HOLIDAY ON ICE 2018,
GJOVIK NORWAY
17
After clearing away a foot or so of snow
the ice spikes for the stooge were
screwed in and the gear laid out on a
ground sheet. The problem in these
conditions was cold hands; the metal
spikes stick to one’s bare hands. Next
job was to assemble the model and
fumble with the bits, the nylon lines
were very tight, and the rubber bands
refused to stretch. Thank goodness that
I had put the bobbins on the rubber in
the accommodation the night before. I
diligently checked that my electronics
were working; some of the others were
having issues due to the cold.
Despite our best eff orts setting up,
it always takes a lot of time - so we
were a bit late getting started and the
fi rst round was well on the way before
we got our fl ights started. I was, as in
previous years, sharing duties of help
and timekeeping with Walt Ghio from
California. Due to the wind drift the max
was cut to 2:30 as a retrieving trip of a
mile each way through a foot of snow
was going to be arduous work. First
away, well not away, was Bror Eimar. The
cold had got to his timer and it simply
“froze” and the prop failed to start. Bror
declined to make a second attempt
and spent the rest of the day helping
others. Walt and myself got away and
maxed. The turns on the rubber were
as expected down due to the cold,
the energy was also less than normal.
However, we both maxed in what was
very thick air, no lift just solid air.
The retrieval was a slog and time
simply evaporated. I got back with a
little time left and I made a second fl ight
- Walt failed to return in time to make
a fl ight. Somehow it seemed to me
Bror Eimar (Sweden) attended every Holiday on Ice
but this year crashede out in round 1.
Walt Ghio (USA) works with cold fi ngers. Henrikas Aukstakis (Lithuania) preparing 2nd place
F1A.
Hakan Broberg (Sweden) with his F1B model.
HOLIDAY ON ICE.indd 17 26/04/2018 14:
