A weekend in Canada, a change of scene was the most I bargained for. We ran into excellent hospitality and the opportunity to visit with friends old and new.
We beat the Blue Angels crowd out of Seattle, arriving in Delta in time to eat a lot and hear many aviation stories at the Cox place. I charged my batteries in Chris's shop, rather than having to explain matters to the hotel when the batteries burst into flame. We retired after the ribs, kebobs, export-grade Washington cherries, and fiery potato chips, arising too late for breakfast. We stopped at Starbucks on the way to the field. I sent Marilou in for coffee while I went to look for Mr. Tim Horton's shop, which I remembered was nearby. I found it by following some Mounties across the parking lot. Alas, Marilou had all the Canadian money, so I picked her up at Starbucks and went onward to the contest, having run out of time. The contest was fun, although the wind was peculiar, trees near the site having grown over the years. I flew some middling stunt and posted a 589.5, somewhat better than Chris and Alan, ha ha. Maybe the best flying we saw was by Joe Yau, who won Advanced. Chris attributed Joe's success to the airplane he was flying, one of Chris's earlier fleet. That is nonsense. Joe's good stunt was because of his vortex generators.
I was whining about the lost opportunity to visit Tim Horton's, and Bruce Duncan kindly made a trip, returning with the goods, much of which I hoovered up. Bruce and Marilou made a later trip to fetch us lunch from McDonald's. I worried a little, because I stopped taking my statins a few weeks earlier.
We decided to bear down the second round. Chris flew some pretty good stunt, although the bottom was a tad high on his first outside square. I flew my second round, which I thought was pretty good except for anomalies caused by an ill wind. This is one of the few times that both judges have yelled at me in disgust about my clover as I was walking off the circle. My second round score went down dramatically. Chris posted a 589.0, revealed on the scoreboard with appropriate drama. I thus became the Western Canada stunt champion, which is just as well, because the first-place trophy had a picture of my plane and me striking a silly pose. I don't think Chris would have liked that anyhow. Many of us returned to Starbucks for postcontest Frappucinos. I arrived to see sad looks on Chris and Alan. I told Chris that he had no reason for such dejection. He had come within half a point of being Western Canada stunt champion-- one mere outside square bottom. The sadness, however, was due to Starbucks being out of caramel syrup, which Chris and Alan require in their Frappucinos. Alan went home to cry. Having forgotten eating lunch, we went to another delightful lunch with the Coxes.
I learned some of the finer points of Canadian traffic rules and etiquette on the way home, but I still don't know what a flashing green arrow means.
It was a swell time.
Topic: Western Canada Stunt Champs (Read 3375 times)