Aresti Spoken Here! ( by el Presidente)
Hi Everyone,
Sorry I haven’t got this out sooner, but I had some serious brownie points to make up after the Nationals, and then, before I knew it, the School Christmas holidays were upon us and my second career in child care took over!
What’s Happened – 2015 AusChamps -Where’s Jo going?
Well if you missed out on going to the Nationals (2015 AusChamps), then I have a lot to tell you. Our first ever dedicated judging line since I’ve been involved in the club, proved to be a major success. Our Chief Judge of Australia, Jeremy Miller did an outstanding job of organising two international Class Judges from South Africa – Quintin and Ladslow, as well as Grant – the President of the NZ Aerobatic Club. Along with Jeremy and Simon Stone – the President of the South Australian (aka Doc Rock), our five intrepid judges provided world class judging as verified by the ACRO/Fairplay Competition Aerobatic Software. Quintin, who is one of the world’s most sought after and experienced international judges, showed the AusChamps jury how to extract the judge’s ratings from Fairplay, assuring us that the number of flights and judges was adequate for giving us accurate data.
Not only did having high class judging prove a hit with the competition pilots, so did not having to send out the CIVA category pilots to the judging line, allowing them to focus on both their upcoming flights as well as the designing of their free unknown sequences. This relieved some of the extreme time stress on competition pilots that has been steadily mounting since the introduction of two free unknown sequences, resulting in better quality flights.
Time stressed administrators also got some relief from a dedicated judging line, as changeovers were fewer and faster than before. This resulted in more flights per hour and therefore, the ability to complete a full competition despite several thunderstorm induced interruptions to the program. My gut feel is that we would have missed out on the Four Minute Free and probably the final flights for most of the competitors, if we had stuck to the traditional judging strategy of having CIVA class pilots out on the line.
All the results are available on the new Website; www.australianaerobaticclub.com.au
Congratulations to all the competition pilots who were prepared to “bare all” in front of the judges whilst giving it a red hot go in a serious pressure cooker environment. This is not an easy sport, and anyone who has a crack at it, deserves to be proud of their achievements.
Next year’s Nationals will be 2nd – 6th of November 2016 at Tocumwal in Southern NSW. ( Also the Venue for this year’s VicChamps).
On a sad note, our Contest Secretary and Scorer EXTRAORDINAIRE Jo Freeman has announced her ‘retirement’ from competition planning and administration. Over the last few years, as all competitors, judges and administrators can attest, Jo has made an enormous contribution to raising the standard of how we run all things administration within the AAC, especially the competitions. Her legacy will live on through her outstanding work in creating detailed templates, policies and procedures for how we run our comps, making the job for future competition administrators a lot easier.
Thanks Jo and Pip ( daughter and assistant scorer). Good Luck with all your plans and we hope to see you again in the not too distant future!
What’s Happening- 2016 AAC Regs – Our Website.
The number one issue at this time of year is the production of the AAC Regulations for 2016. For the first time since my involvement on the national committee, we have convened a sub committee to review and produce the new regs. Thanks to Trent Stewart, Jeremy Miller, Peter Townsend and Greg McConnell who will join me in this endeavour.
Whilst no major changes are expected in the Non CIVA categories (Entry, Graduate, Sportsman and Intermediate (AUS), the CIVA categories (Unlimited, Advanced and Intermediate (CIVA) will be looked at closely. Some of you will be aware that CIVA have adopted a new competition format where the Known and Free sequences have been combined into 1 program. ( See http://civa-news.com/new-free-known-sequence-explained ). This allows THREE free unknowns to be flown at a world championships, with this being seen as a better test for true aerobatic perfection.
As the name suggests, it has been the policy of the AAC to run the CIVA categories in accordance with CIVA Sporting Code part 6 Section 1. However this has placed tremendous pressure on both Pilots and Contest Administrators at our Nationals, as a world Championships is held over more than twice the number of days. Increasing the number of Free Unknowns from two to three has prompted thoughts of departing from the CIVA template and coming up with a competition format that better suits local conditions, while still keeping internationally aspiring pilots in touch with the CIVA format.
Anyone who feels they have valid input into this conundrum are encouraged to contact any members of the Regs sub-committee. ( See the Website for contact details. ). Do this ASAP as we will need to get the regs out well in advance of the VicChamps.
The other major ongoing project is the finishing touches by Dave Knowles to the AAC Website. The following is part of an email I sent to Dave last week that reflects my thoughts;
“On behalf of the AAC National Committee, I cannot thank you enough for your herculean effort in getting the Website into a form in which we can easily update things ourselves as well as making it into a primary communication tool of which we could be proud.
I was astounded by the complexity of the old set up which had just grown organically over the last decade or so. Cleaning and streamlining the site was a priority for me personally, but it would never have happened if you hadn’t volunteered for this massive job.
We are such a tiny club administering an extremely complex and demanding sport. Volunteering for any job can end in hours of tedious and sometimes thankless tasks. For all of you who have put in those hours, I would like to thankyou from the bottom of my heart. Our recent Nationals and our Website are testimonials of these efforts and we should be very proud.”
Dave is obviously committed to providing us with an excellent website. If you find any anomalies or have any suggestions, he would more than welcome your input. You can email him ( even just to thank him ); brushtail_possum@hotmail.com
What’s about to happen – 2016 Calender events.
We have the dates for some of this year’s competition schedule up on the website, most of which were announced almost a year in advance. (VicChamps, AusChamps, SAChamps). Hopefully this has helped the significant number of members who need to plan their diaries and rosters up to 12 months ahead.
9 to 12 March 2016 – Victorian State Championships, Tocumwal
6 to 10 April 2016 – South Australian State Championships Location TBA
2 to 6 November 2016 – Nationals, Tocumwal ​
Next cab off the rank is 2016 VicChamps, being held again at Tocumwal. This is during the March Labour Day long weekend, so accommodation will need to be booked NOW, otherwise it may become difficult. These are our usual haunts when in Toc;
- The Vic club members frequent the All Seasons Holiday Lodges at Tocumwal. . Nice and clean, 3½ stars with a swimming pool and only 1.5 Km from Tocumwal Aerodrome. Close enough to walk to the airport if you miss the bus but enough time to work out an excuse for being late to the briefing. Now is the time to make your booking so you don’t miss out. First in best dressed! Contact the All Seasons Holiday Lodges on 03 5874 2423
- The Bakery Park Motel is also recommended. Call 03 5874 2490
- Big4 Tocumwal Tourist/Holiday Park (03) 5874 2768
- There are a number of other accommodation options available in town. Please call the Tocumwal Tourist Information centre on 03 5874 2517 or visit http://www.toconthemurray.com.au/
The AAC AGM will also be held during the Vic Champs. The usual paperwork will be sent out, including nominations for committee positions. If you happen to have some spare time and you can feel your volunteer juices flowing, put your hand up and have a say in how we do things in the AAC. Heck, one day you may even be President !
As stated earlier, Tocumwal will also be the venue for the 2016 Nationals. Excellent weather, great local support and amazing facilities make it an obvious and easy choice.
Positions Vacant – Contest Scorer
This is a plea for people to volunteer for admin positions during competitions. As said earlier , Jo Freeman has set an amazing standard which enabled us to produce a Nationals that ran with very few hiccoughs. For this to continue, we need a Contest Scorer who loves software and data so much (nerd), that they are prepared to lock themselves into a room for an entire competition, producing judging packs and pilot score sheets. However you will be immersed in the exciting world of competition aerobatics with all its texture, characters and challenges. And as per the AAC policy, reasonable competition associated costs will be covered.
So if you think this could be you OR if you know of someone a little bit quirky, then please contact me ASAP ( clemence@nex.net.au)
Finally that is all from me. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year.
Cheers
David J. |
