2015 World RC Soaring Championships roundup
by Gordon Buckland
gordon@gatorf3b.com
During the summer each year, the world’s best RC Soaring pilots gather to compete in two World Soaring Championships. In even years, F3J (Thermal) and F3F (Slope Racing) championships are decided, and in odd years, the F3K (Hand Launch Glider) and F3B (Thermal Soaring Glider) Championships are conducted back-to-back.
The US sends teams in each discipline and we are fortunate to have some hard-working helpers on each team. They found time to write reports on this year’s contests.
F3K
Team USA F3K Manager Doug Cronkhite provided this report.
For six days in late July, in blistering 95°-plus weather, 90 Senior pilots and 27 Junior pilots from 33 countries came together in Ludbreg, Croatia, to decide who would be crowned the 2015 F3K World Champion.
F3K, more commonly known as Discus-Launch or Hand-Launch Glider, is a unique contest of both Soaring skills and athletics. Pilots fly airplanes with a maximum wingspan of 60 inches and a maximum weight of 21 ounces, although most contemporary aircraft designs weigh less than 10 ounces because of incredible advances in carbon-fiber materials and molded aircraft-construction techniques.
Pilots launch their aircraft using a spinning motion similar to the Olympic discus throw (hence the name), with the best launches exceeding heights of 230 feet. When airborne, pilots must fly one of 10 possible precision duration tasks, with some requiring landing and relaunching the aircraft multiple times within a 10-minute window.
Despite the heat and humidity, the weather in Ludbreg provided some of the best possible Soaring. With conditions such as these, perfection was the standard
Throughout the course of five days, all pilots flew 18 preliminary rounds, with the best 12 Senior pilots and top eight Junior pilots moving on to the final day in a head-to-head flyoff to decide the championship.
In the Junior category, Team USA’s Dillon Graves scored a perfect 1,000 points in 15 of 18 preliminary rounds and then put up four more 1,000-point rounds to win the finals to be crowned 2015 F3K Junior World Champion. Switzerland’s Cederic Duss pushed Dillon the entire way in a close battle, with the final round of the finals deciding it all. Cederic finished 3.3 points behind Dillon, with Ukraine’s Oleksander Pomogaev rounding out the podium in third place.
In the Senior championship, competition was equally close and intense. New
New Zealand’s Alex Hewson flew to near perfection the entire week, putting up 16 of 18 perfect 1,000-point scores in the preliminary rounds, and claiming the gold medal with a flawless 5,000 out of 5,000 possible points in the finals.
France’s Anthony Rotteleur took home the silver medal, with Austria’s Hermann Haas taking the bronze. Team USA’s Charles Morris made the finals, finishing in fifth place and barely missing the podium. He was merely 3.4 points behind Haas, out of a possible 5,000.
Team USA was rounded out by Jon Finch finishing in 31st place, and Jon Padilla 41st.
In the team competition, Team USA’s Junior team captured the bronze medal. Led by Dillon Graves in first place, it was coupled with incredible performances by Alex Trussell from Ohio, who finished 10th in some tough competition, and rounded out by 12-year-old Noah Myers from South Carolina, who delivered the kind of “never give up, never stop competing” attitude that is expected of Team USA.
F3B
The US F3B Soaring Team was fortunate to have Dave Olson as a great helper and reporter at the 2015 World Championship in Arnhem, Netherlands. Following is Dave’s report on the US team.
I just returned from the World Championship in the Netherlands, and Gordon Buckland asked me to do a write up with some photographs for this month’s column.
The F3B World Championship was held July 26 through August 2, 2015, at Deelen Air Base near Arnhem. The F3B World Championship organizers also put on a two-day F3B event on July 25-26, prior to the World Championship, called the Arnhem Open. It had 80 pilots.
F3B has been described as the Formula 1 of sailplane competition. It consists of three separate tasks: Duration, Distance, and Speed. If you start a round with one airplane, you have to fly it in all three tasks or you get a zero for the tasks that you did not fly it in. The concept is to put the burden on a sailplane designer to have one airplane that does everything well. The concept
was conceived in Italy in the 1970s.
Each country can send four pilots, with one being a Junior. The 2015 FAI F3B World Championship had 17 teams representing Italy, Sweden, France, USA, Argentina, Spain, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, South Africa, and Australia.
This cycle was special in that the US had 16-year-old Dillon Graves flying as a Junior. The previous week, Dillon took gold in the F3K World Championship Junior class.
The F3B FAI World Championship opening ceremonies were conducted immediately after the completion of the Arnhem Open on Sunday, July 26. The World Championship was scheduled for five days, with Saturday, August 2, reserved as a backup rain day (which we used). We flew for six days at the World Championship and another two days at the Arnhem Open pre-contest. Everyone was able to fly F3B for eight straight days. What a treat!
World Championship organizers had their hands full with several days of on-and-off rain, but were able to get in six complete rounds so that everyone was able to have a round thrown out. For several days, the teams flew from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. to help make up for the rain delays.
The team results were Germany in first place, Switzerland in second place, and Sweden in third. The overall individual World Champion pilot was Martin Herrig (Germany), with his brother, Andreas Herrig, in second place. Andreas Böhlen (Switzerland) took third place and Kyle Paulson (USA) came in fourth. Darrell Zaballos (USA) finished in 21st place (USA), while Mike Lachowski (USA) was awarded 37th place.
The Junior class results were: Johannes Krischke (Germany), first place; Bernard Flixeder (Austria), second place; and Dillon Graves came through with a great performance to take third place for USA.
Thank you, Doug and Dave for kindly writing these two reports at such short notice.
Until next time, go downwind and soar.
SOURCES:
Dave Olson’s YouTube channel
www.youtube.com/channel/UCIzanzUhxqybiHTrpp5MwIQ
RCGroups F3B World Championship thread
www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2289458&page=43
2015 FAI World Championship for Model Gliders
www.wc2015.f3b.nl
Team USA F3B
www.teamusaf3b.com
Team USA F3K
www.teamusaf3k.com
F3K World Championship
www.f3k2015.com
League of Silent Flight (LSF)
www.silentflight.org
