Thursday outdoors under a darkening sky.

Despite the rainclouds, conditions were good at Lakeville on 10/2/08. John Pratt flew his exquisite Herb Kothe Nos' Wakefield with Paul thermal hunting for him. Roger Gregory launched the immaculate Contest Commercial. They looked good against the grey clouds, as did Jerry's blue Senator.









Below there's a picture of Ding Zarate carefully color coordinating his Gollywock with binoculars, and here's his account of flying the Senator (not shown) . . .

"This is my final report about my efforts on the Senator Postal. My previous E-mails reported on my first tre maxes at Lakeville Rd, Petaluma; 3min flight in Waegell Field, Sacramento. 4min flight back in Lakeville; and today my attempt for the 5min flight at Lakeville. Like California climate Septmeber should perhaps be the best time to fly for thermals. The noon hour was probably the most active time for this chance for a 5min flight. So with the fluffies that I brought along and after socializing with Marin Aero Club and Sam 27 members I brought out my old faithful SENATOR. I cranked in 980 turns and had Jerry Long of the MAC to time me. It must have taken me 5 to 10min to wait for the fluffies to rise then I waited for half a minute to launch. I launched and it went smartly up but to the LEFT.(?). Bad launch I suspected. After half a circle it straightened out and veered into its normal climb pattern. It must have been 3min or 4min high then it started into its right glide bouncing on and off on a thermal. At times it stalled and somehow lost altitude. Must have been turbulent air I thought. When it was out of the thermal it came down slowly and landed NE of the launch point. Sigh! 4:15min. Better luck next time.

I was fairly pleased but with the vow that maybe next year I can break that 5min mark. My series ended today and I will have to sweat it out. Maybe Bill McC or Bill Vanderbeek or Paul Masterman or some other luckier guy around the world can do better. The race is on! Anything can happen in 8 months