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 Slope
comp one was held at RAF Boscombe Down with the intention of flying the
slopes at Devizes depending upon the
wind. The week leading up to the event led me to believe we were in for
another RAFMAA Slope wash-out with heavy rain and gale force winds. Even
so, seven members pitched up on
the Thursday evening (fourteen members were listed to take part) a few
members cancelled last minute and some where to arrive Friday night.
Friday
The forecast was not
promising for Friday but the wind direction looked good for Roundway, so
after breakfast and
picking up the lunches we found our way to the hill. On arrival we met
up with Phil Morgan had blue skies but not a lot of wind. All models
were put together and strapped on for the slippery muddy walk around the
footpath. As usual, zaggis were launched to test the air, it was
marginal so a few minutes passed then those of us who have thermal
gliders found the conditions very pleasant for October (could the curse
of RAF Slope be lifted!).
Neil
Tricker brought along a very nice looking red Comet he made himself,
which flew
brilliantly. From what I saw it was rapid but I missed the landing, I
turned around to see Phil and Neil looking worried as the Comet had an
arrival. A few cracks but I am sure nothing to worry about with Neil’s
building skills.
Gradually
the wind picked up and a round of pylon race kicked off. The course was
short as there was only a narrow band of lift on the point of the slope.
After two rounds the competition was close with Mike Bernard and Ash
Keates having a good battle as well as myself and Neil Tricker with his
Wannabee. The final consisted of four competitors having a fly off.
Finalists were me, Neil, Mike Matthias and proving he can actually fly-
Ash Jardine who showed us that to get a decent time it was best to stick
close to the slope or the line of sight for the flag men would mean
flying a greater distance because we were flying on the rounded point of
the hill. For 3rd place Ash put up a good fight but inevitably succumbed
to Mike’s secret weapon - his “half
pipe”, which was extremely quick but was not so manoeuvrable. Neil and I
fought for 1st
place with the position changing on almost every pylon turn, it was a 50
50 but my X-IT took the chequered flag.
Saturday
The wind had not changed
direction so it was back to Roundway. As the lift was pretty good a
round of 3ch aero’s was held. Up for some punishment from Neil and Phil
(the judges) I went first with my Gnott. 8 manoeuvres were chosen from
the list most of which my Gnott carried out reasonably well. Mike
struggled with manoeuvres that required a good roll rate with his Spirit
but he put in a
good effort and completed the tasks.
Stan’s model just didn’t seem to be able to
keep the speed on long enough to complete a lot of the tasks he had
picked. Neil flew very nicely with his scale glider but lost out on some
points when he managed a good
manoeuvre but it was the wrong
kind of figure 8 so Phil awarded a fat zero for that one. Neil was
trying his best to get Phil and I to give
him more points for flying a scale model. Did he
really think Phil was going to? I mean, I sat next to Phil at the main
champs scribing points down and I found him to be quite harsh when
judging. Phil went last with his Not a Phase 6. He still managed to take
first place even with a zero. Its all in choosing manoeuvres with a big
K factor says Phil.
The flying wing event was
delayed because Mike Bernard
managed lo loose
his X-IT after Phil’s zaggi narrowly missed taking his head off. Slope
fun fly was another close
competition with two rounds being held. Unfortunately Stan managed to
snap his zaggi in half in the first round. The wind was strong at this
time so getting low enough for limbo was quite a challenge. Ash Jardine
gave me a run for my money but I managed to fend him off coming first
Ash Jardine finished second Neil Tricker third and Mike Bernard fourth.
Sunday
Sunday was a bit hit and
miss with the rain and by some reports the wind was predicted to swing
southerly. We met at Roundway car park once more in the rain. We saw one
local was already flying, that meant the wind was good but the rain
didn’t stop, so he left. The forecast was once the rain arrives it was
going to be in for the day so Phil, Stan and Neil decided to leave. The
rest of us grabbed a wing and had a short flight with transmitters in
plastic bags. The rain did ease off for a while when Martin Gay paid a
visit but the wind decided to turn southerly so with no lift and dark
skies in front we all left for a burger before driving home.
Lee Wilson
RAFMAA Gliding Compsec
email:
rafmaa-gliding@rafmaa.co.uk
 
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