Worldwide Postal Competition 2004/5

It is my pleasure, once more, to present the results of the 13 th. Worldwide Postal Competition, and to thank you all for your enthusiastic response. Participation has further declined this year with many events receiving little or no support. Whilst I hesitate to suggest that this 13 th. event is deemed ‘unlucky’, indeed, the Worldwide was never expected to run for so many years when it was first founded and the ongoing interest has always been encouraging; by and large there is a nucleus of enthusiasts who fly multiple events but the overall number of entrants has reduced of late and it may well be that the general concept of the Postal has almost run its course.

However, there have again been comments that some were handicapped by poor weather, no matter from which part of the world they reside, and that they expected to do better in the next Postal … and so many expressed appreciation of the opportunities to fly, and enjoyment of same, that I will carry on with a 14 th. event, though in a slimmer, revised version with fewer events, and I hope that you will continue to offer support with the same enthusiasm as in the past..

It is encouraging to see a number of younger people taking part; one such is Thomas Lee (14) who has been seen, elsewhere, to progress from novice to capable builder in little more than a year – to the extent that he flew a very smart own-design Embryo to three maximums in his first Wordwide involvement. Dave Aronstein’s family – Rita (11), Jesse (8) and Zebulum (6) are making their mark, together with teenagers Daniel and Ricky Millette. Some innovative entries also, from Joshua Finn – he ‘cobbled up’ a little helicopter based on the commercial Palm Flyer product, and also flew a tiny canard in the 20” class – the latter doing very well for its diminutive size. Last, but far from least, I’m proud to see my 5yr.old grandson, Christopher, firing various gliders up in Small CLG.

I am also pleased to welcome some new friends from Italy, flying gliders and also a pair of Embryos – the first of such known to be built and flown in that country.

Some remarkable flights are noted, especially with Cloud Tramps which – simple as they are - seem prone to thermalling at the least opportunity, as well as producing some consistently high scores on occasion, and almost half of the flights recorded exceeded one minute.. A notable achievement is that of the family team effort of Les and Jean Sayer who took 1 st and 3 rd places in that event, with their grandsons placing 9 th and 10 th.

I hope to accompany these results with details of the 14 th. WorldWide – failing which, they will follow very shortly. If you forwarded entries/scores on behalf of others, please ensure that they receive a copy of this report.Again, my thanks for your support and enthusiasm which makes running this event worthwhile – I hope you’ll be flying again in the 2005/6 event and that you’ll encourage others to join us, too

Jim Moseley.

Small Catapult Glider (12”)

1. Alex Cameron   UK   60   60   60   48   58   47   333   Mayday 2

2.   Kevin Moseley   UK   60   52   51   48   60   48   319   Let’s Roll 8” *

3.   Peter Tolhurst   UK   60   36   35   50   60   60   301   Mercedes-Benns

4.   Kevin Moseley   UK   42   46   40   24   41   47   240   WAD Tailless 2A

5.   Stan Pearson   UK   50   50   51   25   29   33   238   Worcraft ‘Star’

6.   Stan Pearson   UK   40   45   40   31   33   40   229   Doonie

7.   Kevin Moseley   UK   39   41   25   45   27   49   226   Mini-Roll 6”

8.   Christopher Moseley UK   44   46   29   34   30   41   224   WAD Tailless 2  

9.   Kevin Moseley   UK   27   39   27   30   37   40   200   WAD Tailless

10.   Christopher Moseley UK   41   36   38   29   40   16   200   WAD Tailless 2A  

11.   Christopher Moseley UK   32   37   38   21   29   29   186   WAD Tailless

12.   Joshua Finn   USA   60   22   60 OOS           142   EasyMini 8

13.   Harjinder Obhi   UK   18   22   28   19   26   24   137   Knocked Up 10” o/d

  

Large Catapult Glider (+12”)

  

1.   Lee Hines   USA   60   60   60   60   60   60

+ 90 + 120 +63   633      Swee’cat 18-6

2.   Les Sayer   C   60   60   39   59   60   45   323      Straight Dan 1

3.   Les Sayer   C   50   60   27   60   60   41   298      Straight Up (modified)

4.   Neil McDougall   NZ   44   44   56   41   50   60   295      Winged Motors

5.   Peter Tolhurst   UK   60   34   47   60   42   47   290      Argus 16” o/d

6.   Les Sayer   C   29   36   60   60   42   47   274      DanMan Mk3 # 6

7.   Les Sayer   C   50   36   52   55   39   37   269      Straight Dan 2

8.   Peter Tolhurst   UK   41   46   51   35   42   51   266      Argus 2  

9.   Peter Tolhurst   UK   40   47   46   41   38   36   248      Argus 1B

10.   Les Sayer   C   24   40   31   47   60   41   243      DanMan 1

11.   Les Sayer   C   58   21   30   37   48   49   243      DanMan 2  

12.   Neil McDougall   NZ   42   36   35   38   36   39   226      1938 Mayn

13.   Les Sayer   C   35   32   31   33   60   31   222      DanMan Mk3 #7

14.   Daniel Millette   C   43   32   38   37   39   35   149      DanMan 1

15.   Ricky Millette   C   60   36   24   26   33   32   211      Danman 1

16.   Chris Behr   AUS   37   35   16   21   30   45   184      Shooting Star

17.   Ricky Millette   C   42   29   33   28   23   18   173      Straightup  

  

  

Handlaunch Glider

  

1.    Kevin Moseley   UK   60   60   60   53   60   49   347   Sting 28 (?)

2.   Kevin Moseley   UK   60   60   60   52   60   39   331   Sting 24

3.   Kevin Moseley   UK   31   38   44   47   52   60   272   Sting 24  

4.   Kevin Moseley   UK   55   52   41   36   25   36   245   Let’s Roll 8” *

5.   Kevin Moseley   UK   36   37   44   41   37   36   231   Mini-Roll 6”

6.   Harjinder Obhi   UK   27   32   48   35   42   31   215   Oopah 2 12”

7.   Harjinder Obhi   UK   29   33   27   31   51   31   202   Oompah o/d

  

P30 Rubber

1.   Jim Moseley   C 117   70   98           285      Marcus Maximus 3

2.   Neil McDougall   NZ 120   75   57           252      Teachers Pet

3.   Les Sayer   C 120   53   51           224      Majestyk

Embryo Endurance

1.   Thomas Lee   C 120 120 120           360      Shooting Star

2.   Joshua Finn   USA 112 118 120                Maxout IVb

3.   Joshua Finn   USA   96   90 120   Bonus pts   9   315      Maxout IV

4.   Joshua Finn   USA   66   83 120 oos ….         269      Maxout II

5.   Daniele Vescovi   I   70   74   81   Bonus pts   9   234      XLV Special  

6.   Tony Hall-Willis   UK 106   72   39   Bonus pts   9   226      Mr. Malcolm

7.   Jennifer Chassee   USA   54 112   48   Bonus pts   5   214      Blackbird 12 *

8.   Jim Moseley   C   98   43   48   Bonus pts   9   198      Embryomatic

9.   Vincenzo Canestraro I   41   42   50           133      The Dreamer

10.   Justin Steedly   USA   84      Bonus pts 9   93      Maxout IV

Cloud Tramp - * indicates discarded longest/shortest flights.

  

1.   Les Sayer   C 151 204*   71*   180   163           494

2.   Milan Pavik   CZ 137 134 145*   122   101*           393

3.   Jean Sayer   C 101 207*   82*   131   142           374

4.   Mike Thomas   C 112 253* 101   88*   153           366

5.   Joseph Pengilley   USA   79 116   75* 1389* (!)   104           299

6.   Richard Barlow   C   61* 103 180*   109   76           288

7.   Jim Moseley   C   59*   83   90   107   158*           280

8.   Henry Hill   USA   63   60*   77   115   229* OOS ….        255

9.   Daniel Millette   C   76   74 141*   100   67*           250

10.   Ricky Millette   C   74   74   61*   105*   71           219  

11.   Mike Myers   USA   43*   66   76   75   110*           217

12.   Don Smith   USA   58*   60   65   116   84           209

13.   Ole Toregenson   N   77*   63   71   61* 71           205

14.   Bert Whitehead   UK   65   73   65   62*   304*           203

15.   Dave Rumball   UK   33* 119*   42   62   95           199

16.   Don Martin   USA   53*   59   62   81*   65           186

17.   Stian Gronsas   N   57   54   51*   74   78           185

18.   Tor Bortne   N   65   52   52*   99*   68           185

19.   Ted Smales   UK   42*   57   60   67   58           175

20.   Jack Phelps   USA   81   90   57*   480+* OOS            171

21.   Arthur Durose   UK   53   60   61*   57   53*           170

22.   Ken Norton   UK   64*   51   62   56   37*           169

23.   Bert Whitehead   UK   53   52*   56   60   67*           169

24.   Bud Matthews   USA 109*   38   21*   78   48           164

25.   Fudo Takagi   USA   19*   72 134*   44   47           163

26.   Neil McDougall   NZ   67   39   54   27*   69*           160

27.   Vegar Nereng   N   33*   45   60   53   71*           158

28.   Martin Ambrose   UK   58*   49*   56   49   53           158

29.   Chris Behr   AUS   45*   60   48   47   66*           155

30.   Art Swift   USA   60   54 109*   30*   40            154

31.   Roland Fridh   SW   70*   42*   46   42   57           145

32.   Ingvar Claesson   SW   36*   56   38   50   93*           144

33.   David Feather   USA   53   55*   47   44   26*           144

34.   Don Ratzlaff   USA   58*   54   46   44   42*           144

35.   Stan Pearson   UK   40*   59*   50   42   50           142

36.   Steinar Hesthagen   N   33*   36   47   55   58*           140

37   Charles Primbs   USA   30   41 123*   4   61           132

38.   Ron Boots   USA   39   37*   43   39   44           121

39.   Kent Josefsson   SW   32   32   45*   41   10*           105

40.   Bengt Hoglund   SW   32   34   38*   32*   37           103

41.   Sven-Olov Lindén   SW   42*   32   31*   33   37           102

42.   Nils S Anderson   N   37   31   32   46*   28*           100

43.   Dan McLeod   C   20*   25   34   39*    27           86

44.   Mike Parker   UK   19*   30   36*   26   30           86

45.   Peter Olshefski   C 15*   23   27   32   37*            82

46.   Mik Mikkelson   USA   81   62*   91*   -   -           81

Supporters: Bill Gillespie   C 215 OOS

   Jim Norfolk   C   20   20  

20” Rubber

  

1.   Dave Aronstein   USA   60   60   60   90   120   150   180

                       187      907   H.P.Sportster  

2.   Jim Moseley   C   60   60   60   90   120   150   122      662    Tenspot 10”

3.   Mike Thomas   C   60   60   60   90   120   128         518   Tubby

4.   Joshua Finn   USA   60   60   60   90   120           390   Maxout IV

5.   Rita Aronstein   USA   60   60   60   90   103           373   Ballerinaria

6.   Bob Stewart   C   60   60   60   90   93           363   Veron Tomtit

7.   Mike Thomas   C   60   60   60   90              270   Found Cent.

8.   Jim Moseley   C   60   60   60   85              265   Pussycat

9.   Tony Hall-Willis   UK   60   39   60                159   Mr.Malcolm

10.   Jim Moseley   C   53   60   44                  157   Cabinaire

11.   Joshua Finn   USA   40   52   50                  142   Back Porch Pusher 8”

12.   Joshua Finn   USA   22   19   22                63   Palm helicopter

13.   Rita Aronstein (11)   USA   60                     60   Minnow  

14.   Jesse Aronstein (8)   USA   32                     32   Skybunny

15.   Jesse Aronstein (8)   USA   32                     32   Mini-Twin A-frame

16.   Zebulum Aronstein (6) USA   19                     19   Super Cub 95

    

   25” Classic “Two-Bits”

1.   Jim Moseley   C   60   60   60   90   120   71        461   Mini-Hobbies 1*

2.   Joshua Finn   USA   60   60   60   90   120   68        458   Zephyr

3.   Jim Moseley   C   60   60   60   90   82           352 Morgan ‘Spirit’

4.   Jim Moseley   C   60   60   60   90 OOS ….           270   Mini-Hobbies 2*

5.   Jim Moseley   C   60   60   60   86              266   Hump 2

6.   Les Sayer   C   60   60   60                180   Cloud Tramp 2

7.   Ricky Millette   C   60   60   60                180   Cloud Tramp

8.   Stan Pearson    UK   58   60   60                178   Veron Fledgling

9.   Jean Sayer   C   60   56   60                176   Cloud Tramp

10.   Neil McDougall   NZ   58   51   60                169   FA Moth  

11.   Jim Moseley   C   42   54   60                156   Chad 20

12.   Bert Whitehead   UK   24   22   22                68   Veron Jr. Snipe

13.   Peter Spalding   UK   30                     30   Fledgling  

                      

  

30” Vintage/OT Rubber

    

1.   Dave Aronstein   USA   90   90   90   120   147           537   Farthing Ltwt

2.   Dave Aronstein   USA   90   90   90   120   146           536   Bowmore ‘3rd Prize’

3.   Mike Thomas   C   90   90   90   120              390   Skokie

4.   Jim Moseley   C   90   90   90   118              388   Supa Dupa

5.   Les Sayer   C   90   90   90   103              373   Hoppity

6.   Graham Lovejoy   NZ   90   90   90   67             337   Ajax

7.   Les Sayer   C   80   90   90                260   Hepcat

8.   Les Sayer   C   90   90                   180   Condor Clipper  

  

42” Vintage/OT Rubber

1.   Jim Moseley   C   120   120   120   150   180   156         846   Senator

2.   Howard Gostelow   AUS   120   120   120   150   146           656   Senator

3.   Tony Taylor   NZ   120   120   120   150              510   Mick Farthing

4.   Neil McDougall   NZ   120   90   120                330   Gollywock

5.   Tony Taylor   NZ   86   120   120                326   Senator

6.   Les Sayer   C   82   120   120                322   Northern Star

7.   Les Sayer   C   118   120   82                320   Loates Wake.

8.   Jim Moseley   C   120   61   120                301   Sceptre

9.   Dave Aronstein   USA   120 (lost .. over 8 minutes).                120   Smith Mulvihill

1.5cc Diesel Slow Power

1.   Lynn Rodway   NZ   120   120   120 150        510      Big Brit/MVVS

2.   Jim Moseley   C   120   120   120   76         436      Applehoney 320/PAW

Small Towline

1.   Maurizio Sagnotti   I   18   17   15           50      Movo M.9

Classic Rubber

1.   Neil McDougall   NZ   133   150   131           414      Yardstick

  

‘Baxter Tribute’

1.   Jim Moseley   C   85*   62*   65   68   72      205      Pussycat

Vintage/OT Scale

1.   Fudo Takagi   USA   52   56   60 (12 minutes OOS into Mexico!) 168      P40 - Stahl.

2.   Les Sayer   C   48   49   60           157      Rearwin Speedster

Vintage/Classic Glider

1.    Richard Barlow   C   90   90   90   120   78      468      Lulu

2.   Neil McDougall   NZ   68   90   90           248      Aiglet

3.   Daniel Millette   C   90   90   56           236      Lulu

4.   Tony Taylor   NZ   90   54   90           234      Corsair

5.   Maurizio Sagnotti   I   55   56 114           225      Pinguino

6.   GianCarlo Wesseley I   46   79   38           163      Lulu

7.   GianCarlo di Chiara   I   23   47   56           126      Lulu

8.   Curzio Santoni   I   43   34   29           106      Lulu

9.   Les Sayer   C   90                90      Lulu

10.   Jim Moseley   C   82                82      Lulu

11.   Chris Behr   AUS   32   36             68      Lulu

………………………………………………………………………………….

  

Abbrev: AUS: Australia C: Canada CZ: Czech Republic I: Italy N: Norway NZ: New Zealand SW:Sweden

UK: United Kingdom USA: United States of America

(Strictly speaking … ‘UK’ for United Kingdom is no longer correct as that designation has now been officially given to the Ukraine; however I’ll continue to use same until such time as an entry is ever received from that part of Eastern Europe!)

Blackbird 2 http://www.smallflyingarts.com/Free_Plans/free_plans.htm

   Let’s Roll 8” http://www.windandwavemodels.com/Postal2003.html

   Mini-Hobbies http://www.theplanpage.com/st.htm

   Palmsized Helicopter http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=184432&page=1&pp=15

   TenSpot http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/TRUMP/images/jim_m_ten_spot_plan.jpg

Comments from the flyers….

Dave Aronstein : We had several incomplete entries this year… will try to do better next year.  Appreciate the extended flying season, and some years there are a lot of good flying days outside of the regular “season” but not this year, at least not in Wichita! It was a good year for Rita’s Ballerinaria, and for my Johnson High Performance

Sportster, which almost exactly duplicated last year’s performance.Jesse’s “Mini-Twin” is a 12” A-frame twin pusher, for which he even carved the propellers.  Look for some good flights from this one next year!

Bert Whitehead: Pete Spalding and I managed to get out late this afternoon, on this the last afternoon of your comp. Freezing wind and snowing, hence low scores. Too cold to continue.

Joshua Finn; The flights for embryo were made a couple weeks ago. The 20" entries were today, the last day of the postal That last flight for the 20" somehow found some lift in the damp windy air. I lost sight of it at 2:38 and later found it in the bottom branches of an oak tree. Easy recovery, I thought she was gone forever. This last entry is from a modified Back Porch Pusher. It's all basswood right now) will all the sheet surfaces built-up to try to save a tad of weight from the heavy wood. The flights are slow and relaxing, so I like it. Span is a mere 8", but it's really long and has a pile of wing area.

 

Harjinder Obhi: It was a strange day today. Occasional snow fall, sunshine and a breeze. It was a bit like one of those typical spring days, but freezing. As you can imagine, there was convection, but it was difficult to work out what was going on. I was standing in a light snow fall and watching a bird effortlessly thermal soaring above the veil of snow along the edge of a cloud street. Weird!  The OOMPAH, nevertheless, still nearly maxed out today!  It was so satisfying to see it fly. For the longest flight, the model circled 2 or 3 times after launch without really losing any height at all, possibly even going up a bit. I thought it was going to go OOS over the woods but then it circled smoothly down 

 

Martin Ambrose :  The flights took place on sunday 20th Feb. It was hot, 29C in Christchurch and the flying site is 30km further inland so could have been warmer there. Here are the times; 1.   2m 49s 2.   3m 01s 3.   5m 38s  (Lucky to get it back, the DT had jammed) 4   2m 47s  DT'd early, unfortunately. Our free flight site is a bit restricted with blocks of trees in all directions so one has to pick a relatively wind free day.

 

Neil McDougall : Although the weather has been warmer lately we have still been troubled by wind and the Levin site is not good in wind. Tony Taylor was not been prepared to try for the 3 minute flight in the conditions we have had. I got one flight in with my new Senator but it has been too windy since to continue.

 

Daniele Vescovi

This is my first participation in W.P.C: yesterday, the three contest flights of my Embryo Endurance model 'XLV Special': short flights (too freezing weather) but good sensations for the next competition, in summer

Christopher Moseley (via Kevin): the scores that CJ did were with me holding the stick but he pulled back …and pulled back …until he decided to let go... at the time I was just praying he WOULD let go. Chris really wanted to make the flights when I toldhim they were for acompetition that you were doing and he was very excited about this. Apologies that there are no more, it got dark and started to rain when we left.       

 

Kevin Moseley: All HLG flights to the 60 secs max   All those that did the 60 was just over - tended to dt in between 60 and 90 secs - very little drift and most flights landed within a hundred feet from launch.  All launches made from a redundant cricket square that has astro turf on top of concrete. 

 

Lee Hines :  Large Catapult Glider event. I realized that a string I started at the Nats in August was still open and needed closing. The first five maxes were my scores which won the 2004 US Nats on August 4th.  After returning to CA, 3 more flights were taken on August 22, also maxes.  At that point we left for our usual Sunday nosh and I just closed the string with 63 sec at Perris this morning.

David Feather:   Light winds, Sunny day, One of our Tramps flew away!!! (Few words, much enthusiasm! JM)

Don Ratzloff:  I am very proud of my Cloud Tramp because I built it entirely from plans off the internet and with no other help or guidance. It was my fifth airplane that I built this year and a better flyer than the others which were AMA Darts (2 of them), US Sam, and a Carnarsie Canary. (The only other planes I've flown were the Guillows models when I was a kid over 45 years ago).  I've built a few other planes since then but so far my favorite is my Cloud Tramp.  It does a beautiful ROG and several days after the postal ended I had several flights just over one minute.  Just over a week ago I nearly lost it because it was after sunset when the wind carried it about 500 feet and it was too dark to see exactly where it went down.  Had to search in the tall grass and weeds for 15 minutes before it was found.  I certainly would not have put forth all the effort to even make the Cloud Tramp had it not been for the encouragement of MIMLOCT and the Postal event.  Do it again next year and I hope to interest several more flyers from my area here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Peter Tolhurst:    Me and my timer went to Perivale Park early yesterday morning (circa 8 am) when it was calm. It was raining when we arrived, but the shower soon passed. The weather was cool, overcast and damp, but with no wind, I could avoid the model eating trees. The model flown was my Argus 1B.  Because of the conditions I just fired off the model one flight after another, with no attempt to select good air. I thought I was on to a cert max on the last flight, with the model quite high & still rising, but it appeared to hit turbulence near some trees and just stalled down in the space of a few seconds. All part of the fun. There was not a lot of thermal activity at that time of the morning, but I'm limited to a max wind speed of 2-3 mph or else it means tree climbing, which I'm getting a little old for. . My timekeeper now demands money for his services(including getting out of bed early), but refuses to be bribed !! 

 

Dan McLeod:  Cloud Tramp -   Flight 2 landed high in a tree and a young boy who was watching all this fun, climbed up and retrieved it.  Flight 3 landed in a tree and was retrievable.  Flight 5 , the longest,  drifted and landed on a 4 story building and took 3 days to retrieve.  All this on only about 500 turns.  These were basically trimming flights, but ended when CT was lost on the roof.  Lesson learned: find a bigger park as this CT model can fly pretty well.

Pavel Heran: I am modeller from Czech Republic and my the most interest is free fly models and vintage models. Flying with Cloud tramp is very good relax, but even model is very simply, flies beautifully. I and my friend Milan tried to join this year postal competition. My results will be later on, because my CT gone away and I have to make a new one.

 

Joseph Pengilley:   always a pleasure to take part in your Cloud Tramp postals. The weather was warm 100F 11:00 seemed to have good lift so I headed out for the field. I started out with a couple of practice flights and preceded with timed flights. The first three went ok then came the fourth flight and WOW it flew for 23 minutes and 9 seconds. It flew away from me and back several times and at the 20 minute mark I just wanted to hit the 30 minute mark but didnt make it. Was hoping for a good 5 th flight but the good air must have moved out.

Fudo Takagi: last flight of my Stahl P.40 was 12 minutes into a cloud, headed for Mexico. Launched into a huge thermal – too bad, as I was just getting the model trimmed.

Daniele Vescovi and Vincenzo Canestraro flew Embryo’s in low wind, 0C and with ‘ice everywhere’ The Italian glider flyers mostly flew High-start launches in very low winds

Bob Stewart :You may recall my adventure with my chainsaw to rescue my TomTit after it nested in a large Tamarack. That was my third "60 sec" flight that was actually 128sec. Never had that kind of time again. I took the model to a larger field & succeeded in getting a 4th flight of 90 sec ( actually 98). Knew I couldn'tget 120 without some help from "Hung" but he was not cooperating. 5th. flight was only 93 sec. Enjoyed entering your event. Maybe next year will build something more competitive.