Race of Champions

Terrific story!

.... and nice meeting you, Bob, in the Sundance hangar.


"Papa3" wrote in message
...
Thanks Bob! Simply wonderful story.

On Friday, September 6, 2013 5:50:16 PM UTC-4, Bob Whelan wrote:
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.