Carving up the Crest

 What a day for flying on the Crest! with a good steady 25-30mph wind and the sunshine generating thermals which cycled through to keep things interesting- days don't get much better.  Meeting up with a couple of good mates also gave me the chance to bench mark my Harrier and much flown Falcon against Andy's Freestyler 6 and the Pike of Les Wood.  These 2 lads can really get their model's going, after a late night I wasn't sure that I could do the same but Welsh open training includes all aspects of the weekend.

  My Harrier was the first to go, I kept the all up weight to 3.5kg, more from seeing the carnage on the slope the week before on landing than worry about the model in the air.  I needn't have worried as I got the Harrier down safely each time- the last 6ft was quite rapid at times.  In the air, if I didn't mess things up, consistent mid 30 runs were the norm.

 A racing duo in perfect harmony.  

Andy has his Freestyler set up really nicely and banged out so many good runs

Possibly the first time I've seen a Pike going this fast and set up this well in the UK.

  Although no damage was sustained in the air my Harrier managed to crack a servo horn after a gust picked up some kit and dropped it on the wing.  This motivated me to get the Falcon rigged and flying, as always I just wondered why I wasn't flying the Falcon all day.  Again mid 30 second runs were repeated over and over again.  Some fun video to show just how inconsistent my thumbs were.

  But what a fantastic day's flying.

VR tested- fast!

   Willingly standing in a Welsh northerly in March may well be the first sign of madness but the moment I stepped out of the car into that bitter wind I was snapped round. 

  The 3m test wing was the first to go, just half ballast hurled off the VR98 slope. At half ballast she was probably heavier than many of the models I have watched so many times on the VR98 film.   Reversals and the tighter turns of VR98 didn't feel as fast as up turns and sweeping carving turns.   

  Even with increasing amounts of ballast the wing was rock solid.  Carving around the sky at these speeds takes gentle thumbs so as not to kill the speed.  But it does feel easy.  I'd like to claim I was practising different turns but there was a lot of just having fun flying very fast in big air. 

  Time to really wake up and the Falcon 100 model- this model wakes you up better than any expresso!  I just love the Falcons- without a course its hard to know just how the 2 models compare in terms of speed.  But the Falcon is definitely quicker and so much fun, fast and quick can be different things.  For pure soaring pleasure I don't think I have ever flown a better model. 

  A great morning's flying and really got the juices going!