2009 Course

View the Picture Gallery for the 2009 Rally.

Each of the Rally's two legs each include:

• 1 Start Point
• 3 Mandatory Checkpoints
• 1 Timing Point
• 1 Stop Point

The checkpoints, and therefore the course, change every year.  For 2009 only the starting point (HWD) remained the same. We chose new the fuel/lunch stop (RDD) and the end (BDN) points .  The required checkpoints which define the course are announced the day before the race (see the race schedule) at the briefing and are documented in the race book provided to each team.  The exact course flown is chosen by the pilot of each aircraft.  Remember, this is not a speed race, it is a proficiency race; accuracy counts.

So that prospective racers can get better idea of the materials provided during the briefing, a copy of the 2009 Race Book may be downloaded here (1.9 MB).

Checkpoints are to be overflown by race aircraft. Each checkpoint can be adequately identified from the air. The two timing points at Checkpoint Howie and Checkpoint Goering are also overflown and race officials on the ground will record the time overhead the timing line.

The 2009 course is described here to provide an example only, the 2010 course will be different, and will not be announced until the day before the race during the briefings.  The 2009 course included the following checkpoints and stops:

• Hayward (HWD) - Race Starts
• Amador County - Westover (O70)
• Milhous (79CL)
• Oroville (OVE)
• Checkpoint Howie (40-21.894N, 122-13.038W @ 68CA) - Timing Point
• Redding (RDD) - Landing, Fuel and Lunch
• Butte Valley (A32)
• Chiloquin State (2S7)
• Beaver Marsh State (2S2)
• Checkpoint Goering (44-05.750N, 120-56.813W) - Timing Point
• Bend (BDN) - Landing, Fuel, Race Ends

 

Each checkpoint has a question to be answered to ensure positive identification. A typical checkpoint question looks like this:

Checkpoint #5	Chiloquin State (2S7)
Elevation 4243 '
Pattern Altitude: 5043 '	Lat 42 deg. 34.99'
Overfly above 6500'	Long 121 deg. 52.57'
Adjacent and west of the approach end of runway 35, is a:
M. football field with artificial grass surface.
N. open dirt horse arena.
P. new swimming pool.

 

The checkpoint at Chiloquin State looked like this from the air:

 

So, the answer was: N. open dirt horse arena.

The winner of the 2009 Rally was Sam Sun, Race 73, (solo!) winner of the 2009 Rally, a Grumman Tiger with a score of just 90 points.