From: mckiou@cbnewse.cb.att.com (kevin.w.mckiou)
Subject: Competition Strategies
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 21:48:08 GMT


Kevin McKiou and I recently carried on an electronic conversation  
about NAR competition and developing effective strategies for  
winning.  Kevin thought some of those ideas were worth posting  
here, so I agreed to tidy up our conversation notes and he agreed  
to post them.  Two sources provide the inspiration.  Some come  
from outright thievery from Terry Lee, former NAR Contest Board  
Chairman, two time National Champion, and member of a couple of  
US Internats teams.  (There are reasons, aside from his Southern  
accent that people back in Virginia called this wily strategist  
"General Lee"!!)  I outlined my personal "tricks of the trade"  to  
Kevin, with particular emphasis on the performances achieved by  
the Northern Illinois Rocketry Association (NIRA) members.   
Between 1981 and 1988, NIRA members won nine individual  
National Championships, four Reserve Championships, three  
National Section Championships and five Reserve Section  
Championships.  While there are certainly a lot of ways to win, and  
people who didn't necessarily follow these approaches have  
indeed been successful, I think some of these ideas will work for  
you.  I'd certainly like to hear from rec.models.rocket readers who  
have comments, suggestions, brickbats, etc. on what follows.

1. INDIVIDUAL STRATEGIES

(a) Read the Pink Book.  If you don't know the rules for the event,  
you can't know how to win and how to improve.  Figure out the  
scoring for each event, how many flights are allowed, required  
number of returned flights, the reasons for disqualifications, etc.   
Reading the rules will also give you some insights into how the  
contest will be run.  Start with the general rules then review the  
event specific rules.

(b) Practice for all events where your experience is low.  If you  
already know how to fly parachute duration  (PD), don't waste time  
practicing that at your club's sport launch..  Instead, suppose you  
don't do well in streamer duration (SD).  Build a couple different SD  
models with different streamers, and fly each of them at least a  
couple of times BEFORE the contest.  Take a notebook to the field  
and write down what happened, or at least write it down after you  
get back home.  Such notebooks can be the lifeblood of your  
competition model and strategy development.

(c) Improve one event a year.  At the start of the season, it helps if  
you pick one of your weak events for special attention during the  
year.  Review the existing models and strategies for the event, look  
over the competition carefully during the contest year, and practice  
this key event each and every sport launch or test flying session  
you attend.

(d) Strive for consistent flights.  Rob Justis, my old teammate from  
the 70's, always reviewed our DQ's after the meet and separated  
them into "DQ's for the right reason" i.e no return, and "DQ's for the  
wrong reason", i.e. separation.  We strove to avoid the latter  
obviously.  This made us terribly consistent, and with today's "two  
flights count" rule, this is even more important.

(e) Fly all the events.  Sounds simple, but many people don't do  
this. You don't have to win the event, but if you don't fly it, you're  
sure to get behind because you're conceding flight points right off  
the bat to your competition.   Over the course of a contest year,  
you can concede 10% of your yearly total this way.

(f) Concentrate on events with high individual event weighing  
factors (WF).  If you have to choose events to fly, or are short of  
preparation time for some of the scheduled events, prepare for and  
fly the highest WF events first.  Simple again right?  But how many  
people go to a contest and fly PD first thing in the AM cause the  
wind is calm, and ignore BG which has a WF two to three times that  
of PD?  


(g) Refine, don't abandon, your models and strategies.  Rarely do  
you get super performance improvements from forgetting all you  
know to adopt a totally different strategy.  I've seen so many people  
hop onto a design when it didn't fit their flying style and then get  
burned. They switch because some guy had a super performance  
at  a contest, so he must have the "Holy Grail" of models.  Right  
after Tom Beach placed highly at a NARAM with a flexie RG, I saw  
lots of folks try them, and crash.  Tom had lots of flexie experience  
that helped, and when regular BG flyers tried to adopt his style  
without the background, BOOM!  If you're serious about switching  
to a completely different model, say from swing wings to slide wing  
rocket gliders, then take the time to practice, practice, practice and  
build up the background in the new method.  There are no quick  
fixes to the winner's circle.

(h) Pick your contests carefully.  If you can't fly helicopter duration  
(HD) all that well, and the next regional you plan to attend has two  
HD events, find another contest! Sometimes, this isn't possible. But  
if two contests  compete for your participation at the same time,  
take the one that has more of your "strong" events.

2. SECTION STRATEGIES

(a) Other Clubs' Contests:  These are your "away" games.  NIRA  
tried to space our contests so we didn't have back to back  
weekends for flying,  It didn't always work, but when it did, it gave  
you time to recuperate, repair and replace.  Spreading out your  
contest schedule also makes it easier on families, etc. who don't  
necessarily want to spend three weekends in a row at a cheap  
rocket motel 4-6 hours away from home.  You've also got to make  
sure that your travel arrangements, carpooling, chaperons for the  
younger members, paperwork filled out in advance, etc. are all  
worked out so you can concentrate on your flying when you arrive  
at the meet.

(b) Your Section's Contests:  On to the "home" games.  NIRA  
sponsored contests featuring the NARAM events or close  
equivalents.  You're going to end up having to fly the NARAM  
anyway if you're seriously pursuing a championships, so it helps to  
practice the NARAM events.  While you'll have a logistical burden  
of running the contest, we found that burden less than those of  
traveling to other meets.  Those of us who were less serious about  
individual competition took care of those "we gotta run the meet"  
things, then put in our flights to increase the club's total.

(c) Box Scores: Statistics for Winning:  We tracked our participation  
rate and DQ rates by person, and tried to maximize the former and  
minimize the latter (grin). You total the number of events flown by  
person and divided it by the total number of events in the contest,  
with 100% obviously being the best and desired score.  Your DQ  
rate was the total number of DQ's in the contest divided by the total  
number of flights attempted.  Wanted that one to be zero, of course!

NIRA also tracked our points per contest factor, or PPCF.  Divide  
your total number of points earned by the total number of contest  
factors flown, (the maximum contest factor (CF) limit being 12)  Like  
a batting average or ERA, PPCF told you how well you were doing,  
and after a couple of years we knew what PPCF we had to maintain  
to be in the running for a national title.  Regrettably, I've forgotten  
what those numbers were (blushes.....).  If you review the  
pre-NARAM point totals from the past couple of years, I'm sure  
you'll be able to figure out what your numbers will have to be to  
become competitve.

(d) Play Pied Piper:  We recruited every A and B division kid we  
could, because our experience would help get them on track  
quickly, and there were fewer competitors in those divisions, so  
points were "cheaper" for the club there than in C Division.  If you  
look at section champions over the years, there probably hasn't  
been a winner without a strong A and/or B Division in 15 years.  


To have true success with kids, your adult members must be  
prepared to chip in with some additional help. NIRA's adults  
carpooled, did mailings, put articles and photos in the newsletter  to  
increase the participation. We'd also stop on the field and helped  
out if someone needed a bit of coaching to avoid the DQ. That was  
easy to do if the adult and youngster prepped and went to the pad  
together.  Family groups work REALLY well in this regard.

3. SUMMARY

(a) Party Time:  When the flying is over, it helps to celebrate a bit,  
win, lose or draw.  If people get too much in a grind for points,  
they'll drop out quickly.  NIRA always held an annual competition  
party a couple of weeks after Labor Day with the typical picnic fare,  
whiffle ball, frisbee's etc., etc.  It also helps if you take a breather  
immediately after the contest.  Take an hour for dinner before  
everyone hits the road and goes their separate ways to rehash the  
good flights, cheer the winners and console the losers.

(b) Casting Your Bread:  Share what you've learned with others.  A  
three time national champion who shall remain nameless positively  
stompped every challenger in his sight.  But his desire for keeping  
secrets and his unwillingness to share left him with few friends, and  
after a brief time, he left our hobby,  poorer himself and leaving our  
hobby poorer for failing to let us learn from him.  The benefits of  
making new friends and sharing far outweigh any short term  
competitive advantage you might think you have from being  
secretive.  As a quotation I once read went  "We have all drunk  
from wells we did not dig and been warmed by fires we did not  
build."  So go ahead.  Cast your bread on the waters.  You won't be  
sorry.

Hope this provides you competition types some food for thought.   
I'd love to hear from anyone with comments, questions, brickbats,  
etc. at  mark@fnbc.com.


Cheers, Bunny