Sunday PM at Firle

Ian and myself had a quick blast at Firle Beacon this afternoon. We were expecting light conditions but the wind turned out to be a lot stronger than I was expecting. Ian had his Jedi and I had my light wind Expro. I should have taken along something a lot heavier but I enjoyed dodging the bloody Paragliders who thought it was OK to bumble past us 50' above the hill. Ian showed them how a fast F3F could perform as it ate up the sky at speed.
Well worth the effort and a nice hour of so up on the hill as it had been a while!

We have lost the weather forecast

You may have noticed that the Met Office Weather has disappeared form our blog. They have decided not to provide weather via 3rd party sites i.e. our blog! Does anyone know of any other weather service we can get a reliable weather forecast from and show on our blog?

My new X-Models Stingray

Tim has been slaving away lately to build and complete my new X-Models Stingray. It is the 'Standard' version and Ian has the 'Heavy Slope' version. It's still heavy but not quite as heavy as Ian's Stingray.

X-,Models Stingray in the Italian Flag colours

Just a little bit of club promotion

2 x 2S 3000Mah RX Life Batteries

A very efficient wing retention system.

My attempt at a cockpit with scale Instruments

 

A huge thanks to Tim for all his hard work and efforts in building such a beautiful model. I couldn't have done it without him. Cheers Dad!

Anyone up for a Spring Club Expedition?

HI all, Its that time of the year that I'm thinking about a spring trip to try our some other slopes. Maybe a two or three day trip somewhere that has mega slopes which work in all sorts of wind directions. So where could we go? There's Wales! The Bwlch & Rhossili. These St Agnus down in Cornwall or we could go and visit Darbyshire (a guy came down from there to buy a glider off me recently and said the slopes where great) or possibly to the Isle of Wight. I'm after some feed back really. I know that there will only be the usual few who would possibly be interested in making the effort to drive a distance just to go flying but the offer is open to everyone. My lovely new Stingray is nearly finished (thanks Tim) as she needs a decent slope to fly from. So get in contact if you would be up for a Spring flying trip somewhere. Our good mate Steve (A470Soaring) is hoping to come down on the 14th & 15th April, so keep that weekend free so we can join him on the slopes. If the wind is Southerly I was thinking we could nip over to the Isle of Wight for the day and enjoy some cliff soaring. What do you think Steve, you up for it?

Returning Member

Hi All,
Paul and I would like to  welcome back Roger Harris to the club.
Roger was a member in 2015 and 2016 but due to a move to Pevensey Bay, he left us to join ESSA.
Roger has now decided to re-join us and he is most welcome.

I know you will all join us in welcoming Roger back and I know a lot of you already know Roger from before.

Rob Stanley

Slope Soaring at The Long Man

UPDATE - 5/3/18 
Following an overwhelming positive response from our members Paul and I have decided to make a donation to SE BMFA to help with the cost of these sites for this year.

Many thanks to all of you who replied to my email....


Hi All,
This is taken from the SE BMFA website from Ray Wells of East Sussex Soaring Association - who pay for the use of the site along with SE BMFA -

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Slope Soaring at The Long Man of Wilmington, East Sussex

Posted By: Stuart Willis February 19, 2018

The Long Man is well known venue for leisure and competitive slope soaring and works in wind from SW to W to NW to North. It is a scenically very  attractive location and is now a part of the South Downs National Park.
What many users of the slope may not realise is that slope soaring is only permitted under a licence granted by the landowner, the Folkington Estate. The other party to the licence agreement is the South East area of BMFA. Quite substantial license fees are due each year and The East Sussex Soaring Association is now funding the larger part of the annual fee with BMFA SE paying the rest.
So, this is a request to all slope soarers who appreciate the Long Man to give serious consideration to joining ESSA to continue to support flying there, and for clubs and groups who use the slope to consider making a donation to BMFA SE funds.
The long man has been a slope soaring site for at least forty years and we all need to make sure that it continues.
Ray Wells
Secretary – East Sussex Soaring Association.