Laiwu (not)daily

My private point of view to 18-th F3B WorldChampionship, Laiwu, China.

September 30, Friday

XinBai Hotel, just after midnight. Slowly recovering from 3-rd week in China. At Wednesday I had plan to finish at least Round 11 of F3B Worlds 2011. Unfortunatelly weather was not at our site. Just one hour of no-rain would be enough to finish that round. Next time…

My China adventure is slowly approaching to the end. For me it was amazing experience with different world which I found at the end may be not so different-anyhow long story. I could claim many matters which had to be payed by tremendous effort to finish, but I could never claim helpfulness and friendliness of chinese people.

As regards organizer staff just imagine, we were flying nearly 11 rounds, nearly 70 groups of distance. When I count in average 18 laps for every pilot it’s more than 7000 button presses and we were giving reflight due to referee mistake to about 2 pilots as far as I remember. Amazing reliability of chinese referees. If referees were in first line, there is also long list of people from ASFC (Aerosports Federation of China) and Laiwu city which were always standing just next to me; Zhang LuXin, Leo Wang, Lu Zheng, Yiwen Niu, Lu Jie aka Jenny, from Laiwu mainly Zhang Zhao and many others.  Last but not least, Czech+Singapore crew; Jan Stonavsky, Michal Behensky, my son Vitek and Pang Yong Wee . They all deserve my big appreciation.

When I had possibility to listen to the most of pilots, they enjoyed this event. Rest will be soon forgotten. My mission is completed.

September 28, Wednesday

XinBai Hotel early morning. Streets in Laiwu are wet. There was rain.

September 27, Tuesday

XinBai Hotel late evening. Tomorrow we will finish 18-th F3B Worlds. Morning will be test of windguru.cz weather forecast precision. Only light rain is expected before lunch, but big issue can be also visibility-haze and smog are our enemies.

Today we finished duration round11 at about 17:30. Smog was already evident.

September 27, Tuesday

Contest site before lunch. Czech staff just coaching Round 9 duration. I guess today we will start at least Round 11. Tomorrow rest of Round 11 and Round 12 will be last one. Still rain can change our plans.

September 26, Monday

Laiwu early morning. Today we will fly 3-rd day of WC. I will push as hard as possible, pilots want it. 5 rounds for Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday is already some rain forecasted, but when watching windguru.cz rain is weaker and weaker.

As regards 6-th round and results. FAI Jury precised a bit confusing rule about crossing out lowest/worst result of every F3B task.

Rule says:

5.3.2.8. Classification
If only five rounds are flown, the competitor’s classification is determined by the sum of all Total Scores for each round. If more than five complete rounds are flown the lowest partial score of each task is omitted from the sum of all partial scores. To decide the winner when there is a tie, the two (or all who have the equal score) competitors will fly an additional round (three tasks).

FAI Jury Interpretation:

If you fly 5 full rounds plus duration from round 6 and you have to close contest (weather or any other reason), duration round 6 you will just throw away (not cross over lowest duration!!) , said in different words, this mentioned duration was flown just needlessly. You can start cross over lowest task score only after you will finish complete round 6. In my opinion this rule is very often interpreted in many different manners thanks to very fuzzy meaning of mentioned FAI rule paragraph.

 

September 24, Saturday

Today finishing R2A and after lunch we go to CIAF (China Aerosports Internatinal Fiesta) ceremony. Let’s see if we can continue flying after ceremony.

September 23, Friday

First day of the Worlds. After short ceremony we started duration. Respecting nice weather pilots can enjoy very strong thermals, same valid also for distance. Anyhow many pilots struggling with no wind launches.

Watching team Australia (mainly Steve Keep) and USA (mainly Gordon Buckland) helping HongKong to setup gliders, winches etc. F3B spirit is still alive(!)

September 23, Friday

Laiwu, early morning. Today we start 18-th F3B Worlds. After TM meeting we had to prepare new draw-starting lists, working till deep night. Since beginning there was request by FAI jury to use reverse order for C task (speed). After experience from Xueye Open I decided to use alternative i.e. flying in standard A task order. When there are only eight teams, reverse C task order is just big issue for everybody.

September 22, Thursday

Contest site, morning. Something happend and internet link is “blazing” fast. Flying duration R3G4, no wind, haze or smog (or both?). Next task distance R3G1.

September 22, Thursday

Laiwu, early morning. Xueye Open, 1-st round, speed and distance from 2-nd round are finished. Today morning let’s finish 2-nd round duration and final speed from round 3 (reverse order). After lunch model check-in and Friday morning we will start 18-th F3B World Championship. Weather is with us and forecast also.

Internet access on Contest site is working but in my opinion is so slow; un-usable. Also webcamera is mounted on light pole. Will try to check for weblink(?).

XueyeOpen Result list (contest not yet finished)

September 21, Wednesday

Laiwu, early morning. Yesterday’s first training and warm-up for referees  was not bad at all. Frankly said, job for my teammate Michal on B base, as buzzerman instructor, was really tough. Northern pulley line is still problem. Maybe we have to shift it a bit more north.

At TM meeting we agreed, we will start WC already Friday Sept. 23. There is concern about rain again. If there is no rain and everything is running well we could fly up to 12 rounds(!)  i.e. about 2,5 round per day (5 days, Saturday not counted), but I’m not so optimistic. Ever seen at Worlds?  Big deal for whole organizer staff, let’s see.

South Africa still somewhere on the way. Will be not easy for them to  jump out of the jet just to winch line. Yesterday evening I’v seen some chinese technicians working on WiFi contest site connection and on webcamera(!). I’m definitely curious about result.

September 20, Tuesday

Laiwu, early morning. Forecast is positive. Today we have to finish contest site, no other option. Talking to many guys, everybody is very tolerant, respecting not easy position of organizer-big thanks! After lunch time I’d like to complete Northern part of winchline path and start training flights. 20:00 today I’d like to meet all team managers in XinBai Hotel and talk about XueyeOpen.

Forecast from windguru.cz. Let’s see how this reflects reality.

September 19, Monday

Unfortunatelly no flying. Hard working on contest site and still not ready. Already two weeks raining, waiting for drying field, this hurts. Anyhow, first full day sunshine.

I’v seen already all teams instead of China. Last one, Germany, came just before midnight. Also Ralf Decker and Raymond Pavan are here. Tomas Bartovsky on the way.

September 18, Sunday

We started working on flying field of contest site. Still muddy. Late afternoon slight rain again. Forecast for Monday is partly cloudy no rain. Hopefully it’s correct. Monday (tomorrow), we have to finish flying field, I mean all dimensioning; winchline, pulley line, erect bases, laydown carpet. Afternoon, if everything is going well, we can start to fly training, but we are still hostage of weather.

September 17, Saturday

Rain-day again. Today having meeting with about 20 Chinese referees. It was big surprise for me. Although China is not flying F3B for nearly 20 years, people are well educated about F3B(!) Waiting for another day without rain. In meantime, I don’t want to use contest site when raining.

September 16, Friday

Moved from Xueye Lake Hotel to Xin Bai Hotel in Laiwu. Part of Australia is here (Steve and John). Just met in lobby complete US team (Gordon is still on the way) jumping out of bus, welcome. Sunshine!!!

September 15, Thursday

Raining, raining, raining…

September 14, Wednesday

Forecast. Heavy rain until Saturday 17-th. Xueye Open starting list published (PDF). Last page (List of presented pilots) treat as winch position. It’s better idea to bring small WiFi AP than tangling with UTP cables in hotel.

September 13, Tuesday

We are here. Already one week raining, forecast nothing extra. Will try to find out more. Guys are sleeping. Tomorrow going to contest site, so far it looks to galosh and “geo carpet” story. Hopefully not.

One notice to excess luggage transport from Beijing to Jinan. Limit is 20kg/person, dimensions aprox. 200cm (x+y+z), 1kg/10RMB. Actual answer to my question “What are exact limits?” was “We will accept anything if it will fit loading doors on aircraft”. You are in China, everything is relative. In Beijing there is special excess luggage desk in domestic flight hall. Common for all flights (not only for Shandong Airlines). No customs, nobody was asking anything (bringing Scoring system and spare one incl. displays etc.).