Tom Pipkin

The Rat Race
Comp Dates from Tuesday 5/31 - Saturday 6/4/05

I know I’ve had a good time on vacation when I come home tired.  This last week was over the top.  It’s Wednesday and I’m still exhausted.  6 hours or less sleep every night, 6 great days of flying and nearly nonstop laughter.  Another week of that would have killed me, (but what a way to go!).

I believe the best part of the trip was the cottage Rae Lynn scored in Jacksonville that we affectionately named “Rat Base”.  It was a cozy little place to kick back, unwind and enjoy some of John and Rae Lynn’s fine cooking after a long day of flying.

We started the week on Monday with a nice warm-up pre race flight.  After boating around Woodrat Mtn. OJ and I pulled a glide into Jacksonville landing within walking distance of the cottage.

Tuesday’s task called for an upwind push to the start cylinder located fairly deep in the mountains.  Most of the field failed to even make the start cylinder.  I figured I could gain a few extra points by at least tagging the start and then walking out of the back country if I had to.  A few extra points (16) is exactly what I received for a land-out.  Apparently the score keepers didn’t appreciate my effort.

Wednesday was a downer.  I thought I was having a bad day (dirting 3 times), until I heard that Ron pounded in.  His accident really put the comp into perspective.  We were all very relieved that he wasn’t too badly hurt.  It still blows my mind that he continued to fly the rest of the week.  Despite the pain killers I know he was hurting pretty bad.  Ron is one tough Topa brother.

On Thursday, OJ and I in a matter of minutes, plummeted from cloud base to the deck before even crossing the starting line.  Re-launches were allowed but heavily penalized.  Of course John and I went back up for round two.  Shortly after launching, I took a large wack that turned into a 50% cravat.  I managed to work it out with about 500’ to spare.  Once I calmed down, I began to get mad at myself for how poorly I was doing.  As it turned out, that was the kick start I needed.  I landed just a few miles short of goal at 5:15p, minutes before the task ended.  Apparently I had shaken the monkey off my back.  I managed to make goal both Friday and Saturday to end the week on an up note.

All the Topa pilots had at least some good days, but I was especially impressed with some of Milley’s and Riss’s flights.  They both enjoyed moments of glory on a day that I couldn’t get out of the starting gate.  Nice work.

Much thanks to Rae Lynn for setting up the accommodations and for a great job of running retrieve.

I still can’t believe Ron beat me by a couple of points.  I want a rematch next year!!

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