I just wanted to let you know that I just came back from a two week trip over to Honduras. This turned out to be an amazing trip where I met some of the best people in this hobby. There is a group of people in Tegucigalpa Honduras that are trying to get the hobby to grow in their area. Each year they hold a event called the Iguana Cup. Their field is located on a Army post and on this post they raise Iguana's since the iguana is a protected reptile in Honduras. They release the Iguana's every year into the wild so this is where the event gets the name Iguana Cup.
This group of people call up many corporate companies and let them know what is going on and what their intensions are with the event. They had over 30 sponsors that donated money to fly over about 7 different pilots from different parts of the states. Some of these sponsors were huge companies like Red Bull, Raiovack batteries, KFC, Pizza Hut, hotel's, banks, phone companies, Yellow pages, and many more.
They get full TV coverage of the event as well as news paper coverage for 4 days. This helps to get the word out to the public so they can show up to the event. They charge a small admission fee to enter into the event and all this money goes directly to this Army post they can use this money to hold their own events, raise more Iguana's, or manage the grounds.
I was able to go to Roatan for 4 days. This is the crystal clear waters and white sand beaches that you see in the movies. We SCUBA dived on the second largest coral reef in the world. We took a Huey Heli ride on the Army post that was totally awesome, traveled all around Honduras and much more.
This year has been a little hard for me since I have been working hard on getting into the fire service. I am almost there and I'm very excited. I also lost my competition plane because it was shot down at a big event. I don't have a lot of spare money right now so its been hard for me to get an actual competition plane back into the air. I built a 37% Yak ARF just before the Iguana cup and this worked out very well for the event. But I would also like to thank each and everyone of you for all the help you have provided me though the years. Without your help there would be no way I could continue to fly competition because of the cost. Right now I am trying to find another competition plane and have it built so I can continue to fly all the major events for next year.
The group in Honduras was very impressed with all the equipment I was using on the plane. This was great exposure for all of your products because they finally get to see what it takes to put these models together the right way. I am sure they will be ordering products from your companies in the future. They seemed to be very impressed with my flying as well and it seems they would like to have me back next year for the same event. Each year it should continue to grow as more and more pilots will be invited. Possibly I can get some donations from your companies for raffle prizes and such. I could also bring banners and hang them for some great exposure.
