CDing a contest
by Mike Riggs [email protected]
Congratulations to the 2013 United States F3A team of Andrew Jesky, team captain; Jason Shulman; Brett Wickizer; and Chip Hyde, alternate. They will represent the US in the 2013 F3A World Championships in South Africa.
Andrew Jesky Trivia
How many RC airplanes does Andrew Jesky own? The answer is at the end of this column.
Power Update
Things didn't work out with my 800-watt Honeywell generator. The biggest problem was noise, with the warranty service a close runner-up. The rated noise level is similar to that of Honda and Yamaha generators at idle; however, the Honeywell was exponentially louder as the electrical load increased. Long story short, I replaced the Honeywell with a used Honda EU1000i bought locally. Life is quiet again.
Contest Participation
I would like to thank everyone who responded to the May column question about why they do not compete. The reasons included the usual suspects: time, money, and travel. The most interesting was the absence of comments about airplane cost.
The few comments related to cost were centered on the budget versus enjoyment debate. Respondents did not see any increased enjoyment by spending more money on their hobby. I find this enlightening.
As your humble scribe, I appreciate the readers of this column and find it complimentary that non-Pattern enthusiasts read it. I rely on readers to keep me in check with the realities of keeping our hobby and this column fun.
In response to those who stated that they do not compete because of a lack of contests in their area, I urge you to hold your own contest. Below I offer my real-life experience of being the CD of a contest in horrible weather, 300 miles from nowhere. If I can CD a contest, so can you!
Contest Director
For the past three years, the Boise Area Radio Kontrol Society (BARKS) has hosted the Treasure Valley Pattern contest outside of Boise, Idaho. The inaugural contest was a byproduct of my interest in Pattern.
In the summer/fall of 2009, I was set to attend my first Pattern contest in Redmond, Oregon. Plans came to an abrupt halt after landing my Sword short of the runway, resulting in the need for major repairs.
Shortly afterward, Rex Lesher, the National Society of Radio Controlled Aerobatics (NSRCA) District 8 vice president, offered to hold a contest in Boise. In May 2010, Rex held the contest, bringing with him a number of fellow Pattern enthusiasts.
This concept of a traveling contest is known as "Contest in a Box." This mobile unit comprises everything needed to run a contest, including scorekeeping and awards, packed in a plastic tote. The hosting club doesn't have to do anything other than close its field for the contest and collect proceeds after expenses.
Fast forward to 2012. It is my second year as the CD for what has now become an annual event. Every CD must understand that he or she cannot do everything alone. With or without "Contest in a Box," there simply isn't enough time in the day.
I am fortunate to have excellent support from BARKS and the NSRCA District 8 membership. Without either of these two bodies of support, the contest could never happen.
Because of a June opening in the District 8 contest calendar, this year's Boise event was moved from May to June. After snow during the 2011 contest, we thought that by moving the contest to June, chances for better weather would increase. Not!
Organizing a sanctioned contest requires getting a date approved by the hosting club and the regional AMA contest coordinator. Simple enough, you think? Not for me. I didn't pay much attention when filling out the sanction form. It took two tries to get our sanction approved this year. I commend AMA District XI contest coordinator Steve Cook for his patience and understanding.
As part of the contest entry fee, lunch is provided Saturday for contestants and is available to spectators for purchase. BARKS is fortunate to have Lynn Street as a member. Not only do Lynn and his wife, Ronna, cook lunch for the Pattern contest, they also cook lunches for the BARKS monthly fun-flys. Great people!
Contestants judge each other's classes, making preplanning unnecessary. However, a contest requires a scorekeeper. District 8 is fortunate to have Gordon and Meri Anderson.
At most of the District 8 contests, Meri takes care of scorekeeping, using spreadsheet software written by Gordon. I know of no other software with the quality and level of support Gordon provides.
During contests, Meri makes scorekeeping look like a trivial task. She is extremely efficient. She's so efficient she has time to call FAI for Gordon. Scorekeeping is not an easy task. It is a lot of work to get scores from the judges, enter them, print them, and return them to the contestants.
With the sanctioning, lunch, and scorekeeping in place, everything is ready to host a contest, right? There's one more thing to do. The CD needs to get the word out, especially for relatively new contests such as ours. Promotion starts with a contest flyer.
Make sure to include the four Ws: who, what, where, and when. Local hotel contact information and GPS coordinates are nice to include.
Now it's time to sit back and wait. During the year, many people say they are coming to the contest. I have learned to accept all attendance comments as just that: comments. Most people have every intention of attending, but life happens and plans change.
Contest Weekend
With confidence, I made my infamous "good-weather guarantee" on the NSRCA mailing list, then reiterated the guarantee at the Wenatchee, Washington, contest two weeks before ours. Promising good weather certainly elevated the excitement level; however, when bad weather started showing up in the Boise weather forecast, that same excitement level fell even faster. Apologetic "not-going-to-make-it" emails started pouring in the week before the contest. With contest wheels already in motion, there really wasn't an option other than to hold a contest and hope someone showed up. As the forecast worsened, so did the no-show emails.
My low point came just two days prior to the event when scorekeepers Gordon and Meri emailed that they could not make it because of a family emergency. The emergency was completely understood, but it presented the problem of how to get "Contest in a Box" to Boise.
District 8's Craig and Terry Ann Christensen stepped up and volunteered to drive the box to Boise regardless of the weather. They picked up the contest box and arrived in Boise Friday evening. They set up the canopy, registration, and scoring materials, and helped with anything needed. With the box in place, we were ready to go, despite the fact that Craig could not fly because of medical reasons. While all of this was going on, Rex volunteered to keep score for the event. This demonstrates why hosting a contest requires the efforts of many people.
With the scorekeeping issues resolved, things began to look up. I received an email from Canadian Murray Johnson confirming his attendance. Then I received an email from Advanced flier John Bentley of Gilbert, Arizona, saying he would be attending.
Much to my surprise, in a roundabout way, I learned Andrew Jesky and Darin Pierce, coming from Utah, would be attending again this year. Best news of all, Andrew and Darin would be bringing five or six others with them.
The news kept getting better. BARKS member Robert Sox told me he had resolved his engine problems and intended to enter Sportsman. Then, an email from Darin confirmed that he, Andrew, and a few others were going to attend. Yippee! The contest was on.
On the Friday before the event, I came to grips with the fact that CDing and flying wasn't going to work out. I decided to fly, but resolved not to expect much in the way of scores. Later that afternoon, contestants began arriving and practicing. All smiles, I answered questions and shook many hands. All of the ingredients of the contest were coming together.
Saturday morning I woke up to rain. Wind had been expected; rain had not. Regardless, out to the field I went. People started showing up. Rex nudged me to get people registered.
After getting everybody registered, round one started with (sacrificial) Sportsman. It was overcast, windy and no rain. The two of us in Intermediate passed on flying, and then all three Advanced fliers flew. Murray, the lone Masters flier, passed. In FAI, Rex chose scorekeeping over flying; Andrew and Darin both proceeded to fly in windblown rain.
On Friday night, BARKS master chef Lynn Street saw the cold weather forecast for Saturday and added chili to the menu options. The chili sold out in a matter of minutes. After lunch, the rain continued as the temperature plummeted, flying came to a halt, and we called it a day.
Sunday morning arrived with cool temperatures and mild winds. Everybody stayed to compete and fly three rounds. As the day wore on, the wind and temperature increased. It was a great day of contest flying.
I want to thank everybody for supporting our relatively new contest.
Trivia Answer
As of June 2012, Andrew owned 33 airplanes, 13 of which are Pattern airplanes!
Flight complete.
SOURCES
- NSRCA http://nsrca.us
- Boise Area Radio Kontrol Society www.barks.us
- AMA Contest Coordinators http://modelaircraft.org/events/contestcoordinators.aspx
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
