A Thank You to Control Liners / The Ed Barry Memorial High Point Award

[Brendan Eberenz]

Me and my family (for those that attended we wore matching red "I DO MY OWN STUNTS" T-shirts) attended the Before the Snow Flies Stunt Championship this past weekend. I want to thank Bob Hunt for putting on a great event. I could tell he put a lot of time and energy into the event, and I don't think you could have asked for better weather and turn out. I think I heard we had 45 entries (OUTSTANDING). I know Bob was moved to organize this event to honor the passing of close friends who were Control Line enthusiasts, I think he was more than successful with his mission.

I want to specifically mention The Ed Barry Memorial High Point Award that was awarded based on the highest improved score on a third flight between the four PAMPA category winners (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert). I got the sense that it may be uncommon to include the Beginner category winner in this type of award, but that was the structure for the day. My 9 year old, Angstrom, won the Beginner class event, and eventually improved his third flight just enough to squeak out the High Point Award.

I give that back story to make this point...
Without having known Ed Barry, I think he would have been delighted with the unforeseen result of a 9 year old winning the high point award. We are not a family with any Control Line history. At Brodak's in June, my son was struggling to successfully complete a loop. After a dedicated summer of crash, build, fly, repeat it has all come together in the last month where my son can fly the Beginner Pattern and is going for more. At the event, Angstrom came not just to fly, but to learn. In fact, at the event he learned how to convert his "lazy 8s" to AMA eights. We also met many people willing to encourage, teach, and share knowledge, which has been the same embrace as we have found from Brodak's, to Cleveland, to Huntersville this year. While Angstrom ultimately did the flying, I see the earned award as a testament to the positive nature of control line flying, where strangers fellowship over a common interest and have welcomed a young child (and my family) into a more amazing family of good-hearted people. I think Ed would be smiling to know that the Control Line community has taken such good care of us to a point where a 9 year old is inspired to fly two days a week to feel a part of a larger something at events like this. And this past weekend, this event, and the people there did not let Ed down.

Believe me when I say, the magic of this weekend and the Ed Barry Memorial High Point Award was not lost on a nine year old who doesn't understand. Instead, my son is well aware of what happened, is further inspired by the Control Line community, and we as a family are incredibly gracious for such a great Saturday of fun and fellowship made possible by Bob and the people in attendance. Thanks for everything.

[john e. holliday]

This is a great story and I hope the family will keep supporting the young lad.  I've lost count how many youngsters started flying CL.  Some stayed with it and others just went on a different path.  I've known Bobby Hunt for many years from back when my flying partner and I was making a set of lines for F2C competition at Lake Charles NATS.  Was so happy when the were later made illegal for competition.  Maybe I will get to meet the young lad and the family one of these years.  Tell the young lad the old DOC says that if Dad yells at him for some reason to just ignore it as us Dads some times forget we were beginners also.  Now how about a picture of him with the trophies.

[Brendan Eberenz]

Here is a picture of my son and daughter, with Bob Hunt and the award.

[Tom Vieira]

Very nice!  Good show, Angstrom! 

[john e. holliday]

Thanks for the picture.

[Peter in Fairfax, VA]

Awesome.  Thanks for sharing, both about the achievement and also the event format.  Details:

> So the PAMPA event was broken down into the traditional 4 classes (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert). The winner of each class was the highest score after the traditional two rounds of flights. All four class winners were given a 3rd flight in competition for the High Point Award. They compared the 3rd flight score for each winner, against their best flight score from the previous two rounds to see which winner improved the most on their third flight (or if all scores were worse, who's third flight dropped off the least from their previous high score). In this event, the Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert all fell a couple of points from their high score. The Beginner winner improved by two points with his third flight, and therefore was the High Point Award winner of the day.

Peter