Well
I reached my annual milepost on the way to Winter. I’m up The Hill for a
weekend of National Championship Air Racing at Reno/Stead Field. This is the 50th
Anniversary Championship.
I
rolled out to Stead Friday afternoon about 45 minutes before the Unlimited Gold
Heat, under partly to mostly cloudy skies. I wasn’t thinking about the quality
of the sunlight while chewing the fat with the fenceline regulars I know from
previous years in The Valley Of Speed.
The
impending thunderstorms encroaching on the race course cancelled the final race
of the day…the same Gold Heat I’d bet my whole stake on…time-wise…
Saturday
morning I ran downtown to poach the Truckee Library’s wifi signal to post
Saturday’s blog, and through the narrow slice sky of my street, I could see a
pretty thick smoky haze partially obscuring the Carson Range…on the bright side
however, I see where the Great Smoky Mountains got their name...
I
arrived in the VOS a half an hour before the Unlimited Heat Silver 3B. Catching
up on the day’s news with my fellow Fenceliners, I learned that the Unlimited
Bronze Class was cancelled due to a dearth of entries.
Three
time defending Unlimited Gold Champion, ‘Strega’ would race her way in via the
Silver Class.
There
was an AT-6 Heat, and the highly promoted “Jetman” did his show…from our
vantage point he wasn’t even a spec in the sky…
Finally
the big warbirds launched for the Silver Heat. ‘Strega’ easily went from worst
to first.
It
was hot out in the High Desert…I took shelter in the car…it’s like the seats
fold down into a chaise lounge! I’m reading “Hidden Warbirds” by Nicholas A.
Veronico a new book chronicling the finding, recovering and restoring of lost
WW2 aircraft.
Still
a couple of hours to kill, I looked at Twitter. Oh my God! @AmericasCupLIVE
tweets: TIM TNZ Capsize! What? Via Twitter I sussed that the Kiwi
S
capsize wasn’t terminal…TeamOracleUSA won the first race, the second race was
abandoned on the second leg due to the Wind Limit.
Finally
the Gold Unlimited competitors took to the sky. Large puffy Cumulus clouds
filled the sky. Their shade was more than welcome. It was almost 5PM, winds
were still MIA
 |
| Fenceline view of show center in the distance |
‘Voodoo’
the P-51 lead them ‘down the chute’ and it was ON First lap was over 500MPH!
Sadly we heard a pop pop pop sound and
Race 232 ‘September Fury’ pulled up, called May Day and made an emergency
landing with Space Shuttle Astronaut Hoot Gibson at the stick.
‘Czech
Mate’ finished second, ‘Rare Bear’ third and ‘Precious Metal’ fourth.
With
‘September Fury’ likely down for the count, there’s still three planes with a
shot at Gold Sunday afternoon: ‘Voodoo, ‘Strega’ and ‘Rare Bear’
I
got home to the DaveCave just in time to watch my San Francisco Giants destroy
the LA Dodgers in their house. Final score? 19-3 The most runs scored against
the Dodgers ever in Dodger Stadium!
After
the ballgame, I caught the replay of the America’s Cup Race. The Kiwi’s didn’t
capsize ‘all the way’, their wing never touched the water…it was close. The
blew a turn by not reversing the wing. It didn’t ‘pop’ and over they went. 45° of heel
easy before the wing popped and the yacht righted itself, committing a right of
way foul on the Americans in the process! Wing trimmer error…perhaps a
hydraulic problem?
The
bigger news is the Americans made some changes to the boat, and I suspect
fitted it with new foils, they looked faster Saturday. The proof in the pudding
awaits Sunday.
Saturday's skies were too busy to get a glimpse of Autumnal Light conditions...I know it's there...it's time...
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