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The weather for the event ran true to the forecast with some early showers, wind increasing to around 20 km/h and some intermittent sunny patches. Due to weather conditions leading up to the day the circle was a little less kempt than usual.
Robin Hiern took on the role of CD and judge and for a moment it looked as though we would be caught short. Thankfully Bruce Mackay stepped into the breach at the last moment as a second judge. Steve Vallve and Bernie Cosgriff took care of collecting the scoresheets and compositing.
The format of the event was the MAAA Classic pattern flown over two rounds with the judges scores totalled for each round and each of the rounds scores combined to provide the final score.
Of course there can't be an event without competitors. It looked as though we might not have enough starters (usually need 5) but at least there was enough in the early stages for a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. These being Reeve Marsh, Dave Nobes and Derek Pickard. With no apologies mind you just excuses they were joined later with our dynamic duo from Moe, Johno and Graham followed by the Boy from Ballarrat, Dave Lacy, mumbling how he ended up on the Bolte Bridge - we wont go there. So here we were with our faithful five.
ROUND 1
Reeve was followed by Dave Nobes with his unmistakable Shark 45 in USA NAVY livery. Dave has been campaigning in classic with this model for well over 10 years. It was no surprise then that he set the benchmark for the day with a great score of 1019 in his first flight. Just goes to show there is a truism in saying "age before beauty" - it will get you nearly every time.
I might have the flying order a little confused but I believe Reeve Marsh was first to take to the air with his Shark 45. Had it not been for going over time and forfeiting landing points he might have been 60 - 70 points better off on this 1st round score of 790.
Next off the blocks was Derek Pickard. Derek had been searching for a classic model for a while after re entering the hobby. Ken Maier was able to help with a Phonecian built by Ken Taylor (Reeve's Shark was also a Ken Taylor model). Derek fitted an LA 46 which seemed to suit the build of this model. Tubby Taylor's nickname had the reputation of extending to his model building and finishing which is why the 46 is well suited to this 35 size model.
Derek whilst well off the pace of David was further hampered by an over-run missing out on landing a score. Still a credible round 1 score of 825.
John Goodge was up next with another Shark 45. What I understand is that this was an incomplete build by Ken Taylor (yet again) which Johno completed. Nice job. I read on the internet somewhere, a comment by Pat Johnson, that if you want to learn to compete in in Classic and F2B just build yourself a Shark 45 and fly the wings off it in both events. The model is an outstanding design.
Although not far off Reeve with a 1st round score of 760, seems there is a little more familiarisation required with the model for Johno. Also no landing points because of an over run.
Davy did not have the best start to the day after travelling from Ballarrat and missing the turn off, ending up on the Bolte Bridge with limited exit opportunities, hence late arrival.
Not sure why Davy chose his Jaimeson Special to compete in this event but he was behind the eight ball from the start.
Scores reflect the model running too fast to be able to control predictably and with the last 4 manoeuvres not attempted it put him out of the running. Nice safe landing kept the model intact. Score 458.
ROUND 2
With no change in the flying order it was time for Reeve to hit the air again. This time improvements in the vertical eight and cloverleaf, plus landing points combined to produce a score of 866. A better performance over his 1st round flight of 790
Not sure what Dave Nobes had in mind to improve on his 1st round which had him streets in front but marginally improve he did until disaster struck. At he bottom of the 1st Outside Loop the stranded stainless steel cable on his handle gave way which put an end to the competition for this Shark 45. It was a very sad moment for every one and not a fitting end to the model which had performed so well in Daves hands over so many years. Score for the round 408.
It is never easy to be next up after someone elses misfortune. It requires a strong focus on the job at hand. This is something Derek exhibited for this flight. It was clear that he had better control of the Phoenician in this round picking up points across the board to increase his score over the 1st round by 192 points.
Improvement over R1
Starting 0, Takeoff 2, Level Flight 0, Inverted Flight 8, Recovery 12, Double Wingover 24, 3 Inside Loops 3, 3 Outside Loops -3, 2 Triangle loops 8, 3 Horizontal eights 0, 3 Vertical eights 8, 3 Overhead eights 8, Four leaf Clover 20, Landing 102
Another improved flight came from the hands of John Goodge who increased his score by 118 points. The improvement came mostly from the addition of landing points. It seemed this round Johno focused on correcting the poorer scoring manoeuvres of the first round to the detriment of some other previous respectable scores. In the triangles Johno increased his score by 16 points and for the horizontal eights by 15 whilst the scores for the vertical eights and the clover reduced by 16 and 10 points respectively.
Dave Lacy did not fly the second round
So this is how it all ended
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