Vol. 03 No. 12 - December 2003 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
President's Message |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Can you believe it, flying on Thanksgiving Day? You can't believe the number of guys who showed up. Clarence White was there with his electric which was no quieter than Karl Hofer's plane that must have a problem because it keeps flying inverted! Kidding, guys. It was a great day, a little on the cold side, but for those of us brave of heart and perhaps a bit foolish by some people's standards, it was a good day to fly and probably our last for this year. I think some who showed up to fly were probably gently coaxed to get out of the house while the meal was being prepared. Some others ate early and got out of helping in the kitchen or having to clean the turkey. I, on the other hand, chose to get out of the house and let my family prepare the meal to my liking. I can talk smart because I'm not letting wife or daughter type this for me. I have to admit the turkey this year was moister, more tender and all around better. That probably had to do with it being free! Which brings me to the Frozen Turkey Fun-Fly. A lot of the members showed up and brought guests. We had a big turnout and that was great. The Turkey Shoot was fun and of course, the competition was keen. I have to especially thank Rich Kelley for allowing me to use his plane after mine gave out on me. I was ready to give it up when he offered and had it not been for that, he might have won. I say might of because I certainly don't want him to think that he could have beaten me if my plane had been in action. Sorry Rich for the broken props. I had better give my side of the story before someone else does. Not only did I break three of his props, but I managed to stab his plane in the belly with half of one of the broken props. In spite of this I did win, I don't know who or what should get the credit for the win, the pilot or the plane. In any case I couldn't have done it without your plane, so thank you, Rich. Then of course we have our major heckler, Ray Breton who came in second. I'm not sure but I think he was trying to put a hex on me while I was flying which could account for the broken props. Someone also whispered that they thought Ray was blowing smoke out of his ears and clutching his stomach which could account for Rich's plane being stabbed in the belly by its own prop. By the way, Rich, I've gone shopping for props. Harry Peters came in third and I even offered him my turkey in addition to the smaller ones he and Ray got, if he would let me beat Ray, but Harry, the square shooter, wouldn't be a party to my beating my nemesis other than fair and square. The above may be construed as all or part fact and some fantasy, but in the spirit of good fun, I wanted you to know how I viewed it. In truth, I did get the biggest turkey, Ray came in second and Harry got third. No one really went home a loser because it seemed everyone really had a good time. A reminder that our Yankee Swap is at this month's meeting. You can spend between $10 and $20 on any new item of your choice. Gift wrapping is up to you. We have had a lot of good times at our Yankee Swaps so don't miss this one on December 9th. We have our annual SNHRCC Auction coming up in January 2004 so start going through your stuff and bring it to the auction. We'll do the best we can for you and although I get no respect, I do get you your prices. I know I have a good time at the auctions and I'm looking forward to seeing what you bring in. Remember, one man's junk is another man's treasure, depending, of course if you're the buyer or the seller. And, no, you can't bring that ugly necktie you got for Christmas to the auction! You have the same team of officers that you voted in and I'm looking forward to working with them again. So congrats to them and thanks to all of you for your votes. See you at the meeting. -- Darrell Wagner |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Frozen Turkey Fun-Fly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The morning of the event started off a little brisk as I started up the hill shortly before 9am to set up for the Blackjack Challenge. I brought two bags of lime with me to mark off the grid of ten foot squares each one numbered like the cards in the game of Blackjack. I was counting on the line tool we used to have in the tool shed to lay down lime lines on the ground. Boy, was I surprised to find that it had been thrown away some time in the last year or so. So I proceeded to mark out the field with a used styrofoam Dunkin Donuts coffee cup. It was quite a bit slower but it finally did the job in getting ten squares on the field as the first pilots started pulling their planes out of their cars.
Each contestant was going to be allowed as many passes as they wanted to try and land in the numbered squares to come as close to 21 as they dared without going over. Going over rewarded you with a goose-egg. And the best accumulated scores from three full rounds was going to win a 17lb turkey for 1st, a 15lb. turkey for 2nd and a 12lb, turkey for 3rd. Rounds could be interrupted for plane/prop repairs as the high number of landings and attempts had the potential to wear out working parts . This years flying was quite competitive in the top spots. You needed to complete three rounds with all three scoring a minimum of 18 to even be in the hunt. There were a surprising number of rounds of 21, seven to be exact. I thought that was pretty good guys, way to go. Darrell even had to borrow a plane to stay in the race for Thanksgiving meat. It was so close that when round three was over we had two pilots tied for the third place spot, Rich Kelley and Harry Peters. This made a shoot-out neccessary to settle the issue. It would be determined by a one pass attempt. Rich posted a 10, but Harry not to be outdone proceeded to post an 11. Eleven was possible because the "one" square could be used as an 11 or a 1 just like in the card game. I thought Rich had it put away, but Harry slipped in there and "aced" it. This is the way it sifted out in the final tally:
I would have loved to been taking pictures as the day brought out many picturesque moments (including the one where Darrell stuck a broken prop right through the bottom of the plane he borrowed from Rich Kelley), but I found myself way too engrossed trying to be a fair judge that I didn't even think to bring out the camera until it was all over. All in all, it was a very tight competition with a lot of fun had by all parties involved, and by now those plump Butterball turkeys are ancient history. Mmmmmmmmmm. -- Kip Bean CD |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
November Meeting Minutes! |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minutes of meeting of SNHRCC, November 13, 2003, held in Litchfield Middle School.
Meeting was called to order @7:35 pm Officers present: President, Darrell Wagner; V.P. Roland Harmon; Treasurer, Kip Bean Secretary John Hayes was on a work assignment. The Secretary's report, submitted by J. Hayes, was read by D. Wagner and approved. The Treasurer's report was read by Kip Bean and approved. Old Business: Ray Breton reported that the new signs for the flying area and the gate are being made. In addition to the club rules, which have been on our signs in the past , will be a new rule stating "There will be no flying on dump operation days till 2:00 PM." Discussion followed which resulted in the understanding this flying prohibition applied to unpowered aircraft (gliders) as well. A question was raised about the advisability of posting the "flying site" signs on the gate. A decision on this matter was to be made at a later date. After additional discussion Ray said that an additional board for Ham frequencies would be made up. The total cost of the new signs would be approximately $600.00. With respect to the flying prohibition during dump operations, we decided that we would tell the dump operators that we won't be flying while they are there. It seems that some people may have been flying while the operators were there because the operators had told some members that it was okay. Therefore, be advised - -" There will be no flying while the dump is open or while the dump operators are still present." Additional discussion resulted in the understanding that there will be no flying while the field is being mowed. New Business Ralph Dionne and Dave Beech requested and were given the O.K. to organize and run RC Combat events on the last Sunday of July and October in 2004. This will be entered in the club calendar. This weekend, Sunday November 16th, there will be a Turkey Fly-in. Kip Bean will be running this event. Kip Bean is in the process of updating the club information brochure. When completed, the new brochures will be placed at various local hobby shops. There was a lengthy discussion of the training program. Finally, it was determined that Dave Redman will continue his work on developing the program. He will present his program for adoption by spring of next year. Dave Redman made the motion, seconded by Ralph Dionne, that "the present slate of officers be reelected for the coming year." There was a unanimous vote in the affirmative. Darrell announced that a "Yankee Swap" would be held in the December meeting. The value of the gifts was to be in the $10-$20 range. For the January meeting it was announced that we would hold our annual hobby auction. Meeting was adjourned @ 8:20 PM. Respectfully submitted by Roland Harmon for John Hayes -- Roland Harmon |
