By a bit of a fluke and some creative interpretation of mr Plod's rules for the road, I arrived at exactly 10! I had intended on getting there an hour earlier to have a bit of a trimming flight, but my bed was just toooo comfy this morning.
It was great to catch up with some guys I had flown with previously and also to meet some personalities I had only 'seen' online. It was quite exciting for me to meet Pat Teakle and launch one of his scale planes and watch him throw it around the slalom course. He's quite handy with a transmitter as well as a building board!
The slalom comp consisted of launching out between the start/finish gate, flying left beyond gate 1, turning upslope towards gate 2, flying back towards gate 1 and around the outside of it, flying back out through the start finish gate and out passed gate 3, turning upslope to fly around gate 4 then back outside gate 3 and through the start finish gate. the pilot then walks back to gate 5 behind him/her and flies upslope to go around gate 5 and then out through the start finish gate. Initially we were going to try to fly a full 360 around gate 5, but the conditions were very weak at the start of the comp so just around it was called. Excuse my child-like attempt at using Paint!
There was some fantastic flying on display today with Joe Cubitt showing some class and a clean pair of heels!
My first flight was a very interesting one! The Skorp did not want to gain any height for the first couple of minutes. It stubbornly stayed below the level of my feet and would not allow me to drag it around the course. Finally a little burst of height enabled me to wring every last ounce of air out of the slope while trying very hard not to clip the deck. My hands were shaking like a leaf when I had finally finished, partly because I had not flown a glider in that manner (like it was a stolen foamy!) for ages and partly because I was just plain nervous. There were numerous Ooohs, Aarghs, gasps and the sucking of air through teeth coming from the peanut gallery as I was flying, so I'm glad it was entertaining! 4 minutes and 20 odd seconds was very very slow.
The second round was much better air and I probably could have come straight onto the course but decided to get a little bit of momentum first and flew a very respectable 1 minute 15 second run. Joe pipped me for fastest run of the day with an extremely clean 1 minute and 7 second stormer! It really was very nice to watch.
I really enjoyed the format and would like to possibly hold one at the Bwlch (VR slope or Mickeys West would be perfect). It was a great fun, relaxing format and I think the local yocals would really enjoy it too.
I took a video of Andy B doing a demonstration run and found it very difficult to flag and film at the same time.
I found it equally as difficult to flag and film at the same time for my attempt at filming Martin D.
I drove for 4 hours today and flew 3 times. I had a great time and it was well worth the effort.
I had a bit of a giggle on the way home as I dropped down from the Severn Bridge into Wales. Sunny Wales wasn't so sunny and it rained nearly the whole Welsh leg of my journey. Wife said it had been raining for quite a while so I can justify quite easily the decision I made regarding not going to the local! And I don't want to hear that it was sunny and epic, from anyone!
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