[NSRCA-discussion] WC '07

[Earl Haury]

Made it home from Argentina this morning, a bit tired from a long drive yesterday, a long wait at the airport, and a long nite on the airplane. The WC was completely worth the effort. The posts so far do not begin to describe the huge amount of work, the superb flying, and awesome accomplishment of Team USA!

The Team spent huge amounts of time at the practice field flying in conditions (wind, sun, dark, cold) most wouldn't even try. Each flight was generally critiqued by a number of Team members & supporters as these guys worked together to eliminate every possible flaw. There was total focus and commitment within and for the Team. Team Manager Al Glenn took care of administrative details - including leaving the hotel around 5:00am to ensure transmitters were impounded on time, handling "information just in time" logistics and essentially doing everything but sleeping. (Don't give him too much grief when the photos of him sleeping at the banquet publish.)

The conditions during the prelims were extremely difficult. Cross winds in or out each day that approached 30mph at times. It was amazing how many "unknown" folks flew exceptionally well and that all of the "know" folks flew even better. Not only were these guys flying in strong wind - but it was usually quite cold in the morning sessions as well. The semi's and finals were also windy - but not as bad and it got warmer, downright hot for the finals. 

Bad luck and a great performance by BPLR prevented Team USA from winning the Team Championship - BPLR flew one flight during the only calm period (maybe half an hour) of the prelims and did a very good job of capitalizing upon the opportunity. Jason was up next - but a delay to allow for an airliner departure was long enough for the wind to return before Jason flew. This was enough to swing the advantage to the French and give them a well fought win - Team USA can be proud of second, it was a hard fought battle with great flying on each side, with the Japanese team always in the mix.

All of the flying in the finals was exceptional. Quique was consistently solid, Jason likewise (and winning his first WC round), and Andrew flying superbly. In hindsight - it may be that the "in-close" style Andrew flew to good advantage in the prelims / semi's that may not have scored as well in the finals without the strong crosswind. 

There were a lot of electrics (mostly Hacker) as well as glow (mostly YS) and neither had an advantage / disadvantage in the strong winds. Either propulsion is totally viable, Sebastiano even flew a Hacker with contra-rotating props in the finals - good power and excellent braking.

The highlight of the experience occurred while standing next to Quique when he was announced as the winner (he didn't know he'd won). I'll remember his emotion forever - he really wanted this! 

So - second WC Team placing is good, every Team member making the Finals is outstanding, everyone in the top 8 is exceptional, and a USA Team member winning the World Championship is more than great! The accomplishments of 2007 Team USA are HUGE!! Congratulations to Quique, Jason, and Andrew - we couldn't be more proud or appreciative of your accomplishments!!  Thanks to the callers who worked as hard as the pilots, the TM's that handled logistics, and everyone who contribute to an exceptional performance by Team USA.

Earl
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