Photos from AWAC are being archived at the following web site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29638280@N08/

Please contribute to the archive with any photos you may have from the contest.  You can e-mail Mike Steveson or me for posting instructions.

…Hector

TEAM U.S.A. WINS AWAC GOLD!!! 

 

 

 The US team had strong flights and easily won the team gold.  Rob Holland (76.1%), Todd Whitmer (72.64%) and Hector Ramirez (72.57%) contributed to the U.S. team win. 

 

The entire team had very strong flights controlling five of the top ten positions, – we would have also won the Silver but they only give out one trophy per team!  South Africa ultimately took silver and Great Britain the bronze medals.

 

 

Rob Holland stepped it up a couple of notches and took first place medal in the freestyle, also winning the first unknown sequence.  I finished with a second place silver in the freestyle and Norm with the bronze in that flight.  Alex finished second in first unknown and Craig third.  Todd flew a great second unknown sequence finishing third.  Results can be found at:

 

http://www.civa-results.com/2008/AWAC08/indexpage.htm

 

The weather was a significant factor with constantly changing, hard winds and density altitudes around mid to high 4,000 ft.  There were a lot of outs and struggling at the bottom of the box.  Penalty points played a huge part of the contest with fairly radical changes in pilot standings with each sequence.

 

It was a great, extremely well organized and run contest.  The entire U.S. team is very thankful for the huge effort made by the organizers, CD staff, judges and selfless volunteers.  Volunteers contributed greatly at their own expense to make the event happen.  I personally want to thank Chris Rudd for his perseverance and endurance as boundary judge for the entire contest – and I know there were many more like Chris -THANK ALL OF YOU VERY MUCH !!!! 

 

 

TEAM U. S. A.

 

 

 

 

 

Closing ceremonies are tonight.  Another AWAC down.  See you at Nationals. 

…Hector

8/9/08

Thank you for all of your interest and support! 

The first unknown has been flown.  The sequence can be found at:

http://www.civa-results.com/2008/AWAC08/1st%20Unknown%20-%20B%20Only%20-%20AWAC%2008.gif

Rob Holland, Alex Land and Craig Dobesh had strong finishes at 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.  Go USA!  Although there has been a bit of shuffling around in positions, the US Team maintains 6 pilots in the upper third. We’re definitely in very good position for US Team gold.

Results can be viewed at:

http://www.civa-results.com/2008/AWAC08/indexpage.htm

US Team HQ

 

Program Q has been flown and the unknown figures submitted.

MIKE SUBMITS US FIGURE

 

 

 

 

The first Unknown sequence is expected to be selected this evening.  It’s mid afternoon, the free, program 2, is starting.  It’s doubtful that we will get very far down the pilot list today.

 

Program Q went very well for the USA.  Of the top 12 positions, 6 are held by US pilots!  We definitely have positive momentum, but, quite a lot of contest to go.  You can see the results at http://www.civa-results.com/2008/AWAC08/combined_results.htm .

…Hector

8/4/08

 

Bob Higbee, Contest Director, and Mike Heuer, CIVA president, directed the initial briefing which took place at the Red Lion Hotel, Saturday, August 2^nd. 

 

Briefing

 

 

 The U.S. team flashed into the meeting with their high energy attire.

U.S. Team

 

 

Each pilot drew a number for the order of flight.  Out of the 36 contest pilots, the US positions are:

 

14 – Norm DeWitt

16 – Rob Holland

17 – Hector Ramirez

19 – Brian Dierks

20 – Craig Dobesh

27 – Alex Land

33 – Pat Clark

35 – Todd Whitmer

 

Opening Ceremonies at the “Happy Canyon” were to a Western theme with Indian chanting and drums.  Indian warriors and dancers provided continuous entertainment throughout the ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each team paraded behind their national flags while their national anthems were played.  A lot of pomp and ceremony – quite a treat!

 

 

 

 

 

Team USA!

It was a wonderful start to AWAC 2008.  Now to get down to business……

 

…Hector

8/2/08

August 1^st, registration day for AWAC 2008.  The team flew in to Pendleton two days ago for some limited practice in the contest box.  Each pilot gets one 15 minute slot each day.  Mike Steveson’s critique sessions have been paying off – the entire team is flying with great precision and enthusiasm.

 

 

Brian, Alex and Mike

Craig Dobesh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rob Holland

 

Jeff Boerboon met the rest of the team at the EAA hangar shortly after we arrived.  It was great to see him at the contest site but the team is saddened by his unfortunate ankle injury.  He is in great spirits and provides great encouragement for the rest of the team.  His absence on the flight line will be sorely missed but the US team’s hope for a gold medal remains very high.

Steve Johnson, Ann Salcedo and Jeff Boerboon

 

Dinner last night at Rafael’s was very “upper crust” (Norm’s influence I’m sure) but I passed on the rattlesnake and rabbit sausage.  The entire team was together for a very nice evening.  Greg Dungan, CIVA judge from the US, was on hand to explain critical differences between CIVA and IAC rules, as well as to discuss proposed CIVA rules changes.

Rafael's Dinner

Rafael's Dinner Meeting

 

 

 

Tomorrow is opening ceremonies and contest flying starts Sunday.  A bit nervous with anticipation…

 

…Hector

8/1/08

Cooley Corridor

July 28^th, Nikolay left for Oshkosh this morning.  Laurie and I took the afternoon off from flying.  We drove the 60 or so miles down the Cooley Corridor.  Amazing Western scenery and geological formations formed by volcanic activity mega millions of years ago and the effects of the ice age 15-20 thousand years ago.  Very nice drive all of the way to the Grand Cooley Dam at the Columbia River.

 

Dry FallsCooley Corridor 2

A week gone by already?  It took three flights just to get the seating position acceptable to all of the pilots in N25AP.  Felt too insecure with hard pushes – rotating the seat belts 180 degrees solved that problem.  Finally ready to really fly after several days of adjusting and tweaking.  Nikolay Timofeev arrived late last Wednesday to help me train.  What a help he was – his expert video reviews relived all of the good, and bad, points of my flights.  By the end of 5 days I was completely comfortable in Doug’s 300L and making progress.   Rob and Todd have been flying three hard flights a day in high wind and hot weather.  They are looking mighty fine! 

 

Rob had a prop seal failure and leak which grounded his MX2 for a couple of days but everything is back up and running with plenty of time.  With a little luck, it should be a strong show at AWAC for the US team!

 

July 27, and three more team members from Texas arrived – Craig, Pat and Brian.  Norm had to leave for Oshkosh.  With the exception of Jeff, the only team member missing is Alex Land – I understand he is training in Canada where the Sukhoi he will be flying is based.  Mike Steveson, the team manager,  arrived last Sunday and the US camp is now in full swing.  We spent part of the last afternoon discussing possible unknown figures for programs 2 and 3 at Basaltz Restaurant – one of the few good eating spots in Ephrata.

US Team Meeting

 

 

 

 

…Hector

7/29/08

Long flight….  Up at 2:45 a.m. on Monday, July 21^st, for an airline flight from Orlando, Florida to Spokane, Washington – I guess Laurie and I should have limited the festivities the night before.  But, it was a great send off by our aerobatic friends at Leeward Air Ranch in Ocala, Florida – Pendleton here we come!

 

The evening of arrival we were met in Spokane by Doug and Pat Sowder.  We had a great dinner on the river and walk through the beautiful town park.  The next morning, Doug and I met at his hangar where he entrusted his Extra 300L to my care.  Doug’s level of enthusiasm and support for aerobatics is amazing!  I hope there will be a time that I can repay his generosity.

 

Hector Ramirez and Doug Sowder

It was a short flight in the Extra 300L to the US Team practice site in Ephrata, Washington, on Tuesday.  The view from the air was, well a lot different than central Florida – desolate hills, high volcanic desert, ravines, distant mountains – and not a whole lot of places to let down. 

 

The advanced team was already assembling when I arrived.  Todd, Norm and Rob were getting into a practice routine.  The two South Africans using Rob’s MX2 were there – “Cocky” and “Bugs” – I wonder what my nickname would be in South Africa?  Later in the day the two European pilots I was sharing the airplane with also arrived, Gerrit Nijs and Didier Amelinckx from Luxembourg and Belgium respectively.

 

Time to start practicing.

 

…Hector

7/22/08

 

Family, friends, loyal supporters and aerobatic enthusiasts,

 

It is with a very heavy heart and with great disappointment that I have to withdraw from the Advanced World Aerobatic Championships this August.  I am a three time member of the Advanced Aerobatic Team and I would not be where I am now in this sport without the help of many extraordinary people.

  

Over the 4th of July weekend Maria and I joined Chuck and Irene Graves at their home in Parker, AZ for a little rest and relaxation before the final leg of preparation for the world contest.  I had spent the previous two weeks working with Len Roulson getting the Extra 300L up and running and in perfect shape for the contest.  I had planned on working with Mike Steveson on the 7th, 8th, and 9th to put the final touches on the new free sequence and start the three weeks of practice to perfect my flying.

I was feeling great and everything was right on track until Saturday, July 5th. I have been wakeboarding for the last four years and have never so much as had scrape or bruise from a fall.  This fall was not unlike any other that I have had.  I was simply moving across the wake from one side to the other in slightly choppy water when I lost my balance and fell.  However, this fall happened just wrong and the board caught the water and twisted my right ankle. We went directly to the emergency room and after the x-ray results came in the doctor explained that I had broken my Talus bone in my right foot.

The following Tuesday, July 8th I went to see an orthopedic surgeon in Phoenix.  Dr. Mitchell confirmed the damage to the Talus and ordered MRI and C-Scans and scheduled me for surgery on Monday the 14th.  I returned for a follow up on Friday the 11th and upon further review of the scan results, there was damage to both the right and left side of the bone in addition to the tail part of the bone being broke.  Based on this information the doctor said the surgery would consist of removing small bone fragments on the right side of the Talus and using screws he would reattach the large part of the bone on the right side of foot that had broke off.  His plan was to leave the other side and the back part of the bone alone as they were in good alignment and it could be a detriment to open these areas.

 I had the surgery at 8:00am Monday morning and it went very well.  It went as planned with the exception that a small amount of cartilage had to be removed from the damage on the right side of my foot where the bone fragments were removed and the screws inserted.  I was ready to leave the hospital at 11:00am and Maria drove me home.  I have been on the couch with my leg elevated as directed for the past two weeks.  I have a splint on my foot now but on the 28th the doctor will remove the stitches and replace the splint with a hard cast.  I cannot put any weight on my foot for four weeks after surgery at which point he will remove the cast and put me in a boot so I can start working on getting motion back in my ankle.

Here are a couple of pictures of my foot taken on Wednesday the 9th.  The swelling had gone down but my foot is still bruised.

 

 

 

 

I will be traveling to the contest site on July 29th after I have the hard cast on to help with the team in any way that I can.  As much as I wish that I was competing I will be there to support and help this team in pursuit of Gold medals.  I am very confident in this team as we have a very talented group.  Alex Land our alternate pilot has been planning all along to be at the contest so he was able to seamlessly fill in for me and I am sure that he will do a great job.  It is a comfort to know that we have such a depth of talent on this team that will no doubt step up to the plate and make us all proud.

 Words cannot describe my disappointment of this unfortunate accident.  There is so much effort on the part of so many wonderful people who have helped me in my pursuit of my dreams of being at the top of this sport.  All I can say now is that after what I hope will be a speedy recovery, I will be back in the cockpit in time for a run at the Unlimited Team.

 

Again I would like to thank everyone who has helped me on this journey and know that I will be back and more dedicated than ever to go for Gold.

 

Sincerely,

Jeff Boerboon

Captain US Advanced Aerobatic Team