A good day at Itford Hill.

We had a good morning at Itford today. I met Jim at the bottom. I had the trusty Stagazer/Spectre combination and Jim had a similar setup - his Middle Phase and the Spectre.

When we got to the top, the conditions were marginal so we waited for a short while. It was very thermally again, with the wind rising then dropping as thermals came through. I managed to launch the Stargazer into a nice bit of lift and got a couple of hundred feet up before slowly coming back down.

Jim tried his Middle Phase but couldn't get it to go. It seemed very skittish and fled off downwind. Poor Jim had a bit of a hike, plus an argument with a barbed wire fence, but returned safely with an intact model!

We were joined by Alan with his Protech Unlimited 600, which used to sport a 600-size motor in the front - however Alan decided a lump of lead would do more good and modified it accordingly!

Then we were joined by John, with a nice little foamy, resembling a smaller Radian (sorry for the cr*p photo john!).

John had a wing camera and took some video which we hope to see later.

The conditions freshened during the morning and both Jim and I switched to our Spectres. Jim had a nice flight with his and got some good stick time. Still having a few 'moments' but definitely haaving some good flying as well. Since he'd done so well with the Spectre, he asked me to check out the Middle Phase because it had been so uncontrollable before. I had a go and confirmed the c of g seemed too far back - I needed all the down trim available and some forward pressure on the stick as well! No wonder she wouldn't fly for Jim!

Jim also had a couple of go's with my Spectre while it was at height - some very nice lazy figure-of-eights there Jim! 

Procedings were halted for a while by the arrival of the local cattle herd - none of us wanted to fly close to them.

One very curious bullock needed repeated persuasion to naff-off before the herd finally passed through.

Later we were approached by another Alan, nice fellow, who often flies with the big mouldie guys from the top of the hill. He had  brought along a very nice ASW 19 mouldie (4m span if I remember right), which he'd got for a fiver from someone selling up! It was its first flight and Alan kindly came over to warn us of a potentially unpredictable flight path. In the end it flew very nicely after some adjustment of throws.

Jim called it a day and shortly after John and Alan made their way back down - but not before John had unfortunately broken the motor shaft on his foamie. Undeterred, he taped the prop and spinner back on and carried on flying in the now reliable, strong and smooth lift. I remarked that I hoped the inventor of gaffer tape was a rich man!

Eventually I was 'last man standing' as Alan and his ASW 19  wended their way back to the car.

I spent an enjoyable extra hour practicing landings - chuck the Spectre, turn back, land, repeat. I became more adept and managed a few arrivals within 10 yards or so! 

Another lovely day's flying in such a beatiful location! Thanks to Jim, John and both Alans for the company. I'll look forward to the video, John.