pattern future

Wayne Galligan wgalligan at goodsonacura.com
Tue Oct 14 06:00:07 AKDT 2003


I'm with you there Bill.   I flew a few pattern contests in the mid 70's in
the Midwest (Iowa and Minnesota, Omaha) and the few contests that I could
get to where quite large in attendance.  The one thing they did there was
have pattern and scale contests intertwined at a few of them.  Thus the
large turnout. There was even a separate contest for bi-planes with large
turnouts too. SIg Manufacturing and the Omahawks held a few of these.
Getting 3 rounds in a day was a lot of work and if you didn't make the 3 min
slot.... you where out for that round.
 We are pretty lucky here in D6 with the amount of pattern interest.  The
only thing that scares me is the lack of sportsman turnout this year that
could be interpreted as a future concern in attendance.  We will have a
large Advanced and Masters class next year and probably see anywhere from
10-14 contestants in each class. Looking forward to next year.

Wayne Galligan
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bill Glaze
  To: discussion at nsrca.org
  Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 9:18 AM
  Subject: Re: Fw: moderator....


  It's possible that the decline has been so steady, and relatively small,
that it hasn't been until recently that long-time competitors have looked
around and asked "where has everybody gone?"
  When I got back into pattern ~1991, I was surprised at the small size of
contests, relative to what I had been used to around 1960.  I recall being
the contest director in a contest held Summer of 1959.  It was about average
for that time and place, (LARKS Club, Los Angeles Radio Kontrol Society) and
had 144 contestants.  And, it was held at a place called Turlock, in central
California. Look it up on a map; it's pretty obscure.
  We used to have more folks show up for club contests than now show up for
open contests.  And, at that time, the closest thing to an ARF was a kit
that had die-cut parts that you didn't have to cut out with a razor blade or
X-Acto knife.  You actually had to.......gasp........build it.  And, still
they came.
  As far as pattern not dying out, well, maybe.  But, I can remember when
U-Control Speed was very big in my (then) area.  Now..........U-Control
What?
  Folks on this list will come up with a lot of reasons for the above.  They
each will, in all probability, be correct to some degree.
  The fact that the trend has yet to be reversed is not an excuse for
accepting the status quo.
  The opinions above are mine alone.  The numbers and incidents quoted are
facts, not imagination.
  Bill Glaze

  Del Rykert wrote:

    In some areas of the US it is on the wane. Clubs can't justify holding a
contest if only a handful of contestants show up. Many clubs that used to
hold pattern contest no longer do. >From that perspective the pattern scene
isn't well. Just look at the NSRCA numbers and one can see the major
decline.      Del K. Rykert
         AMA - 8928
         NSRCA - 473
         Kb2joi - General


=====================================
# To be removed from this list, send a message to 
# discussion-request at nsrca.org
# and put leave discussion on the first line of the body.
#



More information about the NSRCA-discussion mailing list