IPMS Santa Rosa Picnic '03

Head here for additional photos!

The IPMS Santa Rosa members and families settle in for a beautiful summer afternoon picnic.

We had a great turn out for the second annual IPMS Santa Rosa picnic. Per tradition, we met at Spring Lake, this time on Saturday August 16th. The picnic is a great chance to get to know each other a little better, meet the families and enjoying a fine summer afternoon by the barbecue. This year's entertainment consisted of a "Carrier Landing" Contest, a Parts ID Contest, door prizes and games for the kids.

Pilot Jon Thorpe misses the 3-wire and heads for the drink!

Gary Ellis and Dale Bohling ready a Fw 190 for a carrier landing. Huh?

The Carrier Landing Contest was a huge hit. From the fertile imagination of Jack Riggar, this consisted of attempting to guide a model sliding down a wire to hit the picnic table "carrier deck" as close to the 3-wire as possible. (The model contained a felt pen to leave a mark on the "deck".) The model, a 1/32 scale FW 190, was generously, but incongruously, provided by Erik Mark. Although stoutly build, it was re-built a few times before the end of the contest. Everyone gave it their best, but in the end, a steady hand and quick reflexes were more important than knowing what a carrier aircraft should look like!

Our best carrier pilot, Elynne Moulton, points to her winning skid mark. Sorry Dale, no points for second place!

Another, more sedate contest was a model parts ID contest. Mark Leonard, Jack Riggar and Greg Reynolds dug through their collections and came up with some very obscure bits of plastic. Approximately 30 pieces were displayed, for which the contestants were to guess the subject, kit manufacturer and scale. Despite rather lax test monitoring, the contest was much harder than anticipated. (Or maybe there was too much beer involved.) Next year, we'll go easier on you guys!

Rampant cheating at the ID contest: Eric Moulton (far left) seems to be looking at dad's answers, Grant Moulton seems to be looking at Tom Young's answers and Tom seems to have a copy of his "Encyclopedia of Scale Models" in hand. To no avail, Hal Sanford (far right) wins with a score of 31 out of 93.

Gary Ellis tabulates the ID contest results.

Everyone was having such a good time, we stayed until the park rangers kicked us out.

Our thanks to all those who attended and especially those who contributed to the activities, help set up, and plan the event.

Don't miss next year's!