UPDATE, July 24, 2011: The first Quebec Aerotow is in the books and a great time was had by all! So, look to RCAeroTowing.com for 2012 event dates coming soon. The weekend saw the eastern half of North America gripped in a massive heatwave, but in lower Quebec humidity was low and winds were constant leading to temperatures near 90F but very comfortable flying conditions. The group from New England was especially happy to be in Canada and away from the 100 degree plus temperatures and stupidly high humidity.
Our friends in Quebec did themselves proud on their first outing with a spectacular flying site that is so big, typical photographs just don’t do it justice. Each day an excellent lunch was provided (we will miss the daily cake!)and an expansive raffle on Sunday rewarded most every participant. Thanks go to AMR as the event’s lead sponsor for going way overboard with their donations (we expect even more next year) and to ICARE as a supporting sponsor.
As for flying, the steady 12-15 winds on Friday and Saturday were just that — steady. This made for great towing, bands of lift moving through and no real issues on landing for scale sailplanes. While Friday was pretty good, Saturday saw monsterous thermals that had some folks worried their sailplanes might not escape the lift. A high class problem! Towing operations were consistent with close to 100 tows completed by dusk. The crowd enjoyed watching an 8 meter Duo Discus and 10.6 meter Nimbus mix it up all day with the more typical 4-6 meter span sailplanes. Sunday brought calm and cool and more great flying. RCAeroTowing.com provided towing services all three days with a choice of a Decathalon with DA150, Pegasus with 3W 120 and Wilga with DA100. There was also an electric Pilatus Porter on Saturday and a few visits from a large Porter with an inline two cylinder.
Special thanks to all of those who supported the event, worked on the field, provided prizes, and cooked three sumptious lunches. It’s amazingly gratifying when a group of people come together to produce a fun and successful first event. Much was learned and experience will be built upon. For 2012, we can recommend the Best Western Hotel at the US/Canada border and some spots for a good dinner. Put it all together and we hope to see an even larger crowd in Quebec in 2012.
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An impressive group has already registered. Join the fun for the 1st Annual Aerotow, July 22-24 in beautiful Lacolle, Quebec. This location is quite literally just over the U.S. / Canada border and is easily accessible from Interstate 87, the Adirondack Northway in some of the most beautiful natural scenery in the Northeast.
Organized by Daniel Plouffe and sponsored in part by RCAeroTowing.com, this new event has the promise of becoming a mid summer destination for many aerotow enthusiasts. The field is a wide open sod farm, located in Lacolle, Quebec. A perfect flying site for scale soaring! It is the home field for the RC club, “Les Arpents V’air”
“There is a desperate need for some aerotowing activity in this area” according to Daniel Plouffe, the event’s coordinator, “I figured who better to help us get our first aerotow event a huge success that the folks at RcAeroTowing.com. We have a few guys who are very interested in aerotow, and we also have a great model company, AMR Models, nearby, so it’s only natural we bring the aerotow crowd to our backyard.” AMR Models is providing sponsorship support. Etienne from ICARE will also be on site with some of his latest and greatest scale sailplanes for close inspection and drooling!
On the Interactive Mapping System here at RcAeroTowing.com , the flying site can be inspected in Satellite view providing a good feel for the size of this fabulous location. A number of flyers from throughout Ontario and Quebec are registered as are a big group from the states crossing over the border at multiple points.
To view complete information or to pre-register for the event, click here: EVENT REGISTRATION AND HOTEL INFORMATION
Hope to see you In Canada!! Official Quebec Tourism information can be found by clicking: HERE
Primary Field Coordinates (WGS84):
Latitude: +45° 05′ 33″
Longitude: -73° 23′ 21″
