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Duane
24 Posts |
 Posted - 09/21/2009 : 3:56:13 PM
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A brief contest report.
The pictures I took are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/duane.beck/CASAOpen2009?feat=directlink
Saturday:
10 Sportsmen, 21 Experts, 7 RES (38 total).
Man-on-man with 5 ESL winches plus a backup with a retriever for pop-offs - excuse me, sub-optimal launch heights. Golf cart line retrieval. 6 minute task for the first round, 10 minutes the rest of the day. Experts allowed one re-launch in the first round, Sportsman one per round. We flew 8 rounds and finished around 5:30. Sky was overcast nearly the entire day. A bit windy, lift was spotty and chaotic, but there to be had for those who knew where to find it. Plenty of sink for those who didn't.
Mike Lachowski lost his primary ship on launch in the first round, possibly due to battery failure. Paul Bell's Supra made a high speed entry into the woods. A search party went looking with a Walston Rx, but returned empty-handed. Luis Bustamante fluttered a flap and both ailerons on launch, but managed to get his Perfect back on the ground safely. A 2M Mantis got busted up in a launch accident. I went downwind in the first round and made my time, but really pushed the limits of my vision and my risk tolerance with only one ship flyable.
Expert:
1. Neal Huffman
2. Josh Glaab, Sr.
3. Tony Guide
Sportsman:
1. Bob Whitney
2. Preston Heller
3. Jim Griffeth
RES:
1. Stew Swanson
2. Skip Schow
3. Bob Waters
Sunday:
11 Sportsmen, 21 Experts, 6 RES (38 total).
Luis repaired his Perfect overnight and flew it without incident.
7 minute task for the first round, 10 minutes for the remainder. We flew 5 rounds and finished around 2:00. Only one line break the whole weekend. Sunny and warmer, with scattered puffy clouds. Winds mostly lighter but more variable. There was some big lift, but no gimmes. Quite a few going very high and far downwind. Several guys landing way short, but still on the field. I flew through a violent rotor near the tree line during one round and briefly thought I had lost control of the plane. If I had been about 50' higher, I think I might have caught the thermal. Another round, I had trouble returning from downwind and wasn't sure I was going to clear the tree line, but did make it back to the field. Tom Broeski timed for me the last round and did a fantastic job reading the air and suggesting how to fly it. Smallest core I'd ever flown successfully. Missed a couple landings by using too much flap decelerating into the circle and got blown off line.
At the end of the day, another search party, equipped with GPS and Phil Barnes operating the Walston, finally found Paul's Supra, damaged but repairable, propped up next to a someone's garage. The occupant must have found it and brought it home.
Expert:
1. Phil Barnes
2. Mike Lachowski
3. John Hauff
Sportsman:
1. Bob Whitney
2. Jim Griffeth
3. Preston Heller
RES:
1. Skip Schow/Stew Swanson
2. Bob Turner
3. Luke Glaab |
Duane
CASA, FARM, LSF III #7971 |
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CASA Memorial Open 2009
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