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How to Build a Wild Wing

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

Wild Wing on picnic table

We have reached a peak in our pursuit of the perfect combat plane.

The perfect candidate can float slowly in the air, then zip forward, up or down for a lightning strike or getaway. It can loop in a heartbeat and speed straight to a target. It laughs at wind and spins in a tight victory roll after bashing an opponent.

Our quest has taken us through Mini SpeedWings, Boomers and hacked Wild Wings. We’ve looked at other wings, too, including HyperFleas and even Strykers.

The Great Meadow is our laboratory and we’ve had altogether too much fun conducting this research.

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Posted in Baylands | 5 Comments »

BBOB 2008: More Photos!

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008

Slow Sticks compete in Last Down event.

Here are a hundred or so more pictures from Saturday’s spectacular Baylands Battle of the Bay event.

See Slow Sticks of every hue, dramatic crashes, focused competitors and exotic contraptions.

I’ve posted brief captions which you’ll see in slideshow mode.

Not sure what this is all about? Read Saturday’s BBOB report, and enjoy even more pictures.

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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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Squirrel Days

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

Sitting quite upright, a young California Ground Squirrel nibbles on a bit of vegetation.

Looks like the park workers planted lots of squirrel seeds this past winter: suddenly the path just north of Pickleweed Place is aswarm with at least a trillion baby California Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi).

Wikipedia tells me that California Ground Squirrels belong to a family of rodents that also includes marmots and prairie dogs. Some are big and some are small. Most can rise up on their hind legs and rest, standing erect. They tend to be more gregarious than other squirrels. Many live in social colonies.

Their enemies include snakes, eagles, raccoons, red foxes, badgers and weasels. On Monday I saw one of our Red-Tailed Hawks fly by carrying a little Ground Squirrel. At this baby stage, they’re easy to spot and catch.

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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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