We started on Wednesday night with a total of 20 entries however unfortunately during the following days we had Les Stockley, Aneil Patel and Gary Mcardle withdraw. We had Chris tank and Shaun Mitchell arrive in Hawkes Bay on Wednesday night (Hotel Duffells) - with a great forecast for the next four days we played with all of our toys for two days solid on Thursday and Friday, with a social evening at the Duffells Thisty night.

On the Friday Chris Tank started to experience radio gear problems in the new Estrella only to find out it was somewhere in the JR receiver, which unless he could fix he would be out for the weekend as well. Stuart Sturge came out for a practice in the afternoon and sadly lost his 3 Cam on the line with the wings folding - he managed to get his Eraser ready for the morning.

Saturday turned up with great Hawkes Bay weather as usual and we set up with much discussion to try and get the wind direction on the nose for something a bit different. We were now down to 15 entries but ready to rock. Lift was quite hard for the first duration slots - some did well and some did very poorly. Landings were on fairly short grass although we did have a few cow deposits to work around - unfortunately Andrew Stiver found a hard one with this new Caracho and split the leading edge open slightly. With the day around the 20 degree mark it made for very comfortable flying conditions with some great slots in distance. Daff Niles really getting back into the groove again with his Pulse, the Palmerston team looking in great shape with Dave James showing off a new gold winch and flying very well, Wayne getting the E2 sorted and Rhys would fly all day and night if he was allowed! Warwick Gatland found the radio gear problem he has been having for some time and withdrew to get it sorted. Shaun Mitchell flew some very tidy rounds and had a messy landing on a distance run that broke the nose slightly on the Caracho.

Chris Kaiser and Dave Larsen as usual flying faultlessly and cleaning up lots of 1000's in most of their slots with David James & Craig Dawson not far behind. Unfortunately I had a double cut with the Estrella in the first speed run which wasn't a great result. Richard Thompson was looking very consistent with the new X21 and really getting it in shape! 23 laps in distance was the best by Craig Dawson and 17.14 fastest speed time for the day by Chris Kaiser. We did end up having to weave on the line slightly to get a good into-wind heading. We packed up before 6pm and all gathered at my house for a few ales and a barbecue - of course the usual fun: beavers crashing into the neighbours house, hovering above the pool and lots of time to catch up with each other.

Sunday dawned another great day - still cooler than it had been and overcast. We changed the course direction to suit the light breeze - it was great! A first in a long time - all day the wind didn't change! We dropped a couple of contestants overnight: Andrew Stiver didn't turn back up (I think a headache was in order?). Ken Duffell was proving very consistent with the well flown Pike, however during round three distance launch he had bad flutter with the ailerons which locked the plane into a slow diving roll - although damaged not it was not completely totalled. Angus had a little woopsy landing on the road before catching the fence. Ted had a great distance slot round four but did have trouble making it to the spot in duration.

22 laps in distance was the best by Chris Kaiser, Richard Thompson & Wayne Bilham and 18.14 fastest speed time for the day by Chris Kaiser. Dave Larsen borrowed some of my cutting cream for his speed run and had to go back for another pass - I think that was enough to really have Chris Kaiser put the nail in winning the event with Dave Larsen second and Richard Thompson third - he flew very well and consistent all weekend. Good on ya Richard - well done!