F3J in the Desert
by Gordon Buckland
gordon@gatorf3b.com
The nirvana of F3J Soaring events in the US is F3J in the Desert, an annual gathering of RC Soaring pilots from across the nation and around the world. It is traditionally held on the outskirts of Phoenix. This year’s event was held April 21-22, and was located in new digs on a beautiful sod farm near Las Vegas. It was a weekend of phenomenal Soaring and fun!
With two additional days of F5J Soaring following the F3J contest, many pilots came to enjoy five days of sun and Soaring in Nevada. Excellent, variable
Soaring conditions tested the pilots and, combined with the important social activity of meeting new friends and old, it made this event one to remember.
The F3J Championship Series has flourished as it moves throughout the US for seven or eight contests during the year, but none are better attended than F3J in the Desert. The opening day of online contest registration was advertised in advance. Within hours, the event was fully subscribed. Such is the excitement generated by the largest F3J contest on the US calendar.
The location was a circular, irrigated stretch of closely mown, soft, green lawn, covering what was originally desert sand, stretching for hundreds of yards. When you ventured off of the sod, bushy, dry desert brush dominated the landscape with an occasional small tree here and there.
There were no obvious tree lines or other major topography changes to work your sailplane out of when the breeze got up. That made every pilot work for his or her time without any safety net such as what is common at many fields. In the distance, the craggy peaks of a mountain range were still adorned with the remnants of the winter snow.
Day one saw conditions start with enough breeze to make sure that no early flights were gimmes. The wind increased to approximately 7 mph before decreasing and changing 180° in the late afternoon, requiring a launch direction change.
The first round saw New Zealand’s Joe Wurts unable to launch on time because of a servo problem. This meant he would have no room for error during the remainder of the preliminary rounds.
Most pilots made their times during the best part of the day, but some of the late afternoon rounds were dicey, with the breeze picking up in the reverse direction and the lift patchy and light,
Often moving quickly downwind and catching pilots with insufficient height for the ride home.
I teamed with Jeff DuVal, Jody Miller, Thomas Cooke, and Bob Breaux. Being involved with throwing, calling, piloting, or taking care of equipment made it difficult to observe the 50 other fantastic pilots who put in epic flights. Forgive me
for telling most of this story from my team’s perspective.
F3J is a team event. A few short years ago, the vagaries of F3J were a mystery to those of us in Florida, but consistently practicing together has seen us develop a successful system. It requires nonstop vigilance to read the conditions, decide where the air is, determine how long to stay on tow, and plan where to go immediately after launch.
Each member of our team is also allocated a task by the pilot during the 4-minute preparation time. These tasks include driving the winch, shagging the parachute, starting the primary stop watches, and throwing the model. It is easy to become distracted with the clock ticking and no spare time between rounds.
As a team, we remind each other of our duties each round and consult quietly during preparation time to reach a consensus regarding the air read. We are organized and we all contribute. As a result, the relentless flight groups are no longer as challenging and our team is always ready to put in a high-scoring flight. As soon as a model is airborne and the parachute grounded, we are together looking at the air and the other models and making an early decision about where we need to be.
F3J is amazing fun and when you get good at it, it can be rewarding.
Consistent flight times and relentless pounding of the hunskie saw Jeff DuVal and Jody Miller neck-and-neck with just .40 of a point between them on top of the leaderboard by Friday evening and seven rounds complete. The scores were tight, with a spread of four points back to Bob
McGowan in third place.
F3J in the Desert is enjoyable after the contest, when many of us catch up with old friends for a beer and a barbecue dinner. Many camped at the field and enjoyed a balmy Nevada evening under the stars.
Saturday’s conditions began like Friday’s, with a significant breeze causing some havoc with the scores, as pilots failed to reach sufficient height to make it home. With many flights cut short, there was some opportunity for pilots who were outside of the top 12 to move up with consistent flying, while others who were well inside the top 12 slid down the ladder.
Jody and Jeff’s solid scoring continued. After 11 rounds of preliminaries were complete, Jeff finished as the top qualifier for the four 15-minute flyoff rounds, with Bob McGowan in second place, and Jody in third. The remaining nine qualifiers were AJ McGowan, Brendan Beardsley, Blayne Chastain, Thomas Cooke, Joe Wurts, Mario Scolari, Daryl Perkins, Jon Padilla, and Skip Miller.
Daryl wasn’t at his best because he was recovering from an operation on his foot, but he would still have finished in fourth or fifth if not for Joe Wurts throwing him early in the last round. There were other bad-luck stories, but those who consistently made the task times in the tough conditions late on Friday and early on Saturday were featured in the top 12.
Jeff teamed with me for the 15-minute rounds and we scrambled to find helpers for Jody, who was in the adjacent lane. The flyoff rounds took place in strengthening wind on a hot afternoon. Many flights were deep downwind at great height—the lift seemed to strengthen as the airplane went higher. Conditions were not good enough to make really short tows an option, so with conservative 1.5- to 2-second tows, Jeff finally prevailed over a gallant Joe Wurts, with AJ McGowan placing third.
The flyoffs saw sufficient drift downwind. Some of us had to follow our models for 200 to 300 yards downwind during each flight. This technique provides a better perspective of the competition and the pilot can maintain good visibility of his or her own model to thermal more efficiently at a greater distance.
It also offered a great view of the epic struggle that Bob McGowan undertook in round one. He jockeyed this way and that, in a small bubble downwind toward the mountain, trying valiantly for 13 minutes to gain sufficient height to make it back. He eventually succumbed to the desert for a score of zero.
The spoils of victory were presented to the winners and Jeff DuVal placed first in both the preliminaries and flyoffs, as well as receiving a $500 check from the J Tour sponsor, Soaring USA, for winning the contest with an Xplorer sailplane.
Soaring in the US is deeply indebted to the J Tour sponsors: MKS Servos USA, Kennedy Composites, and Horizon Hobby. Thanks to Jim Monaco and his team for masterminding a giant of F3J contests. If you want to experience Soaring at its finest in the US, get your name in early for next year’s F3J in the Desert. Join us for an epic weekend of F3J and F5J Soaring in Sandy Valley, Nevada.
Go downwind and soar.
SOURCES:
League of Silent Flight (LSF)
www.silentflight.org
F3J USA
www.f3jusa.com
Soaring USA
(626) 967-6660
www.soaringusa.com
F3XEvents.com
www.f3xevents.com
MKS Servos USA
(832) 287.2371
www.mksservosusa.com
Kennedy Composites
(972) 602-3144
www.kennedycomposites.com
Horizon Hobby
(800) 338-4639
www.horizonhobby.com
