F3B team trails at Groen Goud

The flight line At Groengoud on Saturday

The Team selection for next years F3B word Championships took place on Saturday. After a lot of rain recently the weather turn out just about perfect on the day. The BERG team managed 5th (Derek) and myself in 8th place .

A full report will be posted this week on the RSA F3B blog. During the day I managed take a some pictures for the BERG blog.

I had to stop flying in Round 6 after I lost elevator authority due to a dislocate pin on the V tail and only just managed to land safely after a 3 min struggle to get the glider down.

The CD for the event (Evan Shaw).

The ETB team and Paul Carnal doing a Small repair during the day.

Center line judge for the speed run (Rudy King)

The light signaling box used for speed and distance.

Unfortunately started to signal randomly in round 6 but we managed to see the last round
out.

Craig Goodrum launching Deon's F3B Glider for a speed run

Many thanks to all my helpers from BERG Johan, Lauraine, Rudolf ,Klaus and all the Other helpers at base B for signaling. Without their help we could not have run the Trails.

Also to Martie for providing lunch, cold drinks and snacks during the day.

Thanks once again Ladies and Guy's .

F3B Team Trials #2 at BERG

After a lovely sunny and warm Saturday, Sunday dawned cold, overcast and with an unusual wind coming in from the east for the 2nd Team Trials event held at B.E.R.G.

The sighting devices had been set up north/south the day before so a quick vote and everyone piled in and moved the course into wind. Then breakfast was served and we were ready to fly.

Wolfgang filled in on the B.E.R.G. team and Piet was forced to drop out at the last moment due to a bad bout of flu. But it was really great to see some of our members out helping with signalling and timing. Thanks guys. As we've said so many times before, we just wouldn't be able to fly the F3B contests effectively without your valuable help. This was our first opportunity to fly F3B since the Nationals and all contestants were extremely enthusiastic - in fact a little over enthusiastic and together with the good headwind we had continual line breaks throughout the day.

Flying conditions were actually very good. Large waves of weak lift and sink cycled through all day and only later in the afternoon when the sun broke through for a short while did we get some real thermal activity.

Surprise entries were the F3K team. Stephane Duponsel, Alan Smith and Peter Eagle with Lionel Smith as team manager and helper put in a superb performance considering Stephane and Lionel flew the same Trinity model.

Peter opted out early in the contest. Brothers Alan and Lionel really a great team to have around - lots of fun and laughter whether the flights are good or bad.










There was no MGA box present for the day so Evan, Craig and Michelle got down to make some makeshift spot landing measuring tapes.

Almost no lunch as well as Martie ran out of gas halfway through cooking the hamburger patties. To save the day she managed to get the neatest little disposable braai complete with cardboard stand at the local shops. We fired it up a she managed to finish off the cooking for a short late lunch break.

There were no serious casualties but Rodney had a rough outlanding in round 2 and cracked the tailboom on his model.

My Estrella developed wiring problems with the connecting plugs in the right wing during round 4 so I decided to quit as well.

Dion has now taken over from Rodney as the tree man - he managed to perch his model really high up in the biggest tree around. Justice did a great job of recovering Dion's model. He is such a great asset to the B.E.R.G. club and so well worth the killing he makes off of us financially. He fetched chutes tirelessly for everyone all day long.

All in all a really great flying day. Started a little late, had a late lunch and ended up packing almost in the dark. Check the F3B blog for more pictures, full results and information on the next contest.

F3B League at B.E.R.G.

Thought I’d start this report off a little differently with a rather boring heading picture. Not much action out there, but a job someone has to do. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the members that pitched in to help with the F3B League event this last weekend. Above, the view from Base A: signallers Peter, Gordon and Tony on duty at Base B for the distance task. Thanks also to Evan for setting up the field and being our CD for the day and Justice for all the parachute fetching (although he makes a financial killing off of us – but he's worth every cent). Also to the ladies for manning Base A for speed and Martie for cooking us lunch as well. Thanks again to all the helpers - just can't do it without you guys.

Now onto the flying: the field was in excellent condition – the grass short and thick enough to soften our worst landings. Only Piet managed to break an Ellipse nose with a very skew dork landing. Other than that, no serious model casualties. The wind was a little light and variable but that didn’t stop the top contenders from putting in some stunning speed times and distance laps.

Craig helping Robert through his first speed and distance runs. This was Robert’s first F3B contest and he`s still dead keen.

Now needs to retrim that Shongolo which up till now it’s only flown thermals. Also had to sand away some of the flap hinge between rounds.




Above: a tense moment getting Peter Eagle over the Base B line after his speed run.

Left: Peter flying, Dion helping get through a really tight base B turn.

Below: Michelle and Craig in action - on the left about to launch and on the right cool and collected during the speed run.

















Below left: Piet setting trims on one of his Ellipse models and below right: Matthew and Justice taking a well deserved lunch time nap – both were extremely active through the day.














... and don't forget to keep an eye on the F3B blog for the day's results.

F3B at BERG and Shongololo #8 Maiden flight.

BERG hosted the first of the F3B League events on Sunday 21st October.

This was Round Zero in preparation for next years League and also for pilots to be given a handicap. Check out the F3B Blog for more details and results.

The BERG field is in superb condition and looking really good after the rains. Once again our club did a great job at providing lots of help and assistance. Marti was of course there with her travelling diner and there was plenty to eat and drink.

Preparing to fly

Pits and car park

Winches

A huge thanks must go to all you guys and girls for the time you put in to make these events work.

F3B takes a lots of manpower to get it to work properly and sitting out a base B for ages is a thankless job. THANKS YOU GUYS!

Base B Helpers

The flight line

View from Base B

Not to be forgotten! Len Thomas flew his Shongololo #8 for the first time this weekend. Not only did it maiden, but he also entered the event and flew it in it's first event. Ending in first place in the B League, in your first ever F3B competition is no mean feat Len! All these firsts is maybe an omen that you will be the new force to be reckoned with! Well done Len!.

Len with his brand new Shongololo

F3B Practice at BERG

F3B Practice #3 at BERG on Sunday morning. There were a total of 4 rounds flown in distance and some speed thrown in at the end for good measure.

9 participants, the F3B team Craig, Michelle & Dion, and then Wolf, Peter Eagle, Rodney, Piet, Derek and for one slot Ian. We missed you Peter Joffe! What happened, you did not pitch? Hope you can make it next Saturday!

A huge thanks must go to all you guys for offering up your time to help the F3B team with their practice. Distance is the one section of F3B where the teams does not get a lot of practice and needs other pilots to fly against.

BERG will be hosting another practice session on Saturday 16th from 11h00 onwards. This is the last of the F3B practice session before the team starts preparing to leave for the World Champs next month. Therefore, we would like to see a much bigger turnout, so we can send the team off in grand style. If you can make it, please try and be there. The team really needs your help and support.

Another big thanks must go the the long suffering "Base B" flagmen. Gordon, Heinrich & Tony. Here seen stocking up on some much needed sustenance before the next stint at Base B. Guys, without you F3B distance cannot happen. It is people like you that are willing to give of your time to help others that make all this possible. Thanks a million!

And last but not least, another thanks to Martie for providing us with food and drinks yet again. You have set a wonderful standard that will be be hard to beat. It's so great to get a hot cup of coffee or soup on those chilly mornings and the burgers and sarmies are great.