Page 27 - MFWDec 2023

F3B North Island
North Island
North Island
F3B F3B
Rd4
Series
Series
Series
Rd4
Rd4
Black Ridge, Hawkes Bay
Black Ridge, Hawkes Bay
Black Ridge, Hawkes Bay Kevin Botherway
We had a total of eight entrants for the two-day F3B event
on 16-17 September. This was a bit down on entries and
would mean it was a busy time on the field for all as
everyone was needed when flying for timing, line
retrieving, and officiating the course. We had four entries
from out of Hawkes Bay, so it was “The Bay” against the
rest of NZ! Saturday morning was the usual set up with a
couple of models requiring test flying before proceeding
with the competition – Dave James with what looked like a making the full 10 minutes and putting the hurt on Joe
brand sparkly new Shinto despite it being a seriously post- Wurts and Richard Thompson.
crash plane from Rowdy that DJ rebuilt. Miles Moloney
was also flying with a nicely rebuilt F3b Cyril. We got into it It was pack up and a quick beer not leaving the field until
with a great first day featuring light winds and, of course, 6.00pm – a big day. But wait, there was more! A great
the usual Hawkes Bay sun. evening at Jane and Andrew Hiscock’s for a BBQ with
amazing salads and homemade hamburgers as well as
We started with flying two rounds of duration, with most lovely baked treats. The guys from out of town were
getting their times although landing these models proved staying not far away in a B&B, which made it convenient
we all out of practice as they were high speed bricks for most.
compared to a light F5J model. The thermal lift wasn’t
there for these flights although most managed the Unfortunately, the forecast and wind weren’t great for
conditions and got the ten-minute flights. Sunday. When we met at the field the conditions were as
predicted, it was blowing hard over the trees creating
After duration, we adjourned for a quick BBQ lunch on the turbulence which would have made for fairly risky
field. Joe sourced some beef brisket sausages from the launches and landings. The event was declared
gourmet butcher in Havelock North, along with the usual completed, with three rounds of duration, one round
grilled condiments as well as Joes homemade salsa. After distance, and four rounds of speed. A fun event! Thank
getting suitably ballasted, we then moved on to four you all for coming.
rounds of speed as we had one contestant out for a few
hours – this would have made it too hard to run distance. Thanks to Jane and Andrew for the Saturday evening
As we found later, with only seven on the field, running BBQ! Joe for the Saturday’s lunch, the scores and draw!
distance was “challenging”. Peter Williams for his work on the F3B gear and for those
who travelled!
So, it was a “Need for Speed”! The whole team worked like
a well-oiled clock - timing, winch retrieval, pushing Scores
buttons, flying and calling. The launching was somewhat
low for most of the rounds and the air seemed slow even
though most were running light lines to try and achieve
some height it just wasn’t happening. It was noticeable
how much the lines whistled on launch and the planes out
of the bucket the zoom didn’t get the height we all wanted.
It was nice though to have the wind blowing almost straight
down the winch lines! As usual Joe came out flying 3
seconds faster than the rest, his round three managed a
14.98, fastest for the day! This popped him well into the
front of the pack. We were all happy to do 4 rounds of
speed in row after having not flown F3B for some time. It Not only does Soaring Rock! but F3B does too!
was great fun!
See y’all at Soarchamps (2-4 November – get your entries
We then kitted up for a round of distance and a little drag in NOW
racing again it was full on to run the course with low staff
numbers, but we managed to get through with a big thanks Rowdy

to Peter Williams who worked on the F3B gear recently
and it ran with no problems throughout the day. Most laps
were 20 and we did one complete round. As the day was
getting on, we had one more round of duration which again
in the first slot conditions we had only Pete Glassey
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