Welcome to Torrey Pines GullsGeorge Joy – Co-Modeler of the Year – 1998
George Joy originally discovered RC soaring as a way of doing something with his son. This worked for a while but his son grew up and went other directions while George continued enjoying the hobby. That turned out to be a good thing for George and a good thing for TPG.
George joined the Gulls in the 1980s. Very soon George became associated with all aspects of competitive thermal duration. This included unlimited class sailplanes as well as the burgeoning hand launch class. And as George became more involved with TPG, his wife Jo also became involved with the club, attending meets to serve as George’s timer, helping others, keeping score, etc. By the mid-1990s the Joy’s were a force helping to drive the club forward. Jo in particular was a standout along with Don Richmond’s wife Brenda in helping to arrange all of the food for the TPG annual Christmas party, and some years even Santa Claus (in the form of Steve Condon) would make a visit. The Joys were obviously well connected.
Flying in contest after contest and doing increasingly well, George rapidly ascended through the levels of the League of Silent Flight, securing Level V on October 16, 1992, the 82nd person to do so and second TPGer after Don Edberg. To say that George was a fierce competitor would be quite an understatement. For instance in 1997 George flew in 11 out of 11 contests ,and placed third overall for the year with a total of 997.35 points, just slightly behind Fred Sage at 998.15 and Patrick Dionisio at 1000.
George also placed 4th overall that same year in hand launch having attended 4 contests, and placed second in the SC2 contest series just 12 points right behind our very own Mike Smith. During 1997, TPG was averaging 15 pilots for each SC2 contest! George was involved with just about every type of thermal contest possible. In 1997 and 1998, George volunteered as TPG winchmaster. In those days of monthly large contests and even larger SC2 contests, taking care of the club winches was quite a job. He did it largely without complaint. He also served as the representative from the TPG to the SC2 in 1997.
George also had an infectious ability to help new people learn to fly. He was patient with them and took the time to explain launching, thermalling, competitive soaring to anyone who expressed an interest. In the 1990s through the early 2000s George was the “go to” instructor for new pilots at the Poway thermal field. He took the time and effort to train many new pilots – pilots that became TPG members and helped keep the club alive. It was clear that he enjoyed getting others into the hobby just about as much as being in the hobby itself. In light of his tremendous effort for the club in 1997 through 1998 he was co-awarded the 1998 Modeler of the Year trophy along with Jerry Fry for his selfless efforts.
But like most people who win the Modeler of the Year trophy, he was basically just getting started. George and Jo established a company, Peak Electronics, and began producing a very popular line of chargers for NiCd and NiMH batteries, the Sirius and Sirius Pro. These chargers could be operated at home or in the field, and could charge both a receiver and transmitter at the same time. The Joys became known internationally not only for efforts at contests but through Peak Electronics as they attended many trade shows. But as battery technology changed in the late 2000s and beyond, the popularity of this equipment waned.
*|caption: An example of the Sirius Pro Series charger for both receiver and transmitter
batteries.|*
As interest in electric-powered aircraft blossomed, George also enjoyed flying with the Silent Electric Flyers of San Diego, especially early efforts for FAI F5B. He continued to fly with the Gulls for many years, attending and CD'ing contest after contest and attending the NATS in Muncie rather regularly.
In the mid-2000s, George and Jo relocated to Arizona. He flew with the Central Arizona Soaring League (CASL), served as safety officer in 2005, and gave presentations at their club meetings as well as those of the East Valley Aviators in Mesa, Arizona. George Joy passed in June, 2010 and his wife Jo continued running Peak Electronics for a period of time. They are both very missed by all who knew them in the Torrey Pines Gulls.