Pardon the long post, but a Really Nifty Something happened at the recent
1-26, 2013, North American Championships held at Moriarty, New Mexico,
recently. Hollywood couldn't have written a more dramatic script, and I'm
guessing some RASidents might enjoy hearing about it. I know I sure enjoyed
witnessing it from the perspective of a ground grunt (aka crewperson for a
fellow competitor in the concurrently run 13.5 Meter Region 9 Super Regional).

Contest Manager Pete Vredenburg apparently had a long-standing brainstorm
stuck in his skull, a brainstorm that being 2013 Contest Manager allowed him
to implement...for the first time ever, so far as I'm aware.

The brainstorm was to have a one-day Race of Champions held the day after the
North American Championships - often incorrectly called "the 1-26 Nationals" -
ended. Going into the 2013 contest, there were 3 former champions competing
for this year's trophy, as well as the reigning champion from the 2012 season.
In other words, going in, if all champions accepted Pete's invitation for a
"Race of Champions" there would be at least 4 competitors, with the
possibility of a 5th should a new first-time champion be crowned.

And that's what happened. Nineteen year-old Daniel Sazhin barely beat
multi-time former champ Ron Schwartz (aka "the Schwartzinator") for the 2013
traveling Champion's Trophy, in a hard-fought contest. It was "the kid's"
first championship, in his first time competing on his own; last year he and
"the Schwartzinator" won the team trophy. Scuttlebutt had it this year Ron
essentially told Daniel, "You're on your own, kid!"

Even more impressive than "the kid's" relative youth, to me anyway, was the
fact that this was Brooklyn, NY-based, Daniel's first visit to Moriarty, a
western high desert site rimmed by mountains...a site at which local knowledge
could be considered a definite asset in deciphering days and lift patterns.
His daily results gave no hint he was a newbie to the area. Ultimately he beat
"the Schwartzinator" by only 20 or so points, so he was eligible to answer
Pete's invitation to reigning and former champions for the 2013 Race of
Champions. Great Stuff even without what followed...

One final day of competition for the concurrently run Region 9 13.5 Meter
Super Regional was scheduled for the day after the 1-26 Championships ended.
After the final 13.5 meter class pilot's meeting, Pete formally introduced the
concept of this year's Race of Champions, and individually asked each eligible
pilot if he would accept the invitation to join in a Race of Champions. The
race would consist of up to 5 competitors, flying a task of their mutual
definition, winner take all, no additional scoring to be done. All five
champions accepted the call: Daniel Sazhin, Ron Schwartz, Bob von Hellens, Bob
Hurni, and Harry Baldwin.

They set themselves a long, ~155 mile speed task. Flying their (~21:1 L/D)
1-26's, every mile would be hard-earned, the more so given the monsoony
weather pattern lowering cloud bases and generating daily airmass thunderstorms.

A bit of insight into the competitors is in order here. Hollywood would do the
same, after all! Former - multi-time, I believe, but I could be wrong on this
- champion Bob von Hellens appeared to me to be perhaps in his early sixties.
Reigning champion, Bob Hurni, won his first-ever championship last year in
almost certainly his 20th-plus year of competing; I'd guess he's in his
seventies. I believe Ron Schwartz is in his early seventies, though from
looks, manner and energy level he might well be 10 to 15 years younger.
Daniel would have all the advantages (and disadvantages) of youth. Harry
Baldwin - 4-time former champion - I believe to be somewhere between 83 and
85. Quite a spread, bringing a wealth of 1-26 experience to the table.

Expressing a purely personal opinion, prior to crewing for a 13.5 meter
competitor (a nifty tale in itself!), I'd never before attended any contest
since entering soaring in 1972. Bob Hurni was the only champion I'd met prior
to this year's contest, some 20+ years ago when our soaring-related paths
happened to cross. Essentially, prior to the contest everything I knew of
these champions was what I'd gleaned in 40+ years of memorizing "Soaring"
magazine. It was a real pleasure to find them each gracious, friendly and
"merely real people" when interacting one-on-one from the perspective of an
unknown-to-them ground grunt.

Given the basis of the Race of Champions, and given what I'd learned during
the course of crewing during the concurrently-run contests, and given what I
imagined I knew of the overall situation, I hoped for a day conducive to
competitive racing, mentally wished each competitor well, and gave my nod to
Harry Baldwin as my personal/sentimental favorite, since he'd noted this would
be his last time as a competitor at the 1-26 Championships; next year he
expected to crew. "The kid;" "the old man;" "the Schwartzinator;" stooped,
quiet, friendly Bob Hurni; and reserved Bob von Hellens. None of them would be
competing in the 2013 Race of Champions had they not previously demonstrated
competitiveness, skill, tenacity and speed. It was shaping up to be something
truly dynamic and fun to peripherally experience!

And so it proved.

After my duties assisting launching my pilot and the fleet, I retired with a
handheld to the comfort of the air-conditioned retrieve desk. Monitoring 123.3
and Unicom, the airwaves were generally silent. It seemed none of the
champions wanted to give any of their competitors any possible competitive
advantage through radio use. Unless they had a competitor in sight, all their
motivation, drive and desire was drawn from within.

Several hours later, retrieve phone calls began to arrive, initially from 13.5
meter competitors. I couldn't volunteer to help on a retrieve until my pilot
was accounted for. He eventually completed the day's task (1st for the day,
his 2nd day win; woo hoo!; this retrieve stuff is simple, especially when
"your ship" is a 200-pound, 11-meter span, Sparrowhawk; I'd had to retrieve it
only on the first day). Soon after we disassembled the ship for the day and
returned to the Retrieve Office, two more or less simultaneous phone calls
arrived from 1-26-ers. "The Schwartzinator" had landed at a strip about 15
miles south of Moriarty. The landing location suggested he was on his way to
the final turnpoint. The next phone call - from Bob von Hellens - suggested
perhaps he and "the Schwartzinator" might have raced each other into the
ground; von Hellens was in a field not very far north - on course for the
final turnpoint - from Schwartz. While speculating about the state (fate?) of
the remaining 3 champions, another phone call...from "the Kid"! He's down in a
field about 6 miles *north* of Moriarty...suggesting he was on the leg to or
from the final turn, but farther along than Ron or Bob von H.

My pilot and I volunteer to retrieve "the Kid," competing without a crew. As
we're leaving the field, we see Bob Hurni's ship in the landing pattern. Has
he completed the course? Or has he abandoned the effort? All we can surmise as
we leave the field is "the Kid" almost certainly has the greatest distance of
the landouts, Bob H may or may not be in the lead, and Harry Baldwin's
whereabouts are completely unknown to us (or anyone else!). There's hope for
my sentimental favorite!!!

We retrieve Daniel.

Upon our return we learn Bob Hurni abandoned the task. Where does that put him
relative to "the Kid," who in fact has flown farther than Ron S. and Bob von
H? Every 13.5 meter competitor is accounted for. Harry Baldwin is still
unaccounted for. The day is getting late. Where is Harry Baldwin?!? He's had
at least two early landouts in the North American Championships, and was not a
factor in this year's contest.

Really late in the soaring day comes a phone call. It's Harry Baldwin. He's
landed out off-airport, maybe 3/8 of a mile from the threshold of runway 18.
He says lots of bodies would be helpful on the retrieve.

He reports he (almost!) completed the course. Harry has won the Race of
Champions!!! Volunteers practically stampede to help with the retrieve. We
figure we would be in the way, and opt for dinner (most sit-down restaurants
close early in Moriarty). We can only imagine Harry's state of mind and tale.

Next Morning - Harry Baldwin stayed at the same motel as my pilot and me. The
day after the Race of Champions, we three were in the breakfast nook before
going to the airfield. We congratulate him. A big grin gradually appears on
his face; it goes practically halfway around. He volunteers that when Pete had
preliminarily displayed the trophy that would go to the Champion of Champions,
he decided that instant he REALLY wanted that trophy. He knew he couldn't win
the overall contest. He knew this would be his last hurrah. He said he'd never
seen a more attractive trophy. (It was a hand-carved eagle, entirely of New
Mexican origin...wood, design, artist, paints, etc. There will never be
another like it.) He said he had no idea what any of his competitors were
experiencing on course. He knew only that he was still aloft, and thus still
had a chance.

At the awards ceremony, he added that he was going to do a straight in to the
ground, options permitting, but he was NOT going to quit. He intended to leave
nothing "in the cockpit" so to speak. He was trying to make the field. Runway
18 has some powerlines on its northern approach, and a barbed-wire fence not
far beyond. He figured he could safely make it UNDER the powerlines...but
wasn't certain he could make it OVER the fence. He landed. He said it was the
roughest 1-26 landing he'd ever made. And that's saying something from a man
who probably has well over a hundred off-field landings in a 1-26, many of
them on dirt roads.

He said that after all the banging and bumping stopped, and after all the dust
had cleared away, and after he could see his flight computer, it showed he'd
come to a stop barely within the finish circle! Under the 1-26 rules he would
be scored with speed points!! He said he didn't care at that moment if he had
lost, he knew he'd done his and the day's best. That's what competition - and
life - is all about. Doing your best.

Harry Baldwin. Champion of champions.