I was planning on going Sunday and spending a good part of the day, but when I saw drops of rain on Saturday, I figured it might be my only chance, so I stopped by. Had to, because I've never been to an organized glider event before. It wasn't too crowded. There was good parking right at the site. Mellow scene. Mature experienced fliers. Good attitude. Lots of nice fast 100+" wing racing gliders. Neat to see so many fancy gliders laid out on the ivy. It was fun to watch a 60" plane competing with the 120" ones. At the pylons the 60" plane zipped around and looked like it would catch up, but never quite did. The guy was using great strategy and aggressive flying and did well, considering the physics weren't on his side. It looked like he stood a chance. He'd do pylon racing turns (with that pronounced vertical component to them - like an olympic swimmer's racing turn), and came out of the turns diving low and picking up a lot of speed, looking like he was nursing demons out of compressed air. There was some strange sort of optical illusion involving "self-relative" vs. "other-relative" reference... that is, the 60" plane looked like it was going faster than the big planes but never caught up. Weird. Saddest crash I saw was a fully molded Synergy 5; mid-heat; batteries gave up. Happened right near the close pylon (and spectators). Plane got locked into up-elevator and did a full loop, about 30' diameter terminating with impact into the launch hill while it was zipping back from the far pylon. At first I thought it was stunt flying. Some stunt. That was an expensive crash. He said the Ni-Cds had been mostly on the shelf for 6 years. Made me want to enter my first race. After watching how one of these events goes, I "figure" (wish?) I'd have as good a chance as anyone. I would prefer it if they had a 60" class competition in Davenport (like I heard they had at Torrey Pines). The 110" planes go fast, true, but I don't want to invest all that in such a specialized plane, since the races are so rare. Plus the 60" planes are hot and just seem more agile and perky in general, and I would fly a 60" one more often and could get more practice in. Hope to see more of this in Davenport. It was good fun. -Paul (see you next time, Walter... sorry I missed you). Walter Lynch wrote: > > Race was called today, Sunday, due to front moving in, southerly, non > flyable winds/rain. > Got in five or six good rounds on Saturday, think wind was around 12-15 most > of day but not sure as I was at far pylon all day, sheltered from wind so > couldn't get a true feel for windspeed up top. A lot of good racing took > place w/many heats very closely contested making for a excitement level that > can only be had w/MOM format. Very few mid airs, 2 as I recall, neither > resulting in crashes. From my vantage point one looked like a banging of > wing tips causing minor damage to one plane, but it still flew on. > The second was was a bit harder hit with one plane tumbling out of the sky, > I was sure > it was a goner but unbelievably the pilot made a great recovery, pulled out > just above the hillside and flew on to race. Outstanding! One Ttail plane > from SoCal I believe folded a wing on turning at the far pylon, and > unfortunately, missed the beach and went into the drink. A few bad turns > downed a couple other planes, but overall it was pretty clean flying. Very, > very exciting, lots of fun, so much so I know I will never be a helper > again, I'm gonna race from now on! Anyway, the very unofficial top three, > and I do mean very unofficial as I am going by memory, and I have a bad one, > were: 1st-Bill Delhagen; 2nd Darrell Zaballos; 3rd Bill Highfield. Hope > these are right, if not dont flame me. Got a few pics to post later. > Thanks to every body involved, both organizers and pilots, for the race, I > had a blast, Walter > > -----Original Message----- > From: The Love Villar Family <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: RCSE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sunday, May 07, 2000 8:03 AM > Subject: [RCSE] ISR update? > > >Did anyone attend Saturday's International Slope Race festivities that can > >give us an update on the racing action so far? From where I'm sitting, the > >weather looks like it may be a little "sketchy"... > > > >TIA, Keith > > > > > >RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and > "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and >"unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
