2011 Southwest FAI Challenge
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2011 SOUTHWEST FAI CHALLENGE
OCTOBER 29 & 30, 2011
BOULDER CITY, NEVADA
The weather at the Dry Lake in Boulder City is like the old nursery rhyme. When it is good it is very good. When it is bad, it is very bad. So what would it be for 2011? Absolutely perfect! Two memorable days of temperatures in the high 70’s and low 80’s and chases that some competitors were heard to count in “steps”. Motorcycle chases were definitely an option for most of both days. To quote SW FAI regular, Rich Rohrke, we had two “bluebird” days with “winds gusting to zero” much of the time!
Rich spent Friday pumping up one perfect practice flight after another, but when Saturday morning dawned he found the one bad spot of air on the entire field and fell a miserable 3 seconds short of the 240 second max in round one. Peyton Tetrick, Brian and Janna Van Nest’s granddaughter who has just started flying F1B fell a few seconds short as well, but from the signs of things will be right up with the big boys pretty soon. As Peyton continued to practice the craft, the rest of the field…..all remaining competitors including Rich were 100% clean for rounds two through six. 50 straight maxes! Awesome! Unfortunately, round seven turned ugly for Jack Emery and world traveler Pim Ruyter. That left seven clean for the fly-off. What we thought might take a few rounds was resolved very quickly as Co-CD Bob Beecroft skillfully opened the fly-off window right at the beginning of a ten minute “hole”. We all stood around and looked at each other and our passive thermistors for 8 minutes and then were off in a flurry. I found just enough to edge Perris-Saturday teammate and 2010 winner Bob Piserchio by one second at a whopping 3:53 to 3:52, with Blake Jensen gliding in for third at 3:20.
F1A followed almost the same pattern. A few “drops” in round one and mostly maxes during the day left three flyers qualified for the fly-offs at the end of round seven. As soon as the fly-off horn blew Jim Parker, Brian Van Nest and Mike McKeever scattered to different parts of the lakebed. After several minutes of circling, Jim and Brian launched at about the same time and seemed to be gliding well but appeared to be in need of help to make the 5 minute max. Using the shrewd judgment and icy nerves of a World Champion, Mike saw an opportunity and gently towed his short wing model to the ground. He quickly re-loaded, and in the last minute of the window, zoomed his long wing fly-off model into the sky…….for a solid 2:49 and a third place finish! Brian touched down at 3:44 and Jim cruised to victory at 4:46..
We still see very few power flyers at this event, but we appreciate those that do come. Now regular attendee, Henning Nyhegn makes this his last stop before heading home to Denmark. He took first (and last) place honors in F1C again this year. We were also very happy to see Glenn Schneider in attendance for the first time and hope he becomes a regular. Glenn flew unchallenged, but never the less near perfectly for a win in F1P. No participants in F1J…….heavy sigh.
While the fuel-powered models are few and far between at Boulder City, the electric events are growing. F1Q had six entries, double the total from F1C, F1P, F1J and Vintage FAI Power combined. Larry Bagalini won his first fly-off ever by besting F1Q heavyweight Bernie Crowe in the first fly-off round with a max to Bernie’s 139 second effort.
Promptly at 7:15 on Sunday morning the horn sounded to begin the first Espresso Fly-Off round. A Southwest FAI tradition, each of the “mini” events (plus Vintage FAI Power) has its own separate morning endurance fly-off, timed to the ground in a 10 minute controlled window. These fly-offs are run just like an afternoon fly-off except they are open to all entrants in each event. Blake Jensen and Tiffaney O’Dell bombed off magnificent 283 second and 229 second flights respectively with their mini-wakefield F1G’s. Brian Van Nest topped the F1H scores with 228 seconds followed by Mike McKeever at 215 seconds. Glenn Schneider began his walkover win in Vintage FAI Power with a beautiful 320 second flight. The Espresso flights are recorded separately from the five normal rounds and the winners receive a SW FAI espresso cup. The scores are only used as a tie breaker if three conventional fly-offs can’t determine a winner at the end of the day. This is the first year since including this format that we actually DID need the tie breaker scores. You will notice in reviewing the scores however, that winning the Espresso fly-off is not a guaranteed win in the main event as there is still a lot of flying to be done.
Once the normal rounds began, the CD’s were able to take a breather from the Espresso hustle and appreciate what was beginning as another near perfect day. As the rounds unfolded, it was apparent the flying was near perfect as well. Sixty of the sixty-five official round flights recorded in F1G and F1H were maxes and Glenn Schneider stayed clean in Vintage FAI Power for the win. That’s a 93% max ratio in those three events. Nobody dropped more than one round in those events and three of the five drops were in the last round. Wow! Blake, the Americas Cup leader, Tiffaney, Peter Brocks, Charlie Jones and Larry Bagalini squared off in the F1G fly-off. Larry had a line break at a most inopportune time and missed the window. Blake & Tiffaney inexplicably glided out of lift and fell short of the 3-minute max, although Blake held on for third. Charlie and Peter ran the table through the 3, 4 and 5-minute flights and used the tie-breaker for a decision. Peter secured the win with his 205 second morning Espresso flight vs. Charlie’s 192 seconds. In F1H, three of the four entrants found themselves in the fly-off after Espresso winner Brian Van Nest was tripped up in the last round. Norm Smith fell a little short in the 3-minute fly-off and took third, but like F1G, Mike McKeever and Jim Parker remained clean through the three fly-offs and reverted to the tie-breaker for a conclusion. Jim’s Espessso flight could not shake a stall and that came back to bite him as Mike walked away with the victory with 215 seconds vs. Jim’s 86 seconds.
E-36 was added to the venue at the last minute at the request of the electro-crowd. Three entrants were charged up and plugged in with Bernie Crowe nipping John Oldenkamp by five seconds for the blue glassware. Larry Miller struggled a bit, but finished flying for a respectable third place finish. We are always happy to see our annual P-30 group, all local to the Las Vegas region. This year, none of them maxed out, but Gerald Antonucci, Robert Hodes and Bill Holt finished in that order and took home the P-30 glassware. Jon Zeisloft, one of the founding fathers of this meet came out on Sunday with a beautiful although untested version of Ray Monk’s FAI Power model fitted with a Galbreath OS Max III. An instant DT that was a little quick on the draw folded the wing before the model was dialed in, but it showed great promise and should be ready for competition very soon.
Even with the fly-offs running later than normal, we were still able to complete the presentation of awards, pack up and get all but the over-nighters off the field and on their way home by 4:00PM. Thanks to John & Sally Clapp and to Andrew Barron who almost always make the long trip from the east coast to fly with us, and to Charlie and Geralyn Jones who come almost as far. Blake & Tiffaney from Oregon have become regulars and it was nice to see the Farmer Family on the entry roster as well. Thanks to Bob Beecroft for managing the official table on Saturday so I could fly and to Linda Piazza for the yummy hot dogs barbecued to perfection and provided gratis for anyone that was hungry.
For some us, we showered up and headed into town for a nice dinner and a couple frosty margaritas as we did a little hotel hopping and took in the sights and sounds of Halloween Eve on the Las Vegas Strip. Quite the experience, especially as midnight approached. A wonderful end to a wonderful weekend.
Hope to see you next year. The Boulder City lakebed is quite a remarkable place to fly.
F1A (12)
Jim Parker 210 180 180 180 180 180 180 286 1576
Brian Van Nest 210 180 180 180 180 180 180 224 1514
Mike McKeever 210 180 180 180 180 180 180 169 1459
Lee Hines 198 180 180 180 180 180 180 1278
Don Zink 210 180 180 145 180 180 180 1255
Andrew Barron 210 180 180 180 180 090 164 1184
Jim Farmer 177 176 142 180 180 180 000 1035
Peter Brocks 162 132 172 170 170 055 159 1020
Logan Tetrick 210 180 014 131 180 180 114 1009
Jimmy Farmer(Jr) 62 180 145 081 180 180 000 0928
Norm Smith 200 140 081 000 093 180 180 0874
Joseph Farmer(Jr)045 173 147 173 104 180 000 0822
F1B (11)
Bill Booth 240 180 180 180 180 180 180 233 1553
Bob Piserchio 240 180 180 180 180 180 180 232 1552
Blake Jensen 240 180 180 180 180 180 180 200 1520
Charlie Jones 240 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 1500
Tom Ioerger 240 180 180 180 180 180 180 177 1497
Richard Wood 240 180 180 180 180 180 180 174 1494
John Clapp 240 180 180 180 180 180 180 000 1320
Pim Ruyter 240 180 180 180 180 180 148 1288
Rich Rohrke 237 180 180 180 180 180 146 1283
Jack Emery 240 180 180 180 180 180 097 1237
Peyton Tetrick(Jr)166 179 144 180 171 158 064 1062
F1C (1)
Henning Nyhegn 067 120 144 132 180 143 180 0966
F1P (1)
Glenn Schneider 180 180 180 180 180 131 123 1154
F1Q (6)
Larry Bagalini 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 1440
Bernie Crowe 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 139 1399
Mike Roseberry 151 180 180 159 180 180 180 1210
John Oldenkamp 180 180 109 180 180 173 180 1182
Larry Miller 180 180 180 180 167 180 095 1162
Mike Pykelny058 103 165 180 155 180 180 1021
ESPRESSO FLY-OFF
F1G Blake Jensen 283
F1H Brian Van Nest 228
Vintage FAI Power Glenn Schneider 320
F1G (10)
Peter Brocks 120 120 120 120 120 180 240 300 205 1525
Charlie Jones 120 120 120 120 120 180 240 300 192 1512
Blake Jensen 120 120 120 120 120 149 0749
Tiffaney O’Dell 120 120 120 120 120 124 0724
Larry Bagalini 120 120 120 120 120 000 0600
John Clapp 120 120 120 120 112 0592
Ralph Hotz 120 112 120 120 120 0592
Mike Pykelny 105 120 120 120 120 0585
Tom Ioerger 120 120 120 120 105 0585
Richard Wood DNF 0000
F1H (4)
Mike McKeever 120 120 120 120 120 180 240 300 215 1535
Jim Parker 120 120 120 120 120 180 240 300 086 1406
Norm Smith 120 120 120 120 120 162 0762
Brian Van Nest 120 120 120 120 107 0587
P-30 (5)
Gerald Antonucci 120 116 120 356
Robert Hodes 120 114 120 354
Bill Holt 101 120 120 341
Ralph Hotz DNF 000
Mike Roseberry DNF 000
VINTAGE FAI POWER (1)
Glenn Schneider 180 180 180 180 180 0900
E-36 (5)
Bernie Crowe 120 120 120 360
John Oldenkamp 120 120 115 355
Larry Miller 070 094 120 284
Larry Bagalini DNF 000
Mike Roseberry DNF 000