Sunday 30 May 2010

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!


Tuesday 25 May 2010

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

Monday 17 May 2010

Hopefully some words soon..

Photos from the final few days:


A few of my favourite photos from VR2010.

Sunday 16 May 2010

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.

Thursday 13 May 2010

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.

Wednesday 12 May 2010

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.

Tuesday 11 May 2010

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!

Monday 10 May 2010

Viking Race 2010 - day 4

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

Sunday 9 May 2010

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/

Saturday 8 May 2010

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...

Tuesday 4 May 2010

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.