Saturday 5 Nov. Northern Winter League 1

The forecast for the first Northern Winter League F3F event at the Hole of Horcum had looked dodgy all week but things were looking more promising by Friday until early evening when it looked less encouraging. Jon Edison sent out a cautious “On” email suggesting it may not be wise for competitors to travel a long way in case the competition didn’t happen. I called Peter and after thinking about it for a while Peter thought it worth the journey and with Mike equally keen the three of us agreed to give it a go.

I was at Peter’s house for 4am and we headed off to collect Mike on the way. Yawn!

A stop at Purdy Lodge for breakfast (egg roll for me) and we arrived at Horcum to see low cloud and poor visibility. Oh oh! Richard Bago and Paul Middleton were confident that it would clear. After half an hour of chat and banter the weather indeed seemed to be improving and we all headed for the trudge to the north-west slope. Course set-up, more banter, and the locals were proved correct and we were able to fly. We had to stop for 15 minutes after the first round when the low cloud made a re-appearance but after that we flew another uninterrupted 8 rounds.

The wind was blowing about 20-25mph, crossed from the right, and lift was very variable. Getting ten laps of good air required some luck. Skill helped too and the best guys were very lucky as usual and finished at the top!

Peter was flying his Predator 3 and coped with the conditions very well finishing in fourth position. The rarity of the P3 caused much interest and discussion. The unusual colour scheme received many words of approval. I thought the predominantly white model stood out exceptionaly well in the misty low cloud. NOT!











Mike left his Ascot in the car and only flew his Extreme and finished in eighth position. I finished in eleventh, I never managed to get my Vikos below 50 seconds all day:(

Interesting to see three Skopions being flown today, finishing second, sixth and ninth.. Next time I may try mine!

Mark Redsell flew his Freestyler 3 consistently quickly all day and was a convincing winner.

Paul Garnett had his hastily put together “bitsa” Skorpion going well too after his return from foreign climes and took second place. Paul got some fantastic air at one point and it looked like a very fast time til he cut! His Skorpion was ballistic!

Paul Middleton flew his Vikos very accurately and ended up in third place

Full results:-

1 Mark Redsell
2 Paul Garnett
3 Paul Middleton
4 Peter Gunning
5 Keith Wood
6 Paul Foster
7 Richard Bago
8 Mike MacCracken
9 Dave Wright
10 Ronnie Lampe
11 George Young
12 Jon Edison
13 Mark Treble
14 Egon Lewin

Thanks to Jon and his helpers for a great day out.

Scores and write up should be available on NYMRSC website.

Scottish Winter League starts in two weeks. Yippee