The 35th Anniversary of the Golden State Stunt Championships are over. We were blessed with really good weather all weekend; sunny skies with winds in the 3-6 mph range. We had a few periods of almost dead air, but they didn't last long. I would say it could have been a little cooler; temps in the mid to upper 80's made for lot of water being consumed.
But it's all about the flying; and beautiful flying we saw! In Expert, Ted Fancher earned a score of 566.5 and that doesn't even get him on the podium. Howard Rush bested that with a 583 and . . . didn't make the podium either. Brett Buck flew one hell of a flight and scored 596.5 . . . but was bested by Dave Fitzgerald by one point. Paul Walker “brought up the rear” with a score of 588.5. I talked with Paul later and he said he did a little trimming after the contest and put in one flight to “discharge the battery” before packing it away. He said the plane just found the grove with that adjustment; enough that he could have beat Dave. Well maybe next year.
Over in Advanced, there was a good fight also being waged. Brian Moore put in a great flight and scored an impressive 509; that got him 3rd place. But it was close; Bob Duncan took 2nd with a 510 and Lanny Shorts won the top spot with a second round flight of 516.5.
In intermediate Russell Shaffer won with a score of 422.5; Shawn Lenci was second with a 409 and Norm Gayer wasn't far behind at 395.
The Beginner class saw Chuck Milsap score 90 for 3rd, Fred Cadiente took 2nd with 190, and Charles Carter took 1st with 226. That 226 was really earned too. During a practice flight on Friday, Charles flew his plane into a tree. He stayed up way too late fixing it and then drove from Escondido to Madera (a 6 hour drive) arriving at 4am. He and his family had to be really tired, but I hope the win made it all worth while.
We had one flyer show up that I wasn't expecting; Chip Hyde was a “day of” registrant and flew an impressive 530.5 . . . not bad for a guy used to transmitters, receivers and servos . . . and not being used to going in circles. Chip had his RC plane with him, and some wanted him to put on a demo flight. He was very gracious and said he would, but I had to be the bad guy and tell him we were approved to use the airport with “tethered” aircraft only. As much fun as it would have been to see him in action, I just couldn't take the chance of ruining the relationship we've built up with the city, and not be allowed back in 2014. I got the chance to chat with Chip a bit afterwords, and he said he is in the process of testing a new C/L version of a YS 4 stroke . . . can anyone say “fuel injection”?
I hope everyone will mark their calendar for October 18-19, 2014. The show here is just as good as you will see at the Nats. And at the Nats, you won't be served our now famous hot dogs.
I'll be processing photos later, and hope to get some posted within a few days.
Brian
Fox News Coverage:
http://www.kmph.com/story/23741022/55-model-planes-rip-through-valley-sky
Topic: 2013 GSSC Coverage Updated (Read 1312 times)