Southwest Regionals 2008

SW Regionals 60/Eloy has come and gone. Discouraging weather forecasts may have kept a few people away - and caused some to leave early, but the actual weather experienced was not bad.

SWR is actually 3 contests - AMA Free Flight, FAI Free Flight, and SAM RC Old Timers. We also hold an informal Saturday swap meet at the field on Saturday afternoon.

This is a picture of the awards for all 3 contests. The background is a photograph of Picacho Peak.

In terms of numbers, there were 48 entrants in AMA etc Free Flight, 52 in FAI Free Flight, and 21 in RC Old Timer.

Watch for Don DeLoach's report on both SWR Free Flight contests in the NFFS Digest!

Pictures are courtesy of Bob Angel, Caley Ann Hand, Robert McKeon, Ben Nead, Eut Tileston, Wade, and Mike Woodhouse.

It was the year of a bad economy, poor weather forecasts, followed by some actual wind, dust, and rain.

But, they came to fly models anyhow! From all accounts, those who came to fly mostly did so, and they enjoyed the camaraderie, the actual warm weather and mild winds. By Monday, threats of rain, both here and on the way home, scared some folks away. At the AMA official’s desk, we stayed open until the advertised closing time of 2:30 and flights were being made up until that time.

~ A friend from Tucson brought out his young grandson. They sat down together and built a Delta Dart in about an hour. It was the very young man’s first try at a flying model. Believe it was also the Grandfather’s first one, too. It was quite a sight to see them working together, but even more significant to see them flying the Dart. The joy on that that kid’s face was priceless and perhaps it reminded us of our first flights. We hope to encourage them both to further explore modeling.

~Those 2 kids from California, Taron and Sevak Malkhasyan were at it again. These kids are really talented. Watching them fly tip-launched gliders is an eye opener. Finding their own lift and achieving significant altitude shows that these boys will be worth watching.

~Twin Pusher had 4 entrants / 2 flying. Gene Andrews had his model destroyed in the stooge, Phil Klintworth from TN had his model destroyed when his van's automatic door closer ate it!

~Greg has made a brilliant suggestion: have a rolling schedule. We’ve received a few complaints over the last few years from people who can’t/won’t stay around for the Monday events. Next year, Monday’s event will roll to Saturday, etc. Over the space of 3 cycles, all events will occur on each diff day.

~Sat & Sunday had wind patterns that were different from our usual. In times past, we'd see a calming in the middle of the day with models coming down near the flight line. This year, we seemed to have a shift to the opposite direction without the calming. Saturday and Sunday winds were strong for much of the morning and finally slowed before the shift.

~Monday - as we arrived at the field, we saw evidence of rain. After waiting a few minutes, we realized that it wasn't really muddy, so we drove on in, hardly picking up any mud on the truck tires. Mike Myers, past SAM president, stayed in town Sunday night. He awoke to rain, drove to the field, and then walked to the RC OT area to check on his trailer, intending to leave keys for it with someone so the trailer could be hauled out later. When he got to RC, he realized that there wasn't much mud - so he walked back to the road, drove in and picked up the trailer before heading for home. As we drove in, we saw numerous vehicles leaving - guess the rain scared people off. Greg, my son Mike, daughter Annie and I stayed until the bitter end at 2:30 - our advertised Monday quitting time. The Colorado folks flew up until that time, along with a very few others. We experienced a few minutes of sparse, drizzly rain but we had an umbrella for the official’s table so it wasn't bad at all.

~Greg Tutmark, the assistant contest director, is really quite an asset to the SWR. He brought along 4 models [actually had them brought down by a friend who stays in Mesa for part of the winter] but didn't fly them. A year or more ago, he got a new knee joint but walking is not yet pleasant for him. He does, however, enjoy working the official desk and talking with contestants! Last year, when he couldn’t make it to Eloy, we heard from many contestants lamenting the fact that they couldn’t talk to Greg.

I’ll be the first to shamelessly admit that I am afflicted with hero worship. Every year at SWR, I am surrounded by my heroes; the people who make this contest one of the finest events of its kind - you, the modelers. I returned after a year’s absence to my tenth year of SWR, This year, SWR 60, was almost perfect. It was a little windy in the mornings on Saturday and Sunday and Monday threatened rain but didn’t. We had good lift and, for the most part, acceptable drift. This year was good and I am very pleased the way things worked out. Already, we are talking of ways to make SWR 61 even better. There are some plans that will surprise and hopefully please, you, the contestants. We want to provide the best possible contest with the least possible hassle.

Every year I try to recall the most memorable things to share with you; SWR60 gave me some special heroes. First, there’s Al Lidberg, without his encouragement, support and friendship, I couldn’t be here. Also, Gene Wicks made this year special, All the way from Illinois, Gene flew a lot and he flew well, but he always had time to share a smile, From Colorado come the Magnificent Mountain Men: dedicated competitors , but more importantly, just plain nice guys. Don, Jerry, Mark and Chuck, thanks for having come so far and doing so well. Jim O’Reilly, thanks for stopping by to visit and share a story or two. No year would be complete without Jean Andrews. Every year, Jean and I engage in good natured lip judo – always great fun.

My number one hero this year is Lee Hines. Lee has been flying hand launch gliders for at least a hundred and two years, or at least it seems that way. He always flies well and wins often. Lee has probably forgotten more than any of us will ever know about hand launch gliders, What is so special about Lee is his willingness to share his experience, On Sunday I watched and listened to Lee explaining the nuances of his glider to another flier. It is inspiring to watch him. He still gets excited over what he’s doing after all these years and his willingness to freely share this is part of what makes him special. He is so enjoyable to watch – his enthusiasm is enviable and contagious.

Maybe this willingness to share is what makes you modelers such wonderful guys to be around.

As I mentioned earlier, we are looking at changes hopefully to improve our contest . It is painfully obvious to everyone that a dollar does not go as far as it used to; SWR is not exempt from this. Raising entry fees is NOT an option. We have been considering several things to keep our standards of competition without charging more to do it. I want you, the contestants, - the people who really count – to step up and let us know how you feel about a few things. Remember this is YOUR contest; you can make it better. Please take a few minutes to think over the following ideas and send us your feelings on them. Just send an e-mail to AALMPS@AOL.COM put “SWR61 Proposal” in the subject line.

2.) How would you feel about awards being presented at the conclusion of each day’s competition?

3.) Would you support an option for a contestant to exchange a cash award for a trophy to be made and sent later?

Another issue has surfaced with our three-day format. No matter how we schedule events, someone’s favorite event falls on an inconvenient day (usually Monday). We have come up with a solution to that that will guarantee that nobody’s event will always end up on the inconvenient day. For future contests, we will use the same schedule as this year. However, in the interests of fairness we will rotate the class format one day each year. For example, the classes that were on Saturday for SWR60 will be on Sunday for SWR61; Monday’s classes move to Saturday etc. This will add a measure of continuity and equality to future events

As I say each year, and this is no different. A sincere thanks to each and everyone of you for making SWR60 a great happening. Wait until next year and SWR61.

Jim O'Reilly with his Moffett CAH	Gene Wicks and Phillip Ronney CAH	Ted Firster and his Satellite CAH
Glenn Schneider with a Country Boy - One Design CAH	Mike Lidberg [at the right] getting set to wind a HiHo CAH	Ron Thomas, Alert with ED Hunter CAH
Herb Kothe with a Korda C Stick CAH	Jerry Murphy ready to wind a Gollywock CAH	Chuck Stewart and Joe Richey, Yuma, AZ with P-30s CAH
Frank Roberge returns with his CAT glider CAH	Jeff Carman and his Texan CAH	Gene Wicks with his T Bird CAH
Glenn Schneider, RamRod CAH	Ralph Hotz launches while Mike Roseberry observes. HoneyBee/Zeke? W	Dick Nelson ROGing an old timer. W
Nicholas Harris is learning about catapult gliders CAH	The Free Flight area as seen from high over the RC site ET	One of 2 Satellite 1300s at the SWR. W
The Rapier rocket entrants: Ed Augst, Frank Pollard, Ben Nead and Eric Strengell. BN		Ken Kear launching / Mrs. K timing. W

Lots of folks are fascinated with the Twin Pushers. The grouping below is a collection of all the images.

Jim O'Reilly looking happy and confident. ET

AL winds a Twin Pusher; Carl Redlin at the left looks worried! CAH

AL winding Twin Pusher. ET

Twin Pusher winding calamity! Mike Lidberg in white shirt observes as Jeri Riley assists AL after a body stick broke. ET

AL Lidberg and Jim O'Reilly getting ready to launch Twin Pushers CAH

AL and Jim await the launch signal. ET

The 60^th SWR on Saturday, Jan. 16 started out cool at 42°F and a bit breezy at 10mph. This breeze caused some visibility problems and a delay due to the dust. It then warmed up to 69°F with the wind speed slowing to 3mph in the afternoon. Sunday morning started out just as cool and breezy which delayed the start of the mini events by 30 minutes. As it warmed to up 70° the wind slowed down.

We had a total of 47 sportsmen signed up for the 8 FAI events. The contestants were from AZ, CA, CO, LA, MI, NV, OR, PA, TX and all the way from Great Britain (Dave Oldfield F1A/H and Mike Woodhouse F1B). F1A, F1B, F1C/P and F1Q all needed fly-offs on Saturday about an hour before sunset. Peter Brocks was the only one in F1A to do the 5 min. in the 5-man fly-off and repeated his win of the December Arizona Champs. In F1B there were 7 folks in the 5 min. fly-off. Martin Schroeder and George Batiuk maxed to get into the 7 min. fly-off which Martin won. In F1Q, the electric event, we had 4 entries who flew with a max. motor run of 25 seconds. After 7 rounds Julie Parker and Mike Roseberry each flew a fly-off flight with a 10 sec. motor run which both maxed. In the 2^nd fly-off with a 5 second motor run Julie won the new perpetual F1Q trophy. In F1C/P we had 9 entries and 5 F1C flyers in the fly-off. Kenny Happersett and Austin Gunder both flew for 5 min. and then both flew the 7 minutes. This required a 3^rd fly-off on Sunday in this combined event which was won by Kenny flying a folder. We had 3 FAI Juniors who all held their own against the open flyers: Taron Malkhasyan F1P 1217 sec., Joey Farmer F1A 1147 sec. and Sevak Malkhasyan F1B 1067 sec.

On Sunday we flew F1G, F1H and F1J. In F1J we had 5 flying. Austin Gunder won F1J which meant that 2^nd place Faust Parker had to give up the “Bear” which he had kept for 2 years. In F1H after 5 rounds Brian Van Nest and Jim Parker were clean. Brian won the fly-off over Jim. In F1G 4 flyers maxed out. All 4 were clean going into the 2^nd fly-off in which only Bill Booth and Dave Saks did the required 4 minutes. Both Bill and Dave then did a 3^rd fly-off in which both flew the 5 minutes. But in the 4^th fly-off Bill won and Dave was second.

A big thank you to all participants and to Elmer Nelson, Tom Gaylor, Hermann Andresen, Mike Bower and my wife Brigitte who all made this contest again a memorable event.

Mid January and the weather is rather different in Arizona to that in the UK . At one time we were worried about the weather preventing us getting off the ground at Heathrow. However in the end the only delay was caused by additional security requirements at the departure airport. The weather all the time we were there was good except for a couple afternoons when the breeze got up, plus a bit of rain on the final day. Such was the weather we managed to fly every day we were there and got some winter test flying in.

As a wind shift always happens part way through the day. So North and South flight lines we set up. Time was added to the rounds when the expected shift occurred.

Dave Oldfield and I were there to fly in the F1A and F1B respectively. Dave also had an F1H in the box for the mini day.

In total for the FAI events some 47 signed up for the 8 FAI events. The contestants were from most of the South Western States for this the 60^th SWR.

On Saturday it started out cool at 42°F and a bit breezy at 10mph. This breeze caused some visibility problems and a delay due to the dust. Even then there were visibility problems, Bill Booth was timed out of sight in both the 1^st and 2^nd rounds. It then warmed up to 69°F with the wind speed slowing to 3mph in the afternoon. F1A, F1B, F1C/P and F1Q all needed fly-offs on Saturday about an hour before sunset. Peter Brocks was the only one in F1A to do the 5 min. in the 5-man fly-off and repeated his win of the December Arizona Champs. In F1B there were 7 folks in the 5 min. fly-off. Martin Schroeder and George Batiuk maxed to get into the 7 min. fly-off which Martin won. In F1Q, the electric event, there were 4 entries who flew with a max. motor run of 25 seconds. After 7 rounds Julie Parker and Mike Roseberry each flew a fly-off flight with a 10 sec. motor run and both maxed. In the 2^nd fly-off with a 5 second motor run Julie won the new perpetual F1Q trophy. In F1C/P we had 9 entries and 5 F1C flyers in the fly-off. Kenny Happersett and Austin Gunder both flew for 5 min. and then both flew the 7 minutes. This required a 3^rd fly-off on Sunday in this combined event, which was won by Kenny flying a flapper. We had 3 FAI Juniors who all held their own against the seniors: Taron Malkhasyan F1P 1217 sec., Joey Farmer F1A 1147 sec. and Sevak Malkhasyan F1B 1067 sec.

Sunday morning for the mini events started out just as cool and breezy which delayed the start of the mini events by 30 minutes. As it warmed to up to 70° the wind slowed down.

Austin Gunder won F1J, which meant that 2^nd place Faust Parker had to give up the “Bear” which he had kept for 2 years. In F1H after 5 rounds Brian Van Nest and Jim Parker were clean. Brian won the fly-off over Jim. In F1G 4 flyers maxed out. All 4 were clean going into the 2^nd fly-off in which only Bill Booth and Dave Saks did the required 4 minutes. Both Bill and Dave then did a 3^rd fly-off in which both flew the 5 minutes. The 4^th fly-off round was won by Bill.

So how did the Brits do? In F1A I’m afraid, this year, Dave Oldfield had a torrid time and gave it best after the 2^nd round and retired. I managed to make the F1B fly off despite a few problems on the way. I mislaid the model in the first round somewhere in the desert when the tracker receiver failed, retrieved by Bill Booth for me. Having gotten over this when I needed it my thermister chart recorder started to “flat line”. I had flown all day on new Tan Super Sport but decided that the fly off needed May ’99 Tan II. However that was not a good move as the motor blew in the model, the only motor break that I managed all day. The reserve climbed well but the air and its legs were not quite good enough for the 5 minute max. Dave’s luck was also out in F1H, so not a good weekend for him.

John Nystedt, Hermann Andresen and Mike Bower. PB	Tiffany, Bill Booth, Dave Saks, Peter Brocks. PB	Paul Crowley. CAH
Allen Ulm. CAH	Dave Saks, CA, ready to test F1B. CAH	Dave Oldfield UK. CAH
Marty Schroeder, CA, F1B winner. CAH	Amy Schroeder, CA, with F1B. CAH	Dick Mathis. MW
Don Chesson, LA, with F1C flapper. MW	Dick Mathis' F1C. MW	Paul Crowley's Wakefield. MW
Paul Crowley. MW	Allen Ulm, CA, with F1B. MW	Allen Ulm, CA, winding in half shell. MW
Lynn Pulley. MW	Austin Gunder and Tom Ioerger. MW	Nice model box. MW
MW	Very large mobile stooge? Tom Ioerger's F1G winding stooge. MW	Peter Brocks, as seen through the covering on his Coupe. MW

Aerial view of the RC site. ET	George Tallent's place in Picacho, a bit south of Eloy. That clear area at the lower right is just the corner of a space big enough for test flying. ET	Bob Holman and the TriWing. BA
Foote Westerner Electric BA		Another view of the TriWing. ET
Bomber CAH	Jim O'Reilly and Dave Harding with Stardust Special. CAH	Pete Samuelson and Foote Westerner. CAH
Dave Harding, Mike Myers, Colin Widdison. CAH	Digging the fire pit. ET	Around the fire before dark. BA
Fire plus barbecue cooker. BA	BA	BA
Here's a link to pictures taken on Sunday by Doug Klassen: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/576369751cBPbyL

We, the SW Regionals Modelers Association, may have as much fun putting the contest together as the contestants do flying in it! Our purposes are to continue holding the contest and to improve it as much as possible!

The organization: Southwest Regional Modelers Association:
AL Lidberg, Peter Brocks, Elmer Nelson, John Nystedt, Steve Riley, Bob Angus, Greg Tutmark, John Patton, and Herman Andresen.

AMA/NFFS/SAM	FAI / Randy Archer Invitational	RC Old Timers
CD: AL Lidberg Asst: Greg Tutmark	CD: Peter Brocks Asst: Hermann Andresen	CD: Bob Angus Asst: Walt Angus