Page 39 - MFW March 2024

F3J (Winch launch thermal competition) Wednesday and the 2nd half on Thursday. With 14 entries
We had 11 entries with awesome weather but not easy we had 3 groups of pilots drawn at random by Gliderscore
thermals for most of the day. Early on thermals were scoring program. Many guys made their 10:00 minute
topped out, you hit a ceiling, couldn’t climb any higher and flights but there were a few who managed to land early.
required continual relocating for the lift zones. Most pilots Scores were close near the top so height and landing
made their 10-minute flights during the day and precision decided the leader. The thermals were strong enabling
landings were in order. The results were 1st Joe Wurts, some planes to get high. It was fortunate we had a notam
2nd Kevin Botherway, 3rd Peter Williams. in place (big thanks to David Griffin). The split scheduling
of this comp was visionary as Thursday had high winds
and we were blown out. Wednesday’s three rounds
completed the competition with 1st Joe Wurts, 2nd Kevin
Botherway, 3rd Andrew Meyer.

F5K (electric hand launch 1.5m NZ rules)
We changed to this event after lunch. Some thought had
gone into this one, running it on its own for a change
(usually we have mixed with F3K which made it very
busy). The 10 registered pilots were split into two groups.
It was super fun with high speed, 6 odd second launches
and then thermaling out to achieve the task. An altis
(altitude meter) in the model recorded your launch height
and timers had the stopwatch on for each of the flights
during the task. It was very enjoyable to have the
Andrew Meyer (Australia) with Andrew Hiscock calling on landing.
dedicated time to fly just this class on its own with some
F3B (3 task winch competition) great thermal action and some long flights achieved. We
It was awesome to setup for the premium competition of did a total of 4 rounds. A little longer competition time
soaring. Joe laid out the course and we decided to run a would have been even better as everyone really enjoyed
three up in distance draw for the day which meant needing this one, particularly 1st Joe Wurts, 2nd Peter Glassey
extra people to help run the course. This was cool and 3rd Kevin Botherway
because we had a few spectators to help, many thanks to
Barry Kerr and Helen Gray. We had 10 entries and great
weather. These planes being a little heavier and designed
for all three tasks certainly are a different animal for
thermal flying and landing. They felt like we were flying
bricks which approach at speed for spot landings. The
best thermal flight was Andrew Meyer 10:00 minutes and
100 landing, best speed run was Joe Wurts 15.52, and
most laps during distance was Peter Williams with 28 laps!
It was certainly busy with three up in distance. We got 2
full rounds completed and the winners were 1st Joe Wurts,
2nd Richard Thompson, 3rd Peter Williams.

Soaring meeting after the days flying.

ALES Radian (radian event to NZ rules)
As usual, our highest registrations for an event with 20 in
the mix and 15 turning up to fly. We ran three rounds in
unreal air. Most pilots achieved at least one 7.00-minute
flight, and a few did three in each of the three rounds. The
lift did shut down in the last slot meaning it was down to
precision landing (or arrival) and exact times. Lots of fun
and good results with one of the pylon guys (Les King)
taking our third-place trophy home! Our other worthy
mentions were 2nd Peter France and 1st Joe Wurts.

Radian Fun fly in the oval
The Radian Fun-fly was contested by 8 fliers, the wind
was unhelpful, but the usual hilarity did ensue. We had
Richard Thompson launching his own F3B model. three tasks to complete: a 7-minute flight complete with Le
man’s start and precise landing, 2-minute precision
F5J (electric launch thermal/precision soaring) landing and a pylon race. Richard Thompson was the
This was the start of a split competition to ensure we got a overall winner. A great event as usual and many
result in this class. We scheduled over two days in case spectators.
we had a weather event. Half the competition was on

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