BERG Team comes 1st at the Soaring Nationals

The BERG team consisting of Piet Rheeders, Evan Shaw and Gert Nieuwoudt placed 1 st at the Nationals. Ably assisted by Justice.

Individual placings of the BERG members:
Evan Shaw placed 1 st in 2 Meter

Piet Rheeders placed 3 rd in RES/100

Full results will be published later, but in the mean time, positions in the different classes were:.

F3B
1st Craig Goodrum
2nd Michelle Goodrum
3rd Chris Adrian

Open
1st Michelle Goodrum
2nd Paul Carnall
3rd Chris Adrian


RES/100
1st Izak Theron
2nd Dennis Bird
3rd Piet Rheeders


2 Meter
1st Evan Shaw
2nd Dave Greer
3rd Conrad Klintworth


F5J
1st Dion Liebenberg
2nd Mark Stockton
3rd Gert Nieuwoudt

F3K
1st Alan Smith
2nd Craig Goodrum
3rd Stephane DuPonsel

Teams
1st BERG-1 (Piet Rheeders, Evan Shaw & Gert Nieuwoudt)
2nd ETB (Herman Webber, Paul Canall & Dion Liebenberg)
3rd Hornbills (Volney Klintworth, Conrad Klintworth & Rudi King)

Juniors
1st Conrad Klintworth

Victor Ludorum
Paul Canall

Hard Luck Trophy
Fred Whitstock (Crashing more than his fair share of models and to top it all, the PA speaker blowing over onto another)

2006 Gliding Nationals F3B & Open, RES/100, 2 Met & F3K

A few more photos from the Sunday

2006 Gliding Nationals - Saturday F3B & Open

One or two choice photos from the Nationals

A chuckle a day keeps the doctor away.

Bagged :

Total destruction of your model with no surviving piece larger than can fit into a plastic shopping bag.
Submitted by: Sam G, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia

BERG Volksrust Trip

BERG members with Zagi's at Rosedal 2006

Thanks Mike for the generous offer.
I don't think that one can get a better deal than that!!!.
This will make our slope trip even more affordable.

Now comes the challenge for Oom Evan, how about
a reduced price foam Zagi's (say R50.00 for the cores) and
I will come and help you cut them one Sat at The Skunk works.

I still maintain that, value for money, a Zagi is king and for those
club members that haven't flown a Zagi this is your chance.
Built, bred and tested by Oom Ev on the slopes of Ladybrand
you can be sure that this one will fly straight off the drawing board
or, is it the foam cutter.

The Zagi only uses 2 servos (elevons) , a receiver, battery and
mixer and the most basic radio can be used ( i.e. 2 channel
27Mhz ).

So It's over to Evan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Volksrust Trip (Update)

Mike phone me today and has very kindly offered to sponsor Braai packs for any BERG member and his partner that come with to the Slope meeting at Volksrust at the end of October.
Thank you Mike!

If the free braai pack does not attract you then, to see Mike fly his 5 meter Ventus should.

Mike & his two boys with his Ventus 2ax. All 5.1 meters and 8 kg of it

Welcome to BERG's newest member

I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you all to Kevern Upton.

Welcome Kevern, nice to have you on board. We look forward to many years of flying together.

Kevern tells me he has been involved with RC for almost 8 years, but only been flying, (mostly on the simulator) for about a year now.

Evan

Something to brighten up your Monday - For a chuckle of note from Philip Booysen.

Hi all BERG Members

Here's something I want to share with you.

It is a "not-your-average" RC Glossary :-)

Piet, Evan and Charl reviewed some of it, and yes, they did
find it quite funny :-)

http://www.radiocontrolzone.com/plane/rcglossary.asp

An example or two:

The Walk of Shame:

A common term to R/C slope pilots that refers to when you crash or land near the slope base.
Submitted by: BJ Hahn, Tooele, UT, USA

Big Sky Theory
==============
When two airplanes mid-air in large open flying space.

Chuckle Buckle
--------------
When your plane's wings buckle and fold in mid-air during an extremely
"High-G" manuever.

RC non-combat ace
=================
The nitwit who turns on his Xmitter without having the pin and shoots down
somebody.

Zilch
=====
Amount of sympathy your wife gives you after a crash.

Happy reading (and chuckling)

Send in By Philip Booysen.

Volksrust Trip (Update)

I have phone Oom Louis this morning to reserve the
facilities at Volksrust for BERG. Oom Louis has at this
stage kindly reserve all his rooms just for us. So it looks
like an all Berg outing.

For the record Hallo Nina (the name of the
sleep over place) can take up 30 and more persons.
Oom Louis also offered to semi cater for the Braai on Sat
28th October- this will include a Braai pack at R35-oo,
plates, braai tongues and all other utilities that you might
need at a Braai but exclude any liquid refreshments. I
will need this information at least 3 days before we go.

Up until now the following members indicated that they
are going.

Mike May.
Evan Shaw.
Piet Rheeders.
Len Thomas.
Charl Viviers.

Their is still plenty time and room left for you to prepare
yourself for the outing. If you like to come with drop me
an E-mail at pietlewis@absamail.co.za confirm your place.

Regards,
Piet.

RC Glider Nationals

Less that a week to the Nationals. Entries closs on Wednesday.
If you want to enter go here http://www.f3x.za.org/comps/nationals2006.php for the Entry form, Program and Map

So far BERG is fielding the following teams:
F3B:
Evan, Piet & Peter
Open:
Evan, Piet & Peter
RES/100
Evan, Piet & Len
2 Met
Evan, Piet & Peter
Chris, Len & Heinrich

Where are the rest of you guys? As you can see there isn't that many of us.
Remember that each class is flown seperatly. So you are only competeing against like models .
Groengoud is a lovely venue and it should be well worth attending this event.
Here's hoping we see more BERG members entering.

WWW ( Weird Weekend Weather )

Hi all,

Well can you believe it ?. After Evan and myself studied the

weather on Saturday night and with all the information we

had from the weather burro, we all got it wrong.( bar from

30% rain that was forecasted )Wind direction and speed

were totally predicted wrong.

After a early morning downpour, the cloud cover clear and

we had light east to south-easterly wind and the sun

managed to break trough some of the remaining clouds.I

managed to trim all my gliders that I want to fly in the Nats

and in the process found some reasonable lift, 4.56 and a 6

min flight with my old 2 meter Tsotsi ( The airframe is more

than a year old and I mainly use it as my back up glider ). I

also manage to fly my flat wing 2 meter Tsotsi and got a

reasonable +/- 10 min flight.

My V tail Ellipse was up next with one good thermal flight,

followed by 2 practice speed runs,and then as if some one

switch the lights on, the weather changed, it became cold,

the wind switch 180 deg from SE to West and some thunder

cloud and lighting approached us from that direction.

By now it was just After 13.00 and we decided to pack up

and call it a day. At least we had our fix for the weekend.

Roll on Summer !!!

For all the BERG members that are flying in the Nats next week,

I wish you all the best and enjoy your flying.

Regards,

Piet.

PS ( 3 days left for 2006 Glider Nats entries).

BERG plans Slope Trip To Volksrust end October 2006

Hi all BERG Members,



We are arranging a Slope trip to Volksrust on the weekend Sat 28th & Sun 29th of October. The idea is to get all our members to come along and enjoy the thrill of slope soaring, sit back on your deck chair and fly as long as your batteries can last.

Just about any RC glider can fly here, from a Gentle Lady to a Zagi. Even a Zagi with a Rock on top. (RockZagi) or translated into Afrikaans " Klipspringerkie". A special type of antelope that is highly adapted for slope soaring.

Mike (GBOGH) May will be flying his 5 Meter Ventus 2ax again, and oh boy what a sight it is to see this one fly. Even if you don't fly, this alone will make your trip worth while.

Some members with Gull badges, will also on request judge for you on your achievement badges should you wish to obtain or improve on your Slope Gulls. More info on the Slope Gulls can be found on the F3X web site http://www.f3x.za.org/mga/badges.php or SAAMA's web site http://www.samaa.org.za/pdf/eagles_and_gulls.pdf

We will spend the night at Oom Louis place at the very reasonable rate of +/- R65 for B&B. The highlight of the trip will be Sat evening braai around the Boma fire where
you can be sure to hear some of the best fishing story of how the big ones got away (or is it gliding stories of that thermal that eluded you when you most needed it?), and some more Big Wheels on Boundary Road (Randburg) story that will tie your stomach mussels in knots.

If you are interested in this trip please email me at pietlewis@absamail.co.za to confirm that you want to come along.

Regards,
and happy landings,
Piet R
Chairman BERG.2006


Sunset at Volksrust and some smooth valley release lift form 4 to 6 pm in the afternoon, makes you come back for more. James Shaw enjoying the last flight of the day on the last trip to Volksrust.

2006 RC Soaring Nationals

To All BERG Members

Just a reminder to all that the RC Soaring Nationals is to be Held at Groengoud on the 23rd, 24th and 25th September.

The closing date for entries is Wednesday 20th.

More details and entry forms are available here. http://www.f3x.za.org/comps/nationals2006.php

Birthday Boy

Hi Charl,

From all the BERG members we wish you a Happy 38th birthday,
may you have many,many more and we thank you for all your
hard work and support you have done at BERG so far.

My you also have a safe trip to England.

Regards.
The Big BERG Team.

PS Don't forget the cake on Sunday !!!

A tribute to our silent BERG Members

“ They appear unexpectedly as from nowhere, their un mistakenly wing-plan form tells you that they are indeed Black Eagles.

Then with a twitch of their wing tip feathers and a twist of the tails they start circling.

Climbing slowly at first and then faster as the upward air stream grows stronger until you can hardly see them with the naked eye.

At once they trim their wings, straighten their direction and disappear with great speed out of sight.

Another hunting sortie has begun …… “

The Black Eagles of Roodekrans

http://www.africam.com/cam_info/index.php?camId=blackeagle

Tulanie (The Shy one) and

Emoyenie (Upon the Wind).

At Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

i'Tsotsi 100 flying hi in postal Comp:

BERG Results after 3rd round(Aug).

7th P.Rheeders i'Tsotsi 100 4285

13th E.Shaw Shongo/Tsotsi 4177

15th M.May Ellipse 4154

21st W.Steffny 3912

23rd P.Eagle 3856

24th P.Rheeders (2 meter) 3832

26th P.Joffe 3566

38th T.Roberts 2033

41st E.Shaw ( 2 meter) 1773

47th C.Viviers 1274

48th G Prahm 1270

Club Score

1: MMS 13440

2: DMAC 13231

3: SSC 12207

4: BERG 11883

A few Tsotsi's

HTL #4 Results hosted By BERG

Hi

I've attached the league result as per the revised HTL #4 scores. Not much changes in the top 3 positions across the classes, but watch out for the throwaway rounds still to come as this will cause a swing towards the highest scorers that have not competed consistently specifically those lurking around with 1000's. Paul (Stork) Carnell still leads the league at this non-throwaway stage, with Dion & Piet following close behind. Some shuffling occurs thereafter, with the top 10 ranked Open all still in with a reasonable chance.

RES100 sees (Prepatation) Piet extend his already dominant lead after HTL #4 one more good score (over 800) & he should be able to take an unassailable lead. Rudi is lying second with his built up 2m class, and is probably looking to cross over to Open in the 2007 season. Third is Craig (Woof) Barker with another consistent score. Second place is still wide open to positions 2 through 4, but remember that "it isn 't over till the fat lady has sung".

In 2M it is still anyone's game. Rudi is narrowly in the lead, but Evan must be wondering why he elected to fly Open class with the awesome BERG conditions in HTL #4. Woof is breathing down Evan's neck & the top 3 positions all still have a reasonable chance to grab the trophy.

The club rankings are one of the closest in years although MMS is ahead, ETB have an excellent opportunity of hauling in the 90 point difference. Remember that there are no throwaway's for club results all events count!

And now for the predictions ala Uncle Dave style. Playing with some of the what if's & using the trends established so far, I think that Craig G. will take the league, Michelle second & if Dion maintains form, he is likely to pip Paul for third. Res100 is probably not going to see any changes to the currently ranked positions for Prepatation, Rudi, & Woof. 2M might see Evan just edge out Rudi, but then he will need a good scoring 2M event to achieve this.

Regards,

Lionel

GBOGH - Go Big Or Go Home

Rosendal trembles as Mike May's
8kg, 5 meter span Ventus 2a x takes to the Sky.

Photo by: Piet Rheeders

Story by: Mike May

Hi all, Some feed back on the maiden flight of the VENTUS 2 AX. After some minor setbacks (the captive nut that holds the tailplane on fell down into the fuse) this was built in, so some minor surgery was required to reposition it and epoxy it back in place. A check over by Norbert also revealed slop in the flaps (damaged splines on the control horns) these replaced and we were good to go. At 15.00 we moved to the cliff edge and did another round of preflight checks. With my heart in my mouth I called launching and immediately noticed the spectators fell absolutely silent with Evan, Don King and Norbert holding things steady. Evan gave 3-2-1 count down and a mighty heave. The aircraft nosed over and down. I let it gain speed touched left and right to check on control authority and fed in some up. The glider levelled out and started gaining altitude in the lift band. The crowd errupted and I took a deep breath W.O.W.! The VENTUS was then gently flown for thirty minutes and required no additional trimming. The landing was textbook smooth barring a small scare as I crossed a line of small trees on the approach. A photo shoot followed with lots of handshaking etc.
I really would like to sincerely thank all the people who gave valuable assistance with the build, de-snagging and first flight, most notibly, EVAN SHAW who followed day to day the project and kindly cut the blue foam cores, PIET and CHARL from BERG, NORBERT whose large scale gliders at Volksrust started this inspiration. DON KING who I noticed holding the wing on lauch and the tall fellow from the Eastrand who kindly led me back up the hill while focused on the plane, whose name I don't know. A BIG THANK YOU ALL.



STATISTICS:
WINGSPAN 5.1 MTS
WING AREA 118 DM SQ
FLYING WEIGHT 8KG
WING JOINER 18 MM CARBON ROD
WINGS BLUE FOAM BAGGED
WEIGHT 1.8KG ea

For the record I used 6 ltr of epoxy resin, 500 pairs of latex gloves, built it without plans, on the garage floor in 8 weeks, including fuselage plug and moulds. For me the highlight of my model gliding career was that first flight off Rosendal. The VENTUS will now be fitted with an onboard, video and vario with the intention of getting airborn film footage of raptors, vultures and any other thermalling birds that come close. Watch this space.
Regards MIKE MAY BERG

HTl #4 Photos from The BERG event on Sunday 10/9/2006 .