[aeajr]

Kevin,

Sounds like you have flown both ALES and F5J. And it seems you like F5J better.

Maybe your comments will help increase interest in both formats.

[kcaldwel]

I have mostly flown informal 150m cut-off height ALES rounds with 2 or 3 of us, but hundreds of rounds by now. There are very few RC sailplane pilots on Vancouver Island, and it is a long trip involving expensive ferries to go to the ALES meets in US Pacific Northwest, so I've actually never been to a real ALES meet.

I practice F5J by myself (not very active club), because I find it far more challenging than ALES. I have been playing with triangle racing lately. I have a few thousand hours of hang gliding cross country thermal soaring, racing and competitions all over the world, so I crave a bit more of a soaring challenge than 10 minute duration tasks.

Given the low population density of most of Canada, and the great distances between cities, it is likely that any sort of competition will only happen in the Montreal/Ottawa/Toronto area, with maybe a bit in the Vancouver/lower mainland area of BC. The rest of us are unfortunately too isolated by distance to really get involved in RC sailplane competitions, except as an occasional special trip.

Out, standing in my field....!

Kevin

[kcaldwel]

I find it is fun to fly ALES or F5J rounds even if there are only a couple of pilots.

Both ALES and F5J are easy to run and score. Most Tx have a built in timer or two, so we just time ourselves. If you get an Altis rather than a simple ALES device, you can use it for either. It also a great logger, and much more flexible, so it is really worth the extra $30 or so.

I have a 10 minute task with a 30 second countdown mp3 file I play over a cheap little music blaster:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Mini-USB-Port...item3a8c8a460d

You can get mp3 files at the ALES league site, and chop and change to suit using Audacity or something similar.

You can make up some landing tapes, or just pace off the landing distances from a margarine container lid or something.

To simplify things, we just launch at the horn. For ALES you just need the flight time, and the landing distance. For F5J you also need the F5J start altitude from an F5J device like the Altis 4. It is easy enough to keep score, and calculate the scores with a calculator for either, no computer required.

I like the challenge of F5J, shutting off the motor as low as I dare. It is an international set of rules with a lot of thought behind them. It is challenging for experts, but can also be flown by novices.

I have sheets for hand scoring for both ALES and F5J.

Kevin

[aeajr]

Thanks Kevin.

One of these days I will likely get an F5J capable device to give it a try. But for now I am set up for ALES in two e-gliders and that seems to be what is popular here.

[ddruck]

If you want to play and try ALES on your own and need a timer, for iPhone there are several excellent timers, not sure what is out for Android. The one I use the most is 'Glider Timer', talking timer, calls out every minute, then every 30 second and last minute every second, but it does not stop at the end and you can catch over runs, I use it for competition all the time. Then there is 'VesraTimer', similar with tons of customization, then 'Talking Timer', very basic, I also have 'RC-Timer Pro' I think it was designed for F3j and DLG, a bit too complicated for my use. I love the Glider timer, quick and just as good as digital stopwatch. I have older iPhone 4 I do not use anymore and I have it Velcroed on my neck strap so it is easy to start if I am alone. It is great to work on your landing practice, ALES or TD.
Here is some discussion on this app
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1999588

[wakuman]

Originally Posted by kcaldwel

I have mostly flown informal 150m cut-off height ALES rounds with 2 or 3 of us, but hundreds of rounds by now. There are very few RC sailplane pilots on Vancouver Island, and it is a long trip involving expensive ferries to go to the ALES meets in US Pacific Northwest, so I've actually never been to a real ALES meet.

I practice F5J by myself (not very active club), because I find it far more challenging than ALES. I have been playing with triangle racing lately. I have a few thousand hours of hang gliding cross country thermal soaring, racing and competitions all over the world, so I crave a bit more of a soaring challenge than 10 minute duration tasks.

Out, standing in my field....!

Kevin

Kevin,

you could keep this simple, just in confirming that you never attended any E-glider ( or Glider) competition, (except the max 2-3 man flying on your Club field, or did you even attend one competition as an spectator?)

This would accomplish that many could get a better perspective on your posts.


I really don't know what Hanggliding has to do with RC gliding?

Cheers

Thomas

[kcaldwel]

......

[aeajr]

Originally Posted by kcaldwel

On to my "ignore list". I don't need to read your posts any more.

I apologize if my posts have bored anyone else.

Kevin

Kevin,

Your posts have been fine. Don't know what wakuman's issue is.


wakuman

If you read Kevin's posts you will see that he has been very specific on his experience with ALES and F5J contests. Go back and read them again.

If you don't know what hang gliding has to do with RC gliding then you don't understand soaring. Both are based on the use of thermal, slope or ridge lift to sustain flight. Knowledge and experience from one can be applied to the other. I would have thought that was obvious, but perhaps not.

[FabFlight]

I agree.

[ddruck]

Fabian, I think the largest ingredient is public information. it is so difficult to find any kind of list of competitions from any of the clubs. We all have contests that almost no one knows about, even neighboring clubs. MAAC has lists of many but is is hard to wade through their system. If there was a central repository of all competitions in Canada of all glider events that would be dynamic with current updates and changes, it may pull glider flying a bit out of the inevitable slump it is falling into.
I travel in the summer and would try to attend competitions if I knew they existed but currently I have no idea where to check for the area I am planing to go.

Dan

Originally Posted by FabFlight

Hi,

There is a very active group of ALES pilots in the Montreal-Ottawa region. Our competitions usually gather 18-24 highly competitive pilots and it's booming too. A new club from the Montreal area joined this year, totaling now 5-6 clubs within a few hours drive. I'm thinking of perhaps organizing a Polecat-type event along with pilots from the ESL. One of our club is located in Lacolle just next to the Quebec-NY border, this is a strategic location 10 minutes away from the border and the A15 freeway. It could fit at the last weekend of August.

The sod farm in Lacolle is really large, with excellent visibility and few obstacles.

With a few pilots joining from the US and Niagara region I think it could be a great Eastern championship with 30-40 pilots on the first year.

What do you think? What would be the right ingredients to get Niagara region and ESL pilots here next year?