Habo Helimeet 2017 (Sweden)

Definitely one of the heli-highlights of the year, Habo Helimeet!

I was visiting Habo for the first time last year and made a promise I’ll be back this year too, simply a great trip. Last year we were not that lucky with weather but this year, man, did it turn around…

Where?

Habo is a small town (can we call it a town?) next to Jönköping, all the way on the southern end of the biggest lake in Sweden, Vättern.

Not only is the scenery there beautiful but so is the trip from Stockholm via E4 highway. Really a relaxing holiday-trip!

Habo Helimeet 26-28.5.2017

As usual, pack the car with heli-stuff in Tampere, drive to Turku in Finland and wait to drive into ferry. Habo is a five-day trip for me, thursday evening to ferry to seden, back in Finland on monday-morning.

This a very convenient way to travel, drive into ferry on the evening, have good night’s sleep and you’re in Stockholm, Sweden the next morning. And it really does not bankrupt you, own cabin and car for the round-trip is just 133 euros.

Traditions. We gotta keep them up. After arriving to ferry there’s a few minutes before cabin is cleaned so time for a relaxing moment.

So, next morning a beautiful ride from Stockholm to Habo via E4. Weather was really turning to be good, It’s been a while when AC in the car had to work that hard :)

Kings of Habo

And then we have the guys who make this happen. Kings Of Habo!

On the right we have Fredrik, main organizer of the meet. This year was really special, we actually witnessed him doing a flight with a heli! He was blaming on hurry and too much to do last year…

The most important man without a doubt for the Habo Helimeet is the guy on the left, Sören is called “hustomten” (Freely translated to “house goblin”) and it actually says that on the back of his t-shirt. The man is funny, always working, making sure everything is where it should be. I’m sure he is a great asset to the Habo modelflying club! it was really great to see him again and to have chat or few with him! (We have one small thing about him later on…)

Weather

Well. What can we say. Around 30°C (86°F) in the shade. And no clouds to speak of. Total opposite of last year, I think I have never been drinking so much water, lemonade etc on a helicamp before. Picture below is taken on friday when people were still arriving, but you do get a good picture on what’s going on.

No need to mention I looked like shrimp afterwards, really red where skin was exposed, really white on other places :)

All of us who did Habo to what it is

One picture from Johan Deimert says it all. (Published with permission)

Heli’s, People, Stuff

This is also a bit of an international meeting! Last year there was Bossion, Bottero, Mikado etc. This year visiting stars were Miniature Aircraft from US, Mikado-team with Alex and Marik Wiehenstroth and Tim Kostorz. Also there was a bunch of Danish guys who flew Gaui with a vengeance, some really nice and brutal flights!

So, let’s have look!

Here’s Ralf from Mikado, kinda like father with a bunch of babies on the table :) We had really interesting discussions with Ralf one evening, I gotta say I like the dude and the attitude! Hoping to see him again next year!

Oh, Mikado-guys were presenting new 550 in Habo too. And since it’s Mikado they did not settle for a traditional “here it is, on the table”-thing. Alex, Marik and Tim did magnificent flight with 3 of them at the same time, here’s Roger Göstasson’s video of the flight:

I was fooling around with camera taking pics and telling people “thanks, now you’re in my interwebs” so let’s see some things I found at Habo:

I really don’t know the background to this. But hey, a man’s gotta be in touch with his feminine side :) But dude flew really good! :)

Angry Birds comes Finland, you all knew that right? Stumbled across these on a table. I really like the fact that there’s people flying some “unusual” canopies too, really brightens the day :)

This is Ronnie. Cool dude, spends a LOT of time repairing :) If I don’t remember wrong he had at least one crash per day, and always with a smile. Strange people those swede’s :) Usually there’s some bad language when finn’s crash but these swede’s seems to be brand of their own.

Of course no Helimeet-article on RC-Thoughts without at least one picture of a Jeti radio! Here’s DS-14 from a guy flying both light 3D and FAI F3C with a Goblin Urukay. Some really nice flights, we had our pit-areas on the same table so had some good chats!

It’s no secret I’m a fan of charger-cases, here’s Marcus two Revo Bump-cases. We had a interesting discussion about the quality and choice of components on the Revo balancing boards. I have a small thing planned for next season so we’ll see what kind of discussion we’ll be having with Marcus next year :) (Hint: “ecosystem!”)

One of the most relaxed guys on the meet! Had the pleasure to spend part of one evening with these dude’s and I did learn something about swede’s again. For the first, if they offer you a “small drink”, for the love of god, answer “NO!”. I did not know that.. The drink was not small, and it truly was not “light”. I also learned that if I think it’s too big then I’m a girl. Also if it’s too strong then I’m a girl. Now, where can I buy some skirts… Thanks guys! I’ll be prepared for the next year!

Habo surprise!

On saturday, the official Habo day, when day was opened by a info-speech from Fredrik he told us not to have anything in the air at 14.00 and that they had a small event at that time. I did not think much of if at the time. But when it was time and I saw Fredrik being in the phone and looking up to the sky I was sure that there would be some parachuters or something. How wrong was I…

All of the sudden there was a old bi-plane flying LOW across the flightline. He gave us a magnificent flight-show with some of the slowest flying I have ever seen in my life. I was almost certain he would stall but no, really knew what he was doing. Unfortunately I was so mesmerized so I only got one crappy pic:

There’s some better for example on Mikado’s Habo-report here. Fredrik, very well done! you had me!

But now, ladies and gentlemen. it’s time, I cannot withhold this any more.

RC-Thoughts presents, Helge!

I have hard time describing Helge to you, really. Helge is phantom what comes to flying RC-helis. Extremely spectacular flying, always a lot of speed and action added with really great 3D-skills. And he does fly loooow…. And always with a big smile on his face, he really has a relaxed touch to the hobby!

One thing about Helge’s flights tho. He does crash. Quite a lot. He is without a doubt one of the contestants for the title Sir Crash A Lot! So, let’s have some Helge-pics!

Here’s Helge coming from picking up a crashed T-Rex, and as always he’s happy for some strange reason, he was jumping of joy when returning from the field!

And he’s always happy to present the end-result of the flight!

On the saturday evening Helge was “just testing” his 500-size RJX on the hover-area next to flight line. I did see him do some 3D-stuff and after I turned around i heard a loud “THUMP”. Yes, Helge crashed. Again. I walked over there and once again, a great pic of a happy man:

Fortunately really little damage to RJX. We asked Helge what happened and the answer was quite “Helge-like”, simply “I don’t know, my brain feels mushy” :) To Helge’s defence, there was a lot of sun that day :)

If you have no other reason to visit Habo Helimeet, do it to see Helge! Pure entertainment from a really nice dude!

How to make grown man cry?

Well, almost :) You remember our house goblin, right? Sören does actually fly RC-Heli’s too, and he does it with a Mikado Logo. As a thanks for the hard work he puts in every year Ralf from Mikado gave Sören a  genuine Mikado T-Shirt. And then we almost saw a grown man cry. He was so touched, Alltho in the picture he looks like he’s still trying to understand what just happened :) Thanks for all your hard work from me too!

All good things have to come to an end

Unfortunately nothing last’s forever. So Habo Helimeet had to end at some point. Since it was a special weekend Håkan warned me about the car-ride to Stockholm. “Take some time, the last 20 kilometer can take up to two hours due traffic”. Well. He was not wrong…

After all the hazzle I did arrive to ferry and as usual, some waiting in line was in order.

And as a traditional Habo-article finale, the last relax-picture of the trip, from the ferry’s sun deck, still over 25 degrees at 9 in the evening. Excellent end to an excellent trip.

Thank You Habo!

Will I come again next year? Count on it. Just try to keep me from coming! How could I not come, one of the highlights of the year!