BMFA round 5. Scotland

Well who would have thought it? The first BMFA F3F league event to be held in Scotland and we had absolutely fantastic conditions on Bishop Hill. So many sub-40 times that they were the norm and a new UK record time of 30.02 seconds. Incredible!! A truly memorable day and one which we will recall with fondness and a degree of awe!! When the possibility of this event happening in Scotland was first mooted over a year ago the thought of this happening in good weather was an aspiration. To happen on Bishop Hill in huge air was unbelievable. We always knew this hill was (probably) the best in the UK and I believe we proved that last Sunday. To top it all, I was there taking part!! Who would have thunk it?

I left for the hill in plenty of time to meet up with Peter, Robert, Dave and Ian to get up the hill and assemble the course before the competitors arrived. 15 minutes after leaving home I realised I had left my transmitter in the house! A swift “U” turn had me dashing back home to grab the box from my pre-warned wife and I was heading back for the hill 30 minutes late! I did text Peter to warn him. The lack of traffic early on a Sunday morning meant I made up 10 minutes and set what must have been my fasted journey to Leslie ever!! A “dash” up the hill meant I was just in time to help erect the base poles. Phew!! Sorry guysL

Peter’s competition report on the results page says it all. An action packed day when all the good stuff came together. Fantastic hill, perfect weather, and outstanding pilot skills. Praise must go to Peter Gunning and Martin Newnham for joint cd-ing the day. Special mention also to David Loomes and his timer/web broadcast equipment. Brilliant.

All the local pilots did well in the challenging conditions. I was a little nervous before the start when I volunteered (me and my big mouth) to demonstrate how to land in the designated area knowing everyone was watching!! I would have been more nervous if I had realised that several pilots had followed right behind me as I walked over to the landing area to watch close up. I only spotted them when on final approach!!

There was some staggeringly fast and accurate flying to be witnessed all day. The EM style was proven to be quick by those who were up to it. Reversals worked well for some but EM had the edge despite intuition suggesting reversals would be the way to go.

Finally. No, the course was not short!! I watched Peter very carefully double check it!!

EPP 60" Nationals

The BMFA weekend was supposed to start with the EPP 60" Nationals on the Saturday but rain and no wind put paid to that idea. 

We met up in the rain at Craigmead car park but we soon decamped to the Pillars of Hercules for tea/coffee and cakes to wait for the weather to improve. The huge "Hawk Moth" in the Gents caused some hilarity as did Ronnie, Frank and Mark winding up the waitress!!!

The rain did stop and a light breeze picked up so we headed for East Lomond. We did have half an hour or so sport flying on East Lomond before the weather closed in and put paid to thoughts of a competition. Rain followed by dark clouds circling the hill before flat calm put paid to thoughts of foamie flying.

A brief interlude Alula flying from the car park but the persistent rain sent us on our way hoping for better things tomorrow 

F3F Practice. 8 July 2012

With the Foamie Nats and the Scottish round of the BMFA F3F league scheduled for next week Peter suggested that we meet up for a practice session today. The weather had been showery all week and Saturday a complete wash-out but we were promised 5-8mph NNE winds and a dry for the Sunday. What we actually got was virtually no wind and light rain.

We walked up the NNE slope about a mile west of the Craigmead car park and Peter heaved his Needle off to try the lift in the very light conditions. The Needle coped very well but the light lift proved fitful and Peter soon landed after the lift disappeared.

Mike (Ascot), Doug (Mistral?)and Sam Smith(Typhoon) launched later on and found some nice thermally air and had fun until the lift gave out when the rain swept in. Good to see Sam join us for the first time. Once the rain cleared I chucked my Vikos off but scraped around for about 5 minutes blundering through some thermally air before a hasty landing when the lift died again. Maybe I should have taken the wing ballast out? Doug was also flying at this time and had to do the walk of shame when he landed some way down the hill.

Ron pointing out the potential landing areas down in the valley!

I hope we get some flyable weather next weekend.

Foamie race that almost didn't happen!

East Lomond foamie competition. 

Despite the encouraging forecast it looked like we might get wet! We did. 

Had a great day out and with the absence of several of the top fliers my luck held out and I managed to grab my first competition win. I should cd more often!! My heavy Reaper does go well when the conditions get rough! Thanks to all the guys who managed to make it along because we were able to have competition and a load of fun! The rain and accompanying strong wind were more than challenging and we all got very, very wet by the time we headed home but it was a blast!!

 Windmap promises it will stay dry.

 Ian the pirate demonstrating one of the flags I managed to improvise for the day. 

All change.

Getting ready for the start.

 Mike landing his new Gulp.

Ewan's Swift takes to the air. Briefly. No lift and lots of BIG sink.

Ewan's face says it all. Where is the lift?

A more than a little soggy Mike looks on! If you look closely you can see the rain! Summer?

Rain

Saturday. Rain so no F3F competition :o(
Sunday . More rain and no sport flying :o(
Summer? Huh!

Purin Hill Saturday 9 June

Not enough time to walk to the much better north slope on the way to West Lomond so I had and hour and a half with my Race M on the backside of East Lomond. Not exactly my favourite slope!

It was blowing about 5-10mph but lots of sink and not a lot of lift. After several climbs and fast passes along the slope I was caught out by a 90 degree change in wind and no lift and ended up landing out just to one side of me. After a chat to one of the three paraglider pilots who turned up I launched again and found some nice thermals and soon had the Race M very high. One of the paragliders decided the lift looked good and launched for about 15 seconds of flight before landing down the slope. Tee, hee!! Never seen the parrot-chutes on that slope before.

Typically the forecast was for the wind to swing to the east but about 11 o'clock it swung north west which put paid to me doing any more flying. Despite the light lift I flew the Race M with full ballast and it never felt heavy! Landing speeds were brisk though! 

After stripping a gear on a Hitec 5085 last week I spotted someone selling HS 85 BB gear-sets (all plastic) for £2.99 on Ebay. The metal geared 5085 (and Multiplex Polo) has a small plastic gear at the start of the gear-train and it is this one that usually strips on the metal geared servos. Odd that a metal geared servo has a plastic gear as a weak point. You could argue that it protects the metal gears but then you still have to buy a full set of metal gears to obtain the weak plastic gear which is part of the set. The small gear in the set for the HS85 BB appeared identical so I bought a set and I was correct! A perfect fit at a quarter of the price. Two more sets on order as spares.

Sunny afternoon at Kilspindie

My plan to do some diy in the morning and go flying in the afternoon didn’t quite go to plan because it took me until 3 o’clock to get the painting done so I abandoned the mess, packed my Race M in the back of the car and headed for Kilspindie for some fresh air fun.

 I had a very pleasant hour and a half zipping my Race M back and forth along the east slope in a good 25mph wind. Full ballast and lots of different style turns but can’t seem to get to grips with the EM style. Maybe I need to contact T9 for one of their £600 P3s! I wish :o(

Flying high and thermal hunting was out today because that bl**dy buzzard was not happy to see my Race M in the air!! I gave it a few scares by chasing after it but with an infinitely variable wing and full telemetry the buzzard has an advantage in those conditions. A 10mph increase in wind strength would redress the balance!!

I had to head home earlier than I planned because a nice safe landing on top (unlike the arrival in the hollow behind the slope earlier) saw the left flap servo with a stripped gear. The flaps were away on touchdown but a grassy tussock gave the flap a good thump. 15 minutes to replace when I got home (after tidying up the mess I left in the house after diy earlier!!. It is a pain that Hitec don't sell the single plastic 5085 servo gear that is the weak link and always strips and you have to buy a complete set for £11. I fitted a new servo instead!! Almost as cheap to buy an HS85MG and remove the gears.