It was a very pleasant year at Winter Haven, with a complete shortage of tornadoes or heavy rainstorms. It seems like there area always storms enroute, but a good number of Cardinals were there along with our usual great group of Cardinal Flyers.
I'll let the pictures tell the story with a few notes. Thanks to Debbie, Jack Vandeventer, Christophe Masiero, Gordon Jacques and Richard Kingston who all shared a number of very nice photos which they took during the event. It was great to have a large number of photos to choose from.
The event started on Saturday evening with the social gathering at Faye and Palmer's house. A good crowd arrived and enjoyed the outstanding appetizers from Chef Todd which we have become accustomed to over the years.
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Most of you will recognize Faye and Palmer's front room, where the party has already started.
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The living room was also popular for those of us who had already been on our feet a lot on that day
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Just a few friendly faces...
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and deep conversations
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Indoors and out,
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And even on the back patio. The storms kept attendance a little low, which meant that most people had at least a short opportunity to sit down, and plenty of snacks for all!
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We started with the Walkaround day, with a good crowd in attendance.
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Just as lunch was about to start we were blessed by the first flying copy of the Cowl-a-Bunga.
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The team from LoPresti stands proudly by their first flying cowl. We were thrilled to be able to poke, prode and inspect it's every inch. It was even better looking than we had expected, and had a lot of nice touches like the induction air system and a replacement for our somewhat fragil nose gear door.
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Lunch was excellent Barbeque, more than we could eat!
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The whole crowd still fits on the picnic tables, without squeezing this year due to bad weather in northern Florida just before the event.
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Airport Manager Debbie had a bunch of door prizes from local businesses for us, it started to seem like almost everyone got something!
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One of the recurring memories from the Winter Haven event is the first time an RG owner brings his airplane to the flyin. If we happen to notice, we check to see if their heater duct is filled with insulation. Usually they are! Then a hush falls over the group as the poor unsuspecting owner wonders what's about to happen, but everyone else knows. |
Sure enough, this aircraft had the usual ball of insulation.
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It was worthy of posing for a triumphant picture. Plus, on the way home his firewall was cooler and next winter his heater will work a lot better!
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Our evening dinner was at a new location, a somewhat smaller resturant but large enough for the whole group.
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Plenty of conversation and refreshments to bring us back to life after a day outdoors.
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After dinner all eyes turned to the front of the room for the awards. If you've ever wondered what it looks like from up there, here it is! Actually it looks like we're listening to a story in progress... these events are often interactive with the best material coming from the audience.
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As usual, Keith got ahold of the microphone but Debbie had all the facts in hand.
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Presentations started with a big thank you to Faye and Palmer. The photo is an enlargement from a prior year which showed a big group of Cardinals and their home in the same picture. With good weather too!
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Brian Corliss from Nashua, NH won the Flew Furthest award. It should be noted that both Bruce Post and Bruce Hutchings flew in from further away, but said they have won enough times! Thanks, all of you, for making the long trip to join us!
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Roy Sobchuk picked up the 'Most Cardinal Time' award, I forget the number but he's been at it for a while!
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Our most recent Cardinal owner, and the winner of the Fledgling Award, was Christophe Masiero who had purchased his RG just a few weeks before the flyin. Welcome to Christophe!
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Gerry Geddings won the Wet Wings award for the most recent Instrument Rating. We expect to see him at every future Winter Haven now, no more excuses for weather! :-) Well, ok, other than thunderstorms. Come to think of it, what other kind of weather is there in Florida?
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A new award this year, the Broader Wings award for the most recent non-instrument rating went to Curtis Berry.
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Winn & Phil Brown were the recipients of the Hard Luck award after Phil told us an inspiring story about their eventful flight. I don't recall too many details, but after hearing the story no one wanted to try to top her!
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And finally, the grand prize for People's Choice Best Cardinal of Show want to...
Kevin Bredenbeck and Tom Hahn from Stuart Florida.
Congratulations guys!
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| Here's Kevin and Tom standing in front of their airplane. It was a very nice one indeed! |
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Our day trip this year was to the Ringling Circus museum in Sarasota. This is the front of the Art Museum, a very impressive structure built to hold the many art pieces collected by the Ringling family.
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Their home was at the back of the property, this is the side facing the lake. Pretty nice deck with a great view!
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Here's a panoramic view of the back deck, it was a very nice place to sit for a few minutes in the cool breeze.
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We had several guides for different parts of the tour, this was our guide for the art museum, once we got inside.
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A good sized group made the trip and enjoyed seeing the huge wall hangings.
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The art building had a center park-like area full of statues, ponds and outdoor artwork, including this bridge where we could take it all in.
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Lunch was in the main hall, as always with our CFO friends!
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Another guide took us through the display of various vehicles owned by the Ringlings, such as their private rail car as seen here and various circus vehicles, including a human canon.
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Another area held even more artwork which the family had collected
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One more angle on the house... one of the most ornate in Sarasota when it was built.
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Here we are at Sun 'n Fun, enjoying the new Forum areas in air conditioned comfort. Paul and Keith hold forth on a series of photos from various Cardinals we've seen in the last year.
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One of the best parts of being indoors is that we're not talking over the roar of engines... or the buzz of ultralights.
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We hope you enjoyed this year's flyin at Winter Haven, as always we enjoyed putting it all together for you!
If you have any suggestions or comments about this year's event, please feel free to share them below, either publically or privately. Thanks! Keith Peterson
The following public comments about the flyin have been entered:
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