Contest 2 of the
2001 JR
/ Airsail F3B Series,
hosted
by CDSF at Palmerston North,
on May 12-13, 2001.
CD: Warwick Gatland
Summary,
Round
1,
Round
2,
Round
3,
Round
4,
Round
5
Originally scheduled
for Matamata, this contest had to be relocated due to difficulties with the
flying site. Thanks to the Palmerston North crew for arranging a great field at
fairly short notice, and to Warwick Gatland who came down from Matamata to CD.
Also thanks to whoever it was that arranged to keep the rain away! The forecast
was for a wet weekend but we got 5 rounds in with no weather interruptions at
all.
Yet again conditions
were very testing, especially on the first day. Slight downwind launch
conditions prevailed, however there wasn't enough breeze to reward a weave tow.
Lift was very light and hard to find - in 3 complete rounds only 2 duration
flights made the 10 minutes (half the slots were won with 6 minute flights!),
max distance legs was 15, and around 22 seconds was winning the speed task!
Day two started with
similar light conditions, although we managed to set-up in the right direction
this time which made launching easier. Duration and speed were still a challenge,
but conditions were actually not bad for distance and Aneil Patel clocked up 21
legs. A bit of a breeze arrived in time for round 5 which at last gave some
reasonable launches and allowed a decent amount of ballast to be carried for
speed. Chris Kaiser also got the benefit of some good air and turned in a 17.59
second run for the fastest speed time of the contest.
A special mention
has to go to young Lewis Williams. He had his first flights on a full-house F3B
model on the Saturday, then flew it in the contest on the Sunday and acquitted
himself extremely well. His launching was actually better than some of the
seasoned contestants! With a bit more experience he's going to be one to
watch...
The Kiteworks
'Zoom Chute' went to Ken Duffell.
