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You got that correct. I love to fly my plane and could care less what the guy next to me does. The only reason for me to come to contests is the equipment, I have solved that by keeping one of the club winches. Now as long as I have the winch at the contest I can fly when and as much as I choose. For years I had heard the argument about how "I don't
like competiton flying cuz I just want to fly sailplanes, I'm in it for the
fun"......from myself.
I'd go out and fly around hoping not to land in trees or
hit something during the landing. Once in a while I'd hook into some no brainer
lift and put in what seemed like hours per flight.
I thought I was pretty good at 'getting my sailplane way
up high', so I attended a sailplane contest that I had heard about. I had
no clue about winch launching, what the tasks were or that I would be expected
to put the nose down in a specific landing zone, right on time. I
attempted to get some help or info about how to do the tasks but everyone was
pretty busy getting their equipment ready to fly themselves...to me it
seemed like they weren't very friendly.
I gave it a try anyway and really thought I'd be in the winnes
circle cuz I was one hot glow power flyer (for real). As I ended the first
flight with a pop off and a one minute time in a 5min round, completely missing
the landing area, it became pretty clear that my skills didn't extend into the
soaring world.
That set the tone for the next 10 years of my rc soaring experience. I'd still go out occassionally and put up what ever sailplane I picked up cheap at a swap meet and usually end up wrecking it on launch or during landings....however I was having 'fun'. When I moved to Louisville the sailplane club met every thursday
and Sunday, with winch and retreiver. Most of the guys were involved in
contest soaring and are really excellent pilots. I just couldn't
understand what the attraction was to competition!
I mean on Thursday's and Sundays we'd spend all day in the
clouds on just a few launches, with very little time waiting around on the
ground. There was no stress to compete, just float around all
day....however I quickly noticed that they all were launching less than
me....and often that I would go to where they were going up and I would end up
having to land. They were landing near them and I was always walking for
my plane.
But NO WAY was I gonna get involved in that rat race that seemed to
be competition.
I had all the reasons why I wasn't going to get involved....busy
that weekend, not interested, don't care what some other guy is doing, I'm just
a sport flyer, I just enjoy being out,,,,,, you've heard them
all.
The other thing I noticed about those guys is that they would
go off together to contest, coming back kidding and laughing about the results
and fun they'd had....and I didn't.
By not being involved in 'contests', I was shutting myself off from
my friends and their shared experiences....but I did't want to COMPETE (Read my
past article in RC Soaring Digest free on-line now "Interrogation of a Sport
Soarer")...because I knew
I couldn't do the TASKS....because I hadn't practiced the
TASKS....I wasn't prepared and so when I would get there I would be
'uncomfortable'...and that wasn't fun, especially knowing I would be
beaten. You see if you can do the tasks, you win...and all I had
been doing was having fun. That part I was starting to get, but I
had one thing wayyy wrong about contest flying. In soaring its not
possible to be beaten.
There is no way in competiton soaring can you ever be beaten, you
can only do the task or not. Other pilots have no affect on the out come
of our success or failure in TD.
At a contest we show up just like for a job, the boss says get 5
10min flights exactly and make all the landings perfectly and you will be
rewarded, the rest will be paid in the form of having a day of soaring...and an
opportunity to measure their learned and practiced skills agasint other flying
that day.
IF the assignment is MOM, you get to test your learned and
practiced skills in a more precise compartive situation.
It is definitely possible for someone else who has practiced the
tasks more often in more varied conditions, praticed his launches and
landings, read more about air, strategy and setups, trim and
balance,,,, studied his hobby in general (can you say RCSD:-), to have ended the
day with a result closer to what the boss (CD) assigned...than me. But no
one can beat you in soaring (well maybe in combat:-).
Task flying is what every one of our TD ships was created to
do. Not one thermal duration ship was ever created to just go out and soar
around. While they all can do that, they really come alive when put into a
task format. They show their strengths and expose their capability
weaknesses....or their pilots.
When I hear that old tome about competiton soaring I think back to
me and Shakespear...."I think though protestith too much".
Read that article, "Interrogation of a Sport Soarer" in RCSD I
believe its like April or May issue, free to download, or contact me off line
and I send it to you. It starts with me kidnapping a self proclaimed sport
soarer while his is cutting his grass, and I sneak up with my rental car, the
knock him out with an AVA tail boom, take him back ot the motel, wing tape him
to a chair, bring him around with a spritz of CA kicker...."
John's right you don't have to compete to have fun in the soaring,
but that's only a taste of the great fun that can be had hanging and flying
tasks with your friends, a group that grows with every event by the
way...
Task flying is not competitive, but its best done in a contest format. Gordy IF its Thursday I must be in Visalia!
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