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Wed Aug 9 World Championships Day 3

This day 3 of the world’s is forecast to be more humid with rain possible this afternoon. Winds are light this morning and expected to only increase to 5 today.

A Russian pilot experienced a high speed stall at Base B on his second turn in Speed and crashed heavily after spinning in. He  has repaired his model and was test flying it while we were preparing our lines.

Duration Rd 4.

Tom flew duration first and got his time easily. The official timers watch was slightly late so Tom planned to land a little early right on 10:00 mins instead of the usual .5 over but he ended up being a little late and finished with a 10:02 – 100

Mike was next up and launched in the opposite direction to all the other pilots because that was the liftier end of the field. The others also launched through pretty ordinary air. The result was good and he found air out over the slope facing the sun to make his time with ease. His approach and landing was spot on for another 10:00 -100 and a Granny.

Reto launched well and turned downwind toward the field facing the sun. Many of the others in his group went upwind to another sloping field and began turning. After a couple of minutes searching Reto decided to cross the field to join another pilot (Christian Simon) circling over the Pits area at about 150ft. He made it there under the Chilean pilot by 50 ft and started to work his way up again. It was a struggle but he was persistent and made it work returning to the LZ to shoot a pretty 100 with unfortunately 1 second too many on the clock. That completed Rd4 Duration and Rd 4 distance will be next

ROUND 4 Distance.

Tom K was first in Group 3 and launched early to test the air overhead . He tried a lap or two and decided to relaunch. He entered the course upwind on the second launch where the group were lapping already and set about catching them. But for a missed Bse B turn which required him to go back he would have matched the winner Naito Sukurai on 20 laps. In the end with time on the clock he fell 10 meters short of Base B for a 18.

Mike waited to launch in his group with all the other pilots airborne. Three of the early Starters returned for a relaunch including Jens Buchert who was last relaunch and last to enter at 3:48 on the clock. Meanwhile Mike and others had been stroking laps and Mike began following a piece of air downwind leaving the group. The air went soft on him and he began turning in once again towards the packs who were now lapping almost directly over the bases. Jens Buchert of Germany used up all the clock and scraped in one last lap at the end for a 22 while Mike’s flight ended early finishing with 18. It is a really tough call to make to decide where and when to launch in the conditions here and we haven’t quite yet figured it out. It sure would be nice for us to race these guys from the same height in the same air at the same time but it doesn’t quite work like that. It requires decisions based on many different factors.

Reto was last to fly in Distance and he waited to launch to see what the others did. He launched last. The air was not good and the other pilots were not doing well over the orchard so the decision was made to go downwind to find better air. It just did not work and quickly Reto had to return upwind towards the other pilots and the result was we had landed in just over 2 minutes for 12 laps. In hindsight we could probably have matched the others in this group by simply covering and flying in their air but we tried to find better air and failed. Really disappointing result for Reto and the Team but we must look forward and do better. The winner of Retos group took 16 laps.

TEAM SCORES SEES USA now in 7th place.

SPEED RD 5

Speed Rd 5 followed with Reto up. He didnt like the first launch and took a second launch which was a keeper. He had pretty good air and flew the first lap really fast and tight but for some reason Reto cut the second Base B and the result instead of a 14 or 15 became an 18 second run.

Tom was second. First launch was OK but not great so he tried again. The second launch produced a line break before the throw and Reto saved the model from damage as he fell on his back. The third launch was no problem and in  better air. Toms run was simply a perfect example of controlled safe F3B speed where he prepared early for each turn and madw them safe for a sure and steady 15.08. A great Team flight.

Mike was last pilot up in Speed. He had pretty decent launching air comparatively speaking as it had been pretty tough for a number of pilots previously. His run began well but inexplicably he cut Base B, had to return and got a 20 second time as a result. Don’t know what to say other than I hope we can turn this around…. and quick.

DISTANCE RD 5.

Reto began and launched last but somehow didn’t get quite the same height as the other pilots so by the time he crossed to joint the  gaggle lapping over the orchard he was clearly about 100 feet lower. Reto flew pretty well and quicker than the others to finish only 2 laps down on the winner with 22.

Toms Distance began with a group of pilot’s launching ahead of him and flying upwind to begin thermaling. By the time Tom made it there they were above him and he began  climbing also. Tom entered the course lower than the others and was never able to keep up to their pace until with 1:30 to go he stayed out side with the lift while the others came in to the landing area as they got lower. Tom caught up many laps on them in great air stroking fast before flying  home at the end. He managed 26 great laps  to the winners 29. It appeared that the course got longer the further Tom went away. This added to the length he had to fly every lap. Was a huge effort after such a handicap start.

Mike used a great strategy as he felt lift just off Launch and turned away in the downwind direction while the others who launched before him were lapping in crappy air upwind.

As soon as they saw Mike getting out, the German junior Johannes K returned and relaunched immediately to join Mike in the thermal. Mike out climbed all of them and entered the course highest with about 4:25 on the clock and began lapping fast laps while the Germans left it a little longer. Mike had 3 laps on them before they started and it was a race to the ground. It really looked like Mike had this one all the way but gradually the German junior pilot overhauled Mike and passed him for just one extra lap on the horn Mike had 28 to Johannes 29.

THERMAL RD 5

THERMAL was flown late afternoon in easy conditions with Reto then Tom and then Mike getting their times easily from off the end of the line due North and drifting gradually east s tjey specked out.  Reto shot a 10:01 and 100, Tom a 9:59- 100 and Mike a 10:02 -90 for the end of duration 5.

Tomorrow will be Duration Rd6 in tue morning