The first F5J event of the year took place at BERG on the 18th February. Before I left home it look like it was going to rain and we wouldn't get any flying that day. But by the time all the eager pilots arrived, although still heavily overcast, the rain had held off and we were able to get of to a fairly early start.
After a brief discussion about the rules and the usual haggling about wind direction and landing spots locations, Ivan got things going. In all we had 9 entrants on the day, with three complete newbie's in the fray.
There were a few issues with the setting on some of the guys altimeter deceives..... Our esteemed host from BERG, Prepetation Piet, managed to launch to 270meter on his first attempt. A serious penalty of 370 points. But despite this, he still won the round. Mostly, because he flew the full 10 minutes, while the other pilots only managed around 3 to 5 minutes. Not much lift around at that time of the morning.
But soon things got down to normal and the rounds progress nicely with one or two more small issues along the way. Johan had the unfortunate mishap of his motor running in reverse at the start of one of his slots and by the time he had swapped models, half his working time had elapsed.
Ivan, who organised the event and the F5J rep, had a ball with his ETsotsi, winning the day. Well done Ivan.
After we all settled down to the format and had a better understanding of the rules, it was great to see how after each flight the guys would gather around and count the flashes on their Altis meters and compare times and landings with each other.
The new F5J rules are great and I'm sure that this format will grow very rapidly. It's so easy to just switch on and fly. No hassle with winches and wind direction and line breaks and all that bother.
Especially gratifying for me was to see so many Tsotsi's competing against each other.
Ivan, who organised the event and the F5J rep, had a ball with his ETsotsi, winning the day. Well done Ivan.
After we all settled down to the format and had a better understanding of the rules, it was great to see how after each flight the guys would gather around and count the flashes on their Altis meters and compare times and landings with each other.
The new F5J rules are great and I'm sure that this format will grow very rapidly. It's so easy to just switch on and fly. No hassle with winches and wind direction and line breaks and all that bother.
Especially gratifying for me was to see so many Tsotsi's competing against each other.
It must be mentioned that Gordon and Jonathan flew glider that were just not suited to this type of event, while Melgardt started off with a similar type of glider, he flew the last 3 or 4 rounds with Ivan Tsotsi and the improvement was dramatic.
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