| ||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
){kind=spacer}
)
)
){kind=spacer}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
|
|
2003_F3C_World_Championships_Final_Results.pdf 2003_F3C_World_Championships_Final_Results.doc
|
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
|
Good afternoon. Rather than write this at midnight, I thought I would take the computer to the field and give you the update after all the pilots have flown the first round. The wind at this field has been less predictable than any contest weather I can recall in recent memory. It seems to know who is flying country by country. Curtis was up first this morning with the wind blowing 5-10 mph. We were all hoping that he could repeat yesterdays taming of the winds. He put in a good flight, but it just wasn’t up to Curtis’ standards, he came away with a combined score of 588. This was for the best of round A and the first round of B placing him in second place behind Rudiger Feil who had a breakout round with a combined score of 600. Feil had the calmest conditions of the first round. Len was next up and flew a good round with a score of 519.5. He has attracted a lot of attention this year with his eclipse fuselage and retractable skids. Wayne put in a solid round earning him a combined score of 544.5. To watch Wayne fly through the maneuvers is truly enjoyable. Second Round Well as usual it has been a little busy since the end of the second round and it is past midnight! I joined the guys from England in the karaoke bar and I am now trying to complete my report to you, our faithful readers. The second round went better for Curtis and Wayne but Len just didn’t find his ‘groove’ this afternoon. Curtis flew a 600.5 and Wayne earned a 577. Hashimoto of Japan had the last flight of the day and now is in first place by presenting the crowd with 630. He was right on and I would suspect that tomorrow will be very interesting as we have four pilots who could take this competition, Hashimoto, Youngblood, Kobayashi and Feil. Curtis will be first to fly, then Hashimoto. It will be an interesting morning 2003_F3C_Worldchampionships_Flyoffs_2nd_Round_Results.doc
|
|
Greetings from this corner of the world. It was an exciting day here at the World Championships. As we last wrote the guys were under a lot of pressure to put in some good rounds. Everyone is in agreement that its hard to know what a good flight looks like due to the inconsistency and disparity of the flight line judging. We aren’t saying that there is anything terribly wrong with the judging, again is just doesn’t seem to be consistent, what we seem to think is a good flight gets low scores and visa-versa. Dwight was first up this morning and put in a 249.5, we all thought that his score would have been higher based on his flight. He sat on pins and needles all day waiting for the wind to come up to affect the flights of the other competitors. The wind came up but it actually seemed to help some pilots, especially Curtis. Curtis flew next with wind blowing 10-15 mph. He performed like you would expect and flew his model with precision to get him a 283.5. His rival Hashimoto from Japan put down a 293.5 but this was on the more generous flight line A. Wayne was next up and had a little more difficulty maintaining altitude control in the unpredictable wind, but show us how it was done with his aerobatics earning a 273. Len was up next and did not turn in the flight he was hoping for but was able to secure the 13th spot in the fly offs tomorrow. We will fly two rounds tomorrow with Hashimoto starting it off with Curtis flying second. The third round on Saturday will be a nail biter with Curtis flying first and Hashimoto in second. Our team as a whole did not fend as well as we would have hoped as we came in third after Japan and Germany. It just wasn’t our year for the team title, but I have a feeling the next World Champion will be from Texas. But that is just one mans opinion! You can click on the images and Jpegs to see the results of the Championships thus far. Thanks again for your support. Barron
Click the "Printing" button (above right) to printout photos.
|
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
|
Greetings for June 4. Today was the 3rd round of the competition. We all made it to the field early, as Wayne was the first pilot to fly for the start of the round. The wind was almost dead calm for most of the morning. He put in a great flight with a 284.5,but like all pilots he is striving for 300’s Len and Dwight were soon to follow; they both had hoped to better their yesterday’s flights. Len put down a 253 just like yesterday and Dwight did betterhis score with a 260.5. Later in the day Curtis focused on business and pulled down an enviable 295.0. In traditional Curtis style he is getting mentally prepared for the business at hand. The current standings for our guys are: Curtis 1st (tied with Hashimoto) Wayne 6th Len 12th Dwight 17th There are 13 slots open for the fly offs, Dwight has to put in a great round to get there and Len needs to get focused on putting in the flight that we all know he is capable of. Rather than bore you with the details, I have attached some photos of the last two days as well as a document you can dowload with all the scores from the last three days. Thanks for checking in with us. Sayonara (good bye) 3rd_Round_Scores.doc
|
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
.jpg'))
)
)
)
.jpg')){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
|
Kon ban wa (good evening), Barron (the “boss”) asked me to fill in tonight, so here goes! Today was another long day at the office. Len, Wayne, Dwight, Nob and me left for the practice field at 0615 to warm the thumbs and needle the motors. Wayne’s model had developed a slight shake during the first round. He figured it was a tad too rich, and after tweaking the needles the diagnosis came back that the rear bearing in the motor was loose. We decided to fly the backup and swap bearings after the round. Len’s and Dwight’s practice went OK. Then, off we went to the main site. In case Barron hasn’t already described, time from the hotel to our practice site is @ 20 minutes, from the practice site to the main site is @ 1 hour and main site to the hotel is @ 45 minutes. Without GPS (that has all the buttons and menus in kanji) we would be seriously lost, and late for everything! It’s a good thing the “expressway” speed limit is only 70kph (@ 45mph) because we have made a u-turn or two! (I haven’t figured out whether the speed limits are so low because the cars/engines are so small, or the cars/engines are so small because the speed limits are so low!) At any rate, we spend quite a bit of time each day driving. The second round on our flight line was plagued by the famous “Murphy’s Law”. Johann Hoenle (GER) and Alexander Zakharov (RUS) finished their flights on fumes, after the motor burped in the last two maneuvers. Ari Holmstrom (FIN), I think, had his motor quit at the ¾ point in the loop with ½ rolls and performed a great save to the airport runway. Rudiger Feil (GER) couldn’t get his primary model fired and went to his backup after burning up his start time completely. Ennio Grabber (SUI) had a spectacular “disassembly” when a blade and grip departed the model in one of his maneuvers. And Len had the tip of his start shaft break off inside the hex adapter when he went to start for his flight. This had his mechanic (me) running around like mad fetching a starter, tools and readying the spare model. Our guys had OK flights today, but nothing spectacular. Curtis fared the best with a 2nd in today’s round, after winning yesterday’s. Wayne made some mistakes and finished today’s round in 5th, after yesterday’s 4th. Len, running on 104 octane adrenalin after the start shaft thing, finished a credible three way tie for 12th today, after yesterday’s two way tie for 8th. Dwight struggled with a wind direction change during his flight today (after choppy wind yesterday) and finished 20th, after yesterday’s 18th. Overall after 2 rounds, Curtis is tied with Manabu Hashimoto for 1ST, Wayne is 5th, Len is tied with Rudiger for 11th and Dwight is 20th. FYI: with split flight lines, we won’t really know the “real” results for round 3 until after round 4, when all pilots see both sets of judges again. The day finished with a bearing change in Wayne’s motor and then we found the real fix for the shake, some setup work for Dwight to improve hovering, a new start shaft for Len and a trip back to the practice field to fly, UNTIL DARK! BTW, daylight here is 0415 until 1945 !!! Tomorrow, our faithful supporters, Paul and Suzanne Giles, Sandy Sabato, Denise Mann and Daniel Hiatt are taking a historical tour arranged by the organizers. And at the contest site, Wayne will be up first and Curtis will wind up the day at 25th. Wish’em luck! Oya sumi (good night), Cliff
|
|
Greeting from the first day of competition. As you can see from the photos it was a picture perfect day to burn some fuel and get the nerves going! A rather long but uneventful day at the flying field, Curtis was up first and in Curtis style he layed down the highest scoring flight of site ‘A’. As usual, when other pilots are in awe of his level of skill and intuition, he is mentally revising his flight strategy for the next round. That’s what makes him Curtis. Wayne was next up and turned in the second highest score for our flight line and he too is not satisfied. Len flew the flight of his career and says from now on when he flies in our Nats he will view it like a “small regional event.” Welcome to the big leagues Len. By the afternoon the wind came up and played havoc on Dwight, but in true Dwight style he was please and just happy to be here. The results are as follows: Flight Line ‘A’ 1. Curtis Youngblood 294 – 1000 2. Wayne Mann 282 – 959.184 3. Len Sabato 264.5 – 899.66 3. Rudiger Feil 264.5 – 899.66 18. Dwight Shilling 248.5 – 845.238 Flight Line ‘B’ 1. Manabu Hashimoto 287.5 –1000 2. Minoru Kobayashi 277.5 – 965.217 3. Shinya Kunii 271 – 942.609 Stay tuned for tomorrow’s results.
|
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
|
Happy Birthday Wayne!! We all celebrated tonight by singing Happy Birthday and eating some wonderful desserts that we bought in Shika Town. Over 200 people sang to Wayne at dinner, he blushed. Happy Birthday Wayne, No you will have to earn and fly for whatever birthday wish you want to come true!
|
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
|
Konichiwa (Good Day) When we woke today it was questionable if we were going to have an official practice. The wind and rain was once again back to keep our optimism low. I headed off to the field at 7:30am to get the transmitters to the compound by 9. When I arrived at the contest site the organizers were all running around in traditional Japanese style, everyone doing their specific job in the hopes of creating a well organized and run event. But one thing they had no control over was the 45-degree weather with the cold windy drizzle! These guys are terribly optimistic as they said, “come back at 10:30.” Sure enough the rain had stopped and the practice began by 11:10. Each pilot had 10 min. from the time they first turned their motor over to do a sound check and get some practice in. It wasn’t really a pretty site as the wind was really blowing and you know what that means. All the guys had good uneventful flights with lots of onlookers from the other countries. Its clear that the competition is going to be tough not only from the Japanese but other countries as well. After we returned to the hotel we had a 8:00pm meeting with the organizers to reprocess Len and Waynes models, needles to say they passed inspection. The overall experience of being at the WC is great, the people all friendly and fun. If there is one thing that modeling does, it is the positive way in brings people together from many walks of life from many parts of the world. Tomorrow is the start of the 2003 World Championships. See ya there.
|
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
|
Kon Banwa Just a quick entry to tell you about the day. We woke to the sight of rainy gray skies with high winds. The guys were quite disappointed as the ‘official practice’ was cancelled. The organizer did this for a very good reason, but our pilots believed that they knew better and proceeded out to our practice field. They are currently practicing their high-speed repair techniques! Actually our two casualties are going home in a box, I offered to burry them, but somehow they mentioned something about a “very expensive paperweight.” The two pilots in morning are Len and Wayne, Len threw a tail rotor blade and the cause of death for Wayne’s machine is still unknown. We will post a picture of one of the corpses tomorrow. Official Practice begins tomorrow. Good Night from Noto
|
|
Another great and busy day in Noto Japan. Sorry about not posting any photos last night, I went to pick up Cliff, Daniel and Nob at the train station and didn’t get back until 1:00am! Paul accompanied me too, we kept each other by alert talking along the way. I’m happy to report that they made it to Japan in perfect condition, so perfect that you will see by the photos that the Japanese girls were drawn to Daniel’s long blonde locks and nice smile. You will there are some benefits to team management (smile) We woke up early as always and had a team meeting to talk about our busy day. First up was model registration and transmitter testing; it was unnerving when the scale had a misreading on Wayne’s model, it registered 8lbs; he was accused of running his engine on slimfast! After registration the guys went to the field and I stayed back for the first official managers meeting where we drew for flight line up. You can download a spreadsheet of the order. Later we all attended the opening ceremony and banquet, the food was great and of course lots of beer, wine too. Curtis returned the WC trophy to the organizers, but it was evident that he has clear plans to get it back quickly! Tomorrow is the first day of official practice. We like practice. Mata Aimashoo (We’ll meet again later)
|
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
|
Greetings for today. We had another productive day today as we headed to the practice site early. Wayne’s models arrived this afternoon and he was able to assemble one machine and get back to the field to burn some fuel. Nob took a train to Osaka airport to pick up Cliff and his son Daniel, I will be driving to the city of Kanezawa (60 km ) to pick them up at the train station at 11:30 pm. The guys are in their room doing some maintenance and filling out the model registration paperwork. Tommorow will also be a busy day with model registration for us at 9am and then off to the field to begin schedule A practice. Barron
|
|
Today was a great day for our team as we all had a very productive and eventful day! We assembled for breakfast and talked about the plan for the day. As usual with all world championship efforts we have to go out and scout for the best and least populated practice site as well as attend to some ‘housekeeping’ to make our next ten days more enjoyable and productive. Last night our ‘secret’ contact informed us that we were to meet a gentleman in the morning who would take us to a private practice field. If you ever attended a W/C you know that practice areas are a premium especially in Japan were land is scarce. In great anticipation we drove to meet our guide to practice site ‘nirvana,’ only to have him tell us that he would be taking us to one of the ‘official practice sites,’ as you can imagine we were confused and disappointed. After much discussion we agreed to go see the ‘official site’ to see what it looked like. As we thought, we were quite disappointed to see that there were three practice courses with fellow competitors practicing there aerobatics above our heads, needless to say we decided to leave. We finally ended up at the site you will see in the pictures posted below. This site is on the seashore at the mouth of a harbor and it quite easily the prettiest practice site ever! When we retuned to the hotel this evening we found out that the Hirobo team was practicing at the field we were supposed to and as a result our guide was instructed NOT take us to the field originally planned for us, we still made out well with our new found site. Wayne has a had his share of trepidation as he is still waiting for his models to arrive even though he shipped his models over 10 days ago. The latest information is that customs has released the models and they are on their way except customs was quick to disclaim that one of the modes has broken skids and they did not do it! We only hope that this is the only damage, we will find out tomorrow. In the meantime Dwight has been kind enough to turn over one of his new machines to Wayne to get some stick time in today and to prepare for the worst. Len too had an interesting day as upon his return trip home from the practice site he was to quick to learn that that his GPS was not programmed properly. As a result he and Paul were LOST for two hours. These two men were however resourceful as they went to a shopping area and interviewed all of the native residents who past by inquiring if they spoke English? They were able to talk a lady into showing them the way by following her by car. As you can see the fun never ends in Japan. I hope you enjoy the pictures, Barron
|
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
|
We all arrived yesterday evening tired from the long days travel. After checking into our hotel at the airport we gathered for our first team dinner. As you can see from the photos we made sure the beer is as good as we remembered! We woke up early today to drive the 400km trip to Noto. We drove our 4 vans across the varied terrain of western Japan. We did not get lost because of the supplied GPS system, although there was a lot of unintentional windshield wiper action. We are all checked in now and are building the models as we speak. We will go flying tomorrow morning at a 'top secret' practice field arrange by our friends at K&S. Enjoy the pictures. Ja Mata (see you later) The gang
|
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
|
We'll be leaving our respective homes on Sunday. We will make our first posting on Tuesday evening after our first day in Japan.
|
)
){kind=small}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
