More pics and videos to come!
Some info:
Coolest Guy trophy went to: Greg Stone
Nice Guy trophy went to: Randy Hinton
@Spats
Most Helpful trophies went to: Ben Nolasco, Randy McElhattan
@desertrider , & John Barnes
Most Exciting Pilot went to: Kim Quenette
Loneliest Dude went to: Tavis Newman
@Tavis
Best Crash went to: Kim Quenette
Best Maneuver went to: Ben Mackles
There was lots of open flying and group hovers, but we also had a mini freestyle contest... after two rounds of 4min freestyle and one round of a 4min smack it ended up like this:
1st place: Santiago Perez ($100)
2nd place: Kim Quenette ($50)
3rd place tie: Orel Elbaz ($25) Ben Mackles ($25)
Robin Trexler came out from Meals on Wheels to accept our donation of $400
John Barnes should be added to the list of raffle sponsors as he put in a NIB Futaba 8U radio.
Kylee and Kay were our trophy girls. Greg Stone was our CD. Randy McElhattan ran the BBQ, and Joe and Bee Nolasco ran the sound system and more. (Edit: Kyle Woyshnis took a lot of the videos, as well as Joe Nolasco; Bee Nolasco took a lot of the pictures I posted, as well as Joe Nolasco; And, then our own GSN Ashlie Avery took all the great pics she posted here!)
A few thoughts that come to mind... first was how worried I was about what the weather was going to be like, it turned out to be warm and sunny with no wind almost the entire time, if it had been this last weekend it would not have been near as nice. It would have been fun to have Tavis there, everyone likes Tavis. haha Even the always reticent Alien (Kyle Woyshnis) was very animated talking about how much he wanted to fly with Tavis. Jase Dussia talked about coming and then Andrew Jesky and Colton (from DA) looked likely to come the last week, they didn't make it but that would have been fun to watch. As it turned out we had some all-world pilots show up. Jeff Szueber Jr., Kyle Woyshnis, Kim Quenette, and Santi Perez are eye popping fantastic. Orel Elbaz is an up and comer for sure (15 years old). And, Ben Mackles was definitely the crowd favorite as 13 years old. These two kids would have dominated all the major freestyle events back when I was flying. Anyway, for me it was a real treat to watch them. As well as fly with Randy, Tanner, and the rest. One highlight was hovering with Randy with our two 122" Pilot Extras. Joe & Bee Nolasco came down from Norcal with the sound system... they set it up and ran it all weekend along with the registration and the raffle. It would not have been anywhere near the same event without Joe & Bee.
I was riding on an hour of sleep during the event. And, am still wiped out playing catch up at work and with posting pictures and videos of the event. I still have to ship out plaques and send back a couple of banners (what shipping address
@Bartman ? ). Anyway, what I took away from the event was great weather, great people, and great flying... just a really good time. That we could do that and help some people in need was pretty great.