[LASS Soaring] "I Would Have Won MidSouth,But Dominated At F3J in the Rockies Instead"

[GordySoar at aol.com]

First I want to say that I owe all of my F3J expertise to DP, he taught me  
everything I know about it...well JW had a hand in it too!

That is to say that neither offered anything and it showed this  weekend, but 
we had a ball flying off Mark Mech gorilla lined Winches versus man  towed 
pilots.
 
Yesterday we had fairly firm winds and the hand tow mono guys were killing  
us winchee's by at least 150', but today the winds got to an occasional violent 
 3 miles per hour and often down wind, so we had some revenge or at least  
launched as high.
 
As expected the F3J guys flew far more precisely and that is what F3J is  
about.  Launch before the buzzer and you have to relaunch...while the  working 
clock is running, land a split second after the buzzer starts to end the  round 
and you lose 30 points and any landing points you might have lucked  into!
 
There is constant jabber about working time and window time, it is a TEAM  
sport.
 
Me? I am a solitary kind of guy, always alone on the road, only planning  for 
me, so adjusting to a team thing, well its not my strong suit.
 
Dr Dan was our captain and our best pilot was Rick "Hand's Free Retriever"  
Bothel.  We had a newbie pilot who'd only been back to RC for about 3months  
but is a 747 pilot, and in the beginning we flew his flights for him...turn  
right turn left, no...your other left! :-)
But he's like a human info sponge, able to take it in and put it all to  
work, so at the end, he was finding air, staying in the core and landing on the  
second!  We were very proud to have him flying with us.
 
I dubbed our team the Keystone Cops because we started right out with crazy  
drama and it continued thru to the end!  Rick was told that he'd made the  fly 
offs and we were all celebrating, only to find that he in fact hadn't made  
it.  We laughed about all of it.
 
Some of the most amazing piloting came from Buzz Averil, he flew a Supra  and 
at least three times dug himself off of the grass to max his rounds!
 
Planes?  Well Supra's are super, Perfects were perfect and the Sharon  may 
still be the best TD ship in the USA but it reminded me why its not a F3J  
plane.  Too big, too heavy, too slow up the line. My launches to similar  height 
took about 7 seconds while the other ships were always off in 3 for more  
altitude.
 
I switched to the Im-Perfect in the third round and maxed all my rounds  
after....okay so I landed out once with it for a zero, and I had already lost  
2mins on the first flight because of just pure distracted stupidity....so I  
climbed up from the basement to 8th....not enough to get into the fly  offs....and 
it wouldn't have mattered because our young superstars Cody and Joe  Necombe 
were deadly precise with Skip right on their clocks.
 
I gave up 5 seconds every flight on launch and landing times.  Oh yeah  I 
dumb thumbed an approach for one zero landing....equals no chance for me in  F3J.
 
Not to leave any of the pilots there out of the spot light because all of  
them were far more talented than me (at F3J :-)....and trust me I watched every  
single pilot there to see how they searched, cored, and set up their  
approaches....it was real good :-).
 
My hat's off to all the pilots who flew Midsouth, sounds like a new name  has 
popped up from the Houston area flying a Perfect.   Rick Eckels  finally came 
to a gun fight and left his knife at home....usually determined to  do well 
with a 2m at Unlimited, he finally came with a proper tool and some  practice 
under his belt too.
Today he grabbed some wood!
 
Paul Perret could have had a better showing but with all his practice with  
his beloved Sharon, flying alone makes it a tough road when you get to a major  
contest situation.  He had some good flights but landings in the end sealed  
the deal.

Louisville's own Ed Wilson took some wood yesterday!  Very  proud!  And 
little Lee came in middle of the pack, not bad for a 12 year  old flying against a 
lot of good pilots!
 
I had picked Bubba or Rick to win till I heard George Joy was attending,  Don 
Richmond was a long shot but has been deadly all this past year, so not to  
have been counted out.  The big surprise was the distracted Altanta stars  (got 
off on a F3B tangent :-).  Randy and Tim both showed they still have  the 
right stuff!.  George Joy has been one of the countries top TD pilots,  but this 
was his first event west of the Mississippi I believe...he got a bit of  a 
spanking Sunday I think (haven't gotten the results yet).
 
I think that if you go down the MidSouth pilots finishers you see some  
interesting stories possible from the names and their placements.  Good  pilots who 
rose to the occasion.
 
I was disappointed to hear that a 'gump' landing zone was used the  premier 
major of the south. Those 10,20, 30 landings turn the MOM results into a  luck 
landing event...and as a lead into the Nats...should have the same Nats  
landing.  But no biggee and a huge atta boy to the Tullahoma team for  holding it 
and making it a fun time for all!.  Sure wish I'd have been  there to try my 
thumbs at that 30 point spot :-)
 
A word about F3J in the Rockies.....anyone can attend, you don't have to  fly 
off man tow if that's not your thing.  There is plenty of help for  rules 
etc.  It is NOT  stick up your butt run event.  They are  there to maximize fun 
and competition....and the cool thing is that ALL the  planes have to be on the 
spot exactly at the same time, so watching the pilots  working flaps on their 
approach to insure touching down one second before the  buzzer, and dead on 
the nail....its breathtaking!
 
The grass was Kentucky Blue and trimmed to golf course precision.  You  can 
work a thermal for blocks on end at eye level to finally work it up to the  sky 
with almost no chance of finding a tree.  Lots of birds, not just  hawks, but 
Geese, Cranes, Storks...all working thermals thru the day.  A  truck stop 
less than a mile away with clean huge shower bathrooms and big towels  too for 
only $7...means that camping on the field is a great way to go.
 
And its cheaper to fly there than it is to drive to an out of state  
contest..and some in state events.
 
Mark your calendars, and get jiggy with F3J as it is gaining  popularity 
across the world, with winches or tows.
 
And yes I would have won MidSouth :-)
Gordy
Colorado rafting till Wednesday
 



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