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and now for something a bit more light-hearted....
Martin Burr writes: Hi Mike, thought I would drop you a line about the competition I went to, on Oct 29th for inclusion in Sloping Off if you have room.
One bright and early morning in late October, I was up dressed and fed before I was awake and driving towards Win Green .Having been up 'till 3am the night before didn't help either. I had inlaws staying, so I couldn’t go to bed early AND clear off for most of the next day too !! Anyway up I was, with transmitter and two planes charged and ready. The trusty old Sirrocco rudder/ele, and the (newish to me) Tragi full house, with these I should have all conditions covered. The forecast was lots of sun and no wind, so when I arrived at the WSA slope car park I was pleantly surprised to see a bit of a breeze, looks promising I thought! I don't know many of the WSA club members so there is always a bit of apprehension, but they made me very welcome from the start. We waited until the appointed time for any others, and left for the flying slope which was not far along a muddy track into a big open field. The chosen slope was Swallowcliffe a NE facing direction, Geoff the Comp director had gone ahead and had been busy setting up flags for the tasks to be announced. I wasted no time and got the Tragi rigged and ready and after a Freq check Dave Camp launched it into the Blue(ish)sky straight into exellent lift! The breeze was about 8mph straight onto the face, so a few others joined in and we had a bit of practice before the CD called a start. I landed in the large clear field with no drama and waited for the plot to unfold!
 Martin’s Tragi
By now a few more flyers had turned up, there were about 8 people eagerly waiting for the briefing,.. well there was some mild interest, and some light hearted heckelling anyway! Geoff had in mind to do three events;
1 Mild Aerobatics
2 Speed
3 Duration
For the first task the idea was to launch, climb to height then fly to the right side of the slope and make a flatish Thermal turn in towards the slope of 360deg then fly to the other end of the slope and do another but 720deg, again in towards the slope. Then do a loop in any direction you like then a Chandelle, (a sort of stall turn without the stall) then lastly 5sec inverted flight, again in any direction. The flights were to be marked by the other flyers out of 10 for smoothness and accuracy.
It all got of to a good start, the gentle breeze providing nice lift in the warm sun and about 4 people flew, putting in some nice and, some not so nice, flights ! Above all the emphasis was on having a go and giving it your best shot. On my attempt all I managed was to mince up and down the slope face in the dwindling lift, and then to land on the, thankfully, smooth and flatish front area!
Sadly that was pretty much the end of that for the day, so I had to go home and meet up with the in-laws again.....! However, it looks like the comp will be re-run in Nov, if I can make it I will let you,(dear reader) know how I do. Why not come along to one of the Federation Events, even if you don't fancy flying it can be quite fun to watch or help. Byee for now,
Martin .
(for more info on Federation slope events,contact Martin on 01202 773144)
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