Hang-gliding championships get underway
by Karen Smith, Reno Gazette, Reno, Nevada
27 Jun 1985, Thu, Page 3
When summer comes to the Owens Valley, so do the hang-glider pilots flying their metal, Fiberglas and nylon wings off California's highest mountains to land in Nevada's deserts.
It's time for the Owens Valley's annual hang-gliding meet, drawing the best pilots from all over the world in an event in which watchers on the ground can also participate.
This year's championship meet began Wednesday and runs through July 11 and consists of two parts, each named for pioneering valley pilots killed in recent years in ultralight crashes.
The George Worthington Memorial Open runs until Wednesday. Any pilot with a U.S. Hang Gliding Association Association advanced rating can enter, and the pilots will launch from Gunter Mountain north of Bishop and from Mazourka Peak east of Independence.
The field will gradually be narrowed so the top pilots will compete in part 2, the Don Partridge Memorial Classic scheduled July 4-11. The top 30 pilots will launch from Cerro Gordo east of Keeler for the first three days, then the remaining 20 pilots will fly from Walt's Point in Horseshoe Meadows southwest of Lone Pine for the finale.
The competition has always been a cross-country format, with each day's flight a "point A to point B" goal. The scoring format has been refined each year since the first in 1978, said Meet Director Rick Masters, moving from running time totals to a simple one point scored for each mile flown.
"We're basically trying to develop the ultimate glider," Masters said. To that end, he thinks Larry Tudor's 221-mile 221-mile record between Horseshoe Meadows and the Shoshone Range of Nevada set in 1983 is about to fall. He did a 138-mile tuneup the other day, and Woody Woodruff of Colorado, who will fly in this year's event, did 175 miles a week ago.
"This is the greatest place in the world for hang-gliding, because the mountain ranges provide fantastic fantastic lift," Masters said. "The best pilot in the world is the guy who can fly the farthest from the Owens Valley."
Although this year's field still isn't set, pilots tend to just show up and enter on the first day. Masters already knows eight of Japan's top gliders will participate, including Masahiro Minegishi and Yoshi-katsu Tonomura, the Nos. 1 and 2 pilots.
From West Germany will come Rainer Scholl, a mechanical engineer known for his self-designed, technologically advanced gliders, and from Brazil will come Marcos Chamoun.
Top American pilots expected are Jim Lee, the 1982 winner, and Rick Rawlings, the current national champion. Bishop's Dave Grah and Britt Wuest are the two likely local entries, Masters said. Earthbound travelers along major highways and state routes in both states can even get in the act by acting as landing witnesses.
"We really encourage the public to get involved and help the pilots," Masters said. "If you're driving and see a pilot and glider down, wave at him. If he holds his hand up like you did in school when you knew an answer, he wants you to stop. If he waves back, he has his witnesses already and doesn't need help."
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Note: Some of the people mentioned did not compete. -- RM
