SEN issue 1092 - 15 May 2007
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- Category: Archive 2007
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Table of Contents - SEN 1092
- Nor Cal Champs
- Stone [or drown ?] the Crows ?
- E36 Timer Question
- Turkish World Cup results
Nor Cal Champs
Fred Terzian
1 Lee Hines 600
1 Brian Van Nest 600
3 Mike McKeever 587
4 Norm Smith 483
1 Larry Norvall 420
2 Mark Belfield 388
3 Walt Ghio 387
4 John Pratt 251
1 Ed Carroll 449
1 Mark Belfield 493
2 Kurt Van Nest 485
1 Brian Van Nest 540
2 Mike McKeever 456
3 Norm Smith 360
1 Bill Vanderbeek 432
1 Anthony Ferrario 458
2 Chinmay Jaju 219
F1A-B-C Started with 1st round 180, reduced to 120 for rounds 2 and 3 and finally 90 seconds for 4 and 5. Only five rounds were flown because of wind and time.
Because of high winds and drift over Highway 16, it was decided that the tie in F1A be settled at Big Al’s over the Memorial Day weekend.
Sponsored by the Oakland Cloud Dusters our 70th Anniversary! 1937-2007
Report by Fred Terzian
This year’s contest was impacted by unusual weather conditions. Most forecasts predicted high winds for both days over most of the S.F. Bay Area. True to form, conditions were generally calm when the CDs arrived on the flying site around 5 on Friday night to begin setting up the flight line. Several early arrivals were test flying in almost ideal conditions. A pleasant surprise was to see Marty Thompson back flying after many years of hibernation up in the Northwest. He came down with longtime friend Bruce Hannnah, who also lives up in Oregon. Also present were Glenn and Linda Grell with their RV encampment.
As contest directors, Bill Vanderbeek, Dick Douglas and Fred Terzian knew that weather conditions could impact turnout, not to mention the distance traveled and rising cost of fuel for vehicles. So it was a pleasure to see some early arrivals from out of town.
The next morning, we arrived out at Waegell Field around 6:30. The sun was already shining and it was a clear, blue sky day. The wind had definitely picked up from the previous evening, and I elected to head up the rise to the north to release a helium-filled balloon to determine drift direction for the FAI line. The south easterly orientation was perfect for a normal day however the wind was gusting between 10 and 15 miles an hour. This meant that some flights could potentially get across Jackson Road, a well-traveled and busy Hwy 16.
Flying was suspended round by round for the FAI events and no one attempted any AMA or other specialized events. So it was decided to break for our now famous barbecue lunch at about 11:30.
Aimee and Marty had previously arranged to have Nancy and Roger Gregory take over the barbecue as they were planning to leave early and head down to the Monterey Peninsula to---Get Married! They set up the barbecues and fired up the coals and then enjoyed the socializing during the lunch break with hamburgers, polish sausage, potato salad, fresh fruit and wonderful pies and cookies. We greatly appreciated the help and organization by this foursome. It’s not an easy task but it has become traditional and everyone looks forward to it. Also present for the first time to help out both days was Lynn Terzian, including daughter Deborah and her friend Darren
Needless to say all flying was suspended and everything was carried over to the second day, bunching up all of the events. An “unofficial” last one down catapult glider tourney was held with Chinmay Jaju, Dave Parsons and Bob Stalick participating. A countdown preceded the launch and the gliders quickly headed south over the first fence line about five hundred yards down wind. Stalick won the event and both he and Dave drifted about the same distance.
The only “official” event entered was Old Time Hand Launch Glider by several juniors. Needless to say they got busted up with each flight, repairing in between.
Sunday dawned picture perfect with another day of clear weather. There were light breezes by the motels along Highway 50 but when we arrived at the field, it appeared relatively calm.
Rocco Ferrario brought a carload of juniors, including his son Anthony. Other juniors arrived with family members.
The F1 A-B-C events started off with a 180 max and then were reduced to 120 for two rounds and finally 90 seconds for the remaining two. That’s right, we only flew five rounds. The Mini- events started off with three 120s and then down to 90 seconds for the last two.
The only maxouts were in F1A and F1H with Lee Hines and Brian Van Nest planning to settle a tie at Big Al’s on Memorial Day weekend for America’s Cup points. Brian was the only one clean in F1H.
Hands down for perseverance in the FAI events was Mark Belfield, traveling all the way up from Palmdale to compete in both F1B and F1G. We saw him still searching for his Coupe on Sunday evening, right next to the fence line at Jackson Road. Fortunately Rocco, Anthony and that carload of juniors were looking for Anthony’s F1P on the other side of Grant Line Road before heading home, and discovering Mark’s F1G! Anthony’s model was never recovered, although it DT’d. It may have been picked up by someone traveling the local roads. Bill Vanderbeek also had a flyaway and was last seen heading towards Rancho Seco’s nuclear plant.
We had the pleasure to visit with Will Nakashima that morning. He is a recipient of the NFFS’ Hall of Fame this year. He brought along his George Xenakis “Tadpole” A-1 towline glider. I haven’t seen that specific one in over 20 years and I don’t believe he has flown it since either! Will continues to come up with great captions and classic drawings for his cartoons published in both Free Flight the NFFS digest and the NFFS Symposia.
We have also learned that the pond to the south could be used for ROW events, if drift was ideal. No one flew because of the wind however it would be a great backup site to the portable one that Bill usually assembles.
The Oakland Cloud Dusters would like to thank all those who braved the conditions and continue to support this unique weekend contest. We will probably revert back to the last weekend in April (our traditional date) to avoid scheduling conflicts with other major contests held at Lost Hills and Southern California. We would also like to apologize for no Porta Potties! Needless to say we will be looking for reliable contractors to deliver them in the future.
As a final note, our traditional $100 drawings (six of them this year) usually keep everyone present for the awards ceremony. I hate to say that some early departures may have missed out, but money isn’t everything. Right, McConachie?
The List—In Order of Drawings:
- Brian Van Nest denied
- John Pratt denied
- Dave Parsons $100 Yea!
- Bob Stalick $100 Yea!
- Jerry Rocha denied
- Roberto Romero (jr.) $100 Yea, Bigtime!
- Ron Hummel $100 Yea!
- Harlan Halsey denied
- Rocco Ferrario $100 Yea, Gas Money!
- Bud Romak denied
- Norm Peterson denied
- Bill Langenberg denied
- Bill McConachie denied
- Cristina Leport (jr.) $100 Yea! Yea!
Stone [or drown ?] the Crows ?
Stonehenge Cup
Author : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Guys
Just back from the Stonehenge Cup. In May we may expect reasonable weather!?
Well the Saturday it blew with rain showers. Dave Greaves reckoned it hit
well over 30mph at times.
Sunday less wind but water, water everywhere! We pulled the plug (sic) after 3 rounds. Problems of health and safety of the competitors and getting off the site through deep water and mud!
It must have been bad as only a few miles further to the West the 3 Tors
walk on Dartmoor was cancelled (the 1st such happening in 37 years).
Youngsters were airlifted off the moor to safety!
Such is free flight such is life!
Michael J Woodhouse, Norwich, UK.
I think it was you who wanted to know why I did not do so well at the Stonehenge... I had planned to leave work early on Friday but at the last minute someone called an important meeting. I still managed to slip out a little early, went to my flat picked up my model box and bag. I hailed a taxi at the front door to take me to the rental car place. Spent time sorting out some confusion in the reservation and hit the road to catch the Friday night rush hour, which clearly wasn’t rushing. Eventually got to Amesbury, checked in, got dinner and then sorted out what I needed to take to the field.
I still haven’t got used to the gentlemanly hour – 9 am, that contests start in the UK, so did not get enough sleep. Arrived at the site without difficultly and noted the increasing wind speed. The CD selected the flight line location and postponed the start to an even more gentlemanly 10, thus allowing more sportsman time to arrive and unpack. Maybe they were gentlemen too!?.
On the first round a stalled as I had not test flown because of the wind, probably should have. On the next round the model flew well in the rain until it disappeared from the time keeper’s sight when a heavier squall appeared. Still at 2 mins 18 I was one second better than Russell Peers who landed only a short distance away. The next two rounds the wind increased and my model did not get high enough and came down in the valley. I then realized that a> I was wimping out because of the wind and not launching hard enough and b> I had stretched the VIT to 4.5 seconds back home as part of some testing and it was not working in the wind. So I dropped it to 3.8 seconds and threw a lot harder in the fifth and final round. The flight was great until the last 30 seconds or so when it hit turbulence, probably caused by trees and disappeared behind the trees dropping 2 seconds.
During one of these later rounds I had turned my anemometer when I when to fly and looked at it when I go back. Over that one hour period the highest wind speed was 32 mph and the average over the whole time was 8.5 m/s. I was picking the lows but it would have worked better with an upwind wind meter or one that reacted faster. Initially I was looked for single digits but ended up by being happy with 13 to 14 mph
To aide the contestants the CD cut the round time to 45 minutes but had a retrieval time of one hour, giving and an hour and 45 minutes. This was fine, even with models going over a mile I was able to get back in an hour. I figured that I was walking close to a mile each way to get my model back. So I found that I was losing focus during the waiting time! I should have got the ipod out with the motivational music.
This contest was a first for my new Vin Morgan tracker. At previous UK contests I found that there was a lot of noise on the 220.xxx that my Walston operates at. I guessed that seeing both previous events were near military facilities it was a MOD frequency. So wanting to find my model, not wanting to have an encounter with an angry MP or attract an unguided missile I got a special Tx from Vin in OZ. I used my tri band Kenwood Rx. Following a discussion the previous week with Bob Piserchio I tried the different mode options with the Kenwood and AM did not work well but USB and LSB gave a very encouraging beep. I was getting over a mile on the ground, except for the time when the guy walking the dog picked up my model and moved it close to another and put it upside down. Then it was still at least half a mile. I was using the rubber duck antenna and shielding it with by body. I found moving it very close to my chest acted well as attenuator.
So I was glad I went, it reminded me of a few things I need to do better in the wind and showed that the new tracker works well. I saw a bunch of friends. Finally congratulations to young Oskar Findal who with his old balsa boomed model beat top UK flyer Mike Woolner and his stable of Alex models in the flyoff.
Next day I drove back London having decided not to go back to the field because of the rain. I had to go and buy another travel bag that I use to carry my support equipment and then ran 5 miles or so as part of my prep for Odessa.
E36 Timer Question
Dick, Photos of both timers please. What are the weights? What transmitter is used for RC/DT? What is the R/C range please? Thanks, Ed Mate
Istanbul FF Cup 2007
Posted on Yahoo FFML by: "Ismail Sarioglu" This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ff_turkey
Dear Friends,
Istanbul FF Cup 2007 results and pictures are on the WEB
www.turkey-ff.info/TurkishFF/IstanbulFFCup/IstanbulFFCup.htm
We hope to see you next year !
Ismail SARIOGLU
..............
Roger Morrell