The Nationals are under way. After one practice flight and a few days of 4WD adventure driving around the competition area, the rain has stopped and the sky is clear.There is lots of water still standing on the fields and roads so high ground is the place to land if you can find it.
Flight one was a judge declared goal followed by two fly on goals. The launch from the Benalla airfield and was a little windy, providing lots of excitement for crews and spectators. We had the added challenge of the Honda having a moment of battery problems and would not start. Fortunately we realized this before I launched and we were able to perform probably a world first balloon assisted clutch start.
I got the balloon off the ground and dragged the car forward across the launch field, when we had enough speed, Steve popped the clutch and with the car started I popped the quick release and we were both off.
Wind speeds from 200 ft up were around 40 to 50 km/h so we were rushing towards the North west corner of the map. I enjoy fast flights and the pressure of quick decision making so it was all good.
Results were not fantastic but should see us in the top of the pack. 36M on the JDG (3rd as far as I can tell), the fly on tasks were a bit average with 78m and 123m respectively for tasks 2 and 3.
As always it is time to just see how that sits with the rest of the field on what for most would have been a challenging morning.
Weather looks ok for the afternoon so fingers crossed we will be out there again soon.
