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BBOB 2008: Slow Sticks in the Sky

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

Slow Sticks rise into the air like balloons.

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.

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A Mighty Crash

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

A crowd of spectators marvels at the debris strewn by the crashed Hawk

On Wednesday, Tom Guerrette brought his red Fly Fly BAE Hawk jet to fly at Baylands.

The day was windy, but this is a hefty plane, big enough to shrug off the wind.

“You shouldn’t take pictures,” Tom smiled. “It’s not painted yet.”

The Hawk did look mottled. Tom had spackled it to fill in dings and dents and hadn’t yet applied makeup. But it was mostly a nice bright red, and I’ve seen Tom fly much more homely aircraft than this spaceship-graceful speedster.

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Harold High Up

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

Harold’s Aerial Photo

Last weekend, Harold Hasselbach drove to Nevada, seeking wide open spaces where he can fire his cannon.

He ended up in Carson Sink, about 60 miles east of Reno. According to Wikipedia, Carson Sink is a 300 square mile playa in the Lahontan Valley of northwestern Nevada. It’s the central portion of prehistoric Lake Lahontan, which existed in northwestern Nevada at the end of the last ice age, between 20,000 and 9,000 years ago.

As Harold says, “I finally found a place where there are no crowds.”

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Son of Symposium

Saturday, May 17th, 2008

Gary Glues a Wing

Saturday, Gary Morgan hosted his second Hammer Symposium.

People started cutting, gluing and building at about 9 a.m. The fresh park air was spiced with the hot-wax odor of hot glue.

The first Hammer Symposium was a big, fun, loosely organized social event.

This one was smaller and much better built, drawing a mix of veterans from Symposium 1 and newcomers.

Enjoy these pictures from today’s event.

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Quadrophesia

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

Four Wings

Last October (let’s see… that’s five months ago!) I started building a pair of Mini SpeedWings so Mike Nadler and Gary Morgan could join Dave North and me in foam-slamming combat sessions at Baylands Park.

I finally finished them last night and delivered them this morning.

Why did it take me so long?

Work was speeding along for a few days in October, then I made a mistake.

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