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alexhallmalta
5 Posts |
 Posted - 06/06/2013 : 08:43:05 AM
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Not withstanding the forecast of some wind and more for both days, a good number of participants showed up for the first AMA sanctioned contest being held here in decades. For Saturday there was talk of wind between 8-14 mph and for Sunday a few more mph, with gusts thrown in for good measure!
The foreguard of the ESL flying circus, turned up Friday afternoon and with the energy and guidance of Steve Lucke, the launching equipment was set up ready for weekend. The participants who arrived early are the usual suspects, the Engineer from lower and slower, his side kick the Guide, The Bustamante's, The Zyga's and Mr. Beach, who seems to be spending much time here, also in attendance to keep an eye on things where members of the RISC royalty, these included Pete Leveille, the retriever, on his John Deere and Randy Jones, the RISC president and chief worrier.
Saturday began well and with out too much fuss. There were 4 novices participating and for 3 of them it was their first contest. In the Expert class, within a few rounds, the same names erupted to the top of the leader board and virtually remained there. By late morning the winds began picking up with gusts up to maybe 15mph and ballast was considered and used by many. The saving grace for those that opted out of flying heavy, was that there was enough space down wind for a good afternoon stroll to recover planes.
Lunch was thrown by the RISC, typical fare from the area, but of note was the Portuguese sausage with onions & pepper, which seems to have been popular with many.
The afternoon flying was challenging, with tough air to read and moving through at a fair clip due to the constant wind. However not surprisingly at all, the top pilots all made their time and were jostling with landing points to make up their differences. No loss of any aircraft or too major damage occured. If I'm not mistaken, there was an issue with Anker's aileron on his Super, but landed intactish, and Randy Jones's Jester which he used to impale the grass just away from the launch site. I'll let Luis post up the results for the 10 rounds flown.
Of note I must mention two participants on Saturday, Fritz Bien and Bruce Schneider, who had also attended one of the last contests held by the RISC in the late 70's! There are photographs on the RISC site with proof of long hair and bell bottoms included.
The forecast for Sunday was worse than the previous day, so attempts were successfully made to begin the flying early and hopefully avoid the wind increases for later in the morning. Unfortunately, some flyers decided it would be too much and either headed home or took to the sidelines on chairs and martinis and heckled the rest of us flying! The conditions where surprisingly light, the air easily readable and it turned out to be an even better soaring day than Saturday! Five rounds were flown to give an opportunity for participants to bribe the CD.
All in all, notwithstanding the weather, it turned out to be a good event. On behalf of the RISC, it was a real pleasure to welcome you all to the fields and certainly look forward to hosting the ESL again. Personally I must thank the powers that be at ESL, for pushing through with this at short notice and the RISC board for allowing this event to take place.
Cheers, Al |
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alexhallmalta
5 Posts |
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ljb0001
37 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2013 : 8:38:22 PM
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Guys,
Make sure you don't miss this contest next year. The best field in ESL, an awesome free lunch on Saturday and a beautiful area for sightseeing after the contest. How does a sunset by the ocean in beautiful Newport, Rhode Island sound? Joanne put it very well: This ESL contest truly felt like a vacation.
Yes, there was wind on Saturday. Lots of wind. The field, however, is so large that only one plane was at risk of not getting back to the field. It reminded me of flying in Muncie with the wide open skies. Yes, several pilots took walks to pick up their planes that anywhere else would have been treks into the woods.
Do you get the feeling I loved this place? YES!  I will be back! You owe it to yourselves to do the same next time!
Here are the score files for the weekend. Enjoy!
Luis
Download File: RISC Saturday Standings
Download File: RISC Saturday Report Cards
Download File: RISC Saturday Scoring Detail
Download File: RISC Sunday Standings
Download File: RISC Sunday Report Cards
Download File: RISC Sunday Scoring Detail
Download File: RISC Weekend Standings
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RISC Contest Report
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