F5J Electric Thermal Glider

F5J Electric Thermal Glider

F5J Northern Flying Group December 2023

group

F5J 3Dec23, State Field

Wow! What a great days flying. After a week of wind and rain, we had a pearler of a day! It started cool and overcast with light winds, and developed into a warm and sunny day with moderate winds. This meant the thermals changed throughout the day and you had to be constantly on your toes. We completed 8 rounds by 3:30PM at leisurely pace.

A massive thank you to the Norther Flying Group for the use of their field.  All the flyers really appreciated being able to fly at a different location.

It was also great to see 10 competitors (the most for some time) enjoy the conditions, with a special mention to Jonathan for participating in his first competition and to Tom and Max who were back flying after an extended break.

In the end Jim won with both consistency, and ‘semi’ aggressive flying, although he did say at the end of the day he should have been even more aggressive. Look out if Jim really gets aggressive one day! 😊 Well flown Jim!

Marcus finished second and actually swapped the lead with Jim throughout the day. The final placings came down to the last round of the day, where Jim scored 1000 and Marcus 958.

Rod finished third with some very consistent flying and made his times all day.

1st Jim 6940.2

2nd Marcus 6910.9

3rd Rod 6620.9

A special mention to Hugh who was our ‘biggest balls’ winner with lots of low aggressive launches.

A great day was had by all.

f5j_dec_state_field.pdf

f5j_state_field-flight_scores.pdf

plane

Marcus nailing the spot with his new 2PK

 

launch

And we are away!

 

F5J VARMS October 2023

Hi all,
here are the results for the F5J competition on Sunday 15 October 2023 at the new VARMS field in Rowville.

Forecast was for an overcast day, westerly wind, and with rain in the late afternoon. Westerlies can be turbulent at times at this field, downwind from trees and the huge clubhouse, but luckily the wind wasn't too strong, in the morning and abated as the day went on.
We managed to get 7 rounds in and we were packed up before the rain started int the late afternoon.
Knowing that a few regulars were away and couldn't attend, I was pleased we still had 8 competitors show up,
and it was great to see Tom Dupuche back and competing after a few years break with a young family,
and also good to see Max Kroger back and flying as well.

Being overcast all day made for soft conditions, and although it wasn't very windy on the ground, above the tree line, it was quite a bit windier, which meant what light lift you could find, was moving downwind and if you go too low it was hard to find something strong enough to get away.
On the other hand the sink was pretty soft too, so if you could hold onto some decent height, eventually you might find some get out of jail lift.
Early afternoon stabilised somewhat making it harder to do 10 minutes, then for a short while the sun appeared making lift and sink stronger and providing some lift for the last few rounds in calmer conditions.
  
Anyway I played it conservative with mostly 170m climbs and got 6 of  my 7 times, which got me second place. 
Congrats to Rod Watkins who was on fire with picking heights and won almost all his heats, to nab 1st place,
and congrats to David Pratley who also showed consistency through the day to get 3rd.

pdf flight_scores_f5j_varms_2023_10_15.pdf

pdf overall_results_f5j_varms_2023_10_15.pdf

Thanks to everyone who helped set up and packup, especially Bruce for doing the draw, and Rod for helping enter scores.
I'll see you at our next calendar event
the F5J Trophy West Wyalong NSW, Nov 10-12th https://www.aefanet.com/aust-f5j-trophy
Happy gliding,
regards
Jim
 
rod
Winners are grinners, Rod Watkins with his Prestige 2pk (photo: Dan Haskell)

tom
Tom Depuche with his Explorer 3, brushing off the cobwebs.     (photo: Dan Haskell)
lauch_varms_f5j
A tad overcast                     (photo: Thomas Rawlins)

Modelflight Midway Cup

We all had an awesome time at the Modelflight Midway Cup in Horsham, thanks to the hospitality of the Wimmera Model Aircraft Association! A massive thank you to Rolf and the team for your hospitality, keeping us fed and providing an awesome field, we really appreciated it. 

The weather was everything from warm and sunny to cold, windy and rainy, which made it very challenging, but it also made the winners all the more deserving!
The preliinary rounds on the Saturday determined the winners of the Modelflight Midway Cup and and it was the Victorian team took home the trophy. Well done team!!!
The fly offs on Sunday determined the Victorian State F5J Champion and the final placings were:
1st Mike O'Reilly
2nd Dan Haskell
3rd Theo Arvanitakis.
Congratulations to Mike O'Reilly on being crowned the Victorian State F5J Champion!
For the 2nd fly off we have 1st Paul Moorfield, 2nd Brad Merryweather and 3rd Bob Wilson.
For the 3rd fly off we have 1st Kevin Weston, 2nd Mark Stone and 3rd Bill Kent.
Congratulations to everyone who did well in their group. Note, there are 2 versions of the results online at gliderscore, so just check for the correct one.
A final thank you to everyone who came along and attended, to Robbie for doing a great job as CD and to Mike and the team at Modelflight for sponsoring the event with some excellent prizes. THANK YOU ALL.
See you all next year!
flyoff1.pdf
flyoff2.pdf
flyoff3.pdf
midwaycupresult.pdf
The winners of the Victorian State Championships
vicstatechampionships
The winners of the Modelflight Midway Cup
midwaycup

F5J Diggers Rest 20 Feb 2022

This was the rescheduled RCGA f5j event for Digger’s Rest from last week,
and the forecast this time was for relatively cooler conditions, and not as windy. The grass is getting high so we need to take care.
Eight of us rocked up, unfortunately several pilots had clashes with the rescheduled event, so could’ve had a few more attend.
A light northerly greeted us on arrival and many including me setup light and heavier planes as a backup in the vain hope of light conditions. Temperature was in the mid twenties, with substantial high cloud.
Of course as we walked out the for the start of the first heat, the wind suddenly shifted to the west with some strong gusts.
Westerlies are somewhat less common than the northerlies or southerlies we usually get, and I think the ravine to the west of us has a greater effect, at least it worked for David Pratley, who punched forward in the first two rounds to great effect, when the lift was patchy.
The other pilot who flew very consistently was David Millward, and always managed to cover the field, even in the patchy conditions when people weren’t making their times.
By the end or round 2, the wind was averaging about 20 kph and gusting to 42kph, making for some tricky flying, and turbulent landings. Two pilots decided it was a bit much and pulled the pin after 2 rounds. The gusty conditions stayed until the last 2 rounds when the wind abated and swung to the south.
I had a pretty crappy event, caught my canopy on the first launch, and had forgotten my mp3 player, so the timing track i dug up was a bit rushed leading to the start of a heat. So was doing a bit too much running around, anyway better prep next time.
I think Hugh had a bad run where his motor unwound from the gearbox, but otherwise I don’t think there were any other incidents despite the wind.
Finally it was good to see Rod Watkins doing well with his new Prestige 2pk’s finally sorted.
Anyway Congrats to


1st David Milward
2nd David Pratley
3rd Rod Watkins
 

pdf rcga_f5j_feb_2022_flight_scores.pdf

pdf rcga_f5j_feb_2022_overall.pdf

 

Thanks to all for helping setup and pack up,
regards
Jim Houdalakis
RCGA

F5J Jan 2022

F5J 16 Jan 2022
We completed 8 rounds in absolutely perfecr F5J flying conditions with light winds and lots of thermals...we were in F5J heaven and most pilots would have had their lowest series of 'competition' launch heights ever recorded!! Check out the scores.
5 pilots competed (lots could not make it for various reasons) and so we flew everyone up together. This format worked out flawlessly with everyone timing for themselves.
   
Congratulations to:
1st Marcus - Vinco TR
2nd Hugh - Plus X
3rd Bob Wilson - Plus X

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