Dr. Fred’s write-up of the 2004 Nationals
Wow, it was good seeing everyone again. A fairly good turnout, a lot of fun, surprisingly few problems or uproars, and absolutely incredible weather. Maybe too light a wind for LD, but otherwise, probably among the lightest winds I've seen at a Nationals.
Thanks for the comments below; the discussion session did go over pretty well. It started out a little sparse, but ended up fairly full. Thanks again to Chet for allowing the use of his facility. I, too, hope that this session can be a part of future Nationals.
USBA Auction
On to a few other items I remember from the auction and aesthetics comp - auction was small, maybe 12 items? Chet has the list and the prices paid, but I remember a total of somewhere around $240 for total sales that night. A beautiful cat boom by Kendall, an epoxy statue of a boy in a boom throwing pose with thumb-finger grooved for a 4mm boom, a boom of hand-laid fiberglass (?) from Brazil (I wonder exactly how many of those Ricardo actually sold?), a large Foster's Beer sign, with actual airfoils applied to it somewhere along the line, but not a true flier, one of my veneer booms, and some other beautiful booms contributed by various makers.
Aesthetics comp - disappointing, not necessarily in quality but definitely in quantity. Some makers won simply because they entered a category with no other booms in it. Andy Cross won with a curly koa boom in the lapjoint category. Dave Hughes almost won with a nice entry in the plywood category, but then was disqualified for making a LH boom, which Bernard Mason told us was an impossibility. Okay, he won anyway, but had stiff competition (only category with 3 entries in it) from Dan Johnson (nicely painted AR boom, unusual shape and nice flame paint job) and from Scott MacMillan (nice small standard shape). Dave Hendricks won in the art category, with a dot-painted snake boom (I wasn't sure this one would return, and Dave smilingly proved me wrong). In the strip-lam/natural elbow/veneer category, Gary Broadbent won with a beautiful strip-lam, I believe a Gerhards hook shape or very close, and followed by a VERY unusual entry by Bob Foresi of hunting stick fame. This entry I was almost positive would not return, looked a lot like some hunting sticks I've seen, but this was thinner, and still returned beautifully in the light winds we had for testing. Unless I miss my count, that was only 7 entries. Chet didn't have time to make up the awards for the aesthetics comps
Mega-mini contest:
Mega was won by Gary, who absolutely crushed
[Two clarifications - I think it was Jens who made the mini
that won.
Sales Table
As far as other rememberances, Dave 1 helped relentlessly with the sales table, was usually the only one there. Kendall was splitting time between making booms, competing, and selling. I'm not sure how the others faired, but my sales of those Zero Restriction jackets was disappointing. I only sold one of them at the sales table, one beforehand, and two after. These were $120 jackets, on sale for $17, and the only thing wrong with most of them were that they were "last year's models". 2 of those 4 sales weren't even to boom throwers. I saw some sales of other items, but not a lot.
Changes to
One other thing I noticed - since I was on this field the last time, I think they added three tennis courts, two basketball courts, and, just to make things interesting, they took the water fountains out. That's right, absolutely no water available, unless you brought it with you. Maybe it's just me, but if you're going to make a facility more suited to more people with more sports available, maybe keeping the existing water fountains in place, and maybe adding a couple more, might be a good idea.
A lot of cool "comments overheard" were collected by Gregg, and I think they'll be published in the next MHR. For those who overheard any, make sure Gregg gets them, and let's let the others wait to see them in the MHR.
GLORP, MTA, and
Endurance comments
Sore muscles abounded everywhere. I don't think I heard one person not complaining of something by the end, even Logan ("Hey, I'm not 5'2", I'm 5'3"!). I think I know why his arm hurt; watching him throw is amazing. Logan crushed the competition in GLORP, and his dad won "GLO", competed a few days earlier. Sunburn may have been the second most common problem; the days were usually overcast, the kind that fool you. The MTA's drifted like seaweed in the Sargasso Sea, in the individual comps, because some thermals hit during warm-ups. I lost count of how many were lost; 6 drifted down at about the same time, about 175m downwind, just shy of a huge wooded section. Gary lost one at least 500m downwind, at last sighting. This made warm-ups last way too long; everything else was pushed back, and the final event (Endurance) was held in darkening light. Most later competitors chose a boom based upon visibility, not any other flight characteristics. Morri Mohr did indeed seem to stand "head and shoulders" above his other group members, but I'll leave that for another time.
Fred’s Boomerang
Heart Award
One very lasting impression I took from these days is that there is one individual there who showed more boom spirit than anyone I've met in years, and rivals Gary for his dedication to booms. Aaron has posted numerous times to these forums, and I had met him briefly once before at Gary's. He probably mentioned it before, but he is missing his left arm below the elbow. He does have a rather strong right arm, and a whole lot of desire. I can't tell you how incredible it is to see an individual out there, throwing in competitions, doing everything he possibly can, without even the "standard" advantage of a second hand. The next time any one of us comes up with an excuse for not throwing, for not competing, for not being there, maybe this image should be placed squarely in front of us, with nothing else needed to accompany it. I know he's probably embarrassed I brought this up, but that's the kind of guy he is. I know we don't have any award for "heart", but I know who'd have gotten my vote.
It's been a long weekend, but a real nice one. Got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time, and from what I could tell, most had a good time.
Best wishes,
Fred M.
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