Contest Director: Alan Williams


Judges: FAI ‘P’. Les Przytocki and Mike Reider. Other schedules: Ross Donovan, Peter Jenkins, Jim Fallowfeld, Eugene Anker and Gary Peacock.

The North London Model Flying Club had kindly agreed to host an F3A competition at the club field in Baldock. This was to be the first F3A competition for about 10 years. A couple of attempts have been more recently but bad weather caused them to be cancelled.
After weeks of dry weather and sunshine, in the midst of a drought, the forecast for the Sunday, as is usual for competition days, was for wind and rain. 18 hardy souls arrived in time for the pilot briefing to be met with bacon rolls and tea or coffee. The wind was strong and gusty at 90 degrees to the flight-line. Luckily the field at Baldock has ample room to turn into wind for landing which was very much needed for most of the day.
We kicked off at 10:00 with the FAI P23 class, moving on to Clubman, then A23 (masters) and finally intermediate class. Due to the number of entries it was crucial to avoid any delays and the pilots were spot on in being ready to fly as soon as the previous flight was completed.
Lunch was to be taken during the day without a break in flying.
Suffice it to say that the flying conditions were very challenging, not only the strong crosswind but also visibility was poor and at times the aircraft were very hard to see to which Peter Jenkins can testify as his model very nearly disappeared into the gloom. Despite this, some excellent skills were on display. We had a brief pause while a heavy shower came through but still managed to complete all three rounds by 5:00 p.m.
The field at Baldock is a fantastic site for a competition, and my great thanks to the club for allowing us to use it. Not only did we have use of the field but the members provided a very welcoming atmosphere and a darned good BBQ too. I hope we can come back next year and do it all again.

Podium

FAI P23: First Place Garry Peacock. 2nd James Fallowfield. 3rd George Drever
Masters: First Place: Mike Pole. 2nd Peter Maddon. 3rd Dean Blair.
Intermediate: Graham Gooch
Clubman: First Place Clive Sharpe. 2nd Nigel Ashworth. 3rd Peter Sharpe.
Report Alan Williams. Photographs: Mark Alan and Peter Jenkins