Itford Hill, once again. Patchy Flying but Great Socially.

According to the forecast we should have expected 25-30mph westerly winds today but woke up to still air and frost on the car windscreens. Rob S and Kevin M were the first to arrive and started to make their way to the top. I caught them up about halfway to the top of the slope. The visibility was to die for but alas no wind.

Once at the top I tried an exploratory flight with my SAS Wildthing 46 and as expected the flight did not last long. My version of the Wildthing is the short wing chord type. However, the Club trainer is also a Wildthing 46 but with the greater wing chord which seemed to do better in the conditions this morning.

Club Chair - Rob S in Full Launch Mode.

Kevin M also experienced difficulties getting his Wildthing airborne. Kevin also brought along his Let 13 foam glider. 

Kevin M with his SAS Wildthing.

Robin S was next to arrive with another Wildthing and a Phase 5. Robin is currently building a large scale Kirby Kite which is a follow on from his Chris Williams 1/5 Scale Flamingo. We are all in the Club looking forward to its first flight. I understand that the Wildthing creator, the great Alan Head has now decided to finally retire, and apparently no more SAS Wildthings are going to be produced, a sad loss to the hobby. We all here at Slope Soaring Sussex wish Alan a very happy retirement.

Are you sure you two know what you are doing?

Scott T our club Treasurer was next to ascend Itford Hill along with him was his trusty Me163 Komet and a SAS Mamba. I have seen the Komet fly before many times and am so impressed I have purchased a kit from Cloud Models. 

Scott T deciding to launch or not.

Scotty attempted to fly the Mamba first but noticed servo flutter on one of the control surfaces. Technical discussions were had, and it was decided to turn everything off and switch on again, as this usually works. However, not in this case, no Mamba flying for Scotty today. So, the Me163 Komet by default was the model of choice, in the past this model has always performed very well in light wind conditions but even today struggled to stay aloft. Scott took over the Club Wildthing trainer and had some great flying with that.

Me163 Komet in flight over Sussex.

Rob P displayed his recently built Ridge Runt and along with him was a 3 mtr Graphite and a 1.8 mtr Mini Graphite. The Ridge Runt flew very well but it was the 3 mtr Graphite that performed the best in the light conditions today. 

Rob P with his Ridge Runt and 3mtr Graphite.

Another club member arrived, Mark V with a Chris Foss Middle Phase which flew well today and a super looking Diana 2 scale sailplane. Unfortunately, the Diana landed short of the landing area and suffered minor damage to the rudder. Nothing that cannot be fixed.

Mark V with his Middle Phase and Diana 2.

One of our club instructors, Mark J arrived with his Wildthing with extra ballast. Mark is the Club’s 3D printing expert, and he has manufactured an external ballast fixing (see photographs below).

Mark J's Wildthing. Just visible in white is the 3D printed ballast

Our last club member to arrive was Robin A with his Phase 6, a scratch-built wing and a Micro Lunak constructed from foam board. 

Robin A with his collection of models.

All were very impressed with the flying ability of the Micro Lunak. Shame that he did not bring along his fabulous Bugatti but I suppose there was not enough wind to keep it up flying.

Robin's Micro Lunak coming in low.

Robin A enjoying the day.

Due to the conditions the flying by any measure was patchy. However, this outing resulted in 9 Club members attending which is almost 25% of the membership. It was great to meet them all especially after the last 2 very difficult years. We have started on a high note as this is the highest number of members, we have had this year at a slope, I do appreciate it’s only the first week of January but it’s still very encouraging. 

A selection of our valued Club Members.

To Sum up today, the flying was not that good, but it was great to get so many club members on the slope at the same time and catch up with them all after such a long time.