F3F Kilspindie 7 May 2011

Finally an F3F competition although it looked unlikely more than once. The forecast showed overnight rain clearing first thing but it was pouring when I first got up out of bed. Ron sent a text calling the competition off and then had second thoughts and suggested we meet up in any case and hope it cleared.

When I got to Kilspindie at 10 there was low cloud down on the hill but the rain had stopped. Ron, Mike, Dave and Robert were already there and we were soon joined by Ian Stewart and Peter. The cloud eventually cleared so we headed up the hill and set-up the course only to discover we didn’t have the battery for the timer. Oh well, sport flying only then! Ron had a problem with his Strega when the right aileron started fluttering and the left one seemed to want to join in! The resulting crash could have been much worse with most damage being to the front of the fuselage.

I had a stopwatch with me and the course was up so Ron set himself up in the middle and we flew 10 rounds of F3F (old style with flagmen, caller and stopwatch). Quite difficult to fly well because although the caller lets the pilot know when to turn you really need to watch for the flag drop to avoid any delay.

Dave and flew his Vikos although he switched to his Race M for the last 4 rounds. Both models were going well. Mike flew his Extreme and Ascot: the latter seemed to be faster and maintain speed better. Robert flew his swift Strega and it went well despite more than his fair share of mundane air. Peter flew his Alliaj and it was going very well and carved some nice fast laps.

Ian’s Ceres was as fast as ever and looked good with a new red fuselage. Ian got some good thermally air at one point and the Ceres picked up speed really well. I got some great air in one round and it was fair shifting until I cut in turn 7. Muppet!

Good to get a completion in at last; the first one in Scotland since last October.