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Sat Aug 5 Pre Contest – World Cup “10. International F3B Cup

Cloudless Blue skies greeted us when we woke before 6 this morning. Forecast says it will be a day of no rain with a high of 79 degrees. (By 11am it felt like we had reached the high as the day warmed up.)

First task was Duration and I was in the first group. I got a decent launch in light winds and headed out to the right where we figured the sun may be already working on the open fields. 5 minutes in I was turning in lift quite deep over the forest adjacent to the far end of thr runway. It was apparent once I turned for home that I was not going to quite  make it back and I ended up landing out in a low tree plantation beside the road. The model was retrieved in one piece without damage. 

Tom was next and found lift out over the same trees at the end of the runway. He got quite deep downwind and left his trip home a turn too late arriving back in the landing area short on time finishing the task 10 minute task 10 secs too early. His landing was a good 100.

With conditions really solid and ample lift to get out Mike made bis time easily but was also a few seconds early on his landing (with sweat in his eyes and unable to see properly) he pushed a little soon before reaching the 100.

Reto completed the duration easily and had a little work in the Lz avoiding a neighboring group but stuck the 100 with an 8:02.

Distance was next. I was up in the 2nd group and had a 1.12 line break on first launch.  My second attempt slightly downwind on the other side popped off so we had to launch a 3rd time on 1.02. Didnt get a great launch as I had to push all the way up to save the line and finished up entering the course with only 2:30 left on the clock.  I race tracked the time I had for a 14 against Martin Herrigs 31. 🙁

Tom K with 23 laps was just 4 secs short of making the winning score of 24 achieved by Thomas Schorb.

Jens Bucher made 22 joining later in the working time against Reto who was able to get 18 on his relight.

Mike had a good run going but the Base A buzzer stopped working and he had to refly later.  He ended up in a tough group including Andreas Herrig and they all thermalled for 1 minute before entering the course very high. Mike managed 26 against Andreas 31.

Top guys also dropped laps when they missed the air.

Speed began immediately after a 30 minute lunch break. Andreas Herrig set the standard very high with 14 sec time in air where he took three circles before entering the course. I was first US pilot up in the starting order and managed a respectable (for my standard 🙂 ) 19.4 secs.

Tom was preparing to fly when he pulled the wing for a ballast change and accidentally pulled the servo wire. With only two pilots to fly before him it was a rush to open up the wing and re plug the servo to the harness. It was a huge relief when he managed to complete the task with seconds to spare and then launched in great air to post a 15.33.

Mike was next and took 3 launches which in the end made him hurry the final entry onto the course on the third launch. This is also partly because we only have a 3 minute working time and it is tight to achieve 3 launches and a speed run. Mike finished with a low 18.

Reto  was last US pilot to fly and posted a 17 second time in average air. At the completion of Round 1 we have Tom Kiesling in 3rd place, Mike in 33rd and Reto 34th with me in the 50’s.

Reto started in Rd2 of Speed with a 17.3 in ordinary air. Tom unfortunately had a double cut at Base B for a 24 second run and Mike made a 17.8 all flown in marginal air. My run was another in the 19’s.

Tom has dropped to 23rd with the 2 cuts in Speed2 while Reto has moved up to 25th and Mike 27th.

Next is Rd 2 of Distance

Reto flew first and launched early into some pretty active air to take the lead but with 20 laps he was finally overtaken by Thomas Kuebler by just 1 lap at the end when he was short of Base B for lap 21. The days flying ended a little early as the organisers were having trouble with one of the signal devices. 

Dinner time here has been interesting with some restaurants in Jesenik not being so happy to serve dinner at 8:30 and 9:30 at night. We also tried a few places which don’t serve the best prepared food. Jiri Baudus recommended a new Hotel Restaurant overlooking a lake not far frim the field so we went there for dinner the last two nights and found much better service and better food.