Radio Control: Slope Soaring
RETURN of the ISR: That's right, the International Slope Race is back! After a few years of nonexistence due to various (and now unimportant) reasons, the most famous and most exciting Slope event around will be held again this year. Mark your calendars and arrange your vacation time for the weekend of July 7-8, 1990 if you're interested in watching and/or participating in one of the most competitive and exciting aspects of this sport. All the big-name pilots will be at Davenport, CA, including Daryl Perkins, Rich Spicer, Ron Vann, Mark Allen . . . the list goes on and on. All of us who are excited about the return of the ISR are grateful for the hard work and persistence of John Dvorak, the person most responsible for its resurrection. A few months back John sent out a proposal to organize Slope Race pilots here on the West Coast, and in particular California. His proposal:
Radio Control: Slope Soaring
Designing a Slope ship: Without a doubt, the recent proliferation of Slope Soarer kits has made it much easier to find a plane that fits your needs, but it still might be difficult to find the ship that is ideal for you. Maybe you want a ship that will rip and tear at a small slope doing high-G, gutwrenching maneuvers; or maybe you want one that will use up lotsa airspace in huge, fast, and smooth maneuvers. Whatever your ideal Slope site and plane might be, the one way to get exactly what you are looking for is to design the plane yourself. I'm not going to try and kid you by saying that designing a Slope ship is easy to do, because it's not. A lot of time and effort go into designing and refining a Sailplane, and anyone who says differently is either giving you a line or simply has never tried it and doesn't know any better. Occasionally you will come across a plane that flies great right off the board, but these are few and far between.
Radio Control: Slope Soaring
INTERNATIONAL Soaring RC Scale Fun Fly. The 1990 edition of this exciting fun fly in Tri-Cities, WA has been slated for May 25-27. This year's fun fly will be the best yet, with a number of activities planned. Besides having the opportunity to fly on one of the best slopes in the country and do some hangar-flying with other Scale enthusiasts, here's what you have to look forward to at this year's event. On Friday night, Slope Soaring News will be sponsoring a catered Washington wine tasting and social evening.
Radio Control: Slope Soaring
BANZAI UPDATE. A couple of columns ago I pictured and talked about the Banzai, a Slope Soarer being kitted by Jerry Teo. Since that time the Banzai has undergone a number of changes and is now being kitted as the Banzai Mk II. The following are the most notable changes to the original design: The fuselage has plywood-reinforced 1/8-in. balsa sides, the wing includes a spruce spar for durability and resistance to flex damage, and the kit now features better instructions and scale drawings. According to Jerry, the kit retains the high quality of prefabrication and materials that it's had all along. The introductory price will be $28 in the U.S., plus $3.50 per kit for shipping and handling.
Introduction to: RC Slope Soaring
LIKE MOST Sailplane fliers, I was introduced to the sport through thermal flying and spent many years enjoying and learning about this kind of activity. However, on one windy spring day, a friend convinced me that I should go Slope Soaring with him at one of the local sites. We packed our Sailplanes into the car and after a short drive arrived at Coyote Hills Regional Park. The climb to the top of the hill was an experience in itself. Affectionately known as "Cardiac Hill." Coyote gave me definite doubts about the sanity of Slope fliers, and I silently longed for the flatlands and thermals that I had grown to love.
