This is the site of the Norwgian team F3J 2006
The link to this place for direct access should be:
www.F3X.no/F3J/2006
Jojo also have a diary HERE
All pictures unless noted Jo Grini

Team Norway from left: Jo, Jane, Tor, Alf Erik and Aril

5.august - 13:51 WC flying over
The World Champion still is World Champion!!!!
After 4 extremely exiting flights and the last one with scratching to get air David Hobby is and was the World Champion!!!
It could not have been done in a more spectacular way. As he was at 13min he had good altitude and was just coming home to get his award (he already got an advantige from previous rounds) he crashed with someone in the air. His right tip on the Pike Perfect was hanging like a forgotten Roo and just limping straight home. He landed early but late enough to be THE MAN.
Congratulation to David Hobby and his excellent team. There is nothing like you guys! Pictures of the last launch AND the last landing below. 
Congrats to all other winners. Please go to www.F3J.sk for results

The "Aussie's" with the damaged Perfect.

Craig Goodrum and "Ziggy the Doctor" is towing

David was late but launching did not get him the World Champ medal!

David Hobby coming in for the last landing. Mike O'reilly spotting.
 

5.august - 11:55 Fly-off's halfway
We have finished 2 senior and two junior rounds.
The conditions are sometimes difficult. the first Senior round showed most pilots got full times but in the second David Hobby was the only one flying full time. He almost jumped on the field... Good one David!
Jojo was asked yesterday to throw for Arend Borst but today he found Craig Greening. Video of the second final is out here (.mov 2,1mb) made by Michelle Goodrum. Most pilots were late throwing in the first final (almost a seecond) but in the second some stepped it up a bit. The spots are set up the way they ended. So Arend on A, Joe B etc.

First start of senior finals

Second start finals senior

5.august - 10:48 Fly-off's
We started of with a DLG contest with the rules for World Air Games that will be in 2009. Tomas Bartovsky had made up some rules for a spectator friendly contest. All up at the same time and 3min task. The first who lands is out. Then it goes forward untill the winner is in the air. We started with a small launching area and 2 groups of pilots (5+6). Many flew the small mini DLG "Nemo" (including Jojo) and did quite well. But the last two out there was Jim Monaco (that was granted a thrower) and Phil Barnes. Phil Barnes won offcourse though Jim could have taken him.
We have now started the junior finals and some pop off's and Cody (USA) crashed with another guy (think it was Arian from Croatia). Jojo is looking for the Polish Vojcieck Byrski that is flying his own design (Jantar) and the Pike Giant.. Looks good for him so far. Benedikt Feigl from Germany is probably the strongest though.

Jojo with his Nemo trying to understand the rules Tomas preparred

The winner Phil Barnes got some more to go thru customs with..

4.august - last day preliminaries
So the last day of preliminary rounds are over. It was tough day with above average high winds and some wave flying and big areas that were good. There were some small thermals but they were small. Some of the big guys also got hurt and it is an interesting fly-off.

3.august -
Aril got a funny situation in the first flight. His timer were clearing away some line and did not see his landing. So he had to get a reflight. In the reflight Aril had not yet reached the landing spot so he touched the ground with 3 seconds left and flew further to the landing spot and landed after the beep. The official timer said he landed after and would get no landing and -30p. Most of the timers here does know a singel word English. So there was no way we could communicate with him. We tried sign language showing how the model touched the ground but he did not understand. Even the South Africans had seen it from the pits. Sadly the timers here has not been good. The organizing and 99% of what has been going on has been super. But still the timers that does not know either the rules or the official contest language have been a problem. But I must finish of with that it has been a pleasure to be here.

2.august - 15:35 2nd day of WC
Sorry guys we are not up to this WC thing....
Aril does not get 100's and Alf Erik misses the time a bit. And offcourse Jojo launched early in these blistering conditions. Joe was launching Skip Miller's model on the next spot and I guess we were both going for fast launches. Joe launches with left and Jojo with right hand and Jojo was that quarter of a second too fast. Well nothing to do about that now. The conditions we have now with LOTS of thermals means short launches and late landings is the only way to get to the finals.

The Jojo balloon that bursted?

Pan from the south. Photo by Aril Røsvik


2.august - 13:18 2nd day of WC
We have flown 2 junior rounds and are soon finished with one Senior round. Alf Erik and Jojo have flown with ok result. Alf Erik got 9:50,7 and 100 while Jojo got 9:53,53 and 95. He came in a bit high and had to almost fly backwards as he was trying to extend the flying time. Would have been better to take the landing offcourse..

1.august - WC 2nd day
Very difficult day for many and we also stopped for rain a bit. The thermals are weak and it is mostly easier to get a good area and stay "around" there instead of following a thermal backwards. The best have been far out in many rounds so good eyesight is crucial since is has been low light conditions with some low clouds.

Coming in for a landing

A funny story for Jojo in round 4... How much luck can one have?
In round 2 Jojo broke a line.. It seems that if the lines are too long in water they get stretchy and will break more easily. Then in round 4 he heard after 1 minute from the contest director (50m away in the trailer) that he launched early. He had not heard anything from the timer. So he went down for a relight and was up after 30 seconds. We had agreed on the team manager meeting that it was only the timer that would state if the pilot was launching before or landing after. Anyhow. Got a good launch and was skyhigh in front. Then after 6-7min all other pilots came down at low altitude so a max would give him 1000p. Then the model glitched severe... Lost 100m and landed at 7:50. But the timer had no official time!!!!!!! So the reflight was in 2 groups later and got 8:23 against 9:33. Jojo is happy with that even though he lost crucial points. He came in together with Karl Hinsch that got a few more flying points. But the best in that group (Group 7 round 4) had 9:33. Alf Erik on the Norwegian team had two bad rounds and Aril is struggling with the landings though with nice flying.
WC is moving on fine but boring not to have any juniors to help. Lots of time in the tent now. Planes? Jojo have been flying Supra and a bit Perfect in Martin and at WC he flew Supra in a very calm round and Perfect in the others. His Pike Perfect is one of the first so not so light as others. So the Supra is good for very calm air (got a full carbon wing). The Perfect is nice for all conditions and turns easy and smoothly. It also performs well with neutral camber in high winds and no ballast. The Supra would need ballast but has a thinner wing. Aril is flying mostly Superior but also a few rounds with his Pike Giant when the wind is a bit more than dead. Alf Erik flies mostly Pike Perfect but also tried one round with his big Graphite in Martin Cup. The problem with the Graphite is that he cant move as much without loosing altitude.

Right: South Africa thinks it is cold...

31.july - 19:40 WC First day
Finished with half of the second round Seniors and 2 Junior rounds. Aril and Jo got beaten in 2nd round. Jojo broke a line in dead air conditions (1,22 pentagon) and had only 122m on the launch. He found ok air but not more. Sadly the guys launching higher got a bit better times... Aril flew a bit wrong and have some trouble with his elevator in the landing. Fiddling with it now. Alf Erik will be up tomorrow. A good amount of other pilots got beaten also. Joe Wurts had a mid-air with his Supra I think and had a reflight in a group 4. He did not make a good time. Also Carl Strautins, David Hobby and Philip Kolb had poor times.

Norwegians got food but the Swedes only got potatoes..

Some got hold of local girls!!! Right: Jojo shows Brazil a bit about throwing.

31.july - 17:22 WC First day
First round is over for the Seniors and two rounds for the Juniors. We got held up by rain but Norway served dried reindeer heart (from Rudolf) and showed winter airshow videos on the laptop. So the hangar was nice and all was dry when we started again.
Want to see a small collection of the girls on the field? Go here

31.july - 09:00 WC First day
The first official round is starting right now!
The weather is great and it will be HOT today. We need to fill up our pool and get the fan going in the tent.

30.july - 15:00 Prosessing of models/tx
Prosessing of models and transmitters went smoothly with only one "small" error. It was not allowed to fly during this but the frequency pins were out so people were flying. Jojo joined the transmitter checking line after apx 50 pilots had been there but said no to turning on the radio. We got them to stop the flying as the radio checking was in the opening of the hangar and models could be seen in the air 200m away.. There were no pins available in the hangar..
Later we had a marvelous opening ceremony in the city with all the teams present. 2 hours in 30+ was hot but worth it. The Norwegian team was presented with Jane as flag carrier and all in Norwegian "hot" jackets. I think we need aircondition in the next one ;-)
After the ceremony we the Team Manager meeting. Most discussion were about the typical issues but Jojo had a "pre-speech" about safety. I think everybody agreed and there will be some penalties for not bringing in the transmitter or turning on in readybox. As usual there should be only three helpers and the Team Manager is only for comunication with the organizers. Norway has always dealt with this so no problem.

30.july - 14:32 Training
We went out for some practice flights and Jojo got the same glitches as in round 6. He took a range test (+100feet with antenna inside) and was confident to take another flight that nearly ended in the camping area. Ran for the scanner and found what area the disturbance came from. It was one particular area in the camping. The transmitter was turned off before we could figure out who it was......... There has been some issues here with transmitters also being switched on in the ready box and other stuff. Easy to hear the transmitters of today being turned on....

Senior podium for the pre-event Martin Cup

Junior podium for the pre-event Martin Cup

30.july - 12:35 Martin Cup finals
The 2 finals are finished and the result will be out very soon I guess. Very short starts offcourse and in the first final all got full times. So it was a landing competition. But in the second final there were many early landings and far out.

First landing in finals Martin Cup

First landing in finals Martin Cup. Carl Strautins had a good one..

Ever seen 500+ models? Kostan is proud!

30.july - Martin Cup
The preliminaries are finished and the results are on the web
Jojo tried to get a thermal that the previous round had but did not find it. He landed out after many glitches and had to take number 2 model. So he felt from 13 to 42 sadly. "IF" (there is always an if..) I Jojo had got 997 in the last round he would have been in the finals. Now are soon on to the finals and later model prossesing, opening ceremony and Team Managers meeting.

29.july - 19:19 Martin Cup
After a good thunderstorm the air is "breathable" and calm again. Alf Erik got a good flight in before the day ended. Now it is team manager meeting and we are missing Alf Magne that had to stay home. WE MISS YOU!
Tomorrow we will start at 8:00 and end at 13:00. 2 flyoff's is the ending of the biggest F3J contest ever I think. WC will look calm and cool compared to this. We flew 15 pilots with only 11m apart in the start. Strangely enough there were few crashes in the start and most competitors did not back off!
Thanks to the organizers for a wonderful day.

29.july - 17:00 Martin Cup
Round 5 was a disaster. Atleast that is how we feel just after we have all flown. We might do a few more flights today but our first will probably be after the 19:00 call... Jojo is currently the best Norwegian in 18th place.

Banner and left: some of those you need to have as friends ;-)

Pool and Tor Midtlund flying

29.july - 12:00 Martin Cup day two
The Norwegian team has had some misshaps with Tor missing a few thermals in difficult groups, Aril catching the line and Alf Erik had a bad Tx crystal. Jojo is still up there after 4 rounds. In round 3 he discovered a loose flap but still launched and got full time and 100p landing so he is still hoping for finals.
The weather is still warm but after some days of clm weather the wind is picking up heavily and some rainclouds can be seen in the distance.
Yesterday evening we arranged so that Jaroslav Vostrel (one  of the brothers at Samba Model) could a Pike Perfect. Actually they had never tried one so it was a great pleassure for us to lend out a model (Tor's)

Left: Danish guys grabbing some corn. Right: Jaroslav and Jane

A Martin Cup landing.

Left: Tor and Alf Erik prepares lines. Right: Line managers

Alf Erik comes in for a landing with Pike Perfect.

28.july - 17:00 Martin Cup.
We are now halfway thru round two of Martin Cup and it is hot!
It takes a while even with short preperation times. The Norwegian team did ok in round and results are already on the official web (as .pdf).
In round two Tor had a problem catching a thermal but Aril did ok. We are soon to fly Jo and Alf Erik. Our runners are doing a fine job (Jane and here boyfriend). Many good pilots have lost crucial points but we have many rounds left. It is sometimes difficult to catch the thermals that are vapourizing at low altitude and with heavy sink here and there though most groups have had good lift. Most launches have been low due to backwind or sinking air on the middle of the field. Sometimes we can take short launches.
The wifi on the field is sometimes overloaded so dont expect too much updates.

27.july - 14:00 Carl lost a model.
Carl Strautins lost a model this morning so I took my Pike Perfect up with my Nikon D50 and I will give Carl a memorystick...

 
This is the airfield on the right and tents on right.
The town Martin is only 2km to the right.
big piture (1024pixels) and bigger (2700pixels)

1024 pixels and 2400pixels

27.july - 12:00 We arrived and are ready!
Yesterday we arrived in Martin, Slovakia and got one flights and some food. The Field looks great and organizing is so far very good. Many teams are here so the field is half full of tents already. We have out up our tent ( borrowed from www.et-air.com ) and even a pool in front. The field has good wireless connection by the organizers and good beer and some food. I think we will have a good time here. Today is 30+ so the tent we have is great (it has a thick layer so the sun does not get in). Jo, Aril and Tor has made some flights (now at 12:00).

Bathtub with lines, Norwegians and Barry Kennedy in the background!

The Norwegian team CV HERE
Pilots:
Aril Røsvik, Alf Erik Ross, Jo Grini
Helper: Jane Vostrelova

Eurotour F3J in Podhorany, Czech
1. Sebastian Feigl GER, 2. Jo Grini NOR, 3. Jan Kohout CZE
Results - Pictures - Jojo's diary

Istanbul Cup, Eurotour F3J
Jo Grini went there

Winter F3J in Denmark was a blast!
Links and some stuff HERE

Welcome to F3X.no
This site contains all information you need about
F3B, F3J and F3F in Norway.
The text is sometimes in Norwegian...
Beware that for the time being there might besome links
that does not work properly...

Ever wanted to start with something that is:
Fast, Cool, Silent and on the edge of what's possible ?
F3X is just that!

Do you also like to compete with the best ?
And maybe become World Champion ?
There are possibilities out there - Just grab them.
So get yourself a sailplane and start practice.....

As always - the National Teams of Norway likes just that....
 

(26.july 2006)