When someone asked for volunteers to run this year’s XC contest, evidently I stammered, so it appears it’s now my problem. I’m honored, really.

After some discussion during AZHPA and SAHGA meetings, here are the parameters for the 2016 XC contest:
• Qualifying flights must originate in Arizona during the calendar year 2016.
• 3 classes: Beginning PG, Experienced PG, HG
• Entry fee: $10
• Prizes: based on total fees; likely a t-shirt for the winner of each class
• Scoring: best five qualified flights for each pilot, as scored by Leonardo

Please send your registration fees to me (and designate the class you are entering):
• via PayPal at j_r_wolfe@msn.com
• parchment check via overland stagecoach at 11488 N. Ingot Loop, Tucson, AZ 85737
• cash when you see me

Details on scoring will follow in another post, once I get it sorted out. In the meantime, if you don’t already have an account on Leonardo, please create one (it’s free) at http://www.paraglidingforum.com/. If you think you’ll have difficulty pulling your track log and posting it on Leonardo (not to mention any names here, but one of our local instructors comes to mind), please contact me, and I’ll be happy to provide instruction via phone, screen-sharing, etc. If you can fly a PG or HG, you can pull a track log and upload it.

If I’ve missed something important or you have suggestions for this year’s contest, please post them here. The goal is to include everyone who has even the slightest interest in flying cross country, so if some aspect of the contest is putting you off from joining us, please let me know.

Separately, if there is interest, I’m always happy to set and score race-to-goal tasks whenever there are enough pilots flying the same site on a given day. Please let me know if you want me to designate some weekends throughout the season as league-meet days on which we’ll try (a little harder than usual) to converge on one site. These league events will be scored separately and will not affect the coveted rankings of the annual XC contest.

By the way, Aaron and I had a couple good flights last weekend from Box Canyon to St. David, so the season is clearly off to an early and promising start. I look forward to seeing you in the air, tallying your scores, and reading your stories. Get high, go far, and land safely.