Just getting back to things after the long weekend. I've got the raccoon eyes face after looking into a very strong Arizona sun for 3 days. George Joy and his crew did a great job running the contest. It's no small feat to host a 180 pilot meet. You need a CD, an impound director, winch master, multiple landing judges, catering company, marketing company and graphic artist for the t-shirts. The CASA volunteers were there the whole weekend hosting, and if it wasn't for their effort we wouldn't have anything to discuss.
There were weather reports for Saturday predicting winds out of the east at 15-25. I wasn't too worried about the Icon, but I brought along two pounds for the Topaz. The morning seemed calm enough so I didn't ballast up for the first round, a 4 minute flight. I was the very first flight of the contest, and with a slight downwind launch I was off. I pinged off the top, turned into the wind, and proceeded to drift backwards towards California. It wasn't 25 mph up there, but it wasn't even close to what you felt on the ground. Probably about 12-13 mph, enough to stop the RES planes in their tracks. It was relatively smooth, however, and if you just flew without touching the sticks you could make your time. The landing zone was a box runway, the center square worth 25 points, the next boxes on either side worth 15 and the end boxes worth 5. The width was only about 20", so if you had any crosswind (most of the weekend) it wasn't an easy shot. Rounds 2 and 3 were part of the add-em-up with a 10 minute max. Thermals started popping but the wind had a pretty big influence. You couldn't have one ride for the full 10, you needed about 2 or 3 thermals, unless you had great eyes. Lots of off field landings. Round 3 had a killer sink cycle in it. Daryl P. had something like a 5:25, I had a 3:13...and a DQ for circling low over the pits. So much for my Open score. In all fairness we had been warned; the landing judge signed my card, but when I got back to impound George took me aside and told me I was getting zeroed for the flight. I understand the decision, coming on the heels of some spectacular vaporization of planes that landed on power lines. I don't know if you've seen or heard a smoked plane up close, but you get an idea of what cartoonist must think off when they draw something getting zapped. In one case the line was severed and still sparking. A minute later there was a second bzzzrrap that sounded like a sound check at a Pink Floyd concert. Most likely a transformer circuit blowing out on reset. Because of a slow start, the 4th round of the add-em-up was called off, so the three flights were a 23 minute task. Sunday morning there was a 5 minute task, the third round of the add-em-up, then a 8 minute flight to end the contest. The conditions Sunday were much the same but calmer in the morning. Larry Jolly won RES on his last flight, beating out Joe Nave by a landing. Both those two would have been in 3rd and 4th place in Open, so the RES planes did more than hold their own. Mike Reagan got 3rd in RES flying his AVA. He also got 9th in Open flying his Supra. Oh yeah, the AVA score was higher than the Supra score :-) Daryl won the whole thing because he was, as usual, a landing machine. Incredible control of the Insanity and great thermalling as well. Joe rallied at the end to get 2nd place. Joseph Newcomb got third flying his Espada. He is on the USA F3J Junior team. I had the pleasure of being on the same team during the Team Trials in Denver this summer, and Joseph continued his fearless flying style that most people just don't see. I mean that seriously. I don't think half the guys in the contest could see where he was flying. He has eyes like an eagle, and all his landings were done without a skeg. Try that crosswind on a runway landing. Barry Kennedy was there with lots of toys. I don't think he had many Supras left, but I hate to break the suspense. The Supras didn't win it all. It is a beautiful plane but once and for all, it's the pilot who wins the contest. Oh, except in hand launch. Joe, Larry and me all flying Blasters :-) JE -- Erickson Architects John R. Erickson, AIA > From: "Marta Zavala" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 08:31:32 -0800 > To: "Paul Emerson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: <Soaring@airage.com> > Subject: Re: [RCSE] "Results of Southwest Soaring" > > Congrats to all the winners and non winners too. With gas prices, cost of > attending, etc these days, just making it to a 2day makes you a winner. Did > RES have same tasks as Unlimited? If so Id say several of the RES guys more > than held their own with the Unlimited planes. I see > DP won another one with his bagged Insanity. Bet he even beat a few molded > birds to do it. > Walter > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
