Day 4 - The lady sings.....

Slept in today as Team Canada takes to the skies at line "A" in the afternoon. It was a nice change. I'll be first up followed by Chad and then Dezso. I'll update when we get back....

Ok I am back! It was carnage in Santa Fe when we arrived at the airport this morning. Strong winds prevailed.. Mark says the winds on Sunday, added to Monday & Tuesday equaled what was experienced today! 8 t0 9 meters per second with gusts to 13 created havoc for landings in particular. The first 11 fliers on line "B" had finished their flights with no less that 5 of them suffering damage to both wings and gear. The worst was Bernhard Schaden's Onyx that suffered major damage when the prop hit the ground.

Here Chad and Mark check out the damage. A very clean break that should be easily repaired.

After a short break due to the high winds. The head of the competition Mario Korman checks wind speed with Marco Mechanico observing.

We headed to the other flight line to set up and prepare for our afternoon flights. It is very windy......... and I probably would not have risked my plane if I was at my home field but hey, this is the worlds! Mark and I prepped the planes as we readied for my final P-07 flight of the contest. I am a realist and the chances of making the semi's is very slim ( this means non-existent :-) I would need a 550 or so to make it and ... well maybe wishful thinking, not really possible in the company of the great fliers that are present.

There were many delays prior to my flight. Try as he might, our team manager Harry Ells tried to keep us concentrating on the task at hand but unfortunately the local peeler palace sent over a few scantily clad girls to promote their establishment. I tried my best to not be taken off focus so I left the picture taking to my fellow Canadian Teammate Xavier.

Xavier did a pretty good job of capturing the moment?don't you think.

Anyhow.. back to RC flying.... lots of excitement on both takeoff and landings the winds were howling. Lots of zero landings as many planes inadvertently ended up behind the flight line as they overshot their final approach. One airplane from Brazil missed Dezso by 5 feet as it made it's landing. It ended up to the right and behind the judges station. The takeoffs were equally interesting.

I "launched" my Twister for my final flight and fought the strong winds as best I could. Not a great performance but I was happy I had the opportunity to compete at this level. I zeroed the spin entry as the plane pitched way to high in the strong winds. Sheesh twice in three days... not my usual style. I managed to get it back to terra firma in one piece and was rewarded with a 400 score. Sorry to let the team down but this will end up as the throw away round for the event. I'll end up in 50th position out of 83 competitors.

Chad was next up on our team and put in another great round with only minor errors observed. He seemed happy with the flight even with the stiff winds. He ended up with a 500 score and finished in 22nd position overall. This qualifies him for the semi-finals starting Friday. Congratulations Chad well done! My mechanico Mark has now been promoted to help Chad during the semi's.

Ultimate starter motors... powered by Flight Power!

Dez was last up for our team and had a good round going until he got blown in the last few elements. Aside from this he had a good competition and was awarded 37th place overall.

As I wrap up my slice of the worlds competition, I would be remiss to not thank the many folks that have helped support me through this effort. To the fine folks at Duralite Flight Systems & CRC Products.ca, my fellow club members at the Victoria Radio Control Modelers Society, the Model Aeronautics Association of Canada, the Vancouver based RCFCBC.... in particular Kevin Forsyth and Shaun Lammers, and fellow fliers Mike Scho, Brian Weekley and Greg Jestico for their technical support (i.e. borrowed stuff!) and Bob Stovel for his lathe work. The many contributors throughout Canada that sent funds (or bought raffle tickets.:-) in support of our team.

I sincerly thank you all.

Special thanks to our Team Manger Harry Ells for his support and efforts to make things easy for us pilots... well done. Of course we really know that it's Rosemary that should get the credit!

Most importantly a big THANK YOU to my helper, fellow flyer and good friend Mark Byrne for his unending support and assistance during these past few weeks. He was and is always ready to lend a hand and offer advice and constructive criticism when needed. This has made my experience here all the more memorable.

Mark and I after the fourth round.

Also "Thanks" to Mark's wife Robyn for keeping us all entertained with Kelly and her exploits in Santa Fe. http://islandcachers.blogspot.com/

It was truly a great experience and with luck and hard work, I... actually we all hope to return to these World Championships in future years. The team will now throw it's support behind Chad as he carries the flag into the semi finals starting Friday. It continues to be a great experience!