North Island Comps

[steven_gene]

Is there anybody out there that feels like I do. I've been flying competition for about eighteen months. I'm dead keen and would really like to improve my skills by competing not just at club level. There is just one draw back. I live near Palmerston North......WAY south of Hamilton (the competition mecca of the North Island). According to this years competition calender there is nothing scheduled south of Taupo for the whole year (excluding the Nats).
I'm pretty sure that if the competition venues were spread more evenly around the country it would give people more of a opportunity to compete throughout the year. I for instance can travel up to Hamelton/Woharoa a couple times a year but to expect me to get up there for at least half of the competitions is just not possible.
I'm not whinging, just trying to get a bit of discussion going is there anything we can do to spread things around a bit and give and give the maximum number of people the opportunity to compete.

Cheers
Steve

[NZ Scythe]

Hey Steve, Great to see you are keen, and from what I have read your flying is really coming along!

We have a similar problem in the South Island, our aerobatics competition central is Dunedin - which is a good 4.5 hours drive for me from Christchurch... I was just down there this weekend for a combined IMAC / Pattern comp.

We have always had a small number of aerobatic pilots in Chrictchurch who have been keen to compete, but lately I have really been pushing things and trying to get more and more people interested in competition flying. We have had a number of successful comps in Chch over the last 12 months and the numbers have been growing.

My suggestion to you is to get the word out and make people aware of what you are doing / or would like to do. You should be able to rally up 3 or 4 local members who are keen to fly a bit or aerobatics on a regular basis, you could start out by judging and helping each other out and slowly grow the number of people interested. Eventually you should get enough people together to start running a few club comps. If these are successful get the word out - write an article for the Fliers World, put a report in the NZRCAA bulletin and on the website.

There is no easy solution and it will take a while to get things going, the key to success is sticking with it and showing people that you are really interested.
You have made the first step by posting this thread, I'm sure there are people up there who are keen to fly in competitions close to where you live, if you can show people that is is worth driving up or down then they will support you.

Best of luck, and keep up the good flying!

[Bigross]

Well there are a couple of keen guys down here in wellyfornia. I have travelled to Waharoa from Upper Hutt and can confirm that it is a long way to go on a Friday after work! I wouls certainly be interested in meeting up sometime for a flying meeting.

[steven_gene]

Hey

Im glad to know that im not the only aerobatic entusiast in the lower North Island. I emailed Frazer Briggs about this and this is what he said:


Hey Frazer

According to this years competition calendar there is nothing pattern or imac scheduled south of Taupo for the whole year (excluding the Nats).
I'm pretty sure that if the competition venues were spread more evenly around the country it would give people more of a opportunity to compete throughout the year. I for instance can travel up to Hamilton/Woharoa a couple times a year but to expect me to get up there for at least half of the competitions is just not possible. I know there are some people in Wellington that would love to get up to Woharoa but its a mission to get there after work on a Friday night. What do you think about trying to get some more competitions going in the lower North Island and possibly some of them during the school holidays so that it might encourage younger competitors to give the old farts a run for their money (My Dad said that). I understand that nothing much can be done for his year but could it be brought up at the next AGM for descussion.

Hi Steve

Yes, I agree.

But unfortunately you're in the part of the country where the regular enthusiasm for Aerobatics is you, and perhaps three other guys. Namely Ian Hill, Geoff & Anthony Hall.

I'm sure there are a heap of other guys down your way with IMAC models, and ability to fly the sequence, but the word "competition" usually has them running for their favorite Piper Cub.

If you remember we scheduled a comp at Galloways Farm last year in Norsewood, but the weather was crap, and not much interest was shown either. So it was a fizza.

IMAC used to happen at Turangi, but less and less people were coming up for the events. 10 / 15 years ago IMAC at Turangi was huge, 25 to 30 flying, and many from Wellington. But it slowly fizzled out, and we were lucky to get 10 showing up. In the end most of the people were travelling down to Turangi, and not many coming up.

So to give IMAC a kick start, we trialled a move to Waharoa. The numbers have increased again, and things are looking good.

I was down in the Hawkes Bay last weekend, and had a chat with Hamish Galloway who does pylon, and is keen to get back into IMAC. Over a few beers we reckon a Pylon / IMAC comp at the Hawkes Bay field when the weather is better, would be great. I think we will try and get this on next years calendar. Maybe at Labour Weekend in October, the weather everywhere else is pox, but HB should be nice. Fly all weekend, and have monday to drive home for the long distance people. IMAC all Saturday, Unknowns the following morning, and Pylon for the rest of the day. I think Friday is a day off in the Hawkes bay, some anniversary thing ? I'm sure we would get a few guys from Auckland coming down this far if its going to get a good turnout, but only if its a multi day event.
However, I have yet to approach the Hawkes Bay Club, and of course it would only work if their field is available. I think they have a 436 rally at that time of year ? Is it on that weekend ? Another issue is the Hawkes Bay guys are renowned for not travelling out of the Hawkes Bay. Eg we might get 5 or 6 locals flying IMAC at their own comp, but they won't travel out of the Hawkes Bay for the next comp. It seems that lake Taupo is a bit of a barrier for these guys.

Comps in Palmerston North .... no reason why you guys can't have a few club comps down there.
Easiest thing to run is Sportsman Pattern. This can be flown with a low wing sport model, so you can get other club flyers to have a go.
If you've got guys keen on IMAC, fly Basic and Sportsman.
Do it on the Saturday so it doesn't interfere with the club guys who fly on Sunday morning.

Best idea would be to try and boost enthusiasm down that way by having a few low key events, so you get a few more fliers interested.

Geoff and Anthony were talking about having some big Galtech Sponsored IMAC event at Palmey last year, maybe they need to get this thing happening again.

If you need me to pump it up here, just let me know. We can add new events to the online Calendar when ever we like, and we now have a pretty big email list for the North Island.

Unfortunately with so low a numbers down there, right now Waharoa is the most central site for the majority of guys flying IMAC.

Cheers
Frazer

NZRCAA

Is there anybody in the lower North Island from Wellington to taupo that wants to get some serious IMAC or Pattern competition going down this way.
If any of you are get onto me. Im realy keen to try get something started.

Cheers
Steve

[XJet]

It's probably not much help but there's a few guys here in Tokoroa that might be interested. We're only 40-45 minutes north of Taupo :-)

[Bigross]

The wellington club has an aerobatic comp planned for 17 June. Probably basic IMAC sequence. E-mail me direct if any interest at twobikes@ihug.co.nz for details.
Ross Heald

[Rod]

Im keen too. And our (Wellington Radio Fliers) field near Martinborough has just had (another) 5G spent on it and will be top class in a few weeks, also with unlimited height restriction and 24/7 access.
Rod