29 June 2010

2010 Natal Thermal Soaring Champs report - Dennis Bird

NTSC 2010 26/27 June - Report and Results Dennis Bird

The Natal Thermal Soaring Championship that was held at Noodsberg Country Club on 26/27 June was a most enjoyable and successful event. Participants included the cream of RC thermal soaring practitioners in the country. All members of the SA junior and senior F3J team were there to hone there skills ahead of the forthcoming World F3J Championships.

The weather was relatively kind to us and all scheduled rounds were completed before the rain arrived at 13:30 on Sunday. Saturday was warm and not a cloud was to be seen. In contrast Sunday was cold and overcast with waves of low cloud passing through. The fact that lift was fairly strong in these conditions surprised some of the newer converts to thermal soaring. The standard of flying on both days was of an exceptionally high standard and the winner of the open title had to be determined by referring to the scores achieved in the throw-away round. Only 0.05% separated the top two pilots! In the end Alan Smith emerged victorious, just ahead of Chris Adrian and Paul Carnall. Michelle Goodrum showed her class by finishing 4th, just ahead of Russell Conradt who had an excellent competition. Young Jason Webber showed why he had been selected for the junior F3J team by finishing in 6th place, ahead of dad Herman and Craig Goodrum. 9th and 10th places went to Michel Leusch and Dave Greer from KZN.

The 2 meter contest was dominated by Johan Bruwer, who literally blew away the competition. He was followed by Simon Nelson and John Monk.

The top F3K pilots were also there and they were made to work very hard for their points as their slots were situated in the early morning and late afternoon. Brother, Alan and Lionel Smith secured the first two placed with some very skilful flying. Stephan du Ponsel finished 0,01% behind Lionel. It was amazing to see the launch heights achieved by these pilots

The braai on Saturday evening was a great success and enabled everyone a chance to chat and exchange anecdotes, on the day’s flying. There was enough meat to feed an army and what was left of the ice cream was devoured with relish by some of the youngsters present.

The fact that the event ran so smoothly was due to the hard work and dedication of several people that deserve special mention. Simon did a great job of laying out the field and supplying and setting up the PA system. Herman Webber did a sterling job of arranging the matrix and printing out score sheets, etc. for all the competitors. He also provided the laptop on which the scores were captured by Natalie Stark. Natalie handled this onerous and important task with skill and dedication. She was also able to produce the overall results in very short time after completion of flying. Stephan ran the F3K event and calculated the results on his person computer. Russell printed out the programme and rules and provided one of the prizes. He also handled the negotiations with the manager of the club and with the caterer. Werner Ehlers once again acted as CD and kept us all on track. His conscious attention to detail ensured that the contest ran strictly according to the program, finishing on time on both day.

And now for the detailed results. Congratulations to the winners, for the rest, better luck next time.

OPEN – EW/HAND TOW

1. ALAN SMITH 5000 (998.76)
2. CHRIS ADRIAN 5000 (998.45)
3. PAUL CARNALL 5000 (964.69)
4. MICHELLE GOODRUM 4967
5. RUSSELL CONRADT 4928
6. JASON WEBBER (jnr) 4913
7. HERMAN WEBBER 4910
8 CRAIG GOODRUM 4854
9. MICHEL LEUSCH 4603
10. DAVE GREER 4381
11. TSEPHO MOLEFE (jnr) 4248
12. JOHAN BRUWER 4062
13. SIMON NELSON 4023
14. ANDER LEUSCH 3751
15. ADRIAN CRITTEN 3718
16. DON SLATTER 3661
17. RYAN NELSON (jnr) 3614
18 MIKE STARK 3544
19 LUKE JOHNSON 3214
20. JUANITA SMITH 3164
21. WOLFGANF STEFFNY 2923
22. DENNIS BIRD 2697
23. SEAN OELLERMANN 2690
24 JOHN MONK 1943
25. RODNEY GOODRUM 964

2 METRE

1. JOHAN BRUWER 1000
2. SIMON NELSON 900
3. JOHN MONK 798
4. DENNIS BIRD 794
5. LIONEL SMITH 778
6. JUANITA SMITH 731
7. TSEPHO MOLEFE 604

F3K (HAND LAUNCH)

1. ALAN SMITH 4832
2. LIONEL SMITH 4537
3. STEPAHNE DU PONSEL 4532
4. JOHAN BRUWER 3473
5. JOHN MONK 3328
6. JASON WEBBER 3069
7. MICHELLE GOODRUM 1507

2010 Natal Thermal Soaring Champs pics - Dennis Bird

























































































































































































































22 June 2010

TOSS Power Slope Scale 2010 - a visitor view





































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































These are just my weekend happy snaps - the official photographer pics and event detail will be out in due course and WILL be better.
Cheers
Dave