2016 Huron Cup report:

Saturday August 13^th, 2016

Location: Zander and Brayford sod farms, New Tecumseth Ontario, Canada

The weather forecast for August 13^th was not promising. Thunderstorms and strong winds forecast in the afternoon had us wondering if we would be able to get any flights in Saturday or not. Saturday morning was damp and overcast but calmer than expected. Attendance was down this year. There was a larger pre entry for the first published date of the contest in July, and no doubt the rescheduled date affected the attendance as potential competitors had already committed to other events.

Round one went off on time and many maxes were returned. Round two saw the unexpected calmer conditions continue and decent air was fairly easy to find. A wind shift caused us to move the flight line to avoid a plowed field and potential obstacles (trees) downwind. Round 3 saw the start of some rain sprinkles but nothing that we couldn’t handle. The start of Round 4 was delayed as stronger rain began. After a delay the rain subsided and we could begin again. Round 4 began and the weather was holding but there were very ominous looking dark clouds heading our way. Models were drifting across a deep ditch that ran along the field in the East/West direction. Fortunately the drier than normal summer weather meant that the ditches were dry this year so were not a problem for crossing. Maxes were still fairly easy as little down air was observed (although Aram Schlosberg managed to find some). Aram, Ron Felix and I were walking across the sod to retrieve our models when a massive thunderstorm hit. 100 km/hr winds and torrential rain made visibility non existent. The models were successfully retrieved but not before the rain had played havoc with our electronic timers!

Apparently several tornadoes were spotted in surrounding towns at the time and an entire months worth of rainfall was recorded in the span of an hour. Serious weather indeed!

The contest was postponed with only Cameron Ackerley failing to have recorded a score for round 4. We left the field a soggy bunch and adjourned to Ladi Horak’s nearby cottage for a well earned barbecue and a chance to dry our waterlogged clothes.

The weather cleared up and we returned to the field to attempt to complete the contest. The F1A group managed to successfully complete round 5, however F1B had to wait until Cameron could complete his round 4 flight. A rain squall hit us again and forced yet another delay. The rain stopped and finally Cameron was able to get his flight in. However, Round 5 for F1B was cancelled as dark clouds and lightning made continuing unsafe.

F1A had two flyers still clean, Jama Danier and Vidas Nickolajevas. It was decided to have the F1A flyoff at sunrise on Sunday before the Canada Cup would begin. Sunday morning saw cool overcast conditions with light drift which was ideal for the flyoff. Jama had had difficulty all day Saturday with communication issues with his M&K timers on all of his models. So he was not able to make any possible adjustments to his models. He decided to fly his carbon wing LDA model which had been trimmed for calm evening conditions. Jama had a good launch but the air was somewhat bumpy rather than smooth and his model was stalling for 236 sec. Vidas made a good launch also but not as high but his model held steady for the win with 247 sec.

F1B was concluded on Monday morning with 4 flyers still clean after 4 rounds; Ron Felix, Cameron Ackerley, Tony Mathews and Ladi Horak. Cameron declined to get up so early for a 3^rd day in a row so just 3 flyers would contend the flyoff.

The conditions were ideal with virtually no wind and blue skies after some mist burned off after the sun rose.

Aram Schlosberg helped with time keeping and all 3 flyers got off good flights within the 10 minute window. Ron Felix was 3^rd with a flight of 4:41. Ladi Horak took second place with a flight of 5:48 using his thermal model (in thermal trim with a glide circle too tight for the conditions). Tony Mathews was 1^st with a flight of 7:11 using a new F1B with full carbon wings.

Final Results:

F1A:

Vidas Nikolajevas  1147 sec

Jama Danier           1136 sec

Peter Allnutt           851 sec

Leslie Farkas           806 sec

F1B:

Tony Mathews      1151 sec

Ladi Horak              1056 sec

Ron Felix                 1001 sec

Cameron Ackerley 720 sec

Aram Schlosberg   701 sec

F1C:

Yury Shvendenkov 720 sec

I want to thank Ladi Horak and Nina Slezak for their generous hospitality at the Barbeque. It is always a highlight of the weekend. Challenging weather conditions but in the end a good contest.

Hopefully we will see more of our American friends next year to fly on the biggest lawn in the world!

Tony Mathews

CD Huron Cup

 Looking for World Cup Q-slots.
 
World Cups (WC) typically include A, B and C, and occasionally E and Q. Actually, events can be split. For example, I once used the Sierra Cup’s Q-slot in Wawayanda New York and had to submit a WC application and pay the full entry fee. Unfortunately, that year, only Dave Lacey flew and I could not justify using the slot the following year.
 
Fast forward. At Wawayanda today we have Dick Ivers, Drake Hooke, Yuda Avela, Joel Yori, Rich Wagner and myself flying Q. So it would be great if we could get a WC Q-slot for next May or June from any country that does not use it next year.
 
The same applies to the Nats, held at the end of July at Muncie, Indiana. This year there were 14 Q-fliers from across the country. (As an aside, Denver could use two WC E-slots in mid-July next year.)
 
I’m reachable at aram.schlosberg1 at Verizon.net
 
Aram