F5J Electric Thermal Glider

F5J Electric Thermal Glider

RCGA Results F5J Diggers Rest May 2020

End of May 2020 and our first event after a 2+ month covid lockdown.
I thought we would have more pilots attend, but I think the potential forecast put people off.
The rain didn't eventuate, and the wind wasn't too bad, about 15ish kph all day, and it was a patchy blue sky
until the afternoon when it got greyer.
Marcus managed to slice open his thumb the day before and had to have it stitched up,
and couldn't fly, so ended up CDing instead.
I was having fun chasing lift far downwind, but not making it back too many times.
Dave M flew like he'd never stopped flying. Hugh was his consistent self, and Bob did well in the subtle stuff.
Final placings were:
1st Dave Milward
2nd Hugh Blackburn
3rd Bob Wilson   
Thanks to Max and Wren for helping time, even though they didn't fly,
and to everyone else for helping set up and pack up,
see you at the next one
Jim

Results f5j Diggers Rest Feb 2020

 

So blue skies and pretty much dead calm greeted us for Feb's round of f5j. We had 8 starters, and it was good to see David Pratley back, even though still in recovery mode.

So while the rest of the pilots were enjoying test flying their lightest planes, I set up the PA system with Zdenek's help, generated the competition draw with Alan's help and put together only my heavier planes, because I knew what was coming and was putting my trust in the forecast which was looking very windy indeed.

Anyway round one and right off the bat, the wind picked up and everyone with light planes, put them away.

I went conservative and copped a relative height penalty, since it was already strong lift so a medium-ish height won the first heat. The rounds clicked over as the wind kept picking up, and by round three I was flying at 2.1 kg, and others heavier. I stuck with conservative launch heights and it paid off. We broke for lunch after 3 rounds, and by the time we were ready to get going again the gusts were increasingly approaching the 12 m/s limit. Half the pilots decided they weren't going to continue, so I called it a day. While I was packing up and tallying scores, I could feel the gusts had gone way past the fai limit, so even though it's supposed to be blowing above 12 m/s for a minute. I thought it was a good move to stop before people started breaking planes. Ironically by the time we had all packed up, the worse of it was over and was quite flyable again. Oh well.

And for those questioning whether the limit was lowered from 12 m/s to the proposed 9m/s for f5j, the answer is no, the change was not approved at the 2018 ciam meeting, hence it is not in the 2020 F5 volume of rules.     

 

So after 3 rounds the results were

1st Jim Houdalakis 2964.1

2nd Alan Mayhew 2366.2

3rd David Pratley 2353.6

 

pdf flight_scores_f5j_feb_2020.pdf

pdf overall_results_f5j_feb_2020.pdf

F5J results Diggers Rest 12 Jan 2020

 

We pretty much had 4 seasons in one day, I started the day in a raincoat with heavy cloud, a light drizzle and a light wind. By afternoon wearing sunscreen and a t-shirt, the wind picking up a bit, and finished the day with a medium strength sea breeze and blue skies. We got lucky for mid-summer in that it wasn’t hot, and the southerly kept the skies clear of smoke haze.

We had 7 pilots competing with most of the regulars there (Marcus was away doing Elvis impersonations up North), and couple of helpers attend, so we flew 2 heats a round, (thanks Wren for timing, and Norm for doing some mowing and timing).
With either cloudy or breezy conditions, most pilots took a conservative approach height wise, and even-so you could still end up far down wind and landing out. I found at times I had to cover a lot of ground to get to a thermal, but were good once you found them.
There were a few great get out of jail low height  get-aways, one in particular with Hugh and Dave M circling together at 4 or 5 metres off the ground, and Dave getting away, was a nail biter to watch. With the wind, and ballast the usually light planes were carrying, I think the window for those flights was only a small period of time in the afternoon, and more often than not pilots weren’t so lucky.
We ended up flying 8 rounds, and was close most of the day with the lead changing a few times in the afternoon windier conditions. The final results were:
1st Jim Houdalakis
2nd Hugh Blackburn
3rd Dave Milward
Thanks to everyone who helped setup and packup, and Hugh for helping with entering the scores.
See you at the next one,
regards
Jim

Entries open for Oz f5j International Milang S.A. March 2020

 

f5j_milang_flyer

pdf f5j australia 2020 entry form.pdf

F5J 3 Diggers Rest Victoria November 2019

You couldn’t ask for better weather than last Sunday for f5j, 21 degrees forecast, blue skies and except for the occasional thermal gust, almost dead calm,

 A light sea breeze kicked in for the last round of the day but there was plenty of lift around all day, if you knew where to look.

Low launches were the order of the day, which we rarely get to do with confidence here at Digger's Rest, since it's usually windy and hence pilots are usually a bit conservative.

A few regulars were missing with family obligations, but those that came, enjoyed the day.

There were the usual pilots there, and this time Max Kroger decided to finally join in the flying, instead of just helping time. It was good to see him joining the fray after a long break from competing.

Congrats to Bob Wilson who took out 3rd with very consistent flights and heights,

second was me with some inconsistent flying,

and a big congrats to David Millward in 1st who appears to have now got a handle on his new Pluses.


pdf Overall Results PDF

pdf Flight Scores PDF

pdf Round Scores PDF

 

Thanks to those that helped set up and pack up,

see you at the next one,

regards

Jim Houdalakis


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