FxRES April 2024 2m F3L/F5L Monthly Duration Challenge

[Will_A]

Yeah it was really surprising how much lift there was given flight started at 7pm and it was also only about 7deg C. I was always under the impression that generally one cannot expect much lift after about 5pm.... Clearly not....  Additionally there was no direct sunshine for majority of flight due a sun being low behind cloud, despite blue sky above me. Really enjoyed it.

Was worried about battery as this was actually my 11th launch on same battery. But still landed with 3.8V per cell. Great these GNB 850mAH batteries.

[AnthonyB]

CRESt : F5L : 25/4/24 : 28:00

Well that was interesting !

Trying to work thermals that are 5m across. Fly through and you bounce up, turn to circle round and you sink.

First, the full flight, with the now standard 56m motor cut.

Almost no breeze, maybe 1 or 2 mph above 60m.

Many times I found lift and I knew it was there, yet, unless perfectly positioned it did not go up. So there would be a few circles maintaining height, then when in it there was 30 seconds of lift and then it dodged out of my way.

Oh, lots of VERY high gulls.

Then at 13mins I actually got in real lift. You have to see the expanded version, because though in the very narrow band – well just look at how it got bounced. Then the in it / lost it / in it / lost it.

Here is about the 20mins mark. Again bouncing about, but with the added fun of sudden gusts of wind, which could be in any direction. So each time the wind changed, I went down wind to look. Again bouncing through narrow bands.

One last thing, from half way through it kept spitting with rain. I decided that if the weight etc of the rain brought it down, then it would come down. But after a good 10mins, I was not going to be the one that brought it down.

When do I get widespread lift and zero wind ?

[martynk]

Welcome to the 60 minute club Will.

[cirrusRC]

F5RES | Medina | 26th April  | 30 mins 32 seconds

missed the best of the sun,   but 1pm onwards  calm winds and some sunny spells.      Very frustrating lift,  super narrow and lots of sink.   Unless you got away off the launch and got above 100 meters you were finished.   At height the lift was better but once you lost it,  you had to travel a long way to find something else.     A small improvement but won't trouble the top 2.

[JBF]

F5L Medina : 26/04/2024 - 18m58s

Approx 1130h - Sutton Valance - Cloudy, Wind - NE 4-5mph ~ 12'c.

Some improvement on previous but nothing amazing.  Lots of 15-16m flights.  On this site the thermals seem to kick off only slightly upwind of the launch area, so most flying is downwind, i dont know how typical this is.  Probably because the site is slightly south of a hill and the wind has been northerly.  Getting back upwind with enough altitude to find another decent thermal seems to be the challenge - I guess this is thermal soaring.

On this flight I hooked a few thermals heading back from downwind but with each one needed to leave and head back upwind before gaining enough altitude to offset the height lost previously.  Still great fun and improving my skills and feel for the site and aircraft.

 

Edited April 27 by JBF

[martynk]

This is turning out to be a very good challenge.

 

[martynk]

Congratulations to Will_A for winning this one. Well done.

 

New May challenge is up and the league table has been updated