[LASS Soaring] "If you don't have as good of a model as me, you had better................

[GordySoar at aol.com]

"If you don't have as good of a model  as me...you had better find a better 
thermal than  me."
 
This was a great weekend!  The Buzzards know  how to keep perspective and to 
have a challenging but fun contest. My second  home away from home after 
Dallas.
 
There were Shadows and Onyx JW's and Perfects, NSP  Edge and Fusion....all 
fantastic TD tools.
 
Like at most events some guy was holding court with  some others about the 
value of his ship over the others  He was convinced  that his airfoil or span, 
or yes the sacred "light weight' was the key to  contest success.
 
One of the other guys said that was crap, that its  the pilot that makes the 
scores or not.

Both are right...but neither really says it clearly....so I  will :-)...well 
I did already in the title of this post, and likely that  statement will end 
up in the anals of RC Soaring :-) One of my more common  comments to bottom 50% 
guys is this....Houses fly just fine in Kansas with out  digital servos or 
Multipoint elevator compensation programming...all they need  is 'enough' lift!
None of our models stay up by themselves....just ask any pilot  who had the 
misfortune of flying the wrong model.
 
The difference between an RES ship and  a 6 servo full house ship is this : 
One model 'will' fly itself, designed to fly  pretty much by itself, it hates 
trying to be controlled.  The other, is  designed to fly ONLY when controlled. 
If left unattended for even the shortest  period of time, it tends to get lost 
fast. If this sounds too "obvious" then why  do we have sooo many in our 
hobby trying to make full house ships be able to fly  themselves by adding a bunch 
of extra nose lead?
Switching from a three channel ship to a 6 channel  ship, is standing up and 
proclaiming that as its pilot, you are declaring that  YOU are ready to be 
responsible for every action the model makes....not the  model.  When top contest 
pilots of old showed up with AVA's and began  killing the Icons, Pikes, 
Sharons and Supras, a cry went out saying  UNFAIR....the model is so light, its 
unfair!

But it was never the weight, it was still the PILOT!   Those guys were born 
and bred competing with that kind of ship, so when a model  came out that could 
take the winch for launches equal to the full house  ships....the better 
pilot won.  Those guys wouldn't have won with a full  house ship, because they 
either didn't have the interest, eyes or skills to do  the task that well with a 
full house, only do what its told ship....but with a  three channel 
launch-able?  Unbeatable/unfair!.....so some said.
My opinion?
Simple, I was glad to see my older buddies kicking butt, or I  should say 
glad that they had raised the bar!  I knew if I wanted a better  score using a 
'dumb' sailplane, I was going to have to raise my skills, my  game...good enough 
wasn't good enough anymore.
 
Does the model make the difference...not "the"  difference, but IF a pilot's 
skill and experience is on par with the abilities  offered in the new plane, 
YES it will help his scores rise.
But if he has already been winning, what good is better than  best?

Those of you who practice working low thermals to have an advantage  at a TD 
contest....keep it up!  For me, its way too much work.  I  spend my time 
practicing finding ten minutes of air off the launch, practicing  staying with that 
air and making my landing on time.  Its a whole lot less  stress :-).

So if you don't have a better model than I do....you had  better be able to 
find a better thermal. :-)

Gordy

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