2013 F3B World Championship Report. The Australian team for the 2013 WC held in Germany from August 3rd through August 10th were pilots John Skinner( Tasmania) ,Mike Rae ( Perth) Carl Strautins (Sydney) , Team Manager Tim Kullack (Perth) and helpers Florian Lindner (Tasmania) Hans Lindner ( Austria). The event was held at Nardt Airfield, a full size gliding airfield 70 km from Dresden. The field was a perfect choice being large and open and only 7km from the village Hoyerswerda where the majority of visitors stayed. The hosts were Germany who ran a very fair, efficient and professional event. Several German team members including the CD and also Czech team members were again very generous to the Australian team in lending us winches and equipment for the duration of the event. Without this help the costs to freight the required amount of essential equipment to and from would potentially put the championship out of reach of some team members. The team had a great preparation and were able to compete in two international events leading up to the WC. The first being the Kulmbach World Cup event held the weekend prior to the WC. Australia had 5 pilots entered and used this event to work together as a team for the first time. The event was a success for all Australians winning heats in speed, distance and dominating some duration rounds. The best placed Australian being John Skinner in 11th place ( 71 competitors ). The next event was the Nardt Open held the following weekend and used as the WC pre event by the organizers on the WC airfield. The 5 days in between were used by the team to travel to Hoyerswerda and practice on the Nardt Airfield. Again the Australians had 5 pilots entered with the best placed being Tim Kullack in 17th place ( 96 competitors ). A new innovation for this championship was live broadcasting via the internet including commentary and interviews with pilots and team managers by well known German F3B pilot and model manufacturer Martin Weberschock. This allowed friends ,family and F3B supporters all over the world to follow and experience the WC like never before. I believe this innovation to be the best form of promotion of our sport going forwards. I highly recommend this option be explored for any future World Championships held in Australia and also abroad. The week long WC was held in mostly sunny and varying conditions. The three WC pilots and helpers Florian and Hans Lindner worked very well together and formed a very solid team capable at times of matching the best in the world in all F3B tasks. The week was not without incident though with Mike Rae becoming quite sick mid week with an allergic reaction. In true Australian spirit team members did extra where required and Mike showed some fierce determination to push through and finish strongly. After 8 rounds the Australian team finished in 6th place ( from 19 countries) on 59168 points which included a 300 point deduction due to a very unlucky safety penalty in one speed flight. USA finished in third place with 59747 points, Austria second place 60056 points and Germany in first place with 61135 points. Individually John Skinner finished a brilliant 9th position , Carl Strautins 23rd and Mike Rae 25th both very respectable positions in this field. The battle for first place came down to the final speed flight of the competition with Martin Herrig of Germany needing to beat his brother Andreas by more than .7 seconds in the final speed round. Martin flew first and recorded a flawless 14.9xx second run. Andreas flew next and also flew a flawless 15.1xx giving him back to back World Championships. The equipment used by the majority of the field was very similar. Models of choice were spread evenly between Freestyler 3 and 4 , Fosa and Fosa Lift with a few Hurricanes, Pike Precisions and anything manufactured in the last 5 years by all well known builders. A trend happening now in typical light wind conditions is for smaller models such as Freestyler 3 and Radical Jazz as a higher wing loading can be reached at a lower all up weight to help gain a higher launch in the speed task. Winches are a mix between Lucas and Bosche motors, this appears to be a personal preference for either with none really giving up anything to the other. The commercially available standard Ober winch with either motor was by far the most used. Winch line was dominated by the EMC Vega Mega orange line. Australia used a mixture of Mega and also Highend Line which was very good in the 1.10mm and above sizes. EMC are releasing a new Mega line in slightly different sizes with a spiral in the line which has different stretch and return characteristics. The WA guys were given an early sample to bring home and test. The Australians air reading skills were some of the best on field. Their model set up and launch heights were on average comparable with the majority of the field. Flying an accurate 150 meter course still rules at an International level and is essential. The top guys are able to do this flight after flight scoring very strongly even if not in the best available air. The experience was a good one for Australia with all team members working harmoniously to achieve some excellent personal and team results. Knowledge and experience gained by the guys will help with future attempts and also filter through on a domestic level to help our F3B community as a whole. Kulmbach results translate.google.au/trans...z%3D1I7GGLL_en Nardt Open and WC results. translate.google.au/trans...z%3D1I7GGLL_en The team would like to again thank the following individuals and groups for their support. MAAA AWA LSF Australia Jerilderie competitors for their generous donations. Southern Soaring League Deb Abraham Modelflight Daves Toys / Hyperion Australia Simon Watts Andreas Kunz Armin Hortitz Roman Vojtech Best Regards Tim Kullack Team Manager F3B 2013
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 10:28:30 +0000
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