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josh_glaab
50 Posts |
 Posted - 10/07/2013 : 2:56:33 PM
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The 2013 ESL EOS contest was held at the Daniel Boone Homestead in Reading, PA, on 10/5 and 10/6. Initially, the EOS contest was started as a 2-M contest that was coordinated and ran by then president Bill Miller and secretary Jack Cash. Together they created the first ESL-ran event with 100% of the proceeds going to the ESL. I can�t recall the first year for the EOS contest, but it had to have been somewhere in the early �90s and was initially called the Last Chance and Denial Bone (misspelling intended). Over the years, the EOS contest was changed from 2-M to Unlimited. In addition, ESL�s annual business meeting and awards ceremony were combined with the EOS to produce what is probably the most important weekend on the ESL�s calendar. The contest continued to grow in popularity with many pilots trying to get in their last competition of the year along with attending the ESL�s annual business meeting and ESL�s championship award ceremony.
This year�s EOS competition was one of the best ever with 40 pilots flying on Saturday with 31 on Sunday for 71 pilot days for the weekend. This is the largest contest of the 2013 season. Note that the 2nd largest contest, in terms of pilot-days, was CASA at 59. Overall for the 2013 season, the ESL had 582 pilot-days with an estimated 4,074 flights in 6 states (PA, VA, DE, NY, RI, and MA) with an average of 25 pilots for each contest. The weather for 2013 EOS was phenomenal, especially when consideration is given to the fact that we were flying in Pennsylvania in October. The temperatures for Saturday were in the low to mid 80s and it felt more like July. Sunday was a little cooler, but still more like June/July weather than October. The sun was out all day long on Saturday with only very light thermal-driven winds and interesting lift. The thermals were around, but there was significant sink in between them and the ground reads were not extremely reliable. Pilots had to fly up-tempo and move around aggressively to avoid having short flight times. On Sunday, we had some low-clouds and fog that delayed the contest start until about 10:30.
Before the contest started, Dave Beach (ESL secretary and website manager) unveiled the beta version of web tool to enable scores, and group assignments, to be posted on-line and viewed with smart phones or any computer connected to the internet. To access this tool, click on the magnifying glass icon next to the contest name.
Due to the large number of pilots we had a total of 10 4-person flight groups on Saturday. Given the need to have the annual meeting Saturday evening, flying was ended at 4pm with 6 rounds completed. The task for Saturday was what I am calling the ESL standard: 10-minute rounds all day long with the 100-pt/inch C-delta landing task. The �Fleet� consisted of a lot of Explorers with many being the X-2 variety. Mike Lachowski had his V-tail X-2 on hand and it looked like it flew great. We had several Maxas flying. There were a bunch of Supras on hand including the latest spread-tows, several original Supras and a few �bagged� Supras. Luke Glaab was proudly flying #125! There were a few Aspires flown. We also had a Wind Free (1975 flash back) and an Escape. Stew Swanson also had an older moldie (I just can�t recall the name now, was it the Vulture?) that he �stewed� by painting it red and blue (I would have been disappointed if he didn�t!). All flew well!
Things started a little chaotically in the first round as we had two aircraft go in hard, with Luis� Supra being completely destroyed when it landed on the high-tension wires about 1,000 ft south from the launch/landing zone after he lost radio link with the model. The sound and the smoke from that wreck will be etched in my mind forever. John Hauff lost radio link with his Supra and it went in hard just after the first launch. On the plus side, Steve Lucke recovered a Supra that was deposited in the woods west of the field in July and he needed to miss a couple of rounds to assist the tree climber. Steve�s aircraft seemed to handle the weather fairly well. The wind forecast was light and variable from the west, however, the winds moved around a lot and created a down-wind landing situation for parts of rounds 1 and 2. The C-delta landing task was ideal for these variable landing conditions. After lunch we repositioned the landing circles, then moved them again near the end of the contest when the wind did actually start coming from the west. In the end, George Andre won a highly-competitive 7-pilot Sportsflyer class. He flew his Escape very well all day long. George elected to move to Expert class on Sunday. Bob Waters was 2nd and Luke Glaab was 3rd. I won Expert class with my Alex Hall repaired Spread Tow Supra and had a few very challenging rounds along the way to maxing all the flights. Neal Huffman was 2nd with his X-2. Leszek Zyga was 3rd with a 4.0 X-1 (I think or an X-2).
Sunday started with fog and low clouds. We attempted to get started at 10:15am with a 5-minute task, however the flight group experienced some harrowing visibility issues and it was decided to call them down and wait another 30 minutes to restart. At about 10:45 we got started with about a 400 ft ceiling and a 5-minute task. Most pilots were able to launch to 400 ft, or less, and be Ok. Some could not figure out how to not launch into the clouds. By the 2nd round, the ceiling was 500 ft and we went with an 8-minute round. By the 3rd round we had an 800 ft ceiling and went with 10-minute flights for the rest of the day. The sun was out for the end of the 3rd round and stayed out for the rest of the day. We completed the 5th round at 2:30 and proceeded to wrap things up. Luke Glaab won Sportsflyer class greatly improving his year-end scores. I managed to just barely edge-out Dave Bradley Jr (X-1) by 0.9 pts for 1st place. In the last round, both Dave�s and my scores were equal (10:00 with a 78 landing). Neal Huffman was 3rd (X-2). The contest and overall championship awards were awarded by 3:30 and we were off the field at 4pm. All in all a great season! Way to go ESL!!!!!
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Some pictures from my Horizon 350 QX quad copter with the GO-PRO Hero-3 camera. Amazing. Note the cloudy conditions and fog.
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Shot showing some of Steve's handywork with the winches.
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Here is the group shot from Saturday. Note the beautiful sky conditions for the backdrop of this photo of the ESL.
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Shot down the ramp.
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Neal checks out the sky before a round.
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Luke Glaab, 3rd place Sportsflyer, Saturday.
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Bob Waters, 2nd place Sportsflyer, Saturday.
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George Andre, 1st place Sportsflyer, Saturday.
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Mr Lollipop, Chuck Robninett, 5th place Expert, Satuday.
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Dave Walters, 4th place Expert, Saturday.
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Leszek Zygga, 3rd place Expert, Saturday.
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Neal Huffman, 2nd place Expert, Saturday.
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Josh Glaab, 1st place Expert, Saturday.
Year End Championship:
The 2013 ESL Unlimited Division Expert class championship came down to the final contest of year. There were 35 pilots with 6-scores for 2013. Going in to the EOS, Josh Glaab, Mike Lachowski, and Leszek Zyga had a shot at 1st place. Josh Glaab managed to turn in a very good score to win his 3rd contest in a row, and the season, on Saturday. However, several of Josh�s flights were definitely anything but �routine� with lots of �walking while flying� observed. Mike Lachowski ended up 2nd and Leszek 3rd, both are great pilots and had great seasons and were �in it� until the end. Neal Huffman finished the season strong and improved his 6th best score on Sunday to finish 4th overall for the year. Dave Beach continued to improve in the year-end standings (8th in 2011, 7th in 2012) and finished 5th for 2013. Luis Bustamante also finished strong on Sunday and improved his 5th best score to finish 6th for 2013. Luis� flying on Sunday was most impressive after his dramatic crash on Saturday. Steve Lucke had a good season and improved his scores on the final day of the season and finished 7th. Dave Walter had a very good weekend and improved two of his scores during the EOS to move into 8th place and return to the top 10 for 2013. Tony Guide finished strong on Sunday and also improved his year-end score. He flew a great year and came in 9th place. Tenth place was highly competed for with several pilots working hard to get into the top 10. In the end, Dave Bradley Jr, had a very high 2nd place finish on Sunday to move ahead of Lenny Strickland for 10th place Expert class. Congratulations to all!
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Luke Glaab, 3rd Place 2013 ESL Overall Championship Overall Sportsflyer Class.
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Dave Bradley Jr, 10th Place 2013 ESL Overall Championship Overall, Expert Class
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Tony Guide, 9th Place 2013 ESL Overall Championship Overall, Expert Class
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Dave Walter, 8th Place 2013 ESL Overall Championship Overall, Expert Class
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Steve Lucke, 7th Place 2013 ESL Overall Championship Overall, Expert Class
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Luis Bustamante, 6th Place 2013 ESL Overall Championship Overall, Expert Class
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Dave Beach, 5th Place 2013 ESL Overall Championship Overall, Expert Class
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Neal Huffman, 4th Place 2013 ESL Overall Championship Overall, Expert Class
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Leszek Zyga, 3rd Place 2013 ESL Overall Championship Overall, Expert Class
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Mike Lachowski, 2nd Place 2013 ESL Overall Championship Overall, Expert Class
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Josh Glaab, 1st Place 2013 ESL Overall Championship, Expert Class
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The result of High-Voltage carnage. Luis Bustamante's Supra after it crashed onto some high tension lines (Eeek).
Dimitry's Picasa pics:
https://plus.google.com/photos/105418890367176367834/albums/5932145665907639633?authkey=CO_ChOqx9Mu6RQ&banner=pwa&gpsrc=pwrd1#photos/105418890367176367834/albums/5932145665907639633/5932145815690225186?authkey=CO_ChOqx9Mu6RQ&pid=5932145815690225186&oid=105418890367176367834
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Edited by - josh_glaab on 10/08/2013 2:07:49 PM |
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ljb0001
37 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2013 : 9:44:12 PM
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Guys,
What a great year! It has been an absolute pleasure to work, fly and play with all you guys. We have an amazing group of pilots and just plain wonderful human beings and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to spend all these wonderful weekends with you all.
Thank you guys for the appreciation and regards you show the lovely ladies who work hard for us at most contests. I know Teresa, Donna, Heather, Celie and Joanne feel appreciated and look forward to coming out and hanging out with us every other weekend. That speaks highly of our treatment of the ladies because, and I quote, we sure "ain't much to look at!" 
I look forward to seeing you all again soon. I must now concern myself with what new arrows to put in the quiver after Supra #1278 decided to go down in a blaze of glory. Xplorer 4M X-2 or Aspire? Tough choice! I will also carve on my forehead a reminder not to ignore bare wires when connecting the wing. I am just glad nobody was hurt and nobody's house burnt down. I'll always remember Josh's advice as the cloud of black smoke rose from behind the trees after that horrible electrical howl: "You may want to pack your car and RUN!" :-)
Attached are the detailed scoring reports for the 2013 ESL End of Season Contest.
Have a wonderful winter!
Luis
Download File: ESL EOS Saturday Standings
Download File: ESL EOS Saturday Report Cards
Download File: ESL EOS Saturday Scoring Details
Download File: ESL EOS Sunday Standings
Download File: ESL EOS Sunday Report Cards
Download File: ESL EOS Sunday Scoring Details
Download File: ESL EOS Weekend Standings
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2013 ESL End of Season Unlimited Contest
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