SEN 1043 - 28 Oct 2006
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SEN issue 1043 - 28 October 2006
Table of Contents
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Strange Stuff in SEN 1041
It's an Ill Wind that Blows.... - Peterson
Congratulations to US Team Members - Achterberg
Finals, Teams and Participation in FAI Free Flight
Strange Stuff in SEN 1041
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There were two attachments that got included by accident in SEN 1041.
This actually had a MS Word copy of Mike A's letter and some header
info.
Please ignore this.
It's an Ill Wind that Blows....
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Author : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Thank you
Michael Achterberg
For your astute observation of the wind at Lost Hills!!!!!
I grew up on the "West Side" of the San Joaquin Valley in the 1930 -
1945 years.
The west side was known as the "poor farming area", because of lack of
water and abundance of wind!
Hence, the lack of towns. The east side had plenty of water and little
wind.
The good weather (east side) caused the farms and cities (Bakersfield,
Fresno, Stockton) to grow and highway 99 to be built where they are.
The west side was always a joke.
I have known this all my life, Therefore I was completely surprised when
I re-entered the Free-Flight hobby in the 1980's and went to a contest
at Taft and had perfect weather. (remember, west side meant wind to me)
After several years flying at Taft, I grew to love the place, almost
perfect weather, year round.
When we first started flying a Lost Hills, I attended many contests that
were blown out at Lost hills, and I went to Taft and test flew all
day!!!! (13 times)
In fact, one San Valeers annual was blown out at Lost Hills, so we moved
it to Taft and flew on Sunday in good weather.
I was very vocal during the transition from Taft to Lost Hills. I
Irritated many fliers during that period and I apologize for my
demander, but I knew the area well.
I assume we all know the area well now.
I have attended 3 contests at Lost Hills this year, and the weather was
perfect at each one!!!!!!!!-
Maybe the injection of water and farming is changing the wind pattern.
(lots of luck)
I have grown to like Lost Hills (except for Motel 6 recently) and plan
to continue to fly there and put up with the wind, (I purchased a NEW XR
100 and now am able to keep up with the wind).
Norm Peterson
Congratulations to US Team Members
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Author : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Hello;
I want to congratulate the 2006 Team members. My program proposal is by no
means a statement of disrespect to the current team members. It is more
directed to the flyers who did not make the team. I believe that any of
the top 10 to 15 flyers in each event would make a very strong team.
And any of that group always make a great team.
So please understand, this proposal, is about the group as a whole and
what will produce and sustain interest in what us dinosaurs do for fun!
I believe all the current team members have experience the down side of a
bad Finals, so you should be able to relate to my proposal.
Once again, my apology to anyone who has misconstrued my meaning
of the new team selection proposal. And once again congratulations!!
Hope you have a wonderful experience at the World Champs!
Thermals~ Michael Achterberg
Finals, Teams and Participation in FAI Free Flight
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Editorial
Lets not confuse participation in the team program and the World champs with
encouraging participation in FAI Free Flight. No matter what way we select the
team - there will only be 9 Team members ! To quote Norm Furutani - after
every finals, there are 9 happy guys and 100 who want to change the Team
Selection process.
What Interested me was that both Mike A and Gene were proposing systems that had
more contests with almost the opposite reasoning. Mike's was that by having
more contests the better flyers would rise to the top, be on the team and remain
motivated. Taken to the extreme, like the Ukrainian system, that by including
Euro and World Champs results [it's more complicated but this will do for here]
it favours the existing team members so they get more and more proficient thus ensuring
better results at the Champs - but also demotivating aspiring team members !
as it becomes tougher for them displace the Stars and get on the team.
Gene's seems the other way around - by diversifying the selection contests we
will increase our participant base and get fresh blood on the team - thus making
those seasoned campaigners that Mike wants to keep active unhappy !
As Mike says in his note above, in each class there are at least 15
sportsmen or women, that could easily make the Team and do well in the World
Champs. We need to keep all of them motivated, not just those that
make the team.
From personal experience, I know what I have to do to perform better in a competition. I can make that effort for a limited number of contests. It's an effort that's expensive in terms of time and money. I could not maintain the same effort over 6 or 7 contests a year. It would favour a retired person or someone with a flexible schedule. For example it's necessary to get to the site a few days ahead of the contest. So me move from have one intensive week to having 6 or 7 intensive weeks. Not what would help the family or working man !
So do we fix this like Formula One racing does and only have a limited
number of practice days a year - I think not, because I
even like test flying and just seeing my F1Bs in the air
I think the World and America's Cup both provide motivation and
encouragement for participation, that helps to overcome the
disappointment in not making the team for an aspiring star.
It is clear that it's very hard to maintain a high level of performance
and that a number of people have become discouraged or cut back.
Mike or Jerry Fitch might like to comment
why Jerry does not fly as much as he did a while back.
.............................
Roger Morrell