From
Charlie Mac Murray:
We
had a great day with some
massive lift.
A lot of Personal Best times
were set today with many under
40 seconds.
Nathan , you owe some
beer, So Cal times have
been stomped on.
Highlights
We should have started 1 hour
earlier, I timed a run
from Craig Toutolmin with my watch that was flown
before the gear and stuff was
set up. It was more like 150m legs and my
watch said 28 seconds. We all
kicked ourselves later in the day as the times
got slower. Frawley reckoned
that is was probably 25 second air and
most agreed even though nobody
has ever seen air like this. A good comment
is planes were going like DS
speeds but on the front side. It was that
good.
We set up the course and made
sure it was long enough,
with a little extra had 102m on one and 103m on
the other laser. We
figure we had that covered.
We got started and some 34's
were flown in round 0,
we actually had some folks think that this may be a
bit much wind for them and
were thinking of backing out. This made
for 2 permanent pylon workers
and made things go quickly. A huge thanks to the
folks that suffered in that
wind.
An American record was set by
myself at 32.80 to make Nathan
owe us some beer, we thought this
was great but there was
something even bigger in store today.
I was timing for Craig
Toutolmin and saw the best run
I had ever witnessed, if you weren't watching you truly
missed out. The time
31.75... holy shit, did I read that right.
Yep new WR for Craig.
This was the smoothest piece of flying I've ever seen.
No fuss no muss just smoking
fast. Big Congrats for Craig. Nathan I
think you owe twice as much
beer now.
10 rounds in 4.5 hours,
done, complete and over. |
|
 From
Craig Toutolmin (when asked for
more commentary):
Thanks
for congrats guys! It was
a memorable day filled with
individual achievement. Tim Cone
set the tone with a 34.5 on the
first run of the day. Dave
Reese and Gavin Baskin cracked
40 seconds. Barry Baskin
flew a 38. Reese Kerly
chopped 12 seconds off his
personal best with a 52.
Matt Wyss flew a new
PB with a 61. Clark
Azavedo nailed a 41. Scoop
sabotaged several attempts at
breaking 40 in turn 5. Most
importantly, Charlie put NorCal
in the Nathan beer bet driving
seat by flying his Wizard with
the Norwegian technique to
beautiful 32.8 with only a month
and a half left in the year!
I think there will be a few more
Fermin F3Fs before the end of
the year.
The air prior to the start of
the event was unbelievable.
Charlie, Richard and
Scoop's planes were making
ungodly sounds as I was trying
to prep mine. When Richard
himself started making ungodly
sounds I became a spectator.
I think it went something like
(take a deep breath)
F*************************ck!
His poor Masterpiece was making
screeching sounds that were so
high in pitch that I'm sure
several dogs in the surrounding
area were in agony. I
have never seen so many (10+)
turns at such a high g-load on
the front side of the hill.
The record run paled in
comparison. It was a view into
the future of F3F.
The course was measured with two
laser range finders and set at
103 meters with 1 deg of
convergence. It was
confirmed by Richard, Tim,
Charlie and Dave Reese.
I'd like to thank Charlie for
finding a spectacular site,
running another perfect event
and for improving our standing
in the beer bet! I'd also
like to thank Dieter for the
Stratos SR. Somehow I
managed not to get in the planes
way for 10 laps and good things
happened. While I know
there is no official WR, I am
honored and feel incredibly
fortunate to be able to bring
this unofficial record to the US
for the first time. |
|
From
Espen Torp:
Congrats
to you Craig for a magnificent
time! Well done!
You are telling a story of
people flying much faster prior
to the event and I believe you.
I have done the same many times.
But producing the record
breaking time in a competition
environment is another ball game
no matter what kind of
conditions you get served.
Many times have we seen people
going for the really fast times
and yet they end up with
something else just because of
minor mistakes.
Also as someone points out, this
record is not official, it is
just a reference point of what's
achievable for the F3F
community. I have myself for a
long time dreamt about holding
this record and maybe I will
someday......I am just glad you
guys only take a nip at the
time. As you say Craig, it is
possible to go way under 30 sec.
If somebody would do that today
the record might stand for a
long time.
"Best regards and hope to
match you all some day only 35
second Espen" |
|
From
Kevin Newton:
Congratulations
Craig, awesome achievement.
Inspirational too - I can't wait
to get back on some big hills to
try and spoil your fun!
Well done. |
|
 From
David Reese:
Unfortunately
I was landing when Craig
Toutolmin was flying the new
world record of 31.75 seconds.
Dang it, if I had sandbagged a
little longer I could of had
his air :-)
From
Alex McMeekin:
Congratulations
to Craig! The day the Lift-Gods
offered suitable conditions when
someone of Craig's ability
happened to be flying, the WR
was always going to be in
danger....I was offered WR air
by the Gods once, but I blew
it! And along with Messer's
Bennett and Phillips am waiting
for our second chances:-) |
|
From
Nathan Woods:
Craig,
you got the air and had the
thumbs to work it to great
effect. Congratulations. Drink
it up while you can! |