Radio Control: Soaring
Daryl Perkins, 940 Baird Rd., Santa Rosa, CA 95409
Visalia 1994
I hate finishing in the cheap seats — 37th place, ouch! Anyway, if you have never been to Visalia, you are missing the best-run, best-attended, most fun, biggest-party contest in the U.S. Year after year these guys do an incredible job putting together a good time for all the attendees that you almost forget there is a contest being run at the same time.
This year the contest was attended by 230 soaring enthusiasts, some of whom came from as far away as Guatemala. During the two-day contest period more than 1,840 flights were logged. That is a lot of winching, and that kind of flying can only take place with a lot of hard work from some very dedicated individuals. My hat is off to the organizers for once again pulling off the "contest of all contests." I just can't say enough positive things about Visalia.
The following donors contributed to the tremendous raffle at Visalia:
- Aerospace Composites
- Airtronics
- ASD
- Chuck Anderson
- Pro-Case
- Composite Structures
- C.R. Aircraft
- Ben Clerx
- High Country Soaring
- Hobby Shack
- Inventec Corp.
- Kennedy Composites
- LIMP
- Steve Lewis
- LeVoe Designs
- M&M Glider Tech
- Northeast Sailplane
- RnR Products
- RCSD
- Cody Robertson
- Slegers International
- Pierce Aero
- The Bag Lady
- Tekoa
- The Center of Design
- Team Taca
- Layne-Urwyler
- Spectrum Enterprises
- Woodlogic
- Culpepper Models
Thank you for such a fantastic raffle! And thanks to all who helped make this contest happen!
US Team Finals
Every two years we select a team to represent the United States in the World Championships. We hold a contest, typically over Labor Day weekend, to select the three most competent individuals to carry the flag and our hopes. I didn't want to try to compete in this contest and cover it for the magazine, so I asked a competitor's field helper to cover it for me. Here is an unbiased opinion by Phil Lontz.
F3B Team Selection at Toledo 1994
The Weak Signals hosted the Model Aviation F3B team selection just outside Toledo, Ohio. New team members for the 1995 Romanian World Championship are:
- Joe Wurts — flying an F3B Eagle
- Daryl Perkins — flying his own design, Maverick
- Randy Spencer — flying an F3B Eagle
Lanny Jolly finished fourth flying an F3B Eagle and will be the alternate.
Actually, the team is the same as the last World Cup — so the boys of California did it again. Seth Dawson nailed fifth place flying his V Ultra. Sixth place, flying a Synergy III, was taken by Rich Spicer. Good job, guys. For those who do not fly F3B yet, keep at it — the USA is being represented by some of the best American fliers.
I could call the Weak Signals crew and Jack Van Hee "pros" or "fantastic," but that would not come close. These guys opened the gates on time, made coffee and fresh donuts for all, provided lunch for everyone, and cooked steak dinners for everyone — all free. Not one red cent. They made the weekend happen with the smoothness and skill that only comes from the pure love of flying. Gentlemen all. Thank you.
F3B Tasks
F3B consists of three separate tasks:
- Duration
- Seven minutes of thermal flying with a spot landing.
- No meat hooks allowed.
- The 100-point spot is about 39 inches in diameter.
- Speed
- Fly four laps around a 150-meter course.
- A beginner might do this in about 30 seconds; a top competitor might do it in roughly 15.5 seconds for the four laps (about 3.9 seconds per lap).
- Distance
- Four minutes to fly as many laps as possible around the 150-meter course.
- A rookie is happy with 10–12 laps; the pros do 20–26.
- Relaunches are allowed on all tasks and are often used for tactical and strategic advantage.
For the first time at a team selection, there were seven rounds of flying during the three contest days. The weather was coolish in the morning with warming as the day progressed. No rain!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
