RCGA F5j #5 26 Feb 2017 Diggers Rest
A beautiful, warm, and almost calm morning greeted us for our rescheduled f5j event at Digger's Rest,
a stark contrast to last weekend's rain and hail.
An easterly was forecast for the day,
but first thing in the morning, was blowing westerly, but not an issue when you don't have to worry about winches.
We had 8 turn up for the day, however Graham Norman was still sorting out his electrified shadow,
and Norm Ripp's new plane was damaged on a test fly, so that left 6.
It was good to see Bob and Russell back and competing after each had been unable to attend the last few months.
The first few heats were easy enough with light lift helping most make their time Then the prevailing switched to the forecast easterly,
which made lift a bit patchy at times, especially at lower altitudes. As usual with f5j as the day went on and the lift became stronger,
pilots were taking lower launches. But there were still some patchy lift heats, especially in the afternoon, to catch pilots out.
I remember at least one heat which caught all pilots out some heats with 3 minute flights.
Of course thats the real trick, knowing when to take a high launch to find lift, when you've gotten away with low launches for a while.
Everyone enjoyed the day, and it looks like we will have some more participants soon,
the more the merrier.
Finally it was congratulations to
Alan Mayhew 1st
David Pratley 2nd
Jim Houdalakis 3rd
Next one is in Milang, South Australia, and for those that are going, see you there!
regards
Jim Houdalakis
rcga_f5j_26_feb_2017_flightscores.pdf