With the onset of winter it must be time for the first of our country comps.  Although small, the Coonabarabran club always puts on a good event and this year’s edition was no exception.  Initially the entries were slow to roll in but the final tally was 18, including three from North of the border.  Once again Experts were a little thin on the ground with only Ray Woods making it this time.  Driving north early Friday things looked decidedly dodgy on the weather front with gale force winds and rain lashing the north coast and putting a few towns underwater.  Arriving in Coona mid afternoon it was dry but un-flyable with 60 km/hr gusty winds and forecast to abate slowly over the weekend.

After checking into the Motel it was time for the first of the weekend activities, a tour of the Sliding Springs Observatory organised and led by Chris McCowage.  Quite an eye opener to see what really clever people can do, with the scale and precision of the telescope and its related equipment being the standout.  I for one really enjoyed the experience. Thanks Chris.  As you would expect of an astronomical telescope it is situated on the top of quite large hill and as we emerged for the facility the wind was howling and it seemed our chance of flying the next day may be slim. However when we awoke on Saturday morning the sun was shining and the wind was light. Well for while anyway!

On arriving at the field I thought I may have come to the wrong place.  As you will notice in the photos the field was GREEN!  Also due to an intensive chemical attack by the dedicated club members the dreaded burrs have been exterminated and the field provided a great contest facility.

As we put the models together the wind arrived but it was an Easterly which was straight down the runway thus avoiding a small hill to the southeast which can provide lot of turbulence if the wind comes over it.  It was to remain like this for the whole day, quite brisk but smooth with only slight turbulence on the approach.  On Sunday the wind abated and conditions were very pleasant as it was remarkably warm on both days.

Sportsman

Seven sportsmen appeared on the score sheets but unfortunately a new face, Francis Bennett from Gloucester, had one of those wing tip-nose-wing tip landings on a practice flight which left us with six.  I’m sure Francis will be having another go at his “local” club when our next comp is at Wingham.

The contest was well contested and all those that flew did a good job in the wind on Saturday.  Geordie Milne from Dalby in Queensland managed to hold off Joe Costa and managed a promotion point.  Once again Joe had slow start in the first couple of flights which cost him in the end.  Chris McCowage fresh from his Nationals win flew well but just lost a little consistency in the wind.  In the end not much between the top three.  Below the place getters Keiran Radke (also form Dalby), Richard Knox in his second contest and Lyle Broadbelt all handled the conditions well although I suspect they enjoyed it more on Sunday when the wind abated slightly.

Advanced

Things ran true to form in advanced with Doug Tebit taking all rounds and just missing a promotion point.  Jason Arnold kept him honest, as usual, with Dave (Pa) Tierman recovering from his disaster at Wollongong to finish third.

Doug gets the perseverance award this time for finding someone “half way to Dubbo” to weld his header back together on Saturday night!

Expert

Ray Woods, and the lovely Cynthia, travelled up from the Gong “to run the canteen”. Ray flew as well as I’ve seen him fly in long time and deserved a placing but possibly not all 3 places!

F3A

Things didn’t get off to great start for me with flame out on a practice flight followed by two more in the first rounds at which point I gave up rather than risk the model in the wind. The dreaded YS problems again!

Alfred Pye, who is almost a local again, had a grip on the trophy right from the start the only glitch being flame out on the fourth flight when he changed to new bottle of fuel which changed the mixture for some reason.  Tom Prosser I thought flew very well, as did Trevor Nielson who drove 11½ hours from Bundaberg.  Gavin “I only snore at pattern comps” Dark did his usual sterling job.

Wash-up

Another great weekend in the country with a great atmosphere.  For such a small club (you don’t need to take your shoes and socks off to count the membership) the organisation is all the more impressive and the effort put in to improve the field was really appreciated.  Also big thanks to Grace and Tony Law for handling the scoring once again, and Ray and Cynthia keeping us fed and watered.

It was noted that there were more than few ladies present which is pleasant change and hopefully a trend that will continue.

If you didn’t make it this year you missed out on good one so start planning now for the next one.  See you at Wingham in a few weeks.

Brian D

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