We had a great day yesterday. The weather was perfect, much better than predicted, and thermic
conditions were challenging which always makes for a more interesting contest.

Trevor thought he had launched well above 200m in one slot, but on examination of the flight log it that
turned out to be a launch in very good lift, and although the motor cut at 200m, his new 2m model just
kept on going up in the strong thermal.

I had a few frustrating problems during the day, as witnessed by the lowest competition placing I have
ever had in my life! The elevation servo on my 3.7m AVA stripped it's gears, most probably as a result
of a harder than normal touch down in Round 2. I also scored zero in this round as, having taken a
re-launch I forgot the rules and landed a couple of seconds after the end of the 11 minute working
time!

I didn't spot the problem with the AVA elevator servo until pre-flight checks just before launch in R3,
so I had to dash off the field and collect my back-up model for the day - my 1.8m Electro Junior S.
This flew fine for the next 3 rounds, but then in R6, I obviously hadn't attached the canopy properly
and it flew off just after launch, taking the altimeter switch with it. The altimeter was fixed to the
canopy, (another mistake!!), and the model was thus left with no power or control through the BEC
system output from the ESC, which, of course feeds through the altimeter. Anyway, enough of
my problems.

In one slot when I was timing for Ian, he had most definitely picked a landing spot with the "wrong
type of grass", because he touched down 10m upwind of the 50 point spot, and then his 3.2m
Pulsar proceeded to slide a full 20m plus, to finish 10m past the spot. Mind you, a few more pilots
did find the landings quite challenging as they were all on a slight downward slope of about the same
ratio as the glide ratio of some models, which meant that touch down had to be judged very carefully
indeed and had to be faster than might normally be the case.

Unfortunately, with the pressures of running the comp, I didn't get a chance to take any photos, but
I have included a couple of fight logs from the day as I am sure they will be of interest.

It was very gratifying to see the 2 metre models doing well, and Trevor's 3rd place with his new own
design, traditional build, 2m Thermal Magic just goes to show that in some conditions with some
pilots at the helm, the smaller models can hold their own. John's 4th place with his fast flying 1.8m
model is also worth mentioning. He seems at times to be able to find able to find lift were others
were struggling.

Once again, the re-launch rule was used to good effect many more times than you might expect,
and some quick calculations were being made all along the flight line in some slots as many models
were scratching low down for lift after just 2 or 3 minutes.

I'm looking forward to the next comp already, particularly as I will just be flying and can leave all
the organisation to Mike & Ian!