2008 Competition Reports and Results

F3F 2008 2nd November 2008- Butts Brow E Bowl

Report by Julian Perrott

All week the forecasts I was looking at were predicting 12-18 mph Northerlies. But I have learnt that if you are flying an F3F competition then forecasts can be notoriously poor, just look at the UK league this year (2 competitions flown in 8 attempts..)

So it was no surprise that early in the morning I couldn't see Butts Brow from where I live.. Ho hum I thought.

Duty called though so I drove up to Butts brow and waited with the others who also needed some Sunday morning fresh air. After a couple of hours we ran out of conversation and decided, even though we couldn't see more that 100 meters, to get the equipment together and trudge over to the East bowl to check it out.

Another half an hour of being entertained by Matthew spot landing in some of the tress and Darren testing his ability to see his model in low cloud, the conditions cleared a little. The course was urgently set up and we got running as soon as we could.

Only 6 competitors entered so it was all hands to the deck to get the buzzers and the CD spot manned. Due to the conditions and the fact that the East Bowl at Butts Brow is not the easiest place to land, I decided that we have each pilot flying 3 rounds per flight. This would normally aid to the "F3F thermal lottery" principle but on this occasion we had very consistent conditions with about 15mph winds at about ENE. No signs of thermals with the exception of the micro variety coming off those lucky enough to have coffee or tea with them!

Fastest time of the day went to Gary Harrision (59:91) and most flights, with the right airframe, were in the mid 60s mark. Congratulations to Tom Noble who flew his Sting consistently all morning for a deserved win.

Everyone worked hard to make sure we got the comp in, so many thanks to you all. Lets hope we eventually get that 35 Mph Northerly next year.

Cross Country Competition 25th May 2008 - Long Man SW Bowl

Report by Julian Perrott

The rains of the previous evening subsided politely to allow the competition to proceed. The wind was a variable, thermic SSW direction from between 5 and 15mph, a fairly desirable speed for the discipline.

Four turning points were set up. 1 was near the gate approaching the SW bowl, 2 further towards the normal pits. 3 was further round the bowl and 4 was set with the hope that this would prove difficult to get to due to the wind direction. The spot landing was in its normal place by the pits and the low pass was designated to happen in front of the pits.

This year the rule to deduct 2 points for each landing whilst on the course was employed.

Eight competitors turned up with a variety of models ranging from 48" foamies to Toms Starlight which was out to play in its first competition and looked lovely!

Competitors set out on the course with a marker after the scoring rules were explained to all in the pilots briefing (well nearly all...).

The conditions meant that the higher performance planes managed to scratch around whilst waiting for some thermal activity but foamies were struggling to maintain any altitude in the variable conditions.

John Phillips seemed determined to stall his Wizard whilst performing thermal turns and had a couple of land outs but flew well as ever with a model not best suited to the discipline due to his thermal machine not accepting a charge. Colin flew what he could of the course, his attendance is always appreciated. Jim flew his Cito which seemed to take up a lot of sky in his efforts to "keep it up" and also had a couple of land outs which caused some centre panel damage. Alan started off by flying a foamie, but after accumulating a score of -6 without making any turning points elected to change planes (actually I am convinced he left the hill, went home and scratch built his next steed before returning to the hill...), the next plane a large thermal rudder elevator model was much more suited to the task! Ray also flew a large rudder elevator model and made it to 3 turning points. Gary flying his revenge scorched round the course (with one eye on hopping over the fence for a bit of DSing no doubt!). Tom brought his Starlight out for only its second visit to the slopes and spend a while getting used to the handling and started to dial the model in, but it looked excellent. I had my yearly outing with my 2 metre Highlight and had to scratch around a little for lift but was probably flying the most suited model for the task it having such a tight thermal turn which could be employed easily behind the turning points. Every year I ask myself why I do not fly this model more as it is just so precise...

So the Results were...

Aerobatic Competition 30th March 2008 - Long Man SW Bowl

Report by Julian Perrott

Yet another slightly drizzly day but with a decent SW blow meant that 7 competitors gathered for the annual Aerobatics Duel...

There were 7 manoeuvres judged by 3 judges with a maximum of 10 points per judge per manoeuvre (giving a maximum score of (7 x 10 x 3) = 210.

The required order was:

Big Loop
Axial Roll Right
Cuban Eight
Axial Roll Left
Stall Turn Left
Stall Turn Right
4 Point Roll

Hopefully this year we cleared up any confusion as to the direction of the axial rolls....

The wind was consistent throughout the competition with no one suffering for lack of lift. We used 4 judges rotated to provide as consistent scoring as possible. The results are:

Many thanks to all who turned up and helped run the competition.