F5J 3Dec23, State Field

Wow! What a great days flying. After a week of wind and rain, we had a pearler of a day! It started cool and overcast with light winds, and developed into a warm and sunny day with moderate winds. This meant the thermals changed throughout the day and you had to be constantly on your toes. We completed 8 rounds by 3:30PM at leisurely pace.

A massive thank you to the Norther Flying Group for the use of their field.  All the flyers really appreciated being able to fly at a different location.

It was also great to see 10 competitors (the most for some time) enjoy the conditions, with a special mention to Jonathan for participating in his first competition and to Tom and Max who were back flying after an extended break.

In the end Jim won with both consistency, and ‘semi’ aggressive flying, although he did say at the end of the day he should have been even more aggressive. Look out if Jim really gets aggressive one day! 😊 Well flown Jim!

Marcus finished second and actually swapped the lead with Jim throughout the day. The final placings came down to the last round of the day, where Jim scored 1000 and Marcus 958.

Rod finished third with some very consistent flying and made his times all day.

1^st Jim 6940.2

2^nd Marcus 6910.9

3^rd Rod 6620.9

A special mention to Hugh who was our ‘biggest balls’ winner with lots of low aggressive launches.

A great day was had by all.

f5j_dec_state_field.pdf

f5j_state_field-flight_scores.pdf

Marcus nailing the spot with his new 2PK

And we are away!

Hi all,
here are the results for the F5J competition on Sunday 15 October 2023 at the new VARMS field in Rowville.

Anyway I played it conservative with mostly 170m climbs and got 6 of  my 7 times, which got me second place. 
Congrats to Rod Watkins who was on fire with picking heights and won almost all his heats, to nab 1st place,
and congrats to David Pratley who also showed consistency through the day to get 3rd.

 flight_scores_f5j_varms_2023_10_15.pdf

 overall_results_f5j_varms_2023_10_15.pdf

Thanks to everyone who helped set up and packup, especially Bruce for doing the draw, and Rod for helping enter scores.
I'll see you at our next calendar event
the F5J Trophy West Wyalong NSW, Nov 10-12th https://www.aefanet.com/aust-f5j-trophy
Happy gliding,
regards

This was the rescheduled RCGA f5j event for Digger’s Rest from last week,
and the forecast this time was for relatively cooler conditions, and not as windy. The grass is getting high so we need to take care.
Eight of us rocked up, unfortunately several pilots had clashes with the rescheduled event, so could’ve had a few more attend.
A light northerly greeted us on arrival and many including me setup light and heavier planes as a backup in the vain hope of light conditions. Temperature was in the mid twenties, with substantial high cloud.
Of course as we walked out the for the start of the first heat, the wind suddenly shifted to the west with some strong gusts.
Westerlies are somewhat less common than the northerlies or southerlies we usually get, and I think the ravine to the west of us has a greater effect, at least it worked for David Pratley, who punched forward in the first two rounds to great effect, when the lift was patchy.
The other pilot who flew very consistently was David Millward, and always managed to cover the field, even in the patchy conditions when people weren’t making their times.
By the end or round 2, the wind was averaging about 20 kph and gusting to 42kph, making for some tricky flying, and turbulent landings. Two pilots decided it was a bit much and pulled the pin after 2 rounds. The gusty conditions stayed until the last 2 rounds when the wind abated and swung to the south.
I had a pretty crappy event, caught my canopy on the first launch, and had forgotten my mp3 player, so the timing track i dug up was a bit rushed leading to the start of a heat. So was doing a bit too much running around, anyway better prep next time.
I think Hugh had a bad run where his motor unwound from the gearbox, but otherwise I don’t think there were any other incidents despite the wind.
Finally it was good to see Rod Watkins doing well with his new Prestige 2pk’s finally sorted.
Anyway Congrats to

1st David Milward
2nd David Pratley
3rd Rod Watkins
 

 rcga_f5j_feb_2022_flight_scores.pdf

 rcga_f5j_feb_2022_overall.pdf

Thanks to all for helping setup and pack up,
regards
Jim Houdalakis
RCGA