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July was certainly the "flip side" of June, at least as far as weather was concerned! What a beautiful month; and with the good weather we finally had a couple of reasonably successful events.
The Glider Contest was held on July 18th with I believe, 7 pilots, lots of launches and some good competition. I am sure John Hayes will be giving us a report on the event. This event had its unsung heroes; volunteers who make things happen and keep things going. Karl Hofer and his daughter Elke retrieved the high starts for most, if not all of the event. It was a tiring job and they never complained!
Our first Bezurkus Circus event was a moderate success with 8 participants. Being the first in a series of events, the Climb andGlide was a good initial FUN event. We had 28 attempts at scoring the closest time to 2 minutes. However, because this was the members' event, a change was made to the rules to expand this contest into the best average time of each contestant. With that the scoring is the following:
Ernie Maynard 10 points
Bob Patukonis 9 points
Rick Lazzar 8 points
Bill Ux 7 points
Lloyd Dahlen 6 points
Kip Bean 5 points
Chuck Keller 5 points
Dave Muse 5 points
You might have noticed that no one got less than 5 points. That is an incentive to all members interested in this contest series. So if you come out for an event and you make one attempt you get a minimum of 5 points!
The next Bezerkus Circus event will be held on August 15th and Kip Bean will be the CD. So come out and have some FUN. The rain day will be the 22nd of August. Kip will fill us in on the details.
Our summer Family Day is fast approaching! The Family Day will be August 30th. This year, besides hosting our families and neighbors, we will also host the Flying Eagles. It should be a great time. However, to make this a success we need a few volunteers. So see me at the meeting.
The library is growing! Thanks to a donation by Rick Lazzar we have 6 new videos. So check out the selection with Andzrej Rutkowski next time.
We will have a $25 gift certificate to R/C Buyers as the raffle prize. So come to the meeting, support the club and you might be the lucky winner.
We have an idea for some of the fall and winter entertainment. The officers discussed a plan for a separate meeting raffle for those members that are willing to bring in their project and give us a short presentation about it. More details to come.
The August meeting is the last outdoor meeting. Labor Day will be here before you know it. Won't you come out and join us?
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July 14, 1998 at Club Flying Field, Litchfield NH
Officers in attendance: Bob Patukonis, Kip Bean, Dave Muse and John Hayes
Secretaries report was read by John Hayes, a motion was made to accept and passed.
Treasurers report was read by Dave Muse, a motion was made to accept and passed.
Two new members introduced themselves tonight, Kevin Beckerdite and Buzz Carr.
Bob Patukonis discussed the events of the month of June, Glider Contest, High Hopes Balloon Festival and the Old Time Pattern contest.
Family Day will be August 30th, Maurice and Bob Patukonis both offered to help with the food.
Maurice asked why not raffle a $25.00 gift certificate each meeting. Discussion over the issue followed. Maurice made a motion to have a $25.00 gift certificate each month. The motion was passed to try the certificate for a couple of months.
New Business:
Andrzej announced he has received new videos to add to the library.
Bob Patukonis thanked Kip for a good contribution to the Bullsheet.
Business of the banking fees was brought up. There was much input on the subject as well as talk of the clubs tax status. Officers will work to resolve the issue at the officers meeting.
Bezerkus Circus will be held on July 26th between 10 AM and 2 PM, the event will be a climb and glide event. Ernie Maynard suggested there be three flights and average them.
Drew Davenport addressed the membership regarding his disappointment over the old time pattern contest participation, however, undaunted he brought forth a proposal for next years contest. Drew proposed a two day New England pattern meet at our field to be co-sponsored by the Flying Tigers. Drew will be CD over the event, there will be 4 classes with 1 class of old time pattern. On Saturday evening there will be a chicken barbecue with open flying. Judging will be done by non-contestants. Drew indicated there would be a $25.00 entry fee for the event. During the contest days the Flying Tigers as part of their agreement will allow SNHRCC flyers to use their field so the general membership can still fly. A motion was made to make the field available for the two days. Darrell suggested that the motion was premature and should be written up in the Bullsheet. Drew agreed to an article for the Bullsheet.
Calendars will be ordered.
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I must give a special thanks to Karl Hofer and his daughter Elkie for retrieving the high-starts all day long. I can't remember there not being a hi-start available for flight at any time, and on a hot day that is truly a heroes effort. I must also thank Sarah Hayes for keeping the scores and keeping the flight order straight, another job well done. Bob Patukonis came out and offered his services as a timer. I was also pleased to see a number of spectators, I hope next contest , they too will have a glider to fly.
Things got underway at 9:00 with the pilots meeting followed by immediate flying. Eleven rounds of flying were accomplished during the contest with a half hour for lunch.
Most flights went off quite smoothly, but not for all. Norm had some tough luck with a bad start on the line, one of his ships ended up planted nose first in the ground. On a subsequent flight his back-up ship suffered some damage on a landing forcing him to not continue. Kip Bean had a great start with a vintage Windward but on the fourth flight the wing broke on launch, calling his glider a unguided at this point would be incorrect, the hi-start knew exactly where it was taking it. Shawn had some troubles with his glider popping off the line but after resolving the problem he went on to put in several good flights.
After the contest I was happy to hear that the participants would like to have another glider contest. Tentatively I have a date set for September 12th (rain date 13th)for a second club member only contest. Any of you out there who didn't participate in the last one I would encourage to give it a try. Our second and third place finishers as far as I know hadn't any previous glider experience. So... if you don't have a glider, they are reasonably quick to build and you have a month to do it.
Rules again will be simple, as last time. Gliders up to 100" with rudder, elevator and spoilers if you have them.
Final Standings:
- John Hayes
- Darrell Wagner
- Chuck Keller
- Rick Lazzar
- Shawn McCarthy
- Kip Bean
- Norm Donnelly
As for myself I will be going down to the CRRC glider contest on Aug 15th to compete and would like to invite anyone to come along to see what a larger contest with a great variety of ships is like.
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Bezerkus Circus for August
Cut & Bust
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The first Bezerkus is now history and we all had a great time trying to guess how long two minutes is. Now we have another one on tap for this month on August 15,1998.
The Cut N' Bust event rules will be as follows:
A thirty foot length of toilet paper is tied to a party ballon and released. Each flier is given two minutes to make as many cuts as possible inthe time limit. Extra points will be awarded for busting the balloon on the first pass AFTER you have completed the two minute time period.
Points:
- 10 points per paper cut
- 50 points for balloon break.
See ya at the field,
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Two-Day Pattern Event in 1999?
At the SNHRCC Flying Field, Litchfield, NH
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For many years, the club sponsored the New England R/C Championships. In the 1970's, this was a two-day event that combined pattern and scale. Back then the contest was held in Orange, MA and later in Fitchburg, MA. By the late 70's, the contest had grown so large that a consortium of a dozen clubs was formed to run the event. During the 80's and early 90's, the contest was taken over entirely by our club. We ran successful events in both Orange and Pepperell, MA.
As many of us look back on those contests, all the hard work, meetings, planning and worrying seems to fade while the good times remain as vivid memories. So why did we stop doing these contests? Darn if I know! Oh yes, we couldn't get Orange airport any more, or was it that attendance was down? Oh, I know; it was the judges - something about it being hard to get judges.
So, since I can't even remember why we don't host this event anymore, and with my credentials as an AMA contest director becoming musty from lack of use, I began to mull over the idea of holding a two day combined AMA, FAI and Old Time Pattern contest at our club field. While the idea sounded good to me, it didn't take long for reality to set in. After all, our club is primarily fun flyers who pay their dues and expect a field to be available for flying. Asking for a half day for a small old time pattern event is one thing, but a whole weekend!
And, will I get any help? Come to think of it, I haven't flown in a pattern meet in four years. I wonder what the rules are like these days. Oh well, I can always read up on that, but asking for the field for a whole weekend, that's a problem.
What about the Merrimack club? I'm a member there. Great bunch of guys, but you can't fly pattern between the trees. But what if the Eagles allowed us to fly at their field while we host a two-day meet at Litchfield? Sounds like a plan; I'll bring it up at the next Flying Eagles meeting and see what kind of response I get. So I did, and the response was extremely positive. Not only were they willing to share their field for the weekend, but some of the Eagles are interested in flying in the contest and the club is willing to consider co-sponsoring the event.
Encouraged, I attended the SNHR/C Club July meeting. Again, a positive response. In fact, there were more questions than I had answers. Would we get a good attendance? What will we do about food? How about a cookout Saturday night? What about JUDGES oh yes, judges. Two decisions were made at the July meeting one by the club and the other by me. The club voted to put the idea in the Bull Sheet so that everyone had a chance to think it over and vote on it at the August meeting. I decided that if this is approved by both clubs, we need a working committee to plan and execute this event. This can be a great time, but it can't be left to just one or two people to do all the work. Come to think of it, most of the fun we had back in the old days was in the friendship and fellowship. Heck, I hardly remember the flying. Oh yes, the judging!
So, what do you think?
A Two-Day Pattern Meet in 1999? Come to the August meeting and lets talk.
-- Drew Davenport
Musty CD
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