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By : Dr Chris Murphy
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The Kotuku and Omarama Cups were New Zealand's contribution to the 1998 Free Flight World Cup series. With an attendance of over 50 competitors, including some of the top flier from Europe and the US, plus about 20 Australian fliers, the series was by far the largest and most successful international free flight event ever hosted by New Zealand, with nine different nationalities (Australia, Germany, Hungary, Italy Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Ukraine and United States) represented.
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1960 FAI Power World Champion John Sheppard of New Zealand and current F1C World Champion Evegeny Verbitski of the Ukraine meet for the first time
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Both contests were held in the south island of New Zealand at Omarama, a small town in the McKenzie basin famed for its full size sliding and site of the 1995 World Gliding Championships. The early autumn period is normally sunny and calm, but this year El Nino played havoc with the weather and nearly ruined two and a half years of careful planning.
The venue was the vast Killermont Vegas site (45,000 acres/18,000 hectares) located SW of the town, and as it eventuated we were to need every bit of those 45,000 acres to cope with the un-seasonal weather conditions.
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Anselmo Zeri (Netherlands) preparing F1B Wakefield.
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Both contests were held back-to-back with only a single day separating them. We believe this is the first time such an approach has been taken with World Cup events. The advantage for overseas visitors is convenient scheduling, only one set of travel and accommodation costs and chance to remain focussed; the disadvantage, as we discovered is the vulnerability to an extended run of bad weather! The Omarama Cup, as well as being a World Cup event, also incorporated the biannual Trans Tasman Free Flight Challenge between New Zealand and Australia in F1A, F1B, and F1C, accounting for the large Australian contingent in attendance. This year fortunately both countries were able to compete with full 3-man teams in each event, though unfortunately one of the Australian F1B fliers had to withdraw due to illness part way through the F1B event.
The Kotuku Cup event was held first, early in the week, starting with F1A glider. After a delayed start (due to poor visibility caused by low cloud) flying got underway at 0800 in cool calm conditions. 10 out of 23 fliers made the first round 210 seconds max. By midday the wind had risen to exceed the FAI limit, and the contest was put on hold till late afternoon, recommencing at 4 pm with shortened rounds. Finally, Victor Stamov (Ukraine) emerged the winner, with Per Findahl (Sweden) 2nd and Phil Crump (NZ) third.
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World Cup Champion Evgeny Verbitski of the Ukraine
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F1B and F1C got underway the next day, flying from opposite ends of a single flightline. As with the previous day, the wind rose to exceed the FAI limit during the morning, and the contest was halted after the 3rd round, resuming again at 2.30 pm. The air was very tricky, and no one maxed out, so there were no flyoffs, to the relief of some. Anselmo Zeri (Netherlands) narrowly held off John Makin (NZ) to win F1B, and in F1C it was clear that the 5-second engine run rule has reduced performance to the level that good air picking is now essential. Evgeny Verbitski (Ukraine) dropped only 2 seconds to comfortable win from Hon Fletcher (Australia) 2nd, and Dave Thomas (Australia) 3rd.
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NZ's Antony Koerbin won F1A glider at the Omarama Cup
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The mini events and HLG got underway the next day, under calm conditions for the first hour-but the wind returned with a vengeance, and the contest was postponed till the following day, by which time the wind had abated a little, but was still too gusty for comfort. Victor Stamov (Ukraine) flying an F1H and Roy Summersby (Australia) flying a P-30 rubber model both maxed out-leading to the prospect of an interesting flyoff, but wisely decided to conserve their models for the Omarama Cup, and opted for equal first place.
The Omarama Cup commenced the next day-with the weather map showing the same depressing outlook of closely packed isobars-wind and still more wind. F1A got underway late in the day about 3.30 pm, after a series of postponements, and only two rounds were completed. This lead to the awkward situation of having to fly F1A, F1B and F1C all on the same day, a difficult task for the CD, but with a lot of cooperation from competitors, timekeepers and retrieval teams the operation went quite smoothly, despite the by now frequent periodic halts as the wind exceeded 9 m/s.
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Australia's Jon Fletcher prepares to fly F1C in the gusty conditions
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F1A required a flyoff to determine a winner, as Victor Stamov (Ukraine) and Antony Koerbin (NZ) had both dropped a single round during the contest and were both tied at 1254. Victor flew early in the 10-minute window, and failed to find good air, whilst Antony towed for almost the entire 10 minute period and launched into good air to make the 5-min max and win.
In F1C, Evgeny Vebitski (Ukraine) found a huge hole (downdraft) in round 5 and it was NZ's Phil Smith flying cautiously, but making no mistakes whatsoever, who took the F1C event with a perfect score of 1320 seconds, with the on-form Jon Fletcher (Australia) in 3rd.
In F1B, Anselmo Zeri (Netherlands) and Don Blackham (Australia) had both maxed out, and with the wind rising again, the flyoff was postponed till the next morning. At 7.30 both fliers flew off, in absolute calm cool clear conditions, with Anselmo the clear winner with a magnificent flight only one second short of 7 minutes. Superb flying from one of the world's best F1B fliers.
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Victor Stamov of the Ukraine, the reigning World F1A Champion
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The reminder of the day (Apr 5) was devoted to the mini events, which were hampered by the ever present wind, though it remained well below the FAI limit until mid afternoon. F1H (A/1 glider) was the best supported, and saw an interesting tussle between Per Findahl (Sweden) and Brian Van Nest (USA) for first and second, and another battle between Phil Mitchell and Jeremy Wooley, both of Australia for 3rd and 4th. Victor Stamov, who was using a newly developed bunting F1H, dropped two rounds badly to lie in 5th place.
Clearly the week of wind had taken it's toll on people and motivation had waned, as people opted not to fly, and come of those who did made silly mistakes that cost them dearly. It was all over by 3 pm, and people disappeared from the field to prepare for the prize giving, whilst the organisers sat down for a period of frenzied results processing and certificate writing.
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Australia's Leigh Morgan one of the top F1B fliers in Australia
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The prize giving banquet was a memorable one, with much good humour, anecdotes and impromptu speeches and it was well after midnight when the last of the revelers were persuaded to clear the venue by the hotel staff.
Overall, a great couple of contests, on a world class site, marred a little by the unusual weather, but more than compensated for by the good humour, high spirits and camerarderie that saw spontaneous on-field technical seminars being conducted during the periods the contests were temporarily halted. Many of the European fliers expressed the intent of returning in 2000 for the next Omarama World Cup series.
RESULTS OF THE 1998 KOTUKU CUP
AMERAMA - NEW ZEALAND
30 MARCH - 5 APRIL 1998
| RANK |
NAME |
COUNTRY |
TOTAL |
| F1A A/2 |
| 1. | Victor Stamov | UKR | 1267 |
| 2. | Per Findahl | SWE | 1259 |
| 3. | Phil Crump | NZL | 1227 |
| 4. | Bill McGarvey | NZL | 1216 |
| 5. | Brian Van Nest | USA | 1189 |
| F1B Wakefield |
| 1. | Anselmo Zeri | NED | 1274 |
| 2. | John Malkin | NZL | 1259 |
| 3. | Leigh Morgan | AUS | 1241 |
| 4. | Richard Blackam | AUS | 1226 |
| 5. | Don Blackam | AUS | 1207 |
| F1C Power |
| 1. | Evgueny Verbitsky | UKR | 1318 |
| 2. | Jon Fletcher | AUS | 1286 |
| 3. | Dave Thomas | AUS | 1022 |
| 4. | Phil Smith | NZL | 813 |
| 5. | Nik Wood | NZL | 779 |
| OPEN COMBINED (Glider, Rubber, Power) |
| 1. | Andrew Niec - Glider | AUS | 340 |
| 2. | Linc Vincent Sr - Rubber | NZL | 290 |
| 3. | John Sheppard - Power | NZL | 256 |
| 4. | Moira Vincent - Glider | NZL | 137 |
| 5. | Lincoln Vincent Jr - Glider | NZL | 118 |
| MINI COMBINED (A/1, P-30, 1/2 A) |
| 1. | Victor Stamov - A/1 | UKR | 360 |
| 1. | Roy Summersby - P-30 | AUS | 360 |
| 2. | Jeremy Woolley - A/1 | AUS | 349 |
| 3. | Brian Van Nest - A/1 | USA | 310 |
| 4. | Per Findahl - A/1 | SWE | 290 |
| 5. | Richard Dalziel - P-30 | NZL | 130 |
| HAND LAUNCH GLIDER |
| 1. | Phil Smith | NZL | 287 |
| 2. | Richard Dalziel | NZL | 214 |
| 3. | Chris Murphy | NZL | 198 |
| 4. | Stew Cox | NZL | 171 |
| 5. | Andrew Robinson | NZL | 138 |
RESULTS OF THE 1998 OMARAMA CUP
| RANK |
NAME |
COUNTRY |
TOTAL |
| F1A A/2 |
| 1. | Antony Koerbin | NZL | 1254 +300 |
| 2. | Victor Stamov | UKR | 1254 +154 |
| 3. | Per Findahl | SWE | 1210 |
| 4. | Andrew Niec | AUS | 1206 |
| 5. | Phil Mitchell | AUS | 1152 |
| F1B Wakefield |
| 1. | Anselmo Zeri | NED | 1290 + 419 |
| 2. | Don Blackam | AUS | 1290 + 275 |
| 3. | Roger Morrell | USA | 1269 |
| 4. | Richard Blackam | AUS | 1250 |
| 5. | John Clapp | USA | 1231 |
| F1C Power |
| 1. | Phil Smith | NZL | 1320 |
| 2. | Evgueny Verbitsky | UKR | 1277 |
| 3. | Jon Fletcher | AUS | 1119 |
| 4. | Dave Thomas | AUS | 918 |
| 5. | Bill East | AUS | 846 |
| F1G Coupe D'Hiver |
| 1. | Richard Blackam | AUS | 600 |
| 2. | John Clapp | USA | 358 |
| 3. | Dave Ackery | NZL | 109 |
| F1H A1 Glider |
| 1. | Per Findahl | SWE | 580 |
| 2. | Brian Van Nest | USA | 576 |
| 3. | Phil Mitchell | AUS | 535 |
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The three winners of the Kotuku Cup enjoy their bonus prizes of NZ win: Evgeny Verbitski (Ukraine, F1C), Anselmo Zeri (Netherlands, F1B), Victor Stamov (Ukraine, F1A). Seated at left is Phil Smith, NZ, winner of F1C in the Omarama Cup event, with a perfect score of 1320 seconds over 7 rounds.
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