Well as the only living person to have beaten Chad for a year, I feel obligated to weigh in. YMMV, but I won the second, third and 4th NARAM meets I entered (all C division), choked big time this year mainly through a stupid mental/emotional error and came in 3rd (eliminating the single error would have won the overall meet). I personally would probably be considered over-the-top obsessed with NARAM and that's the main factor behind the success. For me, though, it's 90% mental/attitude and 10% rocketry skills. I am practiced. I am confident. I know what I and my models can/can't do. I make good decisions and manage risks very well. Yes, I catch some lucky breaks, but all that work/preparation puts me into position to benefit from those breaks (and helps me avoid the "unlucky" breaks that typically have nothing to do with luck).
Of course, despite the fact that I slay at NARAM, I can't even get a stinkin' B-SD qualified flight when I'm flying in regionals during the year, so wind up being way behind the pack heading into NARAM, and strong NARAM performance is usually not enough to overcome that (note--this year I almost posted a stunning come-from-behind performance, and for a few days had Chad a bit worried). The difference? Mental--for whatever reason, my head is not in the game at regionals to the extent it is at NARAM. It's not the models--I tend to fly the same (literally same, not just copies) models, same techniques, but I find myself just not making the best decisions, not prepping the chutes as carefully, etc.
Want to win a championship? Forget obsessing over the design, rolling your own tubes, etc. Go fly about a hundred streamer/chute duration flights until you can hit 20-30 in a row of good/not great performance and zero DQ's. Pick the 3-4 events at NARAM that you want to place in and really push yourself on those, building at least 3-4 generations of designs and 20+ flights. Forget the rest, other than making sure you at least hit flight points.
Most important advice, though--speaking as a guy who does tend to obsess over it, don't obsess over it. It's supposed to be fun, not stressful. If you wind up feeling crushed or disappointed for "failing", you're blowing it. The first NARAM I won (meet, not the national championship), between the fact that I was one of the main helpers in the host club, and the fact I was on the road for business travel almost constantly, over the 7 days before NARAM and 7 days of the meet I got a cumulative total of 12 hours of sleep spread over those 14 days. It was fun, a rush, loved it all, but not even remotely healthy. Taking it further, this past summer I lost my job, and knew the market was going to be rotten. With about 8 weeks between my last day and start of NARAM, I decided to put everything I had into trying to pursue the championship, even though I was seriously out of contention going into the meet. I went really low budget for obvious reasons, but invested every mental/emotional ounce I had into it, seriously hoping to place not in 3-4 events but in all but 1. Almost nailed it, but on Friday when the stupid mental error caused me to miss all my goals, I was in the most pain I've ever experienced. So much pain that I seriously thought about walking away from rocketry. I'm still scarred enough that I haven't even touched a competition model since, have no desire to do so, and may not even fly a contest this year (tried to go to a meet last weekend as an excuse to visit my dad, but it got rained out). A good friend caught me at my lowest point at NARAM and reminded me that if it weren't for that type of pain, winning wouldn't be nearly as much fun.
Obsession is often necessary to win, but the cost is probably too steep for the benefit. I think practice and experience are the biggest factors, far more important than anything else. Chad wins, not because he wakes up every day and wonders what he can do to improve/win, but because he's been competing for 20+ years and tries to learn something new each year.
Practice, manage your flights well, learn something every time you fly, have fun, and make sure at the end of the day you've done the best you reasonably can. That's all you can ask for. If that's enough to beat Chad or whomever else you're chasing, all the better. If not, you did what you could and the rest was out of your hands.
Chan,
Thanks for the FREE and helpful information! Chad has 20+ years ... OK, that makes me feel slightly better.
Your tip about focusing on 3-4 events and placing is well taken. I have heard from others that placing is what matters at NARAM.
I have read books about model competitions, IPMS, R/C Scale, R/C Gliders amd they all have said, winners get involved with the club and the running of the meets.
Now with that said, I did better in the 2008 season, then I did in the 2009 year. To be honest, in 2008 I was closed and had tunnel vision through the meets. In 2009, I opened up, talk with fellow flyers, was involved more with timing, and helping out. I also made real fundemental mistakes in what I flew and how I flew.
I look back at 2009 and ask myself, 'what was I thinking or not!?'.
SSS members took the simple and straight forward approach to flying, while I had to be cute. SF&F was a DISASTER for me... why fly a clustered/staged model when it would only crash meet after meet after meet! I still have the Friede sitting on my bookshelf waiting for finishing ... it is the 4th rebuild of the kit so far, only the 'Sandman Turned' - nose cone has been salvaged.
In B/G, I flew experimental elleptical-dihedral wings (R/C glider folk might remember the Hobby Hawk with its graceful curve to the hedral). If I had just flown a basic dihedral design I would have had a FAR better chance at placing for points. Heck, I could have just copied one of Gassoway's designs and had a better chance.
It seems the one thing that I do well is scale. Not because I have all the vacuum forming equipment or the casting resins, or the alps or vinyl printers, its because I love the reasearch part of it. I goto museums, militatry bases, order blue prints from the Smithsonian and defense contractors. I make sure that the model is a true representation at least in size and appearence. At NARAM 50, someone had told me I had the paint scheme wrong on my SA-207 Sat 1b ... no the LOX and Fuel tanks are supposed to be all white
Well this season will be VERY interesting. I am sure some of you know the dual between SSS and SMASH! They have already had one regional and they did very well! We (SSS) are trying for 6 in a row as section champs and face it, eventually we have to lose the title; just don't want to lose it in 2010.
I personally like model rocketry, LPR, HPR, and Amateur activities. Back in the 1990s we (myself and others) fought about HPR vs. LPR. I was on the HPR side, but secretly, I still loved and flew LPR. I am glad to see that we are all now on the same page.
I just want to win the NATS and Title and live a few more years beyond it to think about it. I told my wife I am stoping by Lowes on my way home from work today to buy a tool box (looking for a clam shell or drawer style). She asked me why? Well I gave my grandson my old tool box, so he could hold his rocket stuff (my old launch equipment).
Here are pics of my grandson from July '09 ... 114 degrees by mid day, so i took him out just after sunrise:
But back on topic, the weather is cooler now and I have designs to fly that are simple and straighforward. That is why I need a new tool box
My concept scale model is finished and I have 10 more hours or so till I finish my scale model for next year. My super roc is built and I need to test and refine; its a lot of work in the end isn't it Chan? I think its worth it.
Jonathan
