Well Saturday and Sunday saw us flying two separate competitions over the weekend. On Saturday we went to SWAMPS for what was a very exciting one-day competition with some very high quality flying showed off by most of the contestants. On Sunday, we gathered at P&DARCS for another competition that proved to be a bit more challenging.

>We have been trying to get this format tested as it has been suggested by the pilots from farther regions that this would make it worth their while to travel to Melbourne for the competitions. Well it worked a treat! Although we did not get the pilots from the nether regions… :-(

SWAMPS presented us with a light to strong breeze all day long along the axis of the strip. This proved to be very favourable conditions for the pilots as can be seen by the scores that were achieved. Most of us started the day in shorts and T-shirts, only to be confronted with a dropping temperature during the day forcing some to get changed half way through.

Yep!! David Law showed off his maroon undies! We did not get a photo, but he did prompt a few admirers to make some comments… We also heard a few wolf whistles, as well.

After a few cancellations, we ended up with 14 entries for SWAMPS which allowed us all to get 4 flights in on the single flight line. Peter Stapleton took first place in Sportsman. Ben Biggs from Bairnsdale won the Advanced category and achieved his first promotional point to Expert in his first appearance in Advanced. He was only promoted to Advanced at the Nepean competition in November! David Law took first place in Expert with both Norm’s hot on his heels (Parker and Morrish). F3A was taken by Andrew Burgdorf. Yes, you read it right! Andrew is back and we can tell he has not been idle. Last time he flew at a competition, he did not have the two models he has now (Tom and Jessica). And by the look of it, young Tom will follow in Dad’s and Granddad’s steps. Oh, and he seems to have been flying, as well.

At one point there, young Tom Burgdorf was chatting to Doug Dorrat. When the wind blew Doug’s hat off, Tom burst out in laughter and said, “You look funny without your hat on!”

It was an eye opener to see Norm Morrish come up to the pilot’s box along with his caller Greg Hede. Both had their eyeglasses on; one to be able to see the plane and the other to be able to read!

And to Ted Knowles’ delight, it was raining spiders again!

SWAMPS results can be found HERE

P&DARCS was a different story. We flew on the East-West strip with a howling crosswind in our faces, which put everybody’s abilities to the test Hmmm… should we have flown on the western strip??? Food for thought.

In a complete repeat of the day before Peter Stapleton won Sportsman, Ben Biggs took Advanced, David Law came in first in Expert and Andrew Burgdorf was the top scorer in F3A. The scores were a lot lower though, keeping in mind the conditions. At noon we changed over to the eastern strip, once the sun had moved across. The scores improved significantly then.

All in all we had 17 entries for the P&DARCS competition. The local club put on the burgers and they appear to have been very successful. Everybody was raving about how good they were.

P&DARCS results can be found HERE