Wednesday was our first official practice day and the Team was asked to gather at the field at 12:30pm for a Team meeting. John and I spent the morning creating a lead ballast bar for Dillons 3.8 X2. It certainly seems crazy that we have an engineered 3.8m model Superlight at 58oz and then we have to spend hours figuring ways to make it heavy enough for the conditions. We made a bar from 7 strips of plumbers lead 470mm long and 20 wide. It weighed about 30 oz we think and was flexible enough to slide right into the fuse past the wing harness.
The time spent on the ballast was necessary because the wind had become quite nasty at around 20 to 25 mph.
We made it to the field on the second bus at 12:00 with the German team also as they had just arrived. It was great to meet Sebastian and Benedikt Fiegl for the first time also.
At the team meeting the remaining shirts and hats were handed out to the team as Brendon Beardsley had brought them from the US. The team jackets being worn by nearly everyone looked really great.
Tristan was flying his 3.5 X2 in the wind with about 18oz of ballast and it was doing really well. While he was flying we heard a loud crack behind us and looked to see both of Tom’s models cartwheeling towards us. A thermal gust coming through had picked them both up off the ground and tangled together they crashed down behind us. Unfortunately the 4.0 fuselage was really badly damaged while Toms 3.5 X2 had the nose broken off in front of the servo tray. It will repair but Tom will need a new fuse for the. 4.0.
Since Dominic’s planes are still not here we put a backup plan into place with Dominic preparing one of Bob McGowans models (an Icon 2) in case the others don’t make it.
We got Dillon flying his 3.8 with 30oz on board and he did well with some good landings and an opportunity to thermal in some real wind. Tomorrow is forecast much less wind so we are hoping for a good days practice.
The evening meal saw a much larger crowd as nearly all the teams have now arrived.
Gordon
Team Sponsors
