Marc and his classic Texan understatements... that was a soaring
contest! I have never seen Muncie conditions like this, beautiful and
temperate to be outside in, but humbling to soar in. I have never seen
sink cycles like that at that field, and I have flown many contests
there. Ya, guys got hurt with burial after burial, some flying it right,
some flying it wrong, with some good and bad luck mixed in. And guys got
zeds landing off field, I got a taste of all of that last weekend.
I think another thing that contributed to this is there were many good
pilots such as Richard Burnoski, Capn' Jack, Steve Siebenaler, Tom
Kallevang, Paul Siegel, Barry Andersen, Johnny Berlin, Martin Doney, Steve
Meyer, Ron Mong, Paul Sherman, etc. etc. etc. who were flying strategies of
"nothing to loose" using renegade tactics because it was the last contest
of the season. RB, Sieb and Paul Sherman were splitting from the group in
rapid fashion more than most, making for quick decisions for all involved.
Marc, the class act he is attended a gathering much more important than the
one being held on the contest field on Saturday, so he only had one chance
on Sunday to shoot for the Eagle. And he flew his rocks off on Sunday, he
knew he had to win and flew one of the best performances I have ever seen
from him.
Karl Miller, another pilot that had a chance for the Eagle this weekend
also just rocked. He was doing some amazing things with his red
Pike. Karl scored good wood on both Sat. and Sun., when it was all over, I
thought he had it.
Steve Meyer, dude, fly that red airplane. Two of the best days I have seen
from him in unlimited, period. Amazing.
I was able to put a 3rd place finish together on Sat., but Richard Burnoski
had his game on and managed not to get hurt until that final round. I was
able to bury everyone in the money round (oh so sweet) and take a little
bit of RB's points but he was strong, leaving Karl's second and my third
place finish ineffective for OVSS points in the overall standings.
Also of note that on Saturday, the SOAR club swept all of the master class
wood.
Sunday was a different day with conditions, but equally humbling. The 13
minute tasks were often last man down and burials. Tom Kallevang was
dialed in on Sunday and did one of his classic low and tight thermalling
acts with big red, his F3J ICON. The way he grooves that model with so
much speed in light conditions is really cool to see. Threw down a huge
burial in round 5 to jump himself in the money round in 6, and some wood
when it was over.
Round 5 was a killer for many pilots, including myself. I was playing a
wave over the graveyard and watched Karl slowly circling back from the
same. I watched for maybe 40 seconds (too long), and decided to cover back
with him... and got pounded with more downward velocity than I have ever
experienced, I couldn't run away with my ICON which is usually good at this
and landed WAY out. zero, zed, out of the running in the contest. Capn'
Jack, Steve Meyer, Sieb, and others paid the price as Richard, Karl and
Marc maxed.
RB finished strong on Sunday, with Marc and Karl close behind. It was
another really great contest day.
The Eagle roosts in Chicago again, over half of its life it's been here
now! 5 out of 8 years with Karl Miller, Richard Burnoski and myself being
able to display it in our houses.
This is a very challenging championship series, it takes a strong showing
of contests across many different flying fields in the midwest, flying with
some of the best guys you might ever cross paths with. I never won a
contest in the series this season, but only dropped 126 points. The flying
amongst the pilots has really improved over the years, and if you look at
this seasons scores you will see the wins are spread across many different
pilots.
Thanks to JR for sponsoring the OVSS series, and Team JR for supplying me
with the best radio gear a pilot can fly with. I flew the same ICON lite
all season long, it has over 80 hours on that airframe at the moment and
couldn't be happier flying that model.
Here is a photo gallery from the weekend:
http://www.jimbacus.net/soaring/OVSS_8_2005/
At 04:22 PM 10/3/2005, Marc Gellart wrote:
What a weekend this past one was.
Jim
Downers Grove, IL
Member of the Chicago SOAR club, and Team JR
AMA 592537 LSF 7560 Level IV R/C Soaring blog at www.jimbacus.net
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