SOARCHAMPS 2013
By Scott Chisholm , Allan Knox , Dave Griffin
SoarChamps 2013 will be remembered for the great location , excellent turnout , Weather ( good and bad ) and the Radian Flypast ... more on that last one later !
Lake Station is an excellent location for Soaring , lying as it does about as far from the sea as you can get in NZ ( about 80 km ) in a shallow valley , surrounded by lift producing features and beautiful scenery . What more could you want ? Well there was a nice hotel nearby with a good range of accommodation options , craft beer on tap and great food .
21 Fliers from as far north as Auckland and south as far as Timaru , plus Dave Pratley from Australia , arrived on Thursday ready for the event . This was one of the better attended SoarChamps in the last few years . It was really heartening to see many new fliers to our sport along with the smiling faces that we have flown together with for many years . It was also great to welcome Suetonia Palmer our first lady flier ( ever ?) She has been calling for husband Andrew as he flew Helis and Aerobatics for many years . As Andrew started to fly thermal her interest ( in soaring !) was aroused . She quickly learned to fly a Radian electric glider and was able to beat Andrew in the radian contest !
Dave Pratley flew over from Melbourne for the event
Shelter from the rain !
It was great to see many visitors and supporters travel to this remote venue , thanks for making the effort .
Events flown were F3J , Premier Duration , ALES 200 ( 200m altitude limited electic soaring ), F3K and Radian .
F3J Scott Chisholm
F3J was set to go first on the Friday . The forecast for Friday wasn ’ t the best with showers through to 3pm then clearing . Everyone woke to find low cloud with drizzle out their windows . Nonetheless it had been decided we would all meet out at the field bright and early and make the call if we would kick it off or retire to back to the lodge to wait the weather out . It soon became apparent that the forecast was bang on and we were off back to the lodge for coffees . As the day went on the weather cleared quicker than expected and we were all back out to the field in the early afternoon to kick it all off .
The F3J task provides a 10 minute working time to try for as much flight time as possible within that time period . Pilot ’ s flight times don ’ t start until their model releases from the tow line and the model isn ’ t allowed to be thrown until the start signal is heard . Pilots play with danger at the end of the round also to land as close to the end of the 10 minute working time as possible without over flying the time frame and to hit the landing target .
17 pilots entered for the days flying and were divided into 3 flight groups flown within each round . This meant we could get through the rounds reasonably quickly and given the late start it was an impressive effort by Dave James the CD of the day to complete 6 rounds in the afternoons flying .