F3K European Championships 2024

[Neil Harrison]

Hello all

I have just had confirmation from our GBR TM that the team has now arrived in Poland and everything looks intact.

Hopefully they will update us here on their progress and adventures.

Good luck guys.

[PaulR]

A pleasant but cloudy morning here in Poland has turned to light rain as the official practice time starts. 
Lots of shelters being erected and competitors slowly arriving for the pre-champs World Cup event. 

The World Cup will kick off tomorrow and it won’t be until Monday that the rounds kick off for the main event. 

[PaulR]

First man on the field (it’s still raining!)

 

[MikevE]

Go go Gav! And of course the rest of you!

[Kohen]

Hope Gav's knee is feeling better! Good luck guys!

[PaulR]

Base camp established. 
Tweaking in progress. 
Treeline seems a gift for big launchers

[mikef]

Play hard, relax where appropriate, and make us proud!   And try to enjoy it all - go Team!

[MikeDLG]

World Cup - pre event contest. 
 

R1- last 2 in 7mins

Pretty windy with gusts.  

Gr1

Michael - E with 45g ballast

1:20 first flight.  Thought there was a pull to the N.  Followed a bit E towards trees, but didn’t really find anything.  Quite a few got away almost directly E and were far overt eh trees quite quickly. No chance to chase them. 

Took a few secs to look around, seemed there might be something just SE. Launched, felt ok, followed back to E and it built nicely. Made 3 easily. 

 

There were no reads for the next one. Lots of low gliders. May be 2 high launchers far away in marginal air. I saw a stork and another bird to the north on the tree line, decided to go for it. Didn’t encounter anything. Landed out. Should have listened to my timer Corne and not launched at all given the bad air and taken my first flight or 1:20!

 

Gr2

Gav - 50g ballast

No easy reads. Short first flight. 33secs

Took a few secs to read. There appeared to be positive gliders to the S/se. launched, launch was good, worked air heading E, did well, but it was tough. Made 2:29.3.

 

No reads for last one. Lots of low gliders. A few high launchers to the Nne over tree line. Gav headier that way, but it was bad all the way. He headed back, but landed out in 56secs. 

 

Gr4

Seems more gusty now. 

Corne- 50g (300g auw)

55sec first flight.  

Gliders going up to ne, launched, headed that way, hooked up not far from tree line, climbed fast and high. Struggled to come down! Made 3mins. 

Same read for 3rd flight, further E though. Launched, headed ne. Felt big bump, tried working it. went up a bit, then dumped. I called him more S, more of the same. It was very turbulent. Decided to abandon and not risk model over trees. Landed out. 

 

Paul - 290g auw 

1:21 first flight

Headed ne on second flight, surfed trees, hit big lift made 2:59.4.

Last flight just headed se, no air, made 58.9. Should not have flown and taken first flight!

 

 

[MikeDLG]

R2 - 5x2

Still windy.

Grp1

Corne

Tough to get a read. 1min plus change first flight. Changed tactics to just try surf the hopefully smoother air coming across the big field to the sw . Took out ballast, and it worked quite well. I noticed WC Anthony Rotteleur was doing some of this. 

 

 

Grp2

Gav

No read on first, just over 1m. 

A possible ready to the s and it worked well. Worked that side successfully for the next 3 flights. Lift had gone for last flight, managed to stretch out a 1:54. 

 

Grp4

Paul

Paul is quite ill with a cold or flu. He did very well getting 4x 2min flights. Only the 3rd flight was a 57secs. 

MS

Had a read just to the w, launched straight in to it. Was happily climbing to the ne. Corne warned me that another model looked close to me, I thought I was higher and a bit further than him. So did the other pilot when we spoke after. We mid-aired, left leading edges together. Both carried on and made time, but both changed models due to slight delam to leading edge. Just a tape fix.  Had good reads for all the rest of the flights with my C model with 42g ballast 267g auw. Last flight was 45s due to time lost changing models and tardy, but safe turnarounds. It is still quite windy and turbulent. A little better than earlier though. 

 

 

 

[MikeDLG]

R3 - Auld

Grp1

Corne

It’s blowing quite hard now. We had a short rain delay and was calm for a few mins after, but soon after, it picked up. 

Corne did really on the first, working some air on the sw corner, drifting E and he made the 3mins. 

 

Only 4 made 3mins on 2nd flight (of about 15). Air was tough and if you weren’t where the lift was, you were down quickly. Corne made 1:31. 

 

The 3rd was much the same, but I think only 2 made the time. Corne made a 1:12. 

 

Grp2

Gav

Tough conditions. Strong wind, more sink than lift.

First 2 were low 1min flights and the last was just over 2mins. Some made the times. But you have to be in the right place or you are doomed. 

 

Grp3 

Paul

Paul is in the car sleeping, he’s not feeling well at all, so skipped his round. Given the conditions, he hasn’t missed much. 

 

Grp4

Michael

Put 85g ballast in, so about 335g auw. It is blowing. 

Went the pack to the nw on the first one. Couldn’t find anything and got low quickly. I headed back over the line of shelters and managed a 2min something. 

 

While waiting for the 3rd launch, the wind dropped a bit and pulled more easterly. I reckoned there was lift just s and over the box. I launched that way and it felt decent, started turning and climbed slowly.  It built as I headed E, had to re-centre a few times, but got to a safe height. I looked around and pretty much everyone was down! I was the only one to make the 3. It felt good, especially in those conditions. 

 

There was a read about 30sec to launch. I figured that by launch time it would be by the tree line to the E.  In this wind, I did not feel confident chasing it downwind, so went with the pack again nw. Nothing. Was down in just over a minute.  Cedric and another chased it and managed the time. 

[MikeDLG]

 

R4 - 1,2,3,4

Wind has dropped off a bit. 

Grp1

Michael - Plane E, no ballast 250g auw

Had a read to S. air was ok, had to work a bit for it, drifting E, but going up. Mid-aired with Kristof at one point. But made the 4mins. 

On the way back I thought the air was ok just E of the box, just downwind. But the time I launched, there were others just upwind that looked ok. I had a bit of indecision and got caught between those and where I thought the good air was. Decided to make it a 1min. 

It then went downwind E and picked it up.  There was a gaggle going up to the N and corne and discuss led making this a 2mins and then going there for the 3.  I hesitated as I thought they were going a bit far NE and ending in a spot of trouble I’ve the tree line to the ENE, but managed to make the 3mins. 

I launched for air to N, but it was gone and I was struggling.  As I came back to the box at the NE corner, I caught a bubble at about 4m up, managed to extent to end of the window. I dropped an about 21secs. I’m not doing any QT’s and was taking time between launches to look air. 

 

Grp2

Corne

No solid read. Launched to the WNW.  A couple of little bubbles, but nothing solid. Surfed the shelters for a bit and made 1:50.

 

Launched in a similar direction and worked some air heading NE. Wasn’t great, but managed 2:59.

 

Same again for the 3rd, nothing found and landed for just over 1min. 

 

Launched straight in to lift over the field and made the remaining time of 3:34.

 

Grp4

Paul still not feeling well enough to fly

 

Gav

Air was tricky and Gav could really hook up any of the first 3 flights, scoring around 1:35ish , 2:11,  1:20ish, then hooked up for the 4 min flight. 
 

Poker next! Wind has dropped a little, but it is overcast. In Grp1 a few managed all in. 

[Kohen]

Sounds like tough condtions, hope Paul feels better tomorrow!

[MikeDLG]

Yeah, tough conditions today. Top guys put some amazing flights in. Even in the bad conditions, there were all ins in poker in most, if not all groups. 

[MikeDLG]

Paul is feeling well enough to fly today, at least for now. 

[Neil Harrison]

Awesome updates, give our best regards to paul wishing him a speedy recovery.

[Will_A]

Enjoying reading the updates, hope it goes well today and no more mid airs….
Go team GBR!

[MikeDLG]

R6 3x 3:20

The wind has returned! And it is quite late in the day  

Grp2 

Gav and Corne

 

It was really tough. Gav landed out on the first flight. Wind was brutal. Managed 2x 1:30 odd and a 1:50 something. 

 

Corne did 2x 1:28 and a 1:33. It was tough. Even at 300g, his cx5 was going backwards. 

 

Grp6

Michael

Howling gale and after 7pm.  90g ballast, so 335g auw. 

Surfed the W side over the shelters for 2:42.

Tried the same again, didn’t work as well for 1:41.

Then grabbed some lift and drifted NNE Headed back in cruise, trying to make more time. Thought all was good to make it back in to box for a 2:40 odd.  But too late I realised that I was further away than I thought. Landed a couple of meters short! Launched again to make 1:56. Stupid error!

[MikeDLG]

R7- last flight 5min max

Sunny and hot today. Breezy, but not too windy at the moment. Wind is more southerly. 

Grp2

Gav

There was a pull to the e, he had a bit of work to do once over the e tree line, but managed to find the lift and made the time without to much fuss. 

 

Grp3 

Michael -E no ballast 250g auw

Felt there was lift just over the E edge of the box. Waited for others to launch, watched for lift. Saw others in good air, launched straight in to lift. It was closer to me than I thought. Easy 5. 

 

Corne

Abandoned the first flight on about 1:48. Launched and headed E couldn’t find anything. I directed him N from there. Wasn’t looking good. Seems to have some radio issues, but we think it was just turbulence. He got really low to the N and gave up on him, waiting for him to land out and launch again. I was looking upwind for a bit. Turned round and he had picked up lift low down and was working it hhard!  He got away and made the time. Fantastic flight. 

[MikeDLG]

 

Spot the glider contest. 

[MikeDLG]