F3F Summer League 1 East Lomond

The forecast wind direction looked uncertain all week but on Friday evening Windmap was promising light south-westerlies which would strengthen as the day progressed and a bright day with sunny spells. The wind forecast was fairly accurate but we never saw the sun all day. Light rain was falling when I first arrived but being early my Longshot got some airtime as I waited for the rest to arrive.

Peter had called a 10:30 start and when everyone arrived the hill was in cloud and looked set for the day but by 12 the low cloud lifted and we headed up to the slope. The late start was a good call and we flew eight rounds before the approaching rain had us hastily packing up and heading for the cars! Still a pretty good start to the summer season and maybe next time we can have some summer weather. It was cold on the slope all day!

Peter had repaired the flap pushrods on his P3 and flew convincingly quickly all day making the best of the lift available and took top position by a convincing margin.

Mike had brought his recently acquired Fosa with him and despite the model needing further dialling in it was looking quick and agile although the roll looked odd but I’m sure a tweak will fix it.

Dave had his Kyril going well but was unlucky with the air more than once and this pulled his scores down and Mike pipped him for second place.

Ian Stewart’s Skorpion was one of three on the slope and it did well with the natural pace of the model coming to the fore in the conditions.

Dave Kelly flew his Skorpion and his times dropped steadily throughout the day as he got used to the course length and after beating the model’s previous owner in the last two rounds made the previous owner of the Skorp begin to regret selling the model!!

Craig Maxwell flew the third Skorpion on the day and he also improved his lap times as he got used to flying the course.

My Vikos went well but I need to tighten up my turns. A lot!!

With a number of the regulars missing today it promised some larger fields later in the year. There are several new models due to appear this year too. We also have a round of the BMFA league later in the year with several competitors from south of the border keen to make the trip so it looks like a busy summer ahead. Yippee!

Winter League Champ of Champs

This year’s Winter League Champions of Champions race was to be held over 31 March - 1 April at the Hole of Horcum which meant a much shorter trip than last year’s jaunt to South Wales to sit about on a hillside in flat calm conditions for two days!

I met up with Peter at 04:15 on Saturday morning for the trip to Horcum; the early start does mean the traffic is light. Dave Watson and Robert Carson had travelled down on the Friday so had a much more leisurely start!

Unlike 2011 this year’s race was flyable on both days although conditions were pretty challenging. After 10 days of lovely Spring-like weather Saturday started damp with a cold northerly wing blowing. Rain blew through from time to time resulting in a few stoppages and the extremely changeable conditions were a trail. Fortunately Dave had brought his Sportbrella so we could all huddle behind it out of the cold and the rain.

During the eight rounds that were flown on the first day a few fliers were lucky enough to get some reasonable air but the majority struggled to fly in any good air at all. I think I had about 6 laps in one round which were quite good but the rest of the time I was rubbish. None of the Scottish contingent got much in the way of great air but Peter soldiered on doing his best with the conditions although cutting in three rounds must have hurt his scores somewhat :o(


Peter had managed to book us into the White Swann in Pickering and the room was very nice although it looked like an explosion in a toy aeroplane factory once we had distributed several damp airframes around the room to dry out. We had to have a fondle and stroke at Peter’s new Needle too! Noice!!
A couple of beers in the bar and we headed for Spice 4 U to meet-up with some of the other guys for a great curry and a blether!! When I got back to the hotel I’m sure I was asleep within a minute of my head hitting the pillow!!

After a hearty breakfast it was off to Levisham and a climb to the slope the locals always moan about but us hardy northerners take in our stride!! Softies!! After hanging around for ages as the wind swung from the south to the desired west and picked up strength and we got started. Peter got some great air and looked like day two would be better for him but unfortunately when it got to my turn (no10) the wind swung more than 45deg off the slope and dropped away. Mark Redsell who was 9th man was waiting for a reflight because of the changed conditions but after much discussion the round was abandoned and Peter’s good round was lost :o(

We move a little further north and hung around for a while before trekking along the ridge to the hill the last winter league event was held and finally got underway but 12:30. More shockingly bad air at times although Robert Carson hit it lucky and had a great round with his P3 as did Paul Garnett with his blisteringly fast Toxic. Only three more rounds were flown and Jon Thornton came out as the winner, Martin Newham was runner up and Paul Garnett in third. AJ won the Willow in the raffle at the end of the day.


Full results etc will be available on the NYMRSC website.

Peter flew his P3 all day Saturday but had to switch to his Cyril on Sunday because the P3 flap pushrods needed some attetion in the workshop. Dave flew his Cyril although a bit of a hiatus in the first round saw a frenzy of activity to fix a displaced Multplex Greenie in the left wing all in time for a reflight at the end of the round. Robert flew his new P3 which continues to impress. I flew my Vikos although a wingtip had to be taped up prior to a wee repair required before the next outing.

Thanks to Jon Eddison and his band of helpers for a great weekend.
Thanks again to Peter Gunning for doing all the driving and putting up with me prattling on more or less all the time we were in the car! If nobody else speaks, George will!!

That could have gone better :o(

Before

After

Lesson learned? Check elevator direction in ALL flight modes.
What a chump! :o(
It had been going really well too.

Kilspindie

Despite the fresh easterly breeze in Monifieth it was virtually flat calm at Kilspindie yesterday :o(
Ali was there tearing up the sky with an electric powered model and Hugh Barker was up at the main slope with a couple of electric powered gliders. Lots of thermal activity if you could get there but the northerly drift meant my Race M stayed in the bag. Fortunately I had taken my Alula so it saw some action. Should have taken my Longshot though!

Extremely busy

With a windless and low cloud day on Saturday and no prospect of flying it dawned on me that if I get my finger out I can have the Extreme ready for the Championship of Champions next week otherwise the Race M will be going as back-up.

So, filler and paint hastily applied. It won’t stand close examination but hard to see the repairs from a distance!
Repaired flap servo in.
Extension to rx antenna added and extensions run up the hinge lines of the tailplane.
New Intellect 1600mAh battery made up and re-balanced the model. Needed a few grams to replace the weight of the 4 cell Eneloop.

Just need to set-up the throws tomorrow or Tuesday evening and hope to test fly it one evening this week.

Busy, busy.
However. The weather looks flyable now so I'm off out.

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!

Hole of Horcum Winter League 5 Saturday March 10

The last of the F3F Northern Winter League events saw me up at 03:30 to arrive at Peter’s house for 04:15 for the trip to North Yorkshire and the Hole of Horcum. Setting off I had a look over at the car dashboard and was reassured to see an almost full tank of fuel:o) We collected Mike just after the Forth Bridge and we were on our way. As we were loading Mike’s stuff into the car I saw Mike give Peter a cd to entertain us on the trip down. About halfway there Peter played the cd and my education was enhanced. Steel Panther. A metal/glam rock sounding band whose songs have an interesting use of the English language and some particularly unusual rhyming couplets!! Hilarious!! A pit stop at Purdy Lodge and stocking up of pies and cakes in the baker's shop in Sleights saw us arrive at the car park at Levisham about 9:15.

The west north west wind saw a move from the Levisham slope to an area farther north and overlooking Newtondale and Skelton Tower. Getting to the slope meant trudging through the heather for 20 minutes which was hard going. I hate walking through heather!! On the way back we took the much easier but longer footpath round the edge of the hill. The wind was slightly crossed from the left and very bumpy and very thermally. If you were lucky with the air some good times were to be had. Mid to low 40s were the good times but some unlucky people were caught by rubbish air and recorded disappointing times. I was buzzing B during one of Jon Edison's rounds and on launch his Extreme immediately dropped about 15 metres and looked like it was headed for Newtondale. After much frantic stick waggling Jon was able to get his model out of the hole in the air it was in and back up to hill height just in time to enter the course! Must be the worst sink effect I have ever seen.












The sun shone all day and the temperatures were very mild. I had to dispense with my jacket and fleece for most of the day. Phew!














Peter had his P3 dialled in really well and set the pace for the whole day. His nicely carved EM turns were definitely the way to go if you could get them right.













Mike had a nightmare of a day and had a string of rounds with rubbish air which seriously pulled his scores down. I had a pretty good day with a round 5 win and a second, third and seventh position in rounds 3, 8 and 7 respectively although my final 12th position was disappointing :o( Such is the scoring system of F3F!!

Interesting to note that several times throughout the day a number of people were questioning if we were on the correct hill and that we should be back on the Levisham slope but Jon stuck to his guns and we stayed put. On the way back to the cars when we got to the Levisham slope the wind was well crossed from the north. Paul Foster and Paul Garnett both flew there and both landed out!! Nice one Jon!

Had a great time though and a stop on the way home in Whitby and the Magpie Café for fish and chips rounded off a grand day out.

Thanks to Jon Edison for organising a great day and thanks once more to Peter for doing all the driving and congratulation on a well deserved win.

A few more of my dodgy pictures.