Monday - September 15, 2003

I attended the annual LOFT Fall Round Up (FRU) contest last weekend, a contest that I have been going to as long as it's been a part of the Ohio Valley Soaring Series (OVSS).  TK and I took Friday off, and left in the morning so we could get some practice flying in at the AMA grounds.  It was one of the smoothest trips to Muncie that I can remember, we managed to miss traffic and we arrived in plenty of time to fly.  Upon arrival to the AMA, we drove out to the place where we normally fly sailplanes and nobody was there.  Strange to be the only ones out there, I asked TK to check his R/C frequency scanner, (AMA grounds are large, people could be flying somewhere else), and sure enough, we see someone on channel 60.  We drove around to the power field with the tarmac landing strips, and found other R/C modelers.  Cliff was out with a winch and some other guys with sailplanes, and were sharing a flight line with the power guys.  It has been a long time since I flew along side power models, there was no problem with cooperation, but it sure was different.  Don Smith arrived shortly after us, and not too long after that Martin Doney.  Marc Gellart showed up a little later, and flew other peoples planes (OPP).  We all flew until sunset approached, which was just about the right time to quit as the mosquitoes seemed to get quite active.  We all went over to Muncie Airport to Vincent's Restaurant and enjoyed an excellent meal and conversation, basically a great day and evening.

And then I got completely ill late that night.  Maybe it was something I ate, but ouch, I was sick.  Very little sleep as well, not the way to start off the contest weekend.

The weather on Saturday was beautiful, just great weather for a soaring contest.  I wish I felt better, but it was not going to hold me back from contesting.  Mike Remus was the contest director for today's contest, and I like the way he does seeded MoM.  He will call long rounds and lets you fly the model you want to anytime you want to, he runs a sportsman class along side the experts and it works.  He has a real good understanding of which rules work and which one don't, and that only comes from contesting all the time.  I don't know if Mike started this, but the last two OVSS contests they allowed the first round one line break just to test the lines.  I think this is a good idea, an even better idea is to restring your clubs winches with new line before a big contest as we do at SOAR OVSS Fred Fredrickson memorial, or as CSS does at their OVSS memorial contest.  A new idea Mike introduced at the FRU this year was a coned area that you had to land in to score a flight.  It was about the same area as the HLG guys use at the Nats, and the landing tapes were in this zone.  It really cut down the off field landings, tightens up a big field, I liked this idea a lot.

Mike Remus pats himself on the back after awarding himself 2nd place on Saturday.

Thirty six pilots competed in four flight groups off of the AMA's real ball winches on the same field that we fly the Nats on.  I wish I could remember more about the days event, but I was just hanging on health wise.  At one point I nearly gave my timer my TX because I thought I was going to hurl, but I hung in there.  I do remember just getting buried by Mike Remus in round 4, he really pounded a bunch of us there.  Flying a very competitive round 5 where a couple of us pounded the group.  And then I got buried again in round 6 by Richard Burnoski, heck I was able to walk back, disassemble my ICON and put it in its bag, and he was still flying.  "That will leave a mark!"  That flight scored the win for Richard, I dropped into 6th place for the day.

The top three places in Expert and Sportsman.

Expert: 1st - Richard Burnoski, 2nd - Mike Remus, 3rd - Ben Roberto

Sportsman: 1st - Greg Prater, 2nd - Jim Redden, 3rd - Robin Meek

It really was a good time, the flying was superb and the sportsmanship and attitudes on the field were just wonderful to be around.  After the contest Sieb whipped out this electric P-51 that he let me and TK rape the air with, all kinds of aerobatics with great snap rolls.  Another pilot flew an FAI contest type helicopter and was pulling off some cool 3D moves, Capn' Jack and I found that to be quite impressive.  We both liked the half pipe tail slides.

I went out to Cafe 909 with a group of SOAR guys and had an early dinner, and then it was off to bed to catch up on some sleep.

The weather for Sunday did not look so good, when we arrived at the field it was still raining, and a lot of guys out preparing to fly.  Tom Siler, CD for Sunday looked impatient to start this contest, and looked like he might even start with it raining.  He already called three 5 minute rounds just to get a contest in.  I didn't even have to ask TK if he was going to fly, I already knew the answer.  Don Smith looked at the weather and decided not to fly as well.  I still have no ink on my LSF level V voucher, and with unstable conditions like this I might have a strong chance for a win.  I asked TK if cared if I flew today, (I was driving with him), and I wanted a shot at a level V win.  He said, "Go for it...", and I smiled.  Robin, Cliff and Ben helped keep my wings dry in the rain so I could get some tape down and stuck to hold the panels together, and then helped me lay a tarp over my model.  Tom called the first flight group out, it was still raining... I was thinking I am glad I am not in group A, I wouldn't launch in this.  Then he thought better of the situation, and paused the contest until the rain stopped, which wasn't long.

Stepping up to winch in round one, everything was wet.  I know the lines were going to be really heavy and weak due to the rain, so TK and I decided to take a real light tension launch.  I tapped the model up the line and *BAP*, the line broke.  I couldn't have been more careful but the CD was not going to allow any line breaks today.  "Fly it out!"  All I had was a stiff head wind and that little berm out by the road just beyond the parking lot.  I flew up wind and sloped the berm for 4:44 and got back to the inbounds box, no landing.  Not a great start, but heck, the first three rounds are 5's, the scores will be tight.  Mike Remus also broke a line in the first round, so in the second round we flew in group D with the sportsman, I am sure they just loved our company.  This time I only launched with a bit of camber, no launch mode, and was just as careful tapping my model up.  Now with the luxury of almost full launch height I explored up wind to see which treelines and ground structure was working.  I wandered around a bit and them came back with a decent landing approach, but wind and turbulence in the landing zone combined with a low and slow approach caused me to catch a wingtip just before the tape.  I couldn't believe it, TK and I just laughed it off.  I would be sure to make that approach much higher with much more authority for the rest of this contest.  Capn' Jack came by after that last flight and reminded me to keep focused, he had jumped up to second place and scores were really tight.  That last score was just enough to move me up into group C in round 3, and this time I finally felt like I was getting on track.  I took a very cautious launch, got as close to 5 as I could in the wind and nailed a 90 landing.  We marched through the three 5 minute rounds rapidly, the weather started improving and Tom decided to make this a flying contest, and called a 12 minute task for round 4.  I was talking to Jerry Shape and Mike Remus at the time and declared that no one would make a 12.  Jerry said with this group of pilots someone would max, and asked me if I wanted to bet him.  I thought about it for awhile, and decided against it, he was probably correct.  The first two flight groups didn't even make it half way, this was a last down contest now... I like this.  I moved up to group B from that last good round, and now I had some tough cookies to fly against.  Everyone here was hungry for group A, as was I.  I still took a cautious launch, and struck out left on my own upwind.  I asked TK, "Does it look like I am going up as I push out?", and he replied "I like your program".  Within a minute I am at cloud base and my bright green ICON Lite is graying out in the mist.  I slow the model down and TK reminds me we can stay at this level as long as I want, we were in this inversion layer at cloud base, we just need to keep the field position right in case I loose it into the clouds.  So I start playing this visibility threshold game, the model wants badly to climb into the cloud and disappear on me, yet I don't want to give altitude away.  At about five minutes in, TK tells me that some guys are really struggling.  Around 6 minutes it starts lightly raining and I hear models start landing.  My model is still strong at cloud base and full of energy.  Now it really starts to rain and TK pulls out his large umbrella and shields it against the wind to deflect the rain from my TX and face.  Only Marty and I are left in the sky around the 9 minute mark, Marty is flying a wave upwind of me in speed racer mode, working it for all it was worth.  I mentioned to TK he was really flying that well, he thought so too, but the rain was taking that all away.  Jerry Shape walked up to me at this point, and just put his face were I could see it.  I said, "I know Jerry, you would have won the bet", and he replied, "I know you wouldn't land early to win that bet either!".  8-)  Marty landed at around the 10 minute mark, and I flew the remaining two minutes alone in the rain.  TK was the ultimate timer in this situation, he moved the umbrella around, had a plastic bag over my TX and had his towel convenient to keep the TX dry. We set up for the landing, and such as things are, when you are applying the burial, all eyes are upon you at the landing zone.  I slid the landing a bit in the wet grass, but 60 points works.  The applause after a flight like that always makes one smile, that one felt good and everyone saw it.  Tom Siler pronounced that there would be one more round, another 12 minute task.  I awaited the clipboards to get displayed by flight groups, to see if I made it to group A.  The first three groups were hung up on the board, and I wasn't there so that was a good sign.  The first flight group went out to fly as the money round was displayed on flight group board, and I had closed the gap quite a bit being in a close third place to Karl Miller and Richard.  Karl and Richard were both concentrating very much on winning the OVSS season championship which was tightly scored between them at this point.  I pulled my clipboard down and put it in my jacket, I didn't need those guys to know I was that close at this point.  I went back over to the SOAR tents to have a Red Bull, and Richard came over to work the mind games on Karl before the last flight.  I let these guys talk their talk back and forth on each other while I took the picture below.

Richard, Bill, Karl and Cindy check out the air before the last round.  Richard and Karl are "contest talking".

I grabbed my iPod out of the van and jammed out to Nicholas Tremulis "King of the Hill" while I watched the flight group ahead of ours.  Nobody maxes, everyone struggles, but the air still kind of looked good right where I took my last flight, the guys just didn't keep flying over the right spot.  So here it is, the last round of the OVSS season, the money round, and I have worked hard to get to fly in it.  As I walk out to the assigned winch, I tell TK that I want a full tension launch for this last flight, I want a big launch.  I have been holding back on my launches all day since my line break in round one, but not with this group.  Bill Wingstedt launches first and promptly breaks a line.  I look at TK and tell him I am still going for it, full launch.  I took a full launch and zoom and it felt great to get that much altitude.  About 20 seconds in I hear Richard and Karl arguing about who found a particular thermal, both hooked up in it and started dragging most of the pack downwind.  Marc Gellart and Jerry Shape fly upwind to the right out to the far tree line.  And I flew by myself back to the same spot as the previous flight, and right back up to cloud base.  TK kept me informed of everyones progress, and it was clear that many of us were going to max this round one way or another.  He said the downwind pack was flying well beyond the AMA building, almost invisible and trying to make their way back.  There was a good chance that Marc and Jerry had their maxes.  I heard Karl yelp and moan as he landed early, apparently it was wicked trying to make it back from that downwind run.  Sieb didn't make it back, and landed his Pike Superior way out, and it was lost.  About two minutes to go my air had deteriorated, as well as my much of my altitude.  I had to make a run for home, the schmeg demons were just yanking my stab to the ground.  TK was telling me it was going to be close, take any air I find on the way home and stretch.  I flew over the parking lot downwind on my way back and the ICON bumped.  I threw it on a wing tip and the wrap was neutral.  TK says "Kick it, kick that rudder".  I wish I had more energy but I can't take my hand off the stick at this moment to click in some down trim so I am pushing around the dish trying to get some speed, and I do kick that rudder.  Second dish I get some speed and we are going up, I quickly click a digital "beep" of down trim and get a faster dish going.  Next wrap add a little camber to taste and I have the ICON cored on that thermal, just cooking it.  Next thing I know I am setting up for a landing and it's windy.   Guys are missing their landings up and down the zone due to the wind gusts.  I carry a lot of energy in, not worrying a lot about the count down and stab the landing tape for 30.  As I turned around there was my good friends Capn' Jack and Karen standing behind me applauding, that was a special moment.  I gave that flight everything I had and it felt real good, I knew Karl landed short, and Richard missed his landing, the scores would be real close now.

Tom Siler awards Robin Meek his first and last win in the Sportsman class.  Robin was flying an ICON Thermal in sportsman, is that like a Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac? 

Tom Siler, CD awarded the sportsman trophies, and Robin Meek earned his first win in the sportsman class, now he will be flying in expert.  I remember when I did this, I didn't see wood for an entire season after that event. 8-)  Marc Gellart and Steve Siebenaler did a great job of a announcing the OVSS championship, here is a little mpeg video I shot of the event as it happened.  As it turns out that lousy 30 point landing was enough to edge Richard for first place, and I was awarded my first LSF level V win.

Sportsman: 3rd - Jim Redden, 2nd - Bob Burson, 1st - Robin Meek

Expert: 3rd - Karl Miller, 1st - Jim Bacus, 2nd- Richard Burnoski (OVSS and weekend champion)

Karl Miller - OVSS Champion 2000, Jim Bacus - OVSS Champion 2002, Richard Burnoski - OVSS Champion 2003

All three fly in the SOAR club and are proud to keep that eagle roosting in Chicago

Capn' Jack suggested to the SOAR guys that we stop at the Loon Lake Lodge on the drive back home for dinner.  It would be on the last exit on 69 before you take 465 around Indy, there would be a full size yellow aeroplane on the roof with floats.  We all managed to find it and arrive at approximately the same time, and were seated to a large table with plenty of room.  It was a pleasant way as a club to end the contest season and celebrate it with an awesome meal.  This spot is definitely a "keeper", we will be eating there on every Muncie trip now.

The SOAR club dines together after OVSS FRU

Over dinner Sieb rings my cell and tells me he found his Pike.  Folks, let me tell you he out did Karl Miller's infamous leaving the Stork hanging on the high tension wires on the AMA grounds, I wish there were pictures.  His Pike was found on the roof of the new AMA building...  I about dropped my cell phone I was laughing so hard. 

Thanks once again to Mike Remus, Tom Siler, Marc Gellart, Steve Siebenaler, the LOFT club, AMA and everyone else involved with the OVSS and the Fall Round Up, it was a blast!