Hong Kong F3F Open 2007 was successfully held from 2 to 4 November 2007.  This year the contest was proved to be very challenging for both the organizer and the competitors. The wind direction was changing gradually from north in the first day to the east in the last hours on the third day. The wind speed was varying from over 60km per hour in the practice day and down to virtually zero in the last day. Three slopes have been used for the contest, two of them have never been used to host F3F contest before. The sites are totally new to both local and foreign F3F pilots! It is a nerve breaking experience for the organizer because not only these sites are new to us, the physical demand to hike up to these sites are very challenging for the foreign pilots and our helpers also. This year we have attracted large contingents from Korea and Taiwan. Two pilots came a long way from Australia also. Despite of last minute dropouts, there were a total of 36 pilots joining the contest. Here is a brief chronological account of the race:

Practice Day

Both Korean and Taiwanese pilots came one day earlier to have some practice prior to the contest. The Australian pilots even came two days earlier. All teams set off to the Robin's Nest north slope in the afternoon. This slope is new to us only a few days before the contest. The nice thing about this slope is; it is very convenient to us. We can drive up to the hill, park our cars and walk only a few minutes to the flying site.  The wind was northerly with speed over 15m/s hour. Due to the topology of this inland slope with obstructing hills in front, the turbulence it generated under strong wind condition was just amazing. It proved to be too bumpy for many daring pilots. Ah Kin almost lost his RaceM when he got a radio or battery problem during landing when he switched on the butterfly. His plane was seen flying on its own course on the back side of the hill and, extremely lucky, it just spot landed on the road 1 km down hill, amazing! There were a few repairable damages due to landing and crashing during turns.

Day 1

The wind was still northerly but dropped significantly to about 3 to 6 m/s per hour, so we off to Robin's Nest again. The temperature was much cooler than the day before and it was much more pleasant to fly with less turbulence. Three rounds were completed. Mak took the lead by grabbing two 1000 points in the first round and the third round, respectively. Lin Kuo Ping from Taiwan closely followed in the second place. His F3F turns were authoritive and very accurate.

The organizer has arranged a BBQ dinner in the Tai Po Country Club. Good food with beers and friendly conversation made this event very enjoyable. After dinner, there was a F3F flight simulator contest in the function room of the club. The winner of this flight sim contest was Stanley Chan whose 38s run was just amazing.

Day 2

The wind shifted eastward a bit, so after sending pilots to check the sites in Robin's Nest and High Junk Peak, the organizer decided to move the whole camp to High Junk Peak. It was not an easy decision as the wind was still largely from NNE and it is also physically demanding to hike up. The whole camp arrived at High Junk Peak at 11:00am and the race was started in 11:40am. The wind was initially at about 4 to 5m/s and gradually died down to 2m/s just after a few pilots have flown in the third round. So the third round was discarded and two rounds was put into record. Again Lin Kuo Ping from Taiwan flew his Ceres with super performance and took the lead. Mak dropped to the second place. Ah Kin was lucky because he got a DNF in the third round, but it was otherwise discarded. He was moving up to the third place.

The whole camp went to Mong Kok in central Kowloon to visit some of the model shops after the contest. Digital servos were on high demands. Then we moved up to Kowloon Peak at 8:00pm to have a nice view on the city at night. We then flew foamy planes equipped with light emitting devices. What's a wonderful experience to fly model planes in nocturnal scene. We then had dinner in a Sai Kung village restaurant.

Day 3

The wind at midnight was strong easterly and everybody would have believed that we will have a wonderful time in Ma On Shan. But the weather God was playing trick again this time. Wind direction was suddenly changed from E to NNE at 4:00am in the morning and the wind speed predicted was lower too! So it was a hard decision for the organizer. A pilot was sent to Ma On Shan and he reported that it was impossible to fly in the present wind condition. After a brief discussion with organizing committee members over the phone, High Junk Peak was recommended. But as soon as we started to move the whole camp from the hotel, Richard Frawley from Australia suggested that we should try the slope in Lobster Bay because he has seen a big scale glider flew there yesterday while we were waiting with no wind in High Junk Peak. Well, the slope in Lobster Bay was undeveloped for F3F contest yet, it is overgrown with vegetation. It is certainly too risky to hold an international camp there especially it is physically demanding to hike up to the site. After a quick discussion with fellow committee members, we decided to take the risk and quickly moved the whole camp emeses. We arrived at the slope at about 10:30am after a steep hike, then quickly cleared some vegetation and prepared the slope for a F3F track. We were able to start the first round at about 11:40am. The wind speed was disappointingly low at 3 to 5 m/s, however, the ocean breeze was quite steady and we were able to complete three rounds before sunset. Lin Kuk Ping from Taiwan was a bit disappointed as he had two cuts in the first round. Mak re-took the leading position. Ah Kin did very well in last two rounds and overtook Lin to be the 1st runner up. The contest was officially ended at 4:45pm, then we have a group photo and free flies.

Banquet

The contest banquet and the award ceremony were held in Star Seafood Restaurant in Shatin. Although the wind was a bit disappointing during the race,  we had lot of exercise in hiking up the hills, and we had an interesting experience and thing to talk about. Good food under a friendly environment marked the enjoyment faces of our fellow pilots and guests. Next year Taiwan will be holding the next leg of tour of Pan Asian F3F contests in Penghu Island. Wow! wonderful, we would definitely send a HK team there. Cheers and see you next year!

The organizer wishes to thank the following sponsors:

Windrider Aviation Co. Ltd
Waigo Model
WindFeel R/C Model
Smart Model
Hyperion
Radar Company Ltd
Bentam
Soaring USA
Aerodesign

Finally, the organizer wishes to thank all the helpers who made this event a success.

Contest Director:  Ken Ma
Treasurer: Choi Wing Pong
Publicity: Stanley Chan, Angus Lee
Contest Equipment: Cheng Chung Ming, Y.C. Lui, K.Y.Mak
Catering: Alex So, Lee Man
Transport: Lo Kwok Wah, Ken Ma
Guest Reception: Stanley Chan, Angus Lee
Site Preparation: Stanley Chan, Angus Lee, Cheung Wan Kin, Au Chi Fai, Wing Wong
Contest Support: Pauline, Mrs. Mak  Mrs. So
Judge Team: Barry Tsang, Willy Lim, Alexis Lip, and many more
 

The results of the race are shown below. For detailed score sheet, click here.

Individual Results

Team Results

Practice Day

Robin's Nest north slope is facing a small valley just across the border to China Mainland

The two Taiwanese flyers were so concentrated on their practice

Day One

Two Taiwanese pilots got a snooze in between

Lee from Korea was going to launch for his teammate

Chang Fu Hua from Taiwan was going to launch for his team mate

It's rare to see so many expensive models in this part of the world

CD area and the Korean pilot during the run

Lo Kwok Wah from Hong Kong went down the hill to recover his model

Day Two

Ah Sang's Skorpion got stuck with the nose cone and needed help from fellow teammates

One, two, three, launch by the Korean pilot!

Magic Lee of Taiwan was relaxing on his run

Richard Frawley from Australia was coming to land after a good run

Junk Bay is on the back side of the hill

Mess up in the mountain

Day Three

This is a virgin slope for F3F contest. The lift generated by this slope is fantastic but today the wind was rather weak

This red Aris was on the right track

Liu Shao Yuan was comforting Lin Kuo Ping just before his run

"Take it easy!" Lee Seung Kuk of Korea was in control

Richard launched for his teammate

A group photo just before sunset - well done men!

The SMP team was in a good shape, isn't it?

A photo for the Korean team

Links to sites by other fellow pilots

rcsail.com forum by Stanley Chan
movie page by Hendry Li
Photo album by Hendry Li  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3
Photo album by Ip Chi Sing
Photo album by Apple of Taiwan
Photos by Korean Friends; Album 1, Album 2, Album 3, Album 4, Album Personal 1, Album Glider, Album Personal 2
Diabo of Taiwan photo album
Photo album from Stevegigijoe of Taiwan
movie page by Apple of Taiwan
movie page by Stanley Chan