slow me down to a slower speed. In retrospect I will be getting a bigger HG Parachute that will give me a decent rate that is slow enough to let me down on hard ground at a speed slow enough to prevent bone breakage (<20ft per sec.)  

It was very fortunate that I landed in the trees as the tree canopy retarded my fall. Had I landed on open ground I believe I would have seriously been injured with the small chute I had.  The tow pilot, Kerry indicated he saw my glider stop on the canopy, and he saw my parachute land and deflate on top of the glider. It then slid through, the last part being my chute which he said he then saw slip through the trees. No doubt, I was then falling though fairly dense tree limbs (mixed woods of Maple above and Hemlock lower down.). There were enough dense limbs to soften my fall and no large thick limbs that I could see.

I landed on the side of an earthen embankment that was soft earth with ferns. It was a miracle as the slope edge I landed on was 45 degree slope down to a dry river bed. This now doubt also helped soften my fall. I landed on my left side with my feet out of my pod harness. I was amazed to find myself basically unhurt when I came to a stop. I felt sure before I went through the canopy that something was going to happen to me.

After this I was able to get up. Before getting out of my harness I radioed back to persons at Morningside that I was OK.  Having the radio in this situation was a HUGE value. As I was able to communicate my condition to rescuers. It also enabled my wife and others back at launch to know that I had not been severely injured. Lastly, it helped rescuers determine my location faster.

Next I got out of my harness with my radio, and began looking around to figure out where I was. Where I came down it was dark woods and I could not see anything but woods. To the North I thought I heard a road and I walked over some very rough terrain to come out in the backyard of a guy with a trailer on 28 OxSide Road. (This is the road across from the convenience store on the other side of the field west of Morningside.)

I was able to wait for rescuers to come and help me get out of the woods.

Marlin Stevenson, Gary Trudeau, Jim McNutt and several other helpful others pilots were part of the groups to get me recovered. As I waited I remember just being amazed and thankful to the Lord that I had not been injured.

Finally, we were able to photograph, and then wrap up the glider, which was totaled, and put it on a truck to take it back to Morningside.

Right after the accident I was quite dazed. I suffered no broken bones, I got quite body bruised. On my right lower leg I got a fair shin bruise, on my ribs I got a fair bruise, on my left rear end I got few sticks pokes. My flight suit suffered two holes, but miraculously I was mostly unhurt.

I did find that many of my bruises didn&rsquo;t show up till that night when I was quite stiff. I think the adrenaline was running quite high after this incident. And it is amazing how that can mask various pains.

Thanks to all that were helpful in my recovery!

Lessons Learned:

1. Get a big enough parachute to set you down at a speed on flat ground so as to not break bones, < 20 ft. per sec.
2. If you have hard landings and failed down tubes get your keel carefully inspected too.
3. Make sure annuals get done yearly and have the tubing inspected carefully. 
4. Just because a sail looks new or lines on it appear clean doesn&rsquo;t mean that the glider may not have a problem.
5. Discuss and understand better the effects of VG on towing.
6. Always fly with a radio.
7. Be aware of any bulletins or notices that the manufacturer may have put out on the model glider you have

2001 Region 8 Regionals

"GO FOR THE CHEESE"

By Steve Prepost

            This years Region 8 Regional competition had a lot of firsts. The first thing that I must mention is that this meet was the first ever-New England towing competition in history. Thanks to the man that brought towing to New England, Jon Benson and his newly formed business New England Aero Sports. He saved competitors many backbreaking hikes to Mt. Ascutney. Also many thanks to Les Taft and Keith Murray who also volunteered their services.    

                Dennis Cavagnaro had a vision of our Regionals a month or so ago and needed a safety director volunteer. I quickly volunteered, unknowing of the amount of energy and dedication putting on a competition would require. It boggles my mind to think of the organizing involved in a comp. like the Wallaby Open.

                We set aside the weekend of August 25, 26 and the following Labor Day weekend of September 1, 2, 3 to try to complete 3 rounds of competition. Unfortunately, flying in New England has its disadvantages and we only got to complete 2 rounds. But, everyone was present at the pilots meetings with enthusiasm ready to fly and cover some miles. 22 competitors of all ages flying gliders of all classes entered our contest. A handicap was instilled in our scoring to make everything fair. All scores were based on mileage to the nearest tenth times the glider handicap. We set two classes for pilot experience. Open Class and Novice Class. This brings me to another first. We had 6 Novice class competitors decide to go for the cheese in our first round and land out on course. One of those is Crystal Winslow our youngest pilot at age 14. She placed third in her class for that awesome flight.             

                For Round one the Task Committee, who did a great job setting realistic tasks by the way, made a triangle our first task. From Morningside Flight park head north to the Towers on Green Mountain then East to the Bridge in Kellyville and back SW to Morningside. . It was a great day for a comp. A typical blue thermal day. The launch window was opened at 1:00 and the first launch was 1:11 then like a newly greased machine every 4 or so minutes we launched all pilots until 2:30. Most pilots made the second turn point but quickly sunk out bucking a headwind back. Congrats to Mark Vaughn the only Pilot to complete the task of 18.8 miles.

                Round 2 was an out and return with the turn point being an intersection of Rt 12 and 12A right before Fall Mountain, a 20.2-mile task. Conditions that day appeared to turn on earlier then usual. The launch window opened at 12:45 and Mark V. launched at 12:54. Then our second pilot Doug Sharpe, also our Regional Director, launched at 1:04. I attended to the next pilots Bob Corbo and Dan Macmonagle when another first in Morningside history happened. At roughly 1:10 Doug&rsquo;s glider failed under tow and he had to throw his parachute. With the launch window temporarily closed we all gazed skyward as Doug&rsquo;s wreckage rotated under his canopy. He managed to land in the trees unharmed with only minor scratches. He immediately contacted us on radio and the retrieval quickly found him. After inspection of the wreckage and discussion with Doug we found that his keel had been damaged with a hairline crack from a previous hard landing that required a new downtube and an annual was years overdo. That incident should be a lesson to all pilots to thoroughly check all parts after a hard landing and to follow your gliders maintenance schedule. After reopening the launch window and getting all pilots aloft, the comp. proceeded as planned. Most pilots sunk out at Morningside and attempted a reflight. The ones that managed to get up and away had to use every trick in their pilot bag of tricks to cover some ground. With the longest flight of 13.33 miles Mark Vaughn again one that round. He must have some pixy dust in his bag of tricks.

                Round 3 was a valiant effort made by all. We all set up our gliders and some early towing was going on. The task committee set an open distance task. The day seemed against us from the beginning. An inversion at 3000ft, forecasted strong winds, concerns that the tow plane needed a rotary seal installed, groggy pilots from the evenings festivities. At 1:15 after a meeting of the tug pilots and task committee we decided to call the meet due to conditions. It would&rsquo;ve been unsafe for more then half of our competitors to attempt to tow in the conditions that developed while we were setting up. 

                After a couple hours of breaking down gliders and chatting we awarded the trophies. A cooler of beer donated from the VHGA Party at Teddy&rsquo;s the night before came in handy for the celebration. Mark Vaughn, Jeff Bernard, and Myself (Steve Prepost) took the stairs for first, second and third place trophies in the Open class. The Novice class winners were Dan Macmonagle, Brian Boudreau, and Crystal Winslow. Congrats to all competitors for "Going for the cheese"!

There I Was Thinking I Was Going to Land