RC SOARING
A BUCKET LIST SOARING EVENT: CVRC’S FALL FEST
By Gordon Buckland | gordon@gatorf3b.com
THE ANNUAL FALL FEST, held by the Central Valley RC (CVRC) Soaring Club in Visalia, California, is on my bucket list of Soaring contests that I must attend one day. Until retirement sets in and more time is available, I will have to experience Fall Fest by enjoying my friend Mike Bergeson’s wonderful account of his trek to the 2023 Fall Fest.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Fall Fest
What a beautiful day, but I couldn’t go flying because I had to finish the bathroom remodel. I needed another vacation. I know—Fall Fest! CVRC’s 50th annual contest took place in 2023 in Visalia. I hadn’t been there in 10 years, and it was 2,000 miles away from the project house.
Fall Fest is always fun and is known to have one of the best raffles anywhere! Fall Fest is a winch-launch event and affords many categories in which to compete, including an Airtronics Nostalgia event that was held for the 50th anniversary. There was also an Altitude Limited Electric Sailplane (ALES) category for those with electric sailplanes. You can fly in as many categories as you like, but it’s only practical to fly in two or you’ll be running around like that old, headless chicken you hear so much about.
I signed up for three because I was driving 2,000 miles in two days and I wanted maximum payout. I would drop one if it got to be too much. Open, ALES, and Rudder Elevator Spoiler (RES) sounded good.
How was I going to get there? With the remodel, I had to stay on a budget. The least expensive thing was to drive and camp. You might ask yourself,
“What kind of idiot would drive 4,000 miles roundtrip to a sailplane contest?” It’s okay; I had a minivan! I planned to take my time, enjoy the drive, and get there several days early. I would get to see the Rockies, Utah, and Las Vegas for the first time.
The van was loaded with several gliders, backups, camping gear, and two days’ worth of sandwiches and snacks. Driving through the Midwest was anything but interesting. What is the thing with corn? This time, they were plowing it under. There were plumes of dust through Minnesota, Iowa, and never-ending Nebraska, right up to the desert in Colorado. I didn’t plan my exit well, which put me into the Rockies in the middle of the night. It was wet and freezing in early October ... Oh no, is that ice? I survived and didn’t get to see the Rockies, but the sun came up on Utah. I was in awe.
Utah is absolutely stunning! Wait a second, was that a billboard for Skydive Moab? I was going to stop to see an old skydiving buddy after 20 years! It was aviation related and I had already taken the exit. It was so much fun being on a drop zone again. The excitement and related banter melted the decades away, and I took the opportunity to go up in the jump airplane to get a bird’s eye view of Moab—spectacular!
With my visit in Moab concluded, I drove on, soaking in the beauty of Utah and reminiscing of a time in life that had long passed. On to Las Vegas and my brother, who I hadn’t seen in 20 years either. Vegas was very sparkly, but I was itching to get to the field and fly again in sunny California!
Six hours and several cups of coffee later, I rolled onto CVRC’s beautiful flying field mid-morning on Wednesday. It was time to set up camp and put together sailplanes to go seek out thermals. I spent the next two days getting reacquainted with the winches and endless lift all around the flying field. It’s endless until you’re flying in competition!
Tim Johnson’s informal F5J event on Friday was great practice, and I got to play with that new “competition” sailplane that I worked so hard to procure. There were lots of smiles and quite a few low launches going after bragging rights for the win! It sure is fun playing with your friends!
RC SOARING
Saturday morning brought the start of one of the oldest, most prolific and fun winch events in the country. I flew an old Supra among all of the Maxas, Explorers, and various sailplanes pulled from the corners of the shop. The weather was wonderful, and the air was so clear that you could see the Sierras on the horizon.
Each round was given a flight window in which to fly. That’s what makes it very difficult to fly in three events. My buddy, John, flew ALES with his PlusX and Nostalgia with a borrowed Aquila Grande. Timing for each other, we managed to get in all five flights for Rounds One and Two, but I began to suffer the time constraint. Too much coffee! The axe came down on RES.
John did very well in ALES and had fun with the Aquila Grande. We were all enjoying the leisurely launches. Flying was easy, and I was getting slightly more consistent with the new Vixen 2. The winches stayed busy, and the efforts of the winch crew kept it all going smoothly.
CVRC President Ed Hipp, Contest Directors Phil Hill and Joe Nave, and Scorekeeper Tim Johnson ran an excellent show. There’s nothing like a classic Thermal Duration (TD) contest! The folks at CVRC put on a wonderful Saturday evening dinner with a live band. Several people were night-flying, and one pair of ingenious gentlemen launched an LED-festooned rocket to the delight of all onlookers. It was all about hanging out with good friends into the wee hours.
The sun came up much too fast on Sunday morning. John continued to show off his thermal hunting and landing skills. He made it look easy to get his times and landings.
I had one of my best Open flights in Round Eight, along with a lesson in complacency. We routinely call out the time remaining at the halfway point and, focusing on finding air, I wasn’t looking good for an 8-minute flight. It felt very close to 4 minutes in, so curiously, I asked for the time.
Folks, all I heard was, “Oh no,” and here’s our lesson: Always have your timer tell you they’ve started the watch! So, we started the watch, and I couldn’t find any air. I was disappointed and on final when that old Supra caught a little wisp of lift for a lucky break. We made our time exactly, with a perfect landing score. Those flights tend to make you feel bulletproof. Low-level saves are always exciting. It’s during the next round that you forget everything you’ve learned!
Leaving those few seconds of time or five landing points off of the board to add up. Practicing thermal reads, flight planning, and landings will improve that consistency, but always remember to have fun and never take yourself too seriously. Of course, my buddy and super-consistent pilot, John, had all of this down. He finished second in ALES flying his PlusX, just 33 points behind the amazing Steven Wilcox Jr. and his Prestige 2PK. It was a tough crowd, with two-thirds of the competitors in ALES finishing in the 90th percentile and half doing it in Open TD!
Always be the bridesmaid and never the bride, kudos to Captain “Ace” Chmielewski, who expertly flew his Maxa for his first Open TD win at Fall Fest! He was very excited! I’ve heard he’s been to all of them.
The raffle was just as exciting as any I’ve experienced. It’s not unusual to see folks with reams of tickets in hand—me included—for a maximum chance at all kinds of sailplane kits, radios, bling, and a Hobie Hawk! Oh-so excited and expectant, I got nothing! Ah, but wait. The generosity of one individual put the Hobie in my possession. Thanks, John!
Packing up and saying farewells is always tough. The time spent with great friends flying in the California sunshine will always be etched in memories to be shared over the evening campfire. “Yeah, he forgot to turn on the watch!”
Thanks again, Mike, for contributing this great story of what was a very long drive to avoid working on the house!
Until next time, go downwind and soar.
SOURCES:
League of Silent Flight (LSF)
www.silentflight.org
CVRC
www.cvrcsoaring.wordpress.com
RCSoaring.com
www.rcsoaring.com/keep/scores.html
50th Annual Fall Soaring Festival Visalia
RCGroups
www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4362295
