Friends
Why Compete
When I first started flying at Victoria Park about 3 1/2 years ago, I remember saying, “I’m not interested in competing”. -- So I flew on, with so called beginners planes which I broke one by one and didn’t seem to learn much. I reckon I was pretty uncoordinated, we older citizens wish we had the gaming machines to develop fast twitch like the teens of now. It was frustrating and costly and I got close to giving up as several people have, but finally I was starting to get a plane to fly long enough and well enough that I did not have to spend the intervening week repairing it - bonus!
To get to this point I was advised to go to the basic plane, a bungee launched soarer, that all but, launched itself and you only had 2 controls to find and worry about, providing you remembered to turn the plane on in the first place. I subsequently got my bronze wings and that was that, I thought.
About a year and a half ago I was persuasively urged to join in the 2 Metre RES competition, I was convinced it wasn’t beyond me and so - I did turn up one Sunday morning with my Spirit under my arm and my heart in my mouth, it was reasonably simple, launching, flying and landing, just like I had been doing.
In a short space of entering competitions I met some very experienced flyers who gave a lot of their time to coach me and point out the techniques that converted a ragged launch to one that develops good height, being able to tell when I was lift and read the air and thermal events as they occur and landing techniques that got me closer and closer to the spot. The net result is the statement I opened with.
In competitions that one good score doesn’t pull of the whole round you have to be consistent, and that I am not. I have enjoyed this past year, no one flies for sheep stations and the friendship and advice I have received has been considerable, The competitions held at Victoria Park, The Electric Thermal, the Radian and the 2 Metre RES, are all good entry level, fly for fun and learn something comps. Competitions make you improve your skills. You concentrate more on how your plane is set up, you learn to maximise your launch heights, given the limitations of time or bungee length. The main improvement and I think the most exciting skill is learning to eke absolutely every bit of lift you can so you can make your duration limit. Finally landing on the spot says so much about how well you are controlling the plane – it’s a bit like all those dog owners who say they are walking their dogs – we ask who is walking who!
SSL has over 30 years of history and it has a very good reputation in the flying community. The club has currently among its membership, flyers that are competing internationally. It is the grass roots, however, of any club is where it counts and flying in the smaller plane competitions is both inexpensive and greater fun than the more serious open competitions –just come and watch all the experts fly in the Radian class, and witness how much fun they are having. I have got a lot out of participating I urge you too to give it a try. It doesn’t take any more than what you are doing now, charge your batteries and turn up at Vic Park on a Sunday.
Robert Gunn February 2010.