Sunday 22 May 2011 Hole of Horcum

Round three of the BMFA F3F summer tempted 4 of us to make the journey down to the North York Moors. Dave travelled on Friday and only had about an hour to drive to get there. I was up at 3:15 to meet up with Peter at 4 and collected Mike as we passed the Forth Bridge.

A quick stop at Purdey Lodge saw us get to Horcum just before 9. The wind direction had us head for Levisham; the first time I had flown on that slope. I have been to Horcum often to discover no wind but today was the opposite. At one point Dave’s windmeter showed I had been flying in 87 mph winds. I could hardly stand up on the edge! Some heavy showers of rain and hail blew through but it brightened up as the day progressed.

Unfortunately Dave damaged his Vikos quite badly when it spun in on the landing approach. The fuselage took the brunt of the damage and a replacement is on the cards. Dave switched to his Race M for the rest of the day. I was showing Dave the carbon fuselage on my Vikos (unlikes Dave's which is glass) and noticed that the servo tray was loose. I had to switch to my Skorpion for the rest of the day but it didn't make much difference to my pedestrian performance. Mike tried his Extreme and Ascot and settled on the Extreme for the last few rounds. Peter flew his very quick Cyril and finished up in third place. Well done Peter.

The report of the event is here. A memorable day although exhausting putting up with the stong winds. The strong winds and nasty rotor meant landing well back from the slope and carrying the fully ballasted models back from landing zone was hard work in the stormy conditions!

Fish and chips in Whiby on the way home completed our adventure on a challenging day. Thanks to Peter for once again doing all the driving.

Not a bad view to enjoy some haddock and chips with!

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.

St Cyrus

After spotting a thread on RCMF about flying from the cliffs at St Cyrus I had wee forum discussion with the original poster Roy Garden about how to get to the slope. On my way back from Aberdeen I made a small detour and found the slope right next to a car park. A 50 metre walk to the launch point. By coincidence Roy was already there with his Mini Vector. It so happened that my Weasel Evo was lurking in the car boot together with my transmitter. Lucky eh? 2 minutes later my Weasel was lapping up the silky smooth lift coming up the 40 metre high cliffs. I really wish I had taken my Race M. Next time maybe.

Had a chat to Roy for a while and he showed me the preferred landing area for mouldies (well back from the slope and not on the edge where I dumped my Weasel!) A really pleasant late afternoon but I had to head home all too soon. About 40 minutes from my house to launch point which is about the fastest I can get to any slope! A great site well worth looking out for. There are even benches for weary glider fliers to rest on.

Very poor picture from mobile phone but you can just make out Roy and his Mini Vector:-

Kilspindie Saturday 30 April

Similar great conditions to yesterday saw Peter giving his Alliaj and Kyril a thrashing on the slope first thing. Ian Stewart with his Skorpion was heading up to join him when I arrived with my Vikos, Skorpion and Reaper.

When I got to the slope I discovered that Hugh Barker was also there and he was tearing up the air with his D40. This miniature DS machine can really move although I have to say it gets small really quickly. We were all impressed and speculating whether Sloperacer had any in stock. Turned out I had Zim's number but I didn't phone. Yet!!

Peter headed off at lunchtime followed by Hugh shortly afterwards. Ian and I had a few more flights before Ian had to go and left me the slope to myself. Some fiddling around ensued before I got my Reaper going well. It is ages since it flew and I remember I had been adding lead to the tail to help it turn tighter but this had spoiled the rest of the handling. Lead removed it was smooth and fast once more.

Some of the "Perth" foamie guys arrived and it was good to see Bob, Jeff, Charlie and Ahmed again.

I had a short flight with my Reaper (foamie) before heading home well happy once again :o)

Royal Flight Kilspindie 29 April 2011

A free day off and a good easterly wind forecast tempted me to email some of the regulars for a flee. Just as I was leaving the house with a car full of F3F models my wife phoned to ask what the dress was like. “Dress? What dress?”

Mike was already there carving up the sky with his Extreme and Ascot. I met up with Ian Stewart and his new Strega in the car park and we headed up the hill to join in the fun. I flew my Skorpion and it wasn’t hanging about in the 30mph east wind which was pretty well straight onto the slope. Excellent!



I switched to my fully ballasted Vikos and it was going faster than I have ever seen it go with tight grippy turns. It liked the great lift today. Pity we don’t have a competition tomorrow because the forecast is more of the same.



Ian had his Strega going well and it looked well sorted out and was covering the ground very quickly.

Ali appeared with his Strega and had a blast tearing up the sky.



David Loomes and Peter appeared at that point to bring the numbers up to 6. Not bad for a Friday afternoon. Peter flew his new Alliaj which looked fast but Peter thinks it still needs some tweaks. His Kyril was going a s swiftly as ever.



David entertained us by flying his tiny Multiplex Fox. I was convinced it was way too windy for it but it coped very well until catastrophically the fin departed which allowed the tailplane to head for the back of the hill closely followed by the wings! Much amusement and an easy fix. David then flew his Ceres and it wasn’t hanging about in the great air. Kilspindie can be terrific on the right day and today was one of those days!

Excellent. Best day flying for ages. Days like today make the less than perfect days well worth it!

Oh, and the dress was very nice!!!

Kilspindie 24 April 2011

After a dismal day yesterday the promise of a dry and sunny day today saw me up early and heading for Kilspindie before 9 o’clock. I didn’t want to be too late back and miss the Easter egg rolling!

The wind was well round to the west but the lift was pretty good; not epic but reliable and so much more pleasant than the rain and low cloud yesterday. (I’m convinced that Kilspindie works better in a west wind than East Lomond does).

I flew my Skorpion for a while and then had a buzz round with my Weasel Evo. The sun came out and it got a little thermally so I had a couple more Skorpion flights and then headed home for lunch; well happy :o)

Saturday 23 April 2010 East Lomond

Low cloud, no wind and plenty of rain. Six months have passed and still no F3F competition! I managed 10 mins with my Alula Evo from the wee slope to the west of the car park before the rain and low cloud drove me back to the car. Visibilty was so bad I got lost walking over the moor back to the car! Dave, Robert, Ron, Peter, Mike and I met-up in the Pillar of Hercules cafe for coffee, cakes and moans!

One good thing is I now have Longshot DLG. Thanks Peter.