“Too much rain :( darn” – CD Cancels First Contest of 2023

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By Dan G., MVSA Webmaster

Spring Weather Forces Cancellation of Hand Launch Contest.

The first contest of the 2023 season will not be held tomorrow. Flyers will have to wait until next Saturday’s scheduled Thermal Duration (TD) contest to begin the season. “Hi fliers, too much rain 🙁 darn”, Robert S., MVSA Club President and tomorrow’s Contest Director (CD) posted to the club’s Google Group moments ago officially cancelled tomorrow’s contest.

The announcement came on the heals of hours of club speculation as to the status of tomorrow’s contest. Early in the day the outcome looked hopeful with reports from club members about light rain totals. (The club flies on two privately owned field. As per the agreement with the owner, the club will not fly on the fields if the ground is too wet. Doing so could cause damage.) As the stalled storm continued posts changed from optimistic to fatalistic.

“Hi Flyers:  The [local] weather station shows less than .2 inches of rain so far.  We are still good … for now,” Robert S. posted before 10am.

As the rain continued to fall so did the level of optimism. Hope was replaced by the grim reality of Mother Nature. The tone of the posts changed. – “Ah yes, the fabled Winter Contest.  With childlike hope and dreams, the club schedules contests in late Winter boldly defying Mother Nature’s fury and seasonal shifting weather patterns.” One member wrote.

“We got a lot down here, I though about taking my kayak to work…..” another wrote.

“FYI, I have almost 2″ at my house in my rain gauge already today, expecting more. I asked the Magic 8 Ball about it. It said outlook not good,” yet another wrote.

As the wind began to blow away the rain, the posts kept raining down. – “The weather stations closest to the [field] on WUnderground both show about 1.5 inches has fallen and Weather Channel radar indicates similar rain in those areas to what has come across St. Charles and West County. I’d predict the fields are quite wet. PS:  I had my cataract surgery on Wednesday, so will not be participating.”


“We have puddles on the hillsides and radar has the low-pressure zone, with its waves of rain, rotating directly overhead. Dogs say they are going to poop indoors….” wrote a club member.



“I live 20 minutes west of the field.  We have puddles on the hillsides and radar has the low-pressure zone, with its waves of rain, rotating directly overhead. Dogs say they are going to poop indoors…. and with the sun dancing in the sky drying everyone’s clothes, you’d be pretty safe canceling tomorrow. Shame too as I planned to maiden a couple of airplanes and test drive Larry and Bill’s Volos.”


One member whose plan was damaged in a crash recently wrote, “I’m going to learn the fine art of carbon repair tomorrow.”

Tomorrow not only promised to be the first hand launch contest of the year, it promised to be a good flying day for several others. They planned on setting up and flying. Instead, they will have to wait for the flying field to dry. The countdown clock on the website was reset to 7 days, 17 hours as it now counts down to the next first contest of the season – next Saturday. So, the weather apps open again. The chosen weather prediction sites come back up carrying the hopes of flyers now seeing the sun come out over rain drenched lawns and drying streets.


As the sun came out, one flyer found hope.

“Yee, my place in the standings is staying the same.”


To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?