The 2022 International Hand Launch Glider Festival
Sixty-two DLG pilots in Poway, California make for far more than a two day event.
The Torrey Pines Gulls (TPG) in San Diego, California has a long relationship with 1.5m hand launch gliders. In October of 1994 the TPG established the first two-day contest for javelin-launched gliders, including various unique tasks. Over time, while the launch method morphed into discus launch, the FAI established the F3K category including many of the tasks developed by TPG. Thanks to many sponsors and a great collection of dedicated pilots, TPG was able to donate proceeds from the annual event to the USA F3K team. Everything was going along great until the pandemic precluded hosting the event in 2020 and 2021. However, on April 23 and 24, 2022, the TPG held the 27th edition of the contest with 62 pilots in attendance representing the USA, Germany, Philippines, Canada, China, and South Africa. Additionally, for the first time the IHLGF was also an FAI F3K World Cup event, drawing even greater attention.
IHLGF is actually far more than a two day event. The fun begins on the Thursday prior to the IHLGF with an informal meet-up at a local rib joint. On Friday, the field is prepared and used for open flight testing before a taco fiesta hosted by TPG on the field. The contest witnessed eight rounds of flying on Saturday and another four on Sunday morning before a four round flyoff between the top 12 competitors. A silent auction held during the event included KST and MKS servos, a new Medina 2m RES aircraft from ArmSoar and a Concept CX5 from Concept/Stream Team Models. Other sponsors included Spektrum, Horizon Hobby, and SoaringUSA. Kindly, PurpleAir (operated by Adrian Dybwad of F3KMaster fame) covered the cost of pizza on the field Saturday night and offered matching funds for a portion of the auction proceeds.
The inland location of the flying site in Poway just east of San Diego normally provides dynamic conditions throughout the day. This year, however, the Thermal Gods displayed just about everything Poway has to offer in one contest, sometimes even in one round. This was some of the hardest flying in any IHLGF. The conditions led many top pilots to make off field landings at one time or another. However, one pilot in particular, Walther Bednarz flew consistently well throughout the event, dropping a 958 after the 12 preliminary rounds. The four flyoff rounds were held in windy and turbulent conditions, leaving the top three pilots Walther Bednarz in 1st with Arizonan brothers George and Charlie Morris in 2nd and 3rd respectively:
Adrian’s step-son Matthew was another highlight of the event. At age 7, Matthew had a super time flying his 1m GO Mini in the contest becoming the youngest IHLGF participant in history. At the end of the contest, Walther Bednarz ensured this young pilot would fly DLG for a lifetime by giving young Matthew a brand new 1m Deviant in the true spirit of what the IHLGF means to the community.
Congratulations to all of the pilots who participated in this event and helped get IHLGF back on track! It was great to be flying again with friends from around the world. Special thanks goes out to the many TPG members including Event Organizer Mike Smith, Contest Director Mike Seid, and others who helped organize this event and the many sponsors PurpleAir, Concept, ArmSoar, Stream Team Models, Spektrum, Horizon Hobby, SoaringUSA, KST, and MKS (see links to all of these in Resources, below).
Be sure to join us for IHLGF 2023!
©2022 Gary B. Fogel
Resources
- 2022 International Hand Launch Glider Festival Full Results — As reported on F3XVault, the “web database of all things F3X Flying…” In addition, the event organizers would like to acknowledge and thank our event sponsors (alphabetical):
- ArmSoar
- Concept DLG
- Horizon Hobby
- KST Digital Technology Ltd.
- MKS Servos USA
- PurpleAir
- SoaringUSA
- Spektrum RC
- Stream Team Model
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