The Hong Kong Radio Control Soaring Society has organized two qualifying F3F races for selecting pilots in a Hong Kong team for participating in the Viking Race 2006 to be held in Scotland, September 2006. The first VRQ race was held in High Junk Peak on Sunday, 18 December 2005 and the second race was held in Ma On Shan on 15 January, 2006.

Report from the first race

Since the wind direction was northeasterly, the venue was switched from Ma On Shan to High Junk Peak. The day marked with full of excitement and challenge. We have one of the most variable wind conditions for F3F in High Junk Peak. Ten pilots participated in the race. Wind was really good in the morning, but unfortunately the contest started very late. By the time it was started it was already in the mid day, the wind speed then dropped and the wind direction steered to the east! As a result, there were two spectacular force landings; one by Ah So whose plane was crashed into the jungle 100m down and the most stunning landing is by C.M., whose Demo was landed in the grass field near Clearwater bay road, this is close to where we park our cars! The fall is almost 200m! Generally, all pilots performed well in a fierce contest. The winner can not be determined until the last round was completed! Surprisingly, Ak Kin, who was lacking behind in the first three rounds, convincingly claimed the title of champion after winning the last two rounds with big margins. Stanley kept the second position and Angus with a big win on the third round took the third place. Congratulation! Here is the score sheet from the first race:
 

The weather forecast said the wind speed was easterly with force 4 to 5, but once we arrived at Ma On Shan early in the morning, the wind speed was actually quite disappointing. The measured wind speed is about 4 to 6 m/s and varied a lot! Strangely still, the lift provided by this slope even with 6 m/s wind was disappointingly weak, don't know why, possible there were lots of thermal activities under the hot sun. The results achieved also varied significantly and the flight was really tense in the first 5 rounds. A good run can lift you to the top of the score list while a bad run can push you down to the bottom! This is certainly very challenging! The contest was started at 10:15am and ended at about 4:00pm. Totally, 8 rounds of was completed. Interestingly, Johnson's Trinity F3B was particularly good in light condition and has been performing very well in this condition. Stanley performed marginally OK up to round 6, but disaster happened when he switched to use Trinity F3F (Big Banana) after round 6. His Big Banana went into a spin after a tight turn in Base B and crashed. This happened both in round 7 and round 8, what's a pity! Ah Kin was behind the ranking list in the first 5 rounds because his RaceM performed poorly in light wind! He borrowed Johnson's Trinity F3B for the last three rounds and obtained two 1000s and one 981! The dramatic came back pushed him to the third place in the overall result of the day. Angus performed very well in some rounds using the Acacia III to keep the second place. Fat Fai performed very stable the whole day with his Aris to finally win the contest. Congratulation! Here is the detailed score sheet from the second race.
 

Photo Gallery from the First Race in High Junk Peak

Everybody is busy in preparing for the race

The beauty of our countryside

Fai's Aris was launched

RaceM on passing Base A

Pong's Sting staggering on its feet towards Base A

Kin's RaceM on a tight turn

See a movie of C.M.'s Demo performing a 72.4s run
 

See a movie how Ah Pong landed his Sting
 

Mak's RaceM on a speedy flypass

Oop! Who is down in the jungle? Poor chap!

C.M. is happy to recover his plane 200m below. He said it is a good tactic to save his energy by flying the plane down instead of carrying it down

Have a group photo and don't forget to attend the next round of race!

Photo Gallery from the Second Race in Ma On Shan

Stanley's Aris is waiting for the run

Angus's Aris and Acacia III are in the fighting mood

Allan' NYX is ready for the run

Ah So's RaceM looks sharp

My goodness, this Big Banana really eats banana?

This Trinity F3B is the superstar today

Ah Kin must be very happy with this Trinity F3B

The stripes in wing bottom are curved - looks good!

No wind, have to wait

Henry, is the setting ok?

Ah Kin is helping to launch Y.C.'s Elita

Fat Fai is helping to launch Wing's Hypnosis

New Sting on crossing Base A

Ah Wing is launching his Hypnosis

C.M. is always happy with his score

Relax, C.M., there is no hurry!

Angus's Aris is on a landing approach

Oop! Ah Wing has to go down slope to recover the plane

See a movie of F3F run of Johnson's Trinity F3B

See a movie of F3F run of Fai's Aris