Contest 3 of the

2001 JR / Airsail F3B Series,

hosted by CDSF at Palmerston North,

on June 30-July 1, 2001.

CD: David James

Summary, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

What is it with this season - yet another F3B contest weekend that was forecast to be wet and windy, yet turned out to be fine (but cold) with light variable winds... As is starting to become normal, what breeze did pickup resulted in predominantly downwind launches, although you had to pay attention as it could change direction within the space of a slot! Sink was relatively plentiful, but lift was light and extemely hard to find. A typical duration slot saw models ranging far and wide in different directions searching for that elusive thermal, mostly without success... everyone got hurt on duration at least once during the contest!

Our South Island visitor (Scott Chisholm) attempted to sabotage the contest by bringing some of their cold weather with him in the form of an overnight frost. Those of us who live in the more temperate northern latitudes aren't used to having a layer of ice over the field and cold fingers on the sticks :-)

The conditions also played havoc with the speed rounds, making it even more of a lottery than usual and resulting in lots of very average-looking times. During the middle part of round 4 speed the breeze stayed pretty much straight down the winch lines and the air on course was better than average, allowing those who flew at this time to post some respectable times. Chris Tank showed the way with a 18.93 second run, closely followed by Dave Larsen with 18.99 seconds. This was Chris' first F3B contest for sometime and his Cobra didn't seem to be suffering from it's long layoff... Some distance slots also benefitted from good air, with Chris Kaiser managing 23 legs in round 2.

Speed unfortunately claimed two victims, with both Aneil Patel and Warwick Gatland flying into their Ellipse 2V's into the ground on the fourth leg. It's a testiment to the strength of this model that both got away with easily repairable fuselage damage.

On a positive note it was great to see two juniors competing. Lewis Williams continued to show the same smooth form he'd demonstrated at the previous contest, while Aaron Bilham has often helped out with manning the bases so it was great to see him behind the sticks for a change.

The Kiteworks 'Zoom Chute' went to Angus Macdonald.