2015 North of England Open F3F
26 - 28 June 2015

Getting underway
Fun and tech at Hole of Horcum
This year's North of England Open F3F event took place over 2½ days. It sounds like a marathon, but Friday's proceedings started only at mid-day, allowing most of the thirty-three competitors to avoid an extra night en route. I think it worked very well. However, I decided to come down on the Thursday anyway, which provided extra relaxation time before the fun started.
The competition
Friday afternoon's proceedings took place in the nearer of the Horcum bowls, in rather bleak conditions. Nevertheless we got in 3½ rounds with Peter Kowalski leading the pack by some margin, with Mark Treble and Simon Thornton following.
Saturday was a complete change - gorgeous sunshine and a steady Levisham breeze made for a memorable if quite variable day. After another 7½ rounds, Peter Kowalski was still in the lead, but with only a slender margin over Kevin Newton who shot up the rankings after a slow start the previous day. I managed to make the most of a patch of good lift to gain fastest time of the day with 35.17, a time which stood for the rest of the competition.
For the final day, we moved back to the bowl at the Hole of Horcum. Unfortunately the weather was decidedly damp, however we managed to sneak in a couple of rounds with no change to the top three places.
Automated scoring system
All in all a splendid weekend, with Saturday being memorable for the relaxed atmosphere. Any report wouldn't however be complete without a mention of Mark Treble's scoring/data gathering system which he was running on an Android tablet. This was its first major test. With voice synthesis of pilot names, countdown and run times, it already saves on vocal wear and tear. However it promises a lot more, including live results via a local WiFi hotspot, and it's going to be fascinating to see how Mark develops the system.
Acknowledgements
Finally a big thanks to Jon Edison for maintaining a punishing schedule and to Mark, Frank and Ronnie and everyone else who helped. Plus of course to our sponsors T9 Hobbysport and MKS Servos for their continued support with some very tasty prizes.
Image gallery
Results Top 10
1 Peter Kowalski 9836 2 Kevin Newton 9692 3 Simon Thornton 9617 4 Greg Dakin 9549 5 John Philips 9438 6 Martin Newnham 9416 7 Mark Treble 9257 8 Graham Mahoney 9223 9 Ronnie Lampe 9100 10 George Young 9065
Links
GBSRA (results spreadsheet)
T9 Hobbysport for all your glider goodies