It’s the best/worst and greatest attraction of f3f in the UK- glorious unpredictability. You know that on any day there’s a chance of winning a round or 2 from the best pilots. The ice cream slope is one that stands out in my mind as a slope that generates a large amount of variation. I really wanted to fly my latest Willow but a servo problem and early morning snow meant that I’d have a quick 5 mins with the Willow before round 1.
The Welsh league attracts some of the best pilots in the UK and it seemed like the Alliaj was the model that seemed to be coming out of the back of most cars- with a smattering of radicals and Freestyler 3s and 4s. Getting the new Willow out gave me the chance to show off it’s improved quality.
The Maiden went well enough to stop me taking out my other Willow so with 20mph of icey winds blowing in our faces (from a range of directions) we were off. Those Alliaj’s always have the look of steady reliable models that were delivering times faster than they look whilst Martin was disguising his Freestyler’s limited ability to climb straight and level with his pumping climb out. For the first few rounds each flight lead to set up tweaks and changes (I really should have the hang of the Willow by now.
The Willow really does react to lift so well. A thermal passing through the course and she accelerates better than any other model I’ve had. Round 6 and the lift was there for me, the Willow’s stability made it feel easy and I set a 44- my first round win in longer than I can remember.
I could tell you the rounds where I waited for walkers and then launched into sink so I entered the course in thermal mode but it was clear who had the classiest thumbs in the field and after 12 rounds the cream rose to the top. It was great to see Stefan again for a day that really reminded me of the fun side of F3F and thanks to my Willow I managed to keep holding on to a Champion of Champions place as well!
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