January - March 2004

February 7, 2004: Several ISPA Members, including Philip de Ridder are having good success with adding vortex generators (VGs) ahead of the flight control surfaces on the Seawind. The theory behind VGs is that they energize the flow across the control surface and increase its effectiveness. Because of the way VGs look, and skepticisms about their real effectiveness, this topic has been somewhat controversial in the past, but has been gaining credibility in the last few months. Philip sent the photo at the right to give us an idea about how the VGs are installed ahead of his elevator. Philip is impressed with their effectiveness. Some of you may remember in the past that the late Gene Ott had installed VGs on his (007) Seawind and was also very happy with the improved performance.

January 1, 2004: By now, ISPA member Philip de Ridder has several hundred hours on his Seawind, C-GAKA (SNA kit #35). The pictures of C-GAKA on Fire Lake illustrate to most of us that owning and flying a Seawind is possible and helps keep our enthusiasm alive through what is a long and difficult building process. During the years of use, Philip has made some changes and improvements. He sent us some additional photos including the interesting water rudder shown here. The rest of the photos can be seen on Philip's Letters page. Thank you Philip.