SEN 2266 21 Feb 2017
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- Category: Archive 2017
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Table of Contents - SEN 2266
- MaxMen Flash
- North American Cup 2017 Contest report:
- Aussies Bee Everywhere
MaxMen Flash
Major Achievement in getting the contest in before dark.
F1A
Anders Persson - Sweden
Aviv Balassiano - Israel
Vasily Bezchasnyy - Ukraine
F1B
Alex Andriukov – USA
Oleg Kulakovsky – Ukraine
Stepan Stefanchuk - Ukraine
F1C
Larissa Savukhina - Russia
Artem Babenko – Ukraine
Pu Sheng - China
F1Q
Ian Kaynes – Great Britain
Jack Murphy - USA
North American Cup 2017 Contest report:
The forecast for the 2017 North American Cup was excellent, with light winds, warm temperatures and plenty of sunshine expected. However, the forecast for the day following the contest was not good. High winds and rain was expected which would impact the decisions on how to decide the large flyoffs that were expected.
This year the weather was indeed exceptional. Just perfect conditions for a free flight contest! Afternoon temperatures approached 25 degrees C and Blue skies and buoyant air was available most rounds which made for easy maxes. This year it was decided with the Jury to located the flight line to the north area of the field to prevent the need to move the flight line for long flyoff flights. The first round showed many maxes in the near calm conditions although several F1A flyers reported a wind shear layer which if misjudged resulted in poor launches and sub max flights. We had a very large international turn-out as is now expected for the Fab Feb events and this year we even welcomed flyers from China, and Korea! It was great to see some new faces.
It was decided to fly only 5 rounds this year. The rational was to simulate the expected format of the World Championships including the 4 minute max in the 5th round. Round 4 and 5 were very tricky. Very calm conditions prevented the development of big thermals and there were many dropped rounds which reduced the flyoff size from last year even though there were less rounds in seemingly ideal conditions.
The flyoffs had 26 competitors in F1A, 32 in F1B and 9 in F1C. No flyoff was required for F1Q as the 5th round claimed more victims with the tricky air.
Knowing the dire forecast for Thursday morning, it was determined that it would be a good idea to decide the contest in the evening. Thus it was decided to make long maxes for the flyoffs with F1A going first for 8 minutes, followed by F1C for 10 minutes followed by F1B for also 10 minutes with the option of a 2nd F1A flyoff for 10 minutes before visibility became too low as the sun sets.
Phil Mitchell volunteered to run the F1A flyoff, and Blake Jensen ran the F1B flyoff with Mike Roberts assisting to run the F1C flyoff. The first F1A flyoff began at 3:30 pm with a small breeze and 20 of the 26 flyers completing the 8 minute maximum! Several models landed in the orchards but the wind began to swing away from the trees for the next flyoffs. F1C was decided with no 10 minute maxes. Faust Parker (USA) came out on top followed by Xin Pu Sheng (China) and Artem Babenko (UKR).
F1B was also decided with no 10 minute maxes. Oleg Kolukovsky (UKR) made it 2 in row at this year’s Fab Feb with another win followed by Charlie Jones (USA) and Jean Luc Bodin (France). Oleg and Charlie flew late in the round and found the best air by far. There were many very good flights and the standard was extremely high. As one competitor was heard to say “I made almost 7 minutes and didn’t break 10th place!”. Charlie flew a Bulatov carbon elliptical wing which performed superbly in the evening air. Jean Luc Bodin had apparently announced to the French team that if he made the podium in one of the Fab Feb events that he would leap into the (very cold) Motel 6 pool afterwards. No word whether this event actually occurred!
The 2nd F1A flyoff went off at 5:10 p.m. The late time and 10 minute max time made certain that we would have a result and not need another flyoff. Jama Danier (CAN) topped the field without a flapper (just an LDA carbon model) followed by Sergey Makarov (RUS) with a carbon flapper and Aviv Balassiano (ISR) also with a carbon flapper. I observed quite a few flappers in the flyoff but standard LDA models also performed well.
At 6:00 p.m., we gathered for the prize giving and the traditional North American Cup after- party on the field with food, champagne and great Aeromodelling friends from around the world trading stories from the contest and a great atmosphere was enjoyed for hours afterwards.
I would like to thank the Jury, Walt Ghio (USA), Henning Nyghen (DEN) and Phil Mitchell (AUS) for their assistance in crafting the flyoff schedule. I must thank Mike Fantham (UK) for his wonderful help with the electronic score keeping, Brian Eggleston and John Foley for help with the scoreboard, Roger Morrell for help posting the results to SEN and my co-organizer Peter Allnutt for his tireless work and enthusiasm.
We hope to see many old and new friends next year at Lost Hills to enjoy another Fabulous February!
Tony Mathews - CD
Aussies Bee Everywhere
From Adrian Bryant
Bees.
If you get stung by a bee at Lost Hills it will be a good
Australian bee.
We sent them to pollinate all the nut trees as the local bees were
not up to the job.
Adrian Bryant