In my opinion, the soft surface makes the climb about twice as difficult as climbing a hard surface hillside. Therefore I'm going to credit him with physically climbing about 5,000 feet, carrying the glider, while making over 100 flights to the beach.
The official judge was Joe Faust who kept a meticulous record of each flight. Recording time of day, some wind speed, length of launch run and distance out on the beach for the landings. I made a video record of the significant milestone flights. I'll post a link to the videos later.
Whereas, Bob could have benefitted from landing close to the hill to eliminate a deep sand walk back, before beginning the climb. he attempted to get as far out as possible each time and during periods of higher wind he would use some ridge lift for longer flights.
The reason I say it was over 100 flights is because I left after making a video of the 100th flight (I was getting cold in the evening sea breeze) and Bob was still making flights.
Congratulations to BobK,








Frank C.