Under the sunny central valley skies of California (March 30/April 1st) the 2012 CVRC Bent wing contest took place last weekend. Just about every type of the AVA series with a wide mix of other designs were present. WOODY had many varieties in it's class. Friday we started off with the ALES event and had a great time.

One of the nice changes that CD Claude Turner presented to us this year for the Bent Wing was a defined time launch window. This was a carryover from the Fresno Classic held a few weekends earlier in the month. Claude gave us an hour to complete each round. No flight groups were called up. You could launch at anytime during the open round window. It was great to see the guys line up and launch at will. If you missed the lift cycle it was your own fault. No one could complain about the luck of the draw this time. I can’t see how he could get closer to a man on man format without just doing it. The long flight times really made this a flying event. I saw a lot of top guys walking to get their machines going for the time on multiple 10 minute flights over the two days.

Saturday was a nice calm day for these beautiful poly machines. It was a bit hazy starting off. Most of the thermals were light and seemed to break up at 1500 feet. Once the day warmed up conditions improved yet the sink areas were wide and severe. These were the conditions that I had in mind when creating the Atomic wing. Traveling across wide areas was an advantage. I was totally...Continue Reading

These links will give you a little better feel for what happens in this event. If you look close you can see my blue and red E-topaz in each video. The launch is where I climbed vertical in the first round. On the landing you can see Keith Schwemmer jump to avoid being hit then later in the middle my E-topaz land on the tape.

ALES Launch:

http://www.rcsoaring.com/gallery/201...les-launch.mov

ALES Land:

http://www.rcsoaring.com/gallery/201...-ales-land.mov

This was my first effort flying ALES and did not actually know what to expect. My prior attempt to fly this E-Topaz was filled with problems at the Fresno 2 day. In between then and now I solved my power plant problems so I could fly in this event. On the drive up to this event I was hoping to get at least one test flight. Steve George had filled my head with a few ideas as to what the E-Topaz we were both using would be capable of doing. After two test flights with him the basic set up was complete. My actual strategy session came from Jim McCarthy a year ago on the phone when he told me about the event he flew in. Once you get into the ALES event it’s pretty easy to follow. Al Strahm had a very organized and straight forward set of rules. The working window was new to me yet I still made a few mistakes. Each round the working window became easier and easier for me to get into the launch area with plenty of time.

In the heats I flew in using power off at 200 meters (600 ft) it did not appear to be a sure thing making a 10 minute flight using an E-Topaz. The Topaz glider uses a lower camber AG series section. Adding any weight to it impacts the glide and climb out in weak lift. Knowing this I used a 1300 mah 65C 3 cell LiPo to keep the weight down. Even doing this I could feel the weight in thermals low to the ground. If I continue to play in the event I will look for another design or create my own after seeing what happens to E-Topaz performance having to lug around...Continue Reading