Martin, very nice blow by blow , from your perspective. Thanks !! Jack At 02:10 PM 6/26/2002 -0800, Martin Brungard wrote: >The Mid South's were a great success in everybody's opinion, including >mine. The NASA group really outdid themselves in their preparation and >execution. If anything, they did too much. I just hope they didn't burn >themselves out with the glorious effort. > >I realized after returning home that nobody had been posting the results >and progress of the contests. After reading play by plays from various >contests around the world, I appreciate the service that others provide us >when they take the time to bring their laptop and upload a report from the >contest. > >Since nobody has really provided a play by play yet, I figured I could add >my 2 cents. > >I arrived at the site on Friday afternoon to witness the RES action. I >immediately heard about the morning's HLG action, Bruce Davidson breaking >one of his planes, Oleg putting one in a tree. I didn't catch any of the >RES action as I was catching with old friends and hearing the current >scoops. The field was gorgeous, with a mowed length of about 3/4 mile and >width of about 1/4 mile. The weather in the mountains of North Georgia >was quite mild compared to what I'm used to in steamy Tallahassee. > >Saturday dawned fairly clear. The winds picked up after mid-morning, >probably about 10 mph. The conditions weren't too bad. Depending on the >wind direction, you could slope off the various tree lines and catch a >thermal breaking loose there. The tasks for the day were reasonable, 5 >min in the morning progressing to 10 min in the later rounds. The contest >was flown in a man-on-man format, so all flight group scores were normalized. > >I started out in mid-pack, but worked my way up to 2nd by the forth round >flying my Addiction. Oleg managed to "mash" his plane while running in >1st place. That opened up the contest to the rest of us. Russ Behr was >in 1st after 4 rounds, flying an Icon. I was in one of the later flight >groups, so I was enjoying myself gabbing with other flyers when Rob Glover >came over and pointed out that Russ and I were both flying in Group K for >the 5th and final round of the contest. > >WOW...this was it! Mano-a-Mano...all the marbles were on the table. I >had never been in this position before. Sure, I had been a multiple >champion in the Florida Soaring Society and a Tangerine Soaring winner, >but I hadn't flown in what was amounting to a man on man fly-off. I >should mention that my score was only a few points less than Russ's, so I >knew I could take the contest. > >I launched first in the group, so I knew that I would be covered by Russ. >In my zeal to get a good launch, I did exactly the opposite. I did my zoom >a little early and didn't get the normal ballistic zoom that I could have. > >So I started off with just an average launch, Russ must have nailed >his. He had to have at least an extra 100 feet on me. Nobody was finding >any lift for the first several minutes, just searching in the same general >area. I knew I had to do something else or there was no chance of me >taking the gold today. I decided to scout out another area. That was a >definite mistake, as several others finally found lift in another direction. > >Man on Man scoring is an interesting contest. You can stay in the hunt by >doing nearly as well as the others in your group, but you can get buried >if you don't make your time in a 10 min duration task. I GOT >BURIED! That hurt, but I somehow managed to keep 5th place. > >Sunday dawned cloudy, with a touch of light rain. The ceiling was a >little low, but it rose by contest time. The winds woke back up too, >probably about 10 mph again. One difference was the wind direction was >less favorable to generating the slope lift observed on Saturday. > >The tasks were similar to Saturday's, starting with 5 min and working up >to 10 min tasks. The flight score for every round was 900 points with a >100 point landing score. This was a standard precision duration scoring >for this contest, no man on man. The landing task was the L-6 type for >both days. > >I managed to nail my first flight with a perfect 1000 point score, so I >started in good shape. As you should expect, there were plenty of other >good pilots in the hunt. I wasn't as sharp in the later rounds, but I >managed to hold onto 2nd throughout the 4th round. > >OK, here we go again. I'm in position to win the contest, I just need to >perform in the 5th round. There was no way I was going to screw up my >launch again...I put it into the stratosphere. On a 10 min task, a great >launch is helpful, but nothing is going to save your a** unless you find >lift. I didn't. On this flight, the only good thing I can say is that I >nailed another 100 point landing. That Addiction is an amazing landing >machine! > >Giving away 400 points won't leave you with "wood" in any respectable >contest. This one was no different. I ended up in 8th. Oh well! > >As I sign off from this post, I notice there is huge irony in my signature >line. For this weekend, I proved that screwing up is an art...both ways! > >Martin Brungard >Tallahassee, FL >"Soaring: Where screwing-up is an art" > > > > > >_________________________________________________________________ >MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: >http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx > >RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" >and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Jack Strother LSF President Loveland, OH LSF 2948 RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
