Sat 17 Mar. F3F Winter League 5

The forecast for the last 2011/12 Winter league event looked promising midweek but became less and less favourable as the day approached however it turned out that a good 20-25mph wind was blowing although crossed from the west and very bumpy at times. There was some thermal activity too although it seldom lasted more than a few laps. It was pretty cold today and a real contrast from last weekend at Horcum. Brrr…!

Quite a small field today because, for various reasons, several of the regular competitors were missing including, stalwart of the winter league, Dave Watson. If Dave had made it along there would have been 3 Cyrils on the hill:o) With the small field it meant we were all kept on the go flying, buzzing, launching and manning the timer. I was too busy to get many photographs today. David Loomes timer continues to work very well and was uploading a live feed to the internet most of the day. David has a mark two version underway!

Peter had to press his trusty Cyril into service after he had discovered on Friday that the fuselage ballast tube in his P3 was loose and needs some serious fettling to fix. Peter flew accurately all day and was able to get the best from even the bad air.

David Loomes also flew his Cyril which was going well and really pulled it off when he got some excellent air and flew the fastest time of the day. He fell foul of the rules later on when the un-taped nose sheath fell off on fly-through and received a zero for that round although this did not affect the overall result.

Mike had his well sorted Ascot in operation and it managed to look very smooth and fast in the rough air.

Robert Carson’s new P3 looked very good on only it’s second outing. Tight turns and fast in a straight line particularly considering the crossed conditions and it shows great potential and a rival for Peter’s P3.


Ian Stewart had his Strega going well and should have had a good results but an unfortunate landing incident early on saw him sidelined. I hope the Strega is fixed up soon although it will need some workshop time before it is back in the air.

Like last week at Horcum I flew my Vikos with full ballast all day and it flew very well. I still need to be less chicken and pull harded to tighten up my turns but nevertheless the Vikos does cope well with crossed conditions. I could do with less aileron control too so I have something to tweak next time I am out sport flying.

Well, that is the Scottish Winter League over for another year. We lost the January and February events so only managed 3 competitions compared to Horcum where they held all 5. Scottish summer league starts on 7 April. I wonder if I can put away my thermals. Absolutely not!!

We have the Winter League Champion of Champions at Horcum at the end of the month so the winter flying isn’t over yet!