I’m so sorry to report that Fred passed. Anyone who has been flying sailplanes in California for a few decades knew him. Smart and funny describe him for me. And one TOUGH competition pilot. See you on the other side Fred. Blue skies.

Sorry to hear that.
Fred shared some information with me about the Airtronics Cumic,

Fred was the best. RIP my friend.

Sorry to hear that. Flew with "The Weave" many a time when he came to Texas.

I met Fred in the mid 90's when I was a newbie soaring pilot. He treated me as if we'd been friends for years. We had lots of lapses in our conversations but recently we had been exchanging phone calls and talking about F5J. As the master he is with flying he excelled there too!
RIP my Friend
Fred LSF Level V, the third one to achieve that great distinction!

Curtis

So sorry to hear that. Used to see him in the NCSL circuits back in the day.

This is very sad news. He was a great pilot and fun to hang out with. He had great stories too and just about everyone knew him. We met at thermal soaring contests however he would reminisce about slope soaring days and MoM racing. Great guy. Soar high Fred, RIP.

Sad news indeed.

Tom

Man! what a bummer..such a fun guy and a great pilot! Soaring with the angels now.

Still have a pike perfect i got from Fred some years ago..

Rest in Peace Weave. See you on the other side...

I first met Weave at the Chicopee MA NATS in 1985. He was Team Airtronics and I was Team Dodgson Designs. We both flew NCSL (Northern California Soaring League) contests and at the time he was bringing his son Gail to the contests and we all became friends along with my Dad, Ron Lenci as well. . When he was moving from San Jose to Sutter Creek he would stop by my place in Escalon quite often and we would just BS for hours on end. Tons of Hangar talk. I spoke with him several times in the last few months. Some conversations were good and in other he would say he was having problems with his vision and sounded very down. I spoke with him right after Christmas and everything seamed fine. We talking about power flying together in 2021 and his infectious excitement for all things that fly was still there. He mentioned how he and I were both very lucky to have more model airplanes than anyone would ever need just because we wanted all of them. We just laughed and laughed about our models and our plans to fly them together again. I didn't think I would be getting this news so soon after our recent conversations.

Weave...I and the rest your friends up here in the Central Valley and the Foothills will miss you. You were truly one of the most gifted sailplane pilots I have ever met and lived your life totally on your terms and no one else's. I'll miss seeing you at the glider contests, float fly events, in my living room chatting, and on the phone for hours on end. It was a great adventure knowing you. Here are my two favorite photos of Fast Freddy!

Shawn

Fly high, Weave. You were one of the good ones.

--
Greg Douglas
Kalispell, MT

I feel very fortunate to have been able to call Fred a good friend these last several years. Fred loved F5J and jumped in with both feet in the 2019 season. Here's an article about Fred (with a video link) that was just published today in the January newsletter for the F5J USA Tour.

Chris

Thanks for sharing your memories Shawn. Expect a phone call within a few days. And if you guys haven’t talked to your friends in awhile, give em a call. Forget this text and message bs.

I've known Fred since the early 70's when he flew a White Trash. Going to contests with him in his old Green Dodge van (that be bought from Gerry Wolfram who flew his own "Red Feather" design) will always be etched in my mind. We'd bet a dollar bill that went back and forth and signed each time. I still have it. A contest just wasn't a good contest unless Fred was there. He made everything fun. Any late 60's and 70's South Bay Soaring Society members will recall these details and smile.

Originally Posted by Ben Clerx

I've known Fred since the early 70's when he flew a White Trash. Going to contests with him in his old Green Dodge van (that be bought from Gerry Wolfram who flew his own "Red Feather" design) will always be etched in my mind. We'd bet a dollar bill that went back and forth and signed each time. I still have it. A contest just wasn't a good contest unless Fred was there. He made everything fun. Any late 60's and 70's South Bay Soaring Society members will recall these details and smile.

"I'm either getting a perfect landing score or bruised shins!"

Miss you Fred.

Stan