Vectors Wild 2012: June 2012

Monday, June 25, 2012

Home again

Just in case anyone is still reading, we left Ohio this morning and flew back to PA in one 3.5 hour trip. The morning started with severe storms at the PA end of the route, but they had all moved offshore by the time we arrived. We flew home VFR so we could ensure we stayed under the clouds as they built up, but had no weather issues and a beautiful trip back. We tracked with Barbara and Ethel, and Mary and Elaine, all the way to the end, talking to the same air traffic controllers until after Reading when we each peeled off to land at our own home airports. What a great race it was this year, and how much we appreciate the experience and each other.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Live from the awards banquet!!

After a very lovely dinner, slide show on the racers this year, and presentation of race certificates and plaques to each 2012 racer, the awards have begun. The first thing to be presented is the leg prizes, for which they take out the top ten race teams and award medallion awards to the first, second, third and fourth best times for each leg among the other 38 teams. All three EPA teams won leg prizes. Linda and I won second place on legs 5 and 9, and fourth place for leg 1; Mary and Barbara won first prize on leg 8; Barbara and Ethel won first place in leg 3. We are all delighted!! Then they give out the collegiate prizes, and our baby birds got both leg prizes and the second place collegiate team - well done Esther and Mollie! Then they gave out the turtle award for the slowest team. Then Mary and Barbara got a special prize for the overall fastest time on leg 8 (Sault Ste Marie to Benton Harbor) - excellent job ladies!! Then they did fastest Piper, won by a collegiate team. The best stop award went to Goodland which is very well deserved. The most congenial team award went to two teams who tied, team 1 and team 51, the unbelievably cute college girls who dressed as Rosie the Riveter and were very cheerful the whole time. 10 - Team 51; 9 - Team 46 (Embry Riddle collegiate team); 8 - Team 8 (Kansas State collegiate team); 7 - Team 4 (Joyce and Janet in their C182); 6 - Team 39; 5 - Team 12 (Lin and Susan, our 99s friends from Frederick MD); 4 - Team 29 (Arlene and Julia); 3 - Team 11 (Terry Carbonell, racer extraordinaire); 2 - Team 3 (Embry Riddle collegiate team); 1 - Team 24 (Diane Stanger). And how did we do overall? Mary and Elaine (Plane Dames) ranked 18; Barbara and Ethel (Rick's Chicks) ranked 22. Linda and Alison (Vectors Wild) are really pleased that we came 15th, and also were one of the few teams this year with no penalties. We all did great and can return to PA with our heads held high. First order of business... Strategy for next year's race...!

Sunday morning

We have completed the final racers briefing where we get to provide suggestions and feedback for the next race. The EPA Six is now heading over to Charisa and Ady's house for lunch. This evening's banquet is where we learn the final rankings and award the medals, so we will post again right after that. The EPA Six all agree that regardless of the final tally, this has been the most fun race we have done so far, partly because we are now pretty comfortable with racing, partly because the route and scenery this year have been so spectacular and challenging, and mostly because we got to spend so much time together and share our experiences both on the ground and in the air. I think one thing that will stay with me is the Sault St Marie rainstorm experience, where all three EPA planes were working the same situation, talking to each other, and helping each other in. As Barbara said, because we all know each other so well as people and as pilots, and because we were communicating so well, we knew who was doing what, and where they were, and what they'd probably do next. You girls are the best!!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Happy birthday Barbara!!

After lunch with Charissa today, all six of the PA ladies went for well-deserved spa treatments, then reconvened in the evening to go back out to Sportys for the evening party. This event was to celebrate Sporty's fiftieth birthday, and was thrown by Hal Shevers the founder and chief of the organization. It was also a celebration for Barbara, since today is her birthday also! (happy birthday Barbie, 19 again!). There was a free bar and great food in a hangar; a great jazz band; a set by three fabulous opera singers from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music; and as soon as it got dark, a spectacular firework display right on the airport. We had a great time. This seems like a great community of pilots in partnership with the city, and we really appreciated the welcome.

The Eastern PA gang joined a distant member, Charissa Dyer-Kendler for lunch. Charissa used to live in eastern PA but moved to Cinncinnati where she works for Sporty's as their only female flight instructor.

She gave us a tour of Sporty's during the evening celebration...the lobby

The distribution center

The "tower" that overlooks the airport

Back to the party in the hangar right next to Sporty's

Students from Cinncinnati conservatory of music performed during the evening. One of the flight instructors at Sporty's is also a voice professor at CCM

The team from Metropolitan College (soon to be university) of Denver were absolutely adorable...we hope to see them back again next year

Minetta and Barb find a home at the tiki bar.......it was Barb's birthday and it was nice if Sporty's to throw such a big bash for her

A view from inside the hangar

Barb opens a birthday gift...HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARB!

It was a beautiful evening

It ended with some fireworks

Fireworks and airplanes...two of my favorite things!

Here are some more of the performers from CCM...they performed numbers from La Boheme as well as the song O Sole Mio

These two performed My Funny Valentine and Unforgettable You. All the performers were really fantastic.

We wrapped up the night with a photo with our baby birds Ester and Mollie

Scoring day - status at 8am

As soon as all the racers got in last night, the judges were hard at work analyzing the data from the timers at each stop, and the data from the airplane trackers. By Friday night, they start making phone calls to racers. There are two kinds of call. There's the bad kind, where they tell you you are being assessed for one or more penalties for breaking race rules, or even (perish the thought) disqualification. Then there's the good kind, where they tell you your plane has to be reinspected, which means that you're probably going to be in the top ten! This year, as of 8am this morning anyway, team Vectors Wild has not received a call of either kind. We know lots of people who have had penalty calls, and rumor has it that no one has yet had an inspection call. We each have to meet with Marvin the chief timer today to agree our final score, which incorporates leg times and knots added for penalties. We have calculated our own score which is higher than some people we know but a lot lower than some other people we know, and we will compare this with Marvin's score. Linda is in full data analytics mode trying to figure out what we would do better next year. I am just pleased that we got a positive score and can say (as of 8am this morning anyway) that we ran a clean race. Everything could still change of course, and we won't know the final rankings till tomorrow night at the banquet.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Race day 4 - UPDATED WITH PICTURES

After my morning post, we waited until about 1130am when the cloud layer finally broke, and left for Benton Harbor Michigan. Linda and I took our time preflighting, planning and briefing the route, and we were the last plane to leave the ramp at Sault Ste Marie. We took off, did our flyby, and zoomed to our cruise altitude. Upper Michigan was gorgeous under the afternoon sun, with Lake Michigan sparkling blue and the countryside green and lush under a carpet of little puffy white clouds. There were a couple of isolated heavy rain showers which look quite dramatic from the air, like thick grey columns. We passed over many little airports, and talked to air traffic control at the bigger ones. Coming up on Benton Harbor, we headed out over the lake to position for the flyby, and zoomed off on an easterly heading to our final destination, Batavia Ohio.

The route over Indiana and Ohio continued in the same vein, although it got pretty bumpy. The tailwinds on both legs were not as good as promised, but our little plane was performing valiantly and pumping out as much horsepower as she could, all temps running hot and just below redline, but steady for the most part. Coming up on Batavia after passing Cincinnati, we turned onto the flyby course and dove down to flyby altitude on runway 22. We landed just after Mary and Elaine, and just before Barbara and Ethel, so the Pennsylvania Six stayed together right through to the end!! After landing, some very nice helpers gave us water and helped us tie down the plane, then drove us and our bags to the terminus where Linda's Mom and Dad (June and Bob) were there to meet us, as well as the other racers plus our Ninety-Nines friend and Ohio flight instructor Charissa. There were lots of hugs and congratulations between all the racers and their supporters, and it felt great to be there! The Batavia Airport is home to Sporty's, which is the most famous pilot supplies shop for which every pilot in the US probably receives and uses a catalog, and has a shop right there on the field, plus a flight school that Charissa works for.

Linda and I are now back at the hotel, and she just brought us Wendy's because we are famished having not eaten since breakfast. I also had a blissful shower and put on clean clothes that we shipped here from Arizona, so I feel clean and fed and consequently content. We are shortly going to go to the racer's Meltdown Party, at which I plan to add the final touch to my feeling of wellbeing by having a large gin and tonic. We won't know the final rankings until Sunday night, and these will depend not only on the leg times flown, but also penalties incurred for breaking any ARC rules. Although race leg 7 was a disaster timing-wise, as previously described, we have learned that 4 teams yesterday and 12 teams today landed at the airport before Sault St Marie to hold for weather, and since the clock is still ticking during off route time they also will have had a bad leg, so we certainly weren't the only ones. Anyway, we'll see how it all goes! Linda and I are feeling great to have finished and happy to be here. Linda will hopefully sort out the formatting of this page later tonight, and maybe post some photos too.

Here are some photos from our final day of the race.

You know...the great thing about this race is, you never know when you will come across something you have never seen before (beside the scenery). Here is a pancake maker at the Holiday Inn...just press a button and a minute later out comes a pancake. A pretty good one too!

And here are the three EPA teams enjoying a leisurely breakfast

before heading to the airport at Sault Ste Marie

The sky at Sault Ste Marie...you can see the low clouds that kept us grounded until almost noon. Also, in the distance you can see some hills.....Oh Canada!! Yes, that's Canada from our hotel.

Another men's room bites the dust at Sault Ste Marie airport

A common site, a charging iPad. Many teams used iPads to help with planning and flying.

Some of the teams at the airport waiting for the ceiling to lift.

Finally departing the airport at Saul Ste Marie for the last two legs of the race. You can just see the prison at the end of the runway that we needed to avoid overflying.

The lakes in the upper pennisula were beautiful.

With the warm weather and lakes, you forget that in winter there is a lot of snow here. Here are some ski slopes not far from the water.

Here's an airport that Alison and I agreed we would like to come back and visit at some point in the future.

Some of the rain showers on the leg from Sault Ste Marie to Benton Harbor.

South Bend airport on the horizon. I put this picture in here for all the Notre Dame fans in the world.

Here are 5 and 15 on the ground at the finish line.....

.....and just a few feet away here is Ethel from team #25.

And look who came to meet us at the finish line....my mom and dad.

Race day 4 - a morning progress report

The weather is beautiful all across the east, except at our current location in Chippewa Falls Michigan and our destination in Batavia Ohio, which have some low clouds caused by lifting ground fog which should dissipate in an hour or so. In the meantime, all the teams that are here are waiting for VFR conditions to depart. We knew it would be like this, so we got up relatively late (7am) and all met for a lovely breakfast together before driving back to the airport. We know there are teams still behind us in Ashland Wisconsin waiting to get in, and other teams ahead of us at Benton Michigan. There are even a few teams who have already made it to the terminus! We have until 5pm today to get there ourselves, so hopefully the weather will lift in time to make it.