Pattern and Pylon was combined into a fun weekend at Airsail MAC. Pattern flying on Saturday, and Pylon Racing on Sunday. Just like the good old days … Woohoo !!
A bit windy at times, but overall not too bad. We had a great turnout for the Pattern event on the Saturday. Combining it with Pylon on Sunday dragged in a few from further afar, so we need to plan more of these in the future.
At the pilots briefing, everyone got handed out round 1 of the aerobatics quiz. Have a look at these questions, have a go at answering them, we will reconvene at lunchtime to go over the answers.
Right, on with the flying.
Only 2 guys in Clubman, but not too windy for these two brave souls. Anthony Wright and Les King, they had a pretty close contest with less than 2 points separating them after 3 rounds. This was the first run through of the new official NZ Clubman sequence and it went perfectly. Out two Clubman fliers teamed up to sort out the Burgers at lunchtime, well done and thanks guys, while the rest of us adjusted our hats for what was now a “2 notch” wind.
A great number of guys flying in the Expert class. Jnr Ruben Woods and Snr Lyndon Perry, both newbies to the Expert class, struggled with the 45 degree crosswind blowing in. This can cause the 60 degree box to get really small at times !!! Ruben was flying Andrew Stivers “Peggy Sue”, and Lyndon was flying a CARF Integral with DLE35 petrol. Jnr Ricky Maitland aka Grasshopper was 3rd, flying the trusty Goldberg Extra 300 with V8 power under the cowl. This thing has got more toe than a roman sandal and allowed him to carve up the skies !! Wind ? What Wind ? Grasshopper was only a few points behind Rod Chave. Rod is now flying a ex Dave Wilkins Vanquish, and he is starting to find some form witht he big 2m machine. Aaron Maitland was the eventual winner now flying an old Galloway Matrix with OS 4 stroke under the hood. Good to see this old model, it was flown by Bogan at an Ozzy Masters a long time ago, and she is still going strong. After 3 rounds of Expert, the top 3 pilots had all won a round each. Great to see the Expert class getting some momentum. Remember you can fly Expert Pattern with anything that meets the 2m x 2m x 5Kg rules, so a 35cc IMAC model will just squeeze in, and the sequence is about the same difficulty as Sportsman IMAC.
Onto Masters, 3 pilots here. Andrew Stiver fresh back from the Ozzy Masters was a little out of practise and finished in 3rd flying his “Peggy Sue”. He was kept busy all day with battery charging as two other guys were flying that model. John Danks the old Master was flying his Integral, and was nipping at Dave Wilkins heals for the podium finish. Pretty close scores here with Dave flying his Allure being the eventual winner this time.
At lunchtime we went over the Q&A session, from the judging exam questions that had been handed out earlier in the day. This was a great little 15 min session. This year the SIG with the help of Andrew Palmer who has put a ton of time into it, have been trying to get people to up skill on their judging knowledge. Once a month we’ve been doing a short 1 hour zoom session, focusing on just 10 questions in the exam. So far a couple of guys have passed the exam, which is great news. Give it a go !! It’s an open book test. At the next event we will be doing the same thing with the next set of questions.
F3A had a bumper entry of 5 pilots, thanks to the arrival of some Galloways who had travelled up for the contest, along with James Danby aka Granny who had been let out for the day too. Windy conditions for F3A, 45 degrees in your face, approx 20 knots of wind, it would soon sort the men out from the boys. Young Sean Galloway was 5th, he had a rough first landing and damaged his U/C in the unforgiving cross wind landing conditions, and this had him also flying the team airframe “Peggy Sue” of Andrew Stivers for the rest of the contest. Paul Tomlinson flying his Angelit with Contra drive was 4th, as usual he really enjoyed his day flying in the wind and didn’t even mention the conditions one bit. I bloody love this wind he said !!! 3rd place went to James Danby aka Granny flying the “fantasy about their sister”, good to see him back after a while, and rumor has it he is building a new model with retracts ? must be for classic. First and Second place was as close as it gets !! Bogan flying a BiSide with coal powered VLV Contra Drive vs Worms aka “Changing Rooms” flying his new Proteus Bipe, also on coal, and recently upgraded to Adverrun Contra Drive. After 2 rounds it was 1000 points each, and it would come down to the final round, when it was winner takes all. Less than 2 points separated them in Round 3 !! Great contest flying here, down to the wire. In the end, it was Bogan’s shout, lucky he had the mini keg ready to go … and Worms aka “Changing Rooms” was off for a spa and an early night.
Sunday the weather was a bit better for Pylon, and racing took centre stage. Some highlights, Andrew Stiver flew his fastest race ever having acquired an F3T model. Bogan was 1 second of his fastest time. John Danks’ only real action of the day was crashing into the timing clock on take off. Antony Wright got his tail cut off and Sean Galloway showed off his own special version of the haka as he flies around the poles. I’ve got is on video !! Lots of action here, you will need to check out the Pylon report for more details.
Great to see we were able to run a Pattern event, with good numbers. Keep an eye on the calendar for the next one !!
Scores and pics follow. Photos by Bogan and Ant.
