Weather said,, Sunny by 10am, it got sunny about 1:30 for an hour, other wize it was dark over cast with almost no wind and chilly as in sweatshirt, hoodie chilly....cold finger chilly. That made the ground really greasy under the grass landing boxes...and since the wind was completely directed by thermals, often the landings were downwind..and hot. Most of us slid out of great landing points. A whacky German (great guy!) is killing us in the LZ (Andreas Kuntz) who is visiting with a V tail Orca, consistently drops its nose in the LZ for points....but its Larry Jolly flying a 2.4 Perfect and has the best caller timer on the field who's leading us all in Unlimited. Funny how in the old days, it was Unlimited that got all the attention and the other classes got a polite mention ,but with AVAs and Topazi's, RES is just as hard fought. Joe Nave is in the zone leading us all there...I'm begging along in 7th place with about 40 ish points between us. LJ's in their too, Jason George (top Visalia Landing Judge) is in the top 5 in RES and Unlimited!
Speaking of Landing Judges, Mark Russell is flying a Supra and also doing fantastic! Top 15 pretty much by grabbing 5 landing points here and 5 there, while the rest of us a slip-sliding away. Sorry I don't have the score sheets, the BBQ was SOOOOO good this year that we all sat around eating and it got dark, before I had a chance to look at the scores. I came to fly WOODY this year....I never owned one, or leaned to fly one but I came with a custom made MM GliderTech Marauder this year and I have to tell you...WOW! What a sailplane...Launches like a moldie, covers air like an F3B ship, reacts to rudder as if it has ailerons and lands like its on rails....the only shortcoming is the goofy rubber tooth old school skeg strip...it just loads up with mud and then slides thru the zone....I'd have pretty close to perfect rounds had it stopped where I put it 4 or so times! The general attitude is excellent, the winches are working great, plenty of power and lines are doing fine too. 600' to the turn around gives every one a good start. Chico and Skip are keeping admin and launch areas moving and organized. One pop off allowed but almost not needed. The air has been fantastic, but having said that I had a close call on one flight and others made the wrong decision only to find some serious down. Jack Strothers has been doing pretty good, a little rusty on his landings, but has been a fantastic timer/caller for some of my best rounds....I have had a lot of good guys timing for me today. With the drizzle yesterday, and the cool over cast today, its still been one of the most fun contests I have ever attended. Mike Smith is up there ahead of me and Daryl so don't count him out of the game! Still three rounds tomorrow...and for sure its I think that the top 10 Unlimited are separated by about 30 points, and the RES top ten by about 45ish. I've been pretty consistent in Woody and that Marauder has been really suited to this kind of air...hopefully it will hang in their for me tomorrow. Everyone wants to know how much it weigh and I really don't know but as I carried it across a mud puddle today, they had to get a tow truck to get me out cuz I sunk in so deep. It has a removable tail group, with two 3/16" x 3" steel bolts holding them on, and it has 4 Sub C cells in the nose plus some lead to get it even close to less than 50% CG! Of course that's part of the landing sliding problem I have been having (couldn't be my crappy energy management!). I started the day with a 35 (max landing) with my WHCSL, and that's a 3" diameter paint spot, and ended it with another....that turned into a shed part zero :-( I had torn my wing tape on the previous flight and didn't bother replacing it. When I pegged the spot, it had some spin energy and I hit hard, that cause the tip to fly off ! Oh what could have been had I posted those 35 points! Too many really good flights and pilots to mention but everyone is having a ball. More maybe tomorrow! Gordy **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)
