On Friday, I flew to Ottawa in hopes of attending the annual Challenger Winter Rendez-Vous, at the Chateau Montebello, on the Ottawa River. Montebello is the world's largest log cabin, and organiser Claude Roy has been bringing skiplanes together for most of the last twenty two years. It's a fantastic venue, and ideal for skiplanes.
My flight to Ottawa was delayed for an hour, for an unknown reason. The bad side of that is that the car rental agencies all close at 1 am, or sooner, so getting stuck was a distinct possibility. Fortunately, we did arrive in time, I got the car, and zipped over to the Holiday Inn Plaza la Chaudiere, got checked in, and was asleep by 3 am.
At 9 am, I got in the car and headed along Highway 148 towards Montebello. I stopped for "breakfast" at a Tim Hortons in Hull, only to find that almost no one spoke English. I couldn't even make myself understood with my crappy French. I understand that kids in Quebec don't get English language education, but how do you make it to 17 years old without picking up anything? Anyway, they mostly got my order right.
I drove to Montebello, parked in the overflow lot - it was absolutely gorgeous outside, so lots of skiers, sleigh riders, dog sledders, and others - and walked into the lobby. It was quite dark, but I quickly spotted the Challenger signs. I wasn't sure what to expect, having showed up uninvited, but Claude Roy and his wife Joan quickly made me feel welcome. I got a seat for the evening's banquet, which I wasn't expecting, since I understand it's usually sold out. They gave me a schedule to the afternoon seminars, and directed me out to the river.
On the river were close to twenty Challenger skiplanes, and a variety of other skiplanes, including a nifty RV-8. There was constant activity in the circuit, with the runway being just a few feet from where people were standing. The Challengers were the fave, of course, but there was lots of interest in the RV-8, a Helio Courier, and a pair of Quik-R trikes, which must have been pretty chilly. Vintage Wings, of Gatineau, also flew past with a Tiger Moth, a Cornell, and a Harvard.
There are photos of the Challenger Winter Rendez-Vous in various places. My photos are here: http://bit.ly/ySqVtU. I just did a photo dump, so everything I took, good, bad, or indifferent, is there. Some people have added Montebello photos to a Flickr group I set up, "Challenger Ultralight Airplanes", here: http://bit.ly/wCVIUA. There are also some photos by Vince Vairo in the FlyChallenger Yahoo! group, if you have access there: http://yhoo.it/xlm64R.
There are photos of the Challenger Winter Rendez-Vous in various places. My photos are here: http://bit.ly/ySqVtU. I just did a photo dump, so everything I took, good, bad, or indifferent, is there. Some people have added Montebello photos to a Flickr group I set up, "Challenger Ultralight Airplanes", here: http://bit.ly/wCVIUA. There are also some photos by Vince Vairo in the FlyChallenger Yahoo! group, if you have access there: http://yhoo.it/xlm64R.
In the afternoon, there were concurrent seminars on various Challenger related subjects. I attended one on the proper care of the Rotax engine by Daniel Sasseville from Aéro Propulsion Technologies in St-Lazare, Qc, which I found very useful. I will change some of my operating procedures based on the information given in the seminar.
The second seminar was about the construction of the new model Challenger XS-50, by Rob Lake of Lake Aviation in Kingston, On. He went into detail about various aspects of construction, and how it differs from the older model Challengers. It's not going to happen, but it almost makes me want to try building one. However, I want to fly, not build.
Rob Lake's presentation went on almost to dinner, so we had only a few minutes of free time. The dinner was great, lots of good conversation, and the evening was perfectly capped by a presentation on a cross country flight from the Ottawa area to Greenville, Maine. Kevin Brown, Claude Roy, and Patrick Vinet made a movie of the photos they took along the way, and it came out very well. Greenville is a major float flying base, and they were mixed in with Cessna 185s, Beavers, and at least one Lake Buccaneer. It sounds like a great trip.
It was already quite late by the time the dinner ended, and I had to go back to Hull, so I left quickly. I got slightly turned around approaching Hull, and got back to the hotel after midnight. I spent a bit of time working on my photos, and then went to sleep, probably around 2 am.
At 3:30 am, the fire alarm went off. It sounded like an alarm clock, so my attempt at turning it off didn't go well. We evacuated into the street as the fire trucks pulled up. They had to resort to an axe to take the caps off the hose connections on the hotel. I was pretty glad I'd taken the time to gather my electronic bits before I left. However, they never did hook up the hoses.
After about half an hour, we were allowed into the hotel lobby. The fire was apparently confined to the tenth floor or higher, some kind of electrical related problem. I don't know if there was an actual fire, or just a big short. The tenth floor took some kind of water damage, too. Guests on the tenth floor were given rooms on other floors. After about another forty five minutes, we were allowed to go back to our rooms. I got to sleep sometime after 5 am, with my alarm still set for 9.
I thought about hitting a museum on Sunday, or maybe going down to the Rideau Canal to watch the skaters. However, I got going a bit late, and really only had time to go see my friend Bev. She and her husband Rick live in Petawawa, which I though was just over an hour from Ottawa, but which turned out to be rather farther. We had a nice visit, I got a quick tour of the army base, and then I had to head back.
I got to the airport, dropped off the rental car, got held up in security, and just made it to the gate, where boarding had already begun. The flight back was uneventful, and I was home by 9 pm.
Rob Lake's presentation went on almost to dinner, so we had only a few minutes of free time. The dinner was great, lots of good conversation, and the evening was perfectly capped by a presentation on a cross country flight from the Ottawa area to Greenville, Maine. Kevin Brown, Claude Roy, and Patrick Vinet made a movie of the photos they took along the way, and it came out very well. Greenville is a major float flying base, and they were mixed in with Cessna 185s, Beavers, and at least one Lake Buccaneer. It sounds like a great trip.
It was already quite late by the time the dinner ended, and I had to go back to Hull, so I left quickly. I got slightly turned around approaching Hull, and got back to the hotel after midnight. I spent a bit of time working on my photos, and then went to sleep, probably around 2 am.
At 3:30 am, the fire alarm went off. It sounded like an alarm clock, so my attempt at turning it off didn't go well. We evacuated into the street as the fire trucks pulled up. They had to resort to an axe to take the caps off the hose connections on the hotel. I was pretty glad I'd taken the time to gather my electronic bits before I left. However, they never did hook up the hoses.
I thought about hitting a museum on Sunday, or maybe going down to the Rideau Canal to watch the skaters. However, I got going a bit late, and really only had time to go see my friend Bev. She and her husband Rick live in Petawawa, which I though was just over an hour from Ottawa, but which turned out to be rather farther. We had a nice visit, I got a quick tour of the army base, and then I had to head back.
I got to the airport, dropped off the rental car, got held up in security, and just made it to the gate, where boarding had already begun. The flight back was uneventful, and I was home by 9 pm.
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