What a day on the Crest!

 

  I seem to have made a habit of catching the good lift on the day before comps this year.  With 2 weeks to go to the Welsh open, the chance of a day on the Crest was just too good to resist.  My first model to launch was the original Wyvern, I had intended to switch to the Saker once I had some help launching.  I started off without much ballast in the Wyvern but as my confidence in the air increased I added more weight.

  The Wyvern felt so stable and consistent in the air.  I found myself coming closer and closer to the edge into the compression and hearing the wing come through the strongest lift as the energy built.  It really should not have been so easy to be ripping up the slope like this! It felt a simple process to keep on carving all day.

  Les and Andy were flying their new MambaS models and were having just as much fun, as was Mike Evans and his freestyler but it was the carving style of the Mamba that really caught my eye!

  Great day and good to know that the models can go that fast before my thumbs become my downfall on race day!

Summer league sunshine

 The hole of horcum race is a great excuse for me to spend a weekend in Yorkshire.

 Today's light thermally conditions and a day on the slope at least means I can experience some thermal assistance on one day of the weekend!

 A beautiful place to be!

A little light Wrecking

 The opportunity came up to spend this afternoon on the back of the Wrecker.  Getting to Wales can be tricky just because of the time but the slopes are so worth it so often.  Getting the dogs in the car meant I could only fit a couple of Wyverns in the car.

  It was light conditions but with some pumping to get started the Wyverns seemed to keep hitting the lift and carry their speed so easily. As always the thermals pushed things on, the turns opened up so nicely- I wish I could do this when there's a race on.

 A strange element of the day was the appearance of 2 paragliders coming over from Mickie's.  I can only take it as a compliment that the Wyvern was making the lift logo good.  But when you pump up off course to the height of a parraglider you didn't know was there it's quite a shock!

  Loved the flying and the dogs loved it.

Not racing but great flying

   It's a fantastic problem to have but with Emma at a pre competition camp I just couldn't make it to the euro tour race at the H of H. I did still have the opportunity to spend the day on the Mynd flying the Saker and Falcon.

  Flying is much more than racing so the chance to have 2 days flying was so much fun.  The Saker was as much fun and as fast as I expected. Waiting for the thermals before you start ripping about males F3F runs so easy. Practicing my thermalling between runs was the variation that keeps UK racing fun.

  The Falcon was a massive blast from the past. I've been flying the wyverns for the past couple of years but this doesn't make the Falcon less fun.  I just love this model when it gets on 'step'. Everything clicks, the controls sharpen and she goes so nicely.

F3F round 3

 

  Whitesheet has always been a slope where I enjoy sports flying, you can fly for a week and no 2 flights ae the same.  When we all arrived at Sunday’s race we all hoped that we would be the one that got the elusive thermal and leave the sink to the next guy.  This week I was that next guy!

  F3F models look very different in different air it’s easy to overlook the effect of this and blame your model or set up, despite those 2 elements combining so well in the weeks leading up to the race.  My only chance of good air was dashed as the race was paused for 10 minutes whilst the thermal moved through the course in front of me- sometimes its just not going to be your day.

  Seeing John flying his Saker and Wyvern into 3^rd place does help to remind me of the models performance and success.  It gives me a huge amount of pleasure to see my design going so well.  It also helped to stop me from messing with my own set up.

  Mark Redsell is in a different league this year and even in these conditions he delivered round after round.  Well flown Mark- that’s the way to do it!

Summer evenings

  The longer evenings have given slope dog and me a chance to enjoy some smooth air flying with Saker and Wyvern.

  Definitely good for the blood pressure! I've said before how relaxing the predictable behaviour of the Saker is.  But it doesn't stop me enjoying myself!

A tail of 2 weekends

   It's been a hectic week catching up after my weekend at the nationals.  3 days in glorious sunshine with some excellent company reminded me of many of the non flying reasons I compete.

  It certainly wasn't my results or luck! We knew that the air would drop off each day to very light conditions. But the organisers had the course up and running each day on time and you can't ask more than that.

  After 10 rounds the top of the field were sorting themselves out and it was no suprise to see Mark Resell taking the trophy. My own weekend was summed up by my near land out at the end of day 1. But I've only myself to blame for the cut on day 2 that cost me a couple of places.

  You have to have some luck on weekends like that but you also have to know your model to recognise the good air and make use of it. 

  I switched from Saker to Wyvern as the air got lighter. This weekend in 35mph winds I did the same, but for ground handling.  As a club mate commented 'if I only had 1 model it would be one of those'.

  This weekend I was with club mates on whitesheet with the thermals swinging the wind around the lift was variable but unlike the week before I could wait for the air to come on before the full hooligan flying could commence.

  It was good to see a number of pilots flying a range of models.  Models such as the Baudis Pitbull don't get any slower just because they aren't in production anymore.

  I have spent the last few months working on reducing the weight at the extremities of my designs.  The improvement in performance and handling has been noticeable. Perhaps it was this that made me notice the different philosophy shown in models such as the 2m Tocatta and 2.5m version.

  Just fun flying