Wales F3F Winter League Dates 2018/19

[Rumbey]

Sorry about that Stefan. My Jedi seemed to have a mind of its own. Thats why I changed over to the pitbill for the last 2 rounds. Need to recheck the settings?

[isoaritfirst]

Just looked at my times on the results sheet, I said that I was making bad choices and slowly correcting them.

 

faster every round- whats the chances of that?

The last round was the only one that I flew the correct flight pattern for all of the flight.

 

 

[Graeme_M]

Stayed over last night for some sport flying today, and I must say conditions weren’t a patch on yesterday.

Highlights for me were Clayton’s 30.05, some of the best EM flying I’ve seen in years  and Stefans flirt with the grass at warp speed.

For me, to have a 37 as my discard can’t be too bad, a truly epic day that shall be talked about for some time.

Thanks to Joel for organising and Stefan & Andy for running the middle

This is why we do it!

Graeme

 

 

[Gromit]

Congratulations Joel on winning the comp, & for a blistering Sub 30 , A great reward for you after the disappointment & frustrations of trying to run a Welsh Winter lg comp over the past 2 yrs 

Congrats Skip on being runner up & for the 'Cracking' PB , I have enjoyed reading your blog.

Congrats Stefan on your third place. its great to read from your post that you had such a very enjoyable & memorable comp 

Well done to everyone else on your own results & for the many new PB's .

 

  Stu. 

 

[Redbird]

What a great day that was. My first time flying in Wales and I happened to be there for an epic comp! Reduced my personal best time (in three comps with the Rotmilan) from 50sec to 40, which was slow for the day but I felt I flew well enough, I enjoyed it immensely and will never forget seeing some really ace flying.

Highlights for me started straight away watching the first, test, flight by Greg Dakin with a pink Redshift which went amazingly fast to my eyes. Later on in the rounds I watched it heading for orbit after a few pumps, absolutely awesome. Also Clayton's wing and the blue gliders of Stefan and Joel were almost making me feel sorry for air molecules, incredible stuff. In fact everyone I watched flew very well.

One sickening moment for me was when I launched John Treble's Pitbull, wearing a rubber gardening glove that I expected to be perfect for gripping on launch. It went straight to the ground six feet in front of my feet because I couldn't release it fast enough. A horrible feeling and I won't be grasping a glider in front of the wing with a grippy glove again. No surprise that I was not asked for a launch after that. Fortunately the glider seemed ok and John continued with the round after someone else launched for him. The other sickening moment was watching my glider dive fast for the ground when trying to land after the sixth round and hearing an awful crunch at impact. I couldn't pull it out of the ground until I had dug with my fingers to halfway along the canopy. Quite extensive damage but I'll repair it somehow.

Anyway, the myriad personal challenges involved with flying the simple F3F task seems to regularly gather confident pilots for friendly battle, which is great by me.

As a record I got my phone out then videoed a flight which happened to be one of Nigel Witchall's. Here:

 

[Kyri]

That is a good video, (what phone is it?) Shame about the plane, but hopefully the wing joiner snapped and saved the wings?

 

[Brett82]

Really sorry to see that Bruce, I hope you can get it back in the air soon. Don't let it knock your confidence, those low 40's were really good mate.

And don't stress about the launch. It's not nice but I've seen a very experienced person do that in a eurotour comp. These things happen.

[Redbird]

1 hour ago, Kyri said:

That is a good video, (what phone is it?) Shame about the plane, but hopefully the wing joiner snapped and saved the wings?

 

Well thanks Kyri, the phone is an HTC U Play. Very happy with it.

Wing joiner only slightly damaged, possibly from lead inside, don't know about the wings yet, tomorrow.

[Nigel_W]

That was indeed a fantastic day's flying.  Brilliant to see experienced pilots doing what they really are in F3F for, and what the current models can do.  Well flown by Joel, Clayton and Stefan to top the board.

Bruce thanks for the vid, I rarely get the "observers eye" view of my flying, it needs a fair bit of tidying up....  Still, really happy with six sub-40's, most of which were under my recent PB (including that flight).  You should be pleased with yourself overall, as it takes a lot of bottle to fly on a day like that when you are new to it.

[Redbird]

40 minutes ago, Brett82 said:

Really sorry to see that Bruce, I hope you can get it back in the air soon. Don't let it knock your confidence, those low 40's were really good mate.

And don't stress about the launch. It's not nice but I've seen a very experienced person do that in a eurotour comp. These things happen.

Cheers Brett, I was deflated for sure but it hasn't put me off at all.

[oipigface]

7 hours ago, Redbird said:

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGH!!!!!

[Redbird]

3 hours ago, oipigface said:

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGH!!!!!

Yes John. Well expressed.

Not sure what I did wrong, don't think signals were lost, hellish gusty at times so severe rotor most likely but lost airspeed at one point anyway! Was carrying 1.75kg. 

Don't want to it take over this thread, Rotty will pull through.

[Skip]

It was lovely to meet Nigel and Bruce and put faces to their names. Also fantastic to see Chris again as a proper local boy! I wish I was able to do some more wandering around and chatting to people. 

Landing is always tough at the Crest. Days like Saturday you are never going to get a consistently smooth breeze to land in.

 

[isoaritfirst]

The best way I have found to land on sites that suffer with some rotor is to hover high above the landing area not very far back, then under full crow dive steeply to the spot, its surprising how slow you can go even in a dive. as the ground approaches flare a little and change to half brake so the model can fly slightly forward. 

when under half crow KEEP using the ailerons, its easy to think the model is settled, but often it will need a small correction as it nears the ground.

Coming in on a long flat approach often exposes you to much worse buffeting.

[Jerry Lunt]

6 hours ago, isoaritfirst said:

The best way I have found to land on sites that suffer with some rotor is to hover high above the landing area not very far back, then under full crow dive steeply to the spot, its surprising how slow you can go even in a dive. as the ground approaches flare a little and change to half brake so the model can fly slightly forward. 

when under half crow KEEP using the ailerons, its easy to think the model is settled, but often it will need a small correction as it nears the ground.

Coming in on a long flat approach often exposes you to much worse buffeting.

I value your experience Mike and don't I know it about coming in long in gusty conditions!!

........ although the above advice is good I've little doubt, it goes against what you always told me: "keep it moving forward, don't hover as if the wind drops, so does the plane"

I guess it is a case of use the right method for the conditions.

[Andy_B]

Jerry  ..Mike is talking about hovering at 300feet ...not a few feet off the deck 

[Jerry Lunt]

8 minutes ago, Andy_B said:

Jerry  ..Mike is talking about hovering at 300feet ...not a few feet off the deck 

That's not how it reads to me!!  He's talking about landing.

[Andy_B]

so how high do you consider high...........ill leave it to Mike to clarify 

[Jerry Lunt]

Reading again  ........ I see's what Mike means.  Apologies.

[ChrisInTheVale]

Great to see faces I haven’t seeen for a long time and many for the first  time. 

Being only my 3rd go at an F3F comp I was greatful for the advice of several and the calming influence of Joel in the middle!

I did take it rather cautiously and as John T. pointed out I was probably almost running the course again either side of the flag as I was so paranoid about cutting. The art of anticipation rather than waiting for the beep seems fundamental and unless a couple of extras with whistles are available on my local slope, I had jolly well better turn up at each welsh winter league comp as a minimum to get the experience. 

It was great to see what I can aspire to try and achieve by watching the rest  of you throughout the day.  Despite modest efforts, I am thrilled to have started with a 45 (I think 1 sec faster than my last go a couple of years ago] and then have a couple of rounds at 42 and then a couple at 41 and  possible one just about 40. (I may need to ask the time keeper for a reminder as I was too hyped to make a note of my times). I guess continuous improvement is the name of the game and I’m desperate to get to the slope to practise. 

Well done the leaders, many thanks to the organisers and folks in the middle.

Fantasic  day, great company, great conditions. Fingers crossed we have another great one next month!