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!

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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!

Read more after the jump or check out the scores on the Club Contests page! Read the rest of this entry »

The Two Channel Contest Series rolls on with installment #5!

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.

Read on for more exciting details and check out the August 2 scores and series standings here!
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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.

Read on for more details after the jump, or check out the scores on our Club Contest page!
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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!

Go check out the final scores for the day or read on for more tantalizing details after the jump!

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Bruce Davidson launching under stormy skies, St. Louis

Our own Bruce Davidson just capped off a few weeks abroad in Europe, competing in the German F3K Open in Dresden – a huge, multi-national handlaunch soaring event. Bruce placed 35th out of a huge field of 94 pilots, and 2nd among all US pilots. Check out more conversation about the German F3K Open on RCGroups.

Bruce and his wife Christine then embarked on a week of sightseeing in Italy, making their way back home just in time for the MVSA’s Gateway Handlaunch Contest! Bruce battled with the ever-stronger St. Louis crew and ended up on top after two days of good flying. Read the MVSA contest report here!

Be sure to read Bruce’s German F3K Open report after the jump!

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Local boy does good! LASS’ own Ben Wilson wins the 2009 MidSouth Soaring Champs! St. Louis’ Michael Johnson takes top overall sportsman!

Check out Gordon Buckland’s Saturday and Sunday reports at RCGroups!

Gordy's 8-Hour LSF V Slope Flight Team (l-to-r: AJ, Gordy, Lee, Bob Summers and Frankfort-slope-discoverer Dave Smith)

Two weekends ago, our own Gordy Stahl did what he said he could never do… the LSF Level V 8-hour slope flight. Not only that, but he did it TWICE in one weekend!  Gordy and a team of hardy individuals flew for 16 hours over two days at the Frankfort, Kentucky Slope, getting Gordy one step closer to his goal of finally becoming a League of Silent Flight Level V pilot – an honor only 124 other pilots have received in the last 30+ years. Gordy tells his epic tale after the jump:

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Dion Dunn writes in with a report of Sunday’s “Two Channel Contest”. You can check out the yearly standings as well as the round-by-round scores on the Club Contests page. Read on for Dion’s report:

The grass was wet, and that was all of the moisture we saw until we were almost packed up.  The air was actually pretty favorable with some lift blowing through the field and nice launches being had by most.  I think I even spotted the sun a couple of times.

We flew in 2 groups of 3 even though we had 5 high starts laid out (see above).  The first group was John O., Lee, and Ed.  Lee brought out his nicely constructed OlyII picked up (or should I say stolen?) at Toledo and proceeded to grab a 15 second flight after a pop off.  Everyone at the field breathed a sigh of relief as we all thought the little master was beatable on this Sunday – stay tuned.  Ed decided to bring out his beautiful Hobie Hawk.  After some shaky trim flights and a determination that it had negative washout, he hooked it up anyway and managed to bring it down in one piece at a 1:28.  That sure is a good looking bird in the air.  John finished up with a clean, but shorter 1:17.  NO landing points for anyone.  OK, well, this could be a really short day.
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After 11 long years, Bruce Davidson finally nabbed “THE BIG ONE” in the handlaunch soaring world – the Torrey Pines Gulls’s International Handlaunch Glider Festival. Bruce beat out 60 of the best handlaunch glider pilots in the world to end up on top. It’s been a long time coming for one of the hobby’s greatest proponents and best pilots, and now he’s got his!

Bruce posted a great write-up on the contest over on the IHLGF 2009 thread @ RCGroups, or you can read it after the jump below. But first, don’t forget Bruce’s First-ever, First-Annual Handlaunch contest, dubbed “THE BRUCE” will be taking place August 28th-August 30th 2009 at his homestead right here in sunny Kentucky! Sign up now!

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