Not a breath of wind!

Rob and John met at Ditchling car park at 9am as planned closely followed by me.  Paul’s forecast was spot on and there wasn’t a breath of wind, not even a murmur from the Christmas Day sprouts!

When I arrived Rob and John were heading off 100 yards or so from the carpark end of the east slope. When I joined them they had already carried out a glide test of John’s new Hobbyking DLG which was obviously successful as Rob was launching the model so that John could do some initial trimming.  John had done an excellent job setting up the glider and very little adjustment was required. We were all very impressed with the glide of his new model and he made the launches look effortless too.

Rob had his old DLG and left the maiden of the Loola for another day.  I had my (Paul’s) Libelle and Whipet (not dog!).  As well as flying the Libelle I had a little fly of my Whipet and with John’s help trimming the elevator had very good flight times as it floated around. Not bad for a £50 investment!

We all had a very good hour or so practicing our launches, circling round and landing as tidily as possible.  We also managed to have a few good catches on landing.

Rob suggested that we had a little competition of who could stay aloft the longest.  I came last which wasn’t the fault of the Libelle but more to do with my wimpy launches.  Rob and John were pretty close and extended their flight times with a little bit of flap. 

Nice to see Rob W who came up with his lovely dog for a walk and to see what we were up to.  Rob we have the club wing and transmitter, come out and fly with us and get some stick time!

It was a very good session despite the lack of wind and gave us plenty of opportunity to practice launching and landing. I certainly have the bug for DLG now. It is great fun and anyone that has never tried it should give it a go!

Cheers

Scotty

Christmas Eve at Ditchling Beacon

Hi All,
Today we met at 09:00 Ditchling Beacon to try the forecasted NE , but it turned out to be more ENE and very light indeed. However, not to be put off, I had taken my Zulu and Ninja, Paul had his Zulu, Ninja and Ascot, Scotty had his Weasel and Libelle, Ian A had his Shadow and John M had his new 46" Wildthing .
Paul and I were first to arrive and we crossed the road and flew our Zulus, which went pretty well considering the lift wasn't really on the hill, but nevertheless we managed some pretty reasonable flights with bouts of landing when the lift died completely. Scotty arrived and flew his Weasel which went much better than our Zulus getting some pretty good height and distance out from the hill. Paul also flew the Weasel and we managed to get some good video footage of this 'close to the hill' flying which are on our whats App group - also see videos below from Paul's phone ----
Next to arrive was John M with his new 46 Wildthing, he realised it wouldn't be a good maiden flight but between me and him, we got it trimmed and flying pretty straight and level (might need a little bit more nose weight). We continued with these models until Scotty decided to get his Libelle from the car. That flew very well and we all had a quite a lot of flying with it thanks to Scotty's kindness.
At  10:00 Ian A joined us with his lovely yellow Shadow which he launched into the very light wind but it flew brilliantly for a very long time (here's a few pics ….we also got video of this too …. ),

Paul went back to the car and out came his Ascot and that too went extremely well (not sure I would be able to keep it in the air though ), after some long flights Paul and Ian made brilliant landings and at 11:00 we decided to call it a day.
The weather was cold but virtually still, but there were a lot of people with kids, dogs, bikes, etc..... as predicted.
Altogether I think it was a brilliant session and most successful despite there not being any combat this time as the Ninjas remained in the cars.
Thanks to all who came today

Have a happy xmas

Rob

Foamy Party

Paul, Ian, Tony and myself met at the parking area at 9.30.  We were joined shortly after by Mark.  Paul said that it would be nice to have a pre-Christmas combat session, Paul & Ian made their old Ninja’s flight ready, Tony had his repaired Wildthing on which he had done a fantastic repair and it flew really well. I had my Wildthing, Mamba and new Komet.  Unfortunately, the Komet had a dodgy servo and I didn’t fly it.

Most of the session we were either trying to knock each other’s foamies out of the sky or stay in the air when the wind dropped.  Paul and Ian scored plenty of hits including Paul practicing spot landings with my downed Wildthing as the spot.  I did manage a few hits including a clash with Tony’s Wildthing which resulted in both ending up on the ground, sorry Tony glad there was no damage!

The only damage was Paul’s Ninja losing a wing tip and my Mamba suffering a broken control horn.

Mark had a good flying session, although without foamie.  He managed to thread his glider through the melee of foamies often at high speed!

Ian and I ended up at the pub for a debriefing, the others had taxi or shopping duties to take care of.

All in all a very enjoyable fun session and we all agreed that we haven’t had such a fun session in ages!

Cheers guys

Scotty

BMFA 2019 A Full House

Hi All,
Just an update on the BMFA renewals for next year.
Every member of our club (that's 28 of us) has renewed their BMFA either with us or with their 'primary' club and everyone has indicated that they will re-join our club next year.
I am very pleased that everyone is going to renew their SSS membership and have told those who have asked that we haven't decided on next year's subs until we hold the AGM in January when we will decide what it will be, like we did for last year (which was £10).
I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support throughout 2018 (and previous years) and wish you all a happy Christmas and prosperous new year.
Looking forward to another successful year for the club...

Rob Stanley
Hon. Sec.

Rain Stopped Play

Just a few of us out yesterday for a quick session up on the Long Man. Myself and Ian where first up there together with a group of locals flying a selection of models in very light lift.
I flew my Ascot which cruised around nicely and Ian flew his Europhia. The fun really started when Ian maidened his Ninja he bought from Rob. I had my Ninja and we spent fifteen minutes trying to knock each other out of the sky. The light lift made our combat session very interesting.
We were joined by Mark and Robin who cracked on and got some flying in. Sorry guys for not having a lot to say up on the slope as my combat flying was making me really concentrate plus each time I crashed I had to go and walk a while to collect my model.
Looking upwind we could see some heavy showers moving towards us. Myself and Ian scooped up our models and scuttled off to the car and got a little wet by the time we got to the car park.

BMFA Renewal - Only 2 weeks left

Hi All,
Just to remind those of you who haven't already renewed your BMFA insurance for 2019, it's time for you to do so before it runs out.
Just log into the new BMFA 'Go' system with your username (email address) and click on 'forgot password' and they will send you a temporary password for you to use. You can then choose a new password for yourself and check all your details are correct - after that just go to 'membership' and hit 'renew' it's very easy...…

I have been talking to Stuart Willis from BMFA and he says that there are many people who are re-applying to join BMFA despite already being members because they have misread the instructions - that creates two problems -
1. you get a duplicate record and a new BMFA number
2. BMFA then have to delete one of your entries (usually the second one) to reset you back to original.

They have transferred every member from the old system to the 'Go' system, so just log on using your email address and you will be recognised already.

If anyone wants help, please call me or email me or What's App me and I will help you out...….

Best regards
Rob Stanley

Itford Hill Sunday 9th Dec

Hi All,
Last Sunday, we decided to try Itford Hill as the forecast was strong WNW winds.
The forecast was accurate and Itford W slope was working pretty well, but it was choppy and gusting about 25 mph (thanks Tony for the anemometer).
There was a good turn out with Paul, Ian A, Rob, Tony C and Scotty with Robin who came as a spectator !
Paul and Ian had their M60s and Ian also had his little Komet, Rob had the Ninja, Tony had the Wildthing and Scott brought his Valenta Dragon (very brave).
Ian launched his Komet and despite it's tiny size and lack of weight it flew brilliantly as ever along with the M60 from Paul and the Ninja from Rob. Tony spent the time practicing his landings slightly away from the main bunch and was doing very well in the difficult conditions until he announced that his Wildthing had suffered a hard landing - in fact the fuselage was snapped right through in front of the wing !
Scott set up the Dragon and after a good flight with Paul's help, he asked Paul to land it which he did with is usual skill !
Paul and Ian decided to try to get the air speed record and took their models way up into the wind and then dived them across the hill in front of us at amazing speed - maybe 90 - 100 mph ? Who knows how fast - maybe we need a speed gun ?
After 2 hours the cold got the better of us all and we decided to call it a day.
It was such a great session and we all had fun (even Tony who has since fixed the Wildthing with Uhu POR  and glass tape).
There are some videos but I don't know how to load them up - (doh!)

Rob

It's time to renew your BMFA Membership - A must for all club members

Hi All,

The time has come for the BMFA renewals for 2019.

This year the cost is £38 and there is also a new system in place called ‘Go’, which I emailed you about a little while ago.

Under this new system the responsibility for renewal switches from the club to the individual, so there is no way that we can renew your insurance for you as it relies on you using the ‘Go’ system and renewing online using their payment system.

This means that you now have to log on to the ‘Go’ system, set up a password and then you can administer your own details and renewal.

I have been using the ‘Go’ system for quite some time and it is very easy to use and it all works very well.

I have found a number of members whose email address held by BMFA was out of date, but I have corrected all but one who is an affiliate member.

I have set up every club member with your current details (email, address, etc….), but I cannot renew your BMFA for you.

Your ‘user name’ to access ‘Go’ will be your current email address (the one I have used in this email) and you have to then click on ‘Forgot Password’ so that they can send you a temporary password which you use once only and then change to your own one.

You can then renew your membership using this system.

After that, you are responsible for ensuring that your details are correct and up-to-date for the future.

For club members who are country members of BMFA or have another club as their primary club, you can still use ‘Go’ to renew, but your renewal will not affect our affiliation status with BMFA.

Below is a link to the BMFA instructions for using  ‘Go’ – https://bmfa.org/News/News-Page/ArticleID/2560/Introducing-the-new-BMFA-membership-portal-for-individuals-and-club-management-Now-live-for-renewals

This tells you exactly how to log on and everything else you need to know.As I am the club administrator I receive an email each time you renew your membership or change your details, so I will know that you have renewed your insurance and can then issue you a club membership card for next year.You have a deadline of end of December to renew otherwise YOU WILL NOT BE INSURED AND CANNOT CONTINUE AS A CLUB MEMBER (the BMFA stipulate that every member must be insured for the club to be affiliated to them).

Best regards

Rob Stanley

Hon Sec