Re: What is going on with 2024 the SCCBC season?

On 7/5/24 2:19 PM, Tom Elam wrote (plus merged posts):

On 6/28/2024 8:04 PM, -hh wrote:

On 6/28/24 11:10 AM, Tom Elam wrote:

On 6/27/2024 3:55 PM, Alan wrote:

On 2024-06-25 10:34, Tom Elam wrote:

Dear Alan,
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Last year, 2023, April-June, there 3 weekends, 9 races at SBBC. Total unique CW driver entries were 97, OW 37. These are typical for an entire season for 2021-2023. In April-June 2024 unique driver entries are 14 OW and 49 CW, about half prior years.
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These stats are from the SBBC season championship records.
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Wow, quite the drop. What's going on, Alan?
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And, BTW, you entered 11 out of a 71 2021-2024 races. None last year of course, but also none this year and 11 out of 34 in 2021-22. Have you retired? I thought you were looking forward to getting back this year. Not so much?

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So great to see you taking such an interest in my life, Liarboy!
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I wonder if I might take a little interest in yours.
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Done much flying lately?

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Well, yes. Two very different flavors. Full scale last 6 months, 36 hours logged including 2 family visit trips to Georgia, some CAP hours, and just passed a VFR checkride. The Christmas return flight from Georgia was IFR all the way home and an instrument approach into Indy Metro.

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Christmas of 2023, of course.
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Now good for 2 another years on my BFR, taking me almost to my 80th birthday. At this time I am also IFR current and capable, but those are perishable skills. I'll be taking an IFR skills test checkride before the end of September.
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RC model flying has been active since the weather improved in April. Some of that is documented on my YouTube channel available at:
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcvZXi-36GQkeHr0FdB4cTg
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My latest YT video is rendering as I write this. That one is on programming my 3 meter Fox sailplane for solo hand launch. It will be up on the channel by end of today.
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Tomorrow I am scheduled to go to the AMA annual Fun Fly in Muncie and do some instructing with beginning RC pilots. I also just passed my Part 107 Remote Pilot/commercial drone license FAA refresher, and good for another 2 on that front years too.
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So yes, done a lot of flying. Some airline flying in the near future too!

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Because even 36 hours droning along at a Cessna's 125mph cruising speed is just 4500 miles: enough to cross the pond once...but not back.
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We will be flying to Vancouver next month to catch a train to Calgary then flying home from there. August takes us to France, Luxembourg and a Viking river cruise to Basel. Flying home from Zurich. Ten day trip in all. So still traveling too.

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Oh, so now its a ten day trip for what previously was a twelve day Paris-Rhine cruise claimed back in February?  /s
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How about you, doing any racing lately? I know the answer to that, at least for SBBC events. Null, zero, nada since 2022. Going anywhere outside Canada this year?

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Life invariably takes different turns.  My last travel comment here was in early 2023, that we were looking (in 2023) to be making up for our CoVid travel lull, but that doesn't mean that it all went as had been hoped for: indeed, it could have changed.  Cancelled outright, or even perhaps upgraded to be in First Class instead of Coach on all of that year's international flights! /s
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Same applies for 2024 as well, for life invariably throws curve balls; this is why the advice was to 'do the hard stuff' while one's body (& finances) are healthy enough to be still able to do what one wishes. Otherwise, one can be pushing 80 and renting a car is no longer trivial, so one can get increasingly constrained to guided tours on cruise ships.
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In any event, a week on the Rocky Mountaineer and the aforementioned Rhine cruise sounds to be in the rough ballpark of ($7500+air)/pp, so it does seem like Tommy is perhaps finally breaking out of his prior fiscal constraint, as I'd long advised.  Yay, you!.
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-hh
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Ten was a wrong number for Europe. It IS 12 days plus 2 for to-from travel that I did not include in a prior post.

But also plus +3 days pre-tour in Paris, as you've mentioned before and mentioned again below.

The Canada trip is a package tour via a local company. It includes several side trips, most meals, air, and several nights in the Fairmont Banff Springs and others of similar quality prior to Banff Springs. Check the rates on that hotel. $11,990 for 2. Sadly, one of the people, a good friend at that, was scheduled to go but died very suddenly. The wife has to cancel. It may still be an open reservation for two. Interested? Starts July 20.

We've been meaning to get back to the Canadian Rockies, but that start date hits a schedule conflict.  Plus we learned last month that we're out of shape for any decent hiking in the Rockies (not that this rail journey would really have much), so not enough pre-trip prep time either.

The Europe trip including air is a bit over $10,000 plus 3 nights on our own in a Paris hotel at $300/night, plus meals, local transportation and sundries. Likely to also come to about $12,000.

Figured about that, as a cabin on Viking is ~$3800/pp on its own.

Your $7,500 pp is spot-on but includes airfare.

As you know, there's several rail journey options to choose from, of varying lengths; I'd conservatively parameterized to a higher end tour than what you actually chose.

We also just this week scheduled a trip to Luddington MI to spend a week with some good friends at their cabin. I'll be flying us up there, only about $600 R/T for air plus taking them out to a VERY nice restaurant or two.
 We also have the annual ski trip of course. 2024 is a bit of a splurge but not that different from many prior years.

I've not chatted skiing lately with a colleague who spends 2-3 weeks in Vail each season to know current rates, but I'd expect that the Epic is still just ~$1K/pp and that condo/AirBNB rates are quite variable.  Even so, $10K probably covers ~3 weeks when driving.  So without the ski trip, ballpark $25K for 2024, including the Florida bit (next below):
{merge}
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 > Second reply. I just updated the 2024 travel diary and forgot to
 > include 2 January Florida weeks. We stayed with friends week 1, so
 > that kept the cost down. I think the whole trip was only maybe $3-4k
 > all-in.
{merge}
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 > Back again. FYI the club 182 cruises at 160+ mph, not 125.
So its an 5,760 miles upper limit.  That's still not enough to cross the pond & back...and one still can't nap (safely) when at the controls.
 > It's a little over 2.5 hours including taxi time, with no headwind.
 > Delta makes it in 1:30 of droning on in a B737 but them you have a 1+  > hour drive to my sister's place in Woodstock, TSA hassles, ...
TSA Pre makes airport security pretty trivial.  And since someone else is driving, its easy to take a nap, watch a movie, read a book...
 > ... and what do we do with all the Christmas presents in Cessna
 > luggage compartment? 🙂
Have Amazon send them direct to final destination.  Or ship them out in advance via FedEx, USPS, or UPS.  Or small gifts which fit easily in one's pocket, and/or a small carry-on bag.
-hh