World F3B Champs – Tue 27th

Tuesday Distance 8
In my efforts to complete Mondays report I completely missed the bus on Tuesday morning. It had been a late night as the Team were invited to a meeting re “The future of F3B.” We discussed how rules could be made to stop the use of vision and telemetry enhancements from defiling the pureness and traditional use of human senses to read the air and model. The issue was discussed as a result of our team using IPods as a talking timer and the German team using binoculars during the contest. Neither are against the
Rules but both appear to be in question along with telemetry being transmitted from the model.

I managed to get a lift to the field with Jenny our interpreter in the micro van so all was not lost.

Tuesdays sky was a further improvement on previous days with less smoke and more blue to be seen. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day.

Roman started us off with round 8 distance. Dave was first to go for us and in hind sight he did not go out deep enough to the East to get the best of the lift and was first to finish with a 21 to Andreas Kunz and Naoto Sakurai with 23. Kyle also was pipped at the post by Martin Herrig just losing by one with a 20 lap race. It was probably our most disappointing distance round to day as Tom also got beaten by two laps by Michael Seyfangs 22. Toms flight may have finished much better if if wasn’t for a mid air over the field taking an entire foot off his Fosas right wing and doing the same to Susumu Kodos plane as they clashed in opposite directions mid course.

Roman continued with distance round 9 and we didn’t improve on the first group as Dave went 2 laps down to Michael Seyfang with 23. Group 3 included Tom and in a heated battle he got the better of his opponents with a 21 lap finish for the 1000 over Rudi King. Kyle was last to fly and he really flew a great race until one an a half minutes out as he first cut base B and had to go back and then did it again on the last lap to finish with a tie on 21 with Andreas – letting the German off the hook. Still it was another 1000 for the team.

Round 9 speed was next with probably the best conditions we have had at this field for speed. David was second pilot away and he put on a beautiful run yielding a 14.98 for what would become the 5th fastest time of the round. Tom also flew a nice clean run with tighter turns to make a 15.22 It was with great expectation that we waited on Kyles turn to see what he could do in this air. Meanwhile Martin Herrig was immediately following Tom and he posted the first 13 of the contest with a 13:86

Andreas flew immediately before Kyle and his 14:72 was less than we expected for the good launch he got. Kyles waited a couple pf minutes for air and his launch was good but for the first time since we have been in China he cut Base B and finished with a 18.67. What might that time have been? The Base B workers said the cut was less than 2 m and they have also reported that Kyles turns have been consistently 1 to 2 meters and easily the tightest of all the pilots. It was rotten luck that he would cut this one time because without it he would have moved past Andrea Kunz into 3rd.

Duration round 10 began after an early lunch. Kyle was first up in air that was pretty decent even though the wind speed was about 8mph and drifting downwind with the thermals wos just about right for one good climb out and a return to the field. Though the lift was often pretty strong there really wasn’t too much horrid sink about at all. Kyle made a nice 9:59 – 100 for the 1000 points. Tom managed a 10.01 but with the ground drying out his Fosa didn’t stick and the slider yielded a 95. David flew an easy round for another 1000 scoring just a 10.01 – 95 in a group where Andreas Herrig didn’t do any better (a lucky escape.)

Round 10 speed was next on the agenda in the reverse order. This time Kyle made a clean safe run to post a 15:04 followed by Tom with a 16:91 and last to fly was Dave flying a 17:11. The Herrigs had their technique perfect for the conditions and once again took the 1000 points with Andreas a 14:52 and Martin a 14:79. Kyle was clearly very competitive in his third placed time and the earlier cut did not seem to phase him at all, as the Base B guys said his last run was still within 2 meters of the line.

Round 10 distance
Kyle was first up on Group 2 against Andreas Kunz and Laurent Gauthrie of France. Kyle out flew and out maneuvered the others for a 23 against Laurents 22 and Kunzies 21 for another US 1000.

Round 11 duration began with the sky fully clouded over and the heavy smoke once again settled over the whole area as the sum sank on the west. The air was bouyant without any real thermals so most pilots tracked to and fro on the upwind side to make the time. Dave made a 10.01 – 100 while Y was 10:00 – 95 and Kyle finished the day with a perfect 10:00 – 100 for a sure 1000. It has been a long day with good flying by the whole team and no regrets. Kyle was now just 80 points behind Kunzie in the race for third. The US Team was about 1600 points clear of France in a solid 2nd place.

Tomorrow was forecast some rain so we are hopeful we can get some more rounds in but we will see.

Sayonara
Gordon