22 MODEL AVIATION
WORLD
by Gordon Buckland
Mike Verzuh (CO) holds a Supra against the tension as he prepares to throw and time the flight for another competitor.
Mike was the US team manager at the 2010 Soaring World Championships in France. Mark Nankivil photo.
For fun, Horizon Hobby sponsored a Radian
Pro mass launch on Saturday evening that
included multiple teams. The company
donated three RTF Radians as prizes.
SOARING
MASTERS by Gordon Buckland
03sig1x.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 1/25/11 9:51 AM Page 22
March 2011 23
Chris Lee (IL) launches his Pike Perfect during competition on Saturday, while Glauco Lago times for him on a busy flightline.
Jack Strother (IN) shows off his gorgeous Aspire on
his way to put up another flight on Saturday during
the preliminary rounds.
Thermal Duration
reached new
heights in Muncie
THIS PREMIER biennial RC thermal soaring event
attracted top pilots from around the world to the AMA
International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana,
September 24-29. Muncie is renowned for trying
conditions, with up air that is often difficult to read and
sink that can be simply horrendous for pilots of all calibers
to negotiate on the way home from a downwind ride.
The League of Silent Flight expertly planned and
conducted the 2010 World Soaring Masters (WSM), and
Tom Kallevang and his merry band of fabulous volunteers
ensured that the contest was fair and fun for all.
Eighty-one competitors from across the US, Canada,
and Europe gathered on Friday September 24 for an 8 a.m.
pilots’ meeting. They were greeted by a formidable
weather cycle that included forecasted winds of 25-30 mph
and high temperatures nearing 90°.
It was not the most perfect soaring weather that
organizers could have hoped for, but CD Mark Nankivil
03sig1x.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 1/25/11 9:52 AM Page 23
24 MODEL AVIATION
Left: Peter and Caroline Goldsmith
(IL) were the only husband-and-wife
pi lots. Carol ine f lew her Tragi
extremely well to finish ahead of
many names on the scoresheet.
These two are great ambassadors
for aeromodeling.
Left: Larry Jeffery sets up and tests each winch as
the sun peeks over the hill. If it weren’t for the
fantastic job that many volunteers including
Larry did, we would have been unable to enjoy
such a terrific contest.
announced that the show would go on in
spite of the blustery winds. That day the
contest consisted of 12-minute maxes with
an 80-point graduated tape in each of the 12
perfectly laid-out landing zones (LZs).
Each flight group was flown random
man on man. The total score of flight-time
seconds plus landing points was
normalized, with the top score of each
group being recorded as 1,000. Two line
breaks were allowed for each pilot for the
duration of the preliminary rounds, but no
pop-offs—only low launches.
The competition got underway without a
hitch. Each brave group of pilots strode out
to the flightline, and contestants winched
their sailplanes into the unknown under
Flightline Director Marc Gellart’s
command.
Many models sported more ballast than
their pilots had ever used. Others flew with
no ballast, which led to some interesting
scores in Round One; a few experienced
pilots posted times of 4, 3, and even 2
minutes in their quest for the max of 12. As
each group launched during the first round,
conditions gradually worsened with some
gusts measured at more than 40 mph.
Flying his newly maidened Icon 2,
The top 10 pilots from the 11 preliminary rounds line up with their models before
Sunday’s four-round finals flyoff. Nankivil photo.
03sig1x.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 1/25/11 9:56 AM Page 24
March 2011 25
The author (FL), left, operates the official
timer for Mike Reagan (CA) as Mike nears
the completion of a flight during the final
flyoffs on Sunday. Nankivil photo.
Vladimir Gavrylko (Ukraine) flew a Supra with
great skill, and afterward he showed off the latest
creation from his company—Vladimir Models—a
tiny hand-launched glider called the “Elf,” which
has an all-up flying weight of less than 3.5 ounces.
Craig Greening (CA) looks color-coordinated as he prepares a Pike
Perfect for the final flight of the four-round flyoffs. Nankivil photo.
Photos by the author except as noted
Thomas Cooke (TX) guides his model in under Ben Clerx’s
(CA) countdown during Saturday’s fast-paced preliminary
rounds. Bruce Davidson photo.
Between rounds Cody Remington (CO), left, explains to fellow soarers the finer
points of his all-molded Vulture from Skip Miller Models. This new design is much
more affordable than most molded sailplanes.
Rich Burnoski (IL) is hooked up with his beautiful Satori, ready to go. Rich, who is a
US F3J team member, flew his sailplane to first place in the preliminary rounds.
Nankivil photo.
03sig1x.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 1/25/11 8:47 AM Page 25
26 MODEL AVIATION
Right: John Luetke (TX) shows off his
High End F3J sailplane as he prepares to
launch for the last round on Sunday. This
is one of the most attractive sailplanes
available today, and it performs as great
as it looks.
Following the awards ceremony, the top-finishing pilots, with their smiles and bags of
loot, line up in order from winner Joe Wurts (New Zealand), nearest to the camera, to
10th-place finisher Jon Padilla (CO). Joe received a first-place plate and a $2,500 check
from Horizon Hobby.
Construction techniques used to build
“state of the art” molded sailplanes must
result in sufficient strength to withstand
the rigors of the task while remaining
extremely lightweight. This Aspire wing
is a great example and a thing of beauty.
03sig1x.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 1/25/11 10:00 AM Page 26
March 2011 27
WORLD SOARING
MASTERS
Finalists
Place/Pilot Round One Round Two Round Three Round Four Round Five Total
1. Joe Wurts 995 1,000 996 999 1,000 4,990
2. Mike Verzuh 990 1,000 999 1,000 997 4,986
3. Thomas Cooke 998 996 996 997 997 4,984
4. Richard Burnoski 1,000 994 990 995 992 4,971
5. Michael Reagan 974 992 994 996 997 4,953
6. Craig Greening 985 1,000 988 972 999 4,944
7. Skip Miller 978 900 991 997 996 4,862
8. Steve Stohr 986 712 994 985 992 4,669
9. Arend Borst 987 647 1,000 996 997 4,627
10. Jon Padilla 987 170 993 996 997 4,143
2010 WSM Tells
Blayne Chastain set his mark on the contest
early with a 10:45 in the last group—the
longest flight recorded in Round One. That
was an epic achievement, because such
seasoned contest pilots as Rich Burnoski
and Craig Greening barely managed 5
minutes in the same air. Another notable
score was Dave Campbell’s 9:01, flying an
old but tried-and-proven Icon.
On the other end of the scale, Group G
saw Pete Goldsmith and his Pike Perfect
duke it out with John Luetke flying a High
End. In a horrible patch of air, Pete
outlasted John with a 3:23 time but
couldn’t find the landing tape, letting John
take the 1,000 points with a 3:11 and 60.
With squally showers predicted and no
relief from the relentless wind,
management decided to call the day’s
flying and save the equipment until
Saturday, for when much calmer
conditions were predicted.
Day Two dawned with a clear sky and a
zephyr of a breeze compared to Friday’s
gale. A buzz of activity on the site heralded
what was going to be a very long day of
flying.
Marna Jeffery opened the transmitter
impound early, and the first group of Round
Two launched on time into air that was not
yet warmed by the slowly rising sun. At the
conclusion of the round there were 18 pilots
with 1,000 points (allowing for a drop).
This contest is notoriously tight at the
top. And with the four-round-flyoff format
in place, the goal during preliminary rounds
was to place in the top 10. The normalized
total of the preliminary rounds was carried
forward as the first-round score in the
flyoffs too. This meant that the highestplaced
pilot in the preliminary rounds could
be rewarded with a significant starting score
advantage in the flyoffs.
The flightline team hustled to get as
many rounds flown as quickly as possible
for Round Three. The air was starting to
bubble too. A high blanket of clouds was
masking the sun roughly 50% of the time,
but sufficient warming was taking place for
soft lift and some good soaring.
Nearly all of the pilots’ models in each
group caught rides, and most got their times
as they ran downwind and circled in big
blenders of constantly moving air. Joe
Wurts quickly made up for his earlier score
and stamped his authority on the contest
with an 11:59:80 to trounce his group.
However, that was the exception; most
groups saw many scores in the high 900s.
Officials
Tom Kallevang, Event Director
Mark Nankivil, CD
Jim McCarthy, Registrar
Scoring, John Lindsay
Sponsors
Horizon Hobby
Kennedy
Composites
JR Radio
Spektrum RC
E-flite
ParkZone
Soaring USA
03sig1x.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 1/25/11 10:00 AM Page 27
28 MODEL AVIATION
The last group of Round Three launched
into such improving conditions that its
flight was clearly a landing contest. The
lowest score of the nine was 975. The
conclusion of the round had only seven
pilots still holding a perfect score of 2,000
(allowing for their drop).
The best soaring conditions of the
weekend were experienced in Round Four,
with only 19 pilots of 83 missing the 12-
minute max. Fourteen of those were in
groups C and D when Muncie’s stiff breeze
and notorious sink claimed many sailplanes
that didn’t move back upwind in time for a
second ride or didn’t quite get the required
altitude downwind to make it back home.
The wind had picked up significantly, but
so had the strength of the lift and sink.
Round Five was punctuated by lift
cycles that appeared to be coming more
regularly, moving quickly across the flat
landscape. For most it was simply a matter
of running back to the air that had just
passed them.
But the lift was so strong that pilots
sometimes found themselves stranded in
“no-man’s land,” as they were last to
launch and attempted the run back only to
encounter more sink behind the thermal
than they had altitude to burn up getting to
the lift. This resulted in several flights
returning early for extremely low scores,
while others made memorable saves as they
scouted right and left for alternative air.
Many groups launching at the right
moment had no trouble making it
downwind to the lift, climbing out, and
starting the trek home at huge altitudes.
Keen eyes and a good caller were the order
of the day; a few pilots were heard
complaining that they couldn’t see their
models.
The sky had cleared of high clouds, to
reveal an endless blue with a smattering of
puffy small cumulus clouds forming and
dissipating quickly as they blew through.
The scoresheet after five rounds showed a
tight battle developing at the top, with only
10 points separating Blayne in first place
from Mike Verzuh and his Satori in 10th.
Putting a watch on the regular lift
cycles, I saw that a new thermal was
blowing through approximately every six
minutes in Round Six. This allowed for
many solid flight times and culminated in a
real fight in the LZ for the prized 80 points.
Only 16 pilots failed to score landing
points in the round, mostly because they
didn’t make it back to anywhere near the
zone. A notable exception was my flight; I
hit myself when my model skidded
unexpectedly, yielding a zero landing. With
not much rain in September, a good
pushover to make the models bite on the
hard turf was necessary.
In Round Seven Blayne kept up his
consistent scores with another 1,000, to
open up a 2-point lead over Joe Wurts.
Cody Remington moved into third place
flying the new V-tailed Vulture.
The Vulture is a great example of some
of the new affordable molded sailplanes
that are being manufactured in Europe. It
was great to see Cody flying it at this
contest.
Round Eight was declared as the last for
Saturday, and it proved to be significant; a
reshuffle took place at the top. After seven
exemplary rounds, Blayne failed to take a
read downwind and was trounced by Jim
McCarthy and Mike Verzuh in Group J, to
slip back to fourth.
Caroline Goldsmith flying a Tragi
showed real skills all weekend, but none
more than in this round. She came in close
behind Jim Frickey and Skip Miller with a
Satori to post a great 969.
The real mover all day was Rich
Burnoski, flying a Satori. He had a
forgettable first-round flight on Friday,
leaving him to start Saturday in 50th place.
Such is the skill and consistency of the US
F3J team member that he finished 45 places
better that day—merely 7 points from the
lead.
With Blayne in the fourth spot, Jon
Padilla sat nicely in third. Cody was
second, leaving Joe Wurts the leader by 5
points going into Sunday.
Saturday had been a long day of
competition, but Horizon Hobby—the
major sponsor of the WSM—had great
things in store for the contestants before the
day was done. Each flier received the latest
Spektrum AR6255 Carbon Fuse Receiver
03sig1x.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 1/25/11 8:58 AM Page 28
and a WSM T-shirt as gifts. In addition,
there was a raffle that featured many
valuable goodies that the sponsors
donated.
The really good part was yet to come,
though, as Horizon Hobby put on a Radian
Pro contest in which eight sailplanes were
provided for four-man teams to fly. With
four flights of 12 minutes max required
using a 30-second motor run, the Muncie
wind had the last laugh. There were many
giggles and much good-natured jostling
for air as the eight teams fought an epic
battle to make long flights way downwind.
A runner was dispatched for some
groupings, to get the light craft back to the
launch area for the next flight inside of the
one-minute time limit. Horizon Hobby
presented the winning team, with the
longest accumulated flight time, with four
of the Radian Pros.
The day was finally wrapped up with
the sun setting and only a few more
preliminary rounds to complete the next
day before the flyoffs.
Sunday was going to be nicer than
Saturday; there was hardly a breath of
wind as we got up at dawn to prepare for
the final battle. The forecasted temps were
much lower, though, and jackets were
required as we assembled at the soaring
site.
By midround the sun was finally doing
30 MODEL AVIATION
its work, and some pilots were making
their maxes. These conditions demand
sound decision making, with first a good
read and then use of minimum control
movements until lift was found. Many
terrific pilots were hurt badly in the first
rounds on Saturday and Sunday, doing
poorly in the breezy dead air, while
others in their flight groups did well.
Round 11 was the last of the
preliminaries, allowing plenty of time to
conduct the flyoffs. As the regular
Muncie lift cycles swept through,
sometimes an entire group would catch
the ride, while other times pilots who did
not make decisive actions at launch fell
afoul of the following sink.
Except for the third group away (in
which Peter Goldsmith maxed and buried
the others making only 2 or 3 minutes),
the entire round was flown in air that was
slightly more easily read. Only 20 pilots
failed to score the max, and most of those
were in the first three flight groups.
At the conclusion of the final round,
scoresheets were tallied and the 10 pilots
making the flyoff were named. Unlucky
number 11 was a talented and quickly
improving Pat Crosby, flying a Supra,
who was merely 2 points out of the
money rounds.
Mike Reagan snuck into 10th on 9,732
points. On 9,769 points in ninth place,
Skip Miller showed the newcomers that
patience and consistency are great
virtues. Craig Greening is an amazing
pilot; he put in 11 solid rounds to make
the finals in eighth with 9,834 points.
The one to watch was Steve Stohr,
who had shown consistent improvement
month after month and scored 9,846
points to finish seventh. In sixth place
was Jon Padilla, who seemed to peak at
just the right time and shared the honors
of most 1,000-point rounds, scoring a
total of seven (as did Joe Wurts).
Arend Borst has a solid reputation and
did not let his fans down, with fifth place
and 9,862 points going into the flyoffs.
Mike Verzuh and his winning smile were
fourth with 4,890 points.
Joe Wurts completed the prelims with
9,937 points in third place but appeared
to be in command whether he was up or
down. Thomas Cooke filled second place
on 9,971, by virtue of consistent times
and solid landings.
Rich Burnoski posted the highest
score in the prelims, leaving only 13
points on the field with a total of 9,987.
He had a disappointing flight on Friday
(which became his throw-out), but he put
that behind him and gave a masterful
display for the rest of the preliminary
rounds.
Flyoff Rounds: I volunteered as an
official timer so I could be involved in
the action and watch the flyoffs unfold
from close quarters. It was wonderful to
observe the strategy of the top pilots in a
tight battle.
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March 2011 31
The first launch saw everybody away
cleanly and heading for an easy read, only
to be called back a minute later when I
discovered that I was timing the same pilot
as somebody else; that meant that there
was a pilot on the field without an official
timer.
The mix-up was straightened out and
the 10 aircraft were relaunched. Lift that
was previously marked was a long way
downwind by that time, but most pilots
chased it because there were no other
dependable reads.
A few pilots who were either last to
launch or left the run downwind too late
suffered the wrath of the Muncie sink as
they attempted to return home too early or
simply did not reach the lift. Mike Reagan
was an exception; he raced downwind,
said a prayer, and found the lift a long way
from home.
Mike carefully worked his way up and
back beyond the limits of most pilots’
vision, to achieve an unlikely max 12
minutes later. Joe Wurts, Mike Verzuh,
and Craig Greening scored 12:00:79, to
take 1,000 points each.
In the following round Joe avoided the
obvious lift downwind to the left, where
all but he and Arend Borst moved
immediately after launch. Instead Joe
ventured forward and to the right to the
top of the hill on the east side. He didn’t
turn initially but moved right and then left
and then made a few large circles back
over an area where an FF contest was
being conducted.
His air for these first few minutes was
marginal at best. While Skip Miller and
the others were checking out high and way
downwind, Joe had dropped to an
alarming height of less than 300 feet and
still had no thermal. Arend was also
poking around on the right side but had
lost less height than Joe at this point.
I was timing Skip’s flight, and Skip
asked Cody how Joe was doing.
“Not good; he hasn’t got a thermal
yet,” Cody replied quietly.
But Joe seemed cool as he carefully
scouted the area he was committed to, and
many who were watching wondered if he
had made a major blunder. Then he started
turning the Supra Pro and it stopped
descending to gradually lift around the
turn. Within a few minutes Joe’s aircraft
was higher than those returning from
downwind to join his piece of the sky for
their ride home.
That was a great soaring lesson for me
as I watched a canny pilot stick to his plan
with commitment; most of us would have
left the area believing that lift was
elsewhere. Joe believed that up air should
be there and was eventually right; it came
to him and he was ready for it.
I also watched Arend use the area that
Joe had scouted to keep his flight going
and finish his 12-minute max. An extreme
effort would be required from one of the
other nine pilots if he were to defeat Joe at
a game of which he is clearly the master.
Remaining flyoff rounds were contested
in great soaring conditions, with strong lift
available. They simply required good
eyesight, calm nerves, and steady flying,
because the 8-9 minutes of thermaling often
resulted in models being almost out of sight
downwind before it was safe to leave the up
air and venture through inevitable sink on
the way home to the LZ. And the LZ didn’t
decide the fate of the top 10 pilots.
In analyzing the scores it seems that
more positions were won or lost in the air
being early or late than were lost in points
on the ground. Having a precision flight
within a second of the max was not good
enough to win.
The scoring system being used
truncated the seconds, so the best-scoring
time was to be late by up to .99 second.
Therefore, a 12:00:99 was scored as a
perfect 12:00, while a 11:59:99 was scored
as 1 second early.
Joe was best at adapting to exploit the
odd timing method, leaving just 1 second
on the field during the four flyoff rounds.
Others were as close to the hunskie but
were consistently 1 or 2 seconds off with
their timing.
Mike Verzuh was the best overall
scoring pilot in the final four rounds. But
his preliminary-round carryover score was
not the highest, so he had a lot of ground to
make up to finish ahead of the pack.
Thomas Cooke landed with great
precision, posting the most landing points
in the final four rounds. He gave up only
three points but was not as consistent with
his timing. Landings with his huge and
beautifully prepared 4M Xplorer were
spectacularly accurate all day.
With one round left to fly, scores were
so close among the top seven that anybody
could have won. Joe was in the lead by 1
point over Mike Verzuh and 3 points over
Thomas Cooke. In the end, Joe’s
consistency with the clock triumphed by 4
points over a gallant Mike. Thomas
remained in third place, merely 2 points
further in arrears.
This contest had it all. From the first day
to the last, conditions tried every pilot to
the max and only the best came through
unscathed to fight it out in the finals. It was
a memorable event in which each
competitor can say that he flew with the
world’s best at the world’s best soaring
site.
It is a pity that we have to wait two
years before we can experience this
fabulous contest again. See you all in 2012.
Don’t miss it! MA
Gordon Buckland
[email protected]
Sources:
World Soaring Masters
www.worldsoaringmasters.com
League of Silent Flight
www.silentflight.org
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