 |
|
By : George Batiuk 
When I sat down to write this article about the 1998 Maxmen International, I tried to think of one word that would best describe the meet. Lets see, how about WEATHER! That works for me. As anybody in the world that has a television or gets a newspaper knows, California has turned into a swampland, thanks to El Nino, and our field at Lost Hills is just that. I started getting calls about a week before the meet, 'Are you going to be able to hold it'. 'Of course', I told everyone, 'might not be a bad idea to pack a snorkel and some swim fins though'. With the storms moving through at a rate of one every two to three days, it was going to be tough to fit a three day meet in.
But we persevered, mainly because of the attendance from all over the world. I got to the field on Thursday morning to find several fliers doing their best to trim, but it was apparent immediately that the condition of the field was going to be the determining factor. Mud everywhere, cars stuck already, what a mess. Friday morning was not better, and I could tell that we were in for a long weekend. Friday was set aside for registration and the mini events, and for at least one day, the weather cooperated. Registration did not though, as it was a real circus trying to get 178 people entered. Expected changes for next year. The mini events, however, went off very smoothly, with a total of 33 entrants, 8 of them from distant lands. The festivities started at noon, with five 45 minute rounds. Other then a breezy late afternoon, the weather cooperated nicely, resulting in a larger than normal flyoff in all three events. Five flew off for the F1H title, with the usual fanfare of Americans; Cowly, Van Nest. Ghio, letting Victor Stamov win, probably because it was his first F1H meet. F1G had seven in the flyoff (did I say seven?), with the old master, Mr White, showing all the young pups how to do it, beating everyone in the second flight by more than a minute. Just the opposite in F1J though, with Steve Spence showing all the oldtimers that you 'Don't mess with Texas'. The flyoffs concluded just in time for everyone to get over to the Lost Hills School for an evening of electronic timer talk. This programme was put together by Roger Morrell and Matt Gewain, and featured several speakers that informed the listeners about what we're all going to be spending our money on next. I've heard varying reports that it started to rain sometime between 3 and 4 AM Saturday morning. I wouldn't know, I was asleep! Suffice it to may that it was still raining when I awoke at 5:30 and it continued to rain, hard to times, throughout most of the day. Fool that I am though, I went to the field anyway, to find a few other fools that made it too. The entrance roads to the field were nearly impassable. The main entrance, or short route, was quagmire, and anyone that attempted it would surely become acquainted with Charlie, the front loader driver from the gypsum plant across the road. This left the southern entrance, which had about half a dozen treacherous but passable spots, the only alternative. Walt Ghio described this 3 mile route the best, 'People spend a lot of money at Disneyland that don't get that good a ride'. Anyway, I left the field before noon, headed for town and informed everyone that the day was going to be scrubbed. My feeling was that if we tried to get everyone on the field for 3 or 4 rounds in the afternoon, the road would surely be impassable in the morning. I decided to put all of our eggs in the Sunday basket, reducing the event to a more conventional 7 round affair. The America's Cup Banquet was held Saturday night at the Wasco Country Club, with close to 200 in attendance. Jim Parker and Tom Coussens are to once again be congratulated for a very nice job. It gets bigger every year, and I am grateful that it is in such good hands. But the best part of the evening was the ride back to the motel; I looked out the car window and saw stars! Maybe we were going to get lucky and catch a window between storms. Sure enough, nothing but blue sky the next morning. The first round was delayed ½ hour to allow everyone ample time to either navigate the road or walk in with all of their stuff. The first few rounds made one thing quite evident to me, the good flyers were about the same as last year, there were just more of them this year. F1A : 58 entered, 55 flew, including 17 foreigners and 7 jumpers. Lost of maxes through 4 rounds, but the wind started to pick up, and a lot of flights were dropped in rounds 5, 6 & 7. 10 ended up in the flyoff, with 3 actually making it to the 7 minutes round; Victor Stamov, Javier Abad and Anca Sommers. Quite an international cross-section, at least the timekeepers were all American. In the end, it was once again Stamov at the top. Abad and Mrs Sommers should be very proud to at least be there at the end. Nobody should feel bad about getting beat by VS. F1B : 58 entered, 56 flew, including 15 foreigners and 2 juniors. When I was going around looking for flyoff timers in the sixth round, I figured that I needed at least 30. By the end of the seventh, it was down to 20. It seemed like I would watch someone fly, then take him off of the flyer's list and put him on the timer's list. Anyway, a lot of big names fell in the final 2 rounds, attesting to the tough picking conditions. But 20 did fly in the 5 minute round, and 4 actually made it to the 7 minute round. Vladi Andriukov, trying to prove that he is adjusting very well to American life, cleaned everyone's clock, by almost 2 minutes, to win the event going away. I'd like to tell you that I taught him everything he knows, but who'd believe me. F1C : 31 entered, 28 flew, including 7 foreigners. Some early disasters hurt some big names, but still 13 made it to the flyoff. 11 made it into 7 minute round, with 4 going on to the 9 minutes. This flight was made just as it was getting dark, but it was still light enough to see Ed Keck's model for almost 7 minutes (now that was a 5 second engine run, right?). With all of the flying completed, it was time for the awards (it was also dark). We all gathered around the White and Van Nest campers to munch on goodies and drink booze supplied by Jama Van Nest (I still can't figure out how Brian stays thin). A special thanks was given to several people that made the competition run smoothly. Al and Judy Hotart, Sue Tymchek and Connie Piserchio spent the entire day walking up and down the line, radioing scores to Lindy Morrell, who was on a lap top in White's camper. They came very close to having results posted at the end of each round. The system had a few minor glitches, but all in all, worked well because of their superb efforts. Thank you! Thank you also to Bob Tymchek and Brian Van Nest for helping everyone out of the mud all weekend, and especially Sunday night. And Bob and Jean White have always run this meet, but last year they decided it was too much of a pain in the neck, so one day while I was winding, they threatened to cut my Tan II if I didn't take over the field operation. But they still do all of the pre-contest work, and act as very gracious hosts on the field. It's always going to be known as `White's Contest'. And finally, I would like to thank all of the contestants that traveled so far to get to California. We think it is a special privilege to be able to host such an array of Free Flighters from all over the world. Don't let the weather scare you, come back next year! 1998 MAXMEN INTERNATIONAL LOST HILLS
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| OTHER ARTICLES OF ASI MAY'98 ISSUE | News In Brief | Letters To The Editor | World Records | | Bear Cup '98 | | Did He Get It Right Before Wrights ? | | World Cup Event In Russia | | Jump On The Pole | | 1998 Maxmen International |  More articles on Aeromodelling
|
|
|
|
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, mechanical, photo-copying, recording or otherwise, without acknowledgement to FAI or AIR SPORTS INTERNATIONAL. |
