The Long Man Slope Soaring & F3F Racing

The Long Man & F3F Racing

We decided to try some where different to fly and decided The Long Man of Wilmington would be a good option in the predicted NW wind. The car park located towards the top of the Wilmington road proved to be packed when we arrived at 9.30.  It seemed a relatively easy walk up to the top of The Long Man probably no worse than the walk up to Itford Hill. At the top we were greeted with about fifteen pilots already ensconced in a little camp hidden in a hollow behind the hill. Jack and I went down and had a chat and found out that these guys had turned up to race their F3F high performance composite gliders against each other and the clock.

A course is created with flags over a distance of around 100m and the pilot flies through a start gate and then proceeds at maximum speed over ten laps round the marked circuit. As they pass each flag a beep is heard and then on to the next one. These things travel at a good lick with times around the 40 second mark being achieved for the 10 laps.

We moved on along the bowl to an area of gorse bushes, well out of the way of the F3F guys. Jack and I flew our Ninja’s and the Graham & Geoffrey turned up a little later. Graham flew his Fusion after topping up its weight with a few AA batteries for ballast. The lift was very good and smooth but the gorse in front of us wouldn’t have been the best to land in, so no combat today. It proved an easy place to land with plenty of wide open space behind you and with a definitive no lift area making landing fairly straight forward. Then we left Graham to carry on enjoying the lift, so Jack & I moved back down to watch the F3F racing.

Hidden out of the stiff breeze we watched as these beautiful sleek gliders sped past us at phenomenal speeds. These guys fly on the edge literally. Flat out and very near the edge of the slope. I really enjoyed watching them compete. Met up with Allen who organised the Ashdown Forrest x country comp.

 

I want one of these F3F machines but not sure how long it would last in my hands.

It was a lovely day out at this new slope to us. Here is a video of me flying my Ninja.



I have added a few pictures of some of the sloping group up in the gallery - Have a look!

 

Just to finish off here is Graham flying his SAS Fusion. 'Keep left and low Graham!!!!' You had to be there to understand.......

There seemed to be another couple of good looking bowls facing SW & W as well as NW. well worth the walk.