The 9th match was
held in Kin Ma Leng on 17th of July. Kin Ma Leng is a south-west facing
slope. It is also an inland slope that thermal conributes part of the
lift. Experienced pilots know the lift in KML is dead in early morning
so the official start time was postponed to 10:00am. Even with that,
the competition had to be delayed to about 11 before the wind was
strong enough to start. The first round started in a marginal
condition, with ocassional re-flights due to bad wind. Still, the
condition was not yet built up and the round was interrupted, resulting
in group scoring. The second group is where the power of thermal shows
off! Donny took the opportunity of the first wave of strong lift and
made a
stunning time of 49.20sec, compared to the fastest of 67.10sec in the
first group by Kenneth Chan. An 18 seconds difference!
Although the
thermal makes up part of the lift in Kin Ma Leng, it is not much a
"thermal lottery" than the other inlands. When the condition becomes
stable in the afternoon, it makes a steady wind that even out the
thermal influence. The flying time became better and better then. 6
rounds were successfully run and the fastest was made in round 5. Tuba
Wong's 45.86sec was the fastest of the day, while CM Cheng was the
first one to quit ... after he was too excited about the good condition
and flew his Midi to the ground in round 3! Donny continued to lead the
score board after round 3 and got the champion title. The second place
is Tuba Wong and the third is Wing Wong. Wing, being one of the
unfortunate 2nd group pilots (because of Donny's 49 sec ... ! ), was
the 16th in round 1. Calm of mind and well trained skill steadily moved
his place up to the 3rd. Good job!
Thanks to the CD team Philip
Leung, Wing Wong and Angus Lee who ran the competition smoothly in the
difficult condition. It is really hot in the July of Hong Kong!
