Well, what a cracking morning. When Nick V first suggested an outing earlier in the week I was dubious due to the prevailing weather conditions. Last night I checked the forecast and it predicted only plus 2 degrees, so I was expecting Artic like conditions. Surprisingly, this morning was the clearest day we have had recently and the big surprise was it was not raining. Whilst driving to the Beacon the car outside temperature gauge was showing plus 7 degrees, far better than forecast. Light winds were expected so I went along just for the social aspect.
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| Looking North West. |
By the time I arrived the Team had already gathered and were flying. We would be sharing the airspace today with a number of hang gliders operating to our left. Six hardy club members attended today's outing. They were Nick V, Martin J, Nick W, Robin Ad, Dan H and myself.
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| Looking slightly more North. |
As usual the scenery was amazing as one could see great distances in all directions. Yes, I would agree it was a little chilly but well worth the effort. However, I did notice that I must have missed the text regarding wearing a onesie. Nick V and Nick W were both well prepared with not only a onesie but Nick V also had thermal trousers on as well, both were well warm and toasty.
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| Nick V in his onesie. |
Our newest club member Dan H, brought along a trolley full of model gliders which he pulled from the car park a short distance away. A great idea but probably not suitable for many of our other sites such as Itford Hill.
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| Dan H's trolley. |
Nick V brought along two rather impressive models an Xtreme and a SIG Samurai aerobatic slope soarer. The Samurai is a high performance, vintage wingeron slope soaring sailplane from the early 1990s, known for its aerobatic agility and speed. Featuring a fiberglass fuselage and sheeted blue foam wings, it utilizes a "wingeron" control system where the wings pivot to provide both pitch and roll control.
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| Samurai on the left. |
It was nice to see Robin Ad out on the slope today. His first time with us this year so far, he really enjoyed the morning and had the great idea of bringing a fold-up stool with him, highly recommended. He was flying his modified Lidl glider and a Mefisto which is a 1.9 meter wing span. It is a versatile popular model known for being used in both slope soaring and thermal, light-wind conditions, perfect for today's conditions.
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| Robin Ad enjoying the morning. |
Nick W flew his Zagi wing. The Zagi is an iconic, durable EPP foam flying wing glider which is ideal for slope, combat, sport flying and more.
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| Nick W with his Zagi. |
Martin J expertly flew his Coyote glider in today's conditions, this has a 52 inch wing span. This model is an easy and quick to build laser cut kit and is suitable as a first time or thermal soaring glider. The kit can be built as a standard glider or converted to electric. An ideal second model for entry into sloping after a SAS Wildthing. He also brought along a Max Thrust foam model.
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| Martin J with his Coyote. |
Dan H had many models this morning, his enthusiasm is limitless and he brings new energy to the Club. A number of his models I did not see fly today but I saw him fly a camera equipped Phoenix 2400 which unfortunately, came to a sticky end later in the day. We are not sure of the reason for the crash but Dan is confident that it can be re-built and it will fly again. He did well with a strange looking model which the name escapes me at the time of writing this Blog entry but see the photos below.
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| Dan recovering his model from down the slope. |
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Dan's models.
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In Summary, a cracking day with awesome views over the Sussex countryside, we do live in a rather special part of the country. Some interesting flying but most importantly being with like minded individuals who I have the honour to be able to call friends. Looking forward to our next club outing. (Post Blog update - Model name is the "Bullet" and cause of the crash was a faulty gyro).
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Me in full launch mode.
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