Big air at the Nationals

 

 What a fantastic weekend at the nationals. 20m/s plus on Saturday and once the rain cleared on Sunday 16m/s.  I've not managed to get out since the Champ of champs race and it showed! But I was never going to beat the skilled flying showed by Stefan, Pete Gunning and John Treble.  Watching Greg take them on with a Saker and Wyvern was a brilliant lesson on just what these models can do in big air.

  The standard of competition this year was shown by Greg coming in 4th after putting 9 of his 10 flights under 40 seconds.  The joy of F3F is that we are all locked in our own battles with the clock or the next pilot away from the main competition.

  A fantastic weekend!

Backing British racing

  The philosophy of willow racing has always been to have the most fun as possible flying fast, high performance gliders that.

  I know that I spend more time flying the models most that I enjoy the most.  Only a small part of flying is racing so you need to have a model that is fun.

  To support the British F3F League I have decided to put a Wyvern up as a prize. To win you don't have to win but just come along to any BMFA race and race.  Results have shown how competitive the models are. The Saker is the only uk flown model to win the Euro tour.

 I believe the wyvern and saker are the best British designed high performance models available.  The wyvern is currently only available direct to keep the price down, but winning one makes it even better value!

Wyvern and Saker at the champ of champs

 Seeing the Wyvern and Saker models at the champ of champions race was so cool.  It always gives me a thrill to see what my designs can do. In the hands of Greg the models delivered a 3rd place and we're simply ripping up the slope for the weekend.

  Before getting too carried away with the performance of my designs, huge congratulations to Mark Treble who narrow beat off Pete Gunning to become the winner 

 A great weekend for everyone who attended and amazing fun. 

Ripping up mickies

  There's a massive pleasure to seeing one of your designs really on song.  Watching the Wyvern being rung out was an absolute thrill.  I did have the chance to take a short video of the Wyvern at 3kg but when she was ballasted up to 4kg - sorry I just watched.

  Seeing how different people fly and enjoy the same model shows how just following settings can mean you miss out on a lot of potential.

A week ago JP won the southern league race flying light and ringing the most out of the slope.  A week later and Greg had the same design ballasted up to 4kg and was ripping around the South Wales sky.  One size does not fit all!

Ready built models

   This weekend's race saw me leaving the slope with fewer models that I arrived with - again.

No not a crash but a Wyvern sold to a pilot who was less enthusiastic about building that I am.  I am happy to take on the builds of my designs if that helps pilots out.

  Please contact me for any details

 

  It feels a long time since we managed to get a winter race in.  Whilst the wind steadily dropped off as the morning rain cleared you can’t complain when, as the clag cleared Mike and Will had the course set up and ready to go.

  I was also buoyed by the sight of a new pilot and that half  the field was made up of Sakers and Wyverns.  JP showed everyone the way with his Wyvern, flown aggressively with low weight JP wrung  the speed out of his Wyvern as he hugged the slope and dodged the shrubbery.

  I was still flying the strong conditions from previous weeks but as I shed ballast my own Wyvern pick up the pace and points, even delivering a round win.  Whilst a couple of cuts showed how out of practise I am, the Wyvern’s agility was well suited to the mid 40-mid 50 second conditions ad when the air did come through- well you just have to smile!

  See you at the next race!

Wind, lead, smiles!

  The last 2 Saturdays have found me scurrying between car and slope edge as I try to make the most of the smallest breaks between showers.

  Last summer seemed to be an exercise in learning to fly with less and less ballast. But with the winter winds up to 17ms it's been fantastic to have been adding more and more ballast into the wyvern.  A 3.2kg Wyvern just delivers a brilliant flying experience.

 A very very happy day!