Hal Lattimore

Fron TSA:

I am sorry to announce that Hal Lattimore has passed away. Hal was long time TSA member and instrumental in the management of many regional and national contests for many years. Hal was also an early proponent of our current handicap scoring system. The Lattimore Sports Class Trophy will be awarded to the winner of our contest at TSA this summer.

Many stories can be told about the "Judge".

7K

On Friday, March 28, 2014 12:06:52 PM UTC-4, 7K wrote:
Fron TSA: I am sorry to announce that Hal Lattimore has passed away. Hal was long time TSA member and instrumental in the management of many regional and national contests for many years. Hal was also an early proponent of our current handicap scoring system. The Lattimore Sports Class Trophy will be awarded to the winner of our contest at TSA this summer. Many stories can be told about the "Judge". 7K

The Judge was the CD at my first nationals in 1979.
One day late in the contest, eager to learn, I asked Hal how he selected the task.
Every day it got 1/2 knot weaker and he sent us 10 miles further.
He invited me into his contest office and took me over to a chart on the wall that had all the turnpoints marked.
He said "what I do is put a big gob of spit in my hand. Then I slap my hands together and youi guys go to the 2 biggest splats".
He was a classic.
UH

The 15-Meter nationals were held in Adrian, MI and one day the visibility was about 2 miles and cloud base was 2000 feet. I mused aloud if you could start while on tow as the gate was nicely aligned with the tow pattern and tow height was about the highest you could expect for the day. Hal, who was standing close by looked at me and, ever the Judge said, "son you have an active mind, active minds keep the jails full" which I took as a no. My Dad who was also standing near by loved it.

John Seaborn A8

I don't remember what we were talking about, but Judge Lattimore decided I needed a lesson on clear communication. He told me about a time he was instructing in a 2-33 when the student reported that the spoilers were stuck. Hal went to work on spoilers with both hands while leaving the flying to the student. The student however, assumed that the instructor in the back had taken over the controls. In fact, no one was flying the plane. The flight didn't end well, at least not for the glider. They hit a power line. I didn't ask for any further details.
Mike Koerner