Noodies 2006, full results.

Overall Natal Champion

1 Craig Goodrum 4978.2
2 Chris Adrian 4964.4
3 Dave Greer 4537.0

RES100 Fred Wittstock

Best Junior Kurt Stockton

2 Metre

1 Warren Butler 4674.5
2 Allan Sneedon 4558.2
3 Dennis Bird 4516.1

F5J Extreme

1 Warren Butler 4976.6
2 Mark Stockton 4946.5
3 Brad Conlon 4768.1

F3J Hand Tow

1 Chris Adrian 5000.0
2 Craig Goodrum 4994.1
3 Izak Theron 4547.0

Electric Winch Thermal

1 Dave Greer 4957.5
2 Brad Conlon 4748.5
3 Allan Sneedon 4501.2

TOTALS OVERALL net
NATALS 2006
1 Craig Goodrum 4978.2
2 Chris Adrian 4964.4
3 Dave Greer 4537.0
4 Izak Theron 4518.0
5 Allan Sneedon 4451.4
6 Michelle Goodrum 4348.0
7 Fred Wittstock RES100 4248.2
8 Brad Conlon 4169.7
9 Dion Liebenberg 4167.4
10 John Monk 4085.4
11 Mark Stockton 4000.0
12 Paul Boswarva 3931.5
13 Paul Carnall 3862.8
14 Wolfie Stefney 3745.4
15 Kurt Stockton Junior 3731.6
16 Warren Butler 3691.0
17 Russell Conradt 3654.8
18 Simon Nelson 3621.6
19 Paul Munn 3528.0
20 Rodney Goodrum 3488.0
21 John Coulson 3436.7
22 Ross Henderson 3232.1
23 Conrad Klintworth 2887.0
24 Herman Webber 2715.4
25 Dennis Bird 2494.0
26 Craig Baker 2408.5
27 Les Ward 2317.9
28 Simon Tladi 2282.8
29 Brian Fanning 1610.4
30 Tim Potter 1566.8
31 Don Slatter 1494.4
32 Sheldon McGlone 419.6

TOTALS 2 METRE net
NATALS 2006
1 Warren Butler 4674.5
2 Allan Sneedon 4558.2
3 Dennis Bird 4516.1
4 Izak Theron 4433.5
5 John Monk 4344.4
6 Volney Klintworth 4180.6
7 Russell Conradt 3954.0
8 John Coulson 3666.4
9 Simon Nelson 3207.3
10 Paul Boswarva 3055.2
11 Fred Wittstock 2840.3
12 Don Slatter 2266.9
13 Brian Fanning 2030.0
14 Paul Munn 1669.8
15 Sheldon McGlone 281.0

TOTALS F5J net
NATALS 2006

1 Warren Butler 4976.6
2 Mark Stockton 4946.5
3 Brad Conlon 4768.1
4 Paul Carnall 3987.7
5 Sean Oellermann 3964.1
6 Craig Goodrum 3720.0
7 Les Ward 3708.2
8 Dion Liebenberg 3190.8
9 Simon Nelson 3105.4
10 Herman Webber 2625.7
11 Sheldon McGlone

TOTALS F3J net
NATALS 2006
1 Chris Adrian 5000.0
2 Craig Goodrum 4994.1
3 Izak Theron 4547.0
4 Michelle Goodrum 4372.8
5 Dion Liebenberg 4191.9
6 Mark Stockton 4000.0
7 Paul Carnall 3862.8
8 Kurt Stockton 3734.5
9 Warren Butler 3691.0
10 Simon Nelson 3631.7
11 Conrad Klintworth 2902.4
12 Herman Webber 2737.4
13 Dennis Bird 2505.0
14 Simon Tladi 2309.9

TOTALS EW net
NATALS 2006
1 Dave Greer 4957.5
2 Brad Conlon 4748.5
3 Allan Sneedon 4501.2
4 Fred Wittstock 4364.8
5 John Monk 4197.5
6 John Coulson 4113.8
7 Wolfie Stefney 4107.5
8 Paul Boswarva 3992.7
9 Russell Conradt 3943.5
10 Paul Munn 3930.7
11 Rodney Goodrum 3919.8
12 Ross Henderson 3737.7
13 Les Ward 2811.3
14 Craig Baker 2670.6
15 Don Slatter 2064.9
16 Brian Fanning 1972.7
17 Tim Potter 1572.7
18 Sheldon McGlone 427.7

Noodies 2006

Craig Goodrum win's the Natal Championship while Chris Adrian and Kurt Stockton take the honors as F3J champion and top junior respectively. Mark Stockton takes second place in F5J eXtreme.

Cape Sailplanes Family

A family photo of the excellent planes sourced by Mark Williams of Cape Sailplanes for the team. From left to right; Craig Goodrum (Supra), Simon Tladi (Ava) and Mark Stockton (Supra).

First Team Supra Flies

The first of the Supra's to be flown by Mark and Craig has been flown. It has shown huge potential in it's first contest at the ETB leg of the Highveld Thermal League, winning in a dominant maner.

Special thanks needs to go to Mark Williams of Cape Sailplanes for securing these excellent planes for the team as well as the excellent sponsorship package he put together.

We also need to thank Graupner as well as the South African agent Dion Liebenberg for their sponsorship of the equipment that both Senior and Junior teams will be using.

Simon and Kurt Featured in the Fourways Review

Conrad Wins HTL 2

With a perfect score of 5,000, junior team member Conrad Klintworth won the incident packed Highveld Thermal League event at MMS. He was closely followed by senior team mates Craig Goodrum and Chris Adrian.

Thanks BERG

On behalf of the F3J team, I would like to thank BERG for their generous
donation towards the team.

Cheers
Ilma

Happiness

Practice 18th February 2006

Practice Time Again

Time flies when you are having fun, and it is practice time again. This time it is at ETB, Saturday the 18th February. Flying starts at 07h00! Oh my word that is early.

The Question (Part II)

Disney & Tarrintino themselves, could not have provided for a more tense story; in a scene reminiscent of the brave Scots facing the might of the English armies (or so the experienced team claimed from first-hand knowledge?), the youthful challengers squared up against the mass of experience. As each team took its turn, fair banter (in cricket it is properly termed 'sledging' the opponents) was exchanged. During one of these encounters, Prepatation's statements caused Tantor to completely crack-up & he fell rather solidly half way through their launch. But just to show the 'lighties' their dedication, they hobbled back for the next launch ' only to trip again soon thereafter.

Scientific investigation revealed that this continuous falling was nothing to do with a disregard for physical fitness, or the less than smooth terrain being traversed, but rather had to do with the unique notion of straight line momentum, inertia & the curvature of the earth. As any physicst would explain, any body in motion will resist a change to this state unless acted upon by an external force (inertia). In this case the mass differences between the moving bodies & that of gravity were so close, that straight line acceleration (well, measured in geographic terms anyway) effectively occurred. A momentary loss of traction due to the increasing distant to the earth (straight line vs. curved surface) & resulted in the body experiencing an uneven distribution of mass (which is already rather perilously frontally balanced), finally resulting in the less than graceful, but ultimately thunderous arrival, more akin with rudder-elevator pilots attempting the FAI circle landing.

To be fair, each team was matched in a variety of conditions, ranging from windless sink, moderate wind & sink, and a rather fresh breeze & sink (the less than upward air movement description added by the pilots). To ensure proper scientific discipline being observed, certain 'performance enhancing' stimulants were administered in highly observed & measured dosages to both teams, and other than the additional BS resulting from the sugar high, no material improvements were observed between the teams.

Much to everyone's surprise, the average launch height is higher for the light-weight team. The best launch of the day was provided by The Brain who won the bragging rights until the next practice, when Dorey will surely attack this accomplishment with a more suitable weapon. And so, the day concluded, as each side withdrew to treat their wounded (well the heavies did suffer some friction attrition & apparently exceptionally high doses of lactic acid build-up). More importantly to those waiting with baited breath was the outcome of this most 'scientifical of experiments' (ref: Tigger. 2006); irrefutable proof that age does appear before beauty, but the latter is the most powerful when harnessed with youthful speed, whereas the former statistically tends towards the attraction of mass, particularly in the Kimberly region according to some knowledgeable observers.

Practice - 4 Feb 2006

The team had an interesting, informative and incident filled practice session at MMS on Saturday the 4th of February.

Sadly Conrad and Paul couldn't attend the practice. However the team was joined by Evan and Charl who where present to analyse the effects mass have on the tow team. It was also excellent having Piet Rheeders and Stephane Duponsel drop in and provide moral support.

The flying started just after 07h00 with each pilot doing a full dead air duration flight. Craig certainly showed everyone that the Ava is well suited to this task. Thereafter some fairly serious launch analysis drills where flown.

Some incidents that punctuated the day, where Mark having a elevator linkage failure on one flight, but managing (more through luck) to land the plane fairly gently. Chris also had some interesting elevator / fin / fuselage interface issues.

After official practice ended, poor Simon lost his Eish! in a high speed anaerobic ground interface. This incident was later attributed to a flat RX battery.

In the afternoon Kurt set about posting a postals score of 1,324 over 3 flights in really lousy conditions. Had lightning and rain not have intervened, he would probably got over 2,200!!! Excellent flying Kurt.

Many thanks to Michelle for organising the event, Lionel for putting in 300%, as well as Evan and Charl for helping and Piet and Stephane for supporting.

The Question (or Tiggers Challenge) Chapter 1

A cold mist blows across the ancient African plains. Out of the early morning gloom strides the warriors, their faces painted in battle colours, their armour prepared for battle. But this is no ordinary morning, for on this morning not only are these warriors going into battle, but far more importantly is that this morning the eyes of the world rests on the shoulders of these few. For this morning represents the deep societal question; age before beauty? Will youth, exuberance, and speed be able to beat the mighty weight of experience? The battle lines are drawn one side representing the hopes of rising stars (& ADD survivors) the world over, the other side representing years of good eating &drinking (strangely devoid of Ritalin).

First up are the youthful challengers – well they did get to the battlefield almost an hour earlier than the more sleep challenged individuals. With the lines set, they lean into their task & their glistening shoulder muscles take up the load. The signal is sent & with a massive display of explosive power they hurtle forward, launching into the abyss. At 6 foot, blue eyed & bloody handsome, the challengers turn & smile at their results. Hardly a sweat has broken & they eagerly take up the strain for the next skirmish.

Only after the last sparrow has fallen out of its nest & just before the local Wimpy begins offering its lunch specials, the heavy weights of experience thunder to the battle lines. Actually, stroll would be a better description as the affects of their first cup of coffee takes considerable time to reach their outer limbs. Their mighty ab’s expand (or should that have read as “expansive abdomens”?) as they take up the strain. On the signal, like a heard of stampeding elephants, they gather momentum & move forward launching into the African sky. They slow down & amble back to the next challenge.

The challengers glance nervously around – clearly it will be rather close as the notion of power being represented by mass and acceleration is represented rather differently on the two sides.

Fortunately technology is on hand & the first comparison reveals,…………

End of Part
One /…..to be continued

Eish! building progress

Kurt's first Eish! taking shape. Visible in the background is the molds with next set of wings in them.

Practice Time Again

It's that time again, when the F3J nuts gather at MMS at 06h30 (Saturday the 4th) in order to be in the air by 07h00. 30 flights scheduled (10 per pilot). It is bound to be a hectic day, with practice followed by F3K hour, followed by postals!!!

Just to make life interesting Craig and Mark have a "King of the Launch" challenge going that allows the winner to have undisputed bragging rights....... Chris will probably beat them both.

BTW - spectators, commentators and peanut gallery are welcome. Don't forget to bring an F3K plane with to fly chuckie hour afterwards. Then bring a big glider with to fly postals.

Thanks to Cape Sailplanes

I would like to thank Cape Sailplanes for their support of the F3J team.

Mark Williams has supplied me with one of the AVAs at cost. His markup is very small on these products due to our small market and high original pricing, so it is not a huge saving but every bit helps and this is most appreciated.

We will be following a rigorous training schedule this year and we will compare the various models so this model was urgently required. The AVA has been a very successful light condition glider in Europe and USA.

Mark is also sending it to us free of charge and if I can find the finances will repeat the process of charging us only cost with the molded Supra.

If you are looking for their contact details go to

www.capesailplanes.com

Or email
info@capesailplanes.com
They carry a great range.

I will keep you all posted as to the performance of the models in practice.

Thanks very much for your support Mark.

On this note, if there is anyone out there who is able to assist us in going to the world championships, please contact us.

Craig Goodrum

Tiggers Early Morning Practice Report

The first formal practiced dawned early with a cool overcast Highveld morning. A breeze was blowing and this considerably assisted the launches in the low-lift conditions. Mark tested the conditions first with a winch launch or two, but afterwards we resorted to the standard tow lines for all practice flights.


We decided to use both the fixed “yolk” approach as well as straps – and the pilots will analyse the launch data to see which is most effective according to the conditions.


The first tow (Mark’s Eish!) went off relatively smoothly even though the ground was really rough to run across. Conditions were initially challenging for the pilots; low cloud & very little lift.


Kurt was the first junior up the line – the juniors provided the most challenging tows for most of the day.











Smooth-flying Paul showed everyone else how to do it – finding lift & finishing off with a good landing.








Craig returning from another successful flight (this was taken after his Eish! flat-spun in on launch #2).











The pilots also had a chance to tow: Mark & Craig square up for their start signal.















Run, Forrest, run! Apparently this is extremely rare footage of Craig towing :)

Team practice

The team (with the exception of Conrad and Chris) met at MMS at 06h30 for the first early morning "dead air" practice. The conditions where better that expected with a mild northerly wind to help launches. Also even from 07h00, light yet consistent lift was available.

The practice went very well apart from an incident where Craig's Eish! (Eish!!!) stalled completely on launch, going into a flat spin.

Paul impressed everyone with his smooth flying. Kurt is also looking very polished. Simon is steadily improving, Mark was impressed with Simon's calling. (Ilma's comment)

Tigger towed tirelessly all morning giving 120% for every single launch (and some skin).

Tigger will post some photo's when he has access to some bandwidth.

Most flights were recorded using a Alti 2 data logger for analysis.

Mid Week Building Session

The tail feathers for Kurt's first Eish! being laid up. If you look carefully in the background you can see the new carbon tooling as well as the first set of 68grm carbon Eish! wing skins.

Quote from Norway

"And this is the team Norway will cheer for:

Juniors:
1. Conrad Klintworth
2. Kurt Stockton
3. Simon Tladi"

See you in Slovakia!