Anyone  who has flown a contest knows that a few minutes’ separation in launching times can make the difference between making your time with ease, and sinking out like a rock, not to mention gusts blowing through the landing zone when you’re on final!  F3J removes that element from the equation:  pilots in each group launch at the same time, have identical tasks, fly in the same air, and, if they make it, land at the same time.

This makes for drama and excitement, and there was plenty of both on June 26^th at Old Carnation Farm (Camp Korey).  In addition to the ‘usual suspects’, SASS soaring regulars, we were joined by soaring legends Daryl Perkins and Cody Remington, two of the senior members of the US F3J Flying Team pilots.  Their visit was thanks to Jim Laurel, to whom all SASS members are very grateful.  Of course the entire Junior US F3J team was there:  Chainsaw Mike Knight, Dippin’ Dots Brendon Beardsley, and Connor Laurel.  The Senior Canadian F3J  team also flew—VERY well!

The contest started off with a bang—literally!  Two very skilled and experienced pilots, Dave Friant and Ole Skotvold, launched next to each other, that is to say 75 feet apart, and their planes collided just after launch.  The impact was like a thunderclap, and both planes were destroyed.  Bits of Dave’s brand new Competition Light Supra rained down for over a minute, and Ole’s Pike Superior was all but cut in half.  It was a shocking and heartbreaking moment, aside from being a very rare event.  Ole returned to the contest with his non-molded back up plane, and Dave has pledged to return to the field once the grieving is past.

The contest proceeded without incident afterwards.  All tasks were ten minutes, with spot landings.  There was a 30 point penalty for flying over ten minutes, which means that, tactically, it is better to land, even off field, if you’re running over your time.  The first two rounds were in cloudy, but dry conditions; the remaining two rounds were in clear sunlight.  Four or five pilots flew at a time, in randomized groups, and the scores for each round were normalized, with the best performing pilot getting 1000 points.

As might be expected, given the expertise of the contestants, the scores of the top experts were very close.  The winner, Arend Borst, Canadian National Champion, scored an amazing 3999.57 out of a possible 4000 points.  He lost the 0.43 points short of perfection thanks to Dave Beardsley, the contest director, who flew a stunning first round before retiring to run the contest.  Cody Remington and Daryl Perkins, of the US Team, took second and third.  To give an idea of how tight scoring can be, the fourteenth place finisher had two perfect rounds; the fifteenth had three (out of four) perfect rounds.  Consistency is key!

In Sportsman class, Paul Measel was a solid lead at the halfway point, before inconsistency struck.  Seth Arlow and relative newcomer Larry Eich finished first and second, separated by barely 7 points.

The increased prominence of competition flying at SASS has been noted, particularly with the excitement generated by ‘the Boys’ earning selection to the US F3J Team for the World Championship in France this summer.  Some feel that this has de-emphasized recreational flying.  As a middling ‘stick’ I can only repeat the old, but true adage:  regardless of your skill level, you will learn more in minutes of competition flying than you will learn in hours of  casual flying.

Thanks to all who made this such a great day—Dave Beardsley, CD and party organizer, Jim Laurel, who made Cody and Daryl’s visit possible, Doug Brusig, field cook and “the human line retriever”, Rick Helgeson and his field mowing team, and winch designer/builder Mark Vance, with Rick Como—the matched winches performed flawlessly!

You can also check out this article with some more pictures in the August 2010 Radio Controlled Soaring Digest: http://rcsoaringdigest.com/

Seth Arlow