Still working on recovering from 20-hours of driving home from this event, but already working on plans for the next opportunity to do this again!
First, I'd like to thank Mark and Kim Grim for all the time and effort and energy they put into these events. It wouldn't happen without them and their efforts are very much appreciated by those of us who LOVE to do this. Also, thank you to Mark and Kim for putting me up for the weekend! Brian and I had some last minute change of plans that made it necessary for me to stay with Mark and Kim, and it was a very comfortable stay! Thank you, Grims!!
Thanks to Tyler for putting so much time into the details of the event, especially the safety barriers and signage and also the improved teching and record keeping. Seems to be getting better all the time and it was NO small effort to do all of this, AND prep boats to go well into the 130's. Thank you, Tyler!
Thanks to Tony Heller and all of the gang down there that took their own time during the week to go prepare the sight. They cut back the shoreline reeds that seem to be taking over and totally prepped the site for this event. NO small task! Thank You, Gang!!
And we can't forget to single out Kim Grim for her AWESOME, as usual, Lunch cooking, which is an event all unto itself! That alone is worth the trip.
Probably more I should be thanking, but they are giving me the cue to cut it short...
I had a great time, despite doing some pretty major damage to my Lynx during a P-Ltd OPC record attempt. After having blown it over on a few previous attempts, and having already made a couple of successful 65mph test passes, I was getting very close to the right setup. On Friday evening, I put the boat in the water and was making a first pass. The boat took a BEAUTIFUL set and looked to be heading for half of a quality record setting run. I was focusing on the hull, watching to see what it was going to do as it approached those magic numbers. Unfortunately, this means I wasn't watching it's line as carefully as I normally would, and I got a LOT too close to some overhanging bushes on the back side of the Legg Lake course... The damage was not too terrible, considering how hard it hit, but the impact did tear off my outdrive, sending it to live with the crawfish at the bottom of the pond... Gotta give Fred a call today and order a new one. I talked to Carl on the way home Monday and after seeing the pictures, he thinks I can repair it and it should run right again. Breaks my heart that this happens (this is my all time favorite RC boat!), but this happens from time to time. Will repair it and move on!
So, having brought two other boats, I turned my attention to running my N2 Catamaran. Made a few quality passes as I was getting the ride attitude and setup working. Went for it on Saturday and made a pair of 65.xx mph passes, which simply established a new N2 Cat record. Since the class didn't exist prior to this event, I was the "record" holder by default. Boyd made a couple of passes with is N2 Cat, but it wasn't really setup so nothing spectacular there, and he was focused on much bigger stuff, so at this point, that record stands. I did put in a different setup later in the day, which should have put me into the 70's, but a failure of the speed control on the way out to make the attempt burned the inside of the boat up pretty badly. The ESC failure cause was figured out on Monday on the way home, (we had two of these fail this way this weeekend), and it was NOT something that WE did. More on that another time, but I would attempt with that setup again in a heartbeat once the ESC issue is resolved. This record is VERY soft, and should be closer to 80mph, so it's a record, but a pretty soft one. I will likely be going for this one again at future events.
SO, that left me with ONE boat to run... My M2 Hydro (M2 = 1 cell, ANY motor)... In previous SAWs, I've tried this and the best I've been able to achieve was 68mph on one pass. That happened rarely, with 65-66 being the norm. The record is 71.xxx, set by Bill Oxidean, who has only achieved those speeds once himself.
Well, after having about the same luck with my M2 Hydro on Saturday, I decided to make some major changes. Changed ESCs, and started playing with it on Sunday. The new ESC was showing a LOT of promise, so I started playing with props. Changed props and went out in a tad questionable conditions, which for this tiny little rigger means pretty much anything other than pefect glass. Ripped off a 70, 72, and 71mph pass! This was the norm for the passes I made the rest of the day!! I missed the record run by just a few tenths, but I was now consistently in the 70's! On ONE CELL!! Pretty cool stuff (for me, anyhow). As Sunday wained on, I starting the prep work for that ONE final set of passes that would net me the record.
Unfortunately, after an entire weekend of REALLY good water ALL DAY, about 2pm on Sunday afternoon, the conditions INSTANTLY changed! Wind picked up. Mark Grim said that the humidity went from 20% to over 40% in a matter of minutes, and basically, the day was over. Blew right up until sunset.
I did get ONE final set of passes, almost completely void of light! I couldn't even see the boat for the return pass, other than a slight ripple in the water as I tried to line it up for the return pass. Got a 71 backed up with a 69, and it was over. Will have to wait until the next time, but I'm FIRED UP to build a new M2 Hydro boat. What blast to do that on 1-cell! Definitely not an easy feat.
Well... that's part of my story from this event. Much more to tell.
Thanks again to all of those that helped make this event happen! I look very much forward to the next time we get to do this!
Here are a couple of pics of the damage to my stuff.... Hopefully Tyler or Tony or ?? will post some more fun pics of stuff actually running and looking good! B)
