Rudolph du Toit on the 2004 Fun Fly Masters

Hi guys I would just like to mention to the members of the group some of the results of the masters which was held at Welkom model aircraft club over the past weekend. Guess the reason for sharing this info is also mainly attributed to the fact that the winner is one of if not the youngest to our knowledge to ever win it and well because he is a friend of mine and a valuable member to our club Rosslyn Aero Modelers. It was a very stressfull competition for all of us as the top 6 pilots were a really close knit group considering the scores in the last 6 or so rounds of the 15 flown over the weekend.

I have to apologize if I do not exactly have all the facts correct but I was also competing and with this being my first year flying a shotgun and flying in the competition I was so consumed by the madness I might have missed a couple of things. Well onto the facts our own Ricardo da Silva at only 13 years of age managed to pull through at the last moments and snatch 1st place this year. It is hes 3rd year competing. The top 3 pilots were seperated by very little points so much so that there was something like an 8 point difference between 1st and 2nd place. A big congratulations goes out from me to everyone that participated in the competition this year. Out of the 21 pilots that qualified for the masters we really got to see alot of skill this weekend. Weather conditions had us all really nervous throughout the weekend with wind blowing 25kmp/h plus the entire event. I think at some stages it could have easily gusted close to 40 or 50 kilometers per hour but I didn't have a windmeter handy so maybe Dave Armitage will help me out on this one some time.

Anyways this is what I could remember from the standings and I'm sure it will be posted somewhere soon so we could get the exact positions of all the pilots soon. Unfortunately I am unsure of all the exact positions and would rather not lie to anyone. I do recall where all our pilots ended up and I'm very proud to say that I think RAM also had the biggest number of competitors this year. Maybe Dave will correct me on this one as well if I am wrong? :-)

1) Ricardo da Silva (RAM)
2) Mathew Hirst (Barnstormers)
3) Hennie Viljoen (Barnstormers)
4,5) Christopher Harris and Rob Hurlin (Not sure which way around)
6) S. Frazer
7) Rudolf du Toit (RAM)
8) Arney Sieling (RAM)
15) Herman Smit (RAM)
21) Johan Sieling (RAM)

Like I said I can not remember the correct placings of all the pilots and I apologize for that. The results should be posted soon so we would have the correct positions of everyone. I guess most importantly I wrote this message to congratulate and spread the word about Ricardo who managed to pull such an amazing accomplishment off at hes young age.

The fun fly is the most attended competition I know of in the country where after only the first two rounds already 67 pilots were participating. I'm sure more pilots joined in the fun in the 3rd round as only the 2 best rounds out of 4 counted.

As soon as I get more if I'm not beaten to it I will post the full list of results.

RegardsRudolf du Toit