Raoul Island Paper Aeroplane Day

Before Gaye and I left the mainland we called in to a Takapuna bookshop to stock up on reading material for the island. One book that caught my eye was the World Record Paper Airplane Book– plans, pre-cut models and much, much more.

At just $5 it was a bargain too good to miss, so it came with us and has been donated to the library.

We decided to ensure it was read by presenting a trophy for the best endurance flight of a paper dart from the flagpole.

Johnny B launches forth

It was a keenly contested event on Monday afternoon, with most of the island’s residents exercising their option to enter six separate models. The planes themselves represented a stunning range from design genius to totally naive optimism. Some were five minute knock-ups and others had been labours of love for many lonely evenings prior to the competition.

Unfortunately the conditions proved challenging, even with the natural launching advantage of a cliff top 100 feet high. We had strong gusty southerlies blowing, which meant a tailwind launch into rotor.

Gina's effort

Gaye chose a Cessna

Dave's hi-tech machine

Chauncy's effort

Bas lets fly

It proved too much for some of the models with their flights measured in milliseconds rather than minutes, but Craig took the title with an impressive 13.59 sec flight. He used a recycled conventional dart.

Craig and trophy

What did we learn?

1. Timing is everything.
2. Simple is always best.
3. A university education counts for very little in such events.