National Free Flight Society

Jury Report on Free Flight World Championships 1987 F1A F1B F1C

FAI Jury

Ian Kaynes

GBR

President

Sandy Pimenoff

FIN

Member

Pierre Chaussebourg

FRA

Member

Dates

August 10 to 14

Location

Near Thouars, France

Accommodation

The organisers gave choices of accommodation style, either dormitories at the school used as a base for the event or an official camp site near the town; competitors were also able to organise their own hotel accommodation if preferred. This variety tended to reduce the contact between teams at different locations. The food supplied at the school and on the flying field were to a good standard. The closing banquet at the Orangerie in Thouars was one of the best ever – best food, best atmosphere and with the benefit of no music to drown out conversation!

Flying site

The Championships were held on a large plain of farmland. Many of the fields had been harvested but there were some areas with maize or sunflowers which were not ideal for model retrieving. The same site has been used for several years as the venue of a very successful international competition and was adequate for the World Championships.

Competition

Model processing was carried out efficiently in the gymnasium of the school, with adequate space for each competitor of a 9-man national team to be handled at one time. Weather on the official practice days was good and this continued for the competitions: the wind was generally light and it was hot and dry. The first round started at 8.30am each day and flying continued through the day, with just a break for lunch. The prevalent thermal activity during this time meant that large fly-offs resulted (28 in F1A, 16 F1B, 24 F1C) but not so large as to stretch the resources of the organisation except for the logistics problems in rapid arranging of the larger fly-off rounds. A difficulty that arose was the number of fly-off rounds needed to produce a result, particularly in F1C, and consequent lack of time during the evening. The F1C fly-off was concluded on the morning of the following day, the F1B competition day. This final round, between two USSR flyers, was repeated by Jury decision when it appeared that there had been a timekeeping problem. The repeated round gave the same result as before but without any doubt about it being a good sporting result. Timekeeping and field organisation had been to a very high standard throughout the event.

Protests

Inadequate briefing of timekeepers led to some incorrect procedures, and a number of timekeepers were below the required standards and had to be exchanged.

Conclusion

These Championships were very well organised. The hospitality to all the competitors and supporters and the sporting atmosphere were excellent and the competitions resulted in the selection of worthy World Champions. The Jury wish to thank the F.F.A.M. and all of the people whose work resulted in this being one of the most successful and enjoyable of Championships.