F3B - Multi-Task Soaring F3B 1 2013-14
F3B 1 2013-14
Graham (Espada R) , Gerry (Freestyler 3), Tim (Supra), Jim (Fosa), Tom (Fosa Lift) and Dave (Eldorado). I am on the camera and Tim is holding my Machine
Hi all,
Someone must have found more Virgins??? Another glorious Melbourne Spring day greated 7 pilots for the first F3B event of the season.
It was a day of twists and turns and unusual events...
It started with the course set up to the prevailing forecast, and the moment we were done, the breeze came in from the other direction. We set ourselves up in pairs to run through the 6 available winches (3 speed runs each) and then we all rotated and the next pair would run through the winches.
Gerry Carter and David Pratley were up first and veeeerrrryyy slowly got ready hoping for the wind to change. A friendly push from the CD (me :-)) got them going and 22 seconds was good considering the conditions. What a pitty (LOL) the breeze swung around just when it was my turn to fly and I put in a very nice 17.58 with my Machine. What a pity the thermal gods punished me on the next flight for 23 seconds. And so this was the story of the day, as the conditions chopped and changed and it became a rollercoaster of success and defeat..
We completed 6 rounds of speed in the morning and the highlights were:
Tom DuPuche doing 20 seconds with is brand new Fosa Lift
Tim Lennon doing 20 seconds ( a PB) with his Supra, proving that you don't need an F3B model to come along and join in the fun (and get a good time).
Marcus took 4 x 1000's with 4 runs under 18 seconds
Gerry took a 1000 with 20.03 flying his Freestyler 3
David took a 1000 with 18.03, a very nice run with his Fosa.
There were smiles all around :-) and that's what F3B is all about!
After lunch we ran 2 rounds of Distance with 2 pilots up at the same time..
Graham Norman and David Pratley were the Distance Masters with convincing wins in both their Distance slots.
Graham was flying his Espada R and had a great match race with Tom to win 20 to 19 and then took Tim to the cleaners 14 to 8.
Tim had a great comback in his second round drawing with Tom on 16 laps. More big smiles all around.
David Pratley cleaned up Jim 14 to 10 and then Gerry 20 to 18 to continue his strong vein of Distance form that started with the Victorian State Championsips last year, Wel flown Dave.
I took a hammering in both my distance rounds 10 to 12 (Gerry) and 17 to 21 (Jm), where both times I was either in the wrong patch of sky or I moved out of the lift thinking it had moved when it hadn't. My Machine performed fine, it was the pilot on the sticks causing all the problems!
Distance was a reall buzz and everyone agreed it was a great task to fly.
Just as we were about to start the last 3 rounds of speed the sea breeze kicked in with a steady 5-10 knots of 180 degree down wind conditions!
We all had to fly around the turnaround to the back side of the turnarounds so we could zoom into the wind. Everyone completed this safely with some pilots doing it for the first time with great success.
Gerry started with 23.6, then 22.2 and then with the combination of a strengthening down wind breeze and terrible sink only just managed to get his plane through the 4 laps for 32.9!
As the breeze strengthened further I commented to Gerry that 23 and 22 seconds might turn out to be good times and I wasn't far wrong...
Everyone struggled with times between 23 and 38 seconds in the strong down wind conditions.
I was one of the last pilots to fly and it turned out that I needed to break 33.77 seconds to win the contest! I loaded up the Machine with full ballast and took an extra long launch around the turnaround to a full 180 degrees position (normally we were going to about 120 degrees) The line was singing and I did a huge zoom! I had great height and ran over to Base A to avoid losing any height on the into wind return to Base A. I had great speed and was looking good for a fast run until I cut Base A (Yes, Base A and it was downwind !!!) on the second leg and had to come back for the buzzer. F@#@k, it turns out that in my rush to get from the the far winch lane position to Base A I had not lined myself up properly and was looking at a slight angle down the course. A rookie mistake I had only ever made one before in my time flying F3B. My final time of 33.78 seconds pushed me into second place. As Jim said "I had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory". I still had a smile on my face, it was a truely fun day!
Congratulations to Gerry for an excellent win in very difficult conditions by 1 point.
Congratulations to:
1st Gerry Carter 10,029
2nd Marcus Stent 10,028
3rd David Pratley 9,655
Everyone had a great day and we all walked away better pilots than when we had started. A great feeling of achievement.
See you at the next one!
Cheers,
Marcus
Dave and his Eldorado
Tom and his Fosa Lift
Gerry with his Freestyler 3, Marcus with his Machine and Dave with is Eldorado