# Which direction?



## Kal-El (Oct 10, 2008)

Which direction does your club/combine/concourse/federation race?

We race south to north.


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## Lovelace (Jan 10, 2008)

Our birds are carried north and fly south to get home.


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## Lickfork (Feb 1, 2010)

South to North as well!


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## DEEJAY7950 (Dec 13, 2006)

North direction for ALL the races old habits are hard to change seems to me FAIRNESS should be part of the equation and take loft position out of it by flying half north and half south giving a more equitable series of races for ALL but stubbornness to change is killing this sport IMHO, that is why so many now go with the one loft races (a level playing field for all)


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## Kal-El (Oct 10, 2008)

In the Twin City Concourse, they fly South to North one year, then switch to Northwest to Southwest. I think it's a rarity to have a bird perform well flying in two different directions.


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## Pigeon0446 (Apr 22, 2007)

We fly a South West course. And for good reason because here on Long Island it's the line in which the birds have the shortest path over water.




DEEJAY7950 said:


> North direction for ALL the races old habits are hard to change seems to me FAIRNESS should be part of the equation and take loft position out of it by flying half north and half south giving a more equitable series of races for ALL but stubbornness to change is killing this sport IMHO, that is why so many now go with the one loft races (a level playing field for all)


Where do you fly in comparison to everybody else that sending the birds south would make it more fair?


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

We fly from the Southwest. Our combine is really big (as in, spread out, not amount of fliers/birds). We have members up in Virginia, all the way down into South Carolina. On our first race, the shortest guy will either be just at 75 miles, or under (which means it's not qualified as a race for him) depending on where we start. But from that same station, the farthest guy will have a 200 mile race from the very get-go. It is really not fair, but everything is just lined up right to where a lot of clubs have no other choice. One combine beside us is slowly dying out...so...not much we can do if we all want to race from our own loft. However, the guys up north do get birds home, and a lot of them do pretty good considering. But I couldn't imagine being a new flier and learning my first race would be 200 miles! 

Flying from the East isn't an option here. We run out of land  Flying West is an option, but an unwanted one. The combine has tried before and failed. Flying over the Great Smokey Mountains just doesn't cooperate with pigeons unless you live there (or closer than us), or release later in the day. Early in the morning, most of the time, you'll have a LOT of fog. Fog banks that can get 30 miles thick. Old birds, maybe, young birds, I'd rather not risk it.


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## Char-B Loft (Dec 28, 2008)

My club flys around the compass rose so we change direction each year...This has stopped the fighting about course direction...


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## Bluecheckard (Jun 23, 2008)

our concourse fly from North going home south.


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## DEEJAY7950 (Dec 13, 2006)

Pigeon0446 said:


> We fly a South West course. And for good reason because here on Long Island it's the line in which the birds have the shortest path over water.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Most members are on the short end and a few of us are on the long end so splitting the races half north half south (during young bird season) would give everyone a fair chance at winning otherwise the short enders have ALL the advantage and as i see it an unfair advantage when it is possible to do something to make it a more equitable race season! Of course you can see that those on the short end do not want to give up their advantage not wanting to compete where they will have to fly the long end, just doesn't seem right! Some say it doesn't matter but I question that opinion cause if those on the long end have to fly farther and faster to beat the short ender's not to mention the birds have that much more territory to fly and out wit the birds of prey that are always waiting for them on race day!


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## Pigeon0446 (Apr 22, 2007)

DEEJAY7950 said:


> Most members are on the short end and a few of us are on the long end so splitting the races half north half south (during young bird season) would give everyone a fair chance at winning otherwise the short enders have ALL the advantage and as i see it an unfair advantage when it is possible to do something to make it a more equitable race season! Of course you can see that those on the short end do not want to give up their advantage not wanting to compete where they will have to fly the long end, just doesn't seem right! Some say it doesn't matter but I question that opinion cause if those on the long end have to fly farther and faster to beat the short ender's not to mention the birds have that much more territory to fly and out wit the birds of prey that are always waiting for them on race day!


I agree with you that the short enders have the advantage in most the races we fly. We have over 140 lofts in young birds in my combine they are only spread out about 20 miles north to south but the short guys in the 100 mile race are on Staten Island and only fly 75 miles I'm 121 miles and the long guys are close to 200 miles. The short guys win almost all the fast races and the long guys win all the slow races. It's hard for the guy in the middle like me. It seams like if we get a race in the 1400 ypm area it's pretty even. The two times I topped the combine they were both races in which my birds made speeds in the 1370's. And the other 2 times I shoulda topped the combine they were really fast races both with speeds over 2000ypm. When I first strated flying back in the late 90's my club had 40 shippers I actually topped the combine with 2 pigeons the first race I flew by myself when i was 18 but we used to have a bunch short enders. Two of which were winning most of the races with multiple birds on the drop and it killed the club ppl were leaving and going to the other clubs caus they couldn't win. Then the shipping got so low that even the short guys left it got so bad I was the only shipper in my club in 2002 yb so I won every race. LoL (not really wins but I did win some combine diplomas that year) So the few guys left as members closed the boundries. We gave short enders a one time chance to stay in the club but only one stayed. After that our club got back to almost where it was back in the 90's becasue most the guys who left came back caus they felt like atleast now they stood a chance. But it's all part of the sport soem ppl have and advantage because they are better handlers some because of better birds other because of loft location. But I feel if you try hard enough and put in the extra time and effort you can overcome any advantage that the other guy might have. But I wouldn't mind one bit having one of them advantages. LoL


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## Kal-El (Oct 10, 2008)

Char-B Loft said:


> My club flys around the compass rose so we change direction each year...This has stopped the fighting about course direction...


If we were to do this, there would be an uproar!


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## Gnuretiree (May 29, 2009)

We fly Northwest


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Kal-El said:


> If we were to do this, there would be an uproar!


Same here. The combine beside us does that pretty much. I would be very hesitant to continue flying with the combine if ours decided to go that way. It was brought up at the meeting. Needless to say, shot down, thankfully. It's so much easier when you don't have to retrain in a different direction.


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## Kal-El (Oct 10, 2008)

MaryOfExeter said:


> Same here. The combine beside us does that pretty much. I would be very hesitant to continue flying with the combine if ours decided to go that way. It was brought up at the meeting. Needless to say, shot down, thankfully. It's so much easier when you don't have to retrain in a different direction.


Now why wouldn't someone just suggest that clubs/combines/federations just fly in one direction for 2-4 years (for young and old bird races), then rotate? Isn't the peak of racing pigeon's performance 4 years?


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## AJPDP (Jan 26, 2008)

North to South


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## Char-B Loft (Dec 28, 2008)

Kal-El said:


> If we were to do this, there would be an uproar!


Yes, and the uproar would be coming from the flyers who have the best loft position year after year...Pigeon racing is not fair unless the birds are flying to a single loft so this is why we fly the compass rose and this makes it fair for everyone....


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## Kal-El (Oct 10, 2008)

Char-B Loft said:


> Yes, and the uproar would be coming from the flyers who have the best loft position year after year...Pigeon racing is not fair unless the birds are flying to a single loft so this is why we fly the compass rose and this makes it fair for everyone....


Funny how that is. There are some big babies in our sport!


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## Airbaby (Aug 9, 2008)

Our club flys from the south to north, now as club if we flew from the west from across nebraska to Iowa i believe the mileage would be nearly the same for everybody in our club, our shortest member is 20 miles shorter than most of us and 30 miles shorter than our longest member....but since we fly with the Hawkeye/Husker combine which flys from south to north we do also....there might be some other options for us avaiable as a club i am not aware of but this combine from what i know is the big one for our area so it is what it is....the only downside or plus side depending on how you look at it is our clubs shortest member has around 60 miles of overfly on most in the combine and the longest member of our club has around 80 to 90 miles of overlfy.....so the 400's in the combine are more like a 500 for us and the 600 is almost a 700...i think its only about 25-30 miles short of being a 700


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