Good luck to all the competitors taking part in the North of England Open this weekend at the Hole of Horcum.
Hope you have a great time, Looking forward to hearing about the action!!!
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
New perspective for a slopesoaring Vid
Scott Ravenscroft was having a play with his FPV copter at the Leek and Moorland club and uploaded this footage to youtube.
I really like it and think the potential for some awesome footage with different viewpoints of sloping is huge.
Enjoy!
Some info about the equipment used and the man behind the footage can be found here:
http://www.modelgliders.co.uk
I really like it and think the potential for some awesome footage with different viewpoints of sloping is huge.
Enjoy!
Some info about the equipment used and the man behind the footage can be found here:
http://www.modelgliders.co.uk
Thursday, 30 June 2011
BMFA F3F Nationals 2011: the result
Sorry it has taken me a while to get around to writing about my experiences at the 2011 BMFA F3F Nationals, been a bit busy.
Saturday didn’t really ‘dawn’ at all. Thirty competitors arrived at the Bwlch greeted by fog and rain. We didn’t see the sun all day and sat around in the clouds getting wet and frustrated. At 4ish, a desperate convoy of glider pilots made our way to Southerndown cliffs to try to at least fly something. It was almost promising when we arrived with the breeze a little bit off the slope but flyable. After about 15-20 minutes the clouds managed to drop low enough that our planes were disappearing at about 100 feet up, so we called it a day.
Met up with a few blokes for a curry Saturday night and had a very enjoyable meal in great company.
The forecast for Sunday was quite promising with a warm and sunny day on the cards with a decent breeze on the Back of the Wrecker. Those who got out of bed early were greeted at the Wrecker car park by thick clouds. I arrived just as the fog had dropped below the car park delivering a spectacular view. “Wow, what a view” I thought, “better get a photo”. Searched for my camera and realized that I had left both my stills and video cameras at home. Bugger!
Fortunately some other guys had remembered their cameras and have been kind enough to let me display some photos here for you.
These spectacular views were captured by Tom Foreman.
For me, Sunday’s racing was some of the best I have been to. The organization was slick and the flying was excellent. We managed to complete 8 rounds with 29 pilots in conditions that started out quite varied and became more consistent as the day progressed. The range of models on display was impressive to say the least. We had everything from Alliaj’s to Xenon’s, Fosa’s, Freestylers and Acacia II’s, Cyril’s, Ceres’ and Ascot’s.
Tom flying his Xenon (Photo by Simon Thornton)
From my point of view, the Acacia II had a fantastic Swan-song (I have sold it now) enabling me to finish in eleventh place with 918 points. I have really enjoyed the ownership experience of the Acacia II and am fairly sure that I will eventually buy another one …………. Not before I have flown the paint off my Skorpions!!
Simon Thornton also took this photo of me about to launch.
Tom Foreman captured some video on Sunday as well and has kindly let me show it to you here too.
The results for the 2011 BMFA F3F Nationals are:
1 Simon Thornton 6541.57 1000.00
2 Mark Redsell 6502.31 993.99
3 Kev Newton 6479.83 990.56
4 Martin Newnham 6334.70 968.37
5 Peter Gunning 6292.70 961.95
6 Joel West 6284.91 960.76
7 Adam Richardson 6223.19 951.32
8 Mike Evans 6164.88 942.41
9 Greg Dakin 6152.25 940.48
10 Keith Woods 6111.02 934.18
11 Clayton Landells 6017.09 919.82
12 Frank Hulton 5939.95 908.03
13 Andrzej Tabero 5873.03 897.80
14 Rich Bago 5809.14 888.03
15 Mick Walsh 5802.42 887.00
16 Paul Middleton 5770.05 882.05
17 Scott Ravenscroft 5744.77 878.19
18 Mark Abbotts 5720.39 874.46
19 Dave Rumble 5717.33 873.99
20 Jon Edison 5491.28 839.44
21 Ian Mason 5386.61 823.44
22 Paul Upton 5383.18 822.91
23 Tom Foreman 5319.04 813.11
24 Paul Stubley 5264.55 804.78
25 Tony Robertson 5198.63 794.70
26 Peter Burgess 5176.49 791.32
27 Jason Bioletti 4964.13 758.85
28 Mark Treble 4800.78 733.88
29 John Treble 4782.38 731.07
Simon Thornton (Fosa), Mark Redsell (Freestyler) and Kev Newton (Ceres) were separated by a miniscule 9.45 normalised points for the first three positions! Close stuff!!
Photos of the Winners taken by Tom Foreman
Photos of the Winners taken by Tom Foreman
Thursday, 23 June 2011
BMFA F3F Nationals 2011
The 2011 BMFA F3F nationals are taking place at the Bwlch this weekend (both Saturday and Sunday).
Really looking forward to a great, action-packed weekend. Unfortunately I will only be flying the Acacia II as I haven't been able to fix either Skorp. Bit bummed, but the Acacia II is a fantastic plane, especially in good conditions.
Really looking forward to a great, action-packed weekend. Unfortunately I will only be flying the Acacia II as I haven't been able to fix either Skorp. Bit bummed, but the Acacia II is a fantastic plane, especially in good conditions.
KPT vids
I have uploaded a selection of single-run videos from the KPT to my Vimeo account. Check them out via the link on the right.
I was intending to create a clip with music and effects'n'stuff but haven't and probably won't.
Here are a couple of photos.
I was intending to create a clip with music and effects'n'stuff but haven't and probably won't.
Here are a couple of photos.
Monday, 20 June 2011
Round 2 of the KPT F3F
Nine blokes arrived at the meeting point greeted by overcast skies and a reasonable breeze. Actually there were ten arrivals, but Andrzej has had a massive time at work lately so he just popped up to deliver the course equipment and then went home to recuperate ready for another smashing week at work. So the nutty nine competitors made our way up to the West slope of Mickeys and got the course set up in double-quick time (thanks for that!) and we were off and running.
John Treble was first cab off the rank and he had an absolute blast of a day bettering his PB twice along the way with his best time of the day being a 43.46. His Extreme was screaming and he kept raving about how good it was all day.
Bob Runyeard deserves a special mention as this was his first ever F3F event and he was competing with a Typhoon 2m model. He managed to set his PB at 43.26 getting second place in that round only beaten by Martin Newnham. We were all extremely impressed and are sure that he is now well and truly hooked and will be back for more!
Phil Taylor also needs a special mention for being the only person I have ever witnessed doing a 72 second run in 35 second air! After cutting twice, he decided to display his flair and creativity with an aerobatic influenced F3F run. I also believe he was the only person on the day to fly three models with the wizard being the fastest for him, but ‘Fletcher’ definitely being the most eye-catching.
Adrian Bedford and I (Clayton Landells, just in case you didn’t know) had a really close race today. For the first round it was Skorp F3B verses Skorp DSL. In round two I had a brain fart that resulted in my Skorpion clipping the ground and cartwheeling ¾ of the length of the course bringing out the Acacia II for the remainder of the day. I was gradually extending my lead over Ade most of the day and in the last three rounds Ade made huge gains on me and was as close as damn is to swearing to beating me to fourth place overall leaving him in fifth.
Stu Brookes flew really consistently all day to finish in sixth place followed by John Treble, BobbyR and Phil Taylor.
The top three positions were filled by the usual suspects of Joel West, Martin Newnham and Simon Thornton.
Simon was hot straight out of the blocks, first flying his Alliaj HM and then giving his Fosa a good thrashing for the rest of the day. After taking eight of the first nine rounds he was looking untouchable and did not relinquish the lead at all, eventually winning ten of the fourteen rounds flown. Outstanding display by a masterful pilot!
Martin and Joel had more of a battle for the two lower podium places and were both very keen to get the fourteenth round in to get the second discard and give themselves the best chance of second place. In the end there was only a few points in it with Martin just pipping Joel for second place.
Round winners other than Simon (WITH TEN!!!!!!!!!!!) were Martin with two rounds and Joel and myself with one each. Martin also flew the fastest time of the day with a blistering 33.08! The finishing positions are below and the spreadsheet is available under the 'files' tab on the F3F yahoo group for your perusal and enjoyment.
Thanks to Simon for helping me with the CD duties and everyone else for helping to keep the day running smoothly and helping where required. I really enjoyed the day today and am looking forward to the next one already.
I will add some photos and video later in the week.
1 S Thornton 12811.47 1000.00
2 M Newnham 12219.55 953.79
3 J West 12199.25 952.21
4 C Landells 11311.14 882.89
5 A Bedford 11284.06 880.77
6 S Brookes 10893.21 850.27
7 J Treble 10553.34 823.74
8 B Runyeard 10242.69 799.49
9 P Taylor 10003.29 780.80
John Treble was first cab off the rank and he had an absolute blast of a day bettering his PB twice along the way with his best time of the day being a 43.46. His Extreme was screaming and he kept raving about how good it was all day.
Bob Runyeard deserves a special mention as this was his first ever F3F event and he was competing with a Typhoon 2m model. He managed to set his PB at 43.26 getting second place in that round only beaten by Martin Newnham. We were all extremely impressed and are sure that he is now well and truly hooked and will be back for more!
Phil Taylor also needs a special mention for being the only person I have ever witnessed doing a 72 second run in 35 second air! After cutting twice, he decided to display his flair and creativity with an aerobatic influenced F3F run. I also believe he was the only person on the day to fly three models with the wizard being the fastest for him, but ‘Fletcher’ definitely being the most eye-catching.
Adrian Bedford and I (Clayton Landells, just in case you didn’t know) had a really close race today. For the first round it was Skorp F3B verses Skorp DSL. In round two I had a brain fart that resulted in my Skorpion clipping the ground and cartwheeling ¾ of the length of the course bringing out the Acacia II for the remainder of the day. I was gradually extending my lead over Ade most of the day and in the last three rounds Ade made huge gains on me and was as close as damn is to swearing to beating me to fourth place overall leaving him in fifth.
Stu Brookes flew really consistently all day to finish in sixth place followed by John Treble, BobbyR and Phil Taylor.
The top three positions were filled by the usual suspects of Joel West, Martin Newnham and Simon Thornton.
Simon was hot straight out of the blocks, first flying his Alliaj HM and then giving his Fosa a good thrashing for the rest of the day. After taking eight of the first nine rounds he was looking untouchable and did not relinquish the lead at all, eventually winning ten of the fourteen rounds flown. Outstanding display by a masterful pilot!
Martin and Joel had more of a battle for the two lower podium places and were both very keen to get the fourteenth round in to get the second discard and give themselves the best chance of second place. In the end there was only a few points in it with Martin just pipping Joel for second place.
Round winners other than Simon (WITH TEN!!!!!!!!!!!) were Martin with two rounds and Joel and myself with one each. Martin also flew the fastest time of the day with a blistering 33.08! The finishing positions are below and the spreadsheet is available under the 'files' tab on the F3F yahoo group for your perusal and enjoyment.
Thanks to Simon for helping me with the CD duties and everyone else for helping to keep the day running smoothly and helping where required. I really enjoyed the day today and am looking forward to the next one already.
I will add some photos and video later in the week.
1 S Thornton 12811.47 1000.00
2 M Newnham 12219.55 953.79
3 J West 12199.25 952.21
4 C Landells 11311.14 882.89
5 A Bedford 11284.06 880.77
6 S Brookes 10893.21 850.27
7 J Treble 10553.34 823.74
8 B Runyeard 10242.69 799.49
9 P Taylor 10003.29 780.80
Friday, 10 June 2011
Had my first free Thursday for a while this week and booked myself a therapy session on Rhossili Down.
I had planned to get down to Rhossili early to get some 'no slope' racing practice on the 30 foot dunes at the base of Rhossili and arrived at 8.30 to find that the wind wasn't strong enough to warrant walking down to the dunes and decided to yomp it to the top instead.
Had a great time flying with Roger and Andy in the sometimes quite crowded, but pleasant company of Hangliders and Paragliders.
Here is a short video from the day.
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