Great posts everyone! I feel like I was there too!!

We have a great team representing us in China for the WC. Let's all show our support and buy some shirts, raffle tickets or whatever they need. I have a strong feeling this will be a successful team at the WC.

I'll see you guys at Cal Valley and sooner I'm sure!

-Aaron

So guys,
I had to enter all the info into a spread sheet from the score cards but here is the raw info and the normalized totals all in one place so you can see it all together.
Gordon

Originally Posted by Kyle Paulson

Gordon Buckland:
You are an amazing man! Your passion and giving spirit are a sight to behold! Why would someone work so hard and put in so much time unless there heart was sold out to the cause? Gordon, I/we don’t know how to thank you. This would not have happened without YOUR vision and drive. Wow! Your Club is blessed to have you. Any club would be! I am sure they see the benefits and success that you bring just like we do.

Indian River Kontrol Society or IRKS:
Thank you for seeing Gordon’s vision and getting aboard for the ride! What an incredible thing to see how hard you all worked. Gordon certainly could NOT have pulled it off without an incredibly supportive club to make it happen! Wow! You guys took the F3B punishment with a smile the entire time. Mistakes (which ALLWAYS happen) rolled off your shoulders….. with sincere apologies, followed by more diligent focus and even greater effort! Quitting was never even a thought and I have NEVER seen a club stick it out all from start to finish…. All the way to the end…. Even after all the pilots were gone. Still the IRKS members where there working hard to clean up. We own you a debt of gratitude! Thank you!
Kyle

Just a quick note to say thanks to all who participated in this amazing event. It started with my quest to do F3B again after a couple of decades absence and ended with the most amazing contest weekend anyone could hope for. It was simply a dream come true and so magnificently supported by so many! Kyle has done an awesome job of thanking most everybody (thankyou Kyle) but I need to add a little about a special group of individuals who actually made this happen.
Thankyou Jody Miller..... You are also an amazing man. Your unfaltering support, encouragement and daily inspiration kept me going along with enthusiasm even when it looked hopeless. Your behind the scenes imagination and creation of some simply amazing trophies was icing on the cake. Taking on jobs like making the sighting devices and surveying the course took a load off my shoulders. Then believing enough in our vision to actually purchase a competitive plane to fly gave me belief we could get it done. Thanks mate.
Rick Eckel our CD stepped up to the plate and provided just the right amount of support and help we needed by creating fantastic score cards, learning a scoring program and creating a pilot matrix - all for a contest type he had never even seen before. Rick also provided the direction and tools to layout our course after studying the F3B info on line and think we got it right on the weekend with a great course. We could not have done it without you Rick. You too are an amazing man.
Kris Van Nostran - (my partner in crime) was the "go between" to help get the contest OKay'd with his local club the IRKS. But he was much more than that with daily conversations over many months about everything from 12V batteries (which he borrowed from a local supplier for free) to encouraging others in his club to come out and be that team of helpers we desperately needed to make such a F3B contest possible. You did an incredible job Kris and you have an incredible club of individuals who kindly provided their support and helped to make this such a success. Thankyou mate. You Kris are also one amazing man.
There were many others amazing people also and Steve Formanek and Sherry MacLean on scoring and Jim MacLean helping plan and prepare are people that worked behind the scenes to get this done. Thanks guys.
Jerry O'Keefe - you are the type of person every club needs lots of and your unselfish committment to man the gate for hours every day will never be forgotten. Thankyou. Also a great big thankyou to the wonderful job Dale Kai did of providing a running commentary during the contest, videoing and photos and then printing fantastic photo mementos for all the pilots. Thanks mate. Also Gerry Armstrong the IRKS president stood behind this effort and rallied the troops. Thanks Jerry. Sorry if I missed anybody.

The Gordon Report.
There will be no Gordon Report on tis thread as instead - I am writing a story about the GatorF3B experience to be published in a magazine and it needs to be original material. Sorry about that.

Now it's back to the real world. I have been paying the last few bills, sending equipment back and mailing off raffle prizes etc. and we still have more than $1,500.00 left over to send to the US F3B Team.
I declare that our goal was definitely accomplished and the Gator F3B was a huge success.
Gordon

Hi Gordon

Thank you and your helpers for the great efforts! We really had an amazing weekend.

I remember that gathering at the NATS last year where we did a F3B contest and you showed up and you were so enthusiastic about B again.
I never imagined back then that we would have a such a great F3B contest some month later at your place!

I have been to many Eurotour F3B contests, but I can wholeheartedly say that this one was the most fun! We got a lot of flying done (each one 13 flights, not counting reflights), still it was in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. No need for me to fly back over the pond to a contest, because this is how F3B should be: competitive, but not sacrifying the fun part and comeradie of it!

There will be a report in "Aufwind" (and translated to english) as well, therefore we should reach many other F3X pilots.


Reto

You guys should look into FAI sanctioning the next one as a World Cup or an Open International. Then maybe you guys would have your names in the final WC classifications.

What can I say. We have to start with Gordon. He worked tirelessly on this thing. Very few people will ever recognize how much effort something like this takes. And it took twice the effort to get it started. Getting all of us convinced to fly and drive from so far away with all of our gear was a task all to itself. He never gave up and the results show.. Gordan, you not only made it happen, you exceeded the expectations of everyone. I bet the attendance doubles next year.

Next to thank are all the people who worked tirelessly in the background. Well, Kris VanNostran didn't do it tirelessly. I think all the field prep really wore him out. I wish I was able to help him with his plane setup on Thursday, but the shuttle launch delayed our gear making it to the field. Thanks Kris, you were a big cog in this machine.

IRKS- You guys rock. I love that your club is so diverse. It created a greater pool of pilots to draw on as helpers. If I lived anywhere near this field, I would be happy to volunteer for a jet rally or control line event. The volunteers from other disciplines allowed the local sailplane pilots to really participate. You guys are so generous to share your time and your field with all of us.

Dale Kai- Wow. you really should be an MC. Thank you so much for promoting the raffle and keeping the spectators informed. I would like to thank you even more for the pictures. That was priceless. Thank you.

Fellow Pilots- thank you to all who participated. Everyone brought a fun, positive attitude that makes the event as rewarding as it is. We had new pilots, seasoned veterans, new up and comers, international attendees, and national hotshots. a diverse group who all shared a love for soaring and a great attitude. What can be better than glider vacation with friends.

I am still in awe over the productivity of the weekend. We had volunteers with zero experience and still got in 3 rounds of duration, 4 rounds of distance, and 5 rounds of speed. I would have called it a success at 3 rounds.

Again every aspect of the event went above and beyond expectations. Field size, location, weather, manpower, raffle, competitors, and productivity were all better than I could have hoped for.

Thank you again to everyone. I will be back next time, and bring even more pilots with me.

David Klein
Team USA 2011

Oh, now for a personal plug. the next US event is in Cal Valley California May 14th and 15th. It is located, a couple hours north of LAX. See the sticky thread here in the F3X forum for details. We would love to have you out.

Hi Gordon,
From what I've read you've just run a great F3B event.
Not so easy to do so congratulations.

For the next one you might want to consider a different scoring system.

A program that I wrote, and like you it is Australian, takes care of pretty much everything from enrolling the pilots with frequencies and teams, creating the draw, doing all the scoring and producing a vast array of reports at any time.

Check it out at www.GliderScore.com. It will take care of other types of competition as well including F3J, F3F, F3K, F5B, F5J (proposed FAI class), thermal duration and electric duration.
Regards,
Gerry Carter

Originally Posted by Gerry.Carter

Hi Gordon,
From what I've read you've just run a great F3B event.
Not so easy to do so congratulations.
For the next one you might want to consider a different scoring system.
A program that I wrote, and like you it is Australian, takes care of pretty much everything from enrolling the pilots with frequencies and teams, creating the draw, doing all the scoring and producing a vast array of reports at any time.
Check it out at www.GliderScore.com. It will take care of other types of competition as well including F3J, F3F, F3K, F5B, F5J (proposed FAI class), thermal duration and electric duration.
Regards,
Gerry Carter

Nice scoring program Gerry. We certainly learned a lot this first time around and the next Gator is sure to be better and bigger.
Thanks also for the kind comments from everybody. We had a terrific time organizing and running the contest and our intention is to do it all over again next year. The idea is to have a serious contest but not lose sight of the "having fun" part. I think we achieved that. Hope we get lots of support and it becomes an annual event.
Gordon

It was a great contest and I had a great time - except for the fire ants. This Marylander is not used to fire ants. I must have been standing on an ant hill while timing during one duration round. I realized something was wrong with my left leg when it started hurting. With a quick inspection I discovered ants swarming up my leg. Even a week and a half later my leg still itches like mad. Will have to wear full height socks next time and be more careful of the bumps in the field.

Don

That's a great scoring program! A keeper for sure.