Jacob Sewall / 20 Jun 2001 15:02

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Tippler Subject Category: 

I got the June "Our News" last night and wanted to comment on the suggestion
of weighting Tippler flying time by air temperature. Granted this is coming
from someone who won't fly his first competition until September 16 (God
willing and the birds don't over fly before then) so I'm not sure how much
credibility I have, but I am looking forward to competition for a number of
reasons.

First and foremost, it seems to me that if anyone is flying tipplers with
the sole aim of besting their brother tippler fliers, they are in the wrong
game.
Ed Young at one point said something that now seems to me to be the main
point of tippler flying. I'm paraphrasing here but it was along the lines of
"everyone has a different location, so the real goal in competition is to
best your own times." At the same time, competition with fellow fliers is
also a wonderful thing, it generates incentive to improve both your birds
and your abilities as a handler and also fosters camaraderie. This is a
hobby in which "sportsmen" participate. If you have any doubt of this,
witness the exchange between Nino and Bob. It is definitely not about
"besting" each other, but more about encouraging each other to push their
birds and themselves to new heights.

Now, given the very low density of tippler fliers in most parts of the
country/continent/world, if we could compete across state, country and
continental borders as we do, many people would be unable to compete. In my
mind, one of the true blessings of competition tippler flying is that it
comes down to one thing, the time on the paper. No matter if you are in
Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, the US if the birds flew 12 hours, they flew 12
hours. End of story.

Obviously with this spread of competitors, it will be rare that on any given
fly day any two kits will fly under exactly the same conditions. This is
something that tippler fliers just need to accept. In the course of the year
every location will have a day that is better than another location. Taken
as a whole, there will always be regions of the country/continent/globe that
dominate different fly series. There will also always be a few individuals
that through hard work and good stock can buck the odds (Bob Adams, step up
and take a bow). But in general you would expect the early spring, late fall
and winter fly series to be dominated by those living in more southern
climates. Why? 1) the weather is generally better than in the more northern
locations (e.g. March in Southern California could be beautiful, sunny 70
degrees F. Somewhere in the northeast however, someone is struggling to fly
a kit of birds in freezing drizzle at 34 degrees F). 2) winter days in the
south are longer than winter days in the north. During the winter, northern
birds would have to fly into the dark longer (and in the cold dark) than
southern birds to achieve the same times.

The situation flip-flops for the summer, late spring, and early Fall flys.
Now northern flyers have better flying weather and much longer days. All
else equal, the UK (I wonder if anyone in the Orkney Islands flies?) or
Northern Canada are the major contenders for the world record. The summer
days there are MUCH longer (depending where you are, pushing 2 hours) than
those in even southern Canada or the Northern US.

So, as the seasons turn, everyone gets a shot at their best flying weather.

If a new world record were set in the Southern regions, the odds are that it
would be set in the winter. The reply from the North would wait until a
summer fly date.

It seems to me that anyone who is concerned about standings on and
individual fly basis should focus only on their immediate neighbors, and in
some cases this would be limited to right next door. I live in central,
coastal California. My house is in the hills about 5 miles from the coast.
Spring and summer at my house are frequently sunny and warm to hot (80 -90
F). The same day at the coast can be about 50 F and foggy. Given that
microclimates vary at even this small scale, and the length of the day
varies significantly with latitude, the idea of weighting fly times by
weather conditions (temperature is not the only factor, humidity,
precipitation, winds etc.), day length, frequency of hawk attacks, or any
other "natural" phenomenon is an enormous (and it seems to me impossible)
task.

Tippler flying at the core seems to be about personal bests, which will
occur on the personal best day (weather, birds, handler) for each flier. And
if on that given day, your personal best is better than the other fliers,
then bravo for you, if not, be happy it is your best and work to top it next
time.

That's my two cents. I'll vacate the soapbox.


Submitted by Jacob Sewall on Wed 6/20/01 3:02 PM