DAY .. 31.July
2008 -
Top field Fløten
Up to the top field at my mother and her summer
place. 3 fields
here I can use and the top field is about
170x130m + a sidefield and is on 965m (have only
calculated size on internet). There is a fence
there right now but that will be taken down as
there is no mroe use for it. Took out my Pike
Perfect and had a nice time before a
thunderstorm came in and released some rain. I
flew a flight with my camera on top to get a
birds view of the airfield as I want to have a
competition here. Would be nice to put out a
couple of large lavvo's (tipi's) and do a 2 day
competition here.
Video can be
downloaded HERE
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DAY .. 25-28.July
2008 -
Interglide -
Contest Eurotour event
Lots of
pictures from the Interglide HERE - And some
of the
pictures from the Duxford museum HERE
OK this time my keyboard could not stop so quite
a long one ;)
First of all
Big congratulation to
Colin Paddon that both had birthday and won the
event after both Austin (leader after prelim)
and me (2nd after prelim) found our spotted
thermal that simply did not work in the second
of 3 finals ;O A GREAT event.
I found myself bored back home in Norway and
figured I would send some emails on last Tuesday
to see if I could enter the Interglide F3J. It
did not get long before I got emails back that
Uncle Sydney off course could pick me up at the
airport so I ordered some tickets with Ryanair
(that actually have their own tab in the ticket
order so you can order "sports equipment luggage"
for a reasonable price). After spending both
breakfast and dinner every night with the
British team at the World Championship I decided
there had to be more of that kind in the UK. I
was dead on in that assumption. They are just as
crazy as me and that suits me
just fine. A UK pilot can take a bit of heavy
jokes of himself and take back with a smile on
his face. What I discovered over the weekend was
a gang of pilots that takes care of you as much
as they can and is eager to know who you really
are. I took a very early flight and got lunch at
Sydney's home before we went up to the Interglide event. Brenda - Sydney's wife (she
was in Canada WC also and occasionally attends
Eurotours) is a straight forward
"girl" that just as well could be our aunt.
Brenda knows all about modelling so don't try to
explain here slowly about a rear CG or whatever
- as she will talk you over into enjoying the food
instead of adjusting your CG. Modelling talk is
for the flying field while the "aunts" are
there. And I have to agree...
Well arriving at the Interglide field (after
learning what a "M41 motorway parking lot#¤%" is) I did a
few flights on a winch and met many of the guys
attending and the Netherland guys that was
camping on the field. Checked out the B&B and
went of for a Birthday party for Colin Paddon
that turned 59 (no I meant 49?...). Anyhow we
enjoyed both champagne and food throughout the
evening before we dipped down into the bed in
decent time.
Left:briefing. Middle: the Trophy. Right: CD
Graham also does really nice small parts in
brass and iron
32 pilots had entered the Interglide this year.
Not a big number but if you take out the
Netherland guys I think you see a good amount of
UK pilots wanting to do towing since they
normally do winch on their events. The first
price was a Tragi and that might have triggered
a few. Although I do believe Austin have sold
quite a few NAN models that have become popular
but I did not do a count. My team was probably
not the best towing team on the field but with
did have a lot of fun. It consisted of Uncle
Sydney (Sydney Lensson, pensioned ing., reporter
and the writer of the
Gossip Columns.). Richard Read (former
American that I think loves to be a UK man but
all hear he has his roots from US). Robin
Sleight (that I believe also is retired and is
leader of the Barcs association). Cengiz Philcox
(a second time in F3J and first time for him
towing. He was great for the team and very keen
to learn). And off course me that is not meant
to be running at all according to my doctor...
What we did do was to compensate very well for
the low launches by spotting the thermals pretty
well and have a good organizing of the team
(thanks Sydney) so we managed without any
ambulance having to rescue us. The weather was
not helping us with close to 30C each day and a
lot of downwind launches! Graham Wicks the CD
(and rescuer of the UK league the last years I
hear) listened to the pilots as much as he could
and did change the whole layup to try and get it
into the wind (that was off course shifting with
the thermals). Most of the slots were with
booming thermals but as soon as a cloud came
over us it became almost dead. Some slots were
won with 6min something.
The Saturday barbeque was a treat and I am not
saying this just to be friendly. It was just
what you hope you find after a long day on the
field and we all gathered around and watched a
beautiful red sunset with free drinks. Many was
camping in the field and there was even a shower
although I did not use it as the B&B shower
without cowshit around seemed more pleasant
(those farmers needs to have dipers on their
cows... ;).
We managed to get in 8 rounds before we had 3
finals with the best 6 pilots. After
preliminaries I had a good solid 2nd place after
loosing a few seconds in the launch the first
round and a bad landing after my flaps went
bananas in round 6 I think (bad repair on a
wiper after the worlds I think). Austin Guerrier
had a perfect score and the only time we flew
against each other we both got 1000p (we did not
do decimals in the prelims). First final was in
sunny but a bit calm weather so I took a 4
second launch to be sure. All pilots had a easy
task I think and I lost the round by only 0,7s
to Adrian Lee. Second round final I obviously
needed to step it up a bit and since I had
spotted a good hint about a thermal on the field
I did a 2-3sec launch and headed for it. Austin
did the same only 50-100m away from my spot and
had to do an early relaunch. I found my thermal
and worked it for 4min before it faded and I
decided to check it out in the direction I felt
it must have gone. Found a new small patch but
even worse and then even a worse one leaving me
in 30-40m at the other end of the field as the
other that were struggling in 50-100m. Peter
Schmitz that has done F3J for only 3 years went
up far away the other way so a big cheer to him
for that. I did a relaunch after 5min and tried
the best to do everything else that the others
but they did all get their time. In the third
final I did my own thing but the sun was up
again and all got their time. Only 3 final
rounds so now throwout and I ended in 5th place
just before Austin that had the same result of
the spotting as me. Thinking about it afterwards
I would have done just the same again and are in
fact pleased with my decisions. Results will be
up here I guess:
Interglide and
Contest Eurotour
From left in no special order the finalists and
the models that they choose for the picture
after the finals ;)
The models used in the finals were 1st Xpro, 2nd
graphite2, 3rd Perfect, 4th Xpro, 5th Perfect,
6th Shadow
So any criticism to give for this event? Very
little and not much to mention. I volunteered to
the jury and we had very little to do. We did
have to wait a bit for the price giving as I
believe they wanted to pack up most of the stuff
before all disappeared. A good thinking for the
UK league but maybe not for Eurotour. Results
were out after each round and it was all run
rather smoothly with a good 5min between each
slot with lunch as one can do with only 6 slots
in each round (no stress and that is good for
the less prepared teams).
More in general though: One thing I have seen at
most of the Eurotour events is that they all
want to run the timing on a computer and with 10
beeps the last seconds. First of all the
computers do mistakes (including here by
sometimes 0,5-0,7sec) and that ends in your
timers voice is not correct with the beeps. WHY
cant we use a MP3 player???? They never do
mistakes and you don't have to run a computer
out on the field. I understand that some
displays needs to be run by a computer but we
did not use display here. Also I think the beeps
needs to be a countdown. Graham (the CD) said
that with countdown pilots were flying a lot
overflying and he needed to be more observant of
overflying. With beeps they were scared and
landed earlier. I believe pilots land earlier
with beeps because they have no idea what "beep"
they are on. It is stated in the rules: "The
organisers must positively indicate the start of
a group's working time, by audible signal; see
5.6.12.1 for details." and "The
organisers shall ensure that each competitor has
no doubt about the precise second that the
group's working time starts and finishes.".
I understand that what has been done up until
now is "common practice" but that should not
stop one from doing things better. This final
points about timing is therefore for all the
Eurotour events. Please use either a MP3 player
or any other device that is not based on a
computer as they do mistakes (ask any computer
guy that is managing servers and their timing
each night). And please use a countdown for both
start of working time and end of working time
(we did have a countdown for start at Interglide.
Thanks!). This might be getting political... But
it is all meant as positive input as I know so
many CD's read this ;) MP3 files can be obtained
for free
HERE
or if you want me to make you fresh ones with
other voice or whatever just ask. I will never
ask for any provision ;)
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Finally I have to
mention what we did on Sunday and Monday as I
did not go home before Tuesday morning. Me and
Sydney came "home" to Brenda and enjoyed and
inside Barbeque as a thunder shower made their
beautiful garden a bit wet. Richard joined us.
Sunday morning we slept a bit more than usual
and I did not get my "usual" coffee by Sydney at
06:00 but 08:00 instead! Duxford was next up
with the museum there. Many of the guys in my
club are enthusiasts of the Duxford airshow so I
now got the chance to see what on earth they
were talking about. It was a nice museum and we
would have had to use a lot more than one day to
really see it all. So I can recommend a visit
here even if there is not an airshow going on.
Later we visited Sydney's "private" flying field
and met up with Andre Borowski that flew an
Espada RL but struggled to get a good launch
setup. He did manage to adjust it I think as
line after line broke off in the launches.
Normally a good sign ;) Evening was spent in a
nearby restaurant together with some of the
Interglide event pilots and I had Fish & Chips
for the first time in my life. It was excellent
and impressive although they kept saying this
was extraordinary well done. Well - good for me!
Thanks again to all the smiling faces. I think
you will see me again in the UK flying F3J!
Lots of
pictures from the Interglide HERE - And some
of the
pictures from the Duxford museum HERE
Left: Colin gets his birthday cake. Middle: Jojo
in the middle of 2nd final (photo Sydney).
Right: Typical B&B breakfast
DAY .. 23.July
2008 -
Perfect
Was up in the mountains at the summer place as
we have a couple of fields I can use for flying
there. The place I used today I had never used
before and it was great. Especially since there
were NO trigger points for thermals there. Flew
lots of flights practicing launching and
landings and was also served ice by my mother ;)
This place can even be used for a competition.
Maybe get some tents and have a two day
competition with long hours fun into the night?
Today I flew to 21:30 and the sun was still up
warming me. I flew my heavy duty Perfect with
double carbon and very stiff spar.
A very
quick made video here 34mb .wmv (I am trying
to learn from my mistakes). Listen to the birds
in the last minute and think about the pleasant
feeling of summer ;)
DAY .. 22.July
2008 -
Perfect / Freestyler
Klanten airport again and today I spent 7!!
hours here. Well not all of it was flying as the
club house has both coffee and food available
for a great lunch. Some of the heli guys apeared
just as I was going home so I stayed with them a
couple of hours flying my Nemo mini dlg. But I
had some great hours flying both my Pike Perfect
and the Freestyler. I flew both because I wanted
to have a feeling for the thermal conditions
with the Freestyler. And the only way to really
feel a new plane is to compare against another
one you know well. I say this because every day
the conditions are different. I also found some
limits on when to reduce the ballast on the
Freestyler. It will launch well with full
ballast but the altitude will suffer. I still
feel the Freestyler is small to complete a
duration in calm or poor conditions but I am
getting a slight feeling for it.
A
very quick made video here 14mb .wmv (I am
trying to learn from my mistakes).
DAY .. 21.July
2008 -
Interglide -
Contest Eurotour event
I suddenly found myself bored... A few emails
and I am off too Interglide F3J this weekend.
About time I visited the heart of F3J = UK. And
spending time with the UK guys in Turkey (same
Hotel) made me want to visit them. So far a big
thanks to
Uncle Sydney for fixing me up ;) Dont have a
team yet but I guess the will fix me up or I
will have to do some circle towing ;)
DAY .. 21.July
2008 - Nemo
Up in the mountains to buy a new Norway T-shirt
and maybe some DS. Wind direction was wrong but
stopped for a session with the Nemo.
DAY .. 20.July
2008 - Easyglider
Just a short flight between the rain with
Fredrik's Easyglider and new motor. 45 degree
climb now and I guess he is more satisfied ;)
DAY .. 19.July
2008 - Easyglider
Went out to fly today. My son suddenly wants to
fly again after he discovered he could go live
and fly the simulator on the web with others. So
we took out the Easyglider and had some fun.
Nice for a dad to see his son fly all the way
and even land at his feet! The motor could have
been stronger so in the evening we rattled round
in the old stuff and found a bigger one and 3
A123 cells. Hopefully will be more fun for him.
left: Guess my son has watched too many F3J
launches... ;)
DAY .. 18.July
2008 - Goldagan
This weekend was "Goldagan" but the weather-man
said it was going to rain so the guys phoned
around to start on Friday. Went over with my 3m
Extra and the Joker2 heli. Had 3 ling flights
with the Extra and a couple with the Joker2
(just for photo). A good crowd for a Friday
(about 20 pilots) and 3 large Ultimates and my
Extra formed the "large crowd". Happy day of
flying and as always they have both waffles and
hot dogs for us and not the least decent coffee!
Did not have chance to take so many photos but
HERE
are a video (50mb .wmv) of Knut Erik Rognes
Ultimate and
HERE are a
video of Oddgeir Leikvold trying to start
Kjell Arne's MVVS (a bit local picking here of
who has problems ;)
DAY .. 16.July
2008 - Freestyler
A guy wanted to change a Perfect against a
Freestyler.. I thought it would be nice to check
out this plane even though it is probably too
small for F3B unless there is a thermal around.
I installed a JR R921 2,4 receiver (inner cone
carbon but outer nose cone glass so I could have
the antennas inside. The weights
are as follows: fuse 695g, joiner 116g, wings
637 and 636g. Total 2084g. Had 10 flights (4
thermal flights empty). The model is launching
very well even on 1,55 300m line (nice to check
setup with this stiff line). I thought the model
needed deep dive to perform a good zoom but I
was wrong. A ping is also working well. The wind
was 3-6m/s on a little angle and off course one
could feel this is a V-tail and needs a firm and
good throw to go the right way but it settles
well and was fairly easy to setup on launch.
Speed was as expected easy but I did not ballast
up full (joiner + 2 slugs). A bit wiggly when it
was turbulent but easily manageable. The
duration was difficult. It was cloudy and I was
at 800m above sealevel but the thermals were
there. It signaled ok in these conditions but
not more. Changing the camber to keep it going
was easy and in these conditions it did not like
too much. Maybe it is a keeper? We will see. I
have my Skymax4 and also a brand new Skymax4 in
the basement not installed yet.
DAY .. 14.July
2008 - Thinking back
After dreaming about WC almost every night I
went thru the pictures again and so many
memories fall back and lots of cool photos. I
got 17,5Gb of pictures and video... yeap
17,5Gb... Since it was raining today I thought I
would drip a few pictures in my diary. What do
you think about a Mini Supra or a changable CG
with your radio? Is this the last we see of Roo
in 2 years? And is that an South African mini
pilot drinking Efes? Or maybe you want to read
some of the
guestbook entries of the organizers?
DAY .. 13.July
2008 - Valdresfestivalen
Today we had the official day of the festival
for the club. Every year we drop 5kg of candy
for the kids and do some flying on water. I flew
both my Joker2, Osprey seaplane, NoLiemit indoor
and Fredrik's boat... ;) Geir Atle dropped Candy
with his helicopter. 5 flights of 1kg each.
Todays pictures
DAY .. 12.July
2008 - Valdresfestivalen
yet again festival work. I was lucky to discover
a problem with a bearing in the tail rotor so
headed home to fix it after a short flight. Got
a flight in before dark after repairing it.
Checking for small stuff like this is so
important when one flies near people.
Todays pictures
DAY .. 11.July
2008 - Valdresfestivalen
More pictures for the festival.
Todays pictures
DAY .. 10.July
2008 - Valdresfestivalen
Todays mission was to do a series of photos from
the local festival and a camping place. The
Joker2 was dragged out and did its mission as
always. Pictures came out nice. Pitty the
festival has not started yet since there was few
people. But I had to get the best out of the
sun.
More pictures HERE
DAY ..
5.July
2008 - Extra 300 3meter
Me and Arild went to Klanten for a spin with our
bigger models. Nice to get out again after a
long World Championship F3J. Arild flew his
Ultimate with DA150 and I flew my Extra 300
3meter with 3W150.
For WC F3J
follow (28.june-5.july):
www.F3X.no/f3j/2008
THE best World Championship EVER as the Soarist
Club and others had invested so much time and
effort in it.
There is always things to improve but that has
to do with F3J rules...
Do you have a good solution on the timing? Write
me as I am in the Technical comitee of CIAM
soaring jojo (at) vfkm.no
