Just Before the Snow Flies contest for 2020

[Bob Hunt]

Okay, it's time for some cautious good news. I have just received from AMA the sanction for the 2020 Just Before the Snow Flies contest.

Last year's contest was a resounding success, and because of that we are expanding this year's contest to two days -Saturday and Sunday, October 3 and 4- with a practice day on Friday, October 2nd.

The events for Saturday the 3rd are OTS and Classic, with the OTS portion being the Garden State Circle Burners 50th anniversary celebration of this event. As many of you are aware, the GSCB club lost their field late last year, and as of this moment, they don't have a new field on which to fly or hold contests. So, the host club of the Before the Snow Flies contest (LVRCS) is allowing the 50th anniversary meet to be run on their field, and has invited the GSCB members to staff and administer the event, even though the sanction is in the LVRCS club's name. I will act as the Contest Director for both contest flying days, and also for the practice day.

Only one circle will be in operation on the Friday practice day, but it should prove sufficient. On Saturday the 3rd, there will be two contest circles in use (one for OTS, and one for Classic, with trophies to third), and the third circle will be open for practice and also for fun flying by those who wish to come and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the OTS event. We hope to make this a reunion of many fliers who were around in 1970 and before. They are welcome to come and participate by sport flying and kibitzing even if they choose not to compete. 

On Sunday the 4th, there will be three circles in use for the contest, and the events to be contested are the PAMPA Skill Classes (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert), with trophies to third.

Like last year, there will be a Pizza Party at my home in Stockertown, PA (about 12 minutes from the field). All are welcome until the house starts to sink... If any repairs are needed, my shop and all the tools therein will be available. There should be tons of help available, too!

We moved this contest to the days historically used by the GSCB for the fist half of their Fall meet. This will hopefully help to guarantee good weather. We were very blessed last year to have had such great weather so late in October. Perhaps this move will prove better all around for weather and attendance.

If you have any questions about the contest, please feel free to ask them here, or to get in touch with me via PM.

We are hoping to see all who attended last year (46 entrants from 9 states!), and many more as well.

Later - Bob Hunt
Contest Director
L1114

       

[Jim Mynes]

Hi Bob,

This may have been discussed last fall, if so, I don’t remember the answer.

Is on-site camping possible?

[Bob Hunt]

Hi Jim:

Yes! There is onsite camping available at no charge. There are no hook-ups, however, so you must be self-contained.

Later - Bob

[Jim Mynes]

Excellent!

Thanks Bob!

[wwwarbird]

 however, so you must be self-contained.

 Everyone should be well used to that by then. 

[Tim Stagg]

Bob,

At the rate we are going, this may be the only contest this year.... I sure hope not...but it will give me time to finish up all my projects

Tim

[Chris Fretz]

Bob,

At the rate we are going, this may be the only contest this year.... I sure hope not...
Tim

[Bob Hunt]

Hi Tim:

Yeah, it just may be the only one; but it may also be cancelled. Time will tell...

At this point we are anticipating having the contest on schedule, and I will be posting additional contest info as time gets short.

One really great feature of this contest last year was the food. The host club - LVRCS - prides themselves on using only fresh ingredients purchased on contest day to make the burgers and dogs. They were a bit overwhelmed by the demand last year, and so have updated to a new, larger, grill, and will certainly purchase more food this time.

Again, Saturday will be for the GSCB 50th anniversary of John Miske's Old Time Stunt. Hopefully Saturday will also serve as a reunion day for those who flew way back when. Please spread the word about this reunion aspect. People (who have AMA licenses) can come and sport fly their vintage models just for fun on the practice circle, and we will probably have an award for the most unique and unusual model to show up and fly for fun. There will also be a Spirit of '52 award for the actual OTS contest, and a Spirit of '64 award for Classic as well.

The Buddy Wieder Concourse Award will be presented to the best appearing model in the PAMPA classes on Sunday, and this will be voted on by the competitors.

If this is the only contest of the year, then the draw may be so large that we cannot run off two rounds in one day. It does get dark earlier in October... We may have to go to an advanced registration and limit the entry, or have a fly-off after the first round of as many fliers as possible in the daylight remaining. We did not have to resort to that last year, so hopefully we won't this year either.   

In any case this contest may serve as a group hug after (hopefully) this pandemic passes by.

Later - Bob