This was sent out to the sponsors yesterday.
Greetings.
I’ve been holding off on deciding dates for Rantoul for 2017.
One thing was pretty evident: After the Indoor NATS were held there, Jeff and I were pretty burnt out. Evidently most of the rest of the sponsors were too as the two sessions immediately after the NATS were attended by one flyer only. I had hoped that more would come, but I think with vacations and such, it may be too ambitious to have five sessions, plus the NATS. Three might be better.
Speaking of the NATS, there is some talk about continuing in Rantoul. Some want it earlier to avoid the heat. Others point to the increased participation with quite a few folks stopping by on the way to the outdoor NATS in Muncie as a reason to continue with that date.
On the other hand, a potential new site came to the attention of Rob Romash: The US Cycling Velodrome site in Colorado Springs, CO puts up a dome for part of the year. The height is about 90 feet and Rob reported that the air in it was excellent, putting up a light EZB that went to the ceiling and down without much drift at all. The dome came down for the summer and only recently went back up. They have a flying session scheduled inside on December 11th. They will compare the air to what it was earlier in the year when the temps inside and out were very similar. If available, the Indoor NATS dates would be earlier, maybe in May.
Until the Indoor committee sorts out the dates and location I am a bit hesitant to set up the Rantoul dates.
A few suggestions were made that should be considered:
1) If the NATS are again held in Rantoul in the summer, a cool room needs to be made available. I’m all for this actually and believe it could be done relatively easily. If we plan it out correctly, it could be moveable too if the need should arise.
2) Change from 5 sessions to three. Make two of these sessions three day contests. It was suggested May and October, Friday/Saturday/Sunday events. With three days of flying, it would make it more ‘worthwhile’ for those who have to drive 8-12 hours to get to Rantoul. This would lower our costs slightly as well.
3) Remove the lights in the center. Bud has offered to pay for a lift to remove the lights at the beginning of the season, then rehang them at the end. They could easily be stored off to the side. The Village would have to agree to this.
4) Add material to the space between the ceiling and the red L beam. With the lift, this should be easy, just need to make and assemble the parts, then lift the up and insert them into the gap. 3/8” – ½” foam board should work well. I estimate this cost at about $300. 21 sheets of foam board at $14 each. This would do 150' of five L-beams. The center of the building basically.
5) Addition of lights: IF we can remove some of the lights in the center, I’d like to add some LED lights to the sides where people set up. Additionally, add some larger wattage lights about 10-15’ off the ground pointing to the center ceiling. We could potentially add a strip of LED lights in the center along one of the red L-beams as well. I know from experience how difficult it is to fly an F1D at dusk/night. It literally disappears about 4 feet from the ceiling.
None of these cost a whole lot of money, it is more about time and manpower. Lights would probably run about $200. Materials for a room likely about the same.
If we move to the three session model as suggested, costs will be roughly the same: 8x$200 for rental, plus 3x$105 for porta-potties. With 10 sponsors, this equals $191.50 plus $20 for Bong Eagles membership.
Once I hear more, I will work on setting the dates.
Regards.
Mike Kirda
Received on Fri Dec 02 2016 - 07:10:21 CET
This archive was generated by Yannick on Sat Dec 14 2019 - 19:13:48 CET