Team selection is early to permit the team to practice together, select a team manager, raise funds, etc. That all takes a significant amount of time.

Congratulations to all pilots, just being there to represent yourself as the best in the nation is an accomplishment in itself. I wish I could have made it this year, but it wasnt in the cards. However it sounds like the weather wouldve induced much swearing from me

Jun, Mike, and King George, go USA 2013!

I see... I suppose even with the advance time that could prove quite a challenge if say Oleg had made the team with Jun and Mike. Still a year from now the top pilots in the country could be different guys. I suppose it's a good compromise giving the logistics.

Originally Posted by pocket rocket

USA just selected a great Team to go for the win in Denmark

Let's start the fund raising to get them there and show our support ...

... with fun(d)raiser(s) at SAGE!

Wow, you guys kept your fans jumpin back and forth to their computers all weekend! Really an exciting finish! (Wish it coulda been cabled like all those wanna-be sports like Soccer, Football, & stuff…) Great updates Kelsey!

Congratulations to everybody who flew, you're ALL winners! Super Congrats to Jun, Mike, and George! Amazing!

AND ...to the Juniors who’ll be carrying the flag for us next year!:
Alex Parkyn. (Helluva talented young guy we met this summer at our club contest! Nice job!)
Alex Trussel: (Long-term friend & good Buddy! …previously known as my “Nemesis!” … excellent flying Alex, see you soon I hope!)
Jason Friedman… (Most of us haven’t met you yet Jason, but all of our best to you during this year of prep!)

Barn

All three of the juniors surprised me this weekend. The progress is definitely showing. Alex T has been working on his launch and throws very nearly as high as the average senior pilots. He's clearly been flying more than I am.

Alex P has somewhat burst onto the scene and has tons and tons of potential. His high finish in the HPD (pre contest) and consistent improvement through the weekend in tough conditions showed that he's going to be a contender.

Jason, while not having a big launch has clearly been working with Skip and others a lot. He reminds me of some pure soaring pilots that I know. I watched him take a bagged ship out from about 20 feet to a speck downwind at least twice in this contest, and I believe he put some points on a few of the top sticks a couple of times. I'll forgive him for hitting me with the kite

We should have a considerable amount of excitement about our team and start up the support activities very very soon.

Congratulations to the senior team Jun, Mike and George and the junior team Alex, Alex and Jason.

I would also like to congratulate all of the guys who attended and gave these guys a run for the money. Hearing about the conditions and all they had to face, it was definitely a challenging contest.

I would also like to congratulate Mike Seid for being the runner up. I know we have not herd the last from you and the top honors are definitely within you grasp. Will be looking for you at future top podium spots in the time to come.

And finally I would like to express my condolences to Dick, his wife and family for their loss.

Sincerely,
Frank Nisita

Originally Posted by tom43004

All three of the juniors surprised me this weekend.... We should have a considerable amount of excitement about our team and start up the support activities very very soon.

Thanks for the detail about the juniors Tom! Sounds like they're a really a promising crew!

Barn

you guys get some rest and come and see us for Blues Skies Over Arizona. Good show for the whole team. flat land practice.

Wow, what a great way to spend a weekend. Long drive back to SLC and an early morning start at work has me rubbing my eyes. Big kudos and thanks to the whole Denver crew for putting on the event. That's a lot of work to do. This weekend put a lot of strain on the CDs (wind, rain and TFR delays) and Dave did a great job! And Kelsey as usual was johnny on the spot with the scores.

To all the pilots who travelled great distances to attend... thanks. It was a blast flying with you all. It was a bit intimidating to me to be standing out in the field listening to the coundown to launch, looking around to eye up the competition and realizing that EVERYONE on the field had the real potential to crush me if I didn't fly my best. I wish this country was a little smaller so we could all get together more often!

More later after I get a bit caught up here at work...

Congratulations to Team USA! Jun, Mike, and George what a great showing.

Team UT you did well, especially our fearless leader Mike M.!

Looks like a great contest although cut short. Glad you all got 16 rounds, sounds like just fyling was a battle.

Congratulations to our new team. I have flown with many of the "middle of the pack" flyers from this contest and they are some very formidable pilots. I'm sure the wins were well deserved.

Safe travles to all that are on their way home today.

Now lets hear some stories!!!

Austin

Hey guys - Great contest. It's amazing that the 90 percent mark of this contest reaches to 22nd place.

To better visualize how tight this contest really was, I've changed the display on the faisoaring.org standings page to show the score of the first place pilot, then the score for all other pilots as a delta relative to the prior pilot. To state it another way, this represents the number of points required to overtake the next best pilot.

Sam

Originally Posted by Mr. Wiz

Just curious, why do we select the team so far in advance of the worlds? I don't have any problem with it. I'm just wondering if there is a particular reason. Most sports don't choose their representives until just before the event. Look at the Olympic trials, for instance.

Wiz,

There are a ton of logistics involved for attending a world champs. It is unlikely, but some pilots it might be their first time ever traveling to a contest via airline. For others it could be their first contest outside the USA. Passports might have to be acquired and FAI licenses. The team has to select a team manager. And for this process typically resumes are submitted by the community so that will take a few months. Travel has to be figured out. People have to get time off work. F3K isn't the Olympics. These guys will have to ask off from their jobs and make this contest schedule work with their families. And most important the team needs to gel and work together as a team. It is possible the members of the team haven't really called for each other in the past so phone calls, Skype, emails, and in person contests/practices will be worked out amongst the team.

Honestly this team has less than a year to prepare for the 2013 Worlds and that time will go really quickly.



Ryan

The weather was...great!

Had the FAA not imposed the TFR, we would have flown 20 or 21 of the planned 23 rounds. The conditions were wonderfully varied and challenging, and sometimes no one in a heat would fly to the theoretical max, but as many or more times, you would look out and someone was returning from high and extreme visual range to max the current task.

For the two or three rounds we would have missed regardless, gust fronts blew through from distant and not so distant cumulonimbus systems, and we all raced to remove canopy tops, protect gliders, and shield our eyes.

Team Selection was...amazing. We have a great team for 2013. Congrats to the winners, and to the significantly large group of guys who had a real shot at the top three. I enjoyed flying with you, and had a super time.

See many of you soon at Blue Skies over Arizona.

Aradhana Singh