Greetings to one and all. Summer has arrived, and unfortunately it came with lots of gypsy moth caterpillars, ticks and very windy flying conditions. At least the Charles River hasn't flooded.
Our flying club had its first fun fly of the year on Saturday, June 3. A handful of people showed up for the event. Unfortunately, so did high winds, and it compromised the event. I'm afraid it turned out to be more of a demolition derby than a fun fly. We had four contestants from the Millis Model Aircraft Club, and none from the Charles River Radio Controllers. Evidently they had one of their own events on the same day, over at Davis field. We also had a guest show up from another club, and it was suggested that we allow him to participate, due to the shortage of locally grown pilots. The limbo event cause the most trouble for the pilots, due to the wind breaking the limbo tape repeatedly. We finally agreed to have judges look along the sight line of the limbo polls to judge if the aircraft successfully passed under the imaginary tape. Unfortunately the wind caused damage to four airplanes during this event.
The balloon slalom course was also a challenge, as some planes were harder to taxi with any sort of control due to the conditions. The Contest Director attempted to be as fair as possible, and made as many allowances as possible in the spirit of fairness. The final score was: 1-John Holcomb, 2-Mark Schultz, 3-Mickey Callahan, 4-Bill Lloyd, 5-Danny McDonough. At least there were plenty of prizes to go around, courtesy of Creative Hobbies of Menden. There was also plenty of food, courtesy of Mickey Callahan.
My deepest thanks go to all of the Millis Model Aircraft Club, especially the contest directors who gave me some much needed and truly appreciated advice for this, my first effort as a CD. I hope that future contests are more fun and less destructive.
Bill Martin Field is in decent shape, especially now that the farmer has hayed the tall grass. I hope I can do a little trimming here and there with my Weed Wacker later on in the week. Watch out for deer ticks and use plenty of sunscreen.
Keep safe and keep having fun.
Respect fully, John Holcomb, Vice President MMAC.
