RC SOARING
2023 F3K TEAM SELECTION
By Gordon Buckland | gordon@gatorf3b.com
WE USUALLY rug up and stay indoors in winter, but not in Florida. This year, we’ve had some of the warmest winter weather on record, and 85° days were experienced throughout the F3K Team Selection event at the Lake Area Radio Control Squadron (LARKS) field in Tavares, Florida, on February 26-28.
The contest was organized by the Orlando Buzzards’ Mickey Nowell, who was the contest director and planned and executed this awesome event. Two days of the IceBreaker F3K contest overlapped the Team Selection rounds, allowing other pilots to join in on the fun. A huge shoutout goes to Mickey and his tireless helper, Cory, for pulling this off so successfully.
From the very first round, it was obvious by watching the huge throws put up by Gavin Trussell, Joe Dougherty, and James Hohensee that we had some world-class pilots strutting their stuff. Joe represented the US at the last FAI F3K World Championships for Model Gliders and finished in third. I can tell you that he is a machine, both with his turnarounds and his towering launches.
Friday saw us complete six full rounds of the Team Selection event before lunch, and then a lot of fun was had with two fundraisers for the team. The unofficial 1M World Championship (and what fun are those little Discus-Launch Gliders [DLGs?]), followed by an All Up Last Down (AULD) elimination event, saw some awesome piloting, with the final two as Joe and Austin Sloan, who duked it out for the AULD win. In the end, the pair flew it out to a “gentlemen’s draw,” with simultaneous catches to end a fun event.
The format on Saturday and Sunday saw the IceBreaker F3K contest being conducted simultaneously with the Team Selection, and many other pilots joined in on the fun in an effort to win Mickey’s treasured “Gatorhead” IceBreaker trophies. By flying three team selection pilots in every group and scoring them separately, the event and scoring ran flawlessly. Mickey devised and pulled off this concept, and it proved to be a huge success.
The Team Selection preliminary flights concluded on Sunday after 16 grueling rounds. Then came the IceBreaker Flyoff, followed by the Team Selection flyoff. The IceBreaker podium featured Walter Bednarz in first place (he also sponsored the event with ChaServo), Austin placing second, and Jason Scribner in third. Each was awarded the beautiful Gatorhead trophy for which this contest is famous.
Conditions varied throughout the three days, but in some rounds (such as round nine on Saturday), the air was so good that all 24 pilots scored 1,000s.
Oscar Cvtrynowicz flew in the Junior category. What a fine young pilot he is. Ably supported by his dad, Oscar showed skill, determination, and enough grit to impress all. He will be an awesome Junior to represent the US.
Joe’s throwing was most memorable. For those who haven’t seen Joe’s arm in action, he is a very tall, lithe young man—so tall that he can actually throw in an upward direction without tip-striking his model. Combined with his excellent timing for the turnarounds, his flights are something spectacular. Check out the YouTube video that is listed in “Sources.” Joe scrambled a little in a couple of the flyoff rounds (particularly Poker), but he prevailed in the end to become the number one team pilot with first place.
I was honored to assist James in the flyoffs, and was relieved when the final flight was taken in good enough shape for second position on the podium. There is nothing worse in Soaring than being asked to help a pilot, and then providing the wrong information, leading to a bad score. That is exactly what happened in the flyoffs during a round when I saw aircraft drilling on the left, told James not to go left, and he went right to drill worse, before I realized seconds too late that farther left was actually good.
James valiantly raced left but it was too late and low to reach the air. He landed out and had to fetch, return to the box, and relaunch to salvage a reasonable score.
The rest of James’ flights were solid, and he is indeed an impressive pilot with amazing skills. In particular, the Poker round saw him correctly call 1 minute, figure out the air, and get the remainder in one flight when only he and Mengchen Li, from California, did. I was extremely relieved that my late call didn’t cost him his place.
Oleg Golovodiv was super consistent and flew with great distinction. Although he made a mental error by flying in the wrong group in Round 13, he accepted the penalty and put his head down, posting solid 1,000s for the remainder of the preliminary rounds to make the flyoffs. The Poker round in the flyoffs was his only blemish, and his all-around consistency earned him a position on the USA team with third place.
Mengchen showed excellent skills and patience and came well prepared to earn his USA F3K team alternate position. Mengchen is a great guy and will be a force to reckon with in US DLG competition. Gavin entertained us all throughout the three days with his unique aerobatics and DLG-busting power launches. He finished in fifth place.
Including the practice day, it was four long days of intense competition in hot conditions. The best pilots prevailed to provide the US with a strong and worthy team to represent the US in Romania.
Go downwind and soar.
SOURCES:
League of Silent Flight (LSF)
www.silentflight.org
LARKS
www.larksr cclub.com
Orlando Buzzards
www.orlandobuzzards.org
RCGroups
Florida IceBreaker and Team Selects 24–26 Feb 2023
www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4218821
YouTube
JoedoughertyTurnaround2
https://youtu.be/QDg zciy3XEo
