Thanks to the dry weather, a solid pilot turnout and exceptional help by several hard-working volunteers, the second annual Wood Wings contest was a resounding success!

 

The weather was generally cooperative and we enjoyed relatively calm conditions with abundant lift throughout most of the contest although some people were caught by the wind shift late in the contest and required to make down wind launches in moderately strong gusts. A few models suffered damage but I’m happy to report that there were no wings folded on launch and we made it through the day on a single winch with just a few retriever line breaks.

 

Primary flight task was an “add ‘em up” with an objective of 40 minutes total air time accumulated in 7 or fewer flights of no more than 8 minutes duration each. Secondary flight task was self-timed longest flight. We had several brand new pilots on hand as well has experienced pilots who don’t frequently attend contests so the mix of people made for some great competition, especially in the Competitor Open class where the top three pilots scored within just a couple percentage points of one another.

 

In addition to the plaques for the top three pilots in each class, Tyler & Tor received autographed copies of the Old Buzzard’s Soaring Book for completing the longest duration flights, Dave DeYoung received the Riser 2M kit for the best emergency landing after breaking a wing tip panel on launch and Bill Kuhlman won the raffle for the rotating pilot’s chair.

 

Thanks to everyone who worked to hard to assist with setup & tear down – I really appreciated the help. Special recognition goes to Russ Young for stopping by before the contest to lend a hand with setup even though he wasn’t flying, Rick Corley a former southern California slope flyer who assisted with timing & scoring all day and to Loren Steel & Dave Thornburg for their contributions of prizes.

 

Let’s do it again next year.

 

Derek Houseworth, CD

 


 

 

Pilot

Class

Model

Place

Total
Score

Percent

Flight Time Remaining

Total
Flight Score

Total Landing Score

Seth Arlow

Novice

Bird Of Time

1

   2,834

91.42%

0:01:56

   2,284

        550

Tyler Strandjord

Novice

Spirit 2M

2

   2,457

79.26%

0:06:33

   2,007

        450

Kent Reade

Novice

Oly II

3

   1,298

41.87%

0:22:32

   1,048

        250

Dave DeYoung

Novice

Elegant

4

      987

31.84%

0:26:53

      787

        200

Joe Reade

Novice

Oly II

5

         -  

0.00%

0:40:00

         -  

           -  

Derek Houseworth

Comp
Std

Aquila

1

   2,960

95.48%

0:00:29

   2,371

        589

Tor Burkhard

Comp
Std

Osprey

2

   1,655

53.39%

0:16:47

   1,393

        262

Bill Kuhlman

Comp
Std

R-2

3

   1,475

47.58%

0:18:02

   1,318

        157

Andy Page

Comp
Std

2x6

4

        87

2.81%

0:38:33

        87

           -  

Andy Page

Comp
Open

Bird Of Time

1

   2,691

86.81%

0:01:36

   2,304

        387

Jim Laurel

Comp
Open

Bird Of Time

2

   2,635

85.00%

0:00:05

   2,345

        290

Loren Steel

Comp
Open

Mirage

3

   2,633

84.94%

0:03:24

   2,196

        437

Russ Light

Comp
Open

Legend

4

   2,552

82.32%

0:00:46

   2,386

        166

Jon Malmberg

Comp
Open

Bird Of Time

5

   1,851

59.71%

0:09:15

   1,845

            6