This was not even half of the beautiful planes that were pitted on the field.

Club in Focus

Southwest Soaring Society

This is our second in an ongoing series of articles which is intended to raise interest in, and awareness of local grassroots RC soaring clubs. Would you like to be featured here and our Clubs page? Let us know! — Ed.

The 2022 F5J Southwest Classic — held at the beautiful soaring park known as Silent Wings Ranch located in Maricopa, Arizona and home of Southwest Soaring Society (SWSS) — was one to be attended, livestreamed, or read about.

Held in temperatures that to most in the United States were only a distant anticipation as cold fronts ripped through most of the country, on this weekend we were blessed with beautiful skies, and acres of grass purposely planted for RC soaring only. It was a tad bit windy on Saturday as a front was blowing by, but it was not intolerable and far below our limits. Sunday was a nice day with low breezes and thermal activity. At times huge thermals stormed past and allowed an elevator to those who could find it and/or be brave enough to put their plane into a swirling cloud of desert sand and whatever else the quickly moving spirals sucked up.

Left: This was a section of the north side. | Right: And the south side.

Also this being an F5J USA Tour Series event, people came from all over the United States to attend for points and as this also will be the site of the 2022 F5J USA Team Selects many also used this as a precursor for that event.

Sixty-two pilots competed in the event making it the largest F5J tour event ever held in the United States and it was a very difficult event as many of the nation’s top F5J pilots were in attendance.

Left: Co-Contest Director and Founder of the F5J USA Tour Series Chris Bajorek along with timer Randy West. | Right: Like a swarm of locusts at launch.

The backdrop of the beautiful Arizona desert mountains was a great canvas to watch incredible pilots battle and attempt to squeeze every inch of altitude out of their very light flying pieces of fine art. Even the winner had to deal with difficulties as he lost a model due to a midair. There were a few other midairs but all-in-all for the mass amount of planes (for which there were 13 lanes) it was an incredibly safe and well run event with no stoppages as it ran seemlessly thanks to Contest Directors Chris Bajorek and Tim Johnson and the pilots who were ready as the timer went off.

This event shows the strength of the growing popularity and the stronghold F5J has taken in the competitive sailplane world as more and more people are finding interest not only in the incredibly sculpted carbon fiber models of F5J but also in the extreme competition.

Left: Thumbs up from competitor Tuan Le. | Right: Charlie Morris and his prototype Phoenix which performed well given this contest was its maiden.

This event for me at least was those things above and also a reunion, a band of like-minded folks that shared an incredible weekend of friendship and flying. As I continue to experience these wonderful events I can liken it to attending a Grateful Dead concert (for those old enough to know who they were!) If you haven’t had that experience, let me explain. Going to the event itself is a meeting point, a reason to attend an event hours or maybe days or even an airline flight away. Usually on Friday nights there is a barbeque. Within the visitors community, if you need anything and ask, anyone who has it will make it available to you. It is a place to grow friendships and to grow your advanced knowledge of aerodynamics, theory, and meteorological events. The big difference, of course, is no Grateful Dead concert I ever attended featured incredibly light, nimble gliders that float on the lightest of lift. I always look forward to the next gathering of glider guiders.

Left: The backdrop to the field is of postcards, mountainous with bright blue skies. | Right: Eventual winner Jon Garber focusing on his flight.

Speaking of which, the next major event that will be held at the Ranch will be October 28–30, 2022 which is the F5J USA Team Selects.

Also, if you missed it, the amazing crew of SWSS did an incredible job facilitating a very well done and also first livestream that was held through the club YouTube page (see Resources) and attracted those who were unable to attend.

Left: The Top 5 trophies turned out beautifully. | Right: John Armstrong and Gavin Trussell.

SWSS has put vast effort creating a beautiful and safe field and they invite you to come and or join. We will see you at the next event!

More about the Club

The home of SWSS is set amongst the hills and desert near Maricopa, Arizona and is newly formed, with memberships starting on March 1, 2021. The idea originated with Justin Rizor who has a deep love for this hobby. So much so that he purchased a plot of land that reminded him of something he had seen in Spain and named it similarly: The Silent Wings Ranch or simply The Ranch. This purpose-built, RC soaring-only facility has sprawling open areas to fly, acres and acres of grass, its own weather station and many more state-of-the-art additions. The Ranch has its own water source and pump to keep the lawn green all year long. There are also two shade structures and many more improvements coming in the near future.

SWSS membership is already up to 54 pilots. These are incredibly talented individuals that make SWSS a force at every contest in which they compete. The club currently is focused on F5J, E-F3K/F3K (a format they are at the forefront of, combining both classes as they compete together) F3RES and Aerotow but all gliders are welcome. We do have an occasion to use the winch as well at times. We encourage you to follow us on our website, Facebook page (see Resources below) and/or join us and receive notifications of everything going on. We also travel to other clubs and post those events as well.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the contest sponsors Soaring USA and Soaring Lab for contributing to this incredible event and all of its volunteers.

©2022 Ken Becker

Resources

• Southwest Soaring Society (website)
• Southwest Soaring Society (YouTube)
• Southwest Soaring Society (Facebook)
• F5J Tour — From the website: “Welcome to the F5J contest clearinghouse for USA events. We hope this site helps F5J contesters connect with more events.”
• Soaring USA — From the website: “Our goal is to offer you the largest collection of top quality models from around the world. We offer these at the best possible prices, and hope that you will find our site easy to use…”
• My Southwest Classic F5J 2021 Experience — An independent write-up of the F5J Southwest Classic by Ryan Woebkenberg which appeared in the March, 2021 issue of the New RC Soaring Digest.

All images provided by the Southwest Soaring Society membership. Read the next article in this issue, return to the previous article in this issue or go to the table of contents. A PDF version of this article, or the entire issue, is available upon request.