Two Channel Contest Director Dion Dunn is back with his final wrap-up:
Well, we finally made it to the end of the 2-channel contest series, and what a great ending it was. Round 7 had a mix of everything today, and Mother Nature was once again kind to us and provided some good lift and signaling birds as a bonus. 10 pilots came out to enjoy the Fall weather
Let’s cut right to the chase this time – Gordy kicked our butts with the Gentle Lady. But you know what the difference was besides the fact that he is tuning up for the big Texas contest next week? Landing points, landing points, landing points. For example, Tony and Gordy were only separated by 9 seconds of flying time yet Gordy won by 150 points! 7 out of 10 pilots scored landing points today, but it wasn’t consistent, and I was one of the 3 who didn’t score any. I’ll admit, I haven’t been practicing and it shows!
More after the jump – and make sure to check out the end-of-season scores on the Club Contests page!
Two-Channel Contest Directory Dion Dunn recaps today’s action! The next Two-Channel contest is OCTOBER 4th at NOON at the Charlie Vettiner field!
Thanks to all who came out and braved Mother Nature for today’s 2 Channel contest. 9 pilots were rewarded with a pretty decent day after a few rain drops before the start. The lift turned out to be pretty decent, and as usual, I got a good burn on my neck and face.
Hey Gordy, how’s that old saying go? If you can’t buy a better plane, find a better thermal? Translated into ‘become a better pilot’? Well what happens when you take a darn good pilot already, and arm him with one of the best RES planes in the World? You get today’s winner – Tony and his AVA took home the honors in fine fashion. Congrats!
Contest Director Dion Dunn gives his report below:
Well after a pretty crappy week of weather, Mother Nature was kind to us today wasn’t she? And if you were lucky enough to be at the field, it was a pretty good day too. Lift was there, although so was a lot of mixed wind, draws, and downdrafts, so it was a tricky day at times. A big thank you to everyone who came out.
Contest Director Dion writes in with a report for the 4th installment of our ongoing “Two Channel” contest!
We had 5 pilots attend today’s contest with only 2 hi-starts strung out. John Forney and Dave Flanigan led the way with Dave bringing out his old, but still competitive Sagitta 600. Light to moderate lift was working it’s way through the field, and we even had an occasional hawk or two to show us the way. The first flight ended with John trying to land on the tennis courts by flying through the fence. I thought his day was over, but that old K-Bird was OK and ready for the next round.
Well what can I say. This report seems a bit redundant because it almost felt like everyone in the club was at the field today. A big thanks to all for showing up and giving us 15 pilots for our 2 Channel Fly What You Brung Contest!!!
Mother Nature really gave us a good one today. The air was clear, the sun was hot, and the winds were stronger than the predicted 6 mph at times. However, there was also a good bit of lift making its way through the field. Launches were pretty good and many pilots were popping right into lift off the line. This also made for a rats nest of high start lines during the second group, so we decided to move them to try to compensate. It sort of worked…..we still needed vigilant shaggers to catch the lines after release and pull them back in straight away. Speaking of shaggers, we had a couple of people out there who weren’t even flying. Thank you very much for you efforts.
Next contest is JULY 12th, 2009! Got a 2-channel (rudder/elevator) plane? Bring it out!
Dion Dunn writes in with a report on the 3rd (but first “real, points-awarding”) 2-Channel Conent held on Sunday:
First off, a big THANK YOU to all who attended today’s first points paying contest of the 2009 2-Channel “fly what you brung” contest. We had 8 pilots attend today’s contest, Mother Nature was very good to us, and I think fun was had by all (although Steven may not have had too much fun – see below).
It was a little iffy going into today’s first round. The weather looked variable, and not many people responded to the email reminders. But, the morning looked promising so off to the field I went. I was pleasantly surprised to see 8 people show up with planes and an absolutely beautiful day in the 70’s with around 8 mph breezes coming out of the South. Rick started the day with a warm-up flight of his Vista while everything was getting setup. Great, we’ll all see how the air is – 11+ minutes later we had to threaten Rick so we could get the contest started! Yes, the air was good.
Gordy reports: Our Second Fly what you brought 2 channel contest is in the books! 11 Pilots made it a LSF 3 Contest qualifier and some guys got their LSF2 time flights, some got their LSF1 landings. Great day with a mix of Vistas, BOT’s, Spirit, Sagitta, a Bubble Dancer and an AVA… We allowed an Easy Glider in too, even though its sort of full house, but since its foam, what the heck. Next contest we’ll have a Radian …yep with an electric motor to get it up! We’ll just have the CD tell him when to shut off the motor to match the high start launches.
This was a hoot! And some guys got a chance to see that flying a competition is not embarrassing or pressure, but really fun and that soaring can be done with a purpose, versus just floating around all the time.
PILOT Place Points
Lee 1 2756
Rick 2 2585
Ben 3 2450
Brian 4 2393
Steven 5 2368
Ed 6 2258
Hank 7 2246
John O. 8 2155
John H. 9 1982
Dave 10 1372
Dion 11 1171
Check out the standings on the Club Contest page and read more reports after the jump…
The “new guy” Dion Dunn has written up an excellent report on the first contest of the year – the LASS 2-Channel #1, held yesterday, March 1st! Read Dion’s report below or check out the scores on the 2009 Club Contests page…
As Gordy reported earlier (from the field), the first round is in the books! But first, a little narrative:
When I got up this morning and could ‘hear’ the wind, I had no intention of flying today. Not to mention my throat and head felt like crap. But since I’ve been prodding the email list to get out to the field for today’s first test round, I thought I would at least get out there and see if anyone showed up. Sure enough, folks started filtering in and the general consensus was to go somewhere for lunch, not fly today. But then Gordy shows up and starts heading for the far corner of the field to start launch preparations… read more after the break!
The World Soaring Masters was September 19-21 in Muncie, Indiana. It’s a huge international event, and LASS’ own Ben Wilson kept live running commentary right here.
2008 World Soaring Masters Final Scores
1 Bob McGowan 5983.1 – $2500
2 Arend Borst 5982.0 – $1250
3 Cody Remington 5978.8 – $750
4 Mike Smith 5974 – $500
5 Murat Esibatir 5967 – $250
6 Joe Wurts 5900?
7 Ben Clerx 5719
8 Jo Grini 5695
9 Jim Frickey 5094
10 Jeffrey Walters 4558
The 2008 World Soaring Masters is in the bag! Congratulations to Bob McGowan for winning the contest and the $2500 prize.
Our own Lee Atchison won the JR/Parkzone Radian electric sailplane contest – he beat out the likes of Mike Fox, Joe Wurts, F5J guy Bob Burson and WSM finalist Jim Frickey in an exciting final. He took home a Parkzone Radian sailplane signed by a bunch of folks…
