Ken Philips Trophy 2 - 2010-11

15 rounds. Ice cream slope. Lots of thermals. Results below.

1	Kevin Newton	12132.74
2	Martin Newnham	11979.77
3	Simon Thornton	11368.74
4	Adam Richardson	11274.75
5	Dave Rumble	11065.33
6	Mike Evans	11034.76
7	Tom Satinet	10614.62
8	Warrick Smith	10587.08
9	Mick Walsh	10553.54
10	Simon Kronfeld	10182.56
11	Jacob Newnham	10113.94
12	Clayton Landells	10083.07
13	John Treble	9800.16
14	Andy Freeman	2339.11

UK F3f League 2 - 2010-11

Didn't quite make three rounds so doesn't count. Had a great curry though!

Welsh Open 2010 - entries to 10 June

These are the 62 entries received so far. Closing date is 20 June. If the number of entries exceeds 60 then we will post the accepted entries here soon after 20 June along with details of how the entry decision was made.

Name	Country	Team	F1	F2
Adam Richardson	England		2.4gHz
Adrian Bedford	England		66	76
Andres Cardona	Spain		Synth
Andrzej Tabero	Wales		89	63
Angus Lee	Hong Kong		58	76
Bjorn Tore Hagen	Norway	Team Arctic Circle	2.4gHz
C M Cheng	Hong Kong		60	76
Cedric Grandseigne	France		2.4gHz
Clayton Landells	Australia		84	71
Dag Skoglund	Norway	Team Arctic Circle	2.4gHz
Dave Rumble	England		88	70
Dave Watson	Scotland		77	66
Espen Torp	Norway
Fernando Moro	Spain		76	Synth
Frank Hulton	England		80	70
Gerardo Plaza	Spain		Synth
Graham Reed	England		2.4gHz
Greg Dakin	England		77	80
Iain Medley-Rose	England		61	78
Ian Mason	England		82	77
Iñaki Elizondo	Spain		Synth
Jason Bioletti			2.4gHz
Jean Luc Foucher	France		72	77
Joel West	England		2.4gHz
John Bennett	England		64	74
John Phillips	England		62	70
John Treble	England		72	84
Jon Edison	England		67	75
Jonathon Sage	England		90	82
José Luis Alvarez Fernandez	Spain		69	80
Julian Perrott	England		2.4gHz
Keith Wood	England		57	82
Kevin Newton	England		77	68
Knut Eirik Lyngmo	Norway	Team Arctic Circle	2.4gHz
Marcelino Puñal	Spain		Synth
Mark Abbots	England		56	84
Mark Redsell	England		81	85
Martin Newnham	England		2.4gHz
Mick Lideard	England		71	76
Mick Walsh	England		Synth
Mike Evans	England		80	87
Mike McCracken	Scotland		Synth
Mike Shellim	England		72	64
Paul Foster	England		65	Synth
Paul Garnett	England		78	Synth
Paul Middleton	England		Synth
Peter Gunning	Scotland		85	80
Richard Bago	England		2.4gHz
Ron Broughton	England		74	75
Ron Russell	Scotland		72	76
Ronnie Lampe	England		Synth
Scott Ravenscroft	England		2.4gHz
Simon Thornton	England		2.4gHz
Stefan bertschi	Switzerland		2.4gHz
Stuart Brookes	England		2.4gHz
Tim Cone	USA		64	79
Tom McPherson	Scotland		84	68
Tomas Eklund	Spain		2.4gHz
Tony Robertson	England		2.4gHz
Vic Eldridge	England		70	76
Wing Wong	Hong Kong		74	78
Zim	Zimbabwe		2.4gHz

Hopefully some words soon..

Photos from the final few days:


A few of my favourite photos from VR2010.

Viking Race 2010 - update

It is all over.

Great finish. Pierre won. Greg was top Brit. Excellent fly off with a 30.xx. Amazing effort from the organisers - quite amazing.

I've loads of great photos but no wifi on the way back. So give me a few days for the photos and write up.

Viking Race 2010 - day 7

Although the weather was a bit of a pain today the organisers stuck with it and after a really long day we came away with four rounds.
The A slope at St Ferriol was working much better than the B slope but on both slopes there was still a bit of variation, although nowhere as much as Laurac.
A pretty good day for the Brits although Simon and I both got crucified with crap air in one of the four rounds.
Am completely pooped - even had to resort to a McDonalds tonight - so no photos again I'm afraid. I'll endeavour to upload them tomorrow.

Viking Race 2010 - day 6

No flying today. Rain and low cloud early on followed by no wind. Had a fabulous BBQ with the Spanish and Espen though.
Jury decided that all rounds from yesterday will count.
Looking forward to better conditions tomorrow, I suspect St Ferriol is a lot of fun on a good day.

Viking Race 2010 - day 5

Two rounds today. But possibly one round on the A slope will be cancelled pending the results of a protest about measuring wind strength and direction. We'll see.

We were on St Ferriol and you can see the potential of the place. A reasonable edge and landing in rotor free grass - bliss! Unfortunately in the light conditions there was still some variation today, but not as but as Laurac. The UK teams moved up a little but the damage done in the first few days is too much to recover unless we get more variable conditions and they all work for us!

I have a few photos but they are in my cameras in the car and I am in the hotel with wine. No decision to be made, they will appear tomorrow!

Viking Race 2010 - day 4

Not enough wind today for any rounds but plenty of sun!

Viking Race 2010 - day 3

Big day today. Another five and a half rounds. One or two fast times - for example a 34 and 33 - that crucified the rest of us. A lot of damage - there have been a lot of repairs going on tonight. As I write this I'm watching Vic about to burn the hotel down with a soldering iron resting on his bed - wish me luck!
We finished today just unable to finish round 8 because of rain, which I guess will now be group scored to finish it off tomorrow.
The forecast tomorrow is rain followed by a move to St Feriol, which a lot of us are looking forward to.
More soon.

Viking Race 2010 - day 2

The first day of the competition presented us with lovely sunshine and of course no wind at Laurac. Actually that's not strictly true, there was a small breeze, it was just in entirely the wrong direction. After the mandatory banter and inevitable land outs the wind suddenly picked up and switched to the correct direction.
Some frantic organisation allowed us to get two rounds in using both slopes. We finished at around eight and in the few hours of flying there were a few incidents.
Surprisingly there were, I guess, around 20+ reflys on the A slope because of timing gear problems, that was a real shame. The landings at the A slope were somewhat sacrificial in the ploughed field where the farmer was growing rocks. We put a net over the field to try and prevent further rocks being unearthed, which was better than nothing but there were still many scars that weren't going to get buffed out! We never quite worked out why the landing zone was directly behind the pits, in the rotor and meaning any overshoots would be potentially very dangerous and costly and any undershoot ended up in the road.
My first flight was bizarre and saw the end of the competition for me. I'll spare the names to save embarrassment, but my launcher – one of the best in the business – had a one in a million moment and in a way neither of us can work out his cap managed to wrap itself around my leading edge. On a bigger hill on a better day it would I guess have been barely noticeable, but on this hill with 44 degrees crosswind it was a different matter. Whilst I still had launch height I tried a few manoeuvres to dislodge it but it was going nowhere. With no height, no speed, no lift and a huge spoiler wrapped around the leading edge the inevitable was inevitable and, somewhat inevitably, I visited the bottom of the hill without so much as ever entering the course. So that's my week over!
The buzzer people came under a lot of scrutiny. I never wait for the beep and as a result I cut once in a while. On my second flight I didn't get the beep but it felt inconsistent compared with the previous turn and walking back to the pits a couple of the Austrian guys said they'd been watching behind the base and part of the model was over and hence it wasn't a cut. A few discussions with the organisers indicated that the buzzer people were waiting for a specific part of the model rather than any part of the model as per the rules. Disappointing.
Results so far are here http://vkr2010.free.fr/

Viking Race 2010 - day 1

Good chance to get to know the hill at Laurac today. The wind started very light with a few landings out and then filled in as the day went on, to the point where ballast was a necessity. As usual at viking races there were one or two planes in the air at the same time, to say the least.

The two courses were both working, as was the famous hole in the air at one of the bases! Unfortunately a couple of weeks before the event the farmer had implemented his bright idea to plough under the lovely soft long grass in the landing area and unearth thousands of stones that had been hidden for millions of years!

The pilots and locals did a walk through to remove the worst stones but those who bypassed the small grass strip for the proper landing zone gained a lot of scrapes for their troubles. We're not quite sure what the landing plan is for day one of the competition today, they may have some nets to use, which should be a giggle - I'll get the camera ready.

More soon...

Quick update

A few quick thoughts before I leave for France...
1.
I can't believe I don't have a link to Planet Soaring... Pierre's site is without doubt the best, longest serving RC gliding site out there. Hence look to your left and he's now there.

2.
On the way to France I will complete the La Muela write up... honestly.

3.
Whilst in France - assuming the hotel has wifi and I can stay sober(ish) for at least one night - I will post the Welsh Open details and opening date for entries.