SCSR F3F Race Results

 Updated 09/14/03

F3F 2003 - Parker Mtn. 09-13-03 Results

                                                          Click here for Spreadsheet

Today, we had a nice event, if lightly attended.  A total of eight pilots
attended.  The conditions were actually quite nice before the start with mild
Santa Ana winds.  In hindsight we could have called for a morning start and
gotten through a bunch of rounds by noon.  But, we went for the traditional
plan of getting started at noon.  Everyone helped out with getting the
course and equipment set up, moved, and torn down at the end of the day.
Thanks everyone for all of the help.

We started with flying three rounds in the easterly winds.  The winds
started getting light and variable right about the time the first pilot
started (me).  I demonstrated the diving technique to good effect, as the
lift wasn't good enough to even stay level at times.  The lift continued to
be somewhat intermittent, and evaporated right at the end, with the last
pilot landing at the bottom of the hill (not due to diving, but to
"falling").

We called a halt to the proceedings, and waited for the wind to switch.
Just as predicted, the onshore winds picked up a little bit after 3 PM, and
we reset the course for the onshore wind conditions.  We flew six rounds
after this switch, and called it a day.  The onshore winds were much more
consistent, and a lot of fun to fly in.

As we did not complete the first set of rounds in the offshore wind
condition, I made the decision to declare them as non-counting as per the
rules.  This did change the positions a little bit, swapping the 2nd and
3rd, as well as the 5th and 6th places compared to adding up all eight
rounds.  Hindsight says that we should not have gone with three flights per
pilot when the conditions are likely to deteriorate based on the wind
forecasts.

The only damage during the race was to a plane that Brett flew.  It suffered
a failure at a previous repair, and is easily repairable to fly again.

Joe Wurts
CD

RESULTS:
Fast time was 43.19, flown by JW