Pat,
I have to respond to your post. Yes there are only a few of us that BUILD
our own gliders for Poway. The rest are bought. For me, I believe in
building as much as flying. Those Designer's and BUILDERs at Poway we few.
For example, there was Phil Pearson (Encore/MapleLeaf along with JW), Brian
Buass (Raptor with JW), The BlueDarter people (TexasTwister), Dick Barker
(UpLink), Bill Watson (Watson Sidewinder), Tom Hoopes (Whoas/Arius), Oleg
(Taboo), Phil Barnes (Logics), John Aslplund (Modified Encore/with
Jennings), Adam Weston (Ionosphere), Jerry Krainock (Own Design), and me ,
Chris Adams (Own Design). I may have missed a someone. However, when it is
easier to buy a ship to fly at a fair price, then why not?? What is
interesting is that Jerry Krainock took 7th with a composite open structure
ship, as compared to foam for everyone else. And Jerry is in the Eagle
class, compared to those who were able to launch high because they are in
shape. So out of 80 or so pilots, there were only 12 designers for way over
200 airplanes at the field.
The fun things were to watch the carnage!. With all the Raptors there, they
had more than their share of carnage. Stabs were coming off, Linkages were
breaking, noses were breaking, servos were coming loose, skins were bending
or delaminating.
No one ever mentions the real story, just the interesting things.
No one mentioned that Yes, the person hit by a plane was during launch. It
was a timer that got hit. No one mentioned that pilots walked in front of
you while you were launching and you had to scamble to avoid hitting them,
or yell at them to stop walking so you could launch. No one mentioned that
timing errors occurred and separate timers are needed. No one mentioned
that when people launched before the buzzer, they brought the whole group
down when they stated in the rules that the pilots had to come down and
relaunch as individuals, JUST like sailboat racing, and restart without the
window restarting.
Yes, a great contest, just the new launches are creating new issues which
have to be resolved.
I agree with John Erickson, a VERY good contest.
In all, the contest is NOW a landing and groundtime contest rather than all
flying. NOW the flying is becoming more a qualifier, much like the the TD
contests. BTW, If you don't throw to 100' plus, you are sacraficing alot.
Thermals,
Chris Adams
> Guys,
>
> Why is it that we hear this same type of thread after every major contest?
> Nothing has changed in the 25 plus years I have been flying. The bottom
> line is the guys that go out and practice practice practice are the ones
> that win the contests. It also happens that the guys that put in the time
> to get good enough to win also happen to make the sacrifices necessary to
> buy the latest and greatest planes. Oh then there is poor ole Oleg flying
> that thing called Taboo that just happens to be his original design and
> probably did not cost him $1800 to build and equip. I am sure he probably
> spent more getting to the contest paying the entry fees and lodging and
food
> than he spent on his planes. I am just guessing here, I do not know him
> personally. Joe W was flying planes he helped design and develop and yes
> Brian Buass charges $300+ for his planes but they are worth every penny
when
> you look at the quality of plane he delivers to you. Years ago when I had
> time to practice all of the time, I was a whole lot more competitive with
> lesser planes than I am now when I do not get to go flying as much and I
now
> own some of the top planes to have. I seem to remember flying against a
guy
> by the name of Ron Stanfield from Arkansas who always flew original design
> Poly Floaters that used to kick butt on a regular basis against top pilots
> flying the best planes. Bottom line Ron flew a lot and flew the same
plane
> until he knew it like the back of his hand. I guess what I am saying is
it
> gets tiring hearing all the whining and crying about how much it cost to
> compete these days. It is no different than it has been all along and it
> will not be changing anytime soon. Go out and practice practice practice
> and see what happens. I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised.
>
> JMHO,
>
> Pat McCleave
> Wichita, KS
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Mark Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: Bill & Rose Haymaker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 10:01 PM
> Subject: Re: [RCSE] IHLGF results, Curious
>
>
> > I guess competitive Hand Launch has progressed away
> > from my pocketbook too. I can't see the practicality
> > in having to buy a whole new collection of models
> > every year to stay with the big guys. I'll keep
> > designing them and building them but will probably
> > just chuck them around for fun. Fun is what it has
> > always been for me. My favorite way to fly. It's
> > getting harder and harder to keep within my cost/fun
> > equation in most any class anymore. <sigh>
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > --- Bill & Rose Haymaker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > > Wow!
> > > Thanks for all the replies. I received an estimate
> > > from $1400 to $1800
> >
> >
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