On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, Ron Scharck wrote: > Great article, Tom. The fact of the matter is that whenever that plane > leaves our hands, regardless of method, it is always a contest...if nothing > else, between the pilot and Mother Nature.
It's not a contest between the pilot and mother nature any more than a surfer or a sailor is in contest with mother nature. For me, it's a matter of finding a dialogue, finding a way of working with nature. In my opinion, Nature is the kind of opponent you don't want to tangle with. I think it comes down to the nature of the individual: some people are inspired toward greatness by competition with others and some are inspired by competition with themselves. It's inspiring for me to watch videos of other peoples' competitions and see how great they fly. But, even if I had a shot at placing in a contest, I really don't think I'd compete. I was thinking about this yesterday and I realized that I'd be excited if someone was competing with one of my planes, though. -J > > Ron Scharck > San Diego, CA > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Tom Hoopes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "RCSE Soaring (E-mail)" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 6:03 PM > Subject: Re: [RCSE] Contests; why? > > > > At 10:19 AM 1/9/02 -0800, Bill Swingle wrote: > > > > > >Could someone please explain something? > > > > > >Why do so many pilots need contests to fly? The are volumes of posts > arguing > > >about rules and formats. Then after an event guys argue about results and > > >rules. Seems silly to me. > > > > > >Bill Swingle > > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >Janesville, CA > > > > > > Hi Bill, > > > > I don't know about others' motivation but I can explain why I like > contesting. > > I was present when our local club was formed back in 1979. I loved to fly, > but > > had no interest in contests. > > > > School, family, and business took all of my time for the next ten years > and > > flying fell by the wayside. In '89 my wife told me that I was becoming a > > workaholic and needed a hobby. I pulled out my trusty Oly II that had been > in > > its box for almost ten years. > > > > I showed up at the slope, tossed the Oly out and everything came back to > me in > > a quick rush, just like riding a bike. After an hour of smiles, I was > > surprised > > to have several pilots come over and introduce themselves. They saw a > > potential > > new club member and most likely another contestant, so they started the > > "squeeze" to get me out to an upcoming contest. I told them that I didn't > like > > contests and was kind of a "lone wolf" or some load of crap to get them to > > leave me alone. > > > > In the next couple of weeks I began receiving phone calls and further > > invitations to participate in another thermal contest. I could see that > "lone > > wolf" thing wasn't working, nor was anything else to get them to leave me > > alone, so I came to the contest. > > > > The contest was a simple four round precision duration thermal format, yet > I > > was incredibly nervous and before long, I was sweating like a rat under > hot > > lights. I was sure that I had made a huge mistake. I got through the first > > round without crashing, hitting someone or something, and not looking like > an > > idiot. By the end of the contest, I was actually having a ton of fun and > began > > to realize that the only person that considered me to be an idiot was > myself. > > > > I drove home with a smile and replayed in my mind a low level save and > decent > > landing that I made during the contest. In a fun fly environment, I would > not > > have attempted the low level save and the landing would have been a "run > of > > the > > mill" slide somewhere away from the point the I had originally intended. > > > > The contest environment helped me to improve my flying skills dramatically > and > > I was no longer a nervous wreak. The first time that I attended a really > large > > contest (Visalia) in 1991, I was truely inspired by some of the superb > flying > > that I witnessed and could appreciate. > > > > I've learned alot of skills, techniques, styles through contesting and > have > > had > > alot of fun doing so. Of course the social aspect of the contest can be as > > much > > fun as the contest itsself. Where else have you seen a "fun-o-meter" in > > action > > or a vasectomy in a raffle, hmmmm? > > > > Along the path, I've flown a plane 3,000' above me while sitting in a > truck > > bed > > doing 90 mph, marvelled that a composite toy remains in one piece while > two > > linemen type brutes try to pull it apart on some fishing line, or watching > a 7 > > ounce plane slowly circle in lift so light that only mother nature and I > are > > aware of it. Fun with a purpose. > > > > I know why I love contest, just because........ > > > > > > Tom Hoopes - ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > > > ------ Hoopes Designs ----- > > "Taking the hassle out of wiring harnesses" > > > > 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. 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