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Lundylynda

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OK, here is my Whitesheet RFC 'Somerset Trophy' comp report.

This was my first experience of this competition and I must say it really is a 'Cracking' comp. Having the three different tasks within it, it proved a real challenge in the strong SW wind, this was measured at one point at over 40mph.  Model choice proved to be a key factor to doing well, many pilots were understandably reluctant to risk an expensive model in the challenging conditions, it was afterall only a  traditional Whitesheet club comp not a competitive F3f event.

 Pilots therefore flew whatever other model they happened to have brought along, some of these models were more suited to the conditions than others and did well, some struggled to penetrate into the the very strong wind, this by the way was double in strength to that forecast for us the night before. We had lightweight foamies like Pete flew up against fully ballasted F3f mouldies, this variety of model types served to make the comp all the more enjoyable and entertaining for everyone to compete in and watch. There were lots of big grins and hoots of laughter from everyone throughout the comp, whether you finished first, mid table or last, the day was equally enjoyed as much by all.

The Tasks.;-

Task 1;- Loops, from the moment of launch perform as many judged loops as you can in the following 2 minuits.This task of the comp sounds simple's doesn't it, in reality though it was a real challenge even for some of the mouldies to get out and away from the slope edge. For the foamies it was a sometimes entertaining and serious battle, lol

 Ian Falconer had the dubious honour of going first in this task. Ian flew his X-it chevron wing and set us all a target of 13 loops. From watching Ian's flight It was obvious to us all that this wasn't going to be an easy task. Tony Livingstone flying his Ubercraft Raven raised the target to 15. Joe Cubbitt flew his Alex Mc meekin Falcon and got away from the slope edge into the smoother air quickly. Joe got into a nice rythme and achieved an impressive 18 loops. Graham Mahoney flying his Cyril was next up, he too got out & away quickly & into a nice rythme. Graham too achieved 18 loops. Lynda Blythe flew her Predator, a Chevron Wing, very impressively in the tough conditions achieving 11 loops. Last of all to fly in this task was Mike Seale, Mike flew an older design mouldie (i'm not certain which one ) & achieved a remarkable 19 loops and win the first task of the Somerset Trophy, well done Mike.

1st Mike Seale = 1 point , joint second were Joe Cubbitt & Graeme Mahoney, both therefore scored 2 points each.

Task 2;- On completion of the timed loops task, land your model as close to the spot ( a Frisbee) as possible, the distance between the tip of the nose of the model and the centre of the spot is then accurately measured.

This task proved to be very tricky for all those flying lightweight models, if you flew slightly too far back you stood little chance of landing very close to the spot. For those flying mouldies the task was significantly easier.

The three pilots closest to the spot were ;-Joe Cubbitt 2m 49cm = 1 point. John Rohacker 3m 46cm = 2 points, Graeme Mahoney 3m 50cm = 3 points.  Only 4 cm separated John & Graeme, this small margin was to prove significant for Graeme in his final result.

 

Task 3;- A Pylon race on an 80mtr course. This task again favoured the ballasted mouldies over the lightweight foamies in the tough conditions. Times varied by as much as 60 seconds between these two types of model.

Graeme Mahoney flying his Cyril blitzed the rest of us by posting an excellent 36.45, this was almost 10 seconds faster than second place man Joe Cubbitt with an 46.33. Third place went to myself flying my 1.9 X Models Blade, I posted a time of 51.03.

1st Graeme Mahoney = 1 point. 2nd Joe Cubbitt = 2 points. 3rd myself =3 points.

Final Results.

1st, Joe Cubbitt, Joe achieved a win & two second places to score a total of 5 points.
2nd Graeme Mahoney. Graeme achived a first, a second, and third to score a total of 6 points.
3rd  Mike Seale, Mike achived a first and two fifth places to score a total of 11 points.
4th Tony Livingstone
5th John Rohacker
6th Stuart Wallace (me)
7th Ian Falconer.
8th John Philips
9th Chris Lamming,
10th Lynda Blythe.
11th Pete Burgess.

Many thanks to all of you that entered the comp and for making it so succesfull and such great fun. It was a 'Cracking' day on the slope. I'm already looking forward to next yrs comp.

Oh I nearly forgot,.........just who were the other two regular F3f pilots that Lynda beat in the maximum number of loops in the 2 minutes task of the comp........... Me & John Philips that's who.

Stu, Whitesheet Comp Sec.

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I took along the F3f course & timing gear, this we set up on completion of the Somerset Trophy comp. I ran the middle and gave those that wanted to to get some 'on-course' practice the opportunity to do so. It wasn't a comp, pilots were free to come & go & fly as many times on the course as they wanted, I simply made a note of the times as we went along.

The pilot & model that caught my eye during the 'free-practice' was Pete Burgess flying his Schwing. Pete had the Schwing moving really nicely indeed. Understandably in the conditions, Pete chose not to risk his Schwing earlier in the day for the Somerset Trophy, I'm certain he'd have done very well had he used it.

Neil Rogers enjoyed the opportunity for some 'on course' practice too, Neil is new to F3f and very keen, i look forward to seeing his progress through the up coming Winter league comps at Whitesheet.  

Jp enjoyed 'mowing the Whitesheet grass' again.

After several hrs of F3f practice we packed up the gear & loaded up our cars for the journey home. However, I couldn't resist stopping on for another hour for some sport flying on my lonesome, during which I was treated to a stunning sunset B) , a perfect end to a 'Cracking' day.

See you next time guys :thumbsup:

Stu

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Sounds like  afun day had by all Stu.

I flew in a fun comp a while back that was a good format.

Timed slot, think it was 3 minutes, but it could be altered to suit conditions.

Launch and fly 4 legs of an F3f course and land on the spot and the time.

Scored on time for F3f,

time over or under slot time,

and distance to spot.

It was very light thermal air when I competed which made thermalling up to as high as possible a significant part of the task. 

But spend too long and you overfly the time, not long enough and the F3f time might suffer. 

Keeping the F3f run to just 4 legs makes the climb/dive a more significant part of the timed run.

Another idea that works on a steep sided slope, but perhaps best done with foam, is to put a single tall stick into the slope side a few meters down from where the pilots are standing. then fly two up, racing around the stick, trying to keep the view of the model below the sight line of the top of the stick.

Tricky to do lots of circuits, as cutting in close to shorten the course can make a massive save of time but can lead to a complete lack of momentum making the next turn much harder. Great fun - if conditions are right.

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  • 2 months later...

 Just a quick mention that Whitesheet are having their AGM this Saturday the 24th January at 2pm at the  Dolphin In Gillingham Its an open meeting if anyone is interested in coming along and perhaps thinking of joining. The pub is a new venue for meetings for the club so I am keen to find out just what the food will be like. There will be light bites to eat and a free drink for members. I have it on good authority the beer is good ;)

 

Would be great to see you  :D

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  • 4 months later...

I keep going flying and finding almost no-one there - last couple of nights at Westbury/Bratton camp in lovely warm clear skies off the bungee and with an electric. Last week at Whitesheet into a gentle SW. Where is everyone!?

Heading to Whitesheet tomorrow (Saturday) - forecast is WSW - W 13-18mphish, so it should be very nice indeed, should anyone be up for coming down. I plan to get up and get straight down there - probably mid morning.

 

 

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I'm on my work off period and my wife is away visiting a friend abroad so I have the kids to deal with :(. Frustrating as the weather has been so nice.

On the up side I have been busy building and she's back next week so hope to get out then.

Nice to see you at Bratton and watch your bungee launches.

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Yep, I'll be there Mike - might try and make it before lunchtime this week!

It's been a while since I've had any maidens...

 

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  • 2 months later...
Martin Church

Anyone out the weekend?

Hoping to maiden my Willow at some point. Maybe Monday looking at the weather, NW predicted.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

The flight was uneventful the landing was little fraught as I'd forgot how to adjust the spoiler compensation so had to land with less spoiler than aid have liked. Lucky it was whitesheet & not Westbury Moose.

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Yeh that was unfortunate Neil.

I spent the last 45 minuets over on the northwest ridge & there was a lot more lift over the whole hill there than was on the southwest bowl.

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  • 1 month later...

Hello

This is probably an obvious question, but does White Sheet work in a southerly?

I've seen tomorrow's  forecast for southerly and wondered if any of the White Sheet slopes would work

rodders

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1 hour ago, Rodders said:

Hello

This is probably an obvious question, but does White Sheet work in a southerly?

I've seen tomorrow's  forecast for southerly and wondered if any of the White Sheet slopes would work

rodders

Please read Gromit's reply on the thread below - short answer is - no model flying on Whitesheet South bowl

 

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