Gordon Buckland with his winning Encanto.
By Mike Bergerson
How much fun is F3L? The pilots couldn’t say how much they loved the past two days enough. My buddy from Massachusetts thanked me for talking him into flying the contest. Newbies at the contest were just beaming, and the pros say this is their favorite contest.
Day 2 of F3L did not relent, with Muncie madness in full swing. If you could catch a ride, you were up and out while the guy right next to you sank out, tail hanging. The lift was there, the thermals were just small, narrow, and fast moving, due to the variable wind speeds we had all day.
The scores reflected the difficulty. Many of the rounds had pilots doing multiple relights, resulting in low times. It wasn't uncommon to see a relaunch with a few minutes to go just to try and get a little better time and landing. Many were caught off guard, landing short of the landing tape or out of bounds completely. One group even won with a 2 minute-7second flight with no landing score!
Regardless, there were great flights and epic saves putting grins on the faces of team members and rivals. It’s all about the people you fly with.
We flew a total of four rounds, bringing the total to10 for the contest. A moment was taken for all the pilots to facetime with Jeff Carr to wish him well. Jeff is an avid F3L pilot, organizer and Nats attendee. He has been unable to attend for health reasons.
After the last round was flown, all reflected on the past two days. Some did very well on day one and not so much on day two. For some, it was the other way around. Then, there were those who excelled both days, finishing in the top spots.
Gordon Buckland was first with a perfect score! Next, was Josh Glaab in second, with Jared Lee in third (Jared flew amazingly!). Team B pilot, Tom Scully, was 4th (he was our team ringer!), with Paul Lankau finishing in the trophies with 5th place. Complete scores for the contest are on gliderscore.com.
Tomorrow morning begins the winched portion of the Nats with three days (7/25 through 7/27) of the Quadfecta! Four classes will be flown: Unlimited TD (Thermal Duration), RES (Rudder, Elevator and Spoiler), 2 Meter, and Nostalgia. Come on out and enjoy the festivities!
Blue Skies!
