Team USA at the F3J World Soaring Championship
By Gordon Buckland
In July 2014, the World Soaring Championship was contested in Martin, Slovakia. The US F3J team members were Jody Miller, Daryl Perkins, and Chris Lee; the US Junior team was Tristan Sherman, Dillon Graves, and Dominic Lewis.
The Martin venue is a small grass airfield used primarily for full-scale gliding, situated in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains that are often shrouded in clouds. There is probably not a more scenic location to hold such an event. The variable weather conditions created a challenge for the 80 pilots and 30 Junior contestants who were entered. Thirty countries from around the world were represented, with 14 countries entering Juniors.
Seven rounds were completed in the first three days and Team USA performed well. After those rounds Daryl led the field, Jody was sixth, and Chris was 32nd. The Junior competition saw Dillon in first place, Dominic in eighth, and Tristan (after a couple of off-field landings) in 30th.
On the fourth day the US team continued with good scores. After eight rounds the US held the top team position, while the Juniors had moved up to third place in team competition. In the afternoon during round nine, conditions deteriorated: a 10–15 mph wind blew light lift downwind quickly, and a large band of high clouds had obscured the sun all day. The lift was hard to read and often insufficient to buy a ride home.
Jody and Daryl both suffered off-field landings trying to get out downwind, while Chris made the best of the tough conditions and moved up the leaderboard. Tristan flew light and managed to get high enough to make it back for the only 1,000 points the team scored during round nine. The damage was done, though. Jody flew in round 10 late on day four and found the windy, light conditions too tough; he slipped a long way down the board with his second low score. Daryl also missed the cut with two low scores.
During the final preliminaries on day five the US dropped out of contention as a team on the podium, although Chris Lee, with consistent performances, nearly made the finals by finishing in 15th place. The Juniors remained consistent to the end, placing third as a team: Dillon completed the preliminaries in second, Dominic in eighth, and Tristan—who put his rough start behind him—finished the contest in 19th place.
The flyoffs saw Dillon and Dominic fighting it out in the Junior finals, with six 15-minute rounds planned during the late afternoon of day five and the morning of day six. Dillon’s first two flyoff rounds ended in disaster with off-field landings in the late evening air, putting an end to his campaign. Dominic, showing maturity with some classy thermal flying, was the highest-placing US pilot, finishing fourth. Dillon’s 14:58.7-100 score in the final round of the Junior finals was a gem: he took a super-short tow and nailed the target with milliseconds to spare. The winning Junior pilot and new Junior World Champion is Marco Gallizia of Italy.
In the Senior category Jan Littva of Slovakia and Joe Wurts of New Zealand battled in the flyoffs. Jan nailed six out of six perfect 100s during the finals to take the 2014 F3J World Champion title.
On presentation night the Team USA Juniors proudly accepted bronze medals for their performances. Although disappointed that the Senior team didn’t do better, the experience will make all the US pilots better for the next time around.
As the Junior team manager, I was involved with the fundraising efforts. Reduced sponsorship and less AMA funding made the effort to send a team to the contest much harder than in previous years. Experienced towers were required to successfully launch the models, and the US had the excellent services of Phil Barnes, Frankie Burnoski, and Dave Kalamen in Slovakia. The total team included three Senior pilots, three Junior pilots, a manager, a mechanic, and three experienced towers. The budget for this endeavor was in excess of $47,000. Only $8,000 was covered by the AMA this season because towers were not recognized as part of the team.
Although the team did not raise enough funds to fully cover expenses, we would like to thank the soaring public and our sponsors for the kind donations that made attending this 2014 World Championship possible for Team USA.
SOURCES
- Team USA F3J
- RC Model Klub Martin
- League of Silent Flight (LSF)
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
