The longest day of the year was also one of the hottest: 101° at Sunnyvale.

But the heat didn’t deter determined flyers, who packed the two proximate Pickleweed Place parking bays by 8 a.m.

After all, today was the BBOB: Baylands Battle of the Bay, Pete Lane’s annual celebration of the Slow Stick.

Last year in The Baylands Battle Bash, I wondered why the word “Bay” occurs twice in the title of the event. This year I learned the reason: so Pete Lane can call it “BeeBob,” as he did several times during the day. I had thought it was “BeeBeeOhBee,” which is much less cool.

No Wind. Despite the heat, it was perfect flying weather: dead calm most of the morning.

Slow Sticks fly like umbrellas: a brisk wind messes with them, tossing them around and sometimes turning them inside out.

Saturday morning they flew with Precision and Grace. Well, not really. Precision and Grace aren’t part of their DNA, but they generally flew straight and mostly turned when the pilots wanted them to turn.

Finding an Elevator. Bob Schleimer won the first event, All Up Last Down, by flying above the tree line on the northwest side of the Great Meadow and climbing the thermals. He was in the air at least a minute more than his nearest competitor.

Young flyers turned in excellent performances. Both Jacob Gitin and Cameron Stewart showed grit and skill.

Balmy flying lasted until about 11, when the wind started to rise…

After lunch during the Unlimited Combat event, Slow Sticks were blowing backward, edging toward Highway 237.

Too Windy. By the time Lightflight Dave’s Monster Stick had chomped its last victim, it was high time to lie low.

Today’s events included:

• Hammer Streamer Combat
• All Up, Last Down
• Pylon Race
• Spot Landing
• Lunch
• Limited Combat
• Unlimited Combat
• Raffle
• Piñata
• Trophy Presentation

Changing Counts. The countdown for events is a constant surprise. Pete will hoist the megaphone and yell “Four,” then after a one-second pause, “Three,” then after a two-second pause, “Two,” then after a one-second pause, “One.” At that point, some flyers will launch, while others wait, confused, to see if he’s going to call “Zero” or blow his whistle.

The next event, of course, is completely different. “On your mark!” he’ll shout, then “Get ready!” and then pause an agonizingly long time, then, finally blast the whistle.

Stay Loose. Chaos is part of the fun and precise timing isn’t critical. If you’re a serious competitor you’ve chosen a weird platform.

“Are we flying clockwise or counter-clockwise?” asks a contestant in the Pylon Race. A guy to his left says “clockwise.” Someone else says, “No, it’s counter-clockwise!”

One wag suggests that odd-numbered planes will fly clockwise and even numbers will fly counter-clockwise.

Pete himself comes on the field to explain how it’s going to work, and in the course of the explanation the flight line moves once or twice to accommodate his ideas.

Moveable flight line? Happened last year, it’ll happen again next year. Pete Lane is a creative ringmaster, and this is his circus.

Thanks, Pete! Altogether, a thoroughly enjoyable day. Pete did a ton of work setting it up, local businesses contributed raffle prizes and the Baylands flyers responded with excellent flying, great cheer and enthusiasm.

I’m sunburned and glassily looking at a collection of nearly 1,100 photos I need to edit. I’ll post this tonight with a quick dozen photos and add a photo album with lots more pictures Sunday.

[Edit: I published more than 100 additional BeeBob Photos midday Sunday.]

Tags: Airplanes, Baylands, Combat, Flying, Gallery, People, Slow Stick.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 21st, 2008 at 8:01 pm and is filed under Baylands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.