MAAA Wingspan

29 FEBRUARY WING SPAN MAAALogo. Indoor free-flight world champion, Len Surtees, has defied the odds in many ways throughout his life. He discovered his passion for aeromodelling and flying at the age of six through a family friend and his interest has continued to evolve with the sport. Len started making planes out of balsa wood as a child, taking an interest in every aspect of the build, and today holds all Australian records in five categories. However, he gave the sport away when he finished his fitter and machinery apprenticeship in 1971, and moved overseas travelling in England, Germany, Canada, and the USA, before building his first trimaran in Vancouver in 1973. Although experts said it could not be done, Len designed a world-first 11 metre re-rightable ocean-going trimaran. His trimaran was sailed around the world against trade winds and ocean currents. Only six boats have ever achieved this and three books were written about the voyage. When Len returned to Australia, he started his own award- winning fibreglass business. One of his most notable achievements was the manufacture and erection of the now-famous Golden Guitar in his hometown of Tamworth in 1987. But it was a shock illness that returned him to his passion for aeromodelling later that year, more than 20 years after he first gave it up. Len was forced to sell his business when he found out he had terminal cancer and was given only six weeks to live. Like anything Len did, he had incredible determination to defeat it. “With two young daughters at the time and a lot of positive thinking I was determined to beat the odds so I signed up for radical and world-first surgery to remove the cancer and was given a 20% chance of surviving the surgery,” Len said. “When I was recovering in hospital over a lengthy period, my mind drifted back to flying model planes and the memories of the great enjoyment it gave me so when I could get out of bed, walk and get home I decided to return to my passion of flying free flight hand launch gliders and control line aerobatics.” Len became heavily involved in the sport as a competitor, winning the USA National Indoor Free Flight Championships in Johnson City Tennessee, followed by equally impressive indoor wins in England, Australia and New Zealand in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 1997,at the first USA National Championship he won, Len designed a completely new hand launch glider to use in the competition. The plane earned him a F1N indoor high ceiling world record with a time of 76.6 seconds. In 2002 the Australian Aeronautical Association inducted Len into the Hall of Fame for setting F1N world records, some of which are yet to be defeated. Five years later Len stopped flying again when he relocated to Tin Can Bay in southern Queensland and returned to designing and building multi-hull sailing boats. This led to his inspirational attempt to sail around Australia unassisted and raise money for the Cancer Council in his nine-metre folding trailer catamaran that he designed and built. He ended up spending 55 days on his own in the open ocean, travelling 10,000km before being smashed by a rogue wave 180km off the southern tip of Western Australia, heading south to Tasmania. He once again was lucky to survive. Len is currently selling his own design foiling trimaran to the UK and now focusing on returning to the sport of aeromodelling. “I’ve led an enjoyable, interesting life but now at 70, I have decided to sell up my boating business to get back into aeromodelling. The aim is to try and break all of the records I have set and that have still not been beaten,” he said. As well as competing, Len has been instrumental in teaching others to fly and would like to continue doing so along with judging in national competitions, creating new models, travelling and reconnecting with old friends. PASSION FOR AEROMODELLING CONTINUES THROUGH ADVERSITY 28