Well I'm afraid this turned out to be an anticlimax for me ...
I'd spent the past year working on my Air show type freestyle flying but decided to have a real go at this competition.
The flying is quite different and I knew I'd have to work hard - and I did!
As soon as I got back from the Oakey event (below) I got stuck into the "Aresti" or competition training.
I trained most days. In the 2 weeks leading up to the comp I flew 25 training flights.
On top of that, I went to the location of the comp, Temora, 4 days early to train in the actual box.
Much to my surprise, I was the only person flying Unlimited - that was disappointing.
The other classes weren't too bad for numbers but overall it was a smaller comp than we normally see.
I flew the Q (qualifying flight) on Friday afternoon, and it went quite well.
The next night I was up most of the night feeling ill and the next morning decided it was best not to fly aerobatics.
The rain was literally rolling into the airfield and the forecast looked like we might not get to fly for the rest of the weekend.
All things considered, I decided to knock it off and head back home ... apparently I was lucky to get out when I did as the weather closed in.
There were still good things to come from my time at Temora. Matt Hall spent the week in Temora too, testing and fine tuning his Redbull Air Race aircraft. I've known Matt for nearly 20 years but hadn't seen much of him since he became involved with the Air Race. It was great to catch up again and learn all his news. Matt also gave me some excellent coaching - what he learnt through his Aresti training in Europe is truly amazing. Seeing the fine tuning that Matt was making to his plane has inspired me to play around with the set up of my plane - already I have made it much better. Thanks Matt. We also had a little fun, on one occasion we joined up in formation for a low pass and outwards pitch in front of the other pilots at Temora. I'm afraid my Rebel isn't as quick as the Race aircraft but she can hold her own.
Thanks to the organizers of the competition. Kay coordinated much of the event with Glen the chief judge and Greg the contest director. Sorry to have bailed on you guys but I appreciate the effort you put in - thanks guys! Also a big thanks to Kaos and Kelly at Temora for giving me a bed and feeding me for the week!!
