2006 OCSA Family Soaring Contest
Weather or Not Exciting, Was Productive
The first weekend of 2006’s two
Family Soaring Contests is now history. If
you missed it, you missed a cold but productive one. Turnout was marred by
threatening weather and many of the hardy souls which did show had to wonder
occasionally if we really were “crazy”. Lift was plentiful, at times
exciting, with several extended flight times but ceilings were low preventing
any XC contest claims. Most of the
action surrounded the Spot Landing contest with more than 20 attempts made to
land closest to one of two cones set in the box.
Sumner
Blanchard began the frozen adventure by setting a 6’ 10” standard for all to
beat. His score stood until the last flight of Day 1 when Harry Irvine and
Swantje Tuohino jumped into Lynn Ericksen’s 2-33 and upped the mark to 27.5
inches (95% of 29”). Also note
worthy was “Beastmaster” Nick Ounanian’s score with the ½ ton Grob Astir.
Nick again tamed the G103’s soft side with a landing just 10 feet 9
inches from the pin expressing it as the “most fun I’ve had in a long
time....in a cold weather with rain and hail....and a good flight !!!”
Saturday Day One also marked the participation of five female
contestants, definitely raising the question of which is the tougher sex.
Besides Swantje, Claire Clark with husband Jerry set the benchmark on the
Timed Flight at 3 mins 33 sec (95% of 3.44). More Girrl Power was
represented by Jeff Donoho's mother-in-law Virginia, Mary Rust, and potential
new member Suzie Palmer who all scored points. Both Virginia and Suzie
landed from their Intro Flights with big smiles on their faces.
Sunday Day Two started with much hope that the weather would be more favorable
for Distance and Speed Triangle tasks. But
hopes were quickly dashed as the weather in the
Hemet
Valley
deteriorated further.
The contest continued in a more subdued manner.
Dan Rihn made a detour from a Boy Scout campout to check-in on
activities. Steve Watkins took a pattern flight but didn’t repeat his success
from two weeks earlier when he unofficially snuck in and won Cypress Soaring’s
Spot Landing contest on his first solo flight (OCSA training, naturally).
Action was slow until near the days end when
new member Tony Davis snatched away the hopes of Irvine/Tuohino by nailing a 1
foot 11 inch Spot Landing taking the lead away at the end of the contest. His
wife, Billy, says he isn’t competitively focused…yea right!
The weekend was also productive in regards to getting members ready for
the rest of the soaring season. Marcus Elmore and Paul Savaria obtained their
BFRs, Jeff Donoho (re)solo'd, Nick re-re-re-qualified to fly with his 90 day
student check ride, two more Bronze Badges, and Larry Tuohino got his PIK
annualled. All done while dodging rain, hail, and cold winds. The
Clubhouse was often filled with guests, students, and members keeping warm with
chili and coffee. Mary Rust was truly tasked and deserves a heartfelt
“thanks” for two days of fighting alligators and jumping thru hoops. Mary
felt plenty of love as at the end of the weekend she reflected of OCSA, “What
a wonderful club to belong to!”
The Contest closed with the clean-up crew emptying trash cans under a tremendous
rainbow which stretched overhead from
Highland
to Temecula. But
as Yogi Berra once said, “It
ain’t over until it’s over”….on Oct 21st the final round of the 2006
Family Soaring Contest will be held for all the marbles. Be
ready. Hopefully the weather will be
a little warmer!
Brrrrrrrrr,
Flieger Hucksfedder
3/19/06