Here we are, once again!  Another part of the continuing saga...  Only this time, we are now in the 2008 contest season with the Opener contest under our belt, and it feels GREAT!!!!  This great feat of skill and agility was only out done by the exuberance of those who participated!  In fact, it fails to compare...  It's been really hard to get in any perceptible practice here in the Northwest for the last few months, and it showed.  But then, Hey, it puts us all in the same boat, doesn't it!?  None of that really matters, we all had a great time...  Getting together, seeing all the new toys, actually getting some flight time, and all the while, freeing our souls with a much needed release of the winter blues!  On the weekend of June 6& 7, the brave souls of D8 gathered at Molalla, Oregon for our first contest of the season.  This is the fifth year of this contest and it just gets better!  Most showed up Friday around mid day, to the severe rain and wind!  The forecast was for Saturday to be mostly overcast, in the mid 60's, and Sunday to be "BETTER".  The weather guessers hit it right on the nail!  We did our normal thing and left the rain to itself, and gathered in our favorite Mexican food place...  It's surprising how Chips and Salsa, with an imbibing fluid can warm your inards!  Now, I'm not saying we consumed alcohol, I'm merely suggesting that some may have strayed a little...  I don't know, I don't remember!

Pete Johnson and Craig Christensen...  First Pattern Contest!

We woke Saturday morning to exactly what the forecast predicted and headed to the field.  Coffee and Doughnuts ready and waiting, and flyers were either busy with that, or getting the planes ready to go.  In all we had 14 pilots register for the contest...  I'm assuming that a few didn't show because of the weather.  The forecast between Wednesday and Friday was changing every few hours, so no one really knew what to expect.   The great news is that two new pilots showed up.  Pete Johnson, a local Molalla flyer entered with an IMAC plane as he didn't have his pattern plane ready to go.  The other new guy was Craig Christensen from Tri-Cities, Washington...  He and his wife, Terry Ann, came all the way to brave the weather and get his feet wet, so to speak!  lol  They are great folks and I'm expecting to see good things come from them.   We also had another "sort of" new guy show up!  Tim Lunceford graced us once again after something like five years away from pattern.   It was really good to have him back with us for the weekend...  I suspect he'll be back at it in force.  He was asking me about planes!   We all know what that means...  heheheheh.  I already knew of a new plane, ready to fly, so he's in trouble!  If I've learned one thing from hanging around a group like this....   Be careful what you ask for!

Welcome back, Tim Lunceford

We got started after a short pilots meeting with all the usual info, and then Gary McClellan gave a short clinic on the new P-09 for all the judges...

This seemed to work very well as all the new info was fresh in all the judges minds.   Early on in the contest, it was apparent that there was going to be some very close competition in Advanced.  The boys were really close, all the way through the contest.  We were all pretty rusty from the winter layoff, but the flying got generally better as the contest ensued.  We only had one mishap...  Ray Gauthier's engine decided to flame out at the worst possible moment...  At the bottom of a line, inverted, at the end of the box!  Needless to say, it didn't make it back to the field.  Instead, it decided to land itself in a patch of Himalayan Blackberries.  Dave Kephart, reliving his youth, waded out and retrieved it.  The best part, is that it came back in pretty good shape.  It apparently hit a tree branch on the way down, and tore off a small section of the leading edge of one of the wings.  A pretty easy repair! Other than that, no other damage!  He'll be back in the air in no time.  We ended up flying about half way through the fourth round before calling it quits for the day.  That evening, we all gathered at a local golf course restaurant where a banquet had been reserved.  A projector was provided and was connected to a couple laptops.  We showed videos and pics from past Molalla contests.  The meal and entertainment pretty much filled our desires to the limit and we all retired to our perspective hangouts, in anticipation of the day to come!

Saturday morning, just before the action

Sunday, we started out with clear blue skys!  The winds were fairly calm, and no excuses to be found!  Everyone stayed on track and we whipped right through the last of the rounds in no time,  finishing up just after lunch time.  Speaking of lunch time,  a nice feast was provided both days by the Molalla gang!  It was Great...  

Gail Gauthier and Cheryl Carder  BBQ'd hamburgers and Sausage dogs for all of us, and they sure hit the spot...   We really appreciate that!  Thank you!

Bob Walker, CD "Mr" Carder, and the audience in the background

It's ok, he already won too many rounds....

Sportsman
                Pete Johnson 4000.00
                Craig G. Christensen 3730.72
Intermediate
                Tim Lunceford 4000.00
                Ray Gauthier 513.14
Advanced
                Bill Carder 4000.00
                Steve Sterling 3979.00
                Bob Walker 3889.91
                Dave Kephart 3639.65
Masters
                Bill Bowen 4000.00
                Rick Bergeron 3636.25
                Ray McClellan 3005.59
FAI P09
                Gary McClellan 4000.00
                Gordon Anderson 3975.63
                Rex Lesher 3850.03

Click here to see scores for all rounds.                                                        

I got to thinking about the numbers we had at this contest and realized that had the weather been better, and a few more had their planes ready, we could have easily had around 20 pilots.  Right off hand I can think of six pilot that would normally have been at this contest... The numbers of contestants is growing steadily in the Northwest.  I talked to a few of the local pilots and found that a couple guys are in the process of building a pattern plane and will be competing as soon as they get the opportunity.  It's really neat to see the sudden rise of interest in Pattern flying.  We must be doing something right!  I guess I better stock up on field setup materials!  Well, I guess that's about it for this month...  Get out and practice!  The competition is among us!

Rex

Click here to see more pictures!