Welcome Back, Nats Goers!!

[george kennie]

Hi Bob,
By the numbers!!!!!!  This is almost one of those "be careful what you
ask for situations".
This is truly one of the most wonderful sporting activities that one can
participate in.As with any sporting type event it attracts individuals
with varying degrees of ego inflation, and yes, I'm included in the
tally, but this is the very nature of how it needs to be.And in keeping
with the individualistic nature of the competitors the inflation
pressure varies from one individual to the next.
I'm an Intermediate flyer that, by some quirk of fate, got hoodwinked
into moving to Masters and when I fly that's exactly how I look.
Therefore when I attend the Nats I'm intelligent enough to leave my
equipment home, but I go to see all the great people that over the last
few years I have been able to acquire as friends. Even though I don't
fly, these guys receive me exceptionally warmly and really make my visit
a thrilling and exciting experience.
As you are aware from past experience I am an individual that studies
the rulebook religiously and feel that I have acquired a fairly solid
analytical understanding of the rules as well as maneuver descriptions
and execution thereof which causes me to offer corrective advice to
competitors whether they ask for it or not.I try to offer this advice in
a helpful way and not ruffle too many feathers and the end result, for
me, is I go away feeling that I have given someone a means to improve
their performance.Because of those who are receptive I feel fulfilled.
With all of this said, I attended this years Nats, as I did last year,
with my trusty clipboard laden with scoresheets for Masters and F3A
sequences.I then place my trusty lawn chair about 50 feet behind the
judges at stage center and proceed to score, for my own  enlightenment,
the flyers that are in the hunt.
Well the upshot of all of this is that naturally I cannot get all the
guys that I want in the prelims because sometimes they're flying on
different sites or up at the same time, but what it starts to show are
trends.
Where this really becomes interesting is in the finals where everybody
is on one site and flying one at a time.Here is where you can get them
all.
Another thing that this accomplishes for me is that it allows me to
compare my judging skills against the people on the panel.
It was also interesting to me that as things developed there was an
occasional spectator that would approach from behind to peek over my
shoulder to try and ascertain where I had everyone placed. I would then
have to explain that my numbers were raw numbers only and did not
reflect any K-factors and therefore were meaningless.
After the completion of the final 32 rounds I had a bunch of numbers,
but no really good strong feeling about who would dominate. In round one
of F-05, Jason flew a sequence that was textbook!!! In round two of the
first unknown, Quique took your breath away with an almost flawless
performance, but the numbers indicated that both Jason and Chip were
extremely close to his total. In round one Don Szczur's total was a
splinter below Jason.From a gut feeling perspective it was easy to be
deceived by thinking that a pilot who botched 2 or 3 maneuvers probably
flew a totally inconsistant  round, but when the final total of the
column was tallied you would often be surprised. This guy Szczur either
doesn't have an ego or he sits on it better than anyone you have ever
known.Totally humble, and flew what appeared to me to be very very
consistant. He also did what I felt was the best rolling circle. That
particular maneuver was performed with the least degree of precision of
any in the sequence and the backside was over the racetrack at Indy.The
downgrades were most notable at the 120 degree points and finishing
either early or late with the 120 misses causing the roll rates to alter
drastically.The 4 of 8, slow roll opposite was a tough one with many
just barely making the 3 second mandate.
When I arrived home I added up the raw number totals (no K-Factors)and
the placement was as follows: Jason,Sean,Quique and Don tied for
3rd,Chip,Andrew,Troy,Kenny(Kenny had an aborted round). Round 3 was not
kind to Chip as he made a lot of errors(he would probably disagree, but
that's what I saw).As you can see, with the exception of Chip this comes
close to the actual, however, just before I left Jerry Stebbins gave me
an F-05 K-factor form and when I got home I did the two F-05 rounds(I
was unable to get K's for the unknowns) and placement changed
dramatically, which also means nothing without the unknowns.
Sitting in the chair without a score sheet and trying to rely on your
best judgment will not cut it. Throughout the whole finals I had felt
that Sean had not flown that well, but my own numbers indicated that he
was indeed consistant and his placement well deserved. I only wish that
I had been able to get the K's for the unknowns and found out how far
off I really was.
All in all, I had another fabulous time in spite of my tent getting
blown almost into Missouri on Wed. nite.
These guys are so great,......I love 'em!
Georgie

Bob Pastorello wrote:

> Those of us following from afar, congratulate all the participants!
> Mail traffic already sounds like it was a terrific event.    Special
> congratulations to the World Team "repeat", particularly Jason S. with
> a long-deserved First Place!!!    Masters looks like it was a real
> battle, too....the placers worked very hard to get there, and Special
> congrats to Verne Koester;  a man of his age, doing so well....(he
> knows I'm joking)    Advanced and Intermediate....LOTS of good fliers,
> and some names we'll see more of in the future!The list just wasn't
> the same without all the traffic you guys generate!    So we need
> stories....as you all recuperate....tell the tales....
> Bob Pastorello
> rcaerobob at cox.net
> www.rcaerobats.net
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