Thanks to the whole CASL club for a great event! Saturday conditions were brutal – everyone else has already described them – and they were not exaggerating. Add-em-up is a little more forgiving in the time area, but things were tough enuff to easily lose the 6 minutes buffer on the first day. I managed a personal best performance and it’s great that it comes in a big contest like this. It’s a great help to have awesome club members to help with timing and spotting. Saturday was mainly up to the flyer – fly smooth, fly far and make sure you get back. I was flying my regular weight Eraser – my backup plane – after I lost my light Eraser Extreme on Friday. It seemed to be the tool for the job, for me at least. I got pretty close on all my times and mostly decent landings. 74 oz without ballast seemed to be just right for penetration and hang-time with the MH-32 on it.
Obviously light weight was not a critical disadvantage – Skip Miller was flying his Extreme and nailing his times and landings at about 63 oz. Charlie Miller was flying his Emerald and did awesome flying and landing to take 3rd. In fact, there were at least 3 Emeralds in the top 10 – so that seemed to be working as well. Club member Doc Williams got 11th with his ICON. Hmmm – various weights, various airfoils, various planforms all did well – maybe it’s not the plane??? Thanks again to Dave W and the rest of the crew that kept things running smoothly both days. Thanks to my clubmates, who kept me as focused as I have ever been and special thanks to Skip, Lenny, Mike and Don who made sure I didn’t do anything stupid. It’s not so much I flew great as it was that I didn’t make any major mistakes like I normally do. I still haven’t wiped the grin off my face! Next year is a must do – I just have to remember not to tell my wife she should come down and hang out by the pool while I fly! Jim Monaco Rocky Mountain Soaring Association Denver, CO RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
