[LASS Soaring] "Yes I Did Complete the Bronze Level CSS Task Level Yesterday!"

[GordySoar at aol.com]

Hi Guys,
Eat your hearts out!
 
I flew a contest in the hills of Butler PA, placed in both RES (wooden mix  
of parts) and Unlimited (W.H.Supra Lite) and managed to get that last 15min  
task in!
 
I met some of the best club TD pilots that I didn't know existed!   Guys who 
had been there and done that!
 AD  and his amazing timing brother (I watched the flights and if  it wasn't 
for his brother's calling, AD would never have won :-).  Pete  Carr, bummer he 
was having line in tail snaggle problems that finally killed his  unlimited 
ship!
 
Okay so it was supposed to be cool and windy, and it was for most of the  
day.  Which meant great lift with big sink areas.  Thermals were  coming thru 
about every 20mins according to the count.
But you know that there is always a story involved when it comes to my  
'achievements' in the hobby...so wait no longer :)
 
First thanks to my host Reece for babysitting me and letting me destroy his  
alternate RES ship! Thanks to AD for trusting me to use his scratch built RES  
ship to finish my RES flights...after I crashed Reece's no less! 
(anyone have a glass fuse for a round rod  joiner two piece wooden wing, 3m 
size? Saggita-ish style fuse) 
 
Everyone pretty much knew that I was burning up from passing the chance to  
finish the  Bronze level all in that same day a few weeks back, so it was  
clearly first on my mind.
 
On the first flight Ed (my timer) I was skied out pretty quick, so  when we 
were walking out to do my second round, my timer Ed reminded  me about the 
15min Bronze task I'd been whining about.  The idea popped in  my head that I 
could just do the 15mins plus a second or two, as if it were the  10 of the task.  
You know anything under or over 15 would count the same as  over or under 
10...it was an open winch contest of four rounds of 10.  Made  sense, got me my 
final Bronze 15, didn't hurt anything or anyone. I knew  everyone would support 
the modification for the goal of completing my  task.
 
The air wasn't so easy this time, maybe cuz the evil gods of soaring knew I  
was going for that Bronze finish.
 
Everyone was doing okay on the right, so when I launched I went left ( I  had 
decided at the start of my LSF 2 level that I'd do my Thermal tasks that  
way..find my own air for those, just felt it would make them more 'valid'...a  
personal thing).
 
And yes it was a case of YIPES!  Really flat, and some hard down for a  long 
trip around to a point where it was coming in for a landing or stick it out  
for some air.
 
I decided that there was plenty of visibility and safe landing terrain  
between my sailplane and me so I decided to go for it...and yep it paid.  I  found 
a  burp, a bubble and a lot of circling in neutral before it finally  started 
to build and move my Supra up some....a lot of circling.  I guess  that's 
makes it even more satisfying...oh yeah those guys on the right?   Crushed.
 
But that ain't all of it!  I get the time with air to spare, so I am  doing 
victory rolls and inverted thumbs off thermaling, whooping and wiggling  with 
joy, and begin to make my approach on the clock...forgetting that my task  was 
not to land 'on' the clock for this one!  So the W.H. Supra is coming  in on 
final, the wind direction is now behind her and she's coming faster than  the 
clock is going to cooperate...no worries I'll be early by a second or  
two...not many lost points...when it dawns on me....I need a full 15!!!  

At that point the ship is close but high enough and fast enough to whip  her 
around for one more turn!  So I hit the rudder, banked her hard, and  pulled 
her around in a nice tight circle and....the clock continued to  run!
 
It was obviously too much for my tiny brain to handle because as the ship  
approached, I hit the flaps full and just left them on , the wind now straight  
at her nose....and watch her settle on to her belly, dead in line with the  
tape...about 3' short of the 5ish foot tape :-(.
 
15:10 and no landing points :-(....oh well, likely I'll do a make up when I  
get back home, but for now?  That singed piece of Bronze gold is heading on  
its way for its place in Canadian rc soaring history! :-)
 
Quit putting it off you guys, get your LSF papers, get them out, get signed  
up for CSS and get to 'work' ;-)l

Be part of rc soaring history  too.
Gordy
Next stop Deleware



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