Friday afternoon Kilspindie and West Lomond Saturday

The reasonable forecast tempted me to take my Ascot to work and have a half day on Friday. 12:30 saw me heading for Kilspindie.

The wind was bang on the slope and my Ascot was flying well with 400g of ballast in the wings. Only about 8mph but reasonable lift. Grumpy buzzard tried to give chase couldn’t catch my Ascot and he gave up. Quite thermally at times and the model was going well.

After about an hour the wind had dropped and keeping in the air became the challenge. After a break for a cup of tea I launched the Ascot into dead air and scared myself as it plunged, fully stalled, down the front of the slope. Airflow restored it soared out from the slope and soon back up to launch height. My wimpy launch technique requires improvement.

Saturday saw Dave and me meet up at Craigmead car park and head for the north east slope.

Tame robin in the car park

We had a quick fly there but found it weak and bumpy so we headed up to the slope beyond the gate. The lift there was much smoother and better. Dave then brought his Needle in to land and despite a reasonable landing the nose broke off. Again! Dave had to resort to his swift Cyril.

Dave and his Needle before the rain

However just as Ian Stewart arrived to join in the fun the rain came on. Heavy! Sportbrella in the car! Sitting in the rain with my back to the wind wasn't the nicest lunchbreak I have ever had! 

Shelter from the storm!

Where is Ian?

Then the rain eased but the wind dropped and swung away to the east. Eventually we decided to give up and had just set off back to the cars when Peter arrived. We watched Peter try a slope with a bit of east in it on the way back and his FS4 was going quite well. It was now looking brigher so we all headed back to the first slope Dave and I flew on earlier. Much better there. Unfortunately Ian had a technical issue with his new Ceres and was unable to fly.
 

Peter's FS4 scoots past

My Ascot was going pretty well and the lift was the best I have seen on that slope although still a bit bumpy.

F3F Scottish League 3. June 21st

We climbed up Bishop Hill to find fairly light winds crossed a bit from the north. As the first two rounds progressed the wind became more and more variable and the last few fliers suffered from well crossed winds. Ian Stewart was unlucky to flick his Race M in the dodgy air on the upwind turn at the right base. The fuselage of the model took the brunt of the impact and I hope it isn't too long before Ian can repair it. 

Mike's Stinger

We then had a bizarre, although not unique in the F3F world, incident when as Ewan's  Cyril was being launched the launcher's hat blew off and wrapped itself around the leading edge of the wing. Ewan was unable to shake the hat off and the poor model crashed well down the slope. Application of superglue stuck most of the vital bits back in place.

Even the fullsize had to give up annoying us eventually 

After some cogitation we headed south along the ridge to the low north west and were able to get a few more rounds in and drop the first two rounds. The wind direction and strength kept changing and after several re-flights we gave up eventually. Not the most enjoyable event but good to be out on the hills with excellent company.

The eventual winner Mark Treble and his Toxic watched by Dave and Peter.

Buzzard in the mist.

Arrived at Kilspindie late morning to find a light easterly blowing straight on the slope. Low cloud and mist meant visibility was about 20 metres at times. Flew Alula and Long shot. That resident buzzard hates my Longshot.! Then the rain came on. Long wet grass on the way up and back meant I had to empty the water out of my ancient walking boots and wring out my socks. Drove home with no socks. My waterproof boots are having a holiday in Wormit this week!

Back home for lunch in the back garden, the sky having cleared and the sun having come out together with a brisk easterly. Typical.

Not the best day's flying.

BMFA F3F Nationals 7-8 June 2014 Hole of Horcum

What a weekend!

Nice sport fly in light winds on Friday.

Saturday, spent most of the day hiding behind my SportBrella from the torrential Yorkshire rain. Cold too.

My view looking right

And looking left!

Sunday. Excellent day with lots of sunshine and pleasantly warm.

Apparently I finished 12th. Gob-smacked! I must have got some lucky air again in many rounds although it didn't feel like it at the time. How chuffed am I?

Two currys and a few drinks over the weekend with friends old and new. Perfect!

Thanks to 3rd place man Peter for once again doing all the driving and arranging the nice B&B.

Kilspindie Summer F3F league. 24 May Hole of Horcum 25 May

Saturday. Kilspindie.
I won an F3F competition!! Well blow be down!

Who got all the good air? Me!!

I was unbelievably lucky with the good air and managed to keep it together and fly a careful line most of the time and not cut (I did have few moments though!). All that practice at EM turns paid off.

Pleased? Absolutely!

Peter watches David Loomes and his Race M

Go on Mike, give it some welly!

Sunday. I didn't do so well at Horcum the following day. My excuse is I was tired and trying too hard. Cutting is not to be recommended. Still had a great day and so glad I was able to shelter behind my own SportBrella because we had several heavy rain showers. 

Mark giving Keith's FS the heave-ho

Paul about to launch Peter's FS3

View from behind the SportBrella

Tented village

Greg's Needle takes to the air.

Despite the rain it turned out an interesting day with some surprising results. Finished the day off with fish and chips in Whitby and a MacFlurry in Berwick!

Thanks to Peter once again for doing all the driving.

Eastbourne F3F Eurotour 10 & 11 May

A memorable weekend in many ways.

I was at Peter's house for 8 am Friday morning and off we set hoping for an easy journey but an accident on the M6 saw us change to the other side of the country and head down the M1. A detour that I am sure worked out well but when we got to the M25 we were jammed up in the Friday evening traffic. Took us over 11 hours to get to the hotel in Eastbourne. Our return journey on Sunday took less than 9 hours! Thanks must go to Peter doing ALL the driving. Mind you, he had to put up with me prattling away for both journeys. A kin talk rubbish fur Scotland ye ken!!

The compensation was a great curry and a few beers with some of the other guys there for the competition.

Saturday was a hard day with winds strong enough to question the accuracy of the wind meter. That and our sanity!

I only have phone pictures because my camera seems to have died.

In the trench out of the wind. Flightline is out of the picture to the left. Landing is on that small flat area to the extreme left of the people in the distance. Flying behind the slope does not work!! No way back but to land out.

On the flightline it felt above the maximum limit all day. I had to scratch from the last round on day one when, after having trouble actually standing up in the wind, I questioned the windspeed. In the ensuing delay the left aileron on my Extreme got a belt and knocked the servo loose. Application of medium cyano soon fixed that although that servo is now permanently glued to the servo mount and to the wing. Oops! If it ever needs replacing it will take some Dremel action to get it out!

Peter chasing his wing bags down the back of the hill! Apparently he got a great view of the "Long Man" from there!

A lot of time was spent on Saturday trying, vainly, to keep stuff blowing away. The site is very exposed. 

Watching the action

On the course

Late afternoon there was a long halt caused by an ambulance having to rescue a walker from farther up the hill. Day one over we headed back to the hotel for a game of bingo (ha ha) before heading out for another superb curry.

Sunday

Birthday boy :-)

Sunday saw the wind direction change and a move round the hill to a slope that suits the westerly wind. Thankfully the wind had dropped to about 30mph and was much less wild.

Waiting their turn to fly

I was reasonably happy with my result and felt I coped with the heavy conditions pretty well although I now have some tungsten ballast on order for my Pike!

Thanks again to Peter for doing all the driving.

Low cloud on East Lomond

Saturday

I managed an hour with my dlg at Carrot Hill on Saturday and there was just enough lift to maintain height flying from the quarry on Dodd Hill. The odd thermal added to the fun. Had to pack up after an hour because I flattened the 350mah battery.

Longshot ideal for the 3mph wind

Sunday

Optimist

Being an optimistic was up East Lomond early to be met with low cloud on the hill. Lovely day everywhere else! I headed up the hill hoping it would clear. It didn't! 15-20mph wind straight on the slope but less than 50m visibility.

I sat around for a while and headed back to the car where I met local flier Mike who was keen to fly despite the weather. We were soon joined by Neil and I suggested we fly from the low slope just west of the car park which was, more or less, clear of cloud. Success! I flew my Ascot and Mike and Neil flew a selection of models including a Weasel and a bitsa mouldy!