Saturday's flying and Highside Maiden

On Saturday we weren't 100% sure of the wind direction. So we decided to all meet up at Devils Dyke and make a call on the wind direction. Too west and too little for the model slope to work apart from Ian's Blaster which flew for a while. We watched the Paraglider sink down below the slope and decided it was time to move on.
Scott, Ian and myself arrived at Cissbury Ring and wandered up to near the top. I was time to give my Highside glider its maiden but the wind wasn't that strong or even directly on the hill.
Well here is a video of it flying:

It didn't fly bad but was a little nose heavy which meant it had a load of up trim which in turn led to limited elevator movement. A little weight on the tail will sort this out. Given that the model is really a bright orange brick it went alright. Rolled well with plenty of aileron movement. Landing was difficult given the amount of tree's everywhere and the rough ground with brambles and tree stumps all over the place. Ended up with a few tears in the solarfilm after a ground slide into some brambles.

Scott was having fun with his Wildthing and then got some good stick time with his MiddlePhase and Ian was giving us a great aero display in relatively weak lift flying his Starjet.

BMFA Renewal for 2018

Hi All,
BMFA have announced that the renewal for 2018 will be £34 - that's an increase of just £1 - seems reasonable !
I have sent a renewal email to all our members to remind them to let me know about their renewal requirements so that I can get the ball rolling for next year.
Our 'search' for a club field hasn't managed to identify anywhere , so the club subscription for 2018 will be £10 as agreed at the EGM on 5th August this year...
I would like to thank all of you for your loyalty over the last 12 months and hope that you will renew through us for next year..

Rob Stanley
Hon. Sec.

Anyone Interested in a fantastic weekend?

A friend of mine has two tickets for the Formula 1 final race of the season the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, at the Yas Marina circuit on the weekend of the 25th - 27th November. They are box seats and include flights, hospitality, and hotel accommodation.
He didn't realise when he bought them that this is the same day as his wedding.
If you're interested and want to go instead of him, it's at St Margaret's church Lowestoft at 2.15pm on the 26th.
Her name is Janet. She’ll be the one in the white dress.

Take a look at what fun we had in November over the last 4 years.

Here's a link to the November posts from the last four years. It's great to look back and see what we were all up too and the faces that were around then. I though it might be good idea to do this each month as a rolling thing but I would appreciate some feedback from you all if you like the idea or not?

November 2016

November 2015

November 2014

November 2013

It's amazing to think that our blog has been going since October 2013!

Highside Glider almost finished - now covered

I set aside this afternoon to complete the covering of my Highside glider. As most of you know I do like bright (easy to see) colours. So you should not be amazed that I have carried on the theme with fluorescent orange and black. Take a look at the build log and see how I got on.
Build Blog - click here.

 

 

Sunday's Sussex Safari

Myself and Ian took an hours drive West to try a new slope (for us) down at South Harting. On arrival the wind was obviously not directly on the slope in fact probably 30 degree's off but the strength of the wind meant it really had to work. It was blowing about 25mph+.
I loaded the Willow up with it's maximum ballast and Ian had his Jart with a good portion of its ballast hidden within.
Well I launched my Willow and immediately wondered if it was switched on. The turbulence meant it was getting battered around and only full deflections at times would bring the wings level. A little further out and much higher is began to calm down a bit. After ten minutes or so my fingers were getting cold and I decided to land as Ian was already on the ground. The landing was what you would call 'Interesting'. Turned finals and into wind around 100' above and just behind the slope and the Willow aimed itself at the deck. Quick chuck the flaps away and get some speed back on and with lots on full control inputs she was back on the ground. Time to head back to the car I think.
We stopped off at McD's for a hot chocolate and headed of towards Cissbury Ring.
We parked at nearly the top and walked the final hundred feet or so to virtually the top. The view was fantastic and you could make out Culver Down on the Isle of Wight. The slope wasn't huge but the lift was strong but rough again. Both Ian and myself flew our M60's fully ballasted up (as normal). Flying around was fun but when it came to the landings this again was difficult in the now 30mph + wind.
I enjoyed the change and the new slopes. Here are a few pics from yesterday.

South Harting (Harting Down)

 

Cissbury Ring

 

Highside Glider Update

Met up with Rob this morning who wanted to check up on my progress of my Highside Glider. It's coming along really well with the wings nearly finished and probably about 80% finished.

To see all the latest pictures of the build blog and to see the progress so far - click here

Something a little different......

Here's an interesting site for you guys to have a look at. Its called 'Spot the gliders' and gives live positioning plus height, ground speed, vertical speed and glider type etc. Obviously not many gliders flying at night and on a winters day but take a look when we get a Northerly wind and watch live the gliders running along the ridge plus zoom out and see what gliders are flying around the wold. Modern technology eh!
http://live.glidernet.org/#c=51.08816,-0.26856&z=10

What a lovely model

Am I getting soft in my old age or is it the fact I'm doing some balsa bashing myself at the moment but I was really impressed with this model. John is an acquaintance of mine on Facebook and this is a design of his very own. A two channel beauty.

Watch how easy it gets airborne.........Its called an Airstream. Here it is on its maiden flight.

Some of my Mexico memories

I know its nothing to do with slope soaring but it was one of those special moments in life when you just want to share it with everyone.
I completed my PADI open water diving course in Mexico. You may notice me (the fat bloke with black and blue fins together with my daughter who has the black and bright yellow fins next to me. We got to dive with sharks, turtles and eels. I have attached some other pics and a little Tequila video that I hope makes you chuckle!
Hope you enjoy something a little different?