VIC – SA Challenge

Mildura, June 10, 11 and 12

There is nothing as healthy as a good bit of interstate competition. And what a better place to stage a challenge between SA and VIC than Mildura!

Nine pilots from SA (actually one was from Tassy – Scott Kay) and twenty-three from VIC (7 of those from the local club) made the trip to Mildura to compete in the renowned VIC-SA Challenge. The Sunraysia Club impressed us all with their wonderful hosting skills and made us all feel at home and forget the long drive.

Over three days we all slugged it out trying to outfly each other. At the end, our friends (and foes) from the west beat us. Yes, for the first time in four years, the Challenge was won by South Australia. We humbly acknowledge (with our tails between our legs) …… that next year we are going to kick their ar$@#!!!

Now, Rob Clarke, one of the team members for VIC, actually spent more time looking down the long and narrow abyss of the toilet as he politely returned anything and everything he tried to eat. I am not making any excuses here, but aside from flying well into the darkness on day 1 and well before dawn and at below zero temperatures on day 2, Rob did have his tummy to contend with. We understand he is doing well.

About the sub-zero comment above, I recall GlennO once mentioning how awesome the weather in Mildura was, always. Well, it was not below zero when we got to the field, but the frost on the grass kind of gave it away that at some stage there it had been! Gloves were very important throughout the mornings. The constant 20-25 KPH wind in our faces also added to the wind-chill effect.

It is worth mentioning that David Williams from SA came up from Adelaide only for the Sunday! That is a huge effort; well done.

We flew only the one line, which meant some long judging stints. Fortunately, the club has the best wind barrier which kept most of the wind away from the judges. It also meant only four flights given the huge turnout. 32 entries in total is an excellent turnout for any competition. For next year, we will consider a second flight line and starting early on the Saturday rather than at noon.

Of the 33 models that were present, only 8 were IC! It kind of demonstrates a trend happening here.

On Saturday evening almost 40 of us made it to the pizza place in town for an all you can eat pizza and pasta night. Excellent event! The “all you can eat” style meant that you could float from table to table without worrying about your meal. Wherever you went there was food!

Sunday evening, the Nugents welcomed us all at their place. Once again, the spread was fabulous even though there was a bit of misconduct at the queue with a few cutting in front.

As usual there were a few memorable moments that were caught on paper:

1. An announcement came over the PA: “A used tube of Anusol has been found, it has the name Norm Morrish written on it. Can the owner please claim it from the canteen?”

2. A later announcement over the PA: “DNA testing has proven that the used tube actually belongs to Darren Williams.”

I think we will not go into the details of how Norm’s name got onto Darren’s tube.

3. Darren was laboriously trying to put his battery flight pack into the model. He suddenly realised that something was wrong. His battery plugs did not match the plugs in the model. Not understanding how this could have happened and already in a frantic state of mind, he realised, that the model he was trying to put his batteries in was actually GlennO’s and not his own!!

4. Dennis Travassaros was showing off his number one model. It seems he is still trying to trim it as we all witnessed in his second flight on Sunday morning! However, the Pegasus is flying really well.

5. Before our Weekend Wisdom snippet, we must thank Darren for the use of his camera throughout the weekend (images on the website).

Weekend Wisdom:

Ron Schulz, Darren Williams and I were watching Peter Bailey’s flight; specifically the two turn spin. After a bit of a dodgy entry, Peter stopped the spin at the bottom 90 degrees too early and proceeded to roll the rest of the distance.

- Darren turned over to Ron and me and asked, “Now, how would you score that?”
- To which I answered, “Well, for starters you would have to take off 6 points for the quarter turn he did not spin, but rolled instead.”
- Darren grunted, “Huhhh.”
- Ron then added, “And you would have to take off at least one point for the dodgy entry.”
- Darren looked at Ron, looked at me and added, “And you would have to also take off a point because his entry and exit were not at the same level.”
- Ron and I looked at Darren and burst out in unison, “Darren, what the hell are you talking about? It’s a spin!!!”
- “Oh, yeah,” was Darren’s response…and with a smirk look of shame on his face shut up for the better part of five minutes.

To all who attended a huge thank you for making it a great weekend. To all who did not, we hope to see you there next time.

Cheers,

VPA Comms Team