Final League Results

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the 2016/2017 season and to the place getters of each league.

F3K Hand Launch Glider

f3kprogressivefinal2017.pdf

Open Thermal

thermalleague2016_17_final.pdf 

F5J Electric Glider

f5j progressive 2016-17.pdf

Grand Champion

2017 grand champion.pdf

RGCA 09 Thermal Event Diggers Rest 21 May 2017

Eight pilots competed for the penultimate RCGA event of the year and an important opportunity to fine tune models before Jerilderie. The forecast was for fine weather with higher northerly winds in the morning abating in the afternoon and this is what happened. I measured gust of up to 20 knots in the morning and at times it was dead still in the afternoon. With the winches set up to the north the pilots also had to deal with the inconvenient sun position with a few hairy moments!

With the eight pilots divided into two groups of four we were kept busy with everyone doing something each heat. As a result, we managed to get through 8 rounds well before the winter sun set. Lift was sometime hard to come by and many did not make their time and there were heats won without a 10 minute flight. There were also a number of out landings particularly in the morning with the higher wind strength and I for one took the “walk of shame”!

During the day, the lead changed on numerous occasions with every pilot carrying at least one “dropper” but in the end Jim prevailed with consistent flying ahead of the in form David Pratley flying a new very light Maxa in second and Marcus in Third.

Next up Jerilderie – look forward to seeing you all there!

Daniel Haskell

1st Place Jim Houdalakis

2nd Place David Pratley

3rd Place Marcus Stent

2017_rcga 09 overall results.pdf

2017_rcga 09 ind fl scores.pdf

Well, weather conditions were chalk and cheese at the Ballarat open thermal event last Sunday,

compared to the originally scheduled event 2 weeks ago, when Ballarat got record rain, and gale force winds with -3 degrees windchill.

Sunday started off with low cloud, but started lifting by the time we got started,

and by midday we had blue skies with big fluffy cumulous clouds.

Wind was pretty much zero to light all day,

so light planes handled conditions easiest.

Even though we set up winches into the forecast direction, being such light and variable conditions, we were often launching down wind or cross wind.

Lift was there from heat 1, even though very light and despite the sunny weather, got stronger, but not hugely strong at its best. It's an intersting place to fly,

because the surrounds are undulating, with a shallow about 10 metre rift to the right and swinginging behind us, a strip of trees in the rift to the right and hills in the not too far distance, make the thermals a bit unpredictable.

I was worried with the event being rescheduled that we wouldn't get enough entries for a competition, however 6 pilots turned up, which meant we could run 3 per heat, so we went ahead.

We managed to get through 8 rounds, even with a bit of a late start, mainly due to the tireless efforts of the BAMI club members in retrieving winch lines all day,

we've never been so spoilt.

To top it off they put on a free sausage sizzle and drinks, at lunch time.

So final placings:

Bernie Sizer 1st, Jim 2nd, Dan Haskell 3rd.

It was good to see Bernie take a break from full size gliding and join us, and also great to see Graham Norman flying with us as well.

Thanks to those who helped out and a big thanks to Ballarat Aero Modellers Inc for the field and their lunch and help.

 flightscores.pdf

 landingscores.pdf

 overallresults.pdf

Finally don't forget the f3k handlunch glider Vic state champs at Longwood this Sunday,

See you out there,

and happy flying

-Jim