Re: Re: carbon VP hub data?

From: William Gowen <wdgowen_at_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:23:44 -0500

Ron
Regardless of what the intent of your note was it comes off as very
critical of the closest thing I have to a best friend in the world. I
assure you that Kang is and has been very helpful and generous to a lot
of people in this sport.

What you don't seem to realize is that the ones of us who are serious
about indoor FF competition are extremely focused on what we have to
accomplish during the usually short period of time available at a contest.

I've spent a tremendous number of hours trying to help new indoor
flyers, but that side of me is probably not very apparent if you talk to
me at a contest. I will answer questions within reason but I'm not there
as a teacher - I'm there to try to put the hurt on my fellow
competitors. It actually took several years of going to big contests
before I had ANY conversations with the big guys, and even now those
interactions are very infrequent until the flying is done.

I would suggest that the time for learning is between contests. When
you're at a contest it's time to apply what you've learned as best you can.

On 3/1/2013 7:08 PM, Ron Patten wrote:
> Mr. Lee,
> When I went to the Kibbe Dome this past summer, guess who kept blowing
> me off, (Kang) and the two experienced fliers that I was sitting with.
> The friendliest fliers were from the west coast excluding Mr. Lee. I
> did a lot of "hanger flying" with fellow sailplane pilots from the
> west, which was really a lot of fun!
> It seems that when the "Game Faces" go on, all bets are off! Even my
> very good friend had no time for questions, (I'm sure he didn't
> realize it). This was the reason I spent about $1,500 for the whole
> trip, to learn! on one occasion, not five minutes that I was basically
> told to shut up, (I always had the courtesy to ask), Kang came up to
> my friend and asked a question while he was winding, and he stopped to
> answer.
> I was pretty upset that evening, but realized that a man who was
> restricted from performing the activity that gives him "Life" can
> become intense, I understood.
> I want everyone to know that I'm not complaining, but I think that
> many of use take ourselves too seriously, after all, it is a
> hobby/sport! I could have easily put all of my equipment up for sale
> after the trip. I even donated one of my rubber slitter (Harlan) to
> raise some money for the Kibbe Dome fund. After some thought, and the
> encouragement of my wife, I made the decision to stick-it-out for now.
> For the new fliers, Mr. Lee included) just remember that you all
> probably asked a "old" experienced flier a question, and they never
> said "NO".
> With no malice intended,
> Ron
>
>
Received on Fri Mar 01 2013 - 18:23:48 CET