Polk City Spring Kickoff Contest

[wwwarbird]

  It's currently massively crap weather in the area, and the forecast is not good for this weekend. Why are there no updates here?

[Crist Rigotti]

I don't know.  I'm planning on going Sunday only.  I cancelled my room reservations.  I wonder if the field will be dry enough for Sunday?  Anybody from the Des Moines area want to comment on the field conditions?

[john e. holliday]

Looking at the weather map and with what we have in KC area,  I have decided to stay home where it is warm in the shop.   Can't hardly beleive that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was shirt sleeve weather.   Then starting Thursday it was drizzling rain,  then sleet to wind up snowing.   It's all Colorado's fault.

But, really we need the moisture as I am seeing parts of the river bottom that was not seen before my lifetime.   

[Tom Niebuhr]

Doc,
I understand that you are blaming Colorado, but the real blame goes to Big Al!

[wwwarbird]

I don't know.  I'm planning on going Sunday only.  I cancelled my room reservations.  I wonder if the field will be dry enough for Sunday?  Anybody from the Des Moines area want to comment on the field conditions?

 Crist, and others...

 It's MAY....right?

 I'm in Ankeny right now, I left the foot of fresh new snow back at home and got here last night. Almost no snow on the ground here but it's really wet in the entire area. Haven't been out to the field yet, I think I'll skip that today but go investigate in the morning. I'm betting that the field is wet as a sponge.

 Today looks like 35 degrees and a rain/snow mix all day. Saturday currently calls for more rain, maybe 40 degrees, and 18mph winds. I'd say the best chance for anything to happen here might be to pack it all into Sunday and just make it a longer day than usual for this contest. If the rain tapers off like it's supposed to hopefully that could work. We'll see what Bob and the guys decide I guess.

 Heading for the LHS soon...

[Crist Rigotti]

Crist, and others...

 It's MAY....right?

 I'm in Ankeny right now, I left the foot of fresh new snow back at home and got here last night. Almost no snow on the ground here but it's really wet in the entire area. Haven't been out to the field yet, I think I'll skip that today but go investigate in the morning. I'm betting that the field is wet as a sponge.

 Today looks like 35 degrees and a rain/snow mix all day. Saturday currently calls for more rain, maybe 40 degrees, and 18mph winds. I'd say the best chance for anything to happen here might be to pack it all into Sunday and just make it a longer day than usual for this contest. If the rain tapers off like it's supposed to hopefully that could work. We'll see what Bob and the guys decide I guess.

 Heading for the LHS soon...

Thanks Wayne.
Mike Schmitt, Dennis V, Allen B, Larry L. all cancled for this weekend.  Can't really blame them.  Say hi to Rick for me at the LHS.

Maybe the club should look at moving the date to the same as what was the SIG contest in the last week of June.  I bet there would be more participation especially now that the SIG contest is done with.

[Allen Brickhaus]

I do not like not having the SIG contest, but this is a great idea.  Take the date before someone else does.

Allen

[Crist Rigotti]

I just got an email from Bob B.  stating that they are thinking of moving the stunt portion of the contest by 2 weeks.  I'll post what else I hear.

[wwwarbird]

 Hi guys,

 Walked in to Hobby Haven in Des Moines today and immediately got a great look at the nice ad poster for the Sig R/C Fly-In posted in the entryway with all the other local model aviation advertising. I even got an Email from Sig just yesterday promoting the R/C event. Now, no disrespect here, but the R/C event is not even a contest, it's just a fun fly event. That's great, show up and fly your models, and have fun with the supplier as an event host. This is great PR for the hobby. However, the company can use whatever excuse they want, but it's really lame that they are continuing the R/C event without hiccup while at the same time totally pulling the plug on the excellent C/L contest that has gone on for over 25 years at the very same location. Some wonder why C/L is essentially a lost segment within the hobby? Well, it doesn't help when manufacturers and/or suppliers turn their backs on supporting events that their customers enjoy. Any way you slice it, the decision of Sig Manufacturing as a company to end the annual Sig C/L Championships is another very sad loss to Model Aviation.

[Allen Brickhaus]

I was told that the R/C modelers show up in their RV's and spend money.  With no competition, their is no argument of who won and who did not.  I think perhaps we control liners spend less at "the" event than R/C guys do.  Perhaps it was just a money thing?  My guess only.

I really appreciate the work and support given by SIG to so many successful contests in Montezuma Iowa.

Allen Brickhaus

[wwwarbird]

I was told that the R/C modelers show up in their RV's and spend money.  With no competition, their is no argument of who won and who did not.  I think perhaps we control liners spend less at "the" event than R/C guys do.  Perhaps it was just a money thing?  My guess only.

Allen Brickhaus

 That is an accurate assessment Allen, there are fewer C/Ler's who attend, and it does boil down to money. I will definitely admit that I am sour about Sigs decision in this. It's just too bad that for the extremely small monetary expenditure required that they will not continue with the C/L Championships. The small community of Montezuma has also had to benefit at some level with us being there every year, and now they will no longer receive that local busine$$.

 I do sincerely thank all of the people at Sig, especially Mike and Hazel, for their many years of work in providing us the annual contest. Too bad the new regime has chosen otherwise.

[Mike Anderson]

I don't know.  I'm planning on going Sunday only.  I cancelled my room reservations.  I wonder if the field will be dry enough for Sunday?  Anybody from the Des Moines area want to comment on the field conditions?

The field was under 6 inches of snow last night - Friday evening.  This morning at 8 AM when I arrived the field was still mostly covered with snow to about 3 inches.  The 'green' part was soggy enough that it would not have been pleasant.  Everyone who contacted us and many who we contacted were advised of the conditions and the probability that there would not be enough improvement by Sunday morning to warrant them making the trip.  That said, we were still out there at 8 AM this morning, as were several Carrier flyers deciding whether to get going home, and we will be out there again at 8 AM tomorrow morning in case someone shows up to fly.  The weather should be much improved by tomorrow and through tomorrow afternoon, however the field will still be a soggy mess.

I don't know what kind of 'update' I could have posted before last night, as all I had to go on was the weather forecasts (available to anyone through Accuweather) which predicted mixed rain and snow through Friday, scattered rain through Saturday and temps in the 40's on Sat., to the 60's on Sunday.  Turns out we got a lot more snow than rain, not enough sunshine or high enough temps to dry things out.

We are looking at the possibility of moving the contest forward a week or two - but not all the way to late June.  We will just have to talk it over and try to decide what makes the most sense.

[wwwarbird]

 Thanks Mike.

 I didn't expect to see anyone but I did stop out there about 12:30pm today just to see how it looked. The main circle was still about 1/2 covered with snow and the far circle was still completely covered. I'd bet the main circle should at least be free of snow by tomorrow so it looks like the combat guys could possibly have a go at it but yeah, things are very saturated. I don't know if the Carrier guys are still going to attempt anything Sunday, but it's definitely too soggy for the Stunt folks.

 These pics are from about 1:00pm today...

 

[Mike Anderson]

The out of town combat guys are not coming.  The Carrier flyers went back to Chicago - in any case I was unable to get the deck out of my back yard yesterday as I could not get enough traction to get the trailer rolling.  Went out this afternoon and got it straightened out after the majority of the snow in my yard was dissipated.

We are going out tomorrow to see if the weather improves enough to fly some combat among ourselves.

Sorry I missed you - I was there until about 11:00, when I had to go pick up the 50 Subway sandwiches and the veggie platter that we had on order. I don't think we'll be able to eat them all tomorrow ......

I doubt if anyone will be there as early as 8:00 AM tomorrow, in case anyone was planning to get out there that early.  Probably more like 10:00.

So, this year is a total blow-out.  We'll try again next year.

[wwwarbird]

 Well Mike, thanks anyway to you and the others for all of your work in trying. Hopefully this all means we'll have great weather for next year.

[Steve Scott]

Crist, and others...

 It's MAY....right?

No, Wayne.  It's February 83rd.

[Steve Scott]

I was told that the R/C modelers show up in their RV's and spend money.  With no competition, their is no argument of who won and who did not.  I think perhaps we control liners spend less at "the" event than R/C guys do.  Perhaps it was just a money thing?  My guess only.

I really appreciate the work and support given by SIG to so many successful contests in Montezuma Iowa.

Allen Brickhaus

I dunno.  The two years I attended the meet I stayed in a local motel and dropped money there.   I also bought lots of (small) stuff at the field store.   What does the RV crowd spend money on?

[wwwarbird]

What does the RV crowd spend money on?

 ARF's.