The 19th Annual HAFFA Outdoor 2020 Contest / NFFS National Cup Meet is one for the books! Thank goodness it even happened during this year of the Covid19 crisis which threw our club a real curve ball. We had to modify our approach to how we conducted this contest relative to Covid19.
No rain this year! However the winds were hitting 18 mph and higher around noon and most flyer opted to wait it out. Sunday flying turned out great with plenty of thermals and mild breezes.
I would like to congratulate Don Deloach of Colorado Springs for his 2020 Marion Cup win! Chuck Powell put up a good fight for the Marion cup….but due to plenty thermal activity….and a fly off in P30….and no mercy in the coin toss with Marty Kline for the P30 1st place.. forcing the issue….Chuck could not quite catch Don.
This year at the end of September with Marion Contest fast approaching the week before the contest we had a Covid19 Exposure within our club. This resulted in a 14 day quarantine for several of our members. Meaning our CDs could not participate along with some of our members. Had some contestants wound up sick…..as a result of my presence…..the thought of having to call up everyone with the news they were exposed to Covid19 was prohibitive.
Prior to the Marion contest Mike Basta had encouraged me to read the inside cover of this months NFFS article relative to Covid19. Reading the article stimulated the safety and survival skills part of my feeble brain….versus the passionate urge to just fly and forget about everything else. The contest was almost canceled however Chuck P. and Don D. threw out a lifeline to our club to run the Marion contest and they made it happen. They really stepped up to the plate for us.
I have heard there was plenty of thermal activity on sunday. Some flyers had planes sucked up in thermals….just gone like Tim Pivonka….and others chasing planes for a couple miles like Chuck Powell and his P30 flying over 2 miles up to the old Pizza Hut building on highway 56. He found his P30 but had to flip coin with Marty Kline over 1st place….for the event.
Here are some comments I captured from our contestants emails:
Comments from Chuck Powell: I think a good time was had by all !! Dave wiebe did great at his first contest !
Chuck
Comments from Suman Saripalli: It was great to see everyone at Marion ! I had a great day of flying and camaraderie ! The funniest comment I heard yesterday, by the gentleman flying Power, as his plane came apart in the air and the shredded wing half was fluttering down: “I’m going to HAVE to fix that dihedral now ! “
Comments from Deloach:
Jeff, Thank you for your hard work in managing the contest! You were definitely missed! It was a great success, almost entirely due to the efforts of Chuck and Linda Powell. They did about 95% of the work including shopping for food and arranging an outstanding cookout on Saturday night! point.
Comments from Tim Pivonka: My P-30 maxed and flew OOS on the first flight. My HLG got run over by a chase bike. My Cessna CR-32 flew great, but lost to Chuck (by 4 seconds) and lost to Deloach by a lot.
Gretchen provided lunch both days. We would like to thank her for doing this for us. Thanks Gretchen!
I would truly like to thanks to everyone who competed and signed the flight safety declaration: Jeff Englert, Bill Schmidt, Bob Hanford, Chuck Powell, Linda Powell, Don Deloach, Skilly Deloach, George Avila, Gerald Brown, Jim O’Reilly, Marty Kline, Mike Fedor, Robert Dunham, Suman Saripalli, Tim Pivonka, Tom Bell, Paul Meganroth III, Dave Wiebe.
I would like to thank Chuck P. , Don D. , Jeff Englert, Bob H. for coordinating all this with me over the days before the event and as I have said before… “throwing out a lifeline to run the Marion contest for our club”. We can put this year 2020 behind us and look towards 2021. Believe me….I really missed you all!
Jeff Renz
HAFFA CD.
I have added a link below
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WgG55C5tvVqA5UUc7
KC'S FREE FLIGHT AËROMODELLING SITE 