The first round had everyone diving for the dirt after 9 minutes. Myself, Jim Shelton, and Bob Anson finished round 1 with a ZERO ZERO score. I flew 2 seconds too long, Jim Shelton flew 5 seconds too long, and Bob Anson, missed the field. I guess Bob thought the weeds looked like a good spot to park. Very much out of his usual performance, Bob S came in at 4:15. He never found the elevator that everyone else did over the parking lot. It was quite the site at 9 minutes to see everyone right there with each other, right at 399 ft. Don followed in with a 5:20, but everyone else was at or beyond 9 minutes for round 1.
Round 2 saw the same thing, but in a different place. It seemed that the lift was a little more over the field, but stil hanging over the parking lot was getting pilots all the lift they needed to run the clock out. Jim Shelton and I were the only pilots in open class, and Jim’s ship is an exotic balsa/glass ship called the “Omega”. He showed us he still has what it takes with his 2nd round score of 9:35 and 30. All I could pull out was an 8:40 and Zero with my foam Easy Glider! Jeff Struthers missed the deck and got a Zero Zero, but the dive for the deck at 9 minutes was amazing. We literally had 7 of the 8 pilots on the deck at the same time. It got CROWDED for a few moments! I think Jim S got tagged in the bullseye by Bob, but unlike shuffleboard, you cant push someone out of their points!
Round 3 had everyone to the sky for another awesome launch. Everyone got to altitude. Norm Arndt however was going to have his worst round of the day where he came down at 7:34 and Zero. Round 1 & 2, Norm had 20 bonus landing points, and during 3, his missed the money. 43 was Norm’s lowest Score of the day. The rest of the group held up solid flight times, and average landing points. I personally went 75 feet past the target on a ballistic flyby where I should have gone around, slowed down and landed for points.
Round 4 was not much different with the majority of the pilots going past 9:30, even when a full scale helicopter went by to the north. Bob Stinson was the only pilot that had to make a dive for the dirt as he gave way to the Helicopter, but it didn’t hurt much, because he still drilled the landing points at 30. Terry had his best round with 9:40, but missed the chalk for zero. The lift had moved east, but still was providing updrafts for us to catch.
It was good to see Don Wemple flying again, and he showed he still can loiter with the best of us.
There were NO entrants in Easy Star Class.
Overall results:
Radian Class
First Norm Arndt @ 256 Pts
2nd Bob Stinson @ 254 Pts.
3rd Terry Thomann @ 213 Pts.
Open Class
First Jim Shelton @ 214 Pts.
2nd Jim Bonnardel @ 188 Pts.
See you next month for another session of LOITERING!!
Jim
