The weather was forecast for showers today and when we woke today it was ominously overcast with low cloud similar to yesterday. After our usual 6am breakfsdt we made it to the field before everybody else and were set up ready with time to spare. Everybody was in good spirits after mixed results day one but for sure all the pilots feel they can do better today and are keen to get out there and improve our scores overall with only two rounds flown we are in pretty good shape wiyh only Bob carrying a biggish drop of 130 odd points.
The wind was up at about 7 to 12 mph at a 90 degree angle to the course, right from the start and the CD announced we would start with juniors 2nd round.
Stoil flew first and spent almost all of his flight surfing out to the east and than downwind taking only a couple of turns and returning to make a 90 landing with a 9:54 for a score of 995.9
Luke followed and masterfully surfed with the group out to the east also and than worked lift back behind the factorys far downwind to max with a 9:49 and 100 landing. The air was far from easy as reads were difficult with the overcast and windy conditions. His score was 994.8
Charleston was 3rd of the Juniors and with more wind and less lift his while group suffered in the tough air barely making the halfway point. Charleston took a few turns in promising air but came back to land at 5:35 for an 85 and a score of 875. A couple in his group made an extra 50 secs or so but charleston’s time was great under the circumstances.
The juniors flew again for Round 3 with Charleston up first and he did an absolutely stellar job flying a full max doing beautiful turns with his Orange X1. Initially he looked like he might miss his time but picked up air over the tents as we were walking him to the LZ and took the model back downwind for another 4 mins. This was easily the best we have seen Charleston fly and the only mistake he made occurred in the final few seconds when he missed his flap fir landing and flew past the spot for a 4.0 meter landing for an 80. His time was 9:50. For a score of 975.5
Stoil has been going from strength to strength with his flights and he once again found good air, flew deep, made it home and got a landing of 98 to add to his 9:50 and nearly a Granny with 999 .7
In Lukes round he worked air a long long way downwind and when it was time to come back he was unable to rwach the field landing safely and taking a relaunch for a 3:01- 97 and a score if 403.7
First senior pilot for Rd3 was Bob and he flew with only 6 oz with his 4M xplorer at 56 oz plus 6 for a 62. It was a gamble in the windy but light conditions and it paid off as he flew far out , gained just enough height to buy his ride and made it back for a 9:53 with a 98 for 998.8 points.
Neal flew his 4m Xplorer dry at 56oz (because his ballast went missing during the pre contest and the borrowed ballast had not yet been flight tested.) It was a ballsy move with 10 mph wind but the lift was really light and only just working enough to gain sufficient altitude for the return journey. In the end Neal made it work and returned for a 9:54 and 90 for 986 points. The landing was made at the last second but with a light model he was late on base turn for landing and though he flew reflex to the LZ didn’t quite make it to the hunskie. Some pilots didnt get their time so Neal still scored well with a 986.7 score.
Jody was next and he decided to fly his 3.5m Xplorer with 14oz of ballast for a flying weight of 70 oz. He had great ability to move around and easily hooked up to fly deep and high and return for a 9:54 and a 98 landing for 996.6 points.
The next round 4 began immediately with Jody back to back in Group 1 and once again he took the Nan models 3.5 X out and back in pretty big air for a 9:54.4 and a 98 for the 1000 points.
BOB flew round Rd 4 with some more ballast and his group launched into a big patch of tough air which saw nearly everyone relaunch except for Michelle Goodrum. Unfortunately it only takes one to make it and that relegated Bobs 5:15 and 3.0m landing to a 594.2 score. Bob had only just crawled bavk to the LZ and was unable to reach the hunskie in the end.
Cd stopped flying for 1 hour for lunch and today the team tried the local hot goulash being cooked at a tent behind the teams. It was quite a good meal and well priced so we might do that again.
The Junior Rd 4 was next with Stoil flying an amazing last 5 minutes finishing at the end well downwind behind the factory picking off good air as it came through to eventually gain just enough height to make it home for a 9:13 and 98. We are not sure whether this earned Stoil the 1000 as so many in his group relaunched but it surely was a fine flight. Update…. yes Stoil took the Granny.
LUKE made a great launch and went left to work several thermals to make time and score a 9:54 – 65 and 958.7 score. The wind has continued to come and go as rain has so far missed us except for a short sprinkle just after we had lunch.
Charleston’s Rd 4 flight with the orange X4 looked great right from the start as we worked across the right found some air and did some nice turns for about 5 mins which took him downwind over the Helicipter factory and to the limit of his vision. As he started working his way back to the field it quickly became apparent that he might not make the field. He finally landed out to the left of the tents and we had to relaunch him with only a couple if minutes on the clock. He finally made a 2:22 and completely fell short of his landing for a zero. His score was 204 and will become his drop.
Rd 5 Neal flew first in Group 1 in increasingly tough and variable windy conditions for a flight where he flew his ar@@ off downwind out over the corner and flying from lane 10 had the furthest home and didnt quite make it. His final score was a 9:38 0
Jody flew 2nd and loaded his 3.5 up to 85 oz and took a launch like F3B by flying a little downwind on tow to swing into the wind. We had to wait 5 seconds to do that to allow the other models to get ahead as we were launching from lane 10 furthest upwind of the group. The result was a super good launch and he flew out crosswind to the area of the hangars and hung out for 8 minutes before sliding back to land about 10 seconds early. His score was 9:38 with a 98 landing and he got 975 points.
At the end of Round 5 the USA team has crawled into 3rd place on the Team scoreboard with a total of 14174 points.
1st is Germany with 14402 and 2nd is Czech Repub with 14369 4th place is Norway on 14006.
Individual positions have Jody in 4th place and Neal in 8th with Bob moving up to 22nd
The Juniors are also doing really well with stoil leading the way in 3rd place after 4 Rds. Luke is in 16th because of the dropped flight and Charleston is 19th but if all goes well they will each drop their very bad scores and move up a long way. The team postions see the Juniors in 4th on 10379 points behind 3rd CZE on 10421. Top junior team is germany with 11928 and 2nd us Bulgaria with 10647.