The Joy of Not Having Rain

From morning until noon, there was practically no wind and no noticeable thermals. This meant that a good high-altitude launch and a low sink rate—along with a precise landing, of course—were the keys to success.
When it comes to low sink rate, the Maxa—with a 4-meter wingspan—from Vladimir’s model in Ukraine seems to be the gold standard. This “sink monster,” with a flying weight of 1,800 g, can stay airborne for 15 minutes starting from a high-launch altitude of approximately 180 m, achieving a phenomenal sink rate of

20 cm/s; that’s pretty much half the speed of an F3B model.
Around noon, the sun came out; this caused the wind to pick up a bit, so now we had to look for and, if possible, find the thermal zones.

At around 3:30 p.m., after six rounds, it was time to proceed to the fly-off. The seven leading pilots had to complete two flights, each lasting the required 15 minutes.
Since the wind had died down again, only Reto Baumgartner was able to

achieved over 10 minutes in the first fly-off (the Maxa did not participate in the fly-off).

In the second fly-off, two pilots managed to find a weak air current, but only Thomas Kübler was able to fly for 15 minutes. Thus, flying the Pike Perfection from Samba Model, he became the well-deserved 2013 Swiss Champion.

In addition to the models already mentioned, there were several Tanga F3J models from Breta Model, Xplorer models from Nan Model, and a Supra from the same manufacturer as Maxa; there was also a Pike Superior, also from Samba Model, and a Vulture from skipmiller-models. The author of this report (he must be a bit of a nut) even flew an F3B model—though, of course, he stood little to no chance.

For the first time, a 12-year-old junior (Simon Roduner) flew with the help of his father.

However, a junior competition requires at least 5 participants.

R. Schaub