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…

Joe Nave of RCSoaring.com has the Qualifying Scores and the Final Scores. Check out photos on Flickr, or read the World Soaring Groups thread @ RCGroups. And my… my inspiration, the one and only Jo “Jojo” Grini from Norway has his own take on the 2008 World Soaring Masters here: http://www.f3x.no/wsm/2008/. Jojo shot some video of the Parkzone Challenge, so keep an eye out for that. The St. Louis guys have their own recap of the WSM2008 here.

The LIVE UPDATES have been archives and you can read em’ “after the jump”.

SUNDAY
update 1432:
World Soaring Masters Final Scores!ii
1 Bob McGowan 5983.1 - $2500
2 Arend Borst 5982.0 - $1250
3 Cody 5978.8 - $750
4 Smith 5974 - $500
5 Murat 5967 - $250
6 Joe Wurts 5900?
7 Ben Clerx 5719
8 Jo Grini 5695
9 Frickey 5094
10 Walters 4558

update 1420: No flyoff! Results about to be read.
update 1412: possible flyoff announced! It’s apparently a very tight race. Dont know who yet.

update 1405: Round 5 overwith! McGowan bobbles on the approach but kills the final landing for an 80! Cody says “not good” about his performance. Arend high fived after his landing… might be close!

update 1355: Round 5, Final Round. Big thermal still on field. Favorites to win now are McGowan? Borst? Possibly Murat or Cody. All others had gaffs of some sort, or started with a lower score to begin with. Landing contest now.

update 1350: Frickey shorts his landing near the 60s, Walters slides through. Arend nails another landing.

update 1337: Rd 4 Launch almost downwind due to bird indicated thermal on left/west side. All are skied out.

update 1333: Rd 3 Arend bounces back with a landing that hit the nail for an 80. Bob landed 74. Joe Wurts nearly hits himself…

update 1325: Rd 3 Joe Wurts peeled straight back on launch back towards control line pits in the SW… winds out of NE. Good call as birds appeared near power lines indicating thermal. Jeffrey Walters lands early and 0 landing. Frickey made a low save to burn the clock. Landing contest now…

update 1312: Rd 2 Ben Clerx lands a few mins short and no landing after battling with Bob Mcgowan for a small thermal out front that Wurts capitalized on. Everyone else skied out. Arend and Walters shorted their landings. Mcgowan makes his time with a great flight and a 79 landing.

update 1257: Rd 1 Arend in few secs early and slid his landing. Kai Yang sez McGowan win the round 1 sec over and a 79 landing. Mike Smith on time, but dropped a few on landing.

update 1255: Rd1 news… Frickey w/ popoff no save… Jeffrey Walters landed waaaay out by control line pits. Jojo landed with about three mins to go in this 12 min round after going waaaaay out and catch lit and crawling back home.

update 1235: Pilots and planes in the finals
Walters - Supra
Wurts - Supra
Kolb - Pike Perfect
Borst - Supra
Murat - Pike Perfect
Mike Smith - Sharon
Bob McGowan - Supra
Frickey - Pike Perfect
Ben Clerx - Aspire
Cody - Espada RL

update 1225: Golf carts are motoring out to the turnarounds now… pilots meeting taking place. Scores are being normalized to 1000 as a base for each pilot. Plane tally soon. They are going to double launch, meaning 1 & 6, the 2 & 7, etc.

update 1155: JR sponsored raffle now… flyoffs at the end of it, i’m assuming 30 minutes…

update 1135: Top 10 from prelims:
1. Borst 13967
2. Cody 13964
3. Murat 13948
4. McGowan 13926
5. Mike Smith 13925
6. Jim Frickey 13917
7. Wurts 13914
8. Clerx 13910
9. Jojo 13804
10. Jeffrey Walters 13797
Just out…
11. Lachowski 13790
12. Tom Cooke 13788
13. Verzuh 13727
14. Gellart 13697
15. GLAUCO LAGO!! 13654

David Hobby (34th 12872) had a zero flight in the last round… something about a battery connection on the zoom. A 1000 would have put him in the flyoffs.

update 1100: Into the last group of Round 14 now! Dr. Dan had a midair and lost his plane… and in good news, Blaine Chastain tells me the plane that spun in from 200-300′ miraculously had no damage! Amazing. Clerx and Borst for sure in the flyoffs… preliminary scores soon.

SATURDAY
update 2314: sitting in the campsite now watching a beautiful forey moonrise off the northeast side of the field after capping the night with SOAR club members Karl Miller and Pat Crosby kick out guitar jams late into the evening. Couple more rounds in the AM and then the flyoffs. Stay tuned!

Update 1920: BBQ now, but here are the scores as of Round 12 (end of day Saturday): http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=paIcz8lKzh9IZtSv85sTXBw
update 1825: Round 12 Scores are up, Top 10… Remington, Borst, Wurts, Murat, Mike Smith, Mike Lachowski, Bob McGowan, Frickey, Jo Grini, Ben Clerx. Junior Jeffrey Walters on the cusp at 11th. Gellart 12th, Hobby 13th, Kolb 19th.

update 1819: Lee won the Parkzone Radian Challenge over Jim Frickey 1000 to 996!!! Lee had a 77 landing…

update 1814: Larry Jolly threw for Lee and Lee’s currently on the top of the group! Kai down 2nd, then Karl.

update 1801: Finalists - Kai, Jim Thomas, Karl Miller, Jim Frickey, Mike Fox, Lee Atchison. Top 2 get to keep the planes.

update 1750: and… I landed first. Lee had a good time and a 77 landing… but Mike Fox beat out Joe Wurts with Joe landing out of the circle and Mike with a 74. Second round now… Lex Mierop, Bob Burson, Kai, Tony Estep. Bob landed out! Tony landed out! Lex landed waaay off and Kai lands last with a 60 landing!

update 1740: Radian Foamie fly off… and i’m in it. Joe Wurts, Bob Burson, Kai Yang, Etc.
update 1630: We’re in Round 12 right now… our last round for the day. Two more rounds in the AM and then 5? round flyoff for the finals.

update 1605: Round 10 top 10 - Remington, Wurts, Borst, Smith, Murat, Gellrt, Lachowski, McGowan, Clerx, Frickey. Phil Kolb got a 579 and dropped to 25th. Cody Remington has 9993 points… only 7 points dropped over two days.

update 1505: Phil Kolb lost his landing in Round 10. Larry Jolly landed near the beans, but inbounds jut now. Tom Kiesling stretched his flight at 20′ behind the tent to the west for at least two minutes, wingtips sometimes just a few feet from ground. Some carnage!

update 1415: Round 10 is goin’. Winds and sink are picking up now. Gordy is letting Lee fly his Pike Perfect! Round 9 scores up… Top 10 - Kolb, Remington, Wurts, Arend, Murat, Mike Smith, Gellart, Mike Lachowski, Ben Clerx, Bob McGowan

update 1330: Troy Lawicki was the only one to take the two minute precision option. His landing was 76. Improved by 6, I think.

update 1315: Plane went down into the plane waiting area - broke Lee’s elevator and rudder on his Supra. I got it fixed. The flip over landing thing has been resolved. Flip overs and shed parts landings WILL be counted. If the landing was recorded as a landing, you can keep it. If it was recorded as a zero, you can opt for a 2 minute precision flight w/ landing… and if you land short on time, it will affect your recorded flight time for he round. Karl Miller is protesting the scored flip overs on precedent of the 2006 WSM’s. Also, winches have been changed to face the north winds, hence the break.

update 1155: photo link has been fixed (thanks Bruce) Round 8 scores up. Round 9 flying now. Round 8 Top 10: Kolb, Cody, Wurts, Murat, Mike Smith, Mike L., Jim Frickey, Gellart, Miller, Jeffrey Walter (a junior). Kolb no longer perfect - dropped 3 points.
update 1122: Huge group of birds (20+) marking big thermal on SE end of field in Round 9 Group A.

update 1031: Rd 7 top 10 - Kolb, Wurts, Cody, Murat Esibatir, Mike Smith, Mike Lachowski, Karl Miller, Jim Frickey, Gellart, Jojo. Hobby had an 897 round. JThomas had an 828. Kolb still perfect.

update 1020: plane tally! did a real quick inventory on the flight line. 18 Pike Perfect, 18 Supras, 5 Onyx JWs, 3 Espada RLs, 2 Avas, 2 High Ends, one each of: Extreme, Sharon, Pike Superior, Pike Giant, Starlight 3000, Aspire, Shadow Vtail, Icon 2. Short poem: Blaine Chastain lost his plane. While timing for Lil Lee I saw him spiral in… no word on cause. Carnage has been very light otherwise.

update 1015: bit of controversy over flipped over landings and shedded parts on landing. Int’l rules state flipped landings (and shed parts?) are OK. US rules say no to both. Not explicitly discussed at pilots meeting. Assumptions made? Maybe. Arend and Mike Lachowski had flipped landings and they are being marked as zeroes.

update 0910: launch and hang in Round 1 group B! Speared a perfect landing… on the nail! Bounced off for a 73. Group G of J now. Moving briskly.

update 0805:
Scores after round six: Page 1, Page 2
They just started a line for the WSM2008 T-shirts… first flight at 0830 and I’m in group B. Later!

FRIDAY RECAP
Coming to you (nearly) live from the beautiful, starried-skied AMA flying site in the Muncie, Indiana…

An absolutely perfect day of soaring here in Muncie! So might say TOO perfect. An excellent lift-filled sky with soft, pillowly thermals.
It ran like the Soaring NATS normally does, with few interruptions, no mechanical problems with the winches. Six rounds flown today with little downtime. Many of the pilots wanted to keep flying just to shake up the scores a bit! Many of the names at the top of the scoreboard had an international flavor with Australia’s David Hobby, Germany’s Philip Kolb and recent New Zealand-by-way-of-America transplant Joe Wurts. The US pilots were right in the thick of it, though, with rising F3J star Cody Remington flying very well and LSF veteran Jim Thomas giving it his all. The World Soaring Masters is definitely living up to it’s billing as hard-core competition, despite the insistence of a few of the international pilots’ being here “just for fun”. When it’s your turn to fly at the Masters, the competitive streak in any pilot lights up!

The AMA site here is one of the best places to fly in the world, I think - it’s wide open with nowhere to run to for a safe flight - you better find your lift and work it out. It’s easy to get way, way far away and in trouble over the beanfields that ring the flying site. Just ask me about the soybeans - I know! US F3J team member and past US Soaring Nats champ Tom Kiesling timed for me and gave me an excellent read on a thermal “way way out” (way out for me, but not for Tom!) Suffice it to say that I did not fly as well as my timer would have The good news is that the beans make for a soft landing.

The competition has been extremely tight today - with only a handful of points separating the top 10 pilots. Partially due to the excellent lift all-around today and partially due to the amazing international talent that has invaded the AMA flying site. My chances are already shot - but I don’t really care - because how often am I going to be able to fly with this level of talent? That’s why I actually gave up going to handlaunch contest (my favorite soaring event) to be here this weekend. Those of you out there who didn’t sign up for this year - for shame! But the good news is that the new World Soaring Masters is going to be NEXT year instead of in 2008 - that way it won’t have to compete with the once-every-two-years F3J World Championships.

Team JR is in full effect here with banners flapping in the breeze and many bright red Team JR shirts all around. They put together an after-hours event with electric foam sailplanes that was as much fun to watch as was to fly - with 10 randomly selected pilots slugging it out in a chance to win a plane. This was also done at the F3J World this year in Turkey.

Speaking of Turkey, the Turkish team headed by Mustafa Koc are having a ball. They are being extended the same warm welcome they gave the world at the F3J World Championships this year. They and anyone else sporting a passport were seen having a good old time at a local Mexican eatery. Rounds of drinks were consumed. Sombreros were worn, songs were sung. Jojo from Norway (a fellow soaring “journalist”) is here as well - make sure and check out his coverage here: http://www.f3x.no/wsm/2008/. This is proving to be a good time in any language.

Speaking of international competition… word around the campfire here is that the AMA Flying Site here in Muncie might be hosting the 2012 F3J World Championships!

Looks like at least 6 more rounds tomorrow in very similar weather conditions and then a couple on Sunday morning… and then the flyoffs! Top ten pilots go to the flyoffs. Much more flying to be done this weekend and anything can happen.

Big BBQ planned for tomorrow night! I’ll get the scores posted in the AM, and I’ll get a tally of the planes and pilots, too.

FRIDAY
update 2142: Sorry, but no Round 6 scores yet. Check back early tomorrow AM. We get started at 8:30 AM EDT tomorrow. Same weather is predicted.
update 2015: Jim fricke beat out JThomas in the second heat of the Foamie Challenge. Flew my litle Apogee DLG w/ Lee Atchison & Jeffrey Walters. Got a frosty beverage from the Turks party van! Currently dining at the finest establishment in Muncie - Carlos O’Kelly’s Mexican Cafe.
update 1755: Karl Miller edges out Luetke in the first of two 5 pilot rounds. Top 5 of the randomly selected 10 pilots today fly against top 5 out of random 10 from tomorrow for champs.
update 1745: Parkzone Radiant foamie contest begins! Karl Miller, JThomas, Jack Wollner, etc. involved. 8 minute tas, 20 sec motor run. standing here w/ Jochen Luetke and timer Gordy. Someone has also launched a fake electric powered hawk
update 1650: Round 5 scores up! Kolb is still perfect. Wurts, Remington, Hobby and Jthomas round out top 5. Round 6 underway, then the Foamie Challenge.
update 1555: Rd 4 scores up. Kolb, Wurts, Hobby, Remingtn, JThomas. Kolb has 4×1000. Jo Grini at 30th w/ 3941
update 1545: weather is just excellent, by the way. lift has developed into huge mild thermals. Landing contest now. Liking the modified 80 point tapes and 12 minute rounds.
update 1525: Round 5 now. Just saw Larry Jolly being interviewed on vid. for what I assume is some sort of JR TV.
update 1440: JR is going to be sponsoring a mini-f5j contest at the end of tofay. ten guys are drawn to fly two rounds with 5 of their Radian 2-meter foamie sailplanes. Top five guys keep the planes!
update 1435: Rd 3 scores are up: Kolb, JThomas, Wurts, Cody, Hobby top 5.
update 1400: just started round 4. unstable lift until now. The usual at the top of scores after 2 rounds… Kolb, JThomas, Wurts, Cody, David Hobby top 5. Me? thpbbbbbbt. Landed in beans Rd 3.
update 0915: beautiful chilly morning in Muncie. An absolute mass of soaring talent here. Wurts, Kolb, Hobby. Typical hour-long pilots meeting now.

THURSDAY
update thurs 2205 at the ama campsite and have my hammock setup. drinkin’ beer with doug pike!
update thurs 1818 edt heading to muncie, ETA 2100
Update Thursday 1350 EDT: WSM2008 Live Blogging capability achieved!

The 2008 World Soaring Masters is being held in Muncie, Indiana at the Academy of Model Aeronautics Flying Site. Held every two years, it’s likely to be one of the largest R/C sailplane contests in the US - and definitely one of the most “International”, with 100+ pilots from all around the US, Norway, Turkey, Australia and beyond.The Louisville Area Soaring Society has a handful of members making the trip up to Muncie (Ed, Gordy, Ben, Lee).

From Bruce:
“It was SSW wind but I thought at 22 MPH there had to be some lift. The front side was nice and the backside was really rough. I did manage to rip it up quite a bit though. While I was waiting for my plane to charge I decided to tape my camera to my hat and take some video while I flew. I threw it up on youtube here.”

Flown and shot at the Frankfort, Kentucky slope.

Our man Tony Utley has been video-crazy the past couple of weeks - this one is Bruce Davidson sloping his Pike WR(?) V-tail on the backside at the Frankfort slope. Tony has been putting together fantastic soaring videos out at the Frankfort Slope (and elsewhere) and you can check out more of his AU Video Productions here: http://nex12go.blogspot.com

Mike Lantz from down Knoxville, TN way sent in this video of him sloping his Mig-3, set to music.

Time 1:00 PM

Aspen Glen Way, Louisville, KY Map

Meeting room at St James Place Patio Homes, Aspen Glen Way, Louisville, KY.

Location is just north of Gene Snyder Freeway at Beulah Church Road

Directions
From I-64 or east Louisville take first exit AFTER Bardstown Road. (second exit after Billtown Rd)
Turn right. About 200 feet turn right into complex.

From I-65 or from the west.
Exit at Buelah Church Road and turn left. Make first right which is entrance to complex.

After entering complex count three buildings on the left. The meeting room is across the street from the third building. IMPORTANT- Park in parking spots that DO NOT HAVE NUMBERS PAINTED IN THE SPOTS. There are open parking spots on all sides of the meeting room building.

I recently returned from a short trip to Gatlinburg. After going on weekends for years I learned this trip I will never do the weekend thing again. A totally different place to visit and shop in during the week verses the weekend.

After several years of wanting to I was finally able to visit the “Tennessee Museum of Aviation” in Sevierville. The museum is located at the Sevierville airport just about three miles out of the center of town. Admission is $12.50 for adults and their web site can be found at www.tnairmuseum.com.

Unlike the museum at Dayton this is a living museum. Over half of the planes are in flying condition and several regularly make trips to air shows in the eastern U.S. and Canada. The stars of the museum are a pair of very rare P-47D Thunderbolts. But there is a F-86 Saber Jet, a pair of Mig-17s, a Mig-21, two P-80 Shooting Stars, a T-28 Trojan and a forward fuselage section from a B-25 that MGM used to make air to air movie shots including “Catch -22”.

All the planes are located in a hanger where the walls are painted white. This is much better than the hangers at Wright Patterson as you can get better light reflection and some very good pictures. They have two warbird flyins a year. We just missed this years October gathering by one week. Check their web site for next years shows.

I am sending Ben some pictures I took. Look for the drip pans under the engines on some of the planes to see the ones in flying condition. I recommend you stop by this museum some time. It is only 10 -12 minutes from I-40 at the Sevierville exit. Just allow more time on weekends.

Photos in the Tennessee Museum of Aviation gallery.

Photos, scores and flight reports on the 2007 Mid-American Soaring Championships page.

For the first time in it’s 30-plus years, the Mid-Am Champs is coming to Louisville. Normally held in Lexington, the BSS Club has given us the opportunity to host this storied competition. We’re making a slight change, though - this year the Mid-Am Champs will be fully man-on-man, just like the rest of the Ohio Valley Soaring Series (OVSS) competitions. Don’t know what “man-on-man” competition is? Check out this: Basic Guidelines for True Seeded Man-on-Man competition.

We’ll be holding this year’s Mid-Am at the site of last year’s Mid-South Soaring Champs - beautiful Hays-Kennedy Park in northeast Louisville, right by the river.

RES on Friday and then two days of Unlimited on Saturday and Sunday. All the info you’ll need is here:

2007 Mid-Am Soaring Championship

Ben Wilson is covering the Soaring NATS for the AMA’s NATSNews daily publication.

View our 2007 NATS Photos (updated daily, hopefully!)

Live(ish) updates on RCGroups: The Road to the 2007 NATS

Update: Ryan Woebkenberg has made a report on the NOS NATS: 2007 Nostalgia Nationals.

Update: Unlimited Final Scores. F3J Preliminary and Final Scores.