Second F5J Trial Event 8th May 2011

Thanks to the efforts of Martin Bell and his group of helpers, the second 'Trial' F5J event was held  on a field arranged by Ipswich Club member Tony Merritt at Lawford which is near Manningtree in Essex.

As part of the weekend that Martin had organised, a BBQ was held on the Saturday evening preceding the comp and during this much talk was of the tactics to use in the new format comp.

For some it would be launch as normal but keep low and fly far forward so that a good area could be searched for lift. For others it would to run the motor for the full 30 seconds allowed, but at reduced power. A previous trial comp found that this was a good way to minimise the height launched to, and of course to reduce the amount of glide time required after the motor run was stopped.

15 pilots keen to try the new format flew, but the very strong wind and blustery conditions gradually reduced this number as the comp progressed and played a big part in the results. There was very little thermal lift during the day, but there was a 'wave lift' effect which seemed to move not only from one area to another, but often to a different height depending on the strength and direction of the wind.

The first slot of the day was won with a flight which launched at 85mtrs, timed at 8min 44sec. with a landing bonus of 45. The launch height gave a penalty of 43 points which resulted in a total score of 527 points which was normalised to 1000. Second place had a longer flight time of 8min 57 sec but launched at 170 metre's and this incurred a higher penalty of 85 points.

Conditions deteriorated as the day progressed and launching low was not the best tactic to use. Most slots were won with a more usual launch height of about 150/200mtrs and landing in the circle became most important.

As with so many gliding comps, it was consistency and thermal pilot skills that won the day, not the latest greatest model. The worthy winner, Russell Mexome, flew a converted traditional construction model throughout the day, but as he damaged it in his last slot, he used a foam ‘Radion’to win the fly off! Although the weather did not allow for all the different tactics that could have been used, I think this format comp is the way things will go and I look forward to competing in more of these events.

P. Mitchell