mjfrederick

OK, let's try this again and see if we can't avoid comments from the peanut gallery. Atchafalya Basin R/C (formerly Dixie R/C) in Baton Rouge, LA is pleased to announce that our spring contest is coming home! Please see the attached flyer for all pertinent information. Also, I ask that you please e-mail me, Matt Frederick, at [email protected] for pre-registration so that I can try and have as much done ahead of time as possible. Sorry to start a new thread, but the moderator never saw fit to clean up the old one!

rcpattern

My Feedback: (45)

Anytime I hear someone say "Atchafalaya," my immediate response is usually Bless You.

Should be a great contest Matt. You guys in LA seem to know how to put on a good show,

Arch

mjfrederick

Or as my ancestors said, "Gesundheit!" Thanks, Arch, we try You should take a break from that yankee paradise you've moved to and come visit the deep south! I know you miss the humidity and mosquitos!!!

smcharg

My Feedback: (1)

Any ideas for hotels? Was looking at the Super 8 in Port Allen

glowplugboy

My Feedback: (17)

If you will make the wind stop blowing, I'll come....

Mike

mjfrederick

Wind? What wind? As far as hotels, there are plenty off Exit 151 (Lobdell Hwy) in Port Allen (about a 15 minute drive to the field). A quick search turned up a Comfort Suites, Holiday Inn Express, Quality Inn, Hampton Inn, Best Western, Motel 6, Super 8, and Baton Rouge West Inn. The cheapest price I found for single occupancy was the Super 8 at $46/night for that weekend. Of course, there are more cheap hotels as you go into Baton Rouge, but the further in to Baton Rouge you go, the further you are from the field in the morning. One good thing, though, is any hotel you stay at will be right off the interstate so it's a straight shot each morning, and interstate traffic is light in Baton Rouge early in the mornings on weekends. You know us, we party too hard Friday nights. Of course, if John Forestieri comes he may be more interested in staying in the Belle of Baton Rouge Hotel, right next to the riverboat casinos... Unfortunately, though, I don't believe they have poker tables.

glowplugboy

My Feedback: (17)

What wind???? It's been blowing in Houston for the past three months!!! Seriously, I trust there is camping space for my R/V? Any hook ups or do I need to bring my generator?

Mike

mjfrederick

Hmmm... OK, I see what wind you're talking about, right now it's 29 mph out of the south. [:@]Absolutely room for an RV, but no hookups. Anyone that wants to stay at the field is more than welcome to.

mjfrederick

Bumping this thread so that hotel information will be easier to find. Oh, and nevermind about the casinos. Looks like they're going to be closing due to the river level.

protectedpilot

Just to let everybody know; the proposed opening of the Atchafalaya Spillway will NOT affect the field. We are OUTSIDE of the Spillway (barely) and even if it opens tomorrow, the water will not reach us. Projections are that the structure will be opened between Saturday and Tuesday, even so, the water won't reach the levee behind us by Sunday. The last time the Spillway was open was 1973, and the interstate was not affected. Again, we are OUTSIDE of the Spillway.

We are good to go, folks! The campground has been well prepared, did an extreme job of killing ants! No hookups, but we have water and a bathroom available. As a matter of fact, the entire property was recently cut, even the fields surrounding had the hay cut this past week. The place is beautiful, a great site to fly. Maybe I'm biased, been flying there since 1985, myself. We will do our best to show you a good time!

Brian Clemmons

vanputter

I have some fond memories of the old Dixie R/C Club Baton Rouge contests. I wish there wasn't a contest conflict with the Covington, GA contest.

Ron Van Putte

mjfrederick

OK, forecast for tomorrow is Mostly Sunny, high of 81, winds out the north 10 - 15. Probably gonna be one of the better weekends we've seen in a while. Looking forward to seeing everyone! RVP, hopefully we won't have the conflict next year, but if we do, I wouldn't mind entertaining the idea of a fall contest some time in September 2012 as a D3-D6 shootout. Heck, it might not even be too late to plan one for this year, who knows? I'll have to run that by the boys here and see what they think. Since we moved to District 6 we definitely miss our old friends in D3.

mwick

This contest brings up a lot of memories. It was 6 years ago that Brett and I showed up for his first ever pattern contest. We were the typical newbies; lost, bewildered, didn't know sign up procedures, had to ask what line 1 and line 2 meant, basically didn't have a clue. I had a hard time envisioning my 15 year old sitting around with a bunch of older guys killing time while waiting to fly 6 rounds over 2 days. Brett would normally fly that much by noon on Saturday.

We got all the help we needed and wanted, and by the time we left Sunday we had 30 new friends. Every time I turned around I saw Brett talking and having a good time with somebody new. Brett met Bryan Hebert and they seemed to hit it off right away. On the way home it was clear to me that a "Pattern Animal" had been born. Little did I know the whirlwind ride that was just starting. Ignorance may have been bliss

Mike

vanputter

I was at that contest and I remember thinking, "Where did this kid come from?" Some great things have happened since then.

Ron Van Putte

kbtiii

see y'all in the morning...gonna' drive in tomorrow and stay at the Holiday Inn Express tomorrow night...sure hope I can find a caller because I don't have any clue how to get through the new sequence other than the 3.5 times I went through it a couple of weeks ago.

protectedpilot

Day 1 is done, the Atchafalaya R/C contest is under way. They opened the Morganza Spillway today at 3:00PM, but the water will not make it to us until after the contest is over! Fairly good turnout, considering we've been out of circulation here a couple years..... could not have gotten any better weather! 73degF, NNW wind at 10 to 15 mph, clear blue skies with about 10% white clouds. BEAUTIFUL.

Some of you may remember Steve Perrone; he cooked hamburgers and flew in Intermediate today, welcome back Steve. Matt Fredericks boiled crawfish, we had a great dinner tonight as well. He poured out the steaming mudbugs out on a big table, Cajun style, and we all gathered 'round and ate our fill of the spicy-hot shellfish, right there. Them Yankees think we is eatin bait, cher', but dat is da good stuff, sure as I told you! Corn on the cob, sausage and red potatoes boiled in the seasoning with them, too good. Missy Hebert brought white beans and rice to go with it as well. Girl got skills in the kitchen, let me tell you. Maybe you want to hear about the flying, but us Louisiana boys know how to put on a party when we pattern.

Brett Wickizer, Mark Hunt, Scott McHarg, Brian Strachan and Barner Miller lead their classes, but nothing is carved in stone. Four rounds down, two to go. We're having fun down here. Bill Parsons made an appearance, as well as Nat Penton. Two pattern pilots from the past we all miss, good to see them also! If someone remembers the Dixie contests of the past, this was like the good old days!

If anybody has a good story from the Dixie Pattern Championships from the past, we'd love to hear them, jump in here and share with us.....

Brian Clemmons

mjfrederick

Photos from day 1. Photos are huge (12.2 megapixel camera), so I can only put one per post.

mjfrederick

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mjfrederick

Day 1 standings through round 4.

Hokie Flyer

That could have been interesting, a combined pattern contest and float-fly! I wonder how you's score take-offs and landings on water.


Rob

mjfrederick

Attached are the final standings from the Atchafalaya Basin Pattern Championship. The weekend was a huge success, and on behalf of the club I would like to thank all those who attended.

mjfrederick

Top 3 for Sportsman:

3rd - Monte Richard
2nd - Paul Frederick
1st - Barney Miller