F3B League 2 - 03 May 2009 - Wetlands
by Mark PassinghamThe second league event of the season took place on Sunday 03 May 2009, a week later than originally advertised as the Wetlands closure dates for lambing went back a week. The next event is 17 May 2009 – only two weeks later.
The weather on the day was very windy, probably the windiest conditions for a couple of years since Upton 2007. This caused quite a few problems with line breaks during the course of the day which slowed up proceedings. The Swillers team were very pleased with themselves as they hydrated a couple of 1.35mm lines the night before and were one of the few teams not to suffer a line break during the course of the day.
The windy conditions caused a few problems for pilots who were reluctant to put in the ballast. Full ballast was required for Distance and a good dose was required for Duration otherwise the model had trouble getting out of the field. Ken Woodhouse flew with ballast throughout the day and was rewarded with 4000 points from his Distance and Duration slots and second place overall on the day.
Distance produced some interesting flights in the conditions. My Ceres was lucky not be destroyed on launch when it caught a gust and shot off sideways a couple of feet off the ground. I got away with it and then landed in the safety area resulting in a 300 point penalty before I finally got it together and won the slot.
There were several closely fought Distance tasks including Mike Challinor beating teammate Paul Carrington by three laps in Round 2.
The Haleys had an interesting day in Speed. In the first round Bill lost sight of his Ascot in the sun when it was going extremely fast and the resulting manoeuvres and shouting from Steve really entertained the crowds.
Steve flew the Ceres Lift in competition for the first time and in Round 1 he was launching by swinging the model out to the left because of the slight crosswind. Unfortunately one of his helpers (me!) was a bit slow winding down - I couldn’t find the button, honest. The chute caught on Base B and dragged it over as Steve entered the course in what was obviously good air. Attempt two: this time I was on the button (!) winding down and Steve got another excellent launch into good lift. Unfortunately the chute caught and dragged down Base B yet again. This time it definitely wasn’t my fault! Attempt three: this time Steve did a straighter a launch and the replacement winch man – I refused to be involved a third time – managed to not destroy Base B. Steve duly recorded a win with a time of 15.6.
In Round 2 Steve managed to get away to get away first time and got some really good air. He was obviously on for really good time until he cut on Base A at the end of the second leg. A low high speed recovery saw him cut for a second time and so he went around again! He still recorded a respectable time of 20.79 despite cutting twice.
At the end of the day Steve Haley came out on top with Ken Woodhouse second and Norman Quirk third. The league positions after two competitions show Steve Haley in first, Ken Woodhouse second and Paul Carrington third.
Thanks to BarkWeb for the webspace.
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