Hi canders,
Amen to your comments. I go to contests to have fun. If I win, OK, if I don't, OK.
I try to win and I have won many contests over the years including Free flight and 
thermal duration
contests.I quit flying for a few years and raced Moto Cross and Desert racing and won 
many trophies
there but I came back to gliders. It's just fun to fly and competing with your fellow
fliers is fun and challenging at times. I'll fly as long as I'm around.
Best regards,Art

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> I go to contests for several reasons.  They are fun, I meet the nicest
> people, and, more important, I develop great memories.
>
> My first contest was a free flight contest in the summer of 1950.  I was
> still in high school and had finally convinced my father that I was a good
> enough driver to be trusted with the family car for a trip to far away
> Winston Salem.  I came home with a first place trophy and Junior-Senior
> High Point trophy.  I was hooked.
>
> In the summer of 1953, I was able to attend the Nats in Philadelphia.  I
> had been accepted for pilot training as an Aviation Cadet and was waiting
> for orders to report.  I was able to see all the RC models and flyers I had
> only been able to read about in the magazines.  There was very little RC
> flying and most of the contestants spent the days trying to get their
> cranky radios to work.  Made me feel better about not being able to get the
> Berkley Airtrol radio that I had bought a few months earlier to work. But
> my most pleasant memory was discussing my modifications to a Jim Walker 10
> cent glider with Jim Walker at an impromptu midnight contest in the Navy
> hanger.
>
> I was also able to spend a total of 3 weeks on temporary duty in the summer
> of 1956 while flying in the Air Force Model Airplane Championship.  That
> was the only time I was paid to fly models.
>
> I remember listening to Phil Kraft playing piano at 2 AM in the bar at the
> Holiday Inn at the Glenview Nats in 1973.  I met Bob Champine at the 1983
> Nats in Springfield.  It was several years before I found out that he was
> one of the NASA test pilots who flew the X1 and other experimental
> aircraft.  One of my most prized possessions is a photograph of Carl
> Goldberg discussing winglet design with me at the 82 Nats in Lincoln.  Then
> there was the bull session with Joe Wurts, Skip Miller, and others at the
> 83 Nats at Vincennes.
>
> It isn't necessary to be a good flyer to develop memories like these.  You
> just have to be there.  I feel sorry for those who go to contests with the
> philosophy that second place is the first loser.  They have already lost a
> wonderful hobby.  What kind of memories can you develop with an attitude
> like that?
>
> I don't know how much longer I will be able to fly but you can be sure I
> will be going to contests as long as I am physically able.  I no longer
> check to see if I won.  I look to see who I beat.  Winning isn't necessary
> but a high place sure does make contests more fun.
>
> Chuck Anderson
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