Cosier went down to Shepparton for a few days to compete at the Model Flight, JR , Spectrum sponsored 2009 Australian F3A Masters. Not only is this a great event, but also we all
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LR: Jeremy A, Neil M, Jeff B, Jason S, John T, Chris W
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got the chance to spend some time with one of the legends of the hobby, Jason Shulman from USA.
Jason is a 2 x USA National F3A Champion, 6 x World Champs USA Team Member, and currently World F3A #4 (World Champs - Argentina). This guy can fly OK !
Many may have seen Jason Shulman fly his Giant Scale 3D Freestyle routines that can be found on the various video-hosting sites (like this for examle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lMFcEpE-Ys ). Jason was a very approachable guy, and very generous with his time answering all the questions over the weekend. . must have been hundreds.
We decided to leave Adelaide on Thursday, and practice at the Shepparton field on Friday, however with a >
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A good indication of the weather
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break in the weather, I put my plane together and proceeded to watch it rain for a few hours :o( , so we adjourned to Gloria Jeans Coffee Shoppe for lunch before calling it quits for the day. Great start, and the forecast for the weekend didn't get any better with rain and 35kmh winds for Saturday . . and HAIL, rain and 45kmh winds with 55 to 60 kmh gusts for Sunday . . Hmmmmmmmmm
SA's Matt Cosier arranged a dinner at the Goulburn Valley Hotel where we met Jason Shulman for the 
first time. Apparently he was practicing on the Thursday, and didn't bother on Friday due to the weather.
first time. Apparently he was practicing on the Thursday, and didn't bother on Friday due to the weather.We had a private function room, with a White Board . .
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LR: Matt C, Marlo (Vic), Jason Shulman, GlennO (Mildura)
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so Jason took questions and requests for manoeuvre descriptions which he drew with detail on the White Board (just hope the judges were attentive ;o) Great night with some good laughs, retiring as early as possible as Saturday
and Sunday were going to be early starts with 50+ entries flying on two flight lines, so plenty to get through.
We arrived at the field about 7:00am as first flights were scheduled for 8:00am. The weather was bad. Windy, showery with VERY low cloud and poor visibility (read 'gloomy').
The first flights started on time, however planes were immediately disappearing into clouds at the top of manoeuvres.>
Ummm . . which plane is mine ??
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Chris Swain performed an integrated roll at the top of the two loops, I THINK . . because nobody could see it, including him, followed by a spin. Could NOT see the spin entry OR the spin, with some of us scanning the horizon for his exit from
the clouds . . which came (phew!). So the contest was held up waiting for the cloud base to lift.
Eventually, when we did finally get going on a more consistent basis, the morning began with the F3A and Sportsman classes . . ?
The two Wind 110E's of SA's John Tonks
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GREAT ! Can't say me Tonksy or Neil Martin were looking forward to it much . . far from ideal conditions. Tonksy seemed to fly well, and Neil put in a couple of good ones too . . and I had a couple of shockers. Damn ! particularly with visibility causing orientation issues in two or three manoeuvres. Chris Watson and Matt Cosier had fun in the wind and flew quite well from what I saw from my wind break ;o).
Jason Shulman, Alf Pye, Bill Bloodworth, Chris Swain, Steve Coram and a few of the other top guys flew really well in the conditions, >
Some of the 50+ planes entered at the Masters
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as expected. Their skills are something to witness. At the end of the cold and long, windy and wet day, how were we doing ? . . WHO CARES ! We just wanted to get out of there ;o)
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The Official Dinner / APA AGM was held on Saturday night at the "Wool Shed" which has become the standard venue for this event. Great ambience for friendly banter. The traditional Auction was
held with many great items supplied by our good friends at Model Flight, Surfcrew, and the APA. Proceeds going to help >
The Saturday Night Dinner, Auction, and AGM
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support the Australian F3A Team as they head to Portugal for the 2009 World Championships.
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Sunday ?? Well it wasn't raining just yet, but the winds were working well ! Dark clouds were visible in the gloom of 6:00am and we were hoping for NO hail ! Not a good look on composite wings ;o) After watching the weather for a while, we got under way with the F3A Team Trials completing their 3rd round for the weekend. The wind had really picked up now, with many making noises of withdrawing. It was fantastic to watch our top guys working with the wind. Incredible angles and lines flown to produce very good Patterns in the conditions.
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John Tonks flew well as usual, and Neil put in a couple of flights that I thought deserved a little better score, especially his first flight on Sunday . . it was great. In Expert and the Sportsman classes Matt Cosier and Chris Watson battled the wind gallantly . . 10/10 for their efforts :o)
Chris Watson did the best of the SA guys taking out 2nd in Sportsman, Matt C finished 9th (out
of 14) in Expert, while in F3A, Tonksy finished in 9th, Neil Martin 10th and I finished 13th (out of 22). Here's hoping for even better results from the South Ozzies next year, and I think we
Chris Watson did the best of the SA guys taking out 2nd in Sportsman, Matt C finished 9th (out
of 14) in Expert, while in F3A, Tonksy finished in 9th, Neil Martin 10th and I finished 13th (out of 22). Here's hoping for even better results from the South Ozzies next year, and I think we>
Chris Watson (SA) collecting his 2nd place Sportsman Trophy
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can.
Jason Shulman flew a glow powered Cyclone on Saturday and switched to GlennO's Hacker C50-14XL powered electric Aries on Sunday.
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In the end, Jason Shulman won F3A with borrowed planes and virtually no stick time on either of them, followed by Alf Pye and Bill Bloodworth. The NEW Australian Team for the World F3A Champs is Alf Pye - NSW, Bill Bloodworth - Vic and Chris Swain - ACT, with Paul Dart - Vic first reserve. . . Good luck to the guys in Portugal.
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More information and pictures can be found here :-
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http://www.vicpattern.org.au/ (has full results posted on this page)
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The NEXT pattern contest is in June at Mildura (the SA v's Vic Challenge). Report and pics to follow.
