Jury Report on Free Flight World Championships 2009 F1A F1B F1C
FAI Jury
Andras Ree | Hungary | President |
Wilhelm Kamp | Austria | Member |
Damir Kosir | Croatia | Member |
Dates
July 19 – 26
Location
Krbavsko polje, Croatia
Information
Three bulletins were distributed to NACs in time and were displayed on the well prepared championship website containing all the necessary information needed before the event. The 3rd Bulletin was one of the best ever, including a guide, illustrated by photographs, how to find the way from the Zagreb airport to the spot and a very good description concerning the payment procedure. One technical meeting was organized for the team managers, officials and the jury. The meeting was rather short and efficient. Another meeting was held for the timekeepers in Croatian and English languages with the participation of the FAI jury. The timekeepers got very detailed, clear instructions.
Participation
The final entry was the highest ever, a total of 295 competitors from 40 countries, with increased number of individuals and countries in F1B and F1C classes, compared to 2007. It happened first time, the largest number of competitors entered in the F1B class. The respective numbers in the three classes were as follows, including the reigning world champions in F1A, F1B, F1C and F1P, also three ladies have entered, 1 in F1A and 2 in F1B:
F1A – 107 competitors from 38 countries
F1B – 110 competitors from 39 countries
F1C – 78 competitors from 31 countries.
Accommodation
Accommodation was organized using different options, from three star hotel to a temporary camping site, not far from the flying field. In the hotels we had the breakfast and dinner, lunch was at the field between the fourth and fifth rounds. The accommodation and the food at the Hotel Macola in Korenica was good. Also good comments were made by some teams concerning other accommodation options.
Flying site
The flying field was Krbavsko polje, 21 km away from Korenica (about half an hour to drive), the home town of the championship. Clearly visible signposts showed the way to the flying site. This site was definitely better than the originally selected Bjelopolje, just a few kilometres further from Korenica. The field area was 4.6 km in width and more than 10 km in length, the same place was used for the Vilim Kmoch memorial World Cup event just before the championships.
Cars were allowed for retrieving of the models on the “field roads”, motorcycles and quads on the flying field as well.
Weather
Competition
The weather conditions were good, sunny, warm and dry, with very large and strong thermals in the afternoon rounds, when the wind direction was not optimal, having crosswind in the direction of the smaller size of the field on the F1B and F1C days. In these rounds the retrieving was not easy, because some models landed on the rocky, steep hills close to the field, covered with trees and bushes. The basic wind directions were nearly the same on all the three contest days.
A pre-recorded CD was prepared to help the Contest Director with automatic announcements, count downs, start and finish of the rounds. The 5 min brake between the 55 min. rounds had to be lengthened on the F1B and F1C days to help retrieving the models in the afternoon part of the events.
The starting line was repositioned once, for the fly-offs on the F1C contest day. The best conditions were at the F1A contest day, but there were not so many competitors in the fly-off as expected. The visibility was acceptable in all days to have reliable timekeeping. In the fly-offs it was harder, because of the dark green slopes in the background. It was not easy to fly maxes in the first rounds, because of the tricky weather. The thermals, mainly in the afternoon rounds were extremely strong, the wind bursts activated by the thermals were very strong as well, therefore several times the models (mainly in the F1B class) flew big distances because of the slow sinking rate after DT.
The F1A competitors had the best chance for finding thermals and their models to stay in the thermals. The wind speed was low, 0-3 m/s with an average of 1 in the forenoon, 1-4 m/s with an average of 2 in the afternoon. The higher max in the first round was reached by 78 (72.9%) out of 107 competitors. In the second to seventh rounds the number of maxes was higher up to 86.9 % in round 7. The total ratio of maxes was 81.6 % in 749 flights. Finally, 38 competitors (35.5 %) maxed out and took part in the 5 min. fly-off round. Still 20 competitors entered into the 7 min fly-off, where only the winner maxed and close results decided the individual rankings. Two teams maxed out, so the sum of the individual ranking numbers decided the first two medal places.
The F1B day was similar, except having stronger wind (1-4 m/s, average of 2 in the forenoon, 2-7 m/s, average of 3.5 in the afternoon) which turned to crosswind in the afternoon. It was hard to reach the higher max in the first round in the tricky conditions, only 42 (38.2 %) from the 110 competitors maxed. This percentage is just over the half than that of on the glider day. Several of the “big names”, including the reigning champion dropped. The number of maxes was the highest in round 3 (88.2 %), that was the highest ratio in the whole championships. The total ratio of maxes was 75.8 % in 770 flights. The 5 min fly-off was flown with only 14 participants (12.7 %), much less than expected. Still 9 of them stepped further to the 7 min flyoff round, where – unusual in this class under these conditions – nobody maxed. The team positions were decided by the seven rounds having no full team.
The F1C day was similar to the F1B day with a bit less strong wind (1-4 m/s, average of 2 in the forenoon, 2-6 m/s, average of 3 in the afternoon), turning again to crosswind in the afternoon. During the first round the conditions were again tricky, 46 (59 %) of 78 competitors maxed, which is again below the expectations. The reigning champion and other “big names” dropped again. In round 2 the number of maxes increased to 84.6 %, then decreased, quite radically in the afternoon rounds, down to 62.8 % in round 7. All together 71.4 % of the 546 flights were max. Finally, again a relatively low number of competitors, only 19 (24.4 %) reached the fly-off. Nine of them maxed in the 5 min. round and entered to the 7 min round where still two maxed out. During the early morning 3rd fly-off, the strong, so called “bura” was blowing (3-8 m/s, average of 5) along with the long direction of the field, the winning model landed around 6 km away from the starting pole. The team positions were clear already after the seventh round, because again no team had full score.
Opening and Closing Ceremony
The opening ceremony was organized at the local football field in Korenica in the usual way. A dancing group made a show, the Croatian and FAI anthems were played. Two very nice moments made the ceremony memorable. As first, the official championship opening task wasshared by the FAI jury president and the first glider world champion (1950, Trollhatten, Sweden), the 90 years old Bernfest Stjepan from Zagreb. As second, for the memory of two famous aeromodellers, Vilim Kmoch from Croatia and Kenan Jusufbasic from Bosnia and Herzegovina a bunch of white balloons were released carrying two ribbons with their names. Both of them had basic influence for the activity in the region and were the master of several presently active competitors. The ceremony was followed by a free party on the football field, lasting up to midnight.
The prize giving ceremony was organized together with the banquet, some 50 km away at a restaurant, under a big tent for more than 400 persons. For the travel to and back buses were available, all participants were invited for the prize giving part of the evening. All the official individual and team challenge trophies were handed over, together with the organizers’ trophies. In addition the overall team trophy and the three World Cup trophies were given to the 2008 winners. The FAI flag was handed over to the representative of Argentina, the next world championships organizer. After the touching words of the chief organizer the jury president expressed the thanks of the free flight community to the organizers for the championship, confirmed by a loud outburst of applause, then the championship was officially closed. The Croatian anthem was played at the beginning and the FAI anthem at the end. Unfortunately, not the first time, more persons took part at the banquet than as many paid for, which made troubles for the organizers.
Trophies
The jury checked the condition of the official trophies. The Daumerie Cup (F1A team) has no box and the base needs extension to give place for further winners. The Penaud Cup needs a new box (that would be easier than to repair the old one) and extension to the base again. The Franjo Kluz Cup and the Kosmonautica Vase (F1C team) need boxes.
Protests
There were no protests filed before or during the championships. This resulted – mainly – from the good cooperation between the contest director and the FAI jury. There were some verbal complaints, mainly caused by the lack of experience and knowledge of rules and a few concerning timekeeping. All were resolved by the contest director and the jury, also verbally.
Observations
After minor initial shortcomings, caused by some lack of experience, the organizers learned fast, so the championship was running rather smoothly. The chief organizer intended to share the tasks to avoid the typical mistake of first time organizers, having a “one man show”. However, some of these tasks later “dried on” him. It was the general opinion, the spreading of local information has to be improved next time, also map of Korenica and detailed flying field arrangement to be added.
The registration and model processing from the morning of the arrival day was unusual, but the schedule was published in Bulletin 3, and several teams were present before (participating at the World Cup event) therefore this was not a problem. Instead, both procedures were hindered by some unprepared team managers and participants.
First time the results were put on the web site of the event round by round. This way the world was able to follow the championship even before the lists arrived to the teams on the line. This can be illustrated by an sms from the home country to a team manager, blaming the team because of their position, before they had seen the standings. Screens were also available, but the visibility was poor, therefore practically were not used. The results appeared on the internet earlier than the printed lists on the side of the organizers motor home.
Conclusions
The 2009 F1 World Championships was a successful event in all of the three classes. The flying field is great, good for the future of free flight activity. Thanks to the day and night hard working organizers – led by Zoran Lulic, who was also good as contest director –, timekeepers, helpers, family members, local ones and from abroad as well. As first time organizers they made a very good job. Thanks to them for the work and efforts made for the free flight aeromodelling community. The jury discussed with the organizers how to even improve in the future.