Redman Rules

The Redman Rules contest started in 1975 at Torrey Pines by brothers Mike and Ben Redman, as a series of fun skill-building and light-hearted tasks. The first event in the contest is “beer can bowling” where each pilot has three chances to knock down a pyramid of empty aluminum cans (typically partially filled with sand to help avoid them from blowing over). Points are awarded on a per-can basis; 25 points for each can knocked down, for a possible total of 100 points. The second event in the contest is limbo. Contestants have three attempts to fly under a string suspended between two balsa support poles. The 10-foot-long string is typically placed 3-6 feet above the ground and the entire set-up is purposefully flimsy so that planes aren’t damaged if they happen to miss the target and hit the poles. If contestants are doing well, the limbo can be repeated at successively lower heights. 3 passes for each pilot and 30 points for each successful attempt for a possible 90 points. A third event traditionally was “carrier landing” where a rectangular area marked with string was established on the RC mound directly adjacent to the pit area. Contestants had three tries to land with their nose in the rectangle. It was quite easy to have too much energy and skid past the rectangle and off the front edge of the mound. Steve Neu won the first three Redman Rules contests, earning the title of “Champion Hot Dog Flyer” in 1978. Gulls members Phil Merrick, Frank Cox, Alex Mladineo, Ed Hoppe, Ken Banks, Steve Manganelli, Cory Hellman, Rich Fernandes and others really enjoyed this annual event. The Redman Rules contests were traditionally also followed by a hot dog roast and a session of night / twilight flying with cylumes on the wings.

As noted in the July 1984 TPG newsletter, “the contest is not as hazardous to the models as it might sound (unless, of course you insist on trying high speed dives under the limbo.) It is a low key contest that is fun to fly in and the most fun to watch.” The event in 1984 featured 18 entrants and the new addition of “combat” to the Redman Rules event. A target RC glider was flown in an oval pattern over the bowl trailering a very long crepe-paper streamer. Each contestant was then given 100 seconds to hit the streamer with their score being the number of seconds remaining in the round x 10. Only four contestants managed to hit the streamer at all, and half way through the target plane crashed due to radio failure. But it was fun. Over time yet variations have been added…replacing the beer cans with plastic bowling pins, or a contest to see how many hand catches can be made by the pilot with 30 points for each successful catch for a possible of 90 points. 50 years later, Mike Redman continues to come up with some wonderful challenges. Pilots must fly the same plane for all events in a Redman Rules contest (with the notable exception that if a pilot has a spectacular crash, another plane can be used for the rest of the contest. This can be repeated until the pilot is out of planes.) With thanks to Mike Redman, TPG continues this fun tradition but with the contest now held annually in November at the Torrey Pines Gliderport.