Contest 6 of the

2001 JR / Airsail F3B Series,

in conjunction with the NZMAA Nationals at Greytown,

on December 31, 2001.

CD: John Shaw

Summary, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3

The final round of the 2001 series comprised the Nationals F3B event, and was therefore a single day contest. Thanks to some great organisation and hard work by the CD (John Shaw) and helpers, we managed to complete 3 rounds with 19 competitors starting. The previous two days were really windy and being in the Wairarapa another day of wind was a sure thing... so of course it dawned hot and calm. In typical fashion we'd set the winches for the expected westerly wind and ended up launching with the drift behind us most of the day. It wasn't until the end of the second round that we finally got some wind on the nose.

With the hot, calm conditions there was generally plenty of lift around, although it sometimes took some finding. The sink was usually easier to find... Most competitors made the 10 minute duration times, and distance scores were pretty good with many slots going over 20 legs. Unfortunately the speed course was not a favoured place for lift, so speed times weren't particuarly impressive.

The contest was a close fought affair with Dave Larsen posting the best speed time of the day (18.7 seconds) to sneak ahead of Chris Kaiser in the last round. With this victory Dave Larsen also took out the A-league for 2001, while Ken Duffell held off a late challenge from junior Lewis Williams to take out the B-league. A couple of the highlights were new junior records in speed and distance of 27.5 seconds and 22 legs respectively, both to Lewis Williams.